bkrickles1

Before the refurb there was something like 15 karaoke rooms too that have since been replaced.

Actually, you're right. I'm using the general term of jellyfish, but it was Man 'o' War, and it caused them to remove everyone from the water at around 1pm. We saw people getting stung and were told that upwards of 100 people got stung the day we were there. And it was a gorgeous day too. They are really hard to see as they have clear bodies and they float at the top with their tenticles below the surface. And yes, my niece and nephew did twist our arms. Lmao!!!! As I said, they will be expecting some dinnertime and late night babysitting from their favorite Aunt and Uncle. And we're ok with that. Lol.

It's one of the oddities of Joy because it was built for the Asian market. There's lots of little things too, but the biggest, besides the thermal spa, is the pool area. The layout will have you do a double take, with the pools being off to the side of the pool deck and the very large canopies on deck 17 right above it. Search for video of the Joy pool area from before it's renovation in 2019. It's really interesting.

Looking forward to your live review on Joy. We were supposed to sail this itinerary in January, 2022, but our sailing was cancelled 2 days before we were supposed to leave for Miami. Such a bummer. We were looking forward to sailing Joy with less than 50% capacity and with an itinerary that was mostly new to us. We rebooked Joy for June 26th of 2022 but that sailing was out of NYC, with a 3 day stay in Bermuda and the ship was near 100% capacity. We thought Joy was terrific and we've always loved the Bermuda sailings. After previously sailing on Escape and Encore, Joy was kind of a mix of those 2. For example, Escape had Spice but no OL. Encore had OL, but no Spice. Joy had both and my crew liked that. Joy had good food, good service and exceptional entertainment. The only real downside to last years sailing was the abundance of jellyfish at Horseshoe Bay that basically shut down the beach. We enjoyed Joy so much, that we allowed our niece and nephew to talk us into joining them in July on the same sailing. I see some babysitting in mine and my wifes future as they have a 1 year old and a 5 year old. LOL! Anyway, enjoy your sailing and, hopefully, your experience is everything it should be.

Thanks for the review. We sailed Joy last June and we're sailing her again this coming July. Service and food was above average+ and entertainment was excellent. Loved Sugarcane, as you do, and was just happy with all the different live musical choices every evening. There was always 5 or 6 different venues that had live music and that's definitely my thing. You add in the 2 theater shows, 2 comedians and whatever else they have on board, and I thought the entertainment was as good as any cruise ship I've sailed. Thanks again for the review. I've got 144 days until mine!!

You're 100% correct that the blame for bad behavior falls on the parents, but I strongly disagree with the statement (I know it's not yours) that the majority of American children are out of control.

Wow! I could not disagree more. It's a sad and ugly take on the future of our country.

It won't for me. I'm sailing Joy in July (sailed her last year, June, and loved it) and booked an inside cabin for the first time in years. We have a big vacation planned for April, so I decided to save a little with this trip. I have always used the same strategy. I'll provide a note with the few requests we have (extra towels, empty mini fridge, etc) and leave it on our bed (if we don't see our steward) with a $20 bill attached. We've never had a problem with our steward accommodating these requests, which leads to an additional $20 on the second to last day. Of course I would reconsider the second $20 if our requests were ignored. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen in July. Lmao!!

I thought I read somewhere that you can no longer adjust (higher or lower) or eliminate the service charge/tip. I know, in the past, you could get a form on board and eliminate/lower/raise your service charge. Again, I thought they eliminated that option. Am I wrong? TIA

That's funny. We've never unpacked before muster. We always board around 11am and we usually have spots we want to hit. We finalize our reservations, we eat, drink, explore, drink some more and go straight to muster. We drink some more and then we go back to our cabin to unpack and get ready for the evening. I'm getting old, so the first night I usually crash by 10:30pm. Lmao Thanks for the review!

Escape to JVD was one of my favorite excursions! Loved White Sand! We parked ourselves in front of Hendo's (just to the right of Soggy Dollar) as they had nicer chairs and umbrellas. We had a beautiful morning and I believe I knocked down 7 painkillers before boarding the boat to go back to Encore. I then had several rum punch's before meeting my aunt and uncle in the OL and having a couple of beers. Needless to say I was feeling no pain (pun intended lmao), grabbed a cigar and headed to the humidor to smoke and sober up. A very good day, indeed!

We sailed Encore January, 2020 and our experience was better than yours. Ship was full but service and entertainment was solid. I will say that I had a better experience on Escape in 2018 and Joy in 2022. We sailed Joy 6/26/22 so it was pretty full and crew did an excellent job. We enjoyed it so much that we're going on Joy again in July. Entertainment on Joy was the best of the 3 for us. We missed COM and dueling pianos but it was still fun and so much live music. Hopefully, they are still doing a good job when we sail this summer.

Sailed Joy 6/26/22 after being on Escape and Encore in previous years. Joy's entertainment was terrific! As you said, there's tons of live music everywhere and the 2 big theater shows were great too. I'd probably rate Elements above Footloose, but both are very enjoyable. The Wanted were on our sailing too. We stopped by Q a couple of times for a drink and to listen to them a little. It was so nice walking the ship at night and stopping in each bar/venue and listening to something different in each. My kind of entertainment! Of course I had to go to the Cavern club at least twice to listen to a couple of Beatles sets. First time we had seats right next to the stage. Me, my wife, daughter and bf had a blast! Second time, I just walked in as they were about to start and stood, rocking out, near the door. So fun!! Food and service were good too. Ate at Cagneys and Ocean Blue and both were very enjoyable. You need to have certain expectations when sailing these big ships. If you're smart with how you order, the experience can be quite good. We enjoyed Joy so much that we allowed our niece and nephew to convince us to join them on Joy on July 23rd.

I sailed Joy June 26th, 2022 with my wife and my 22yo daughter. The drink package that came with our FAS absolutely covered my daughter as the 3rd passenger in our cabin. We did not pay a dollar more for her.

My wife has trained our daughter well. She's all about the savings just like her mom! In fact, we only upgrade the one line and share throughout the week. We have a family system and it works for us. We've been doing it for years. I am up at 5:30am to go to the gym, shower and set up on the deck above the pool deck by 7:30am. This gives me a solid 90 minutes to 2 hours of uninterrupted wifi time while my girls are still sleeping. Lmao!! My wife and daughter share throughout the day, with my daughter using it for 80% of that time. I get another hour+ before dinner while I'm having my pre dinner gin and tonics and then it's all my daughter for the rest of the evening. It's a strategy that has served us well and I'm sure we'll do the same come July on Joy.

On my last 3 ncl sailings, I've had my daughter wait until midnight going into day 2 and we've received the discounted rate and I'm happy to save those few dollars. Yes, she couldn't use any minutes before midnight, but she was ok with that. We always board around 11am, so she has until sailaway to go crazy and then dinner and entertainment keeps her busy until midnight. Last year on Joy, the first 2 had the 150 minutes, so she used mine on that first day before midnight and then she upgraded hers at 12:01am. We're sailing Joy again this summer and will employ the same strategy. It's not a huge savings, but I like it anyway.

Yes there are. Right where you get dropped off. I've done it a dozen times and it could not be easier. I'm sailing Joy, again, in July and we'll be doing this for at least 1 day that we are there.

Well, I never made it to this cabin. Unfortunately, my 1/15/22 sailing was cancelled just 2 days before I was supposed to fly to Miami. I rebooked the Joy for 6/26/22 sailing but was unable to get 10700. We loved our sailing on 6/26 and the Joy was fantastic! Ship was in great shape and the entertainment was outstanding. We ended up with a Club Balcony Suite and enjoyed it. The cabin was way smaller than 10700 would have been but we did have an oversized bathroom, so that was good. 10700 is unique and I bet it's a great cabin.

I just got off the Joy July 3rd and the only time I "had" to wear a mask was walking through the very small Bermuda welcome center and that was for all of 10 seconds. There is no requirement for passengers to mask on board, but 100% of the crew is masked. Entertainers were not masked either for obvious reason. We had somewhere in the neighborhood of 4000 passengers on board and I would venture to guess that less than 2% wore masks. And, I would say that nobody wearing or not wearing masks were ever made to feel uncomfortable. Enjoy your cruise.

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I've been on both and while they are very similar, there are some distinct differences as already mentioned. On Escape you have Spice H2O, an adults only outdoor area On Encore you have the Observation Lounge, which is one of the best spaces on any cruise ship. We chose Joy for our next cruise because it has both! On Encore, you have the restaurant Onda, which is outstanding, along with Los Lobos, which was one of my favorites. On Escape you have Howl at the Moon, which we missed on Encore and will miss on Joy next week. Both have Choir of Man, best show on any cruise I've been on. Encore has Cavern Club with a Beatles tribute band. So fun!! Escape has public sun deck space on the 19th deck right outside of Vibe. It's not well known and it has it's own bar and whirlpool. This is big if you're not in Haven or Vibe as there is not an abundance of space by the pool on either ship. I'm sure I'm missing a couple of things but that's what I can remember. We had so much fun on both. If being outside in the sun is important to you and you're not in the Haven or paying for Vibe, I'd probably choose Escape. I'd give the edge to Encore for specialty dining. Entertainment is close. Love Howl at the Moon on Escape. Love Cavern Club on Encore. Encore is newer. You can't really go wrong with either. Itinerary could be deciding factor....

10 Days until we finally get to board the Joy to Bermuda. So excited!! I've seen somewhere that someone that's currently there has said that the price for chairs at Horseshoe Bay has gone up. We will be visiting both Horseshoe Bay and Tobacco Bay and wanted to see if anyone knows the current pricing for chairs and umbrellas at both of these popular beaches. We will be 5 adults and 2 kids, so I'd like to have an idea of what it's going to cost me. TIA

Thanks for the dailies. We're sailing Joy to Bermuda in 11 days and it's nice to see the schedule of shows ahead of time. Enjoy the rest of your trip!!

Here's my opinion. I will be showing up with my people at around 8:30am so we can be one of the first to board at 11am (approximately). We are ok with a little crowding and some waiting for the opportunity to start our vacation at around 11am. We've done this many times already and while my wife will complain a little, we keep doing it this way and are happy when we board. If you have a problem with crowded areas and waiting, I've seen first hand how showing up at the terminal between 2 and 3pm will almost eliminate this. It's a personal preference. I prefer to be on my 4th drink by 2pm and having a nice lunch in the dining room. Lmao. 16 days for us!!

Yes, everyone must submit and receive approval. The $40 per person is the key. Total money grab. Once the ship enters Bermuda territorial waters, you're in Bermuda. So, TA and payment are required. I believe, even Bermudians that leave and return are required to do this too.