FYI's for Norwegian Joy

[BayAreaCruisers4]

Some FYI’s about the NCL Joy, while I'm waiting for my cruise review to get published. We sailed the inaugural public cruise May 4-11 to Alaska/Glacier Bay.

• The speedway on the Joy is $15 per session, 8x laps per session. The Joy website still says $9.95, but the cost on the ship and on the NCL app, where you can book it from you mobile device, is $15. Not positive about the Laser tag arena, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same price. We did the racetrack once and I was disappointed with it. The track is too narrow and everyone was being throttled to slow down.
• The beverage package is now called the “Premium Beverage Package” instead of the “Ultimate Beverage Package”. Link to the drinks included for this package is https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/premium-beverage-package.pdf. You can get any drink any menu that is $15 or less. If you get a drink that’s more expensive, you pay the difference. Personally, we found that this package was worth it. It does not include bottled water (that’s another package, I think $15 for 5x 1L bottles).

• We loved our ADA cabin #10932, aft starboard! We didn’t know it was a disabled person’s cabin till we got there. It was twice the size of a normal balcony cabin. I would request this again. 😊

• Our excursions booked offshore ahead of our sailing instead of the ship were great. No issues and cost a fair bit less than NCL.

 

Happy to answer any questions you may have.

[drumming cruisers]

Embarkation quick?

How was entertainment? 

Were venues/bars crowded?

How was Q, Cagney's, Le Bistro? The Local?

Excursions? Did you do anything in the ports?

Any pictures?

 

Disembarkation quick?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ssteinerman]

Did you save any dailies?

Favorite restaurants/dishes?

 

[BayAreaCruisers4]

Embarkation took about 30-40 minutes from walking onto Pier 66 and getting on the ship.

 

We had tickets to see Footloose (twice), but never went. I heard it was good, but not our sort of thing. Elements was the best show I've ever seen on a cruise ship. A definite must!

 

Our ship was at capacity, but it really didn't feel that way. Some of the bars, like the atrium bar, can get crowded when shows are going on, but just wait and a seat will open up. The Malting was always quiet and classy. The District Brewhouse has comfortable seating and great views. 

 

We did three excursions, but only one from NCL. Juneau (whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier tour), Skagway (White Pass railroad and bus trip into the Yukon – We got to hold husky puppies!), Glacier Bay (saw glaciers calve off), Ketchikan (Lumber Jack show and Totem Bight State Park tour [NCL]). All were good. We walked around the ports and got a *little* taste of the area, but that's hard to do from a cruise ship. Lots of souvenir shops.

 

We did three specialty dinners, Cagney's Steakhouse on day 1 was one of the best I've had. Service is everything to me and King, our server, was the best. Ask for him. Where else are you going to be served by royalty. 😉 Q was on day 2 and it was a complete disappointment, especially when I learned that we missed out on Alaskan King crab legs in the buffet and MDR. The food at Q was sub-par. Le Bistro was another very fine meal when we visited Victoria. Service was spot-on and the weather was so nice we dined outside. The Local was good and is open 24x7.

 

Disembarkation was fine. You choose when and how you want to disembark. Just go to Guest Services and pick the color luggage tag for the time you want. It got pretty busy around 9AM, but the hold up was due to customs.

 

 

 

 

[BayAreaCruisers4]

Dailies for all seven days. 🙂 

[BayAreaCruisers4]

 

BTW - If you like this information, please rate it at the top. 🙂

Edited May 15, 2019 by BayAreaCruisers4

[ssteinerman]

3 hours ago, BayAreaCruisers4 said:

Dailies for all seven days. 🙂 

 

 

Awesome - thank you!!

[careyayn22]

DO you know if king crab legs are going to be a standard offering or was it for the inaugural public voyage?

[BayAreaCruisers4]

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it will be a regular offering. 

[ute_fan]

How busy was it getting off the ship for excursions?  We've got a coupe of really early ones in Juneau and Ketchikan, and I'm worried all 3800 passengers will be trying to get off at once.

 

[ParrotheadKev]

Thank you for the Daily's . They were very helpful.  We got on the Joy on Saturday.  Again Thank You  very much.

[magicstacey]

We were also on the inaugural sailing last week. It was wonderful! I just wanted to add about the Go Karts speedway.  Some times during the day(Mornings mostly) the race cars were double. They were still $15/ person but only one driver. We were scheduled for that but changed to a later time so we both could drive. The elevators were slow at busy times of the day. We just went to the aft elevators and had no problems. Footloose was Fantastic! 

[drumming cruisers]

Thanks for the reply. Great review. 

[Birdie And Sue]

21 hours ago, BayAreaCruisers4 said:

• We loved our ADA cabin #10932, aft starboard! We didn’t know it was a disabled person’s cabin till we got there. It was twice the size of a normal balcony cabin. I would request this again. 😊

 

I sincerely hope you only request an ADA cabin if you actually need one.  Booking such a cabin when not an ADA passenger is despicable.

[BayAreaCruisers4]

1 hour ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

I sincerely hope you only request an ADA cabin if you actually need one.  Booking such a cabin when not an ADA passenger is despicable.

Thanks for passing judgement. We did not request this cabin (NCL assigned it to us), even though my wife has mobility issues. We offered to change cabins with guest services, but no one requested our cabin.

[Melli56566]

Thanks for the info.  We have a really late flight on the way back to the East Coast and would like to sight-see before departing the area.  I read somewhere that offer luggage valet at the pier back to the airport terminal.  Did you see any info in your stateroom regarding this/use this service?

 

Thanks

[magicstacey]

We used the port valet for our luggage and checking into our flight. It was very convenient. 

[Defhermit]

7 hours ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

I sincerely hope you only request an ADA cabin if you actually need one.  Booking such a cabin when not an ADA passenger is despicable.

 

Doesn't "We didn’t know it was a disabled person’s cabin till we got there" cover the question you are asking?

Making baseless accusations is despicable.

[calpal]

Did many people get upgrades and if so how close to sailing? Thanks for the information!

[BayAreaCruisers4]

14 hours ago, ute_fan said:

How busy was it getting off the ship for excursions?  We've got a coupe of really early ones in Juneau and Ketchikan, and I'm worried all 3800 passengers will be trying to get off at once.

 

All the ports were docked (no tenders) and we didn’t run into any crowds. I honest don’t know how they did it. We had excursions that left 30 minutes after docking and it was no problem. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by BayAreaCruisers4

[BayAreaCruisers4]

2 hours ago, Melli56566 said:

Thanks for the info.  We have a really late flight on the way back to the East Coast and would like to sight-see before departing the area.  I read somewhere that offer luggage valet at the pier back to the airport terminal.  Did you see any info in your stateroom regarding this/use this service?

 

Thanks

Yes, a lot of folks used this service, but we didn’t. For some reason a LOT of these folks stood in line for an hour the night before disembarking to get their luggage tags. Not sure why, since the tags were supposed to be delivered to their rooms. I don’t know why they had to go to gust services. I can think of a lot better ways to spend my last night on the cruise. 

[BayAreaCruisers4]

11 hours ago, ParrotheadKev said:

Thank you for the Daily's . They were very helpful.  We got on the Joy on Saturday.  Again Thank You  very much.

You’re welcome. Enjoy your cruise! 😀 

[alisonslp]

9 hours ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

I sincerely hope you only request an ADA cabin if you actually need one.  Booking such a cabin when not an ADA passenger is despicable.

Really?! The OP specifically wrote that they didn't know it was an ADA cabin until they got there. You even quoted it. How could you have missed that bit of info?

[BayAreaCruisers4]

44 minutes ago, calpal said:

Did many people get upgrades and if so how close to sailing? Thanks for the information!

We booked our cruise on short notice (booked Wednesday before leaving Saturday) so no idea about upgrades. A number of people went to guest services asking for upgrades when we asked about changing our cabin, but were told the ship was at capacity and no upgrades were available. 

 

BTW - short notice travel is THE BEST !!! 😀 

[ute_fan]

40 minutes ago, BayAreaCruisers4 said:

All the ports were docked (no tenders) and we didn’t run into any crowds. I honest don’t know how they did it. We had excursions that left 30 minutes after docking and it was no problem. 

Thank you!