Joy Review-Efficient Honesty

[angieSFO]

33 minutes ago, WilsCM said:

   Funny.  I didn’t find Clinton Jackson very funny, but did find Carl Guerra funny.  Different tastes!

Couldn't agree more.

When I first read the OP's post, I wondered if they got the comedians mixed up. I thought Carl Guerra was outstanding. He's the one that talked about driving with car shields, smart appliances / cars talking to each other, also some stuff about his son, etc.

[gbickle]

1 hour ago, WilsCM said:

 

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by gbickle
delete...double post

[gbickle]

52 minutes ago, WilsCM said:

I think was on the same cruise -  a few more review points/opinions:

·         The crew worked really hard at cleaning the ship after the Noro on the last Panama Canal cruise.  Constantly wiping walls, doors, railing, etc.  The last thing they want are sick, angry people!

·         We had 3 medical events.  First they thought about airlifting with a Mexican port/military helicopter.  Seeing it circle the ship multiple times, hovering near the bow with a guy hanging out was . . . interesting?  Would have been nice had they not waited until the following day until making an unscheduled stop in Cabo to get the person off on a tender (couldn’t do the airlift – not the right equipment) to tell us what the heck it was doing out there.  Someone broke something at the pool on the ship in Mazatlan – not sure how that ended up.  Someone collapsed the last day at sea on the way back to LA and we went full steam ahead to get there earlier Sunday morning to get the person off.

·         Main dining food was ok, not great, La Cucina was good, Cagney’s and Q were great.  We had only one waiter/waitress the whole time with a personality though, no matter the venue.  They weren’t necessarily bad, just rushed, distracted and most likely overworked.  Definitely not like it used to be.  First time I didn’t find anyone to give tips to beyond the DSC.

·         Stateroom staff was hit or miss for our group.  The other two cabins in our group had the same gal, and she was great.  We never saw ours and we didn’t get fresh towels twice, although the ones on the floor were taken away (I kept grabbing from the carts in the hall).  Again, not necessarily bad, just meh.

·         Go carts – why on earth they let 10 year olds out there with adults I’ll never understand.  It had the potential to be fun, but instead the crew ended up shutting off our carts (they have a kill switch for them) every time one of the kids got stuck in the wall and couldn’t get off (most laps), or took up the entire track allowing for no passing because they just don’t know, despite directions given.  In our slot they put the kids out in front and the adults in back.  Why?  I would never do again unfortunately. I pin that on the crew and the way it is managed, not the kids.

·         Elements was meh.  I was disappointed.  Footloose was enjoyable, Po was very good in his own show.  Cavern club was a disaster – too small, and unlike everything else, no reservations. You had to get there an hour early for a 45 minute set.  Doesn’t make sense.

·         Funny.  I didn’t find Clinton Jackson very funny, but did find Carl Guerra funny.  Different tastes!

·         If you want a good cocktail, go to the A List bar outside of Cagney’s/Le Bistro.  Best drinks on the ship by far!  Try the Black Manhattan and Woodford Old Fashioned.

·         We liked our mid ship balcony room – its been a little while since we’ve cruised, and the shower was much larger and more comfortable than any before.

·         We didn’t choose the ship for the ports, and if not for the rest of my party wanting to go ashore I would have been much happier lounging on the ship the whole time.   A couple of our party have limited mobility, so the one bus tour was the standard couple of sites, tip the divers, go shop here, blah, blah, blah fare.

·         We had the beverage package, and the one night in Cagney’s that I ordered a glass of Moet for an additional $4 the bar staff brought the bottle back and essentially gave me 1 ¾ glasses for that $4, which was nice.

·         Shops on ship.  That was it?  Smaller ships I’ve been on have twice the selection.  Not sure what that was about.

·         Loved having Starbucks for decent coffee.  The MDR coffee was abysmal and I gave up on it pretty quickly.

·         Go to the back of the buffet.  Apparently no one wants to go past the crowded stations closest to the entry doors and the back was wide open.

·         Get the charcuterie platter in Q.  It was excellent.

·         The district ran out of the dark beers.  Put more on tap in the first place!

·         Go see the Beatles show in the main theatre and save yourself the waiting and frustration.

·         Live entertainment was lacking.  Some were OK, but overall?  Not great.

·         We liked The Local for lunch – easy to get a seat and a decent casual snack/lunch menu.

As with the OP, just my random opinions and thoughts.  We had a nice time and I thought the price we paid for cruise/drinks/specialty dining/air all included was a good value.  We also had $470 in onboard credit per cabin so the perceived nickel and diming wasn’t a big deal for us. 

We were on the same cruise as you.  We were on the port side aft in 14296 and we literally had to leave our cabin during the day because of the race cart noise thumping the ceiling every few minutes as they drove around the track.  As I said in my review if I ever hear the wods "happy happy washy washy" again I am going to throw up.  We did not like the layout of the Buffet.  The walls seemed to close it off to much.  We much prefer the open buffet concept on Princess.  Also did not like the nickel diming us to death every time we turned around.  Also found checking out towels to be a PITA.  Are there really people who want to steal towels with the NCL logo plastered all over them.

 

We will probably not be cruising NCL again.  Not enough positives to outweigh the negatives.  We booked this cruise for the free drink, meals, and air flight which we ended up not using because the return flight got us home 8 hours after simply driving there and NCL would not change it.  Wanted us to sit in LAX for 10 hours before a 1 hour flight back to Sacramento.  Then I get home and find out we could have done Princess for 1/3rd the cost.  Now I know why the drinks were free.

Back to Princess for us.  

[gbickle]

1 hour ago, WilsCM said:

 

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by gbickle
double post

[wilmingtech]

3 hours ago, WilsCM said:

I think was on the same cruise -  a few more review points/opinions:

·         The crew worked really hard at cleaning the ship after the Noro on the last Panama Canal cruise.  Constantly wiping walls, doors, railing, etc.  The last thing they want are sick, angry people!

·         We had 3 medical events.  First they thought about airlifting with a Mexican port/military helicopter.  Seeing it circle the ship multiple times, hovering near the bow with a guy hanging out was . . . interesting?  Would have been nice had they not waited until the following day until making an unscheduled stop in Cabo to get the person off on a tender (couldn’t do the airlift – not the right equipment) to tell us what the heck it was doing out there.  Someone broke something at the pool on the ship in Mazatlan – not sure how that ended up.  Someone collapsed the last day at sea on the way back to LA and we went full steam ahead to get there earlier Sunday morning to get the person off.

·         Main dining food was ok, not great, La Cucina was good, Cagney’s and Q were great.  We had only one waiter/waitress the whole time with a personality though, no matter the venue.  They weren’t necessarily bad, just rushed, distracted and most likely overworked.  Definitely not like it used to be.  First time I didn’t find anyone to give tips to beyond the DSC.

·         Stateroom staff was hit or miss for our group.  The other two cabins in our group had the same gal, and she was great.  We never saw ours and we didn’t get fresh towels twice, although the ones on the floor were taken away (I kept grabbing from the carts in the hall).  Again, not necessarily bad, just meh.

·         Go carts – why on earth they let 10 year olds out there with adults I’ll never understand.  It had the potential to be fun, but instead the crew ended up shutting off our carts (they have a kill switch for them) every time one of the kids got stuck in the wall and couldn’t get off (most laps), or took up the entire track allowing for no passing because they just don’t know, despite directions given.  In our slot they put the kids out in front and the adults in back.  Why?  I would never do again unfortunately. I pin that on the crew and the way it is managed, not the kids.

·         Elements was meh.  I was disappointed.  Footloose was enjoyable, Po was very good in his own show.  Cavern club was a disaster – too small, and unlike everything else, no reservations. You had to get there an hour early for a 45 minute set.  Doesn’t make sense.

·         Funny.  I didn’t find Clinton Jackson very funny, but did find Carl Guerra funny.  Different tastes!

·         If you want a good cocktail, go to the A List bar outside of Cagney’s/Le Bistro.  Best drinks on the ship by far!  Try the Black Manhattan and Woodford Old Fashioned.

·         We liked our mid ship balcony room – its been a little while since we’ve cruised, and the shower was much larger and more comfortable than any before.

·         We didn’t choose the ship for the ports, and if not for the rest of my party wanting to go ashore I would have been much happier lounging on the ship the whole time.   A couple of our party have limited mobility, so the one bus tour was the standard couple of sites, tip the divers, go shop here, blah, blah, blah fare.

·         We had the beverage package, and the one night in Cagney’s that I ordered a glass of Moet for an additional $4 the bar staff brought the bottle back and essentially gave me 1 ¾ glasses for that $4, which was nice.

·         Shops on ship.  That was it?  Smaller ships I’ve been on have twice the selection.  Not sure what that was about.

·         Loved having Starbucks for decent coffee.  The MDR coffee was abysmal and I gave up on it pretty quickly.

·         Go to the back of the buffet.  Apparently no one wants to go past the crowded stations closest to the entry doors and the back was wide open.

·         Get the charcuterie platter in Q.  It was excellent.

·         The district ran out of the dark beers.  Put more on tap in the first place!

·         Go see the Beatles show in the main theatre and save yourself the waiting and frustration.

·         Live entertainment was lacking.  Some were OK, but overall?  Not great.

·         We liked The Local for lunch – easy to get a seat and a decent casual snack/lunch menu.

As with the OP, just my random opinions and thoughts.  We had a nice time and I thought the price we paid for cruise/drinks/specialty dining/air all included was a good value.  We also had $470 in onboard credit per cabin so the perceived nickel and diming wasn’t a big deal for us. 

 

Do you have any freestyle dailys from the cruise you could post?

 

We are not worried about the nickle and diming either.   I am actually more worried about them running out of dark beer!  Hopefully the Haven has its own stash of beer.  We may try the carts but would probably go later in the week after all the excitement about them has worn off.  After DSC we will still have more OBC than we will know what to do with.  Usually we will spend it on Specialty and Drinks but that all came along with our trip this time and no kids on this one so no specialty dinners to buy.  

 

I am hoping the Cruise Director figures the timing out on some of these things by the time we get on in 12 days or so (Like having a big shopping event and making go carts half price at the same time as the Cavern Club events) 

 

None the less it will be a great cruise and the phone and computer will be off and I will be putting on the pounds with a drink in my hand.

 

 

[WilsCM]

5 minutes ago, wilmingtech said:

 

Do you have any freestyle dailys from the cruise you could post?

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately not.  I'm not good at doing that sort of thing.  

My other comment/recommendation is to download the app and use it while waiting to board to book any missing reservations.  Online I made specialty restaurant reservations, but the times were later than I liked.  I was able to book earlier times on the app, then canceled the original ones on board.  And when I asked while sitting at the A List bar, Cagney's was able to seat us even sooner.

They did have shopping events.  I just found the merchandise was either super expensive jewelry, or inexpensive (cheap!) trinkets. Most of the events were the trinkets.  Neither worked for me.  Well, except we did end up with a purse for my sister-in-law and a pair of jeans (of all things) for me to spend my father's OBC. $465 for my 86 year old father was definitely more than he could spend by himself.

Try the Galaxy for virtual games - the racing up there turned out to be more fun  than the go carts since you were in control of your own destiny.

Here are A List drink menus though. We finally talked them into giving us one (bar menus were in short supply due to the previous Noro) I wish I could remember the one bartender's name.  He was great.

 

[marktwothousand]

I was on a 12-day Joy and have to agree with everything that’s said here. There’s just not enough interesting to do compared to the other ships. I had hoped Joy would be a little different than the other similar ships because it was converted...Nadda. Sitting in the social, I could have been on any other NCL ship and I wouldn’t have noticed. Casino is lacking in slot machine selection...entertainment and events are sparse. Galaxy Pavilion is a colossal waste of space. Could be used for a nice Studio Cabin section instead. Laser Tag was broken just like it was on Bliss. I met a ton of people and don’t even know anyone who did the Go Karts. Never been on an NCL ship with so many things pre-booked...everyone seemed to be holding bookings for everything and then releasing them or being no-shows. 
 

Had it not been for the fabulous people I met, the fact that I treated myself to a balcony, and, the stellar ports and Panama Canal, I would have been disappointed.

[Lbicklel]

To OP and those who agree or made similar points...just curious if you’ve ever cruised on the Escape? All of these descriptions sound very much like the Escape as well. I’d be interested in your comparisons. 

 

We have a Joy cruise booked next year and were hoping that some of the issues, especially with the crowded venues and finding space on sundecks, would be a little less of an issue on the Joy.

 

As far as food on the Escape, we really like the specialties, think the main dining rooms are passable to good, and don’t care for the buffet.

[marktwothousand]

Excape Is a much more fun ship, the funnest NCL I’ve been on, but it doesn’t have that OBS lounge which is actually a pretty nice perk. So, pick your poisson I guess. I would definite sail the Excape again. 

[disneylover89]

16 hours ago, gbickle said:

We were on the same cruise as you.  We were on the port side aft in 14296 and we literally had to leave our cabin during the day because of the race cart noise thumping the ceiling every few minutes as they drove around the track.  As I said in my review if I ever hear the wods "happy happy washy washy" again I am going to throw up.  We did not like the layout of the Buffet.  The walls seemed to close it off to much.  We much prefer the open buffet concept on Princess.  Also did not like the nickel diming us to death every time we turned around.  Also found checking out towels to be a PITA.  Are there really people who want to steal towels with the NCL logo plastered all over them.

 

We will probably not be cruising NCL again.  Not enough positives to outweigh the negatives.  We booked this cruise for the free drink, meals, and air flight which we ended up not using because the return flight got us home 8 hours after simply driving there and NCL would not change it.  Wanted us to sit in LAX for 10 hours before a 1 hour flight back to Sacramento.  Then I get home and find out we could have done Princess for 1/3rd the cost.  Now I know why the drinks were free.

Back to Princess for us.  

How did you hear the race cars thumping on your  ceiling if your cabin was on  deck 14?  Cabins are above you on deck 15 and the racetrack is on deck 18, 4 decks above you.

[wilmingtech]

On 12/12/2019 at 7:51 AM, disneylover89 said:

How did you hear the race cars thumping on your  ceiling if your cabin was on  deck 14?  Cabins are above you on deck 15 and the racetrack is on deck 18, 4 decks above you.

That doesn't seem right - 

 

There is a balcony cabin right above 14296, Mandara Spa above that, Pulse Fitness above that and then the racetrack.  Maybe they had honeymooners in the cabin above them...  😁

[oregonian123]

On 12/11/2019 at 9:08 PM, wilmingtech said:

 

 

 

 

We are on the Joy now. We boarded on Dec 8. Everything is back to normal. The Savor and Taste and large and a good place for lunch and dinner. The Manhattan seemed crowded. The Staff has been great and they gave us free access to CruiseCritic.com.

That was a nice surprise. The extra protocol that they were doing for norovirus was lifted by the third day and they are back to normal service. Of course, they are still being very diligent about cleaning. 

We are enjoying the Joy, and it doesn't seem overly crowded, despite being such a large ship.  

[Greek Boss]

On 12/9/2019 at 10:50 PM, gmbhardy said:

 

Sounds like you had the A/C in energy saving mode. If you pressed the button with the snowflake (I know it makes no sense), that’s what happened.

And here I always thought that button was to turn on the AC instead of just blowing regular air... LOL no wonder it would always turn off!

[Gershep]

Thanks for your review

[gbickle]

On 12/14/2019 at 10:17 AM, wilmingtech said:

That doesn't seem right - 

 

There is a balcony cabin right above 14296, Mandara Spa above that, Pulse Fitness above that and then the racetrack.  Maybe they had honeymooners in the cabin above them...  😁

Then I am not sure what was going on.  Every single day starting at about 9 AM there would be a loud rumbling every couple of minutes and this went on all day.  Maybe it wasn't the karts but it was certainly something which was obnoxious.

 

I was curious how we managed to get a beverage package, free flight, and 3 nights of special dining so I started to look around and realized we paid 1500 per person and Princess offers the same cruise for 500.  Makes perfect sense now.  We most likely will not be back.  

[LaCal]

 

I We loved the Joy and all the Specialty restaurants.....Ate at Cagneys, Ocean Blue, Teppanyaki, La Cucina and Q ( at Q the beef brisket was the Best....Ribs just ok 

 

Only show we went to was Elements which we thought was good 

 

The Local was a great alternative to get breakfast or lunch at 

 

With having the Specialty dining pkg and 2 free specialty restaurants for being Platinum we never had to dine in the MDR and only went to the buffet twice for breakfast which great 

 

Used room service a few times and had the supreme pizza( really good) and the full breakfast Twice....came in handy when a little hungover 🍹😜🙈

 

We found all  the staff helpful, friendly and happy 

 

Drinks were excellent throughout the cruise and never slow 

 

Very few wait times w the elevators that I’ve read others complain about.....we seemed to always get one right away 

 

Had a mid ship balcony and it was fine but the bed def firm.....AC was perfect and bathroom great w glass enclosed shower 

 

 

We’ll def book the Joy again in the future if it falls under ports we want to see 

 

Also one day we decided to grab a lobster roll at the American Diner...Asked if it was one or two for the $12 and the waitress said it’s 2 per order....there was 3 of us so I said we’ll have 4 instead of saying we’ll have 2 orders......Well yup they brought out 4 orders total so we had 8 lobster rolls which are kinda small....they said they could take 2 orders back but we said that it was ok and my mistake the way I ordered it....also got 1 order of pulled pork sliders 

 

Well when they brought the bill they said the Chef said to comp us 2 of the lobster roll orders.....We thought that was very nice and a great extra touch  and saved $24 

Edited December 16, 2019 by LaCal

[Laszlo]

Thanks for your review. Yes, NCL "Freestyle" cruising is basically dead

[smithop]

On 12/14/2019 at 10:49 AM, oregonian123 said:

We are on the Joy now. We boarded on Dec 8. Everything is back to normal. The Savor and Taste and large and a good place for lunch and dinner. The Manhattan seemed crowded. The Staff has been great and they gave us free access to CruiseCritic.com.

That was a nice surprise. The extra protocol that they were doing for norovirus was lifted by the third day and they are back to normal service. Of course, they are still being very diligent about cleaning. 

We are enjoying the Joy, and it doesn't seem overly crowded, despite being such a large ship.  

 

Can you elaborate on the “free access to CruiseCritic.com”?
 

Did you purchase social internet and they added CC to what was allowed?

Did you have no internet package and they somehow gave you free internet for CC only?

 

TIA

[BoughtMyPoints]

2 hours ago, smithop said:

 

Can you elaborate on the “free access to CruiseCritic.com”?
 

Did you purchase social internet and they added CC to what was allowed?

Did you have no internet package and they somehow gave you free internet for CC only?

 

TIA

The option is in the Community Zone, along with ncl.com.   It was added mid way through our recent Thanksgiving cruise on the Pearl, so I assume fleetwide.

So you can now browse cruise critic for hours without charge.

Speaks volumes as to how much NCL is vested in the site.

Boarding Joy mid January for the inside Concierge experience!



 

[TampaGambler]

How did the tender work in Cabo? Any recommendations?

[hallux]

11 minutes ago, TampaGambler said:

How did the tender work in Cabo? Any recommendations?

I can comment on how it worked on the Bliss, which is a similar ship.  Get your tender reservation on embarkation day, using the touchscreens by the elevators or the TV in your room.  Hint - the first ones you see MAY not be the earliest available so keep scrolling.

 

On port day, make your way to the tender deck when the tender is called.  Do this however you want, I like to be near there (within a few decks, not waiting at the line) before they make the call.  It seemed as though they were loading tenders from both sides, near the forward stairs, with a tertiary platform further aft on the starboard side that I guess was set up for passengers with mobility issues.

 

Your room key is your "ticket", you won't get an envelope in your room with a paper ticket unless you have an excursion booked (then you get the excursion ticket).

[zonacruiser25]

Great info here.  We will be on Joy Jan 12.  We sailed on Bliss last month.  The only reason we booed Joy was the pricing for a balcony cabin was great.  DW said she can put up with alot if she just has a balcony to enjoy.  Sounds like many of the same issues from Bliss are on Joy.  Since I have seen many cruising after the noro, can you share your experience with boarding and disembarkation?  Seems like that has been a weak spot for NCL on the cruises we have been on.  This next cruise is likely to be our last NCL for some time to come.  We were not impressed by Bliss and sounds like Joy still has a hangover from being reconfigured from the Chinese market.  Glad to hear that we can sign up for tenders in Cabo as soon as we board the ship.  Since we have only 8 hours there it would be nice to get off the ship early rather than having to wait 4 hours to get on a tender.  We have rather low expectations for food and entertainment but we do hope to enjoy the cruise and just chill in areas more away from crowds.