NLC Joy Panama Canal - LA to Miami 2/24/23

Muckyduckway · March 10, 2023

We will be going on the same tour you did in Antigua, Guatemala. Do you remember what was in the tapas you were given with the beer?

Sailing12Away · March 11, 2023

11 hours ago, Muckyduckway said:

We will be going on the same tour you did in Antigua, Guatemala. Do you remember what was in the tapas you were given with the beer?

I'll have to look at the photos again to refresh my memory. The one paired with the stout was a mole over plantains. There was a fish ceviche, pulled pork something.... I'll fill in the gaps when we're home in ~14 hrs 😞

Lots more photos and stories to share, but for now I'll just put up the officer list I remembered to capture while waiting to go into Q for dinner.

Made a ton of new friends this trip, had a good time with old ones, and overall a great once in a lifetime bucket list vacation in the books. After getting back to reality time to start planning excursions for our upcoming Prima trip in September.

Muckyduckway · March 11, 2023

Thank you.

Loving the review, especially the cocktail pics!

Sailing12Away · March 11, 2023

Good morning from Miami. Celebrity was pulling away as we got in, and RCC is here with us now. Flight home today is at 11:30, so headed off the ship at 9 for our airport transfer.

Sailing12Away · March 11, 2023

7am is NOT the appropriate time for a life boat drill on disembarkation day.

Sailing12Away · March 12, 2023

Ok, so NCL really sh:t the bed this trip for embarkation/debarkation. Not going to relive the fiasco of embarkation in LA, but what the hell happened today in Miami? We had NCL booked flights with NCL transfers. Our flight was scheduled to leave Miami at 11:34, so earlier than I was expecting but figured it should be ok as the airport isn't far away and we had TSA pre check. Well....

A few nights before disembarking we were given orange bag tags since we had an airport transfer. Paperwork said our group would disembark approximately at 9am. Despite the early lifeboat drills and starboard side of the ship being off limits to folks as they did other safety drills, groups seemed to be getting called fairly quickly. So our orange group was called around 8:30.

We headed up to the Haven lounge to get them to at least jump us to the front of the line, and we were brought to the part where "gen pop" was waiting to get off. Maybe about a dozen people in front of us, and we all stood there for easily 15-20 mins. There was a backup at immigration/customs, so they stopped everyone from getting off right when we got there.

Finally got off the ship and to the luggage area around 9am, so I wasn't worried as we were still on schedule for our short trip to the airport and our 11am flight. Going through the customs area took about 30-40 mins, with hoards of people cutting the line by either using the porters to carry their 2 bags or by sneaking in with the handicap folks going through on the side.

The agent we saw didn't even ask us any questions until his neighbor did and it was almost as though he forgot he was supposed to confirm we had nothing to declare and weren't bringing in anything illegal. Guess we just look the part of a normal low risk traveler, or since they did facial recognition stuff maybe we flagged as pre-screened global entry folks.

Once outside with our bags the line for the airport transfer didn't look too bad - but it didn't move. At all. 20 mins later and we had made it to the end of the first turn, with another loop back towards the bus area to go before we could board.

So now it's 10am, our boarding starts in 40 mins, and we're not even close to being on a bus. Hubby hopped out of line to find an NCL rep - none to be found. He eventually walks back with a guy who says 'oh, you're going to Miami? I thought FLL. Yeah.... you're not getting on a Miami bound bus for at least another 2-3 busses'. Then he just walks away from us. Walks. Away. As I'm trying to explain our flight, that they booked us on, is boarding in 40 mins and we still need to get to the airport, drop off our bags, get through their security, and get to the boarding area.

So the angry NY'er comes out and every curse word in the book and a few new made up ones come flying out. Apologies to anyone who was in ear shot, but what the bloody hell was NCL thinking having folks on an 11am flight in the same color zone with folks that had flights through 2:30pm and not doing anything to help prioritize anyone when they saw they were falling behind and didn't have anywhere close to enough buses. Anyone who had a tour with airport transfer was prioritized and expedited. Those with just airport only had a single bus for Miami and a single bus for FLL.

Got off the line, had to walk behind the buses with everyone yelling at us not to - only there was no other way to walk. The front of the buses was blocked with seas of people and luggage and we needed to get the hell out of there. Took 20 mins to walk out of bus area and get to the taxi/ride share zone and get our Lyft to pick us up. Apparently there was a green tag that we should have been given for early morning flights which would have gotten us through that mess at least 30 mins earlier. Still doesn't excuse the lack of buses for the seas of people that needed them. It's not like NCL didn't know exactly how many transfers they had sold, so I don't get it.

Now it's 10:24 and we're in the Lyft on the way to Miami. Thankfully traffic gods were on our side as we got there pretty fast. But the line to drop off bags was long. I found an airport worker and said our flight was boarding in 10 mins and could they help us get to the front of the baggage drop line faster. He made an announcement for anyone on the 11:21 LGA flight and the 11:34 JFK flight (ours) and we got to at least expedite dropping our bags off.

10:54 and we were through security and at the boarding gate. Naturally, I was picked for a 'random' security check, so had to go through the body scanner thing. Then they didn't like my shoes and I had to take them off and send them through the regular scanner by itself. But we made it to the gate right as they were boarding the first class passengers (not us this trip). Stopped to catch our breath first, reorganize the passports and such, and then went on the plane with the comfort + folks. Sitting in our seats at 11:15. So there was no way possible we would have made the flight if we waited for the NCL transfer bus.

Flight there was with AA, flight home was Delta. I get free checked bags on Delta so that helped, and I think it was about $50 to put us in exit row seats. Tons of leg room for hubby, but the seats were narrrrrrrow. No moveable armrests, so I'm thankful it was a short flight for my fat behind and wide hips. No tv in those seats either, but midway through the flight we found one between the seats that pulled up from the bottom. Only plus was a free beer and several bags of chips they freely gave to us. The row we were in had a small jump seat for the flight attendant on the aisle, so we had some good chats with her during take-off/landing.

For our particular sailing there was a FB group as well, and folks in there said they had to wait in line for 3 hrs to get the transfer bus to the airport. So yeah.... I'll be writing a letter to NCL requesting a refund on our transfers as well as my cost for the Lyft at a minimum to compensate for having to do my own transportation in order to make my flight.

The flights themselves were fine, and at a cost of $250 total I have nothing to complain about. But the transfers both in LA and at Miami were a disaster and not worth the hassle, headache, and anxiety at all. We've already dropped our included transfers for the upcoming Iceland trip (they wanted $600 for those!!), but going forward I will unfortunately not be able to stand behind or ever support the use of NCL transfers for the cruise. I'm sure if we had just sat there and missed our flight that would have been an entirely new headache and much higher costs than the $22 Lyft fare.

Overall the trip was lovely, but when it starts and ends in disaster it definitely puts a bad taste in your mouth. We were finally home in NY around 3pm, and as we were leaving the house to run to UPS to pick up a package the dog sitter was actually walking down the street with our pooch. Pure luck, but it was good to get puppy kisses after having none for 2 weeks.

We just chowed down on take out chinese, hubby is already passed out, and I'm about to go nap with the pooch on the couch. But yeah.... NCL dropped the ball on this transfer mess big time. Tons of photos and stuff to come as I scan in the dailies and transfer photos from my camera & phone that I haven't uploaded yet. But it's good to be back home.

GALSews · March 12, 2023

Thanks for sharing your journey with us. So sorry to hear about your problems at the front and back.

Looking forward to seeing your photos.

Almost nothing better than puppy kisses. except granddaughter saying "Bubbe, I love you."

HBCcruiser · March 12, 2023

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

about. But the transfers both in LA and at Miami were a disaster and not worth the hassle, headache, and anxiety at all

Yeh my TA said not to use NCLs air or transfers, so we don’t. Uber/Lyft all the way. I am glad you had a great cruise with good weather! Your photos showed that good times were had by all. 🥂🐀🥂

Edited March 12, 2023 by HBCcruiser

PH2 · March 12, 2023

2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Finally got off the ship and to the luggage area around 9am, so I wasn't worried as we were still on schedule for our short trip to the airport and our 11am flight. Going through the customs area took about 30-40 mins, with hoards of people cutting the line by either using the porters to carry their 2 bags or by sneaking in with the handicap folks going through on the side.

The agent we saw didn't even ask us any questions until his neighbor did and it was almost as though he forgot he was supposed to confirm we had nothing to declare and weren't bringing in anything illegal. Guess we just look the part of a normal low risk traveler, or since they did facial recognition stuff maybe we flagged as pre-screened global entry folks.

Lurker here, new to cruising and saw your comment here about customs so I'm curious about how this is supposed to work. We cruised from Miami on Carnival about a month ago. When we disembarked, it took longer than expected (we sat in a room for about 45 minutes until they cleared the ship to start the process) but there was no customs at all. Nothing. They scanned our cards on the way off the ship, then after we got through the building into the large holding area to get outside, they had two lines - one for US citizens and one for everyone else - and they did the facial recognition thing as we walked outside and that was it. I thought we were heading to customs, but that was it, so we just hired a van to get to the airport. I'm not even sure we saw more than a couple people during that entire process who didn't work for Carnival, much less an actual customs process.

I take it that's not normal? We're cruising in September from Seattle on Celebrity and then NCL next January out of Miami again. I'm assuming that's just a lax Miami thing, so we should expect a more formal process in September?

Sailing12Away · March 12, 2023

8 hours ago, PH2 said:

Lurker here, new to cruising and saw your comment here about customs so I'm curious about how this is supposed to work. We cruised from Miami on Carnival about a month ago. When we disembarked, it took longer than expected (we sat in a room for about 45 minutes until they cleared the ship to start the process) but there was no customs at all. Nothing. They scanned our cards on the way off the ship, then after we got through the building into the large holding area to get outside, they had two lines - one for US citizens and one for everyone else - and they did the facial recognition thing as we walked outside and that was it. I thought we were heading to customs, but that was it, so we just hired a van to get to the airport. I'm not even sure we saw more than a couple people during that entire process who didn't work for Carnival, much less an actual customs process.

I take it that's not normal? We're cruising in September from Seattle on Celebrity and then NCL next January out of Miami again. I'm assuming that's just a lax Miami thing, so we should expect a more formal process in September?

The paperwork we had in our room indicated the process would be a full face to face inspection due to both the length of our trip, as well as some of the specific stops we made (most likely Columbia being the no no one they were concerned about).

It's normally a fast process where your keycard is scanned to say you're off the ship and that's all. Canada we had to go to the MDR and show our passports, but that seemed fast to me.

Customs wasn't really the issue on this trip, it was more the lack of buses to take folks where they paid to go once past customs.

JamesIowa · March 12, 2023

11 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

with hoards of people cutting the line by either using the porters to carry their 2 bags

That’s me lol. That’s my debark pro tip. Best $20-40 you can spend; those porters know exactly what they’re doing and how to expedite my egress!

Loved your report, tyvm. Will be on the Mia-la pc in Dec on bliss and can’t wait!

oteixeira · March 12, 2023

I was on this cruise as well (My wife and I were the aforementioned old friends on the cruise). We were unlucky enough to have to stand huddled in a line outside in the sideways rain in LA, it was the worst embark I have ever been involved with. Something was going on with the Port of LA workers because it makes no sense to move from tents to a real building to avoid having people outside only to then tell thousands of people to line up (around 2 full sides of the building and out through the parking lot) with no cover other then the side of a building. Not at all impressed with their work. As a result there were a TON of people on this cruise who ended up with the sniffles, colds, etc. Hopefully they are all pretty much recovered by now!

The cruise itself was great, although I did find out that my tolerance for eating way too much every day is about 11-12 days. It is crazy how full you feel even when you wake up after being on a cruise for more then a week. Highlights were the late nights with old and new friends and Rodney at the Haven lounge, the great shows, and of course the great (but far too much) food. The weather also worked out great other then the first day in LA. Tons of sun and heat, which I love. Some slightly not great things....I need to adjust my letter to the butler. Turns out sometimes they will bring you just the one or two examples of things you like every day, so we didn't get much variety this trip. When you get past about 10 days the Haven menu can get boring, and to supplement it they just brought up a "special" from the main dining room. IMHO, it would be much better to let the haven chef and his or her team just make a special like they used to do pre-covid. I remember getting things like food from the chef's home country, and those were some of the best things to eat.

Oh, before I forget, if anyone has a model ship of the Joy they are willing to part with, hit me up here in the thread and we can work out my purchasing it from you. Thanks!

Getting off was OK for us. We waited until they kicked us out, since our flight was 3PM. We waited 30 minutes to get through face to face customs, and then walked over to pick up and had a lyft in less then a minute. Smooth and easy to the airport. I honestly never use NCL transport, it started because I would rather be in a private car without the crowds, but stories like the one @Sailing12Awayjust shared reinforce why I do it.

oteixeira · March 12, 2023

Oh! Almost forgot, had the P+ drink package, it seems though Moet is still advertised on the site AND on the ship as included it is not. You have been warned. The crew onboard is JUST as confused as we are about how it works and what is included. I plan to detail this issue to NCL in my review. Hopefully they think this through and clean it up so people can look at a list and understand what they can order.

Edited March 12, 2023 by oteixeira

Sailing12Away · March 13, 2023

Letter drafted to NCL requesting a refund on our transfers and Lyft expenses, we'll see how that goes. But for now, some photos and videos from snorkeling in Grand Cayman. USS Kittiwake shipwreck and coral reefs right near where the cruise ship anchored.