Joy revitalization speculation

[Pitzel]

The Joy will be heading to a 5-6 week dry dock for “revitalization” next January- February. I have been super curious as to what updates she will get (beyond mechanical fixes and upgrades). 

So, any speculations about what will change? 

 

[hallux]

There was a lot done to her in 2019 to convert from designed-for-Asia to use in the US.  I'm not sure there's a lot they need to do.

[Red-Sol]

1 hour ago, Pitzel said:

The Joy will be heading to a 5-6 week dry dock for “revitalization” next January- February. I have been super curious as to what updates she will get (beyond mechanical fixes and upgrades). 

So, any speculations about what will change? 

 

 

If possible they might want to add a thermal suite.

[Pitzel]

1 hour ago, Red-Sol said:

 

If possible they might want to add a thermal suite.

Ooh! That’s a great suggestion. I wonder where that might fit on the ship. 

[unionhall]

We were just on the Joy and had dinner with an officer. Some of the changes they told us were The Galaxy arcade is going to be a thermal spa and they are adding 24 cabins to part of the observation lounge. I really liked all the space that was in the lounge but I guess they need to up the revenue. They also talked about the changes the Joy went through when it came back from sailing in China. There used to be a lot of high end stores on it, three casinos, the Social was a casino and there was real Bermuda grass on the pool deck and a live tree in the middle of the deck. The brew house was a tea room.Another really interesting story was none of the cabins end with the number 4 because in Asia it is considered unlucky. Even in the theater the seat numbers skip over 4. 

[shof515]

its disappointing that cruise lines is reducing public space on a ship and then adding in new cabin. Ships was never designed for these additional people and will make ship feel more crowded

[BirdTravels]

They spent $50 to remove cabins to create the observation lounge. They probably removed 24 cabins and the concierge lounge to build the OL. And replace the tea rooms and even replace the seafood buffet. 

 

The ship was certainly designed for more cabins. 

Edited June 3, 2023 by BirdTravels

[vacation44]

9 minutes ago, unionhall said:

We were just on the Joy and had dinner with an officer. Some of the changes they told us were The Galaxy arcade is going to be a thermal spa and they are adding 24 cabins to part of the observation lounge. I really liked all the space that was in the lounge but I guess they need to up the revenue. They also talked about the changes the Joy went through when it came back from sailing in China. There used to be a lot of high end stores on it, three casinos, the Social was a casino and there was real Bermuda grass on the pool deck and a live tree in the middle of the deck. The brew house was a tea room.Another really interesting story was none of the cabins end with the number 4 because in Asia it is considered unlucky. Even in the theater the seat numbers skip over 4. 

Very disappointing if they change the observation lounge to add more cabins.

[Sand and Seas]

The Galaxy arcade does take up a lot of space, but not sure how much room that will give them for a thermal spa🤔   I certainly won't miss the arcade!

 

It does have a lovely & spacious Observation Lounge that we will enjoy again this October before the changes.

[Pitzel]

1 hour ago, unionhall said:

We were just on the Joy and had dinner with an officer. Some of the changes they told us were The Galaxy arcade is going to be a thermal spa and they are adding 24 cabins to part of the observation lounge. I really liked all the space that was in the lounge but I guess they need to up the revenue. They also talked about the changes the Joy went through when it came back from sailing in China. There used to be a lot of high end stores on it, three casinos, the Social was a casino and there was real Bermuda grass on the pool deck and a live tree in the middle of the deck. The brew house was a tea room.Another really interesting story was none of the cabins end with the number 4 because in Asia it is considered unlucky. Even in the theater the seat numbers skip over 4. 

Thank you! This is great information.

 

The Joy currently doesn't have any studio cabins. I wonder if the new cabins will include any single-occupancy rooms? 

[insidecabin]

9 hours ago, Pitzel said:

The Joy will be heading to a 5-6 week dry dock for “revitalization” next January- February. I have been super curious as to what updates she will get (beyond mechanical fixes and upgrades). 

So, any speculations about what will change? 

 

The current scheduled TA

Miami<->Southampton

 

11-21 Jan 10-day

13-24 Feb 11-day

 

22 day gap and need time to get to yard doing the work

 

Cheap cruises no ports.

 

Some work could be done during the crossings.

 

 

 

[hallux]

7 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

The Galaxy arcade does take up a lot of space, but not sure how much room that will give them for a thermal spa🤔 

Look at the Bliss, a nearly identical ship.  The shape of the venue would be mirrored but the Bliss has the spa and thermal spa in the space currently occupied by the spa and GP on the Joy.

 

I'm also disappointed to hear of removal of OL space in favor of more cabins, but I have to wonder if part of that decision is that this ship never sails Alaska so the OL isn't as critical of a venue for the region where she normally sails...

[dbdb]

Observation lounge was a fan favorite on our recent cruise. It seemed to have a good amount of traffic also. Nice to have a quiet space with snacks and Starbucks. Would be a shame to lose it.

[Mandalay5]

11 hours ago, unionhall said:

We were just on the Joy and had dinner with an officer. Some of the changes they told us were The Galaxy arcade is going to be a thermal spa and they are adding 24 cabins to part of the observation lounge. I really liked all the space that was in the lounge but I guess they need to up the revenue. They also talked about the changes the Joy went through when it came back from sailing in China. There used to be a lot of high end stores on it, three casinos, the Social was a casino and there was real Bermuda grass on the pool deck and a live tree in the middle of the deck. The brew house was a tea room.Another really interesting story was none of the cabins end with the number 4 because in Asia it is considered unlucky. Even in the theater the seat numbers skip over 4. 

Wonder if maybe the Haven will lose their observation lounge to add more Haven rooms? To me, that makes more sense than removing the regular observation lounge.

[Pitzel]

6 hours ago, insidecabin said:

The current scheduled TA

Miami<->Southampton

 

11-21 Jan 10-day

13-24 Feb 11-day

 

22 day gap and need time to get to yard doing the work

 

Cheap cruises no ports.

 

Some work could be done during the crossings.

 

 

 

Oh, interesting. I didn’t realize that they were doing the dry dock in Europe. What I had read gave me the impression that they can cancelled a number of cruises and we’re going to dry dock in the Bahamas. I didn’t know that they added in 2 transatlantic crossings. 
 

I agree, though. It is likely that they will close certain spaces during those crossings to start/finish the interior work that doesn’t need to be done in dock/port. 

[Pitzel]

3 hours ago, hallux said:

 

 

I'm also disappointed to hear of removal of OL space in favor of more cabins, but I have to wonder if part of that decision is that this ship never sails Alaska so the OL isn't as critical of a venue for the region where she normally sails...

The Joy is scheduled to sail Alaska in 2025, so that isn’t the case. 
 

I was able to find photos of the Joy when she was sailing originally in China and there were cabins on the 15th deck where part of the OL is now. It doesn’t look like they would need to get rid of all of it. They would just take back the areas that were previously cabins. 

[spencercoop]

Does anyone have a copy of the original deck plans?

[vacation44]

6 minutes ago, Pitzel said:

The Joy is scheduled to sail Alaska in 2025, so that isn’t the case. 
 

I was able to find photos of the Joy when she was sailing originally in China and there were cabins on the 15th deck where part of the OL is now. It doesn’t look like they would need to get rid of all of it. They would just take back the areas that were previously cabins. 

Interested in seeing the old photos of the observation lounge but cannot find them.  Can you post them?

[unionhall]

The officer did say that they had removed cabins from the observation lounge when it came from the China market. If you’re booked for 2023 Canada/New England cruises you will still have that spacious lounge so enjoy it. We did two sailings on the Prima this year. One was the western Caribbean and the other was Bermuda. On both those cruises we found the Observation lounge too small. It was often hard to get seating for four people together.I am not a fan of the Prima except for the cabins, Deck 8, and Indulge Food Hall. I think NCL should never take that ship to cold destinations. It should be in warm weather climates so everyone can enjoy the  beautiful outdoor space. Just fix that black stuff that falls on the furniture. I don’t know what it is. My favorite observation lounge is on the Bliss. 

[insidecabin]

20 minutes ago, Pitzel said:

Oh, interesting. I didn’t realize that they were doing the dry dock in Europe. What I had read gave me the impression that they can cancelled a number of cruises and we’re going to dry dock in the Bahamas. I didn’t know that they added in 2 transatlantic crossings. 
 

I agree, though. It is likely that they will close certain spaces during those crossings to start/finish the interior work that doesn’t need to be done in dock/port. 

Great opportunity to cruise both ways and have 3 weeks in Europe no fly.

 

just gets a bit cold.

Edited June 3, 2023 by insidecabin

[hallux]

1 hour ago, Pitzel said:

The Joy is scheduled to sail Alaska in 2025, so that isn’t the case.

wow, so they're adding a 3rd BA+ ship for Alaska...

[Sand and Seas]

2 hours ago, Mandalay5 said:

Wonder if maybe the Haven will lose their observation lounge to add more Haven rooms? To me, that makes more sense than removing the regular observation lounge.

We really loved the two level Horizon Haven lounge on the Bliss to Alaska.  Super roomy, but yes- a lot of premium space available there.    Missed that on our Getaway Haven cruise.

[Pitzel]

1 hour ago, vacation44 said:

Interested in seeing the old photos of the observation lounge but cannot find them.  Can you post them?

These were some of the best photos that I could find. The original cabins on deck 15 are circled in red.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Pitzel

[vacation44]

2 hours ago, Pitzel said:

These were some of the best photos that I could find. The original cabins on deck 15 are circled in red.

Thank you!   I really, really hope this does not happen.   

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, Mandalay5 said:

Wonder if maybe the Haven will lose their observation lounge to add more Haven rooms? To me, that makes more sense than removing the regular observation lounge.

They Joy has way too many Haven rooms for the facility since they reclassified the regular suites to Haven.