A Never Haven-er....Still Doesn't Sail the Haven (Joy 6/11-6/18 Cruise)

[psuboater]

(Special Credit to @LrgPizza for the title, and her feedback! 🙂 )

 

Just unpacking from our week on the Joy. A bit of background-- my mom and I have been doing a yearly Mother/Daughter cruise since my college graduation in 2007, give or take a few years, for things like moving, my wedding, or a global pandemic, but this was our 13th cruise together, (20 or so overall), 3rd time on Norwegian, 2nd time on Joy.

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We were mainly Royal and Celebrity cruisers, reaching Diamond on RCL. We would take different Caribbean itineraries until trying out Bermuda on the Celebrity Summit in 2018. After that trip, I said "no need to look around, we're only doing Bermuda from here on out." My mom lives in NY, and I have to fly anyway from WA, so it works out well for both of us. We did the Summit again in 2019 and felt that it was slipping, and a little too boring for our taste. We decided to book the Encore for 2020 to try it out, but we know how that went. When cruising started again in 2022, we went back on the Summit and felt it had definitely slipped but was willing to give it another try in 2023.

 

In December, I saw a great deal for the Joy leaving out of LA for a 5 day Mexican Rivera cruise. My mom visiting on the West Coast during that time I figured it was a great chance to try NCL to see if it was worth the switch. 2 days into our cruise on the Joy, we cancelled our deposit and moved over to the Joy for Bermuda. We took it as a "dress rehearsal" for this week, and started doing research after February. While we had the luck to get snow from Ensenada to LA, the Vibe was not used much but we could tell it was something that was going to be a must have for Bermuda. Thanks to @Sthrngary's review of the Haven Lite, we took his advice, booked a Club Balcony suite on 15 Forward and did the P+ package and the Vibe.

 

So I was extremely nervous when after we booked this, the Vibe was all sold out, and reading things on here I thought it was now only sold online. I checked daily (and speaking to others, I wasn't the only one doing this!) Then I started to look into Haven upgrade bids, and even though I had max bids on some, looking at cabin availability dwindle meant that Haven wasn't happening.  I figured with 3 days in Bermuda, we could get some time in the sun without issue while everyone was off board, and was determined not to let it ruin my trip otherwise.

 

Our car ended up picking us 30 minutes earlier than planned and traffic into the city was light, so we checked in early and got Group 2 boarding.  As we sat down to get a drink at Mixx, I told my mom I'd go check Teppenaki for the fun of it to see if there were Vibe passes. To my surprise, there were! But not many. We grabbed two of the last 7 spots. The man running it told me they have 90 online as first come first serve (and can be booked a year+ in advance for most ships), and 60 for boarding day. If Vibe is important to you, then get boarding EARLY and do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to Teppenaki and shoot your shot. 

 

The Vibe made a HUGE difference in our time on the ship as we spent most of our afternoons there. Taking away the stress of not only finding a seat, but being able to leave your things without worrying, and meeting the same people every day made it a worthwhile experience. Every bartender up there went out of their way to make the experience great - even on the last day the winds were so bad only one half of the Vibe could be used. They moved whatever chairs they could to ensure everyone had a spot to enjoy the last sea day.

 

Boarding in NYC was a breeze - it was very organized, lines were short and we began boarding around 11:15. Disembarkation (which I'll get to later) was a whole other story.

 

Overall, we had a great week. 4400 were on board, less than February (and today's sailing which was at 4800!), but thanks to this board, we were able to beat the crowds. Some tips --

 

1) Embarkation -- while waiting for cabins to open up, if you need to get away from the crowds, head to the Oceanfront bars on Deck 8. The waiters say that most people don't even know the bars are there until midway during the week, so it's a great place to have space to sit, wait, and grab a drink. Most seats are sheltered so as long as the weather isn't horrible, it's a refuge.

 

2) Cabin -- we had a balcony 9 mid ship in Feb, and went for Club Balcony on 15 Forward. These rooms on 15 were great for several reasons. Where we mostly went was the Vibe and the Observation Lounge -- so elevators were less of a hassle knowing that we were only a few steps from the OL or a few flights for the Vibe. This helped with the elevator frustration. The floor also sits next to Suite and Haven cabins, so the room stewards are top touch. We had Jovito, who was the sweetest, kindest state attendant we probably ever had.  When we were on 9, we never saw our steward (which to us, was fine, we don't ask/need for much), but having Jovito on our room added that special touch like cruising in the "golden years." 15 is also the first deck after Haven that the rooms are available Day 1, so that was a bonus as well.

 

3) Dining -Upgrading to FAS+ really upgraded our time. We're not huge cocktail drinkers but love wine in the evening hours. Besides the lack of Veuve (only found in Le Bistro), I didn't see any differences in the wine selection from February. I drank Napa wine all week and loved every sip.  We did two nights in Le Bistro, one in Ocean Blue and one in La Cucina.  Le Bistro was phenomenal - the Dover Sole not to be missed. Ocean Blue was very good. La Cucina we were dissapointed in because we loved it so much in February, but it could have just been an off day - it was still a nice dinner. We ate 2 meals in Taste/Savor and 1 in the Manhattan Room. All were OK. The only grievance I have is that in the MR I asked for medium rare steak -- it came out closer to black/blue than medium rare -- even the end pieces were dark red, which was the first tip off. I asked for a different meal as it was too rare and she just replied "oh, you asked for medium rare." Not a big deal in the grand scheme of the week, but it was hard to go back to main dining after such great meals in the specialty restaurants. I think next year we'll get one or two more dining nights. They don't sell dining packages after Day 2, so you have to make your decision quickly.

 

4) Activities - we felt that activities were lacking, but that seems to be the case on all lines these days. Most trivia games are audience participation, which we don't prefer. The one trivia we went to was the same exact trivia we had in February, so we didn't go to many. The Not So Newlywed game is always a cruise classic favorite of mine, and it was a funny one - but no idea why this has to be done in the Atrium, especially when Footloose was cancelled all week. A better time for all would have been in the theater, as we had to stand and many people were lying on the floor.

 

5) Entertainment- we really liked Sticktight, the country band (and we're not huge country fans). I felt putting them in Q was a miss -- not many people were there either by thinking they had to dine to listen (you can listen at the bar), or never found Q. I would have loved them in the Brew House one night. The latin musicians in Sugarcane were also great. It was fun to listen to genres we don't necessarily have on our Spotify playlists. The one thing that was lacking was a good old traditional piano bar player. Beau was the piano man, but it seemed like he was a crew member filling in for entertainers. Most of the time it was just the soundtrack behind him. Beau really tried his best, but we couldn't go back after day 1. 

 

6) Bermuda - still is my favorite island that doesn't dissapoint every year. Last year the Clocktower Mall was half empty, still reeling from Covid. Happy to see the mall full again and business as usual. The locals are always so nice, so welcoming, and the natural beauty is unparallelled. With the wacky weather this week (very windy and pop up thunderstorms), we stayed closer to the port than we usually do, opting for shopping at the Clocktower one day, did a Catamaran the next and just stayed on the ship Friday.

 

The only issue we had was Disembarkation. My flight back to Seattle isn't until tomorrow, so we didn't need to get off early. We had Yellow Priority, which granted us access after self walk off. However, it was a mess of miscommunication. The public areas they told us we could sit in, we were told we couldn't sit. They directed us to the Manhattan room where people were waiting to get off, and we told them we didn't want to get off yet, but they told us to get/stay in line. We ended up standing for over an hour (I tried to get a chair for my mom to sit in and they told me no), and when we got down to the luggage they told us they weren't ready to give us luggage yet (which we figured, but we were pushed along...and out!). The nice woman at the port (working for 20 years) who had us in the holding area explained that we were 30 minutes late coming in this morning, but the overall stance of the cruise ship is just to move bodies out as fast as possible. We prefer the disembarkation of RCL/Celebrity - where each color tag has a designated spot to sit in (Theatre, dining room, etc), and then escorted out. Every person we tried to talk to had a different answer, and even the Cruise Director was saying we were not ready to self-disembark as we were going off the ship. LA was also a disaster, so I'm starting to think it's a NCL thing and not a port thing.

 

After reading through LrgPizza's review, the things that Haven could offer us that we didn't already have didn't interest us - like her, we're not the type that likes to be doted on (although no judgement if you do, it's just not our speed). The Club Balcony, FAS+,Vibe and Specialty dining, along with a few tricks and tips for beating the crowds, we felt we had an elevated experience at a fraction of the Haven cost. We booked again for the same week, next year....and yes, we already have our Vibe passes 🙂

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by psuboater

[vacation44]

Thank you for taking the time to report on your experience and thoughts.   Glad you both had a wonderful experience.

 

We have been on the Joy twice (both last year)--once in a Haven Suite and once in a regular suite with Vibe passes.   We had a bid in to upgrade to a Haven category the second time but then they started pre selling the passes and we cancelled our Haven bids.   We had a better experience the second time with the Vibe.