Anyone Booked the Joy?

Since the Joy is now selling on the US sites, has anyone actually booked? Very limited itineraries and availability. Need someone to translate the deck plans!

 

https://www.ncl.com/vacations/norwegian-joy-?ships=4294945751

Since the Joy is now selling on the US sites, has anyone actually booked? Very limited itineraries and availability. Need someone to translate the deck plans!

 

https://www.ncl.com/vacations/norwegian-joy-?ships=4294945751

 

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Edited May 9, 2017 by Son of a son of a ...
typo

It seems odd NCL is offering six itineraries with one cruise each, all with only balcony and minis available. Even though Joy's front page on the NCL site says bookings are through through their Chinese Travel Partners, I was able to fully get to the point of booking online.

Interesting... but the cynic in me believes that they saved a few staterooms in 2 categories on a handful of cruises for a specific reason.....not for our enjoyment. :rolleyes:

...not for our enjoyment.

 

Who knows how the Chinese bookings are going. Perhaps they are testing the non-asian cruise markets for interest.

Just went on the visacentral.com site and found that a tourist visa for USA citizens is not required for Hong Kong, but a tourist visa for the rest of China is $279 including fees if you are willing to wait more than 8 days.

Just ... found that a tourist visa for USA citizens is not required for Hong Kong, but ... for the rest of China is $279 including fees if you are willing to wait more than 8 days.

USA passport holders has not been needing a visitor's visa to Hong Kong or Macau for decades, nothing changed since 1997. Visa for visitors to mainland China has always been required - you can apply yourself at the nearest Chinese consulate office or embassy for your region, a 10 years multiple entry visa can be requested - fees are the same as a single or double entry visa, it's about $140 or $150 for 3 days turnaround service, more for rush or urgent same/next day pickup. The difference is the "service fees" by the agencies - many established T/A specializing in mainland China tours will do this for a nominal fee - we paid $50 per visa application fee from ours recently & their own "messenger/courier" staff took care of the rest.

 

Since the Joy is now selling ... Need someone to translate the deck plans!

That would be NCL's basic duties to do it, should they try to sell to the "foreigner's market" ... no ? Just kidding - and, you do know that the primary language spoken onboard, including the crew is going to be Mandarin (Chinese) & I assumed ... the Freestyle Dailies & other handouts.

 

Even established TA based in Hong Kong are advising their prospective customers to book other ships & not recommending the Joy ... in part, differences in culture & expectations.

 

Let me try to summarize what I read & understood about the Joy's deck plans. Splash Academy or equivalent is down on deck 5. Decks 6-7-8 are very similar to the *Away ships, with far ... far more retail spaces dedicated to high-end, designer-brand duty-free shopping. Specialty restaurants are "smaller" in sizes and even the MDR appeared to be smaller, as more variety of "choices" are offered $$ (priced in U.S. dollars ... that can be quite pricey for this new market. Even the Garden Cafe equivalent seemed smaller on deck 16 and it's FWD, not AFT. Of course, the casino has been expanded.

 

Otherwise, if you click thru the decks, the rest is fairly simple to figure out with the pictorial drawings. Anything specific that you are trying to figure out.

 

Interesting... but the cynic in me believes that they saved a few staterooms in 2 categories on a handful of cruises for a specific reason.....not for our enjoyment. :rolleyes:

Or, that their mainland travel partners are releasing some of the excess & unlikely to be sold inventory as it get closer for the oversea markets to try to fill. It would not look good for the ship to be sailing on its inaugural season with less than full bookings.

Or, that their mainland travel partners are releasing some of the excess & unlikely to be sold inventory as it get closer for the oversea markets to try to fill. It would not look good for the ship to be sailing on its inaugural season with less than full bookings.

According to FDR (I know, not the best source), bookings for Joy are very strong. That was part of the reason that Breakaway Plus #4 is also going to China. I see no reason why balcony/mini-suites wouldn't sell like the other staterooms.

 

 

Again, it's interesting and could be a good thing but.....something seems fishy.

Possibly to give Western markets a go at sailing with their Asian families, or a "yes anyone can book the Joy" statement by NCL for whatever reasons.. couldn't think of anything else with such a limited range of staterooms.

 

Or... maybe they are still finishing the Haven heh!

Interesting... but the cynic in me believes that they saved a few staterooms in 2 categories on a handful of cruises for a specific reason.....not for our enjoyment. :rolleyes:

 

I think that contrary to the claims of excellent sales, they have projected that they won't sell out these cruises with purely their Chinese market and have now opened it up to try and get the rooms sold. Several of these were specifically cruises to Japan, which may be a "less good" seller to the Chinese. Just speculation.

I wonder if this could be the reason why they open some of these booking to USA guests:

https://skift.com/2017/05/10/norwegian-cruise-line-is-getting-a-rocky-start-in-china/

Anyone able to book Joy on the UK/EU sites? It doesn't seem possible. All inclusive conflict?

Here is a link that was posted by Steamboats in the Joy thread. It has hundreds of pictures of the Joy.

 

https://www.cruisetricks.de/bilder/Norwegian-Joy/

 

 

Linda