quillwercruisers

Don't mean to sound rude or anything, but are you sure you are going out of Colon? I did a search on NCL for the Joy, and came up with this: This goes out of the Fuerte Amador port which is on the Western side of the canal and then does a full transit. I may have searched wrong, but with the filters of "Joy" and "Panama City, Panama" which was the only choice for Panama and cruises with say Panama City whether it departs Colon or Fuerte Amador, I only came up with the one cruise leaving 6 Dec 23.

For the Free At Sea package, you will pay the gratuities at the time of purchase. It covers drinks up to $15. If the drink you order is above that amount, then you would pay the difference plus 20% of that difference. For example if the drink cost $16, then you would pay $1.20. Also, if you are in port you may have to pay taxes on the drinks you get while in port.

LOL.. Probably right. It was one that was already booked, it just helped pay for upgrades. 🙂 That was our thought too.

Yep, I do too. Money ended up going towards another cruise.. 😃

I don't know why they cancelled it. PCC said computer showed that we were no shows even though we were actually onboard the ship (it was the 2nd leg of our B2B). We charged things to our onboard account that week, and paid for those charges at the end of our cruse. They cancelled us out 5 days into that leg of the cruise. We didn't get all of the money back, but got about $1600 back.

We did a B2B at the end of October. Account was kept open, however we did have an issue with the key cards the first night of the 2nd leg had to get new ones. When we got home and didn't get our latitude points for the 2nd leg I called our PCC for her to find out why. Come to find out that they had canceled the 2nd leg 2 nights before we were supposed to get off the ship. They credited back FAS gratuities, port fees, etc totaling almost $1600. We won't get the points, but I'll take the refund.

About 20 days prior to the 1st leg. They gave us a refund and a $50 OBC for our cabin.

Special occasions. That area is usually where the crew can hang out.

We were on the Bliss in October of this year, and I would say the atmosphere is a little of both. There were those that hung out at the bar and were a little on the party side, and those that just hung out on the lounges and didn't really participate with the party side. The first day we went in, there had been music, and I think that it really set the tone for having a good time. After that, there was music a couple of days, but not every day, so I don't know if someone complained or not. I think the bartenders have a lot to do with the "vibe" of the Vibe as well. We were on a B2B and had purchased the Vibe for the 2nd leg, however a group chartered it out for that leg so we weren't allowed to go in. We went up to the bar that was just outside the Vibe and was able to see and talk to the bartenders (who were really great guys) from the Vibe, but it just wasn't the same and we were bummed that we couldn't spend our 2nd leg in there. I don't know if it is true or not, but I have seen posted on these boards that you could purchase the access ahead of time, and then if you did not like it the first day you could go to guest services and get a refund. Again, I don't know how true that is. Have a great cruise either way.

Water is starting to go down:

Going to watch you go through the last lock on the webcam. Hope you're enjoying the cruise.

We won't be sailing until March, but I will definitely post back here what happens. Thanks again.

6. Internet: I had Unlimited Streaming which was an upgrade to the “Free at Sea PLUS” program which just comes with Unlimited not streaming. It is a cruise ship so the internet even at its best is average. The hardest part is when you only have one internet program and two folks in the cabin that want to use it. You must figure out how to put it on your device. Apple Phones you got to the NCL App and your account then internet. On your Microsoft computer you go to Chrome for some reason and put it in a website. Apple computers just go on and go to any website. It takes a couple of times to get used to it. I rate this as a 3.5 out of 5. Hi Gary, Quick question on the internet. Without the upgrade to Unlimited Steaming, just the "Free at Sea Plus", are you saying that only one person can use the internet at a time? I was under the impression that since both had to pay for the FAS Plus that both would get it. Thanks in advance, and I love reading your stuff.