So my husband and I took our first cruise with our 20 year old and 17 year old and loved it. Thank you all for all the hints and help as we were planning.
cruise was NCL Joy from NYC to Bermuda in August
Detachable lanyards were a great purchase along with heavy duty hook magnets for the walls of the cabin
should have brought a hoodie and jeans, it got cold 2 nights, a pack of cards or board game for family, and more hair products (humidity wreaked havoc), my own shampoo, conditioner, and body wash ( no lather to the provided ones)
check in was a breeze, don't stress about it, we needed 2 out of 4 pics retaken and it still only took about 30 min from entering security line to having a boarding ticket in hand
be prepared for a lot of walking even on the boat, we did our best to avoid crowded elevators and walked on average 17-20000 steps a day, getting up to 53 flights of stairs some days (although my 20 year old son and I treated it like a competition) Hubby never topped 15
muster drill is just a scanning of your card at the area listed in the bottom of your room key after watching video at home.
if you have two rooms like we did and you want all the keys to open all the rooms, you need to go to guest services and get the cards set up that way
write down any dinner or show reservations you made from home on a convenient paper or phone note as you will go quickly to make reservations for comedy shows, any extra dinners, and race track and laser tag if interested. I figured we were good because it was all in the app, but we had a really difficult time with app at the beginning of the cruise. On the Joy the shows and activity reservations are made at the Social on Deck 6, and the restaurant reservations are made at Teppenyaki . The lines built up rather quickly.
If you want to have a sit down lunch, rather than buffet head over to taste and savor, earlier rather than later. We sat for lunch around 1:30, but I think it stops seating around 2.
Check out the observation deck on 15. They have tasty snacks between 2:30 and 5. you can use a clean cup and refill your water bottle you bring from home here ( It's worth it to stay hydrated in my opinion)
teen club first meet up is 9 pm first night. Send your teen, drag them if you must, they make friend groups that first night and hung out all cruise together. My 17 year old had a ball. They usually went somewhere other than the teen club (fyi if you have a younger teen and don't want them wandering until 1 AM)
go to the mojito bar, best bartenders, awesome drinks, we always gave a dollar or 2 on top of the prepaid gratuities for each drink. Everyone was truly so appreciative and friendly.
18-20 is kind of a strange age to cruise, my son went to the unhosted meet ups but no one there, so he hung with us and didn't seem to mind, he could come in bars and clubs and see the comedy shows which he thought were hysterical. 18-20 can have beer and wine if you sign off on it. He didn't want to but an option if you are interested
staff was amazing with food allergies, always asking, double checking on things, you can even preorder for the next day if you want, by seeing the maitre'd. My tree nut allergic son was able to have plenty of desserts, they would walkie talkie to the chef in buffet or head back to check in sit down restaurants
games in the atrium are really fun, deal or no deal cost money, the rest are free, seats go pretty fast. The atrium bar was one of the toughest in my opinion to get served at.
check the papers in your room upon check in, we had free bingo cards, photos, and casino money through our Costco booking
Beau Tahana at Brewhouse so much fun. Every entertainer we saw was awesome. Loved the comedy shows.
pool chairs do go super early, but we were always able to find some if we went up to a higher deck. Jogging track gets closed at 9 and they bring more chairs out
people do dress up a bit for dinner for the most part, sundresses, polo shirt
realize that you can't do everything the ship has to offer, we often found we wanted to do something when we had already had a reservation for dinner or an activity. (it's ok ...I like a reason to book another cruise)
Photographers on decks 6,7,8 between 6 and 9 or 10 pm. They will take a bunch of pics and variety of poses. Our Costco package gave us free flash drive and 100 free 8x10s.
check out the sunrise time in your freestyle daily, it was awesome to see
in hindsight I would have bought international plan for one phone in the family, for when we were in Bermuda. Bermuda had 3 hours free wifi, but it was very finicky. We are so used to having google at our fingertips and there were a few things I didn't remember and would have liked to look up. I also would have called for a reservation to the caves. Either that or take paper notes off the boat regarding buses and boats.
We were unsure of whether to take our passports off the boat. We only carried our room keys and licenses and had no problem, not sure of how it works in other locations besides Bermuda. I did have photocopies on me, in case the ones in the safe somehow went missing.
We used taxis, boats, local buses and shuttles. All were easy, friendly and helpful. Our taxi driver was like having a private tour guide. He said a lot of people book a taxi for 5 hours and get a tour of the whole island. We just used him to get to horseshoe bay.
Horseshoe bay was fantastic, sand never gets hot. Rentals available although we didn't bother because we just took towels from the boat and spent 90 %of our time in the ocean.
Starbucks line was never longer than 10 minutes on deck 6. Deck 15 line was usually shorter.
Swizzle inn had yummy food and drinks and was perfect for killing time while we waited for our cave time slot. We arrived at 10:15 on a day 2 ships in port. Our time assigned was 12:40, so we crossed the street for lunch and rum swizzles.
The buffet is mostly the same on both sides of the boat, but at the back of restaurant (front of boat) there is Indian food on port side and crepe station on starboard
speaking of port and starboard. Port and left both have 4 letters (that's facing front of boat) If you are confused there are fish on the rugs on cabin decks that swim towards the front. On main public space decks, check the pic of boat near elevators to see which way it is pointing.
getting on and off the ship in port of Bermuda was easy peasy
Elements show was cancelled for last show, book early if its a must do, so you have a back up if cancelled.
Disembarking was also a breeze. We did walk off. We got in line at 7:15 and were back home in Staten Island by 8:30
Employees made the cruise amazing for us. They were kind, friendly and helpful. Can't wait to cruise again. Hope this helps another first timer.
