OttawaJohn

Yes, we weren't sure if ti was a "Bermuda is a cheap cruise, let's party" crowd or not. We're not sure why we are shifting away. The food was as good as usual, standard hit or miss on certain things. I think it was a combination of the crowds and jostling for seats, only one of us being able to go at a time or we risk losing our chairs. Essentially, you don't eat together at a buffet, you eat in turns 🙂 I had wanted to do the tour, I'm a big naval history guy, so was bummed it was cancelled. Though I got great views of the Intrepid when we were docked next to it!

Interesting, hadn't thought of that. Though since I use twice as much, not sure it evens out 🙂

I don't, sorry. Though given how often things shifted around due to weather (events cancelled, rescheduled, moved, etc) it wasn't very accurate 🙂

Hi all I know it's far out but looking to see if anyone can give info on the weather. We're doing a cruise from San Fran to Hawaii and back at end of December and curious to the temperature. Not in San Fran or Hawaii but in between. Once we're a few days away from land, how is the weather in the Pacific that time of year? Just looking for general, not exact temperatures obviously 🙂 Thanks in advance!

Hi all Doing a cruise in December this year on the Crown Princess and curious if the pools are heated. Any info? Thanks in advance!

Quick note, we sailed on the Joy in December and loved it, so were glad to come back so soon! Being back on the same ship was interesting. Never sailed twice on the same one. We had the familiarity of a day 3 of the ship layout the moment we boarded. We flew into NYC on the 19th with the intent of seeing the sights before cruising. The weather was horrible sadly, a trend for the week. Still, had a mostly good time, weather, and hotel issues aside. Boarded on the 21st, which was fun. Seems either a storm or something else was at fault, never clarified but the ship was two hours late clearing customs. So lots of waiting to board. We didn't start Boarding general passengers till 1:15. We arrived for 11 but sorry for those there since 10! Which I don't get. Why allow people to choose to arrive that early if you know you won't be boarding them till noon or so regardless. It was very disorganized too. Apparently, passengers were queued up in an area they shouldn't be. Instead of sending someone to move them, they just kept asking over the speakers. Just go move them! And really starting to hate the Haven BS. They keep showing up and keep getting in while no other group is called. Though if I spent 2-3 times what a normal Balcony cost for the cruise, I guess I'd want to get on fast to! Once aboard, we noticed that restaurants, bars, buffet all seemed much busier than last time we were on board. Could be because of the rushed Boarding. It really seemed to be a very different crowd. Much more of a party animal and attitude and loud. People yelling, swearing, etc. Had a guy down the hall call someone a ***** and slam the door, storming off. Had a guy at Local screaming into his phone to his friends and dropping the n-word or a **** every second sentence. Seeing much more sexual stuff as well on the pool deck, people feeling each other up. We're not prudes but just never seen this before on a cruise. Its not out of control or anything but worse than any other cruise. Not a fan. Not sure if it's a Bermuda cruise thing, a NYC cruise thing or the time of year. Also a lot more smoking, we could smell it in many places, including weed. I saw people vaping while walking the corridors, and smoking on the balcony. Just, why? Once realized it was just a few balconies down and called them out on it, they said "sorry I'll put it out." Why? It's just so dangerous and inconsiderate. Our neighbors were annoying, loud all day and night. Finally had to go over and ask them to turn down the TV at 230am one night. Weather continued to be rainy all week, except the second day in Bermuda where it opened up and was gorgeous. Went to Horseshoe Bay and had a great time swimming. Felt bad for the others the other days, we were good to hang on the ship. First time ever heard a ships foghorn! I wonder how many excursions were cancelled. We cancelled the one we had, just did our own thing. The way they handle credit is so weird. Our cancelled excursion goes back as OBC. Ok, fine. But they can't return it to the card I used, instead they have to give me cash. Only $150 so not a big deal but what if it was like $800? Oddly there were a lot of medical alerts on the ship, I heard at least 4 through the cruise. Never heard that before. And the moment we finished docking in Bermuda, an ambulance sped to the ship. The cancelled port call in Norfolk before we left manifested in an annoying way. They really were going slow down to Bermuda, so there was almost no rocking of the ship. A shame, as the feel of the ship moving like that is always one of our favorite parts! The trip back they opened up though, so we enjoyed that. I'm not impressed with changes to housekeeping. Fire half the staff and double the rooms for everyone. Our steward was great though but really a BS management move on NCLs part. We really miss the turn down service, wish you could choose which you wanted. Honestly, I wish you could have an express clean of your room. Just garbage, bed, and towels. I don't need the floor vacuumed and doors washed. But I understand that would be more complicated probably. Soap and shampoo still suck. Toilet paper to. Just very cheap. Guess all good stuff goes to haven people probably. 🙂 Shows were very booked, especially the comedy. Again, higher privileges for Latitudes and Haven allow them to book before sailing, so we never even had a chance to book it. Was able to get into see Elements though, which was very cool. Some amazing stuff but some bits felt a little long. I loved watching their attitude to fire and how the moment the bit was done, someone was smothering the flames. Food was good as always. Not sure if age or something else but the buffet has lost all appeal. We greatly prefer sit down service. Had dinner at Teppanyaki for the first time in years- delicious and such a great show! Laughed at the dessert though, it was called "exotic fruit"... it was melons and strawberries! Turns out I had "exotic fruit" every morning for breakfast 🙂 A bit bummed that they aren't making ship magnets anymore. Shame, we loved collecting those. We have one for each cruise we've done till now. Going to go on Etsy and get a custom one made, I think. Stopped by the casino one night and was thrilled to see Goldfish. They are our favorite slots! Not seen them in years. And they were nice to us 🙂 I'm always surprised at the number of people who don't look at deck plans before booking their cruise. We spoke to several people complaining about noise from the venues, being right above the theatre or Cavern Club or under the pool deck. My main suggestion to people new to cruising is always to check your up and down. Be the middle of a cabin sandwich 🙂 The WiFi is really slow, timing out on most things. I need to decide if I want to use it for anything beyond email, and if so, I'll need to upgrade to better packages. As much as we have enjoyed the cruise, I don't think we will do it again. We miss the variety of ports, the rocking at night and don't love the different crowd we seem to have. Still, any cruise is a good one.

I was wondering, does the breakfast vary depending on region? If you're in the Med, would you have different breakfast options then elsewhere for example?

Thanks all for the info!

Really? Interesting. I've only done tours on the older ships, Pearl, Dawn, Jewel, etc. The Joy was the first newer class that had a tour offered on it. Wonder why the range.

Wow. I was someone who really liked the Behind the Scenes Tours, and did several of them. I've been bummed they've not been available on the last few cruises and was thrilled when I noticed they were back for our cruise in two weeks. Until I noticed the price! $175CAD, nearly twice what it was the last time I did one. Wow, I know it's been a bit and I don't think they liked doing them but this seems a bit high!

Thanks all!

Hi all We're doing the Hawaii cruise this year at Christmas, hitting Honolulu on Dec 28th. As it's the only port we are there late, we were hoping to attend a Luau but don't see one listed on the excursions list yet. Does anyone know if they typically have one? Thanks in advance.

Thanks all!

Hi We're cruising with NCL in May and I understand that there is a beach you can go to that is in the port area? I can't seem to find any detail on how far it is from the ship, if you need/can get a shuttle, etc. Can anyone point me to a resource or just provide info here? Thanks in advance

From NCL.com, click on My NCL and then My Account. I see mine listed there under My Coupons and Credits.

Thanks all for your responses. It seems to confirm what we thought.

Hi all My wife and I were talking to some friends of ours about differences in the cruise lines we've been on, and the sail away parties came up. We love the NCL sail away party, and wondered what other lines do them like that. Full on, with a DJ/entertainer, dancing, music, etc. I think Princess does but don't recall anything like it on Celebrity. Anyone know if Holland, MSC, Carnival, etc do events like that? Thanks in advance!

Everyone will have their own views obviously, but we love Cagneys, especially the pork chop. Only ate at Ocean Blue once but it was delicious. Personally, we found the food at Le Bistro too rich for our tastes.

That's rather harsh. By that logic, people who've not cruised that much shouldn't even be on these forums posting, since they've not cruised enough to have value to their comments. I understand you may have meant specifically about comments about the comparisons between lines, but even then, people should feel welcome to comment on their experiences, regardless of if they are a new cruiser or have had the privilege of going a dozen times.

My wife and I didn't love our Celebrity cruise, but are going to try it again. We are very happy with NCL. I'd use the word 'refined' for Celeb. It did all seem next level, but somehow it wasn't us. A small example, the sailaway party on NCL is just fun. Celeb didn't seem to do something similar. NCL, fun. Celeb, refined. Just my thoughts.

That's how it started for me to, I noticed a few days before the email that there was nothing for Norfolk, just Bermuda on the excursions page.

Thanks, that's what I thought actually, I thought it was just NYC-Bermuda-NYC but hadn't looked into it yet.

So just got this email. On behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), we thank you for your loyalty and for making us your vacation of choice. We have important information regarding Norwegian Joy's sailings from May 21, 2023, through and including June 18, 2023. We ask Travel Partners to share this information with impacted guests. Our company is committed to driving a positive impact on society and the environment. As part of our global sustainability program, Sail & Sustain, we are continually seeking opportunities to reduce our overall carbon footprint, and recently committed to pursuing net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our operations and value chain by 2050. To support this mission, we have optimized our arrival and departure times. We appreciate your understanding and support on this important sustainability initiative. Basically it's two at sea days now after leaving NYC, not Norfolk and one at sea on the way down. Shame, was looking forward to checking out Virginia.

We just got off the Joy and had specialty dining package. There was an upcharge at Cagney's for my wife when she got the surf and turf, due to the lobster addition.

For those wondering how much we liked it, well we just booked it again. We loved it so much we are cancelling our May cruise with RCC and booking on the Joy again for Bermuda.