Dorhead1230

Thanks for your review. We’ve been to Bermuda several times, but not since 2019, so I’m so excited to get back there in 2 weeks. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. I’ve been seeing a definite pattern of comments about the cabins being ready pretty late. I know someone on another thread mentioned where carry-on bags can be dropped if cabins are taking a while…do you recall hearing/seeing where that is? If we just park ourselves somewhere I won’t worry about it, but if we want to walk around a lot after lunch I may want to drop off the carry-ons. Now I’ll just sit and wait until it’s suitably close to the cruise to start my live-ish review lol (or as live as the crummy ship’s wi-fi will allow!).

One person on a social media site I shall not name said they already got their inside to balcony upgrade for our 7/9 sailing. Several others said they’ve heard nothing yet.

Thanks! I knew I had seen reports of this. Just hoping there’s some consistency across the fleet (might as well hope to wake up with a million dollars under my pillow 😂).

Oh boy! So it’s just the NCL-normal anybody’s guess lol. Always anxiety-inducing for planners like me 🤪

Yup; I know the website T&Cs. Thing is people have posted photos on here (threads I’d never be able to find again) I believe of the new vouchers stating different info, being good at any specialty, and being good for the same 4-course meal as the FAS. Since we all know how timely NCL always is at keeping their site updated, I’d like to see if anyone can confirm the reality from recent onboard experience. Because of course it’s also always possible that NCL made a temporary change and then went back to the old way again, as well.

I was just coming on here to ask another Platinum dining voucher question so since it is closely related, I hope you don’t mind @Chesneygirl if I piggyback it in this thread. I know that, officially, Latitudes vouchers are now supposed to receive the same 4-course meal as the FAS dinners. However, I’ve seen varying reports here on CC of people being told otherwise (that it is the 3-course meal). Can people who have sailed recently (especially the Joy) confirm that they are able to order 4 courses on the Platinum vouchers? Just trying to finalize plans of what we’re using where! Thanks in advance!

Does FR take reservations once onboard? Our last time at a FR was 2019 on Escape and I can’t remember if we had to make a reservation. My mom loves FR and is excited that Joy has one, so I just want to make sure to make a reservation right away when we board if necessary so we won’t miss out on going there. Aren’t they usually open for lunch and dinner in the summer when the ship is crowded? Or is it dinner only since Covid?

Good to know the Pellegrino is widely available if I’m really in the mood! Not at all worth it for us to upgrade to Premium Plus (sometimes I question whether we really get our money’s worth from the regular beverage package), but I guess I never paid attention to other water options because we always sail through Casinos at Sea and stock up on the regular bottled (now boxed) water for our cabin from the casino bar where it’s free for us.

Out of curiosity, is that at specific restaurants/bars, or anywhere on the ship? I enjoy Pellegrino (not that I really think I’ll pay the extra for it), and I can’t specifically recall seeing people drinking it onboard (and I’ve done 10 NCL cruises so this is a real lack of observation skills lol).

Did you know that you can order just cartons of water for way cheaper than a beverage package upgrade? There are no bottles of water on the ships; they are cartons of what NCL calls Flow water. You can get 6, 12, or 24 delivered to your cabin for $23.94, $41.94, or $59.94, respectively. If you really aren’t going to drink any other pricey stuff that’s included on the premium plus, you may make out much better with a water-only purchase.

I know; that’s why the quotes around “paying.” I’m a gambler and visit Atlantic City and Mohegan Sun often and we sail CAS, so I always know when free isn’t quite free 😅. I was just wondering if the crew’s view is since people aren’t forking over extra cash onboard, then why not recommend the choice that isn’t quite the best and unload it? Lol I swear I am not an actual conspiracy theorist. It would be a way for them to get rid of some less-than-stellar steak and as DrUrsula noted most people probably won’t send it back so… At any rate, food is always so subjective that any crew member’s recommendation could fall flat with some, or like with the man at the next table from you, something the crew member doesn’t care for could go over well with some guests. First-world problem if there ever was one, anyway—I’ll take Cagney’s steak conundrums any day if I’m lucky enough to be on a cruise! 😎

Great idea to ask this but, and I know this is going to sound facetious but I’m really not being snarky…do you think they’d sometimes just recommend whatever they’re trying to unload/have too much of/isn’t that great just because they know we’re not “paying” for it anyway? Either way, I think I may try your method in a few weeks on the Joy. I’m going to go construct my foil hat now 👀😅

I’m not sure if you are asking just out of curiosity or if you’re concerned with either getting on the ship as quickly as possible or waiting as little as possible. If you’re trying to be among the first onboard, you should arrive early (when the terminal opens), and plan to sit and wait for maybe a couple hours after you do security and check-in. If you’d like to wait as little as possible, arrive late and you’ll breeze through everything and straight onto the ship. In February, we got there pretty late for our Getaway check-in (not on purpose; we had just moved and we were a hot mess lol). It must have been 1:00-1:30 when we parked because when we got out of our car I could hear the announcement from the ship that the cabins were ready already. We walked straight through everything, though—no line anywhere and right onto the ship once we checked in.

Just a couple weeks ago, I sliced up a watermelon and grilled it a bit, and then cubed it and topped it with feta, fresh basil (not a fan of chopped fresh mint on many things) and balsamic glaze…oh lord, it was so good! Attaching non-NCL food porn photo lol.

Thank you for starting such a positive thread! 😀 For me, definitely being on the ocean. I love visiting new places, but my happiest and most peaceful moments of cruising are when there’s no land in sight. Also, we have everything we enjoy in one place without having to run around/drive around/seek transportation—a casino, restaurants, shows/activities, areas to lounge and relax, etc.

We had this promo for our February cruise (we won’t for our upcoming July cruise). For the February cruise, when logged into the NCL app, under My Plans where it shows all your included amenities, it did specifically list the 6 cartons of water per person. So, you may want to take a peek there.

Thank you so much! I’m such a ditz…I’ve looked at that info on the NCL site before and forgot it says a height for the Galaxy Pavilion. Did you guys try anything in there when you went? I can’t remember from your review?

If you don’t mind me piggybacking on the thread, I had a couple size questions about the Joy, as well. The little man is 4, but tall at over 42” and is around 41 lbs. now. I know the slides and go karts are out of the question, and he has grudgingly accepted this (DH is a car guy and LM, who is following in daddy’s footsteps, is pissed he can’t do go karts lol). My questions are: do the Galaxy Pavilion attractions require guests to be a certain size? And, the laser tag just says the person must be able to hold the equipment…anyone know how heavy/cumbersome it is? He really wants to try it. Thanks in advance for any info!

Someone else also mentioned this dish, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the pork belly entree. It was a really nice mix of flavors and textures. The pork was crisped nicely and the sauce had a nice sweetness but wasn’t overboard. The slaw had some type of crispy noodles or something mixed in that gave it a nice crunch and texture and it wasn’t overdressed. And the sweet potato mash was a nice complement to the pork, as well. Incidentally, that same night, I also tried the MDR carrot cake and was pleasantly surprised by that, too. Most of the NCL desserts fall on a scale somewhere from ick to meh for me (except a few of my tried-and-true favorites), but that carrot cake was good (and not the same as the O’Sheehan’s/Local one or any of the weird cakes they have in the buffet).

Sorry if this was answered earlier in the thread as it’s gotten quite long now and I may have missed it, but how much is a glass of this Pommery? I’m wondering how much the supplement is on the regular drink package. We don’t bother upgrading to premium as it’s not worth it for us, and I don’t generally order champagne, but with you all saying how good this Pommery is, maybe I’ll try some for my next sail-away!

Aw, I’m sorry that happened to you! I don’t see how NCL doesn’t fix it. There’s all these cabins on the Joy plans labeled Privasea that clearly aren’t based on outside views of the ship and past guests saying they are not obstructed balconies, and now also this issue.

The deck plan at that link is an exact copy of NCL’s, which is my whole point—I think it’s mistaken based on a couple things I’ve seen online. That picture, though, although it’s tiny and crummy, does also make it look like an angled. There wouldn’t be all that space to the right of the chair if it was regular. So that’s actually another picture that makes me think the couple other photos/reviews I’ve seen are correct—thank you! I was really hoping to strike gold here and find a recent Joy cruiser who had 10342 or 10942 who could confirm they had an angled balcony, but I know that’s a long shot!

Thanks! Yes, that’s the photo I found. But since I’m a nervous nelly 🤪 I started convincing myself maybe that was inaccurate or mislabeled on that site. I guess I’ll have to believe in the photos and hope for the best! You would think NCL would fix their deck plans, though.

Lol, yeah, our beaches are more like rocks bordering water with some sand sprinkled in between 😂

Ok, so did I screw up? We initially booked Joy cabins 10946 and 10948 because NCL’s deck plan shows 10946 to be angled. I was messing around a few days ago and Googled the cabin numbers and found a post here on CC from several months ago, including a photo, indicating that NCL’s deck plan is wrong and 10942 is actually the angled balcony. I found one other review online that indicated the same. Not hard to believe as the Joy deck plan also has a bunch of cabins labeled “Privasea” that aren’t actually. I initially figured we were SOL as we’re weeks past final payment and the fare for our sailing has actually increased. But I was kind of bummed about it, so I did a mock booking and learned that while 10942 was not available 10342 (opposite cabin from 10942) and 10340 were available. I searched 10342 and found a photo that shows it is indeed also angled (so, also wrong on the deck plan). I decided to email our Casinos at Sea rep and ask if we could be moved (DH was fully comped, but I was only discounted so I was hoping the casino could move us without us paying the difference to the new fare). Lo and behold, CAS came through and we now have 10340 and 10342. But I’m a worrier and now I’m thinking I only saw one or two photos purporting to be the angled balcony of 10342, so maybe it was wrong? Anyway, this was a lot of words to just ask…can anyone confirm for me that the deck plan is indeed incorrect and 10342 has an angled balcony? Or did I move us for no reason? Thanks in advance!