5/4 Joy Sailing Review

[seemoreroyals]

Thank you.  We are on the 12th deck very close to forward elevators so the observation lounge will be convenient for us.  I was going to ask how far it extended on the 15th deck.  That is a huge area all the way from the elevators to the front of the ship.

[seemoreroyals]

Also what is your opinion on elevators? I have heard both good and bad so far.

 

And did you happen to get picture of The Local menu?  We were wondering how it differs from O Sheehan’s.  

[PhillyTravelBug]

Great review.. first one I’ve read from Joy, I have a friend who is in footloose for the Alaskan season and enjoy seeing his pictures from when the ship sailed for. China. I’ll be in the Bliss in August, but am really excited about visiting Seattle and Alaska.

[TexasCruiser84]

8 minutes ago, seemoreroyals said:

Also what is your opinion on elevators? I have heard both good and bad so far.

 

And did you happen to get picture of The Local menu?  We were wondering how it differs from O Sheehan’s.  

Experience with the elevators is similar to trips on the Escape and Harmony - with big ships the elevators absolutely suck 1) after muster 2) all aboard after a port stop and 3) disembarkation day.   Other times it just seems like a matter of luck for how long you wait for one. Being on 15, and with the elevators going only to 17, we found ourselves just getting on an Up elevator if it came to us before a Down and just riding it up a floor or 2 because there is only one way to go after that! 

 

I did not capture a Local menu but I had found Bliss’ online prior and recall it was pretty much the same. Beer cheese pretzel bites, spinach dip, white turkey chili, hot dogs, chicken wings, Hamburgers, grilled cheese, turkey pot pie, taco bowl, baked ziti, a Reuben type sandwich.  I recall those from memory (Mine is pretty photographic).  

[TexasCruiser84]

2 minutes ago, Joeghartman said:

Great review.. first one I’ve read from Joy, I have a friend who is in footloose for the Alaskan season and enjoy seeing his pictures from when the ship sailed for. China. I’ll be in the Bliss in August, but am really excited about visiting Seattle and Alaska.

Happy to contribute! I’m a compulsive cruise prepper and it drove me nuts that I couldn’t research the Joy as extensively as I do other ships. 

[cmecruise1962]

Thank you for the information!  I am sailing on the Joy for my mom's 80th birthday.  We are in an aft cabin on deck 14.  I hope it's close enough for my mom to be able to get to the observation lounge easily.  She uses a walker and I understand that the elevators are difficult to get on.  I just want to make sure that she has the best trip ever!

[Blm03]

47 minutes ago, TexasCruiser84 said:

Happy to contribute! I’m a compulsive cruise prepper and it drove me nuts that I couldn’t research the Joy as extensively as I do other ships. 

Thanks!  We will be on the Joy at the end of June and it’s killing me that I can’t do any research so I appreciate everything you wrote!!

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks  for the review  and great pictures.  We can't wait to book this ship😎

[TexasCruiser84]

Apologies if the photo comes through twice - I got an error message the first time. 

 

When we first booked this this trip we were to be in Ketchikan from 7:30 to 2:30. That was cut short to 1:30 and all aboard time was 12:45pm which kind of stunk.  Pretty limited port time and screwed over some people with independent excursions. I heard some people gripe that prebooked independent operators wouldn’t give refunds (guess that’s a plus for booking through NCL?). 

 

We got on around 12:15.  This was the line to get back on the ship at 12:45. If you don’t care to wait in something like this, come back sooner lol.  

[ssteinerman]

27 minutes ago, TexasCruiser84 said:

Apologies if the photo comes through twice - I got an error message the first time. 

 

When we first booked this this trip we were to be in Ketchikan from 7:30 to 2:30. That was cut short to 1:30 and all aboard time was 12:45pm which kind of stunk.  Pretty limited port time and screwed over some people with independent excursions. I heard some people gripe that prebooked independent operators wouldn’t give refunds (guess that’s a plus for booking through NCL?). 

 

We got on around 12:15.  This was the line to get back on the ship at 12:45. If you don’t care to wait in something like this, come back sooner lol.  

 

 

That's unfortunate - when did they announce the port time would be cut?

[TexasCruiser84]

1 minute ago, ssteinerman said:

 

That's unfortunate - when did they announce the port time would be cut?

I don’t recall what I read it in, but remember it was on the ship, maybe the first day.  I don’t believe it was announced prior to the sailing. Could have been posted on something I just didn’t see, but I just checked my room upgrade paperwork from late Feb and it still had a 2:30 departure on it.  

[PrinceonRN]

Thanks so much for all the dailies and information. I hope disembarkation goes a bit smoother. We have an 11 am flight home from Seattle.

 

[TexasCruiser84]

4 minutes ago, PrinceonRN said:

Thanks so much for all the dailies and information. I hope disembarkation goes a bit smoother. We have an 11 am flight home from Seattle.

 

I would recommend doing 1) self assist debarkation or 2) booking an NCL airport transfer.  NCL transfers for early flights get a bag tag color for an earlier disembarkation.  I didn’t have status or an NCL transfer and 8:20 was the earliest time slot I was allowed to choose for my bags (we did not do self assist).  Admittedly, we left the room and got in line before our color was called because we assumed it would be called on time and while we were in that long line.  When we got off the ship more than 90 minutes later, it still hadn’t been called (but our bags were out in customs). 

 

[pumpkinpatch4]

Thank you for your cruise review, I'm going next month and love reading about the new boat.

 

Since you've seen Elements would you say it's a family friendly show, or more adult?  I have 2 kids (7 & 11) and am wondering if the entertainment is appropriate. 

[ricebucket]

I was in a deck 15 mini suite on this cruise as well. Maybe we were neighbors? Lol

 

i agree with pretty much everything you said. 

 

A few additional notes:

1) wifi was atrocious. I have to stress this again. Almost unusable. I thought this ship was supposed to have fast wifi technology? I had paid for the premium wifi which supposedly let you stream video. But it took about a minute just to load youtube.com homepage, so forget about actually watching any videos. Did the Norwegian bliss have such bad wifi in Alaska too? Also curious how the Royal Caribbean ships fare in Alaska in this regard. 

2) footloose was fantastic.

3) agree that deck 15 rooms are great due to their proximity to the lounges. On glacier bay day, we took snacks from the lounge to watch the scenery on our balcony. But our rooms were right below the pool deck and we could definitely hear the thumping when they had parties above. 

4) I was wondering why the docking time at Victoria moved up. I guess the shortened katichkan port call explains it. I actually like this change, because it turned a really awkward throwaway after-dark Victoria port call into a somewhat meaningful one. We took the $15 bus to town and walked around downtown (only to find out later that uber had a free promotion that day...)

Edited May 14, 2019 by ricebucket

[tanyaewa]

18 minutes ago, ricebucket said:

I was in a deck 15 mini suite on this cruise as well. Maybe we were neighbors? Lol

 

i agree with pretty much everything you said. 

 

A few additional notes:

1) wifi was atrocious. I have to stress this again. Almost unusable. I thought this ship was supposed to have fast wifi technology? I had paid for the premium wifi which supposedly let you stream video. But it took about a minute just to load youtube.com homepage, so forget about actually watching any videos. Did the Norwegian bliss have such bad wifi in Alaska too? Also curious how the Royal Caribbean ships fare in Alaska in this regard. 

2) footloose was fantastic.

3) agree that deck 15 rooms are great due to their proximity to the lounges. On glacier bay day, we took snacks from the lounge to watch the scenery on our balcony. But our rooms were right below the pool deck and we could definitely hear the thumping when they had parties above. 

4) I was wondering why the docking time at Victoria moved up. I guess the shortened katichkan port call explains it. I actually like this change, because it turned a really awkward throwaway after-dark Victoria port call into a somewhat meaningful one. We took the $15 bus to town and walked around downtown (only to find out later that uber had a free promotion that day...)

No Uber in Victoria anyway 😉

[SPORTSGUY]

did you go to the observation lounge to access the wi-fi heard it was vastly different then in your cabin?

[TexasCruiser84]

2 minutes ago, SPORTSGUY said:

did you go to the observation lounge to access the wi-fi heard it was vastly different then in your cabin?

Internet was pretty spotty as a whole, I didn’t notice any real difference between the observation lounge or my room (both on 15 so maybe that had something to do with it). I only used my phone for uploading photos and checking email though, no streaming. 

[SPORTSGUY]

we are on 17 the 6/15 cruise so wish me luck as I work some while travelling but, use VPN not uploading videos

[ssteinerman]

15 minutes ago, SPORTSGUY said:

we are on 17 the 6/15 cruise so wish me luck as I work some while travelling but, use VPN not uploading videos

It would be great if you could report back - I'm on the 8/17 sailing and will also need to use VPN for work.

[quercus alba]

This is great, TexasCruiser.

2 questions for you or perhaps future reviewer:

1) Martini tastings? *My* favorite on-board activity!

2) Notice any scheduled activity for 18-21s? I'm concerned that my 18 yr old, who loved Entourage last cruise, is going to be "aged out" next March when we sail, even though he'll still be a HS senior. 

[TexasCruiser84]

1 minute ago, quercus alba said:

This is great, TexasCruiser.

2 questions for you or perhaps future reviewer:

1) Martini tastings? *My* favorite on-board activity!

2) Notice any scheduled activity for 18-21s? I'm concerned that my 18 yr old, who loved Entourage last cruise, is going to be "aged out" next March when we sail, even though he'll still be a HS senior. 

I didn’t notice either in the dailies.  The only tastings I saw were for Sugarcane mojito, the whiskey bar, wine and beer. It’s certainly possible I missed it in the dailies but I don’t think I did because I specifically complained to my husband about the lack of martinis on the various drink menus. 

 

As for 18-21 year olds, I didn’t notice anything in the dailies but could have missed something for them as I wouldn’t have been looking for it.  Does he like video games? If so, he’d probably like the galaxy pavilion, go karts and laser tag. I don’t recall how much they were, but the ship offered unlimited use passes for those activities.  Spending time there might be a good way to connect with others his age! 

[alexgtp]

I will be cruising this Saturday 18th sailing.

 

-were there any movies shown on board , if so older or newer movies?

-did you try Starbucks, if so do they take the Starbucks GiftCards/APP on phone

 

 

 

[TexasCruiser84]

Just now, alexgtp said:

I will be cruising this Saturday 18th sailing.

 

-were there any movies shown on board , if so older or newer movies?

-did you try Starbucks, if so do they take the Starbucks GiftCards/APP on phone

 

 

 

I didn’t notice any movies being played in the Atrium or the Spice H2O screen but I think I recall seeing something in the dailies about a movie being played in one of those venues. I was in Spice H20 while we sailed to Victoria and the screen had some information about Victoria on it all day. 

 

Had the stateroom TV on the movie channel while in the room getting ready for the day/night and I recall the stateroom movies included The Proposal, Night School, one of the Mama Mia movies, and Central Intelligence.  

 

On one of the last days we discovered a documentary on the TV about alaskan wildlife (really cute documentary about a family of bears) and I regretted not looking for stuff like that sooner.  

[ricebucket]

1 hour ago, ssteinerman said:

It would be great if you could report back - I'm on the 8/17 sailing and will also need to use VPN for work.

 

I bought the premium internet for VPN as well. But it was so slow I didn't bother connecting. Internet was slow all over the ship. On port days I just used my phone's cellular connection instead.