I'm booked!!!... Joy's first sailing from Jamaica!

[prbffd28]

Hooray, another "Live" review from Sid, if it's anything like your Encore Live it will be great!! Thanks in advance for taking the time out of your vacation to share with us. I certainly appreciate it and it will give me some incite on what to expect on our May 2022 Bermuda cruise on Joy. We've been on Bliss and Encore so this will be the trifecta for the plus class!!

[GamblingMommy]

We will see you on board! I have so many questions for this cruise and the new protocols. I’m trying very hard to take deep breaths and go with the flow. 

[All-ready2cruise]

@GamblingMommyGreat that you'll be on this cruise with Sid, however, you might want to ask your questions now.  A lot has changed since cruises ended last year so some answers may be difficult to find answers for.  

 

Congrats for booking this cruise. 

Good Luck

[gmbhardy]

On 4/6/2021 at 4:02 PM, All-ready2cruise said:

@sid_9169 So happy you'll be cruising soon.  I'd love to do the same but ... as luck would have it, I won't qualify this soon.  

 

Really looking forward to following you along.  It's almost as good as being there. 

I'm sure you'll like the Joy, my last cruise was on her in Oct. 2019.  

 

Cheers

I assume you’re referring to not being vaccinated in time. I live in the Niagra Region also and I’m totally frustrated with the vaccination roll out here. It’s humiliating how a G7 country can be so inept at securing vaccines and inoculating its residents. I have a cruise booked for late November on the Encore and I wonder if my wife and I will be fully vaccinated by then. 

[All-ready2cruise]

1 minute ago, gmbhardy said:

I assume you’re referring to not being vaccinated in time. I live in the Niagra Region also and I’m totally frustrated with the vaccination roll out here. It’s humiliating how a G7 country can be so inept at securing vaccines and inoculating its residents. I have a cruise booked for late November on the Encore and I wonder if my wife and I will be fully vaccinated by then. 

Oh, I'm so glad I'm not alone.  Yes, it's about the vaccination roll out.  How are you and your wife doing, playing it cool no doubt? 

I have the AZ vaccine booked #1 tomorrow, but #2... not guarantee but possibly end of July. I think we'll have our vaccines done by end of Sept. at the latest, if the vaccines don't get stolen from us again.  

I have a cruise booked for end of Oct/beginning Nov. and not sure I'll make either.  

 

 

[All-ready2cruise]

I just did a mock booking Sept 19 - 26 on the Gem. Inside cabin, with all FAS promos as a solo with rtn airfare out of LBP airport ($799) - $2451 USD. 

 

 

[barb65]

You didn't mention what date you were cruising, but check out Southwest Airlines. They have flights from Atlanta to Montego Bay. We prefer Southwest when we fly because of their reasonable rates. Of course it also depends what days of the week you're flying.

[GamblingMommy]

1 hour ago, All-ready2cruise said:

@GamblingMommyGreat that you'll be on this cruise with Sid, however, you might want to ask your questions now.  A lot has changed since cruises ended last year so some answers may be difficult to find answers for.  

 

Congrats for booking this cruise. 

Good Luck

Oh I know things have changed. We cruise every year. I don’t think there are answers yet, but here are a few in case anyone knows:

1- what time can boarding begin since it’s the first cruise and sail away is 8 pm?

2- what time will everyone need to disembark?

3- when will tours be published? Do we really have to only book through NCL?

4- what is contactless dining? Buffets having servers for the food or is it something more?

5 will there be shows in the theatre?

6 will dinner be served on the first night since sail away is 8?

 

im sure there are more, but here’s what I’m wondering now.

[Von & John]

Have a FANTABULOUS Cruise Sid!!!

Many of us will be cruising virtually with you - can't wait for the live review 🙂

We'll raise a glass to toast a night or 2 or 3... while you are on the Joy...

Cheers  --  Von

[Navis]

6 minutes ago, GamblingMommy said:

Oh I know things have changed. We cruise every year. I don’t think there are answers yet, but here are a few in case anyone knows:

1- what time can boarding begin since it’s the first cruise and sail away is 8 pm?

2- what time will everyone need to disembark?

3- when will tours be published? Do we really have to only book through NCL?

4- what is contactless dining? Buffets having servers for the food or is it something more?

5 will there be shows in the theatre?

6 will dinner be served on the first night since sail away is 8?

 

im sure there are more, but here’s what I’m wondering now.

We’re not on any of these NCL summer cruises, but we have been getting regular updates (like almost every other week) from another cruise line that is starting up this summer as well (a smaller line we are on next spring). The updates have been very detailed and always include a video where you can infer a lot of other information. Of course NCL can vary but i think the lines will be generally close to each other on these early cruises. If it is helpful to you at all, this other line has provided details on some of your questions ... I hope this helps:

 

1) They claim that boarding will be done in groups and effort will be made to accommodate your boarding group with your travel arrangements (they claim this is more about doing all the enhanced arrival screening than anything else). No discussion of how many groups, how many in each group or the time interval between groups yet.

 

2) Nothing on this one yet.

 

3) For our line that stars this summer the tours are already out. This part is key ... they make it very clear (think bold, underlined and italics) that the agreement reached with the ports requires that only cruise-sponsored and supervised excursions will be permitted ... following all social distance and masking protocols (including within any transportation). They go on to say that only those passengers with a booked excursion will be permitted off the ship.

 

4) Not addressed in any written materials we’ve received, but in all the videos we’ve got the former buffet area has been converted to makeshift traditional dining with the curious voice over of “and we’ve found space on our vessels to ensure dining can continue while observing safe distancing protocols.” I’ve taken that as a read between the lines that there will not be traditional buffets for a while. 
 

5) Nothing on this so far and not even addressed in the videos.

 

I hope this helps a little bit to give you a sense directionally of where things are going and again NCL could go another direction, but they seem to be on the more conservative side of the reopening. Regarding the excursions, we’re actually kind of bummed about that one, but I understand. I actually called the cruise line about that and asked them if they thought those rules would still be in place next winter/spring because that’s a big dissatisfier for us. We’re going to be 14 days in the Caribbean and the idea that we can only get off the ship everyday if we have an excursion seems crazy ... and expensive .. each of this lines excursions average $150/pp.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[coastcat]

1 hour ago, GamblingMommy said:

Oh I know things have changed. We cruise every year. I don’t think there are answers yet, but here are a few in case anyone knows:

1- what time can boarding begin since it’s the first cruise and sail away is 8 pm?

2- what time will everyone need to disembark?

3- when will tours be published? Do we really have to only book through NCL?

4- what is contactless dining? Buffets having servers for the food or is it something more?

5 will there be shows in the theatre?

6 will dinner be served on the first night since sail away is 8?

 

im sure there are more, but here’s what I’m wondering now.

1. I gather that there will be staggered embarkation times, which could explain why we won't sail away until 8pm.

2. Now this is going to be challenging. They'll need to empty out the ship and then follow cleaning protocols before the next group can board.

3. Yes for July and August. They'll evaluate after that. I'm thinking I'll just hang out in Harvest Caye, book an excursion for one of the other ports, and stay on the ship otherwise. I just want to lounge in the sunshine at first, everything else can wait!

4. No official word but from NCL's phrasing it sounds like they'll handle this the same way MSC, RCI, and TUI are doing it now - staff serving at buffets, menus available on the app (with disposable paper versions available), pre-wrapped flatware bundles, and more distance between seating areas/tables.

5. From the FAQ:

Are there any onboard activities that will not be available?

Nearly all onboard venues and activities, including entertainment, spas and casinos, will still be available with some temporary modifications or changes to activities due to the current public health environment. While onboard, guests will be guided through any additional health and safety protocols.

6. The southbound Seward->Vancouver sailings of NCL Jewel leave at 9pm, IIRC, with both lunch and dinner served at the usual times since people are boarding throughout the day. Makes sense that they'll do that for our 8pm departure too.

[sid_9169]

I'm definitely not excited about some of the new rules, especially those regarding excursions. Honestly, I won't be utilizing any NCL excursions, so I guess that I'll be stuck on the ship the entire time. I don't know how they'll handle Harvest Caye. Will we be able to get off the ship and enjoy the beach? Also, I believe that one reason they're planning on sailing at 8:00 pm, is that many of the NCL booked flights will be "same day as sailing" flights, giving more leeway for those that may be delayed...

[Seany527]

For people on the first sailing- are you flying in the day prior? Hotels are extremely expensive, with a decent place costing at a minimum $400. 

[GamblingMommy]

Thank you for the info shared from other experiences and lines.  We booked the air through NCL and are flying in the same day.   Now let’s hope the flights are not too bad, but life’s an adventure.  

[DCGuy64]

29 minutes ago, Seany527 said:

For people on the first sailing- are you flying in the day prior? Hotels are extremely expensive, with a decent place costing at a minimum $400. 

What's your definition of "decent? I just did a search and found a 3-star hotel near the airport in Montego Bay for $65/night. That's 1/2 the cost of hotels near me!

 

9 hours ago, barb65 said:

We prefer Southwest when we fly because of their reasonable rates

And 2 free checked bags per passenger!

 

 

[Trimone]

Have the rules and regulations been issued yet, there's a lots of surmising with this post when the cruise months away.  

[Seany527]

39 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

What's your definition of "decent? I just did a search and found a 3-star hotel near the airport in Montego Bay for $65/night. That's 1/2 the cost of hotels near me!

 

And 2 free checked bags per passenger!

 

 

$65/night is a little questionable. 🤮

[DCGuy64]

4 minutes ago, Seany527 said:

$65/night is a little questionable. 🤮

So I take it you've stayed at the hotel in question and found it lacking? Look, all I'm doing is pushing back on the notion you suggested, which is that cruising from Jamaica will be too costly because, as you said, any decent hotel there costs $400/night. I looked up hotel stays in Montego Bay for August (which is when NCL starts sailings there) and found several 3-star hotels near the airport for between $65-75/night.

I don't know about you, but my wife and I don't fork out $400 for a hotel when we do a pre-cruise stay. We typically find a cheap hotel because all we want is a place to sleep for the night before heading to the cruise port early the next day. Now, if we were doing a land-based vacation, we might spend more.

So, again, I challenge your assumption that sailing from Jamaica is too expensive due to the hotel cost.

[coastcat]

21 minutes ago, Trimone said:

Have the rules and regulations been issued yet, there's a lots of surmising with this post when the cruise months away.  

Some have, some haven’t, and all are subject to change. See the NCL Sail Safe page for current info. 

[coastcat]

1 hour ago, Seany527 said:

For people on the first sailing- are you flying in the day prior? Hotels are extremely expensive, with a decent place costing at a minimum $400. 

Flying in the day before because connections from Seattle are awful. That might improve as airlines add flights, but I’m seeing a lot of 1-stop flights with 8-12 hour layovers. Yeah, I’ll wait to book airfare. 
 

Hotel prices are all over the place. Plenty of cheap & cheerful options. I went more luxe, booking the S Hotel Jamaica. 

[Seany527]

21 minutes ago, coastcat said:

Flying in the day before because connections from Seattle are awful. That might improve as airlines add flights, but I’m seeing a lot of 1-stop flights with 8-12 hour layovers. Yeah, I’ll wait to book airfare. 
 

Hotel prices are all over the place. Plenty of cheap & cheerful options. I went more luxe, booking the S Hotel Jamaica. 

I was looking at that one as well and was on the fence about it. Thanks for your input. 

[DGP1111]

On 4/6/2021 at 3:57 PM, Yesimapirate said:

Allow me to be the first to ask you to post menus and Freestyle Daily's 😁

 

Heck, we may even get some/most of those from all three NCL ships in advance . . .  assuming there might be a few Cruise Critic members selected for those advance test cruises.  😊 😊

 

If not, I'm certain Sid will do his always-stellar job documenting it all. 

 

.

[sid_9169]

2 hours ago, DGP1111 said:

 

Heck, we may even get some/most of those from all three NCL ships in advance . . .  assuming there might be a few Cruise Critic members selected for those advance test cruises.  😊 😊

 

If not, I'm certain Sid will do his always-stellar job documenting it all. 

 

.

This being the very first cruise, I'm going to do everything I can to try and convey all the critical information that everyone has been looking for...

[sid_9169]

4 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

What's your definition of "decent? I just did a search and found a 3-star hotel near the airport in Montego Bay for $65/night. That's 1/2 the cost of hotels near me!

 

And 2 free checked bags per passenger!

 

 

No offense, but I would be suspect of a $65 per night hotel anywhere, much less a third World country...

[sid_9169]

4 hours ago, Seany527 said:

For people on the first sailing- are you flying in the day prior? Hotels are extremely expensive, with a decent place costing at a minimum $400. 

I'm definitely planning on flying in a day early. I want to be one of the first people on the ship for this monumental occasion...