NCL Joy 14-day Panama Canal Review (12/4 - 12/18)

[bundtkate]

So while the experience is still fresh-ish, I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts on my husband's and my very first NCL cruise. I'm terminally wordy so this will be long. Apologies in advance.

 

To give some background, we are in our mid to late 30s and have primarily sailed RCI in the past with one trip on MSC in the era of empty ships (Feb 2021). We originally booked an aft-facing balcony, but I stalked prices obsessively and was able to score an upgrade to an HI for just $47 more. I expect this will never happen to me again. We got married on this cruise so we were traveling with friends and family not in the Haven which means we spent a fair bit of time out and about with them so I think we got a good feel for the ship as a whole, not just the Haven.

Finally, before I dive in, I'll take a page out of @Sthrngary's book and specifically mention that we're all different and my opinions may not at all reflect your experience. My goal is to share some thoughts about a potentially less-cruised itinerary from a demographic not often found on these longer cruises (we were among the few that had to get back to work after disembarkation) in the hopes of helping others decide whether this cruise is something they'd like to try.

Embarkation

 

This cruise unfortunately did not get off to a good start. Embarkation at Port Canaveral was a disaster, though I'm not sure anyone is really to blame for it. Everything was going smoothly at first. We found our way to the Haven line hidden way off to the side and were almost to the front when everything. Just. Stopped. Computer problems, apparently. Thankfully, we had made it into the terminal or we wouldn't have had any idea what was up. They only made announcements inside. My husband and I were relaying updates to the rest of our party via text as announcements were made. At this time, my folks were still trying to find the Priority Access line. I think it was the line to the left of the Haven line because there were Priority Access signs when we made it past security, but we figured that out too late to make a difference and no one at the port had any idea. My mom even said one NCL employee said they weren't offering Priority Access at that port and that they had to get in the general boarding line. They ended up boarding with everyone else despite paying extra for Priority Access because no one knew where to send them.

After probably 30 minutes or so of standing there with the front of the line right in front of me, it starts moving again and we go through security. Next, we make our first mistake and go to the left of the Haven check-in sign when we should have gone to the right. I thought it was a bit suspect because we were given a boarding card and seated in an area that very clearly had no snacks. All of the helpful people here had made it very clear there would be snacks in the Haven pre-boarding lounge. I asked the lady near the Haven sign if we were in the right place and she just tells me to sit down because my husband already has a boarding card and we only need one. Here is where I made my second mistake and didn't repeat that we were in the Haven. Someone advised in a thread here specifically about boarding in Port Canaveral that you had to keep telling everyone that you were in the Haven loudly and repeatedly. Having done this sooner would have saved me 20 minutes or so. I'm sorry, helpful Cruise Critic poster. I should have listened to you. We were in the wrong place and as soon as I was just a bit more emphatic about it, we were checked in, heading upstairs, and being escorted onboard. Oops.
 

Stateroom

 

We stayed in 14736 and overall the room was fantastic. I have a list of minor gripes below, but none of them would keep me from booking this stateroom again. This is an HI suite with a slightly angled balcony so you have enough space on the left for a lounger. There is an unreasonable amount of storage in these staterooms. We were on a 14-day cruise with our wedding attire in addition to normal clothes and the two of us fit everything in the closet between the hanging space and drawers. I can't fathom what the rest of the drawers are for. World cruises I guess? Either way, lots of storage. The bed is huge and comfy. The small couch (or large chair, depending on your perspective) was actually wide enough for my other half and I to both sit there and read.

This stateroom is all the way forward, which I actually liked. I always knew which direction to go. It's a small hike to the forward elevator banks, but once there it was just a quick trip up or down to most everything I wanted to see. Few floors up to the Haven itself or quick trip down to the theater or my favorite non-Haven bar (District Brewhouse on 8). Also, it shares a wall with what I expect is a bridge officer cabin since you can see the bridge wing from your balcony on the same deck so that's one silent neighbor guaranteed. Despite being below the observation lounge and being something of a late riser, I was never bothered by noise at all.

Minor Gripes

There were a few design choices I found kind of odd. First, the bed was so tall I actually had to hop to sit on it (I'm about 5'4"). The ceiling in the shower was also so low that my husband (5'11") was very nearly too tall for it. The curtains on the balcony windows didn't overlap the walls at all so there was always a shaft of light peeking through. The mirror in the makeup area was so high that I couldn't use it to put on makeup while sitting on the stool. The magnifying mirror was well above where my face ended up. There were also a few maintenance issues with the room. None bothersome enough for me to risk being asked to move, but I found them surprising given the premium usually paid for Haven.

Entertainment

 

This is one of the things I felt was a bit lacking on this cruise. There wasn't anything going on after 10pm besides whatever theme party was scheduled for that evening and even that shut down at 11. I'm not reading into this too much because most folks on this cruise genuinely were in their cabins by 10. Keeping things going for us few stragglers would have been a bit silly making this less a criticism and more just an FYI for any night owls considering this itinerary.

 

The good: Dylan Mendelson (I think I spelled that right) is a comedian who came on halfway through and was hilarious. The other 3 we saw were less so, though not bad by any means. The Nashville Tenors performed this cruise and did the best rendition of Queen's "Somebody to Love" that I've ever seen. The live music generally wasn't all my style, but was universally well done with one exception ...

The bad: I know this won't be a popular take, but I was not a fan of the Beatles tribute on this cruise. Some of their songs were great, but others were so profoundly off-key and unpolished I ended up only seeing them once. I was thinking maybe they had to pull out some less practiced tunes because it was a longer cruise, but either way it was pretty awful in parts.

The meh: Elements was not what I was hoping for. It was okay, but the ads around the ship made it look like this Cirque du Soleil style show and it wasn't really at that level. Some of the acrobatics were still very impressive and the dancing was great, but it was brought down by mediocre magic and this weird segment where the dancers wore flippers and made bloop noises that made me wonder if someone had spiked my drink.

Ports

I had some pretty bum luck with excursions (not NCL's fault), but the ports we visited were still pretty great. If I have one complaint it's that a lot of stops were rather short making it tough to explore unless you woke up super early (e.g. 7am-2pm), but we had enough time to see some sights everywhere for the most part.

Cartagena

 

Cartagena is the one place I felt we didn't have nearly enough time. It was a short stop to begin with and there was some sort of problem with the ship that limited top speed and made it even shorter -- we arrived late and had to leave early to make our slot for the canal transit. I had booked a third-party excursion that ended up canceled as a result (not enough time). We decided to pay to take a shuttle to the old town not realizing that it was some variety of holiday and that everyone was off work. Traffic was an absolute nightmare which means we basically got to the old town, got out and spun around once, then got back on the shuttle back to the port. We saw some sights while driving, but didn't really get to explore. My aunt and uncle were on an NCL excursion and afraid they might miss the ship. They got back well after all aboard and weren't sure if they'd wait with the mechanical issues + canal scheduling mandates even though their tour skipped about half of what they were meant to see. We all did get to see some sights from our respective vehicles and it looked like a cool port, but we saw so little it's tough for me to say. Bit of a bummer.

Puerto Quetzal

 

This is where we got married so we got to see some scenery as we drove to our venue and from the venue itself, but mostly my husband and I were doing the whole wedding thing. The volcano apparently erupted the day before and closed a bunch of roads so we were lucky this port was a late arrival (noon). It was really hazy that day, but seeing the smoke from the volcano was pretty darned cool. Our driver said it was a good omen to have a volcano erupt before your wedding. He might have been lying, but I'll take it. I don't know what the rules are on CC about mentioning destinations in port so I won't name names, but I can wholeheartedly recommend our venue. It was more beautiful that I ever would have guessed from the pictures. Just absolutely perfect. We may return for a land trip and stay there some day.

 

Also a quick note that the crew in the Haven went above and beyond for us in this port. Our butler found us at breakfast to ask if we wanted to have our whole party escorted off the ship in the service elevators, even though only we were in the Haven. They allowed everyone to wait in the Haven lounge for the ship to clear and took all of us off first even before the rest of the Haven guests so we could all get off together and get to the venue quickly. Our stateroom was also decorated when we got back and they had left a bottle of prosecco and a huge cake. We'd already had 2 desserts that day so I'm afraid we didn't put much of a dent in the cake, but it was delicious. Our butler made sure there were enough glasses, plates and utensils in our suite so we could share with our whole party. It was way beyond anything I'd ever have expected.

 

Canal Transit

 

This is where being in the Haven really paid off. The Observation lounge, the bow, the waterfront ... every ounce of outdoor space in the main part of the ship was packed in the morning. Meanwhile the Horizon Lounge had a good amount of space and the Haven Library was completely empty with a possibly even better view due to the higher vantage point. We spent a good chunk of the morning here. then wandered to the more cleared out public spaces later in the day. If you ever do a transit and aren't in the Haven, a tip: Do NOT go to the bow first thing. Everyone seemed to wake up super early to get a spot on the bow, then later when we were going through the next set of locks? Empty. Perhaps there was a reason the first set of locks was better/more interesting, but I don't know what it was.

Panama City

 

This was an overnight because we had to wait until low tide so the Joy would fit under the bridge and reach the dock. We were eating dinner outside at the Haven restaurant when we passed under the bridge and even the crew came out to watch how close it was. It seemed like you could have touched it from a few decks up. There some great views of the city from the ship when we arrived around 10pm and there was even a shuttle to the old town after the ship cleared. We didn't end up disembarking until the next morning. No excursion here so we got a taxi into the old town and explored on foot. The old town is beautiful, but still being fixed up and it is possible to wander near rougher parts of the city. If you do, you'll find helpful law enforcement to let you know it might be best to turn back. We stopped for coffee while were there (delicious) then took another taxi to the large park/rainforest near downtown. It was a small entrance fee per person with the option of a guided tour. We just walked a few trials on our own. We saw coatis, leaf cutter ants, some hummingbirds, and quite a few little lizards! There are also some scenic overlooks, but one of our party is mobility impaired so we stuck to the flatter trials. I don't think we could have spent the whole day there, but definitely worth a visit.

Acapulco

 

Surprisingly my favorite of the Mexican ports. We booked an NCL excursion largely due to the state department warnings about the area and those warnings had my hopes for the port pretty low. It does look a bit rough around the edges, but I never felt unsafe. Continuing my excursion bad luck, the catamaran our bay cruise was meant to be on broke down so we were on a two deck party boat that had seen better days. Despite this, the cruise around the bay was absolutely wonderful. We saw some really amazing architecture, had some surprisingly tasty flautas, too many free tiny beers, plus we even saw a whale once! To bring the bad luck back, one of the buses broke down after dropping us off, apparently, so since we were among the last off the boat we had to wait for a bit and the tour operators drove us back to the port, probably in their own cars. It was a bit toasty while we were waiting, even for a gal from South Texas, but all in all a great excursion I'd highly recommend in a port I found pleasantly surprising.

 

Puerto Vallarta

 

This port and the next were back-to-back. We didn't have an excursion booked and I was not feeling great this AM (thankfully short-lived) so we just took a walk along a close beach. We found a cool pool/river thing that flowed down from the city into the ocean. I don't know if it was a tide pool or a stream or what, but it was nice and cold with tiny fish and we walked in it for a while. The beach was right by pier 1 where Emerald Princess was docked. We were at pier 4. There was a free shuttle that went between the piers, but it waited to fill up so it we just walked and honestly weren't that fare behind it, but could be nice for those with mobility issues. After a few hours of wandering we were back on the ship. If you want a beach day, I'd highly recommend just taking this walk. I understand all of Vallarta's beaches are public and this one was plenty nice and super close. If you want to see the city, though, you'd need to take an excursion or taxi. It didn't look like much else was within walking distance.

Cabo San Lucas

 

My bad excursion luck reared its head again here. I had managed to get a spot on an NCL whale watching excursion after the Haven concierge got us on the waitlist, but the tour provider's boat apparently broke down so it was canceled. End of the day, this may have been good luck in disguise. There were plenty of tour providers right as you get off the tender and we managed to find a whale watching excursion that cost less for the both of us than NCL was charging for one. It was in a really small boat -- the kind you might have gone fishing in as a child if you grew up in the midwest like me -- but our guide was great and I really enjoyed the tour. Not only did we see tons of whales (we got really lucky with one group that hung out around the boats for a  long while), our guide took us by the arch, the pacific window, lover's beach, and pelican rock. They offered to drop us off at the beach, but with a short time in port (last tender at 2pm) we decided to just go back to the ship.

Food

 

Ah, the real meat and potatoes (sorry, I'll show myself out ...). Food ranged widely from absolutely amazing to pretty awful. We went to Le Bistro twice, Cagney's once, and Food Republic twice. We also ate lunch/snacks at The Local a few times, ate at least one of each meal at the Haven restaurant, and ate at the MDR with our traveling party a few times. I've ended up writing this over the course of several days so my memory of what I ate is fading a bit, but I'll do my best to mention it to the best of my recollection.

 

Cagney's

 

This was our first specialty meal and it was pretty darned good, though I was not prepared for just how much food you get for your free at sea meal. I ordered sides but didn't really touch them. I even ordered the 5oz filet in anticipation of it being too much food and that did not help enough. If I had a do-over, I'd skip the sides entirely to avoid waste. I got steak tartar (good, but better in the Haven), french onion soup (amazing, but huge), a 5oz filet, and the cheesecake. Only gripe I had was that NCL seems very convinced that you don't mean it when you order steak very rare. It usually came on the cool side of medium rare at best and nothing we said when ordering after this seemed to change that.

 

Le Bistro

 

We did a big formal dinner with everyone here the day after our wedding and enjoyed it so much we came back again on our last day. The scallops were tiny, but I considered that a feature and they were delicious besides. My husband got the one truly rare steak we managed to get onboard here, topped with foie gras which made it even better than Cagney's. I got to try some and it was amazing. I got the duck which is lovely, but the real star he was the dessert. I am an absolute fiend for custard and the floating island was amazing. I strongly considered coming back another time and actually paying for just dessert. Highly recommended. On the slightly negative side, we discovered that we probably don't like chestnuts. The Bavarian cream my husband ordered was a mistake. You may love it, but just fair warning that chestnut is a really weird flavor that may not be to your liking. None of us were fans.

 

Food Republic

 

We are big sushi fans and we found that 4 sushi rolls split between us was a decent meal easily supplemented by a late night snack so we were able to eat here twice by only using one credit per go. There weren't many standouts, but all the rolls we tried would have ranked amongst the better sushi we've had on land. The two exceptions were the salmon belly (not worth it) and the yellowtail roll (should have got this twice, but we sadly tried it only on our second visit).

 

The Local

 

The wings were a bit hit or miss, but when they were good they were really good. The Ruben was also a highlight, but I strongly recommend extra dressing on the side. It usually needs a bit extra.

 

MDR

 

This one was a real struggle. It's not just that the specialty dining and the Haven restaurant were better, the MDR was actively bad. I got a pasta dish of some sort that was okay, but the meat dishes I got were dry, the soups were universally over salted, a dish that claimed to have Moroccan spices didn't have any spices so far as I could tell. I am picky about food so I've never been blown away by MDR food, but I usually find it tolerable at worst. This was bad enough that I honestly don't think I could cruise NCL without the Haven or enough specialty meals to cover the whole cruise. I was really grateful for free at sea meals since it let us eat dinner with our group without going to the MDR. After a few tries, we decided it was better to apologize profusely for ditching them and eat literally anywhere else.

 

The Haven Restaurant

 

The food in the Haven was predictably amazing. Everything we ate was beyond delicious. I asked for a lobster tail with my crab cakes and the waitress asked how many, which I'm sure is no big deal to Haven regulars but it made me feel pretty darned fancy. The crab cakes, steak tartar, french toast, and banana banoffee lunch dessert were our favorite dishes by far but everything we tried was so good. Because this was a 14-day cruise, the Haven restaurant did start offering daily specials the second week. We didn't end up trying any because we didn't eat there often enough to tire of the set menu, but since I've read complaints about it getting old beyond 7 days, I figured it would be nice for folks to see NCL apparently gets this and is exploring options for longer cruises.

Oh and the coffee! Best I've had at sea by far. It's still not as good as what we make at home, but it's STRONG and that's the most important thing to me. I still ordered my lattes with 2 espresso shots, but there were days 1 was enough and even the machine coffee in the Horizon Lounge was better than any coffee I've had on a cruise before. Only weird thing is that you can't just order a cup of coffee from the restaurant and, say, take it to the Horizon lounge in the afternoon. They clear a table up and seat you, which felt like a bit much for an afternoon cup of coffee.

Conclusion

 

Despite that fact that I know I sound like a giant complaint machine at points in this review, this was overall a wonderful cruise and the good well outweighed the bad. The Haven was amazing and I would love try it again on our own so we have the opportunity to really enjoy it. Given normal prices I'm not sure when I'll manage that, but I will definitely be trying. The crew everywhere was great, the itinerary was fascinating and NCL really went out of their way to make our wedding special. What I'm not sure of is whether I'd sail NCL outside of the Haven. The standard product fell well short of RCI, in my opinion, and there were a lot of little frustrations I haven't encountered on other lines that makes me feel like I'd probably just go RCI if Haven isn't in the cards.

A well-worn example of these frustrations is the drink package not including bottled water or specialty coffee when it does on most other lines. There was also a bar on one side of The Waterfront with no blender so you couldn't get frozen drinks without going somewhere else. The forward elevator banks aren't all called together so people would always call both sets making them stop on empty floors all the time. The photographers were constantly blocking major thoroughfares with photo ops using backgrounds that could have be set up somewhere less in the way. I get they were doing this on purpose for visibility so folks would get photos taken, but I am sure there's somewhere that's both visible and not in the way.

That said, none of this was enough to negatively impact our vacation to any meaningful extent. I also know how different the same line can be across ships and itineraries so I think I may end up trying a more standard 7-day on a ship like the Prima or even another Breakaway+ class (I know they Joy is a bit unique) to see if we like it better. This experience also got me genuinely curious about ships within the ship which has me looking at MSC in Yacht Club for our next ocean cruise. The Yacht Club inside rooms are super affordable so maybe a way to get a Haven-like experience on the cheaper. I am definitely thrilled to have had the opportunity to try NCL in style and while I'm not sure when and how we'll be back, I expect we will give NCL another go before too long.

Thank Yous
 

I also wanted to extend some specific thank yous to @Sthrngary, @Sailing12Away, @CDR Benson, and others in Gary's Haven thread that really helped me plan and ensure we had the best vacation possible. I wouldn't have loved this trip half as much without y'all's help. Also whoever mentioned being loud about being in the Haven at Port Canaveral because that was defs a pro tip -- please forgive my awful memory keeping me from tagging you. This community is really fantastic and NCL cruisers are lucky to have y'all. Thank you!

[Sailing12Away]

Glad you had a great trip. We'll be doing a PC transit but in the opposite direction in about 60 days, so looking forward to being back on board.

 

In the Mexico ports of call, did you pay US cash for the last minute excursions, they took credit cards, you brought some pesos with you....? Right now we have nothing booked for Acapulco and just a short 1 hr tour in Cabo. Was hoping it would be easy to catch a water taxi across from the tender area to head to the brewery over there on our own. Just not sure what is best to take with us on land to pay for stuff.

[bundtkate]

36 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

In the Mexico ports of call, did you pay US cash for the last minute excursions, they took credit cards, you brought some pesos with you....? Right now we have nothing booked for Acapulco and just a short 1 hr tour in Cabo. Was hoping it would be easy to catch a water taxi across from the tender area to head to the brewery over there on our own

We paid in USD cash in every port with no problem. You shouldn't have any problem with the water taxi. Everyone outside the tender pier seemed to offer everything from whale watching to glass bottom boats to a water taxi and many things in between.

[NorthernJoey]

 

 

 

Thank you, great review bundtkate. We will be having the same Joy PC cruise (Miami-LA) in January. 

 

For Cabo our plan is to buy a whale tour from the pier, not NCL.  You wrote that the boat was small. How many was on this tour and do you remember the duration?

[bundtkate]

7 minutes ago, NorthernJoey said:

How many was on this tour and do you remember the duration?

Only 4 on ours, plus the guide. It was advertised as 1.5 hours long and ended up being just about at that mark.

[YVRteacher]

Thank you for this review and congratulations on your wedding!!

[NorthernJoey]

Yes, thank you and congratulations !!!

[Cruise5life]

Cool review. Thanks.
 I’ll be doing this from LA to Mia in 2 weeks.  Just gonna wing it on excursions.    

[Turtles06]

16 hours ago, bundtkate said:

So while the experience is still fresh-ish, I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts on my husband's and my very first NCL cruise.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and many congratulations on your wedding (and what a great spot to pick)!

[Turtles06]

8 hours ago, NorthernJoey said:

For Cabo our plan is to buy a whale tour from the pier, not NCL.  You wrote that the boat was small.

 

Another possibility is to book a private whale watching tour in advance, from a group like Whale Watch Cabo.  Ten people max in a boat, and you can pick a boat with a cover (rather than a zodiac), which really does help in the sun.   We toured with them some years ago, in January (peak whale watching season).  It was a fabulous experience.

 

http://www.whalewatchcabo.com/

 

 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

[joedel]

On 12/23/2022 at 3:56 PM, bundtkate said:

So while the experience is still fresh-ish, I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts on my husband's and my very first NCL cruise. I'm terminally wordy so this will be long. Apologies in advance.

 

To give some background, we are in our mid to late 30s and have primarily sailed RCI in the past with one trip on MSC in the era of empty ships (Feb 2021). We originally booked an aft-facing balcony, but I stalked prices obsessively and was able to score an upgrade to an HI for just $47 more. I expect this will never happen to me again. We got married on this cruise so we were traveling with friends and family not in the Haven which means we spent a fair bit of time out and about with them so I think we got a good feel for the ship as a whole, not just the Haven.

Finally, before I dive in, I'll take a page out of @Sthrngary's book and specifically mention that we're all different and my opinions may not at all reflect your experience. My goal is to share some thoughts about a potentially less-cruised itinerary from a demographic not often found on these longer cruises (we were among the few that had to get back to work after disembarkation) in the hopes of helping others decide whether this cruise is something they'd like to try.

Embarkation

 

This cruise unfortunately did not get off to a good start. Embarkation at Port Canaveral was a disaster, though I'm not sure anyone is really to blame for it. Everything was going smoothly at first. We found our way to the Haven line hidden way off to the side and were almost to the front when everything. Just. Stopped. Computer problems, apparently. Thankfully, we had made it into the terminal or we wouldn't have had any idea what was up. They only made announcements inside. My husband and I were relaying updates to the rest of our party via text as announcements were made. At this time, my folks were still trying to find the Priority Access line. I think it was the line to the left of the Haven line because there were Priority Access signs when we made it past security, but we figured that out too late to make a difference and no one at the port had any idea. My mom even said one NCL employee said they weren't offering Priority Access at that port and that they had to get in the general boarding line. They ended up boarding with everyone else despite paying extra for Priority Access because no one knew where to send them.

After probably 30 minutes or so of standing there with the front of the line right in front of me, it starts moving again and we go through security. Next, we make our first mistake and go to the left of the Haven check-in sign when we should have gone to the right. I thought it was a bit suspect because we were given a boarding card and seated in an area that very clearly had no snacks. All of the helpful people here had made it very clear there would be snacks in the Haven pre-boarding lounge. I asked the lady near the Haven sign if we were in the right place and she just tells me to sit down because my husband already has a boarding card and we only need one. Here is where I made my second mistake and didn't repeat that we were in the Haven. Someone advised in a thread here specifically about boarding in Port Canaveral that you had to keep telling everyone that you were in the Haven loudly and repeatedly. Having done this sooner would have saved me 20 minutes or so. I'm sorry, helpful Cruise Critic poster. I should have listened to you. We were in the wrong place and as soon as I was just a bit more emphatic about it, we were checked in, heading upstairs, and being escorted onboard. Oops.
 

Stateroom

 

We stayed in 14736 and overall the room was fantastic. I have a list of minor gripes below, but none of them would keep me from booking this stateroom again. This is an HI suite with a slightly angled balcony so you have enough space on the left for a lounger. There is an unreasonable amount of storage in these staterooms. We were on a 14-day cruise with our wedding attire in addition to normal clothes and the two of us fit everything in the closet between the hanging space and drawers. I can't fathom what the rest of the drawers are for. World cruises I guess? Either way, lots of storage. The bed is huge and comfy. The small couch (or large chair, depending on your perspective) was actually wide enough for my other half and I to both sit there and read.

This stateroom is all the way forward, which I actually liked. I always knew which direction to go. It's a small hike to the forward elevator banks, but once there it was just a quick trip up or down to most everything I wanted to see. Few floors up to the Haven itself or quick trip down to the theater or my favorite non-Haven bar (District Brewhouse on 8). Also, it shares a wall with what I expect is a bridge officer cabin since you can see the bridge wing from your balcony on the same deck so that's one silent neighbor guaranteed. Despite being below the observation lounge and being something of a late riser, I was never bothered by noise at all.

Minor Gripes

There were a few design choices I found kind of odd. First, the bed was so tall I actually had to hop to sit on it (I'm about 5'4"). The ceiling in the shower was also so low that my husband (5'11") was very nearly too tall for it. The curtains on the balcony windows didn't overlap the walls at all so there was always a shaft of light peeking through. The mirror in the makeup area was so high that I couldn't use it to put on makeup while sitting on the stool. The magnifying mirror was well above where my face ended up. There were also a few maintenance issues with the room. None bothersome enough for me to risk being asked to move, but I found them surprising given the premium usually paid for Haven.

Entertainment

 

This is one of the things I felt was a bit lacking on this cruise. There wasn't anything going on after 10pm besides whatever theme party was scheduled for that evening and even that shut down at 11. I'm not reading into this too much because most folks on this cruise genuinely were in their cabins by 10. Keeping things going for us few stragglers would have been a bit silly making this less a criticism and more just an FYI for any night owls considering this itinerary.

 

The good: Dylan Mendelson (I think I spelled that right) is a comedian who came on halfway through and was hilarious. The other 3 we saw were less so, though not bad by any means. The Nashville Tenors performed this cruise and did the best rendition of Queen's "Somebody to Love" that I've ever seen. The live music generally wasn't all my style, but was universally well done with one exception ...

The bad: I know this won't be a popular take, but I was not a fan of the Beatles tribute on this cruise. Some of their songs were great, but others were so profoundly off-key and unpolished I ended up only seeing them once. I was thinking maybe they had to pull out some less practiced tunes because it was a longer cruise, but either way it was pretty awful in parts.

The meh: Elements was not what I was hoping for. It was okay, but the ads around the ship made it look like this Cirque du Soleil style show and it wasn't really at that level. Some of the acrobatics were still very impressive and the dancing was great, but it was brought down by mediocre magic and this weird segment where the dancers wore flippers and made bloop noises that made me wonder if someone had spiked my drink.

Ports

I had some pretty bum luck with excursions (not NCL's fault), but the ports we visited were still pretty great. If I have one complaint it's that a lot of stops were rather short making it tough to explore unless you woke up super early (e.g. 7am-2pm), but we had enough time to see some sights everywhere for the most part.

Cartagena

 

Cartagena is the one place I felt we didn't have nearly enough time. It was a short stop to begin with and there was some sort of problem with the ship that limited top speed and made it even shorter -- we arrived late and had to leave early to make our slot for the canal transit. I had booked a third-party excursion that ended up canceled as a result (not enough time). We decided to pay to take a shuttle to the old town not realizing that it was some variety of holiday and that everyone was off work. Traffic was an absolute nightmare which means we basically got to the old town, got out and spun around once, then got back on the shuttle back to the port. We saw some sights while driving, but didn't really get to explore. My aunt and uncle were on an NCL excursion and afraid they might miss the ship. They got back well after all aboard and weren't sure if they'd wait with the mechanical issues + canal scheduling mandates even though their tour skipped about half of what they were meant to see. We all did get to see some sights from our respective vehicles and it looked like a cool port, but we saw so little it's tough for me to say. Bit of a bummer.

Puerto Quetzal

 

This is where we got married so we got to see some scenery as we drove to our venue and from the venue itself, but mostly my husband and I were doing the whole wedding thing. The volcano apparently erupted the day before and closed a bunch of roads so we were lucky this port was a late arrival (noon). It was really hazy that day, but seeing the smoke from the volcano was pretty darned cool. Our driver said it was a good omen to have a volcano erupt before your wedding. He might have been lying, but I'll take it. I don't know what the rules are on CC about mentioning destinations in port so I won't name names, but I can wholeheartedly recommend our venue. It was more beautiful that I ever would have guessed from the pictures. Just absolutely perfect. We may return for a land trip and stay there some day.

 

Also a quick note that the crew in the Haven went above and beyond for us in this port. Our butler found us at breakfast to ask if we wanted to have our whole party escorted off the ship in the service elevators, even though only we were in the Haven. They allowed everyone to wait in the Haven lounge for the ship to clear and took all of us off first even before the rest of the Haven guests so we could all get off together and get to the venue quickly. Our stateroom was also decorated when we got back and they had left a bottle of prosecco and a huge cake. We'd already had 2 desserts that day so I'm afraid we didn't put much of a dent in the cake, but it was delicious. Our butler made sure there were enough glasses, plates and utensils in our suite so we could share with our whole party. It was way beyond anything I'd ever have expected.

 

Canal Transit

 

This is where being in the Haven really paid off. The Observation lounge, the bow, the waterfront ... every ounce of outdoor space in the main part of the ship was packed in the morning. Meanwhile the Horizon Lounge had a good amount of space and the Haven Library was completely empty with a possibly even better view due to the higher vantage point. We spent a good chunk of the morning here. then wandered to the more cleared out public spaces later in the day. If you ever do a transit and aren't in the Haven, a tip: Do NOT go to the bow first thing. Everyone seemed to wake up super early to get a spot on the bow, then later when we were going through the next set of locks? Empty. Perhaps there was a reason the first set of locks was better/more interesting, but I don't know what it was.

Panama City

 

This was an overnight because we had to wait until low tide so the Joy would fit under the bridge and reach the dock. We were eating dinner outside at the Haven restaurant when we passed under the bridge and even the crew came out to watch how close it was. It seemed like you could have touched it from a few decks up. There some great views of the city from the ship when we arrived around 10pm and there was even a shuttle to the old town after the ship cleared. We didn't end up disembarking until the next morning. No excursion here so we got a taxi into the old town and explored on foot. The old town is beautiful, but still being fixed up and it is possible to wander near rougher parts of the city. If you do, you'll find helpful law enforcement to let you know it might be best to turn back. We stopped for coffee while were there (delicious) then took another taxi to the large park/rainforest near downtown. It was a small entrance fee per person with the option of a guided tour. We just walked a few trials on our own. We saw coatis, leaf cutter ants, some hummingbirds, and quite a few little lizards! There are also some scenic overlooks, but one of our party is mobility impaired so we stuck to the flatter trials. I don't think we could have spent the whole day there, but definitely worth a visit.

Acapulco

 

Surprisingly my favorite of the Mexican ports. We booked an NCL excursion largely due to the state department warnings about the area and those warnings had my hopes for the port pretty low. It does look a bit rough around the edges, but I never felt unsafe. Continuing my excursion bad luck, the catamaran our bay cruise was meant to be on broke down so we were on a two deck party boat that had seen better days. Despite this, the cruise around the bay was absolutely wonderful. We saw some really amazing architecture, had some surprisingly tasty flautas, too many free tiny beers, plus we even saw a whale once! To bring the bad luck back, one of the buses broke down after dropping us off, apparently, so since we were among the last off the boat we had to wait for a bit and the tour operators drove us back to the port, probably in their own cars. It was a bit toasty while we were waiting, even for a gal from South Texas, but all in all a great excursion I'd highly recommend in a port I found pleasantly surprising.

 

Puerto Vallarta

 

This port and the next were back-to-back. We didn't have an excursion booked and I was not feeling great this AM (thankfully short-lived) so we just took a walk along a close beach. We found a cool pool/river thing that flowed down from the city into the ocean. I don't know if it was a tide pool or a stream or what, but it was nice and cold with tiny fish and we walked in it for a while. The beach was right by pier 1 where Emerald Princess was docked. We were at pier 4. There was a free shuttle that went between the piers, but it waited to fill up so it we just walked and honestly weren't that fare behind it, but could be nice for those with mobility issues. After a few hours of wandering we were back on the ship. If you want a beach day, I'd highly recommend just taking this walk. I understand all of Vallarta's beaches are public and this one was plenty nice and super close. If you want to see the city, though, you'd need to take an excursion or taxi. It didn't look like much else was within walking distance.

Cabo San Lucas

 

My bad excursion luck reared its head again here. I had managed to get a spot on an NCL whale watching excursion after the Haven concierge got us on the waitlist, but the tour provider's boat apparently broke down so it was canceled. End of the day, this may have been good luck in disguise. There were plenty of tour providers right as you get off the tender and we managed to find a whale watching excursion that cost less for the both of us than NCL was charging for one. It was in a really small boat -- the kind you might have gone fishing in as a child if you grew up in the midwest like me -- but our guide was great and I really enjoyed the tour. Not only did we see tons of whales (we got really lucky with one group that hung out around the boats for a  long while), our guide took us by the arch, the pacific window, lover's beach, and pelican rock. They offered to drop us off at the beach, but with a short time in port (last tender at 2pm) we decided to just go back to the ship.

Food

 

Ah, the real meat and potatoes (sorry, I'll show myself out ...). Food ranged widely from absolutely amazing to pretty awful. We went to Le Bistro twice, Cagney's once, and Food Republic twice. We also ate lunch/snacks at The Local a few times, ate at least one of each meal at the Haven restaurant, and ate at the MDR with our traveling party a few times. I've ended up writing this over the course of several days so my memory of what I ate is fading a bit, but I'll do my best to mention it to the best of my recollection.

 

Cagney's

 

This was our first specialty meal and it was pretty darned good, though I was not prepared for just how much food you get for your free at sea meal. I ordered sides but didn't really touch them. I even ordered the 5oz filet in anticipation of it being too much food and that did not help enough. If I had a do-over, I'd skip the sides entirely to avoid waste. I got steak tartar (good, but better in the Haven), french onion soup (amazing, but huge), a 5oz filet, and the cheesecake. Only gripe I had was that NCL seems very convinced that you don't mean it when you order steak very rare. It usually came on the cool side of medium rare at best and nothing we said when ordering after this seemed to change that.

 

Le Bistro

 

We did a big formal dinner with everyone here the day after our wedding and enjoyed it so much we came back again on our last day. The scallops were tiny, but I considered that a feature and they were delicious besides. My husband got the one truly rare steak we managed to get onboard here, topped with foie gras which made it even better than Cagney's. I got to try some and it was amazing. I got the duck which is lovely, but the real star he was the dessert. I am an absolute fiend for custard and the floating island was amazing. I strongly considered coming back another time and actually paying for just dessert. Highly recommended. On the slightly negative side, we discovered that we probably don't like chestnuts. The Bavarian cream my husband ordered was a mistake. You may love it, but just fair warning that chestnut is a really weird flavor that may not be to your liking. None of us were fans.

 

Food Republic

 

We are big sushi fans and we found that 4 sushi rolls split between us was a decent meal easily supplemented by a late night snack so we were able to eat here twice by only using one credit per go. There weren't many standouts, but all the rolls we tried would have ranked amongst the better sushi we've had on land. The two exceptions were the salmon belly (not worth it) and the yellowtail roll (should have got this twice, but we sadly tried it only on our second visit).

 

The Local

 

The wings were a bit hit or miss, but when they were good they were really good. The Ruben was also a highlight, but I strongly recommend extra dressing on the side. It usually needs a bit extra.

 

MDR

 

This one was a real struggle. It's not just that the specialty dining and the Haven restaurant were better, the MDR was actively bad. I got a pasta dish of some sort that was okay, but the meat dishes I got were dry, the soups were universally over salted, a dish that claimed to have Moroccan spices didn't have any spices so far as I could tell. I am picky about food so I've never been blown away by MDR food, but I usually find it tolerable at worst. This was bad enough that I honestly don't think I could cruise NCL without the Haven or enough specialty meals to cover the whole cruise. I was really grateful for free at sea meals since it let us eat dinner with our group without going to the MDR. After a few tries, we decided it was better to apologize profusely for ditching them and eat literally anywhere else.

 

The Haven Restaurant

 

The food in the Haven was predictably amazing. Everything we ate was beyond delicious. I asked for a lobster tail with my crab cakes and the waitress asked how many, which I'm sure is no big deal to Haven regulars but it made me feel pretty darned fancy. The crab cakes, steak tartar, french toast, and banana banoffee lunch dessert were our favorite dishes by far but everything we tried was so good. Because this was a 14-day cruise, the Haven restaurant did start offering daily specials the second week. We didn't end up trying any because we didn't eat there often enough to tire of the set menu, but since I've read complaints about it getting old beyond 7 days, I figured it would be nice for folks to see NCL apparently gets this and is exploring options for longer cruises.

Oh and the coffee! Best I've had at sea by far. It's still not as good as what we make at home, but it's STRONG and that's the most important thing to me. I still ordered my lattes with 2 espresso shots, but there were days 1 was enough and even the machine coffee in the Horizon Lounge was better than any coffee I've had on a cruise before. Only weird thing is that you can't just order a cup of coffee from the restaurant and, say, take it to the Horizon lounge in the afternoon. They clear a table up and seat you, which felt like a bit much for an afternoon cup of coffee.

Conclusion

 

Despite that fact that I know I sound like a giant complaint machine at points in this review, this was overall a wonderful cruise and the good well outweighed the bad. The Haven was amazing and I would love try it again on our own so we have the opportunity to really enjoy it. Given normal prices I'm not sure when I'll manage that, but I will definitely be trying. The crew everywhere was great, the itinerary was fascinating and NCL really went out of their way to make our wedding special. What I'm not sure of is whether I'd sail NCL outside of the Haven. The standard product fell well short of RCI, in my opinion, and there were a lot of little frustrations I haven't encountered on other lines that makes me feel like I'd probably just go RCI if Haven isn't in the cards.

A well-worn example of these frustrations is the drink package not including bottled water or specialty coffee when it does on most other lines. There was also a bar on one side of The Waterfront with no blender so you couldn't get frozen drinks without going somewhere else. The forward elevator banks aren't all called together so people would always call both sets making them stop on empty floors all the time. The photographers were constantly blocking major thoroughfares with photo ops using backgrounds that could have be set up somewhere less in the way. I get they were doing this on purpose for visibility so folks would get photos taken, but I am sure there's somewhere that's both visible and not in the way.

That said, none of this was enough to negatively impact our vacation to any meaningful extent. I also know how different the same line can be across ships and itineraries so I think I may end up trying a more standard 7-day on a ship like the Prima or even another Breakaway+ class (I know they Joy is a bit unique) to see if we like it better. This experience also got me genuinely curious about ships within the ship which has me looking at MSC in Yacht Club for our next ocean cruise. The Yacht Club inside rooms are super affordable so maybe a way to get a Haven-like experience on the cheaper. I am definitely thrilled to have had the opportunity to try NCL in style and while I'm not sure when and how we'll be back, I expect we will give NCL another go before too long.

Thank Yous
 

I also wanted to extend some specific thank yous to @Sthrngary, @Sailing12Away, @CDR Benson, and others in Gary's Haven thread that really helped me plan and ensure we had the best vacation possible. I wouldn't have loved this trip half as much without y'all's help. Also whoever mentioned being loud about being in the Haven at Port Canaveral because that was defs a pro tip -- please forgive my awful memory keeping me from tagging you. This community is really fantastic and NCL cruisers are lucky to have y'all. Thank you!

Great review!

we will be in the same cabin 14736 Jan 21st - 

[bundtkate]

44 minutes ago, joedel said:

we will be in the same cabin 14736 Jan 21st

You will love it! Because we were traveling with others, we didn't spend too much time there, but it was a gorgeous cabin. If you have any questions about it, too, feel free to ask. We do have pics, but between the post-cruise ick (not COVID, thankfully) and the holidays I just haven't got around to organizing them yet.

[weltek]

Thanks, I appreciate hearing from a different demographic for the Panama Canal sailings. We are in our 40s, but also enjoy some nightlife at least through midnight, so appreciate that info. 

We have a FCC and are debating on the PC sailings. It's always been on our list. We also really like the Breakaway Plus class ships, particularly for a longer cruise, so Joy or Bliss seem to be our options for 2024. 

[bundtkate]

10 hours ago, weltek said:

We have a FCC and are debating on the PC sailings. It's always been on our list.

I would still recommend it despite the slight negative of minimal nightlife. It was an amazing itinerary and visited a few places I don't think ships stop at outside of canal transits. Another reason is that the lack of late night activities is a bit less of a negative on this itinerary because most port stops are get in early and leave early. Each of the Mexican ports arrived around 7am and left 2-3pm. Catagena was the same. Panama City was an overnight, but arrival was pretty late (10pm) and we left at I think 3pm the next day? Maybe earlier? The only genuine exception was Puerto Quetzal with a 12pm arrival and pretty late (8pm, I think?) departure. Early arrivals mean early excursions and early departures mean it's tough to see much unless you disembark early so it ends up making sense to cut the days short, even if that's not normally your habit. We noticed things calming down earlier than expected, especially during the several sea days to start the cruise, but I think the itinerary saved it from bugging us more.

[Sailing12Away]

On 12/28/2022 at 9:56 AM, weltek said:

Thanks, I appreciate hearing from a different demographic for the Panama Canal sailings. We are in our 40s, but also enjoy some nightlife at least through midnight, so appreciate that info. 

We have a FCC and are debating on the PC sailings. It's always been on our list. We also really like the Breakaway Plus class ships, particularly for a longer cruise, so Joy or Bliss seem to be our options for 2024. 

We're in our 40's too and taking our PC trip in <60 days. Current itinerary has every other day as a sea day (just about), so we're booked in a Haven room and I'll be getting lots of vitamin D and relaxing and unwinding in. As with our last trip to Canada on the Joy, I'll try and use my free internet minutes to give updates and check-in here as we go.

[FlyGonzSki]

Thanks so much for the detailed review, BundtKate. This helps our Haven trip planning immensely!

[Dr. Cocktail]

Thanks for your great review!

 

We've been in the YC and Haven many times - I still prefer the Haven .....

 

Totally insane question - we're also booked in an HI on the Joy - do they still supply hard bars of soap or is it all the pump stuff?

[bundtkate]

8 minutes ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

do they still supply hard bars of soap or is it all the pump stuff?

I am pretty sure it's just the pump stuff. There's a non-zero chance there was bar soap I instantly forgot about because I'm not a fan and alternatives existed, but trying to visualize the bathroom, I don't think that was the case.

[Dr. Cocktail]

40 minutes ago, bundtkate said:

I am pretty sure it's just the pump stuff. There's a non-zero chance there was bar soap I instantly forgot about because I'm not a fan and alternatives existed, but trying to visualize the bathroom, I don't think that was the case.

Many thanks!  I prefer the pump stuff but my partner likes a bar - go figure. The First World sort o' question that CC is perfect for!  I will make sure to raid the maid cart in the hotel the day before!