A (Mostly) Joy Filled Review - Norwegian Joy - 2/5 - 2/12

[tripleboom]

After our afternoon activities, we had decided to have dinner at Savor on this evening. The Manhattan Room opens for dinner service at 5pm and wraps up by 9pm, whereas Taste and Savor open at 5:30 and go until 9:30 each night. We decided to be at Savor a little before 5:30 so we could be seated immediately after opening. We had plans to see Footloose this evening, so we let the staff know at the time we were seated and again when our waiter greeted us.

 

Now, I'm well aware of the slower, formal pace of dining in the MDRs. I'm aware that on some evenings one might be able to expect a 1.5 hour dining experience or perhaps even a bit more.  But we've had no issues with the MDRs being accommodating with our requests to be mindful of our evening entertainment reservations on past sailings. We've been in, out, and on our way in 45 minutes to an hour on those occasions with no issue. Unfortunately, on this night, this is where we ran into some trouble again.

 

After being seated we had a bit of a wait before the waiter came and took drink orders, so we took a couple of pics while waiting. We clean up pretty well! 😊

 

You can hardly tell that these two are related. 😉 

 

 

 

After a not insubstantial wait, which was probably made to feel longer by the fellow guest noisily, plhlegmily (yup, I'm making up words now) clearing his throat over and over again, our starter course arrived.

 

I opted for the shrimp cake:

 

 

While Stacy went for the spicy crab meat wontons. These were very good!

 

 

Unfortunately, this would be the last of the food we received at Savor this night. According to the meta data on my pictures, the starters arrived at around 6:02, about 30 minutes after we were sat. Not the end of the world, so long as the entrées weren't far behind. We spent the next 30 minutes waiting and watching the surrounding tables, including a couple of very large parties seated after us, be served their starters, entrées, and desserts. We only saw our waiter once after the starters arrived, and I asked then how much longer the food would be, reminding him of our evening schedule, and he assured us it would be out shortly. 

 

Having resigned ourselves to skipping dessert on this night, we continued to wait patiently for the entrées to arrive. A restaurant manager came to check on us, and I let her know what the situation was. She agreed to check on this, but after another 7-10 minutes had passed I called it. We actually stood up and left without further ado as we were afraid we were going to have our reservations released for Footloose. 

 

I'm not going to stand on a soap box and lament the service, scream "never again, NCL," etc. It simply seemed as though we were once again the victims of a comedy of errors which had become not so funny. So with growling stomachs, we headed off to Footloose.

 

 

The show was VERY good. Having seen a couple other big Broadway style NCL shows I was most impressed with the set design for this one. Scene changes sent us from dance halls, to high school hallways, to church, to diners, and more. To be able to execute that many set changes, all while at sea? Very impressive! The lead actors and supporting cast played their parts very well, but there did seem to be some fluff scenes that could be cut for time. It's pretty close to two hours with no intermission, so the late night showings may prove a challenge to stay awake for. If you've liked other NCL Broadway-style shows, you'll certainly enjoy Footloose too!

 

After we emerged from the theater we were good and hungry, so we headed to The Local for a late dinner. The food arrived quickly, and the restaurant manager here actually stopped by our table to check up on us. Apparently our issues from Savor, including our having left early, were noted, and the manager at The Local offered his apologies for our experience.

 

It may have been that I was rubbed the wrong way from our experience earlier in the night, but the encounter with the manager felt like we were being chided a bit. He reminded us that the service in the MDR is traditionally slower paced (which I assured him we understood from past experience, and had alerted the staff to our needs on this evening, as well as the observation that others had been seated after us and gone before us with all three courses having been served). He also said something to the effect of, "you could just come here for the rest of the cruise, and avoid the MDR all together, we'll take good care of you!"  Again, it may be that I was irritable from the past couple days of issues, but it almost felt like he was telling us we weren't welcome back in the MDR and to just come to The Local instead.

 

I will say, from this point forward in the cruise, we didn't experience any additional issues that rose to the level of noteworthy/complaint worthy (aside from the Cavern Club noise issue obviously). I really hope that this manager was just very proud of The Local and was issuing a warm invitation to his restaurant, and that it just came off as a bit patronizing or condescending to my ears after a trying couple of days.

 

With a good meal in our bellies, we headed back to the room, which blissfully had been stocked with towels, made up for the night, and came complete with a fully functional tub drain. 🙂 

Edited February 21, 2023 by tripleboom
typos

[tripleboom]

1 hour ago, sun, sand, cocktail said:

Thank you for taking the time to do this review. I’ve enjoyed your previous reviews also. I’m especially interested as we’ll be on the Joy in 2 1/2 weeks.

You’ve just made my day by saying there’s a crepe station on this ship!! I didn’t know that.

The room you were assigned would not be good with children, but you’re a very positive person and I’m sure you’re holiday only got better from there.

Thanks again.

 

I was surprised when I found out that they're not on every ship! So it was a very happy discovery as we wandered the buffet that first night. You'll find it on the starboard side, further forward on the ship.

[tripleboom]

Day 3 - Cabo

Day 3 brought us to our first port stop of the cruise, Cabo! First things first, we picked up the harbor pilot and started making our way around the end of the Baja peninsula.

 

 

With highs forecast for the mid-70s with partly cloudy skies I wasn't complaining, but I was also grateful that our day's plans didn't have us IN the water. But we were getting a pretty good preview for our day's excursion right from the balcony of our cabin!

 

 

 

It was pretty easy to spot the caravan of small boats parading around a relatively small area of the ocean, so once you spotted them, it became easy to spot the whales they were tracking. Stacy was ecstatic!

 

 

[tripleboom]

I still need to check St. Thomas, USVI off my bucket list, but among the ports I've been to, Cabo is definitely one of the more scenic approaches to port.

 

 

Today we would share the port with Royal Princess (a bit redundant, no?)

 

 

We also were in port with this sizeable vessel, the owner of which would probably look down his nose at a Haven Suite. 🤣

 

 

We hit up the buffet for breakfast on this morning, then made our way down to Deck 6 to The Social. This is the location of the comedy shows most nights, but this morning it served as the Priority Tender Access meet up point. This was our first cruise as Gold Latitudes members, so we were a bit shaky on the details of how exactly to get our priority access. I had asked the guest services desk a couple of nights prior, but they seemed a bit unsure of the answer; just stating that we'd be contacted ahead of time. Sure enough, on the evening of the sea day, we had a voicemail waiting when we got to our room confirming what time to meet at The Social, and there was also a note in the daily left in our room the night before Cabo.

 

Upon arrival in The Social, they had a bouncer... errr... NCL staff member who merely looked like a bouncer, waiting outside the doors. He verified our stateroom card showed gold status or higher and allowed us past the velvet rope. 😉

 

When we arrived at about 10:15 there were probably 35-40 other folks there, but as we crept closer to the scheduled 11:00 AM arrival time, the room got mostly full. Fortunately, they had us grouped by arrival time, so they eventually called us a little before 11:30 and we were led from The Social directly down the forward stairs to Deck 4 where the tenders were waiting for us.

 

I thought it's worth noting that there were a couple of our fellow passengers in this group that had mobility issues and I could hear them inquiring with staff about how to get down to Deck 4 if we were all using the stairs. Later I saw one of these passengers attempting to slowly make her way down the stairs, so I'd say, best case, advocate EARLY upon arrival for some form of assistance to get down to Deck 4, or maybe wait until most others have gone ashore for a less hectic tender experience. Worst case, Cabo might not be a good port to attempt to make it into the marina. The tender boats that come in from Cabo to take passengers to shore are not super large, and the gangways from the ship onto the tenders are a bit iffy. There were some significant swells that sent the tenders careening this way and that, and while Joy staff were on hand to aid in making sure passengers only crossed the gangway when safe to do so, I could easily see the potential for someone with limited mobility struggling with and getting hurt in their attempt to load onto the tender. There you go... my unsolicited two cents.

 

As you board the tender, please be mindful that others are trying to board too. There's no first class section, so just move to the back of the tender so we can all load quickly and efficiently. By the time we boarded there were passengers filling the front rows of the tender, so we had to scoot past, through, and over them to get to the empty seats at the back. I thought it a bit silly to slow things up that way. 🤷‍♂️

 

Once the tender was loaded, we quickly pulled away from the ship and got a good look at this beauty.

 

 

She is an absolute SHOWSTOPPER.

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by tripleboom

[tripleboom]

This shot of the bow also gives you a little look at the size of the tenders compared to the ship. They come in varying sizes and models with some bigger than others, but they're all dwarfed by the Joy.

 

 

It's a pretty short, maybe 10 minute ride from the ship into the marina, but it can be a bit choppy for spells. If you don't experience motion sickness on the ship, you may consider something for this day, particularly if your plans will have you out on the water around Cabo.

 

 

We had a noon meeting time for our independently booked Viator excursion for whale watching in a small, fast zodiac boat for the day. The tour operator has an office that is probably about a ten minute walk from the marina, but because of our tight timetable for the day, we made arrangements to meet with the captain just outside one of the restaurants right near the cruise tender pier. A quick call to their office (thanks for service in Mexico, AT&T!), and we tracked each other down. He led us to the nearby zodiac, but we were the first to arrive, so he gave us our choice of seats on board, and ran off to go find some more passengers.

 

 

 

We loaded on about 14 or 15 passengers in total, plus two crew, and then started making our way back out into the bay. 

 

 

That of course meant a trip past El Arco...

 

 

And Pelican Rock...

 

 

Before heading out to the open waters to go whale watching!

[Lupush]

Wonderful review so far.  Thanks for sharing.

[tripleboom]

The boys really enjoyed that we got first pick of seats. This allowed them to get right up in the front to feel the sea spray and wind in their hair! Beautiful day!

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes or so of chasing some distant water spouts, we finally spotted a full on breach in the distance, and then it was off to the races!

 

 

As we closed in there were already a number of other small vessels in the area, so we kind of formed a conga line running a largely parallel course to the whales, keeping a good distance. But that's why God gave us zoom lenses. 😄

 

 

Incredibly, we were running along side a mama humpback and her adolescent calf that was learning how to breach! Such an awesome sight, even on the smaller calf scale.

 

 

 

 

 

As a couple of the other ships in the line moved on, we stuck around and were treated to a course change from Mama and her calf, they briefly were coming right toward the zodiac before scooting out past the front of us. Just incredibly beautiful.

 

 

 

Landon caught a very cool angle of that approach from the GoPro. You can see the initial break of the surface before they dipped below, but you can see the lighter colored water where they're just gliding right in front of our idle boat.

 

 

 

 

A day we'll never forget!

[SpanishForker]

Loving your trip report. We had a great whale watching excursion in Cabo back in 2011. Glad to see they are still putting on a show.

[tripleboom]

Is there anything worse than the return to your 9-5 life after a cruise? Sorry for the delay! Now back to Cabo...

 

We had such a great time on our whale watching trip, and we even spied some other wildlife along the way. The boys were thrilled to see "Crush" out in the wild.

 

 

I'll never forget the great day on the sea, but I think I'll cherish the laughter and smiles of the boys just as much. 🙂 

 

 

 

Like all good things, our excursion had to come to an end, so we started making our way back into the marina. 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived back in the marina, tipped our guides for the day, and headed back to the tender pier. We had plenty of time to hang around the marina and do some shopping if we wanted, but by this time everyone was hungry, sun zapped, and ready to relax back aboard. So we hopped the next tender and headed for "home."

 

 

We snuck another good view of the size of the Joy compared to the tenders serving here.

 

 

You can see the tendering operation underway in this shot too.

 

[tripleboom]

Once we arrived back aboard we headed to the room to freshen up and then head to lunch.

 

 

 

I noticed after the fact that I failed to take any photos of our entrées at lunch, but to be fair, I'm pretty sure we were all too hungry to wait before digging in! If I'd have tried to sneak my phone in there for a pic there was a chance I'd have lost my hand. 🤣

 

But when dessert arrived I was able to catch those pics quickly. Stacy's apple pie à la mode was perfect!

 

 

And I can never resist the raspberry brownie cheesecake!

 

 

By the time we returned to our cabin to change into swimwear, we discovered a new friend waiting for us.

 

[nybumpkin]

2 hours ago, tripleboom said:

 

I'll never forget the great day on the sea, but I think I'll cherish the laughter and smiles of the boys just as much. 🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great memories! I love thinking about the smiles on our boys' faces. One of my favorite memories is our oldest son on our first cruise, when he was 13; we saw him at a kids' pool party, pizza in one hand, ice cream cone in the other, grinning ear to ear and saying "This is great!" I wish I had a picture....

[cruisebeachgirl703]

On 2/21/2023 at 11:41 PM, tripleboom said:

This shot of the bow also gives you a little look at the size of the tenders compared to the ship. They come in varying sizes and models with some bigger than others, but they're all dwarfed by the Joy.

 

 

It's a pretty short, maybe 10 minute ride from the ship into the marina, but it can be a bit choppy for spells. If you don't experience motion sickness on the ship, you may consider something for this day, particularly if your plans will have you out on the water around Cabo.

 

 

We had a noon meeting time for our independently booked Viator excursion for whale watching in a small, fast zodiac boat for the day. The tour operator has an office that is probably about a ten minute walk from the marina, but because of our tight timetable for the day, we made arrangements to meet with the captain just outside one of the restaurants right near the cruise tender pier. A quick call to their office (thanks for service in Mexico, AT&T!), and we tracked each other down. He led us to the nearby zodiac, but we were the first to arrive, so he gave us our choice of seats on board, and ran off to go find some more passengers.

 

 

 

We loaded on about 14 or 15 passengers in total, plus two crew, and then started making our way back out into the bay. 

 

 

That of course meant a trip past El Arco...

 

 

And Pelican Rock...

 

 

Before heading out to the open waters to go whale watching!

Wonderful review. Thanks for taking the time and for answering back. Enjoy!!!

[tripleboom]

Stacy and the boys made a few more trips down the Aqua Racer (no one was brave enough for the  Aqua Loop except Landon who's still waiting to hit that 100 lb mark).

 

 

 

The sun was starting to set and it was already getting cooler. 

 

 

The boys spent about 45 minutes in the pool which was a little less crowded (and blissfully heated!) today, before diving in to a ping pong battle while Stacy and I headed back to the room.

 

[tripleboom]

Royal Princess started to leave port a little earlier, and was clearly going to miss out on a great sunset in Cabo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the sun finished its dip below the horizon, the Cabo lights started to shine. This place is BEAUTIFUL at night!

 

 

Sadly, it was our time to head out too. The thrusters came alive, and we started making our turn back out toward open water. Until next time, Cabo!

 

 

 

Having had such a late lunch, Stacy and I put off our dinner until after the early comedy show. Larry Omaha was fantastic and worked the crowd a little bit, including a whole slew of kids seated toward the front. Very fun night! I really liked this space for comedy over Howl at the Moon on the Breakaway and the Escape. Larger, WIDER room made for better viewing.

 

 

After a late snack, we wrapped up our evening and headed back to the room to get some rest. A big, active day laid ahead of us in Puerto Vallarta!

[tripleboom]

Day 4 - Puerto Vallarta

 

With a full day ahead, we were up and at 'em well before the ship made port. In fact we were able to grab a good breakfast in the buffet and then return to our room to pack up for the day and watch our approach into port.

 

 

 

We had another Viator excursion booked for today, so we headed off the ship, snagged one of the People Mover shuttles that dropped us of at the entrance to Puerto Magico shopping area, exited the port, and walked the couple of blocks to the tour operator's office neat the cruise port. After an issue-free check in there, we were loaded into the open air (with a canopy top) trucks, and snagged a bench seat for the ride. While we had been waiting at the office, one other family from a cruise ship arrived under the guidance of a local, so presumably this same tour was being offered to passengers as they disembarked as well.

 

After one stop in the hotel district to load on another 15 or so passengers, we were on our way through the congested main drag. Once we were clear of the congestion we made our way up into the foothills and then well into the mountains surrounding Puerto Vallarta. There's lots of stops and starts with the numerous speed bumps, so again, something to be aware of for the potentially motion sick.

 

After the ~30-40 minute ride we arrived at our destination, Canopy River's Hacienda in the hills.

 

 

 

 

And today we'd get to tear around the surrounding trails in our very own RZR 4x4 UTV.

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by tripleboom

[drumming cruisers]

Loving your review, Will be on Bliss in April for Mexican Riviera cruise. 

[Barb Nahoumi]

Thank you for sharing your review and pictures of the Joy.  We are booked on her for a 10 day cruise in August.

[tripleboom]

21 hours ago, drumming cruisers said:

Loving your review, Will be on Bliss in April for Mexican Riviera cruise. 

 

 

We did the Bliss on this itinerary back in November 2021. Loved every minute of it! 60% capacity didn't hurt any either. 😄

 

12 hours ago, Barb Nahoumi said:

Thank you for sharing your review and pictures of the Joy.  We are booked on her for a 10 day cruise in August.

 

We really did enjoy the cruise. I would imagine 10 days would be wonderful! Still biding our time until we can do a longer voyage like that!

[tripleboom]

We walked from the Hacienda up a bit on an incline to where the ATVs and UTVs were waiting for us. I mention the incline because there was a woman in our group that had crutches. With her mobility limited somewhat, she struggled to make her way up there, but the staff at Canopy River were great, and instead ran a RZR down to her so they could fall in line with us after the rest of us had gotten outfitted.

 

Once we had our bandanas, goggles, and helmets on we were ready to roll!

 

 

 

And we tore off into the hills!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the trails were very dusty, but they did have a few lower lying areas where they had pumped some water in to up the mud factor. No good pictures there since the phone got tucked away to protect it in the splash zone, but here's a couple of photos from the excursion company's website to give you a better idea.

 

 

[tripleboom]

We spent probably 20-30 minutes tearing around, up and down the hills.

 

 

 

 

 

Even managed to run into a traffic jam all the way up here.

 

 

Eventually we arrived at and crossed a lengthy bridge as advertised in the tour.

 

 

 

What lay on the other side of the bridge was unforgettable. 🙂

[tripleboom]

There's a bit of evidence that the trails were dusty on this day. 🤣

 

 

Once we had all crossed the bridge we made our way down a very long, steep, uneven staircase. Again, it didn't pose a danger to us, but for those less steady on their feet, this may be an issue.

 

 

But the payoff at the end? 🤯

 

 

That ladder shown in the picture could only mean one thing. The boys and I were going in. We quickly stripped down to our swim stuff and waded in.

 

 

As you'd expect, all the rocks on this little creek bed were super smooth, meaning that it was difficult to traverse them in bare feet. The sooner you can get brave enough to duck your whole body down into the cold creek water the better! Then you're able to navigate a bit easier.

 

 

It may have been cold, but it was well worth the trip in! Some serious beauty in here.

 

 

We had to swim well out of the creek's current in order to make our way over to the ladder. It was a tough fight with the current out in the middle. I'm a pretty good swimmer and had to keep a pretty good stroke rate up just to stay in place.

 

 

Before long, Landon made his way up and then worked up the courage to jump!

 

 

With a little prodding from the group ashore, Landon took the leap first!

 

[drumming cruisers]

Great review!

[JGmf]

Thank you for all of the hard work and effort posting this review with such great photos.  I'm really enjoying it.

 

Two takeaways so far: Iowa let's kids get a learner's permit at 13??!  and...did they ever fix your shower drainage issue?

[tripleboom]

5 hours ago, JGmf said:

Thank you for all of the hard work and effort posting this review with such great photos.  I'm really enjoying it.

 

Two takeaways so far: Iowa let's kids get a learner's permit at 13??!  and...did they ever fix your shower drainage issue?

 

Connor turns 14 at the end of August, so that's when he'll be eligible for a permit. Yikes. 😬

 

By the end of the second day they did have our shower draining effectively again. Still no 4th glass for teeth brushing, but we struggled through somehow. 😆 

 

Thanks for following along! I've really enjoyed putting this together. Just wish our life schedule made it easier to sit down and bang this out a bit quicker, but such is life with a couple of active boys!

[tripleboom]

Connor went next! Awesome job!

 

 

Stacy caught my jump from the shore. 

 

 

 

 

 

And I caught it in first-person, with Landon jumping again right after me.

 

 

 

And then Connor again too!

 

 

Landon made one last cannonball leap, and then it was time for us to head back out!

 

 

 

We made the very long, steep walk back up the stairs. We were huffing and puffing pretty good by then! Once we were all loaded back up, we made a short drive to our next pit stop.