NCL Joy - 4/1 Review

[lfreda]

Random thoughts for our 4/1 Joy sailing:

 

Embarkation:

We had a 9:30-10:00 check in time and arrived at about 10.  Check-in itself (security, showing documents and obtaining key cards) was easy - about 10 minutes.  We did have to wait longer than usual for boarding to start due to the amount of time that it took them to disembark the prior sailing.  Fortunately, we were there early enough where we had seats to wait, but there were many people sitting on the floor or standing.  Boarding didn't start until almost 12:30 but once it did, we were onboard very quickly due to latitudes status.  NCL could do better here.  If you know that you cannot disembark the passengers from the prior sailing until 11:30/12:00, perhaps push the check-in times back.

 

Cabin:

Our rooms were connecting balconies.  We spent very little time in the room so it met our needs.  We were able to go to guest services on the first day and have all of our keys programmed to open both doors, which was helpful.  Overall, the room was kept clean and we were fine with our accommodations.  In speaking with our cabin steward, I got the feeling that he was working harder since they removed turn down service.  Instead of having 12 balcony cabins to service, he was now servicing 22 balconies as well as working in the laundry.  Cabin service seemed to happen at random times depending on the day.  Some days it was done in the morning and some days it was not done until mid or late afternoon.

 

Dining:

We ate exclusively in specialty restaurants. Everyone agreed that the food had fallen off a bit.  That is not to say that it wasn't good, but there were some noticeable differences in food quality.  One example that stood out was the Filet in Cagney's which was without question a lower quality meat than what they have previously served.  Teppanyaki was actually better than I remember it being on previous cruises and the hibachi chefs do an outstanding job.  We also enjoyed Ocean Blue, La Cucina and Le Bistro.

 

We tried our best to avoid the buffet whenever possible as it gets extremely crowded.  I tend to wake up early so I enjoyed a peaceful solo breakfast in Savor nearly every morning.

 

Pool Deck:

The pool deck is crowded but the pool deck of any ship at capacity on a spring break week is going to be.  We knew this coming in as we have taken the kids on spring break several times - no surprise here.  We used the pool a few times when we got back early from a port and others were off the ship.  Since we have older teens that do their own thing, we hedged against the crowds with Vibe passes.

 

Vibe:

Vibe never disappoints.  The staff up there is fantastic, and the area is a perfect escape from the crowds.  We never had to worry about finding a chair and we were almost always able to get an umbrella.

 

Go-Karts:

This was a lot of fun!  Book reservations onboard as soon as you get on as the good times fill up quickly.

 

Casino:

The casino on NCL has been a disappointment for many years.  I am unsure why they refuse to run their casino in a way that is attractive to players.  Blackjack auto shufflers and rules make the $25 and below games unplayable.  $50 and above blackjack tables with closer to normal rules sat unused the entire trip.  Most casinos would adjust table limits to attract the players that are available to them at the time. NCL refuses to do this.  RCL does a far better job with their casino.  This sailing did have a full 2/5 poker table every night which was fun but the rake is obscene at 10% / $25 cap.  The casino was pretty quiet on this sailing with the exception of the poker table.

 

Shows:  We didn't see any shows as that isn't really our thing when we go on a cruise.  We did hear good things about Elements.

 

Premium Plus Package:  Since we only had one adult and kids in each room, we were able to upgrade only one room to premium plus.  My wife enjoys Veuve and we both are big coffee drinkers.  We definitely got our money’s worth on the package since the upcharge on the glass of champagne was $14 and we drank about $20 worth of Starbucks every day.  We were also able to order water and bring it back to the room.  I think it would be hard to justify paying for this upgrade if I had to pay for both of us.  I had no problem going down to Starbucks with her card every morning to get our coffee.

 

Ports:

 

Roatan - We went to Little French Key and booked directly with the resort.  They have different packages starting at $70 + 15% tax which includes transportation to and from the ship.  We have been here before, love it and would go back.  The email for reservations is info@littlefrenchkeyresort.com. 

 

Cozumel - Due to the 12PM arrival time, we just walked around and got some lunch.  We found that this was a good day to take advantage of the pool deck since so many people were off the ship.

 

Harvest Cay - We got off, used the pool/beach for a few hours and got back on.  Pool is great and the beach is just fair.

 

Great Stirrup Cay - The tender process was very easy with latitudes status but I could see how it would be frustrating without it.  We didn't get off the ship until after 11am and they were still calling ticket numbers.  Latitudes Gold+ can get on any tender and meet in the Social to be escorted to the tender.  The beach is nice and the water is crystal clear.  If you take a walk to the other end of the island, there is a food truck that makes some really good sandwiches.  I had the Mahi Mahi sandwich and it was outstanding.

 

Disembarkation: 

 

We had a 10:50 flight out of Miami so we chose self-assist disembarkation.  After speaking with guest services, we were told to go to the Manhattan Room at 6:45 if we wanted to be one of the first off of the ship.  This was great advice, and we were about 20th in line to disembark.  We were off the ship by 7:30, at the airport by 7:55, and through security and at our gate at 8:30.  We have heard that disembarkation from the Joy has been a nightmare since they started using the facial recognition for customs onboard the ship so we were happy to avoid the long wait.

 

Overall:

We had a great time.  There is no question that there have been some changes to cruising post Covid as cruise lines try to recoup lost revenue.  These changes had a very small impact on our overall experience.  We experienced similar differences on Royal as well. 

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, lfreda said:

Our rooms were connecting balconies.

 

4 hours ago, lfreda said:

We were able to go to guest services on the first day and have all of our keys programmed to open both doors, which was helpful.

Did the connecting balconies have an inside door between them?

[lfreda]

2 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

 

Did the connecting balconies have an inside door between them?

 

Yes, there was a connecting door inside the rooms. We kept the one in the room the kids were staying open and closed the one in our room when we were showering/changing and at night.

[PTC DAWG]

I was on this sailing, fair review…I set my expectations due to spring Break.

 

the disembarkation was a disaster, we waited until almost the last call, thinking it would be all clear, still an hour in line. Luckily our flight was at 2 PM out of MIA

The onboard Customs seems to be answer to a question no one asked. 

 

[lfreda]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

The onboard Customs seems to be answer to a question no one asked. 

 

 

Exactly - get everyone off the ship and deal with customs/immigration onshore.  In the Manhattan Room they only had 3 facial recognition machines and they all seemed to have problems.  It took at least 30 seconds for me to be rejected by the machine and told to see an immigration officer.  When I approached the officer he just waved me by without even looking at my documents.  

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

I was on this sailing, fair review…I set my expectations due to spring Break.

 

the disembarkation was a disaster, we waited until almost the last call, thinking it would be all clear, still an hour in line. Luckily our flight was at 2 PM out of MIA

The onboard Customs seems to be answer to a question no one asked. 

 

Did you find a good place to wait?

We were thinking of having the latest breakfast possible so we can be out of our room but have somewhere to wait.

[PACrew]

Crazy on disembark. I was in Harmony right in front of you. They were boarding by 10:30 on embarkation day.

 

On disembark, we self assisted and walked off at 7:20, through customs and curbside at 7:30. RCL really has the embark/disembark down to a science.