Help me decide a ship

[Langham1865]

i though I has

4 minutes ago, hallux said:

The Joy lost 1/3 of the OL.  With as popular as it is it seems quite controversial to remove part of it.

I though I remembered reading they lost a big chunk.  Wasn't this one of the biggest in the fleet?  Having never been on either ship I can't compare how they are different.  Other than saying its smaller, it could be hard to just the differences between they old and new OL on Joy, as they may have reconfigured it as well to some extent.

[hallux]

1 minute ago, Langham1865 said:

Wasn't this one of the biggest in the fleet?

I think the Joy, Bliss and Encore all had the same size OL's, the entire section of the ship forward of the forward stairs on deck 15.

[uttu]

Thank you all for the detailed replies. I do not care about alcohol but OL/Waterfront does interest me. Love gazing at the sea and I might be too cheap to upgrade to a Balcony. So those areas would be nice. Appreciate your time.

[Russiamomm]

3 hours ago, hallux said:

I think the Joy, Bliss and Encore all had the same size OL's, the entire section of the ship forward of the forward stairs on deck 15.

True.  I’m also anxious to hear reports about the upgrade.  I also note that the Encore is going into drydock in the Fall.  I suspect they’ll be making similar changes to the OL on the Encore.

[hallux]

4 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

I suspect they’ll be making similar changes to the OL on the Encore.

Don't be so sure.  The Joy was originally built with cabins where they just put some back in, they were taken out during the 'Westernization'.  The infrastructure was in place to put the cabins back.  The Encore never had cabins in that space so it won't be as easy to do.  Additionally - Encore and Bliss do Alaska cruises, the OL is a big draw for those trips, literally DESIGNED with Alaska in mind.

[LloydJr]

52 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

I suspect they’ll be making similar changes to the OL on the Encore.

They had better not!!!!!

[Russiamomm]

20 minutes ago, LloydJr said:

They had better not!!!!!

Pure speculation on my part, but it certainly would r surprise me.

[yakcruiser]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

  Additionally - Encore and Bliss do Alaska cruises, the OL is a big draw for those trips, literally DESIGNED with Alaska in mind.

The Joy will also be doing Alaska cruises in 2025.

[yakcruiser]

1 hour ago, Russiamomm said:

  I also note that the Encore is going into drydock in the Fall.  I suspect they’ll be making similar changes to the OL on the Encore.

My money says your right.

[LloydJr]

1 minute ago, yakcruiser said:

My money says your right.

I'll bet you a dollar.  I just need to figure out how to give you my address to send it to.

[yakcruiser]

1 minute ago, LloydJr said:

I'll bet you a dollar.  I just need to figure out how to give you my address to send it to.

I'll take the bet. We just need to figure out which cruise we will both be on.

[LloydJr]

1 hour ago, yakcruiser said:

I'll take the bet. We just need to figure out which cruise we will both be on.

I'm looking forward to it!

[IAcruising]

8 hours ago, Russiamomm said:

I also note that the Encore is going into drydock in the Fall.  I suspect they’ll be making similar changes to the OL on the Encore.

 

What possible reason would you have to suspect this, or even speculate this? To do to Encore what they did to Joy would cost $millions more due to infrastructure change. 

 

There is enough misinformation on these boards. Please don't add to it.

 

 

 

[hallux]

8 hours ago, IAcruising said:

To do to Encore what they did to Joy would cost $millions more due to infrastructure change.

I tried to explain that earlier in the thread but they chose to ignore it...

[dexddd]

Who knows.  They removed lounge on Star and Dawn and replaced with rooms.  I'm sure they've made more money on the rooms than people sipping coffee.

[Russiamomm]

9 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

What possible reason would you have to suspect this, or even speculate this? To do to Encore what they did to Joy would cost $millions more due to infrastructure change. 

 

There is enough misinformation on these boards. Please don't add to it.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, hallux said:

I tried to explain that earlier in the thread but they chose to ignore it...

Im not ignoring anyone and certainly don’t want to start rumors.  I was simply speculating that since the Encore and Joy are sister ships it’s possible that some of the changes made in dry dock will be consistent.  Do I know for sure?  Obviously not.  As far as know there hasn’t been any information put out about the Encore’s scheduled two week drydock.

[hallux]

19 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

I was simply speculating that since the Encore and Joy are sister ships

Technically the Escape is a sister to them but she has a different layout for decks 15 and 16 (being that there is no OL and the Garden Cafe is aft rather than forward).  My point is that even though they are 'sisters' there are some technical differences that might make similar changes more difficult.

 

As I said - the Joy originally had cabins in the space that got cabins during the dry dock, the infrastructure was there to put them in.  Adding cabins there on the Bliss or Encore would require additional engineering.  I'm not saying it's not possible, but it would be considerably more difficult in a 2 week dry dock on those ships than it was on the Joy.

[lexxfield]

The Escape is my favorite as it has the best thermal spa area of the ships mentioned and Spice H2O and District Brewhouse.  The only drawback to the Escape is that it doesn’t have The Cavern and The Beatles tribute band which is one of my favorite entertainment venues.

Edited February 16 by lexxfield
Misspellings

[IAcruising]

8 hours ago, lexxfield said:

The only drawback to the Escape is that it doesn’t have The Cavern and The Beatles tribute band which is one of my favorite entertainment venues.

 

We've done Cavern Club ships twice. Loved it, except the 2nd time we were on deck 9 right above the Club. We also got rehearsals, sound checks, etc. We are now going for the 3rd time on a 3-week repo. Not quite as exciting. 😆

 

[LloydJr]

10 hours ago, dexddd said:

Who knows.  They removed lounge on Star and Dawn and replaced with rooms.  I'm sure they've made more money on the rooms than people sipping coffee.

Not necessarily.  21.3% of NCL cruisers won't book a ship without an OL.  That reduced demand can certainly equate to the opposite (i.e. reduced revenue).