we chose this cruise because of the itinerary and the various "perks" Well, regarding the free perks: Go for the free liquor package or the Specialty dining package and you could find yourself with a 5 to $600 service charge added to your checkout bill
If you want to take advantage of the "Free shore excursions" you might find that you have to add in a few hundred $$ as the tours typically ...
This was a last minute booking--about a month before the cruise. The fare dropped to $699 (this is not a type) for a balcony cabin! For a 16-day cruise and Panama Canal on our bucket list, we just couldn't pass this cruise up. This was also our 11th cruise in 3 years--and 3rd on NCL--so we knew what to expect.
The Joy is a mega-ship with 3800 passengers. We only felt crowded and waited for ...
We are long term NCL fans - Platinum Plus. NCL Joy is a wonderful ship! Food was very good and the crew was amazing, but a bit overworked! I did notice the specialty restaurants are bigger which is good - but the staffing is a bit slimmer so service has slipped a bit. Our cabin was nice but lacks propper storage - ZERO drawers in the set up (who designs these things???) - but we did find that ...
With a name like Cruise Critic I think we can too easily get in the habit of finding problems with sailing. As with all things in life to find a problem is pretty easy but to recognize the good is something that too often can be a struggle. We boarded this cruise with hesitation after a terrible NCL Epic experience 4 years ago. We have resisted sailing NCL during the last 4 years and discovered ...
16 day Panama Canal Cruise from Florida to Calif. Iincredibly beautiful ship, and our 1st experience w/ Haven. Embark/Disembark was a DISASTER w/ no communication re WHY we were standing 1.5 hrs. IN the Haven 'room'. Thousands of prior passengers clogging up entry curb area trying to get OFF the ship. Apparently NCL's Luggage and Passport scanners were broken, no updates given. Very confused ...
Wanted to see the Panama Canal. We stood in line for three hours when we should have been in the concierge area with no waiting ..we paid extra for that! Three tropical depressions, water spouts very close to our ship, missed and changed stops right before we cruised and during the cruise, Stops are very short, excurtions are questionably unsafe in Central America. Noro -virus over 400 ...
We liked this cruise for the itinerary and the ship. We are fans of the newer and larger ships. The crew were friendly and the ship very nice.
But sadly we were on the ship with the Norovirus. I got the virus (for 5 days) inspite of vigorous hand washing and after we got home we both got a cold. But that happens and I was lucky that I did not require hospitalization like some did. Now ...
The price for the cruise was great and always wanted to go though the Panama Canal.
The room was nice size and the aesthetics of the ship were great. The dinning rooms looked nice and the main theater was nice and beyond my expectations.
The issue is the basic design of the boat. The central bank of elevators were always packed and had to wait a really long time to use. The issue is the ...
The 4 and 5 star reviews about this ship must have come from crew, family members or first-time cruisers. If you've ever cruised on other ships, you recognize them as lacking accuracy. We had the unfortunate experience of choosing the Joy to finish our back-to-back cruise and travel through the Panama Canal back to California. Boarding was a nightmare with long lines. While standing in line 4 ...
We recently returned from a cruise on board the Norwegian Bliss. We had been on Norwegian once before about 9 years ago, and were shocked at how downhill they have gone. We have cruised with many other cruise lines in the last several years and there are some things that Norwegian do to exploit their customers that differ from other cruise lines. I believe these are things somebody considering a ...