Norwegian Joy Review
Rating by category
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Family cruise with children and grandparents. This was our fourth Alaskan cruise, but the first with NCL. We don’t plan to sail with NCL again. The beds were rock hard. The spa is minimal at best. The pools are tiny. The food was repetitive and cold. Specialty dining nights (seafood, roast beef, etc.) are only available in the buffet. The ship layout was minimal and lacking a wow factor. However, the shows were excellent. The staff was also wonderful. The children’s program was good. We had a short time in port compared to previous sailings. For such a large ship, there was a lot of movement even on the lower, central areas. The casino has a contained smoking room so the scent doesn’t filter throughout the ship.
Joy is one of the NCL ships discontinuing towel animals. There are only a handful of shops. Joy does not have a thermal spa.
Also the NCL “perks” have A LOT of fine print that we found to be more bait and switch.
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
The cabin itself was average. The bed was awful and hard.
Port Reviews
Seattle
We saw the main areas of town and received a transfer to the airport.
Ketchikan
Mainly a stop at overpriced jewelry shops. We did not do an excursion on this trip but previously have done them. A nice place to experience the beauty of Alaska but nothing to be upset if it was missed.
Victoria
There are lots of nice options to do here. We’ve done several on previous trips.