My husband and I decided to go to Alaska again when NCL was offering the free airfare promo for sailings on the Joy. Later, NCL extended that offering to all their ships but we were happy with the dates and itinerary we had booked so we stayed with the Joy.

We love cruising and only have sailed on NCL. We like the bigger ships and had sailed on the Bliss last year and found the Joy to be similar but not exactly the same.

Since my husband started a new job, we flew into Seattle the day of the cruise and flew home the day of disembarkation. I was a bit nervous since NCL arranged our flights but everything went very smoothly. We also used NCL for transfers to and from the airport and that was easy as well. Another great thing we took advantage of was the Port Valet service where you leave your checked bags outside of your room with the Port Valet tags and they are transported from the ship to the airport for you and you get them at your final destination. It was awesome not having to drag your luggage around when you leave the ship and it's a free service provided by the airport. You sign up for it at guest services and we received our luggage tags and airline boarding passes in our rooms on the last night. Read more