Norwegian Joy Review

4.0 / 5.0
496 reviews

Not Wheelchair friendly.

Review for Bermuda Cruise on Norwegian Joy
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sharona361
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: May 2022

We chose Norweign since we cruised with them several times prior to COVID and were very pleased with every aspect of Norweign. This time we are older and my husband required wheelchair assistance and rented a scooter for the week, since he has breathing issues. Got to the NY Port was told to sign in for wheelchair assistance at 11:45am and come to find out that there are at least 20 other people waiting for assistance. In one hours time maybe 2 people were taken onboard. The poor woman trying to organize the wheelchair assistance was besides herself. They we not sending down wheelchairs and pushers. Finally, after 1:15 they started coming. Some people had been waiting since 9:30am. My husband finally got a wheelchair at 2:30 and it was too small so we had to wait for a larger one. Once he got in the wheelchair we flew. All the security checkpoints had been disassembled and Security staff dismissed. Once in the room his scooter was there waiting for him as promised. We could not book any entertainment prior to departure everything had to be booked once on board, so needless to say there was nothing available left by the time we got to guest services at 4:00pm. We were put on standby lists for all the entertainment. Which did work out for all the shows. Thank God.

Come one day prior to departure we are told to contact Guest Services to arrange for wheelchair assistance to disembark the ship the following morning. We did that and were told to meet at the Local at 7:45am. We got there at 7:15am put my husband on the list (about 5 in front of him) and once again there were no wheelchairs or pushers to be found. Finally about 8:10 they started to call names but no in order of the list. They took the people with the loudest mouths complaining first. And we just sat there. Then a big fight broke out amongst the people waiting for wheelchairs and all hell broke lose. The woman in charge from Norweign had to call her superiors down to address the situation. Needless to say we did not disembark the ship until after 9:15am. One of the last passengers on and one of the last passengers off.

In this day in age with so many disabled people and Senior Citizens requiring assistance you would think that Norweign Cruise Line could and should do a better job of accommodating those with special needs. They are good paying customers and just need some help. Why they do not go in order of the sign in sheet is incomprehensible to me. First come, first serve. You should sign in, be given a number and that is the order in which you are taken. Seems simple enough for a 5 year old to understand.

Cabin Review

The cabin was great. Large enough to accomodate my husband's scooter. Very comfortable and great bathroom for special needs.

Port Reviews

King's Wharf

We chose this cruise because we had never been to Bermuda and this cruise offered the most time in Bermuda. Since we were in Bermuda more than a few hours we were truly able to see Bermuda.

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