This is my second NCL cruise but ninth cruise overall. My first NCL cruise was in 2012, and during the past ten years I have sailed on Carnival, Royal and Princess six times total. I decided to sail the Joy to Bermuda because the ships looks nice on paper, and sailing from NY is convenient from my home base in Philadelphia.

Judging by the first three days of this cruise, I should have stayed with Carnival, Princess or Royal. Embarkation is a mess. The path to the check-in counters passes through the boarding waiting area, and people waiting to board the ship blocks the corridor making it difficult to pass. I don't fault NCL for the poor design of the NY cruise terminal, but the staff did not make any attempts to direct traffic or put up proper signage.

The second issue I have with NCL is the lack of communication. The ship is supposed to visit Norfolk, VA on Sunday, November 6, 2022, but Norfolk got cancelled without warning, and we were not notified until we arrived at the NY cruise terminal. The same thing happened again when NCL cancelled Footloose on day 2 of the cruise. No explanation was given as to why, and many guests did not find out about the cancelation until they arrived at the theater. In both cases there was no explanation, apology or compensation for the sudden cancellation and inconvenience caused. Read more