We are avid cruisers and have been on MSC, NCL, and RCI. We wanted to go on the Joy because of its New York departure port and because we haven’t been to Bermuda in many years.

Getting on the ship was ok, nothing to really complain about it was as efficient as rude people allow it to be. Once on the ship we did what all good cruisers do, we went to the buffet, sat down, got food and tried to reserve as many things as we could. Hence our first issue, you couldn’t reserve anything… it took a few hours before Footloose became available and then we noticed Elements never did. No communication, not apologies, nothing ( you’ll find this is a constant theme on this NCL voyage).

When our stateroom was ready we went down, our bags arrived fairly quickly and we unpacked. Our room steward introduced himself and was very visible our first day. Once we finished unpacking we walked around the ship and noticed something almost immediately. Although this is supposed to be a mega ship. It did not feel like it had the space of a mega ship. There were people EVERYWHERE! Now, I get it, I chose a big ship, but this is the first ship I’ve every been on where I felt claustrophobic. It was unreal. Read more