Pitzel

Fun fact -- there are no roads that connect Juneau to the rest of Alaska. There are only about 40 miles of roads in the city. You would need to take a car ferry in order to go anywhere else. That said, we have been to Juneau a couple of times and have always enjoyed ourselves. The first time, we went zip lining in the rainforest, which was awesome. The second time, we took the Roberts Tramway up to the top of the hill and looked around from there. It is totally possible to hike back down the mountain, too, if you wanted to do something less touristy. We also visited the old mines, which was actually pretty interesting. We found a private excursion that was way less touristy than most of the "panning for gold" tours that are offered. Small group, actually got to go in the old mines, and no hokey costumes involved!

Most of the restaurants frown on taking things to-go, but you can always ask ahead of time. It is usually best to tell your waiter at the start of the meal that your kids have short attention spans and would greatly appreciate if the meal was sped up a bit. You can also put in the order for their food as soon as you sit down and request that it is brought out with the appetizers.

Yes, absolutely! Kids can order off of any of the menus, but they will be charged the same as an adult for any items with a charge.

Same kids menu everywhere.

Absolutely agree! If you want the Haven and you would be disappointed if you didn't get it, go ahead and pay to upgrade outright, if you can. One of the other perks of the Haven is being escorted on and off the ship by the concierge staff, often through staff staircases and elevators. This is a HUGE plus if your kiddo gets overstimulated easily when surrounded by lots of people or gets frustrated when having to wait in lines. The Haven restaurant is much quieter and more "chill" than either the buffet or the main dining rooms. If you need to leave in the middle of a meal and return to your room, they will even pack up the food and have your butler bring it to you in your suite to finish it. Haven also comes with free on-demand movies, so you have many more movie options to choose from and can start them at any time. Haven rooms come with a small portable phone that can be used anywhere on the ship. You can contact the butler or concierge at any time if you need anything (even if it is just a "phone a friend" to have a snack brought to where you are or need assistance with anything), but it also means that the Splash Academy staff can reach you at any time, anywhere on the ship. This offers a lot of peace of mind if there is a high likelihood that your kiddo might melt down or have challenges there and need some respite.

You can Google the tour names to learn about the different tours. Often sites like TripAdvisor or Viator will post photos and reviews which may help you to make up your mind. If you can't discern any meaningful differences, then go with the cheaper one!

Totally depends on your teens. On the Prima this past April, our 13 yo signed up for Entourage...and never went. He vastly preferred hanging out with us or hanging out in the room on his own if we were doing something that didn't interest him. Some questions to help you figure out if this would work for you and your family: How long do you think you will spend in Vibe and during what times of the day? Will they have other things to do during those times? Note that Entourage may not be open all the time or have activities planned at all times during the day. Will your teens mind that you are in a space that they can't access (eg. will they feel left out)? Will they have a way to get ahold of you while you are there if they need something? Will you and your husband go at the same times or are you more likely to take turns so that the teens will always have access to an adult? How responsible are your teens? Would you have any concerns with them wandering around the ship without you? How have they behaved in similar situations, like wandering around an amusement park or large hotel on their own? Will they have spend privileges on their cards? Will they be responsible with their spending if you aren't around? A friend's teen racked up several hundred dollars in the arcade one afternoon on their first cruise because they had charging privileges and very little impulse control.

This is true if you are purchasing the packages outright, but not if you are getting the beverage package through the Free at Sea promo. In that case, minors only *have* to purchase the soda package (or, at least pay the gratuities on the soda package) if they are listed as passenger 2 on the reservation (assuming passenger 1 is an adult who wants the unlimited beverage package as part of their promo). Passengers 3-8 who are under 21 are not offered the soda package through FAS. Any soda packages purchased for passengers 3-8 would be at the prevailing rate (about $12 per day, including grats).

If they don't drink sodas, is there a reason to keep the soda package for them? Can you decline it?

Sodas are available from any bar or restaurant around the ship -- just provide your card when ordering. Some of the newer ships (like the Prima) also have Coke dispenser machines the buffet/eatery areas and you swipe your card to access the machine. These provide 3-5 flavor options, so they are not proper Coke Freestyle machines.

As far as I know.

Currently, the Prima is the only ship in the fleet with a fixed MDR menu. I believe that the other ships are still doing the rotating MDR menus.

We spatchcock our turkeys for Thanksgiving and I don't think we will never go back to the "traditional" method of preparation ever again! So good and so easy! As for NCL food, we were very impressed by the food in the Indulge Food Hall on the Prima. The Indian dishes and the BBQ were both quite good, especially considering that it is a complementary venue. The mushroom soup in Le Bistro is also a favorite of ours and we order it every time we go there. The French Onion is also good, but we can also get onion soup at Cagney's and the MDR (not exactly the same as LB, but also not bad).

Meet and Greets are definitely still happening! It may depend on how far out you contacted them. If you are more than 4-6 weeks out, they may wait to send you a response to your request. This is the email that I used to coordinate a M&G on the Escape in 2022: SpecialEventsEscape@ncl.com

Yes, apparently. https://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruise-ship-norwegian-joy-2024.html

On the Prima, we got the P+ package and ordered bottles of Acqua Panna and San Pellegrino for lunch and dinner most days. In several of the specialty restaurants, the waiters would bring us extra bottles (unopened) to take back to our cabin at the end of the meal.

Bummer!

Really? According to the deck plans, there is public space on the port side. Is that no longer accurate? On sister ships, this area is public.

The Waterfront is generally an underused area. There are lots of comfy couches and ocean views, nearby bars, and very few people! Great place to read a book or get a nap. There is a public sundeck with a hot tub and nearly the same furniture as the Vibe on deck 19. Often, most people don't find that area until later in the cruise. The Observation Lounge is awesome, though will likely fill up as people find it during the week. The Manhattan Room is a popular MDR, but we find that it is crowded and noisy. Go to Taste or Savor for the exact same menu, a shorter line, and (usually) better service. You can make reservations for the MDR, which is recommended if you want to dine there on the first night. If you want to go to the shows in the Cavern Club, show up at least 30-45 minutes early to grab a seat.

We had complementary breakfast in Cagney's available to us as suite guests. The assistant concierge set up shop there in the mornings and we got to know him well. We couldn't access the Haven complex or sun deck, but we didn't think that we would use it much considering our son is under 16 and wouldn't be allowed in the sundeck/pool area anyway. On other ships, there is a lot more for under-16s in the Haven than on the Prima.

We had a non-Haven suite on the Prima in April. We had a butler and enjoyed complimentary room service, including the Haven breakfast menu.

You should absolutely book your specialty dining before boarding, if you can. While not all of the available reservations will be offered for booking online ahead of time, you will have a good shot of getting the times/dates that you want if you attempt to book as soon as restaurant reservations become available. Specialty restaurant reservations should become available to you at 120 days out from sailing, unless you are in a suite that gives you earlier access (either 125 or 130 days out, depending on the cabin type). If it were me, I wouldn't base my dining selections based on the main dining room menus (which may not be known until you get onboard). I would base it on the itinerary of the ship (days in port vs. sea days), the entertainment schedule (do I want to rush through a specialty dinner in order to make it to a theater performance or game show on a given night?), and the cadence of the cruise. If you can get your hands on the Freestyle Dailies from similar 5-night cruises, you might be able to approximate when certain things are likely to happen on the cruise. We sometimes book specialty dining on the first night, since restaurants may not book up as quickly as on other nights on the sailing. It also starts our cruise out on a good note with a great meal. The downside is that we may be in a pickle if our luggage is delayed getting to our stateroom, as that means that we will have to head to dinner in whatever we wore onboard or packed in our carry ons. We often avoid booking specialty dining on the last night of the cruise, since that's when we have to pack up and set our luggage out. While we could pack once we get back from dinner, we like to be able to take our time when we are at a specialty restaurant and don't want to think about packing then. So, the final night is usually a bit more casual for us and we will head out to eat somewhere once we are packed (or mostly packed), whenever that might be.

Same! We have a stack of cruise keycards somewhere.

Here are our set of cruise pins. The new Latitudes pins are pretty large, TBH, and are a bit cumbersome on a lanyard. See the size vs. the RCCL pins or the old NCL ship pins. We wear the pins on the first cruise when we receive them, but then they go up on our pin board as a souvenir. We don’t take them with us on subsequent cruises.

I think it may come down to the definition of "door decorations." We put a few magnets on or near our door on every cruise. We have had absolutely no issues doing so. I suspect that anything taped to the door or something that might cause damage might be removed, but no one from NCL has ever moved our magnets or asked us to take them down. If you had streamers or something that fully covered the door, that might be frowned upon.