mking8288

Joy currently in-bound, was barely moving at just 1 knots, appropriately 50 miles south of Nantucket, MA about 7+ hours ago on Marinetraffic. Currently out of AIS tracking range but from very limited data available, should be on on westerly heading off Montauk, NY for NY - with early 4 a.m. local time ETA at Pier 88 ... thus, should be picking up the pilot boat at 2 to 3 a.m. offshore on the approach to Lower Bay. Following info was indirectly relayed via another CC friend of ours (thanks, M & A) as they are in touch with the ship - "left ... Friday and took two sea days towards Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Port call canceled and proceeded to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland (very small town and really not much there ). Then Sydney, Nova Scotia was canceled and two days to get to Halifax, that was last Wednesday. Then ... at St. John, New Brunswick. (No) thanks to Fiona, their itineraries were all mixed up. " Surprised that nobody on that sailing, supposingly with big #'s for the Roll Call and Meet & Greet/Mingle ... no one posting periodic update and status report(s), etc. Perhaps, ran into poor high orbit satellite coverage and signal issues in the north Atlantic ... Hopefully, we'll get to read more about their journey tomorrow and/or later this week ...

Back on topic with some post-cruise reflections, trying to minimize off-topic distractions in replies. We had an extended family dinner with one of the nieces that came back from her Alaska cruise on RCI and suffice to say, one of the out-of-town guests surely appreciated that we are in the clear as she is in remission currently & just completed chemo ... It also reminded me that we didn't see any QR codes for dining onboard the Joy last month, nothing to scan and back to printed, reusable paper menu. This AYCE place in Queens now ask folks to scan & read their online menu, except I nicely informed the server that their webpage link was loading badly & ultra slow ... oops 😬 Not all "customers" are geeks that walk around with a large smartphone or iphone that zoom easily to read the menu. Back to our BA balcony with the bedside USB ports that can charge devices as one dare & wish to (the ports were somewhat loose already & likely will fail sooner than the ship's next scheduled dry dock) There've two 110 volts power outlet and one 220 volts outlet at the desk/counter - and with a simple 2 prong outlet adapter plug, gave us 3 sets of power outlets to use and recharge our tech toys at sea. Having a 10 ft USB extension surely made life easier, as we also used it daily while hanging out in the Fwd Observation Lounge ... many others began to discover the hideaway by the end of the cruise week 😆 Still, the hi-output (10,000 mah) rechargeable power "brick" by Anker was indispensable once we leave the ship to go ashore.

This year, NCL tweaked their outsourced bidding system to take upgrade, not just at the 2 days or 48 hours cutoff to reject low bids, and will do a on-the-spot upgrade at pier check-in, re-issued key cards. Actually, some folks and that includes one of our nieces that went to Guest Services & negotiated an upgrade, picked & asked for deck 15 and only agreed to pay after being shown the balcony first. No, IMHO, downclass passengers did quite well lately in "let's make a deal". YMMV As a matter of fact, on the mobile Norwegian app, there is an option to upgrade the stateroom - not yet functional on our recent cruise 2 weeks ago 🤫

Thank you ... just finished our NCL post-cruise eSurvey and recognized our steward for her efforts, going above & beyond. She found them to bring smiles & laughter not just to us, but apparently - to others on the deck assigned to her. In our 22+ years worth of NCL cruising ... this is a first for us, especially in "steerage" - most certainly earned our token of "appreciation" in a gift envelope toward the end of our cruise week. Also, happy to share that both DW and I tested twice negative on our post-cruise C19 home test kit results. Whew, didn't bring them the invisible micro-visitors home with us and/or risk spreading/exposing others. Time to look ahead at our winter cruise, not ruling out a last minute bargain cruise deal this Fall - of course, after final payment deadline, prices dropped.

Enjoy your cruise on the Sun. If suspecting a problem with the plumbing system ... either speak to your steward and/or dial 00 to inform guest services, as they will dispatch a trained crew member to look into it (on embarkation day, however, they are often busy with the ship's overall mechancial & related sub-system, give them time to respond.)

Of course, you don't have to watch it (until you are onboard on embarkation day), but ... This - on all 3 of our cruises (thus far) this year and actually, I commented in the NCL post cruise eSurvey about this being annoying & could be better dealt with. Maybe, it wasn't 20 minutes long for the extended full version but it was, indeed, much longer - and, it loop & repeated again and again, until you "exit" to return to the main "Menu" Turned on the stateroom's interactive TV, let it run and then, go about doing other things at the same time in the stateroom, i.e. started unpacking our carry-on bags, freshen up and whatever ... It would track & log your "cabin" has now fully comply with the mandatory emergency/evacuation drill requirements per SOLAS. Better off actually - really - looking at the deck plan for primary & secondary evacuation routes, the nearest fire door(s) and emergency (crew access) doors and where's the nearest "house phone" in the area, i.e. usually near the stairs & elevators for 911 or 00 assistance, etc. Here's a bonus quiz for all seasoned cruisers - have you noticed and seen the portable AED pack/case ... often mounted on a wall near/at dining areas, especially at the buffet & near the pool area (not that the average passengers will touch or use it, and unlikely to grab it & know how to quickly use it as an on-scene first responder.

It should not affect T-Mobile partner carrier's roaming signal on GSC - 3G/HSPA+ and 4G/LTE (Band 17) with newer iPhones like XR or 11 and newer. The island was populated with numerous SSiD ... (as you can see from the screenshot from my Pixel 3aXL then ... ship's WiFi ("Getaway") was picked up on the island along with other WiFi, connected but not Look for "BTC" as the roaming partner in the Bahamas, including GSC

Pre-Covid, I'm pretty sure that we got a solid 4G signal on the island and even on the ship facing the island and/or nearby Berry Islands. We're there earlier this year, it seemed to vary between 4G and 3G signals (no 5G) - but it's reasonably fast & better than ship's satellite WiFi internet. Thumbs down, however, as they blocked the WiFi signal from the ship from reaching the island itself (worked in 2019 ... not this year) as I believed they beamed the signal via directed microwave ... as always, YMMV - depending on your device's hardware (WiFi 4, WiFi 5 or WiFi 6, etc.) and how it is configured.

@dexdddIt's lunch time here in NY, DW is running around here in downtown Little Italy picking up food to head home next. These food pix making me hungry 😁 they look excellent and how's the taste, not too high in sodium 🤔 Presentation gets an A+ for sure. You must be using fast cellular or WiFi to upload instead of counting on ship's satellite WiFi ... keep those reports coming. Loungers look nice & very comfortable - enjoy life at sea 😎

OMG ... thanks, and rest assure this is on my "short list" to book last minute. The other is the 5 nighter on the Prima, just to smell the new ship and see what all the fuzz is all about. Going to play the let's watch prices & decide on the spot that the deal is too good to pass up. CC board will be fine, the NCL sub-forum would be buzzing for sure with some of us covering the ship, bow to stern. I am NOT going to a semi-live and just sit back & watch, too familiar with the BA although we haven't sail her since the not-so-recent dry dock days. It also look (reading about it) that the Roll Call and Meet & Greet being in good hands too, as it often do ... The other good news is that post disembarkation last Friday, we self-tested twice with negative C19 results, that's good b/c at least 1 couple on the roll call shared/reported they began feeling it toward the end of the cruise & were positive upon coming home. Canada dropping the mandatory ArriveCAN requirement is also good. Regardless, just a heads up for all - pass it along to the Roll Call as I'm not "barging" in there (not yet anyway) to alert out-of-towners that they will disembarking the ship into NYC Marathon Sunday, to allow extra ground travel time to airports and confirm transport pickup ... last week with the U.N. General Assembly going on, East Side of Manhattan, that surge pricing kicked in & out with Uber & we couldn't book our usual Carmel for the return trip to Queens, luckily - Lyft came thru, although we did pay about 15% more in total. Dan as GG, maybe you should inform MSC that you are waiting for them to relocate one of their ship to NYC in 2023 ... and, then see what they say

Go direct to CBC.CA (Canada news network station) for updated news & info, as info become available - here's a fairly new report - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fiona-power-thousandswithoutpower-1.6595687 Power outage - http://outagemap.nspower.ca/external/default.html Rescue, cleanup and recovery already underway will take time, along with restoration of essential public services and businesses re-opening up, etc. IMHO, best not suitable for cruise ship passengers to come visit and see, or tour operators ashore to assume it's business as usual in the coming days. Perhaps sometime next month for some of the hard hit areas ... Halifax was mostly spared and cruise ships can ... are docking there again, berths are limited (we're there last Wednesday just ahead of Fiona.) Wishing our "neighbors" next door in NS speedy recovery.

Thanks but save the trouble, NCL using Samsung TV on the Joy and had an universal Remote App on the smartphone, couldn't bypass the menu/setup restrictions and override to switch to HDMI as input. Just to deal with watching contents on the Chromebook ... Probably need to configure an USB stick with Linux OS to boot up, etc. etc. not worth the time & efforts. Ask the butler or concierge for direct assistance, since you are upstairs in Haven ... for your convenience, of course - and see how they excel above & beyond, while waving that Vacation Hero Card around. Sounds cool and you got 12 more days ( ... okay, 11+ days based on local time ) to boot & shake things up before reaching NY and write it up here. Gosh, CC'ers got the ship nearly covered from top to bottom in reporting and sharing findings ... everything except below the pax decks - are you sure they are doing BTS tours, cause they still won't do them onboard the Joy, not in May and not last week - spoke with CruiseNext and you know how that go >>>>>>> Miami HQ As for the internet fee to activate, oddly enough ... NCL fixed it onboard the Joy, never once dare to alert & warn me about dinging $3.95 to proceed. For my convenience, of course, I would've just say go ahead and "make my day" but didn't nickel and dime us last time either. Seriously, they need new leadership in the I.T. shop, pissing and annoying loyal supporters of their highly "acclaimed" satellite WiFi #cough #cough - infamous for its (poor) values and ROI - bring on Starlink quick as partners to catch up on the rat race. That login dot com and logout dot com didn't quite work onboard the Joy either, luckily I figured out the easy workaround - didn't see the iCafe manager hanging around his/her lobby desk much of the time either (and, they cut back on # of desktop terminals vs. before) and put in more loungers ... better revenue ops from Starbuck and bar services.

Oh mine, thanks for sharing that, sounded like the last time we hit the C19 jackpot on the Joy and was also toward the end of the cruise, DW's positive result was a day behind mine ... mild symptoms easily mistaken for the seasonal cold toward the end of the 7 nighter. Being an experienced ICU nurse, you know what to do for the next few days, the worst for us was over after 2 to 3 days, just feeling tired & wanted to rest, sleep - we stay hydrated & took extra Vitamin C's ... didn't bother to get ourselves tested until day 6 or 7, wasn't until day 10 or 11 that the faint line began to go away. We quickly used up 4 or 5 test kits each and isolated at home, started emptying out our food stockpile in the freezer & called for food deliveries. Feel better & it should gradually go away, and you'll have additional "natural" immunity on top of the booster shot(s). We are fine this time (knock on wood) ... thus far, not experiencing anything and going to do a 2nd round of self testing tomorrow - should be fine to further relax & venture out again. We didn't go to the lounges or catch any shows except Elements, nor gone to the Latitudes gathering ... knowing that we won't be missing anything important. Perhaps, we lucked out this time ... unless being in a healthcare environment (worked in an Article 28 FQHC for nearly 10 years in administrative capacity with training & hands-on in disaster/emergency mgmt, etc.) - just can't walk around all day in full PPE and really do proper decon - nearly all Joy cruisers ignore the washy washy drills & bypassed the sanitizers. Now, back to our usual routines & hanging out here on CC, while plotting our next cruise and look at last minute deals, etc. Missing that gentle rocking already, spent all day doing laundry, cleaning the home & started getting out fall clothes ... staying productive. Have a volunteer project to finish up in the next week or two, then resume working on upgrading hardwares on the home network server - instead of putting more in the "cloud". The slot pull was definitely fun and laughter filled ... and it was a very good to excellent turnout for the M&G, attendance was pretty close to the numbers I had in mind based on the sign up, although I never like being given the Brew House b/c of its physical layout & setup ... but, whatever ... pleasantly surprised that we are such a small circle of cruise "addicts" - names & faces, they just clicked, remembering each other from somewhere back in the days. I'm sure that we'll come across each others again on another cruise. Good luck on running your upcoming M&G and happy cruising soon.

Yippie ... checking in here, now that we're rested up after yesterday's fast-track express Joy disembarkation, looking at your steal, ooops, I meant, sweet deal. What do I see (for a smart solo traveler like you) - forget the studio and oceanview, go straight to a balcony (GTY) with all the Free At Seas promo, just $499 as base fares plus the extras/usual add-ons ... wow and OMG comes to mind, at more than a month out. There is simply no way for this sailing to be anywhere near being sold out ... DW too busy on her iPad to pay attention on let's book, pack and go ... something about "not really going to hit up some of the same ports again, we got went" Okay, if prices drop even further - maybe I'll just hit the "Enter" key. BTW, I have a funky feeling that some of the Fall/early winter cruises out of NY to Bermuda/Norfolk & Nassau/GSC and Nassau are going to somewhat identical, excluding the ones around holidays. Afterall, NCL wouldn't be doing on-the-spot at the lobby Guest Services counter for an instant "Deal or No Deal" upgrade on recent sailings ... applying even available OBC right there & then. Looking at the NYC calendar of events, you do know that you are disembarking into the city on Marathon Sunday ... plan your transport route to LGA (assuming the same airport on the return segment) as it's known that some taxi, car services and even Uber/Lyft drivers take that day off just to avoid the city's gridlock and key route closures.

This is from Windy App, pretty sure ships are navigating carefully from a safe distance avoiding wind and waves Canadian utilities and EOC (emergency operations centers) reporting that impacted areas experiencing power outages, down trees & wires affecting 40% customers and repairs/recovery ops won't be dispatched until the worst of the storm are over ... and could be days before fully restored. This is said to be a new record for storm hitting the provinces, hard and isn't over. Norwegian Joy appeared to be heading, slowly toward PEI - based on latest marinetraffic data, her live shipcam view doesn't look bad ... perhaps 11 ft. to 13 ft. waves (3 meters) but sea state could still be rough & increasing with the swell, the further they sail easterly toward the port. Further discussions in the Hurricane Zone on this from CC'ers with excellent insights on storms over the years - meanwhile, down in the Gulf ... the buzz ahead is all about "Ian" - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2881356-fiona-atlantic-sep-15/page/2/#comments

BA was last tracked off just east of Cape Cod, MA go around (typical routing between NYC/BOS) - hugging the coastline a little closer, and should be more or less on track for her scheduled morning arrival. Just go to marinetraffic dot com & key in your search. Happy cruising !

Yay, you made it board. Thanks. A custom NCL remote, for my convenience, how nice. Enjoy Haven's suite life ,😁🤓

Looking at Marinetraffic data now - Getaway last AIS reported position 3 hours ago was heading SE away from Rhode Island & MA waters in the Atlantic. Joy is doing just 2 knots, barely moving at all - south of the Long Island, NY near the Hamptons - reported destination is PEI ... huh QM2 left NY and reported next destination is Boston, cruising at 15 knots All interesting navigational "moves" to track ...

Allison & Eric, glad that everything worked out - I was pleased with seeing so many showing up for the M&G, and for some of the officers to be there. Too little time really for the group to truly mingle, chat & share stories ... while mindful this cruise was a first for some since 2020, tried to keep it short & fun. Despite our balcony, we spend a good amount of time forward at the Observation Lounge, watching the sea go by - calm & smooth ocean all week along last night. I was downstairs coming out of LeBistro and realized ship was tilting and listed by more than a few degrees briefly, paused to grab a handrail - and the captain's voice came over the PA shortly for the 1st time then. Haha, that was exciting but I can just imagine watching a deck chair flew off into ocean air. Trust that both of you are home and/or still in town enjoying the city - safe travel, regardless ... watching NOAA on the latest storm updates. The Joy sailed again with no change in reported next port/destination up north (PEI ... I believe) while the QM2 is heading from NY to Boston instead, around the same time. Hmmm ... Thanks and you read/followed our previous "joy'ous adventure" at sea ... LOL. First thing we both did, self-swab since we got a good stockpile of kits around, happy to report & share that - 20 minutes later, "negative" x 2. Going to repeat that in 2 or 3 days, just in case. I'm pretty sure our bivalent booster shot done about 2 weeks ago "helped" a little bit. We've been using our regular masks selectively all week. However, watchng "Elements" the show in the main theater Wednesday night, we discretely changed to our KN95 once seated ... especially when we heard a bit of random, coughing around us. A small fraction of folks, mostly older passengers continue to mask up, a wise move & is more than simply peace-of-mind.

These 3 pages were distributed for NYC Disembarkation upon returning from our last port, Halifax, NS. Although both Savor & Taste were suppose to stay open for breakfast until 8:30 am, Savor was closed by 7:30 as there weren't too few remaining onboard & going to the MDR - hardly busy at all - with the lower occupancy level of 2,900 pax. We saw a handful of the 24 children/teens onboard during the entire week, mostly really younger ones (pre-schoolers) I stopped by Guest Services and spoke with one of the team member about the wording & "required" to disembark to report to immigration/custom at the designated hour (i.e. Sapphire, no later than 7:45 am ) ... not true. We (and others) can stay onboard as late as 9 a.m. but that we should let the steward know so that they can work around other empty (vacated) cabins assigned first. Poorly worded - someone, most likely, didn't properly do the cut-n-paste and it wasn't proofread before mass printed for distribution.

Final batch of Freestyle Daily - Day 5, 6 and 7 in PDF format for download - Freestyle Dailies Joy - Day 5.pdf Freestyle Dailies Joy - Day 6.pdf Freestyle Dailies Joy - Day 7.pdf

Continuation of the Freestyle Daily - Day 2, 3, and 4 (PDF format for easier/faster download for those interested, or else, skip ove) Freestyle Dailies Joy - Day 2.pdf Freestyle Dailies Joy - Day 3.pdf Freestyle Dailies Joy - Day 4.pdf

We're in Saint John this Tuesday for a day and at the nearby City Market, indoor merchants cheerfully accept USD in lieu of CAD with the exchange rate of 100 USD to 120 CAD. Depending on where & how you exchange to/from - it's closer to 100 USD to 132-134 CAD, i.e. there are bank ATM's nearby (shopping center) We previous exchanged ours (been a while) at 100 to 130. Local small businesses & merchants prefer CAD but since they are happy to see cruise ship passengers returning in numbers, they gladly take USD at or near the above rate of 100 to 120. CC transactions typically cost them 3% in fees on average +/- plus other associated expenses, nothing is free. If you are an AAA (auto club) member, I believe currency exchange services are available - call ahead & check to find out ... we could've walk to one that happened to be near us, don't even need to drive over. Banks do it selectively, ask & check. Never did see any official currency exchange places near the ports ... just don't do it at the airport CE as they give the worst deal for the convenience.

Yeah, just 1 CBP officer & he was Asian ... we went down the middle (porter following / alongside with us) where there was almost no wait ~ 8:35 to 8:40 DW and I went thru those funky cameras (they don't auto zoom, tilt & adjust ... silly tech) quickly & without errors. The uniformed guy stopped Mrs. M and took 2 quick glances at the passports, then smile & welcome us back home - it was simple. Perhaps, it was just a random thing & not our profile(s) - only had 2 carry-on bags (oversized, unzipped) plus a smaller rollerboard & a cabin-size backpack with us ... didn't even ask any questions. Now that you mentioned it, hmmm ... I was thinking, are you going to stay on again or decided to take a rest with Fiona approaching Thanks all for following and if the pictures & short stories helped bring a smile or two, then I know the effort was totally worth it. We think of & missed other CC friends (i.e. @jaja from NJ) whom we've met and unable to cruise or not yet, for whatever reasons - life changing events aside from Covid. Stay tune for our next "semi-live" ... most probably, take the So.Carib route this winter on a longer itinerary & hit some new/different ports - not to exclude catching a last minute rock bottom deal & just pack and go, and blend in quietly. I did mention a brief listing last night around 6'ish - per Capt Svedung, an expected & sudden strong wind gust from chopping thru the cold front caused it, not from the outer bands of Fiona still way, way far out & approaching Bermuda then ... as we're in the North Atlantic SE of Cape Cod. We listed or tilted, maybe 10 to 15 degrees, no worst than 20 degrees as things would begin to slide & go flying ... quickly corrected from the bridge, with 2 updates from the bridge to calm "nerves" It's going to be very interesting - tracking & "monitoring" today's 10 days run to C-NE to see what & where the Joy is diverting to. Capt Svedung is an experienced old hand at NCL and he's excellent at the controls - the other captain is leaving the ship today for vacation, and with new crews that came onboard last Friday - it can be a wild one. Overall, we did hear metals grinding last night (behind the walls, the bathroom door (latex glove inserted into the door "lock" silence it) and inside the closet with the wooden hangers (bath towels used to cushion, clipped & drapped over as padding to cut down the noise) - not really new to all these, just surprised that it's happening to a fairly "new" ship. It helped DW got another restful night ... didn't get awaken to nudge me to "fix" things or to dial 00 Oh yeah, pretty much status quo at Pier 88 - seemed like they are changing & adjusting the check-in process, sequence & how different "privilege" passenger groupings are processed & handled. All-in-all, much improved over the Joy's early May embarkation steps (maybe, it was the Bermuda curse ... LOL) Allright, your turn in a few weeks and will be following along - your live report among the few that I always look forward to. Word of caution - (food) portion sizes are average to big, to sometimes ... jumbo, be careful or you will be bringing home extra pounds. Since we are all retirees now, why not - LOL. Still, DW and I ate more fish onboard for the week vs. being home ... discovered crispy hash browns that's been MIA and I'm happy with my smoked salmon "fix" for a little while.

A final look at Pier 88, almost all colors called by 8:25, we just went thru the MDR to the AFT gangway, the closest one to exit for the terminal's lower level. Got our 2 bags, flag a porter & quick got thru facial recognition again. CBP officer took a quick look at our passports & welcome us home ... We're across 12th Ave by 8:45 to order our ride, Carmel - Uber & went w Lyft, a bit more pricey than usual w U.N. Assembly in town, but heading home in a Toyota sedan now ... should be at our doorsteps before 10 am.