dcipjr

I can only speak for myself, but I saw this topic and thought, "Oh good! Another @YVRteacher review!"

Your reviews are top-tier: they've got good vibes, good insights, and a lot of heart. What more can you ask for?

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to bring us along. Hope you have a wonderful cruise aboard the Star.

3 hours ago, mshaines said:

Going back to FR for a minute... when did you make your reservation?  I can't online; think it's saying to book on the ship... TIA!

FR is one of the most walk-in-friendly restaurants on the ship. I have almost never seen it crowded.

On my solo cruise on the Joy last year, when I used my Latitudes dining certificate, the maitre'd seemed surprised that I was going to use a "Dinner for Two" voucher for only me, and mentioned I could bring someone else if I wanted. 

1 hour ago, snorklinbarb said:

The only one we've ever gotten was 10 pct off Escape April 16-23, 2023.  Had to be that week and that ship.  

We had that one too. Seemed kind of odd—had to be that week and that ship? I wasn't sure what the rationale was for that. Were they trying to get people to fill that ship?

14 minutes ago, Jasonmom said:

Did you take the cruise sponsored tour of the caves or did you go on your own? If you went on your own how did you do it?

We never do ship-sponsored excursions in Bermuda, with the exception of the Horseshoe Bay Transfer on the final day in port (Friday), since you're guaranteed back to the ship on-time, and we can use the $50 excursion credit. With the transportation options plentiful, we almost always just do things on our own.

For the caves, we first took the 9 AM ferry to St. George. Once we arrived in St. George, we walked up to the bus station, and caught the bus. I believe the #1, #3, #10, and #11 buses all go past the Caves, so there's a plethora of options. All go to Hamilton, and are spaced approximately 15 minutes apart.

We caught the first bus that came (I think it was #11). Once it passes the airport, it goes over the Causeway, and the second stop after it passes the Causeway is for the caves. It's immediately across the street from the Swizzle Inn, and there's a pedestrian path right from the bus stop to the cave ticket office. We bought tickets for the first available tour, which was 10 minutes after we arrived. 

Afterwards, we went back to the bus stop, caught the next bus to Hamilton, did some souvenir shopping, and then caught the ferry back to the Dockyard.

Note that if we hadn't wanted to go shopping in Hamilton, we could have asked the bus driver for a free transfer upon arrival into Hamilton, and used the transfer to board a #7 or #8 bus. 

Hi all,

I'm trying to transfer a reservation that I made on NCL's website to a travel agent that will get me the American Express Platinum perks ($200 OBC + dinner in Le Bistro).

I paid the initial deposit with a $250 CruiseNext certificate, which to my impression, always covered the full deposit for any stateroom that's not a suite / Haven, even if there are more than 2 people in the room. At booking time, NCL's site asked me for a $375 deposit, but I just chose to pay $250 and gave them my CruiseNext certificate, and the site accepted it.

Everything seemed fine until I went to transfer the reservation. My TA is saying that NCL wants an additional $125 to cover the deposit because of the third person—but this doesn't make sense to me.

I checked the T&C for CruiseNext and it still seems to be the full deposit.

Has anyone else experienced this? I have a second CruiseNext that I could apply to the booking, but I honestly don't feel like I should have to.

Just now, ChiefMateJRK said:

How crowded was the observation lounge on sea days?

The loungers up front were frequently filled, but seating was usually available close to the buffet area.

Thanks to @Host Jazzbeau for renaming this topic, since I evidently forgot what month it was…twice. 
 

Post-cruise brain? I guess there is such a thing!

1 minute ago, Maplemoose said:

Thank you. Great info I have read that one needs to get to the Cavern Club an hour in advance to get a seat. Any advice based on your experience?

We got there about 30 minutes before the show and got seats 2 out of 3 times. The other time we were able to get standing room but close to the stage.

It’s not as much as a hassle as you’d think to get there early. Wear a hat or something, put it on the seat, and then go grab a drink from the bar. The 30 minutes tended to go pretty quickly.

1 hour ago, Maplemoose said:

Do you remember how many performances of Footloose and Elements there were? And the Beatles? Did they have a Beatles show in the theatre as well? Any other bands in the Cavern Club? Thanks

We didn’t see Footloose this time around—already saw it before. There were two nights of Footloose, but can’t remember the performance times. Both were early on in the cruise.
 

Elements was on Day 6 and Day 7, with an early show and a late show (7 PM and 9 PM). We did see Elements and enjoyed it. 
 

The Beatles tribute band had three nights in the Cavern Club, at 7:30 and 9:30. They played early Beatles on Monday (Day 2), psychedelic Beatles on Thursday (Day 5), and late Beatles (Abbey Road / Get Back) on Saturday (Day 7). 
 

The Beatles also were in the Joy Theater on Wednesday (Day 4), but we missed that since we went to Harbor Nights. 
 

There was a magic show on Day 1 in the theater, so I’m thinking Day 2 and Day 3 were the Footloose showings. 
 

I do remember a pianist covering Beatles tunes in the Cavern Club; not exactly sure when that was. There may have been other shows there, but I missed them.

11 minutes ago, weisla said:

Thank you, I enjoyed your review and will follow this thread! Sailing on the Joy, July 1-9, to Bahamas & Bermuda w/our 9yo. DH & I are seasoned cruisers & our son has cruised once on DCL when he was 5. This will be our first post-Covid cruise, first on NCL, and first trip to Bermuda. At 5 he wasn’t excited to be dropped off at DCL kids club, and we’re hoping he has some fun at Splash Academy. Do you think there are a good range of activities for multiple age groups? 

There seem to be, based on reviewing the Splash schedule and dailies (which I wish I had saved, but I didn't...). There are different age groups, and three or four different activities at any given session offered for each age group, so there's plenty to do.

My daughter didn't like the Jewel Splash Academy because she found it boring, but the Joy's Splash Academy is much bigger. 

At first she didn't want to go, because she remembered the Jewel, and also found it a bit overwhelming to walk into a room full of kids she didn't know. It helped us to get in line early, so she could be the first kid there. After she went once, she was raring to go each time.

50 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

We had that happen last summer and then we got run off by the man o war (jellyfish). They actually closed off going in the water by around 1:30 because of it. Lots of people got stung that day. I've never seen that amount of jellyfish at Horseshoe in all of my years going there and, hopefully, they won't be there this summer.

We didn't make it to Horseshoe this time around, but there were some Portuguese Man o' War on the beach at Tobacco Bay. The attendants were removing them from the beach and water when they were seen.

Unfortunately, because of climate change, Bermuda is getting way more sargassum (seaweed) washing ashore, and with it comes the Man o' War. I was talking to some of the locals about it.

The Portugese Man o' War is actually fascinating—they're made of many different organisms, living together, it's not a single species. But yeah, you don't want to see them—or worse, trod on them.

As for Splash Academy, I can say that the staff we met (Purple, Ginger, and Alaska) were wonderful. My daughter seemed to gravitate towards playing Mario Kart. She's five, so I doubt she was very good at it..but she loved it all the same (we don't have a game console at home).

Unlike on the Jewel, we never had an issue or a long line getting her checked in, and it didn't seem like the place was bursting at the seams with kids, even though there were a fair amount onboard. 

Splash Academy is a godsend, too—head to the buffet first, get your kiddo(s) something to eat, drop-off at Splash, and then it's Date Night!

In terms of tricks to avoid the crowds, I don’t have anything too earth-shattering—it’s mostly just knowing what to avoid based on past experience. 
 

For instance:

- Avoid the buffet on embarkation day, and eat lunch at Taste / Savor. 
 

- Don’t bother with the Manhattan Room on Day 1—everyone will be there. Taste and Savor will be much less crowded, with the same menu. Head straight there ahead of the crowds that will inevitably show up once they can’t get into the Manhattan Room.

- Get up early and go around the ship while most people are still asleep. 
 

- In Bermuda, don’t go to Horseshoe Bay on the first day, since everyone and their grandma will go there once they get off the ship. Doubly so, because the Celebrity Summit is usually in port at the same time as the Joy. We usually go to St. George first, since the NCL ferry departs at 9 AM, and the Celebrity passengers have to wait for the 9:45 Orange Line ferry. 
 

- The American Diner is open for breakfast, and nobody goes. It’s a smaller buffet but it’s plenty to get you started, and a lifesaver for port days when everyone is in a rush to get off the ship (and thus crowd the Garden Cafe). 

9 hours ago, Always Cruising said:

Were you affected by the Route 95 tanker fire that destroyed part of the highway?  Excellent review - thank you!

We don’t have to go on that section of 95 to get home, so we weren’t affected yesterday.

We’ll undoubtedly be affected over the next few months. I try to avoid that stretch of 95, since it’s pretty miserable, but now all the other roads will now get that traffic.

12 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

excellent review.  I'm think of doing Bermuda in August.  I've never been before nor have I ever cruised out of NY.  I had a co-worker that was on the cruise before you, and yes they got a lot of rain.  How was the temp/humidity?  And did the NCL shuttle run late enough to attend Harbor Nights?

 

thanks

Temperatures were comfortable…surprisingly cool. 

We’ve been to Bermuda many times in August—it’s when we usually go! It is usually warm and humid, but not oppressively so. It never kept us from cruising there in August, that’s for sure. 

The water temperatures will be super comfortable in August. Low 80s if I recall.  Great for snorkeling. 
 

NCL’s ferry runs to St. George, not Hamilton (Front Street in Hamilton is where they hold Harbor Nights). The Bermuda Blue Line ferry does run several late ferries from the Dockyard to Hamilton for Harbor Nights, so you’ll have no issue getting back and forth. 
 

This time around, we got back to the ship from our beach day at around 5 PM, showered and got cleaned up, went straight to the Local for a burger and a beer, then caught the 7:15 ferry to Hamilton for Harbor Nights. It worked out perfectly—we got there right in time to watch the Gombey Dancers!

1 hour ago, goldmom said:

Guess you're still in vacation mode.  Lol!

 

Glad you had a great time.

Such a great time that I forgot what month it was…twice! I’ll see if I can fix it…

Hello all!

We just disembarked from a 7-day cruise NYC to Bermuda aboard the Joy, so I figured I'd post a quick review.

"We" constitutes me (38), my wife (38), and my daughter (5). My wife and I went to Bermuda for the first time in 2012 as a first-anniversary celebration, loved it, and went back almost every year since, up until the pandemic hit.

We love Bermuda, and being from outside Philly, cruising from NY to Bermuda is as close as an effortless vacation as we can get. We hadn't been there all together as a family since 2019, so we were excited to go back again.

Embarkation

- We left the house around 9:45 AM, and got to the pier around 11:30 AM—and in a stunning turn of events, practically *nobody* was in the terminal, and we breezed through embarkation and were onboard having lunch in Taste by 12:20 PM. Talk about getting the vacation off to a great start!

- For those of you that are accustomed to the $40/day rate to park at Pier 88, be advised that it has gone up to $45/day. It's a bummer, but honestly it's still worth it to park up there. Sometimes we take Amtrak to New York, but we decided to go the faster route this time and just drive ourselves.

Onboard Experience
- The Joy has become one of my favorite ships in the fleet. It was full to capacity for this sailing, but we've learned some tricks to avoid the crowds, and honestly it didn't feel that crowded. We had difficulty reserving restaurants and shows, but the standby lines always seemed to work for us.

- Service was excellent. We didn't have long waits at restaurants, and we found the food to be good to excellent. Food Republic is an underrated gem. 

- For the fans of the Indian buffet in the Garden Cafe (like me!), the Joy's offering was top-notch. Everything was delicious and there's LOTS of selections. 

- The entire Garden Cafe experience, though it can get crowded, was superior to that of our Jewel trip a couple months ago -- way better selections on the Joy, notably better food quality as well.

- We're Beatles fans, and the Beatlestory tribute group was excellent. They incorporated a lot more of the material from the Get Back sessions into the normally-all-Abbey-Road final show, did the "shoobie-doo-wops" during their performance of "Revolution", and even included "Don't Let Me Down" (the rooftop take, no less!). They were great, and we love the Cavern Club venue. Only the Beatles could make music that still packs the house 60 years after it was recorded.

Kids
- For years, we cruised as a couple, but now we're parents, so for us, the newer ships like the Joy are just so much better -- there's way more for kids to do. My daughter had a great time in the Kids Aqua Park, and really enjoyed the inner-tube Aqua Racer slide. We were on the Jewel a couple months ago during Spring Break, and Splash Academy was very undersized for the 600 kids onboard -- drop-off was frequently suspended, and my daughter said there wasn't much to do on the Jewel. We didn't have these issues on the Joy -- she had a blast, and we never ran into long lines at drop-off. Granted, not all schools are out yet, but our experience was very positive.

- The mini golf was also a huge hit. It's nice to have a freebie like that on sea days.

- It's great fun watching the giant bucket in the Kids Aqua Park upend itself all over unsuspecting adults.

Stateroom
- We cruised with a guarantee balcony, and lucked out with a cabin right off the aft lobby on Deck 12. It was a perfect location, and the balcony cabin offered plenty of space and organization for a family of three.

- The balcony size was bigger than I expected. I guess we got used to Breakaway-class sized balconies.

- The cabins being serviced only once a day honestly isn't a big deal for us -- it's the same as in hotels. However, I've never come back to a hotel room at 4 PM and it's still not been cleaned. In my opinion, the cabin attendants are stretched too thin -- they're the most visible, personal staff member for many cruisers, and from what I see, they're *tired*. I think NCL needs to hire a few more attendants and give them fewer rooms to attend.

- Our attendant was super nice and told us that he would start from one end of his block of cabins one day, and the opposite end the next day, so you'd alternate between getting your room done early and late. That was fine for us, but I still think NCL needs to hire more stateroom attendants.

Crew
- The crew was wonderful. The GM (Rohinton) is running a great operation, in my opinion. 

- Cruise Director Jake was solid. He was there for the Meet and Greet, took time to say hello, and I think he did a good job.

- There was a Code Bravo issued after midnight on the day we left Bermuda; evidently a fire broke out in an AC room on Deck 14 aft. I heard the "Code Bravo" announced over the PA, and a few minutes later, Jake issued an announcement saying that there was a fire onboard, that a team had been dispatched, and that he would provide an update in five minutes' time. And he did -- and he continued to provide updates, letting us know that the fire was contained, no damage was done to the ship, there was no injuries, and no risk of re-ignition. Captain Hakan then spoke to let us know that everything was all right. Obviously you don't want a fire onboard, but the team handled it really well.

- On a lighter note, I observed crew members competing with each other to snatch up the rubber ducks. One waitress told me she had 17 ducks in her collection.

Bermuda

- Bermuda is hands-down our favorite place to cruise to. It's such a wonderful island. The people are great, and there's so much to do.

- We were forecasted one day of good weather (Wednesday), one day of showers (Thursday), and one washout (Friday), but it didn't really rain at all on Friday, and the showers on Thursday didn't settle in until around 3 PM, after a morning of sunshine. We lucked out; I heard the previous cruises were a bit soggy.

- We had some beach time and went to Harbor Nights on Wednesday, visited the Botanical Gardens and the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo (BAMZ) on Thursday, then went to the Crystal Caves on Friday.

- NCL's free ferry to St. George is super helpful; it takes a load off the Bermuda Orange Line ferry to St. George, and fills in some of the gaps in timing. We used a combination of the free and paid ferries.

- The island hasn't lost any of its beauty in the past few years...it's such a gem. We'll be back!

Disembarkation
- We did self-assist walkoff, and took us about an hour to get from the line on Deck 7 through the Manhattan room, through the face recognition on the pier, and up to our car. Then we were home about an hour and a half later. No complaints.

Final Thoughts

This was one of the best cruises we've had, ever. We had such a wonderful time. Yes, there have been some cutbacks, but at least on the Joy, the service is still pretty stellar. We'd gladly sail her again.

My only bit of criticism is that the room stewards are stretched too thin; it's affecting service levels, and I don't like to see people overworked. The rest of the crew was great. I'll be writing in my post-cruise survey that I think NCL needs to hire more cabin stewards, to decrease the workload and improve turnaround times.

NCL is still delivering a pretty compelling product, even with some cutbacks. We'll be back.

If anyone has questions, etc, feel free to let me know!
 

On 5/26/2023 at 7:50 PM, EZJR said:

How long does it take to leave dock until we pass Statue of Liberty? Thanks

 

30 minutes to the Statue, 50 minutes to the Verrazano Bridge. 

I love the Indian food in the buffet. Like others, I first tried Indian food at a later age and had no idea what I had been missing.

NCL's offerings are generally very good. I would also love a dedicated Indian restaurant, but the buffet is often easier since there are lots of selections, the food lends itself to being buffet-style, and I don't know what half of it is by name so I just try what looks good!

I had an issue the first (and only) time I booked NCL air:

We had to make a name change on the ticket, since my wife was missing her middle name. NCL's air department charged us $150 to make the name change—and then changed my ticket to be in her name for the return trip, so she had two tickets and I had none.

The airline couldn't help me, so I had to book a ticket home at my own expense.

Getting NCL to reimburse me took weeks of effort, emails, and calls. They tried to get me to make a travel insurance claim (even though insurance doesn't cover this type of issue), then insisted that I had a ticket for the return leg even though I didn't, and that the airline must have screwed up. 

I eventually had to call the airline and get proof via ticket numbers that my wife had two tickets in her name, and NCL finally agreed to reimburse me—and they did, to their credit.

But holy moly, I won't do that again.

Bottom line with NCL's air department: they can get you a very enticing rate, often cheaper than what you can book yourself. If all goes well, it's a great deal. If something gets messed up, it's like pulling teeth.

If you speak with them on the phone about anything out of the ordinary—deviations, name changes, etc.—get everything in writing, and confirm your reservations independently with the agent making the change.

7 hours ago, mking8288 said:

I do wonder, if the extended port time also has to do with the logistical challenges of provisioning - we saw quite a # of loaded trailers waiting on the pier last month ... and, we didn't actually leave Pier 88 until 8:15 p.m (scheduled was for 7:30 p.m. since it was a long TA, 15 nights) 

This seems the most likely explanation. 
 

I doubt that the schedule change is due to tides, because the tide times aren’t that consistent from week to week. I’ve been cruising to Bermuda from New York since 2012, over 10 years now, and departure was always 4 PM—and it’s not as though the moon is suddenly doing something differently now. 

Tides might affect an individual voyage’s schedule, but probably not all of them.
 

I asked myself whether it’s positive from a a revenue standpoint to keep the ship in port longer, but I’m guessing NCL wants the ship out at sea as soon as possible. Get the casino and those shops open. 
 

It probably has to deal with pilot availability or provisioning—more likely the latter. 
 

When we were on the Jewel out of San Diego a few months ago, we were quite late for departure, because lots of bags and provisions were still being loaded well past our scheduled departure time.
 

It may be unrealistic given staffing challenges for NCL to make a 4 PM departure. 
 

The additional 2 hours may also help people that are flying in same-day, since we know airlines have been an issue recently.

Hi folks,

Wondering whether anyone has found out behind why the Joy is departing NYC at 6 PM instead of 4 PM, as they used to?

For me, 4 PM was always perfect. 6 PM is sort of clashing with dinnertime and reservations, so I find the timing a bit odd. 

It's a very minor thing to quibble about—and I'm not really complaining—but I'm interested if anyone has found out the rationale for the schedule change?

The whole CruiseNext marketing onboard is a bit of a ploy to get you to spend more money right away.

As others have mentioned, really, it's a "Spend $250, get $500 in deposits" promo, but they throw all this talk about onboard credit in there ("Buy $1000 of deposits and get $500 to spend onboard right this very minute!") to try to get you to ring up a big bill onboard. 

It's a good deal, but you do have to do your homework and know what you're getting into—and the CruiseNext desk is oftentimes not all that helpful in explaining how the process really works.

From what I can tell, CF is currently a better deal than CN, as long as you can wait out the 120 day period from when you purchase the certificate.

CN only allows you to stack 2 certificates for $500 under certain conditions (currently 4 months prior to sailing).

CF always lets you get $500 off the cruise, as long as the 120 day waiting period has passed.

Am I missing something? If so, please inform me! Since I am looking at buying a CF as opposed to a CN.

4 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

 

This is incorrect.  It depends on the port.  I did B2B Bliss in April and I never set foot off the ship between the two cruises.

Ah, you're right! It does depend on the port—forgot about that.