Embarking Joy in Vancouver to L.A

[swanhaven]

We are mulling over the thought of sailing Joy from Vancouver to LA.  I see the departure listed is at 2am.

I will assume that muster would be held in Vancouver before departure so any thoughts as to what time-ish they may do that and also after muster would we be able to go ashore and explore the city before all aboard?

Thanks ahead

[martincath]

Based on prior cruises of these monster ships that need to go under the bridge at the lowest of low tide, muster is consistently remains after all-aboard time just like any other cruise (it would be very inefficient to do anything else - you can't guarantee everyone is on board until after All Aboard embarkation deadline, so doing them earlier than this would mean always having to do another drill for everyone who boarded after the first one...)

 

However everything else about embarking has varied wildly on the past handful of these cruises. Check the Roll Calls for Joy and Bliss repos in 2018/2019 and you'll see that no two have been the same, that NCL are terrible about communicating simple info like what time boarding will be, and even change the routing on these repo cruises at ridiculously short notice...

 

In short, unless you're willing to cope with any scenario from 'board any time up until midnight but Muster will be at 12:30am' to 'all aboard is 5pm because we're preclearing immigration and CBP go home by 5pm, which means you cannot get off the ship again for the rest of the evening, and there will only be a few bars open because we're in a Canadian port, but at least Muster can be at a civilized hour' I suggest you consider a smaller-sized NCL vessel out of Vancouver or stick to Seattle departures on the Bliss/Joy.

 

 

[swanhaven]

Thanks for the info - definitely helps to clarify things for me.

Cheers!

[ceilidh1]

I was about to echo the same thoughts as martincath....I have done this repo on Bliss two years in a row and both embarkations were very different. Both times, no one at NCL was able to actually give accurate information - so don't believe anything you get from them!

 

The first year, Bliss sailed under the bridge (empty) in the early hours of the morning and was sat there waiting for us. I was on the ship before noon and everyone was free to come and go until 7pm. At that point, all had to be onboard and the gangway was pulled. Muster was at 8pm, even though we didn't actually leave until around 2am, to fit under the bridge.

 

Fast forward to this year when the times we were given by NCL were the same, but the reality was very different. Bliss once again sailed in empty in the early hours, but since there were already 3 ships docked at Canada Place, it had to hang out in the harbour waiting for them to leave. Check in didn't even open until 7pm, by which time there was an enormous line up. It took us over two hours to get through and on the ship - and we were sailing Haven! Many took even longer. I believe the last passenger was on around 10:30pm and muster was held at 11pm - not a popular decision given the long day all guests had encountered. We left around 2am again to fit under the bridge.

 

I would definitely check out the port schedules and see if other ships are in on the same day. I would never do a cruise that has one of these mammoth ships in with another big ship again - just too much hassle for a short trip!

[swanhaven]

Cheers,

I could see that being a pain especially with kids etc! (Which we don't have - been there, done that!)

If we do decide to do this one, we will deffo keep in mind the scenarios!

Thanks for your help 🙂