JOY - tell me all about her

[amydandrea]

booked December 2021 on NCL Joy! so hoping that it doesn’t get canceled, but I am seeing that same message how many of us are seeing about my cruise being on hold. Truly hoping we sail. That being said has anyone sailed on the Joy? I’d love to know anything you can tell us about it from personal experience. We booked a club balcony suite. it is including Harvest Cay and Costa Maya. I figure for the first trip back we should do a short one, five days is probably just enough. If you’ve been on the joy I love to hear your stories! BTW I have cruised NCL 11 times... so not a new cruiser. Have not been to HC yet or on the Joy.. also just bought 150 shares of NCLH when it was $10. So now we’re stockholders! I’ve never had that perk before, interested in what kind of onboard credit you get.

Edited January 27, 2021 by amydandrea

[NW Pacific]

We along with 2 other couples off the Joy, January 12, 2020.  Last Cruise for us😪 since then.  We all enjoyed the Observation Deck, it is a very large area , with bar,  panoramic views , but usually you had to stand inline to order drinks, but during "off hours" servers did come through.  Breakfast and lunch snacks available, band sometimes in the evening.  Entertainment was good as were the Main Dining Rooms.  All this was pre covid, so have no idea what changes will be.   The six of us, our last get together, enjoyed the Ship.  Cruise was from San Pedro ; Mexican Rivera:  stops at Cabo San Lucas, Matzalan, Puerto Vallarta.   2 couples had mini suites, one had balcony.  Showers in mini suite were very nice, with 2 sinks in bathroom. Would sail on her again !  Just wish we could!  Must say, pool area was rather small, but we never did that.  Some of us did the go karts, unless you can see without glasses, have very strong upper arm strength, I personally do not recommend.  I  had extreme trouble steering, and my friend was too "fluffy" to fit in the seat.  they do weigh you if you look over the 300lb. limit, she was not in that category, but her behind didn't fit well.  Probably too much info, but we warned, lol

[dexddd]

Joy started in China, that failed, then went where?  It didn't have a ton after that but nice to see NW was able to sail.

 

Currently in Aruba and went for a drive yesterday or day before.

[coastcat]

Joy: Beautiful ship!

 

The club balcony suite (formerly mini-suite) is slightly larger than a standard balcony room although I believe the balcony itself is not any larger. The bathroom, though, is larger and fancier with two sinks and a fabulous shower. I was in a deck 15 MA which experienced some deck noise overhead. On the other hand, it was next to some Haven cabins and my steward supplied me with toiletries and a robe from the Haven supplies. 
 

The Observation Lounge and Waterfront are splendid. Joy’s OL has a limited-menu Starbucks as well as a bar! (the main Starbucks is on deck 6) I’m an early riser even on vacation, and the OL starts their light breakfast service earlier than the buffet or MDRs. I usually ate lunch there as well - they offer light items like flatbreads and sandwiches. Pro tip: at least in the Before Times, the OL serves lunch on embarkation day and it’s vastly less busy than the buffet.

 

One downside to Joy is the lack of the Thermal Suite. There’s still a spa, just not a thermal suite area. Another downside only applies to solo cruisers like me - it’s the only ship built after Epic to lack a Studio area. These two omissions would prevent me from booking Joy if another BA/BA+ ship sails a similar itinerary. Then again, if I could get another great deal on a Club Balcony...

[joyy7403]

Stockholders get a $250 on board credit, however, you have to send in an NCL stock form & proof of your shares. You have to dig on the website to find this form. I printed out several after I found it. It is a great deal!

[ColeThornton]

15 minutes ago, joyy7403 said:

Stockholders get a $250 on board credit, however, you have to send in an NCL stock form & proof of your shares. You have to dig on the website to find this form. I printed out several after I found it. It is a great deal!

 

 

http://www.nclhltdinvestor.com/

 

Scroll to the bottom of that page for the form/info.

 

[farmersfight]

5 hours ago, coastcat said:

Joy: Beautiful ship!

 

The club balcony suite (formerly mini-suite) is slightly larger than a standard balcony room although I believe the balcony itself is not any larger. The bathroom, though, is larger and fancier with two sinks and a fabulous shower. I was in a deck 15 MA which experienced some deck noise overhead. On the other hand, it was next to some Haven cabins and my steward supplied me with toiletries and a robe from the Haven supplies. 
 

The Observation Lounge and Waterfront are splendid. Joy’s OL has a limited-menu Starbucks as well as a bar! (the main Starbucks is on deck 6) I’m an early riser even on vacation, and the OL starts their light breakfast service earlier than the buffet or MDRs. I usually ate lunch there as well - they offer light items like flatbreads and sandwiches. Pro tip: at least in the Before Times, the OL serves lunch on embarkation day and it’s vastly less busy than the buffet.

 

One downside to Joy is the lack of the Thermal Suite. There’s still a spa, just not a thermal suite area. Another downside only applies to solo cruisers like me - it’s the only ship built after Epic to lack a Studio area. These two omissions would prevent me from booking Joy if another BA/BA+ ship sails a similar itinerary. Then again, if I could get another great deal on a Club Balcony...

 

Thanks @coastcat. This is the kind of great info I was talking about in the solo cruiser's forum (solo cruiser roll call thread)! As a fellow solo cruiser, your knowledge, experience & insight (i.e. Pro tips) is much appreciated. I'm sure non-solo cruisers appreciate this info, as well.

[roger001]

Another thread said she is just leaving Aruba and heading back to Manila again to take the crew back home.  That's the crew that she just brought from Manila and other points about 3 months ago.  Said this crew, after other stops should be back home again March/April.   Nothing is looking very good at the moment for the cruise future.  

[tokidoki]

4 hours ago, joyy7403 said:

Stockholders get a $250 on board credit, however, you have to send in an NCL stock form & proof of your shares. You have to dig on the website to find this form. I printed out several after I found it. It is a great deal!

Stockholders get $50 for a 5 day cruise.  $250 is 15 days and over.  

[amydandrea]

wow great responses! thank you! I do love the thermal suite in general so I will miss that but it sounds like the OL is amazing! I have my fingers crossed for Dec 2021.....

[chloemonkey]

We were on the Joy (11 of us) in November of 2019.  Travelling as a family in the Haven....and the trip was a "bit" affected as there had been a Norovirus outbreak on the previous cruise.  So no menus, the rooms were not ready....not even salt and pepper shakers on the table.....but we tried to make the best of it - as this was not our first Noro experience.....Remember when Noro was our BIGGEST worry? lol....

 I think the rest of the ship was pretty much the same as the other NCL ships in this category with the exception of the casino.  I HATED the casino - as did most of my family.  Suffice it to say that we are all gamblers and I always book through CAS (Casinos at Sea) as again, I gamble a LOT on cruises.  This was the first cruise in my life that I only went to the casino a total of THREE times during the entire week.  Lack of machines, bad traffic flow.....NEVER saw a cocktail waiter OR a slot attendant.....one of my daughter hit one Hand Pay (jackpot over $1200 that requires you to wait for an attendant to come and pay you and issue a 1098 form) and she sat for 40 minutes before finally sending her husband to go and find someone to complete the above.

I have NCL ships that I "like" and many that I love....but it would have to be a really fabulous itinerary AND Haven price before I would try the Joy again.

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, chloemonkey said:

....

 I think the rest of the ship was pretty much the same as the other NCL ships in this category with the exception of the casino.  I HATED the casino - as did most of my family.  Suffice it to say that we are all gamblers and I always book through CAS (Casinos at Sea) as again, I gamble a LOT on cruises.  This was the first cruise in my life that I only went to the casino a total of THREE times during the entire week.  Lack of machines, bad traffic flow.....NEVER saw a cocktail waiter OR a slot attendant.....one of my daughter hit one Hand Pay (jackpot over $1200 that requires you to wait for an attendant to come and pay you and issue a 1098 form) and she sat for 40 minutes before finally sending her husband to go and find someone to complete the above.

I have NCL ships that I "like" and many that I love....but it would have to be a really fabulous itinerary AND Haven price before I would try the Joy again.

We book through CAS too.  We were really hoping that the Joy casino was similar to the Bliss & Encore as we had a great time on those two ships.  Sounds like the changes they made to 'Americanize' her didn't come out the same in the casino😒

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

We book through CAS too.  We were really hoping that the Joy casino was similar to the Bliss & Encore as we had a great time on those two ships.  Sounds like the changes they made to 'Americanize' her didn't come out the same in the casino😒

The casino is similar to other ships. Like the bliss and encore, deck 7 is narrow due to onboard life boats making the casino narrow. Separate smoking area. 
 

They turned the high rollers room into The Social. And removed the casino from the Haven turning it into a library. The Americanization was to install the smoking section. And swap tables for machines (there were more tables less machines in China. 
 

Post #83 below has some casino pics. 
 

 

 

 

[Sand and Seas]

13 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The casino is similar to other ships. Like the bliss and encore, deck 7 is narrow due to onboard life boats making the casino narrow. Separate smoking area. 
 

They turned the high rollers room into The Social. And removed the casino from the Haven turning it into a library. The Americanization was to install the smoking section. And swap tables for machines (there were more tables less machines in China. 
 

Post #83 below has some casino pics. 
 

 

 

 

Thanks for this link to your post & pictures BirdTravels!    

 

Yes, these casino pictures in your post do remind us of the Bliss & Encore.  We had a really great time on both of those cruises and spent a significant amount of time in those casinos.    The enclosed smoking areas made the rest of the casino much more enjoyable in our opinion.    

 

We are looking forward to our (long delayed) first cruise on Joy.  

 

[tumblew467]

17 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The casino is similar to other ships. Like the bliss and encore, deck 7 is narrow due to onboard life boats making the casino narrow. Separate smoking area. 
 

They turned the high rollers room into The Social. And removed the casino from the Haven turning it into a library. The Americanization was to install the smoking section. And swap tables for machines (there were more tables less machines in China. 
 

Post #83 below has some casino pics. 
 

 

 

 

Did not know there was a casino in the haven area.I would never leave then lol