Bringing the JOY with as live-ish a review as the lousy wi-fi will allow: Bermuda 7/9-7/16!

[knscruiser322]

How was the crowd on the ship? Was the OL crowded? Was your sailing a full capacity sailing?

[www3traveler]

26 minutes ago, knscruiser322 said:

How was the crowd on the ship? Was the OL crowded? Was your sailing a full capacity sailing?

She just boarded her cruise today.

[bkrickles1]

7 hours ago, vacation44 said:

Are you driving or taking car service? We will be 12 next June coming from Holtsville and Islip and I have been weighing our options.   

My nephew arranged for 2 vans at a pretty good rate but I don't recall particulars. I'll check with him when I see him in a couple of days. 

[Dorhead1230]

20 hours ago, knscruiser322 said:

How was the crowd on the ship? Was the OL crowded? Was your sailing a full capacity sailing?

Today on the Latitudes Behind the Scenes tour, they said there’s approximately 4700 people on board. Guest Services had the ship’s full, no upgrades sign out. So, yes, we’re definitely full! The buffet is pure chaos (we’ve only visited before closing last night for some ice cream and for lunch today), and cutting across the pool deck was one of the low points of my life (we don’t hang there), but everywhere else, so far, so good. I’m in the Observation Lounge now, and while people have certainly discovered it, we did not have trouble finding seats at the front of the ship (not the chairs right by the windows; the ones right behind those). I love this place so much they’re going to have to drag me out of here on Sunday lol. Current view:

[Dorhead1230]

Food Republic review from night 1:

I suggested FR to the family for our first dinner because we don’t like to book a long, drawn-out specialty meal for the first night, but I also kind of wanted to avoid the chaos of the first-night MDR. It was a good call because there was hardly anyone there when we arrived for our 7:30 reservation. I don’t think people find out about this spot until later in the cruise. The hostess looked a little skeptical when I said we were only going to use one Platinum voucher, but I mentioned if necessary we’d order another dish or two. It wasn’t necessary to do so because the waiter didn’t question it at all. He just explained to us to make sure we picked all 8 items before we put in the order, and he actually said make sure it’s only 8. Eight items was absolutely enough for 3 adults. We were completely stuffed and didn’t even finish one cod skewer and one chicken skewer, and that was with LM having one piece of the chicken and the rice from a couple pieces of California roll.

 

This is what we ordered:

1. salt and pepper calamari—not bad, but the calamari was maybe cut a little too thick and so it seemed too chewy; DM got a super over salted piece so she didn’t eat another
2. pork loin schnitzel—really delicious! The breading is not too thick, the sauce on the plate under it was mustard-based and a nice complement to it; the description mentioned chorizo and I was thinking what? Where is there chorizo? But then I was wondering if there maybe was tiny bits of it in the breading, because there was some little pop of flavor I could not put my finger on.
3. tiger roll (spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, crab, avocado)—only DH eats raw sushi, so this was all his—he said it was pretty decent
4. California roll—typical California roll; good, though, and fresh ingredients
5. chicken teriyaki—this was just so-so; the sauce was a little weird and I couldn’t quite figure out why; LM liked it, though, and he spits out a lot of food, so maybe it was good lol
6. black cod skewers—DH, DM, and I all enjoyed these; the cod was cooked nicely and the sauce was a bit sweet, but not too much so
7. shrimp pad Thai—DM and I ate this and both liked it; it doesn’t taste 100% like pad Thai we’re used to (I couldn’t pick up any tamarind flavor in the sauce and the sauce had more spiciness than pad Thai usually does) but it was tasty and there were 4 decent-sized shrimp in it
8. pork belly and scallion dumplings—pretty good; maybe a little overwhelmed by garlic in the filling, but I really liked that the filling was clearly shredded pork belly and not just ground pork

 

LM got the kids’ pizza. They brought him 4 slices of what looked like the buffet pizza (which is, generally speaking, fairly decent). I’m not sure if that’s the standard for the kids’ pizza or if it’s different depending on the restaurant? At any rate, you’d think we’d starved him all day because he somehow got it all in his little belly. Must be the sea air.

 

We also decided to give the beverage package more of a workout than we usually do and try a few new drinks. Well, DM didn’t branch out so much and had an Angry Orchard. Despite the fact that I am not a vodka drinker, the Peach Berry Sparkle (Skyy vodka, peach, raspberry, cranberry & lemon, sparkling wine) sounded tasty, so I tried it and did enjoy it. Maybe not so much that I’d get it over and over, but it wasn’t overly sweet and was pretty refreshing. DH loved the Cool as a Cucumber (Tito’s, Beefeater gin, St. Germain elderflower, cucumber, lemon soda), and then decided to get a little crazy (yes, by our boring standards, this is crazy) and try the Cannonball (Bulleit bourbon, peach tea, pineapple, lemon orange bitters, Sam Adams Boston lager). This is served in a VERY tall glass, and he did like it. I believe the professional epicurean assessment was “weird, but tastes good.”

 

Our server was great, very friendly and attentive! Overall, we had a nice dinner here!

 

Incidentally, I have been able to post here right now not logged in to my FAS minutes. Thanks @mking8288 for the tip about logging in, loading the thread, then logging out! However, I can’t upload photos when logged out. So, I’m going to log in to the minutes and try to do a bit of a photo dump of all the dishes I described above. Hopefully it works!

[T1130]

We try to avoid deck 16 at all cost. I teach PreK and one day on the cruise last year the elevator opened on deck 16 and it looked just like my classroom. Chaos! 🤣🤣🤣

[Dorhead1230]

pork belly and scallion dumplings

shrimp pad Thai

tiger roll

chicken teriyaki skewers

California roll

salt & pepper calamari

pork schnitzel

kids’ pizza

cannonballpeach berry sparkle

[bkrickles1]

11 minutes ago, Dorhead1230 said:

Food Republic review from night 1:

I suggested FR to the family for our first dinner because we don’t like to book a long, drawn-out specialty meal for the first night, but I also kind of wanted to avoid the chaos of the first-night MDR. It was a good call because there was hardly anyone there when we arrived for our 7:30 reservation. I don’t think people find out about this spot until later in the cruise. The hostess looked a little skeptical when I said we were only going to use one Platinum voucher, but I mentioned if necessary we’d order another dish or two. It wasn’t necessary to do so because the waiter didn’t question it at all. He just explained to us to make sure we picked all 8 items before we put in the order, and he actually said make sure it’s only 8. Eight items was absolutely enough for 3 adults. We were completely stuffed and didn’t even finish one cod skewer and one chicken skewer, and that was with LM having one piece of the chicken and the rice from a couple pieces of California roll.

 

This is what we ordered:

1. salt and pepper calamari—not bad, but the calamari was maybe cut a little too thick and so it seemed too chewy; DM got a super over salted piece so she didn’t eat another
2. pork loin schnitzel—really delicious! The breading is not too thick, the sauce on the plate under it was mustard-based and a nice complement to it; the description mentioned chorizo and I was thinking what? Where is there chorizo? But then I was wondering if there maybe was tiny bits of it in the breading, because there was some little pop of flavor I could not put my finger on.
3. tiger roll (spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, crab, avocado)—only DH eats raw sushi, so this was all his—he said it was pretty decent
4. California roll—typical California roll; good, though, and fresh ingredients
5. chicken teriyaki—this was just so-so; the sauce was a little weird and I couldn’t quite figure out why; LM liked it, though, and he spits out a lot of food, so maybe it was good lol
6. black cod skewers—DH, DM, and I all enjoyed these; the cod was cooked nicely and the sauce was a bit sweet, but not too much so
7. shrimp pad Thai—DM and I ate this and both liked it; it doesn’t taste 100% like pad Thai we’re used to (I couldn’t pick up any tamarind flavor in the sauce and the sauce had more spiciness than pad Thai usually does) but it was tasty and there were 4 decent-sized shrimp in it
8. pork belly and scallion dumplings—pretty good; maybe a little overwhelmed by garlic in the filling, but I really liked that the filling was clearly shredded pork belly and not just ground pork

 

LM got the kids’ pizza. They brought him 4 slices of what looked like the buffet pizza (which is, generally speaking, fairly decent). I’m not sure if that’s the standard for the kids’ pizza or if it’s different depending on the restaurant? At any rate, you’d think we’d starved him all day because he somehow got it all in his little belly. Must be the sea air.

 

We also decided to give the beverage package more of a workout than we usually do and try a few new drinks. Well, DM didn’t branch out so much and had an Angry Orchard. Despite the fact that I am not a vodka drinker, the Peach Berry Sparkle (Skyy vodka, peach, raspberry, cranberry & lemon, sparkling wine) sounded tasty, so I tried it and did enjoy it. Maybe not so much that I’d get it over and over, but it wasn’t overly sweet and was pretty refreshing. DH loved the Cool as a Cucumber (Tito’s, Beefeater gin, St. Germain elderflower, cucumber, lemon soda), and then decided to get a little crazy (yes, by our boring standards, this is crazy) and try the Cannonball (Bulleit bourbon, peach tea, pineapple, lemon orange bitters, Sam Adams Boston lager). This is served in a VERY tall glass, and he did like it. I believe the professional epicurean assessment was “weird, but tastes good.”

 

Our server was great, very friendly and attentive! Overall, we had a nice dinner here!

 

Incidentally, I have been able to post here right now not logged in to my FAS minutes. Thanks @mking8288 for the tip about logging in, loading the thread, then logging out! However, I can’t upload photos when logged out. So, I’m going to log in to the minutes and try to do a bit of a photo dump of all the dishes I described above. Hopefully it works!

I love FR but only go for lunch there.

I actually bought the extra 2 meal deal just for myself, so I can take my niece for sushi one sea day.

Using the 2nd extra meal to share with my wife at Q before our sunset catamaran excursion in Bermuda.

13 days till Joy!

Have a wonderful time!!

Edited July 10, 2023 by bkrickles1

[mshaines]

10 minutes ago, Dorhead1230 said:

LM got the kids’ pizza. They brought him 4 slices of what looked like the buffet pizza (which is, generally speaking, fairly decent). I’m not sure if that’s the standard for the kids’ pizza or if it’s different depending on the restaurant? At any rate, you’d think we’d starved him all day because he somehow got it all in his little belly. Must be the sea air.

Does look like the buffet pizza!  FWIW, my son highly preferred the buffet pizza to the Haven kids pizza in March.  (Gotta love the Haven servers - they would bring for him buffet pizza as soon as they saw us after the first couple of meals!!).  Excited to see that's what they served at Food Republic since I want to try it in a couple of weeks!  Hope that's the standard! 

[Dorhead1230]

Our first tour as Latitudes Platinum was led by a very nice CruiseNext consultant, Barbara. We really enjoyed ourselves and learned some cool new stuff about how the ship is run. Plus, we’re cool and got to ride crew elevators 🤣. This is the general info card about the ship we were given at the start of the tour.

 

These were the 4 stops/areas of the tour, with a few notes I took about each:

1. Backstage & Cast dressing room: Ali, Stage Manager and Brian, Costume Manager: The set pieces for all shows are stored off stage left and also under the stage. We were shown some of the set pieces, including a large pile of metal pieces that’s used for the Elements set. The ship has carpenters, welders, and electricians on board for repairs, but if something is too badly damaged they need to wait for a replacement from NCL. The dressing room was the really cool part, because tons of the costumes were in there, but no photos were permitted. The performers all do multiple shows; there is an ensemble of 24 performers and each has around 30 costumes! So this dude is responsible for fitting, maintaining, and cleaning hundreds of costumes, all the shoes, and all the accessories. Seems like he really loves it, though!The performer contracts last 6-8 months.
2. Laundry area—Aris, Laundry Master—such a nice man! I’m pretty crazy about how I like my laundry done so I’ve never wanted to send it out on the ship, but he said clothes are washed in cold water and dried on medium. When housekeeping cleans, dirty linens go down a chute, and then the clean are brought back up on trolleys. They also have gigantic lint traps for the dryers that must be cleaned multiple times each day. They clean out approximately 100 kg of lint per day! I have always had an appreciation for the more behind-the-scenes work that goes into running the ship, but damn do these laundry crew members work hard churning out thousands of clean napkins, tablecloths, towels, sheets, etc. etc. every day.
3. Provisioning: Elmer, Provisions Manager: On turnaround day yesterday, they loaded 450 pallets (30 trucks) of provisions onboard. Except for fresh produce, dairy, and eggs which are sourced more locally to the ship, everything else comes from Miami on EVERY NCL ship around the world. Europe, South America, and Asia ships have to order provisions 2 months in advance because they’re sent by boat. There are 3 separate freezers and 3 separate butcher shops to avoid cross contamination (1 for poultry, 1 for seafood, 1 for other meats). Oh, also, giant walk-in freezers are really cold. 🤪
4. Main Galley: Chef de Cuisine (new title, formerly Executive Chef), Inoyman: We were in the main galley for Savor, Taste, and Manhattan Room, where some food is prepped for Garden Cafe (sandwiches, salads, and soups). After this, we exited out of the galley through Taste, which for some reason I got a real kick out of.
5. 
   Some photos from the tour:
6. 
   set pieces from Elements
7. bunch of laundry photos—the piles of linens everywhere are unbelievable
8. crazy amounts of stuff in a walk-in freezer
9. 
   part of the main galley

Edited July 10, 2023 by Dorhead1230

[cruiseny4life]

I'm sorry, but 100 KGs of LINT???? Per day? You've absolutely blown my head with this random, no one needs to care fact. Except now that I know, I think everyone should know. That's absolutely crazy. 

 

Thank you for making me smart (do y'all know the pod) about something I didn't know I needed to know.

[Dorhead1230]

27 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm sorry, but 100 KGs of LINT???? Per day? You've absolutely blown my head with this random, no one needs to care fact. Except now that I know, I think everyone should know. That's absolutely crazy. 

 

Thank you for making me smart (do y'all know the pod) about something I didn't know I needed to know.

I know, right?! Bunch of grown-assed adults standing there like 🤯 when he said that lol. Before he said the amount, just looking at the machines, one man made a crack about “Can you make me a spare pillow with the lint you pull from there?” And without missing a beat, Aris says, “I can make a mattress. Every day a mattress.” 😂

[Dorhead1230]

More of Day 2:
The BTS tour ran a little longer than we anticipated, so by the time we went to get DM and LM and headed back out to eat breakfast, we arrived at Garden Cafe at 10:35 AM. I’m sorry to report that they are indeed closing the buffet entirely between breakfast and lunch, which today meant between 10:30-12. I hope it’s evident from this thread so far and my posts on CC in general that I am a pretty positive person and I try not to complain too much. That being said, I’m also not a cheerleader and I’ll call BS when I see it. We were told at the BTS tour today that there are 4700 passengers on board. There should not be an hour and a half, during late morning on a sea day, when the only available food options for 4700 people are Observation Lounge snacks, The Local, or room service with a fee. Obviously it’s wasteful of food and manpower to have a huge section of the buffet up and running during slow times, but especially with the nice spread-out layout of the Joy buffet, there’s no reason why a small station or two can’t serve a more limited offering during the breakfast-to-lunch transition. 

 

Ok, complaining is concluded now, and it worked out fine anyway because we went to The Local for breakfast instead and it was great. Our server was awesome (this is a pattern on this ship—exceptional crew), and I was surprised by how nicely the food was plated and presented. The food came out fresh, just as ordered, and tasty.

 

We went to Guest Services to get our keys reprogrammed to open the doors of both cabins. I must say, we’ve not had many dealings with GS on previous cruises, but I see plenty of horror stories here, and our interaction was fine. The crew member helped us efficiently and now we have no more key confusion!

 

Also, Joel the room steward and some lovely unknown plumber came through today to fix the Great Joy Catastrophe of 2023™️. Last night, I got in the shower, soaped up with the shower gel and started washing, looked down, and the whole shower pan was filling with water that wasn’t draining 😮. I rinsed off so fast so it wouldn’t overflow. We told Joel this morning and he was on the phone in a snap to request a plumber. By midday they had come and fixed it (we weren’t in the room when they came). So we won’t be the resident Joy smelly couple for the remainder of the week.

 

LM and I went to hide the ducks I brought onboard for a little while early afternoon and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I pretty much convinced him this was akin to a super spy mission and we had to be extra covert so people wouldn’t see us putting them places. He’d quickly stash a duck behind his back and try to look inconspicuous if he thought someone was coming. Fun stuff!

 

The wee gremlin decided he needed another feeding, so being that the family had split off (DM needed her favorite pineapple coconut mojitos from Sugarcane and DH needed some casino therapy), I took him up to the buffet. Kid’s definitely busted out his buffet pants this week, because feeding him at home often consists of begging, threats, and bribes, but he’s been a little eating machine since we came aboard. He had a fish finger, some mac and cheese, and a slice of pizza, followed by a scoop of chocolate ice cream. By that time, my mom decided it would be unbecoming to be carried away from Sugarcane lol, so she ditched the mojitos (she almost never drinks so her love for those mojitos cracks me up) and came to find us. At that point, I got some salad, some barley salad, a slice of pizza, and a little Indian food. The Indian food was, as usual, so good! The buffet food is perfectly serviceable if you stick to the Indian and Asian food, salad bar/fresh stuff, pizza, and a couple other basics. Strange stewed meats and various types of brown foods may not go so well.

 

We were heading back to the cabin to have Mr. Grouchypants take a nap when we saw that Joel was just about to clean. I took this opportunity to herd everyone to the OL, where I sat updating this review as the rest of the family eventually drifted off to other places. As this seems to be the day where I do nothing but eat, I had a scone with raspberry jam and whipped cream before heading back to the cabin, where DH declared we needed to eat the Platinum chocolate-covered strawberries from yesterday and Casinos at Sea chocolates delivered today.

 

Tonight’s plan is dinner at Q. I have Footloose reserved, but I’m not convinced I want to go. That’s the one show that I consistently see people here on CC saying is boring, or they walked out early, yada yada. There’s also a Beatles show tonight, so maybe I’ll forget Footloose and check that out. Or the late comedy show. I’ll also have to see when LM goes to bed, because his nap ended up late and he’ll probably be wired for hours now lol.

 

I will write up a casino report so far at some point and make it its own post. I know it doesn’t interest everyone, so I’ll post it separately and make it easier to skip for those who don’t care!

[mking8288]

@Dorhead1230  Lovely food as featured in the FR photos to share, thanks.  That means 6 of us can probably eat there twice, using only 3 vouchers each time, and, maybe order some items a la carte so that we aren't technically sharing and will cover it with our non-refundable OBC.  

 

BTW, just for fun - can you check to see if they are strictly enforcing the zero, absolutely no take-out food rules.  Otherwise, going to order some ziplock bags tomorrow with Amazon Prime Day ...  

 

Good to read that the WiFi trick with CC browsing is validated as working, how's the speed - usable with minimal lagging ?   Smooth ride thus far, from what I can see tracking the dynamic weather ahead.  Enjoy Q - it's kind of a hybrid mix between FR, The Local  and Moderno and with live music (a bit loud for our taste) 

[bkrickles1]

10 minutes ago, Dorhead1230 said:

More of Day 2:
The BTS tour ran a little longer than we anticipated, so by the time we went to get DM and LM and headed back out to eat breakfast, we arrived at Garden Cafe at 10:35 AM. I’m sorry to report that they are indeed closing the buffet entirely between breakfast and lunch, which today meant between 10:30-12. I hope it’s evident from this thread so far and my posts on CC in general that I am a pretty positive person and I try not to complain too much. That being said, I’m also not a cheerleader and I’ll call BS when I see it. We were told at the BTS tour today that there are 4700 passengers on board. There should not be an hour and a half, during late morning on a sea day, when the only available food options for 4700 people are Observation Lounge snacks, The Local, or room service with a fee. Obviously it’s wasteful of food and manpower to have a huge section of the buffet up and running during slow times, but especially with the nice spread-out layout of the Joy buffet, there’s no reason why a small station or two can’t serve a more limited offering during the breakfast-to-lunch transition. 

 

Ok, complaining is concluded now, and it worked out fine anyway because we went to The Local for breakfast instead and it was great. Our server was awesome (this is a pattern on this ship—exceptional crew), and I was surprised by how nicely the food was plated and presented. The food came out fresh, just as ordered, and tasty.

 

We went to Guest Services to get our keys reprogrammed to open the doors of both cabins. I must say, we’ve not had many dealings with GS on previous cruises, but I see plenty of horror stories here, and our interaction was fine. The crew member helped us efficiently and now we have no more key confusion!

 

Also, Joel the room steward and some lovely unknown plumber came through today to fix the Great Joy Catastrophe of 2023™️. Last night, I got in the shower, soaped up with the shower gel and started washing, looked down, and the whole shower pan was filling with water that wasn’t draining 😮. I rinsed off so fast so it wouldn’t overflow. We told Joel this morning and he was on the phone in a snap to request a plumber. By midday they had come and fixed it (we weren’t in the room when they came). So we won’t be the resident Joy smelly couple for the remainder of the week.

 

LM and I went to hide the ducks I brought onboard for a little while early afternoon and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I pretty much convinced him this was akin to a super spy mission and we had to be extra covert so people wouldn’t see us putting them places. He’d quickly stash a duck behind his back and try to look inconspicuous if he thought someone was coming. Fun stuff!

 

The wee gremlin decided he needed another feeding, so being that the family had split off (DM needed her favorite pineapple coconut mojitos from Sugarcane and DH needed some casino therapy), I took him up to the buffet. Kid’s definitely busted out his buffet pants this week, because feeding him at home often consists of begging, threats, and bribes, but he’s been a little eating machine since we came aboard. He had a fish finger, some mac and cheese, and a slice of pizza, followed by a scoop of chocolate ice cream. By that time, my mom decided it would be unbecoming to be carried away from Sugarcane lol, so she ditched the mojitos (she almost never drinks so her love for those mojitos cracks me up) and came to find us. At that point, I got some salad, some barley salad, a slice of pizza, and a little Indian food. The Indian food was, as usual, so good! The buffet food is perfectly serviceable if you stick to the Indian and Asian food, salad bar/fresh stuff, pizza, and a couple other basics. Strange stewed meats and various types of brown foods may not go so well.

 

We were heading back to the cabin to have Mr. Grouchypants take a nap when we saw that Joel was just about to clean. I took this opportunity to herd everyone to the OL, where I sat updating this review as the rest of the family eventually drifted off to other places. As this seems to be the day where I do nothing but eat, I had a scone with raspberry jam and whipped cream before heading back to the cabin, where DH declared we needed to eat the Platinum chocolate-covered strawberries from yesterday and Casinos at Sea chocolates delivered today.

 

Tonight’s plan is dinner at Q. I have Footloose reserved, but I’m not convinced I want to go. That’s the one show that I consistently see people here on CC saying is boring, or they walked out early, yada yada. There’s also a Beatles show tonight, so maybe I’ll forget Footloose and check that out. Or the late comedy show. I’ll also have to see when LM goes to bed, because his nap ended up late and he’ll probably be wired for hours now lol.

 

I will write up a casino report so far at some point and make it its own post. I know it doesn’t interest everyone, so I’ll post it separately and make it easier to skip for those who don’t care!

I really do love to hear how great the crew is. They were great last summer too. 

I saw Footloose last year and it was pretty good. As you said, it is long but nobody in my party left early and generally thought it was ok. 

With that being said, I won't be attending again this year. 

Elements, on the other hand, I'll check out again. 

We also enjoyed most of the food, so I'm glad to hear that is the same. 

Thanks again for the blow by blow. 

[vacation44]

52 minutes ago, Dorhead1230 said:

 

 

Tonight’s plan is dinner at Q. I have Footloose reserved, but I’m not convinced I want to go. That’s the one show that I consistently see people here on CC saying is boring, or they walked out early, yada yada. There’s also a Beatles show tonight, so maybe I’ll forget Footloose and check that out. Or the late comedy show. I’ll also have to see when LM goes to bed, because his nap ended up late and he’ll probably be wired for hours now lol.

 

 

We were on the Joy twice last year.  The first time I fell asleep during Footloose then we skipped it the next time we were on her.  Loved, loved, loved all of the Beatles shows.  

 

Really enjoying reading your updates.

[bkrickles1]

3 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Loved, loved, loved all of the Beatles shows.  

Yep! So much fun, especially in the Cavern Club. 

[Dorhead1230]

Why I’m still up, I don’t know. However, perusing tomorrow’s (today’s, day 3’s, whatever lol) Daily, I must partially retract my statement on late morning food availability. Apparently American Diner breakfast is open until 11:30 AM. We were planning to maybe go check it out for breakfast today because we think LM will enjoy the car booths, so I’ll report back on what they have in comparison to the Garden Cafe.

 

Also to come later today are reports on Q, Footloose (I think I need an “I survived Footloose” t-shirt now), and the casino.

[Dorhead1230]

9 hours ago, mking8288 said:

BTW, just for fun - can you check to see if they are strictly enforcing the zero, absolutely no take-out food rules.  Otherwise, going to order some ziplock bags tomorrow with Amazon Prime Day ... 

I didn’t see this until now, so I didn’t ask if they allow it, but I will say I haven’t seen anyone anywhere on the ship with anything that looks to be takeout. Interestingly, I feel like I’m not even seeing as many cases of people taking buffet food and leaving their messes from it all over the ship. I better not jinx it, though!

 

The Internet is working pretty decently thus far. I haven’t used it for anything but posting here and checking the Bermuda weather, but it’s working far better than it was on Getaway a few months ago. I have choreographed a nice posting routine—write it out in my iPhone notes, copy and paste here, log in to my minutes just to upload the photos, and then log back out and finish it up and post. Working out well so far!

[bkrickles1]

4 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

Why I’m still up, I don’t know. However, perusing tomorrow’s (today’s, day 3’s, whatever lol) Daily, I must partially retract my statement on late morning food availability. Apparently American Diner breakfast is open until 11:30 AM. We were planning to maybe go check it out for breakfast today because we think LM will enjoy the car booths, so I’ll report back on what they have in comparison to the Garden Cafe.

 

Also to come later today are reports on Q, Footloose (I think I need an “I survived Footloose” t-shirt now), and the casino.

That's a great find with American Diner for breakfast. I totally forgot they set up a limited, complimentary breakfast there. And I believe it was always available until 11 or 11:30am. 

I never personally went last year on Joy but I imagine it's similar to what they did on Escape in the old Margaritaville. 

Please let us know what it is and how it is. I believe there was even an omelet station. 

Anyway, have a great day and thanks again for all the info. 

12 days for us! 

[vacation44]

13 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

 

We went to Guest Services to get our keys reprogrammed to open the doors of both cabins. I must say, we’ve not had many dealings with GS on previous cruises, but I see plenty of horror stories here, and our interaction was fine. The crew member helped us efficiently and now we have no more key confusion!

 

I did not realize this could be done.   I thought the only way to have excess to another cabin in your group was to be carrying around the additional key card.    Good to know as I have been toying with the idea to change our reservations on the Joy next June so we could benefit from two additional Platinum vouchers and an additional $100 shareholders OBC by switching out my husband (platinum) and adult son (gold).  

[mshaines]

21 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

I suggested FR to the family for our first dinner because we don’t like to book a long, drawn-out specialty meal for the first night, but I also kind of wanted to avoid the chaos of the first-night MDR. It was a good call because there was hardly anyone there when we arrived for our 7:30 reservation

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!

[dcipjr]

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.

[Dorhead1230]

9 hours ago, vacation44 said:

I did not realize this could be done.   I thought the only way to have excess to another cabin in your group was to be carrying around the additional key card.    Good to know as I have been toying with the idea to change our reservations on the Joy next June so we could benefit from two additional Platinum vouchers and an additional $100 shareholders OBC by switching out my husband (platinum) and adult son (gold).  

Yes, the crew member at guest services told DH when he first went and asked that he did not want to give us extra keys, out of fear extras could get lost and people could charge to our cabins. He said to bring him back all the keys and he reprogrammed them. He had to print us new ones, so he took the old ones. 

4 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!

I booked it at a kiosk as soon as we got on. I don’t think it does really get crowded (maybe more toward the end when people discover it exists lol), but I preferred to have a reservation—it’s easier than telling LM we’re going to eat at so and so and then schlepping him all over if we can’t eat there.

[Dorhead1230]

Q review from night 2:

First and foremost, I am obsessed with the Q water cups that look like red Solo cups but are hard and reusable.

We used our 2 platinum vouchers with wine here. We took a bottle of red and a bottle of white unopened to go, and we’ll bring them when we go to Cagney’s and La Cucina. I’m glad we killed those vouchers there, because Q only lends itself to a 3-course meal anyway based on the menu, and I’d have been disappointed at Cagney’s or La Cucina if we got a server who was a stickler with the vouchers and said 3 courses only. Our server was again wonderful—really attentive, made sure everything was correct (and I modified LM’s entree a bit), on top of water refills, etc. The current Platinum wine list is at the end of this post. The picture loading got messed up and I’m having trouble reloading everything for editing.

 

The verdict was that we wouldn’t do Q again. It wasn’t bad, but it was a little underwhelming, I guess. I’m glad we tried it, but it was really only because there’s no Moderno on this ship. They’d be better off replacing it with Moderno or even Los Lobos, which we had on Dawn several years ago and loved. Also, as I finish writing this the next morning, this is gross, but something I ate there is still giving me agita. So, no thanks on future visits there.

 

Anyhow, DH, DM, and I all ordered the crab cakes for appetizers. There weren’t any apps LM would eat, and at the last second I said screw it and ordered the deviled eggs so I could try them. I’m glad I did because they were way better than the crab cakes. While I don’t want crab cakes to be mostly filler/binder, these were way too soft and needed something to bind them a little more. There were two, and after I ate one I tried a deviled egg. I skipped the second crab cake and finished the eggs instead. Those were great—a nice subtle mustard flavor in the yolk mixture, and the little piece of maple bacon on each complemented them well.

DM doesn’t eat red meat. She was going to try the turkey, but then didn’t want that either because she was worried it would be too smoky-tasting (none of the meats ended up having a strong smoky flavor at all). So, she ordered the shrimp skewers, but not Cajun—just plain grilled with salt and pepper. She thought they were salted a little too heavily, but they were cooked well. DH and I both had the pitmaster’s platter. I ordered the same for LM, but without brisket because he wouldn’t have eaten it, and with the beef and pork sausage rather than the jalapeño one. We all thought we were subbing our sides for the ones listed on the menu, but they brought everything with small portions of the sides listed (potato salad, beans, coleslaw, and pickles) and a big hunk of the jalapeño cornbread. Then they also brought all the sides we actually ordered (fries, mac and cheese, corn on the cob, beans, a sweet potato, mixed salad, and onion rings). Being on a ship, we did not expect such large portions of everything; we wasted so much food and really felt bad about it.

 

The brisket and rib were better than I expected, because I figured they’d be dry, but they really weren’t. The chicken was ok, but nothing super special and I only ate a little of it as I started to get too full. I also liked the mac and cheese; however, I was getting a pretty strong taste of garlic from it, I think, which was a little weird for mac and cheese.

I didn’t bother with the coleslaw at all, because DM said hers tasted warm and set it aside. DH said it wasn’t bad. What they call potato salad is…I don’t even know what it is. Maybe they were going for a more German one? Is potato salad in Texas little cubes of red potatoes with some vinegar on them? Regardless, no good. The beans, meh…they tasted more like chili beans than regular baked beans, which was ok, but I didn’t eat those, either. I also disliked the jalapeño cheese sausage, but there was nothing wrong with it; it was just a matter of preference. I left the cornbread, too, as I was too full and didn’t much care for it. I know this makes it sound like the whole meal was awful lol, and it wasn’t; it just wasn’t for me. LM did eat a decent amount of his chicken, rib, the regular beef and pork sausage, and his steak fries.

 

For dessert, DM had the peach cobbler, which wasn’t bad in terms of taste, but it was way too much of the cakey part with too little peach. No joke, my mom pulled a couple peaches off it and it looked like the pieces had been shaved with a vegetable peeler rather than made into regular slices or cubes. LM and I both had the brownie with ice cream. Not bad, nothing special, again way too big of a portion and we could have split one. DH had the pecan pie. I don’t think it was bad flavor-wise, but the texture was off. It was crumbling as he went to eat pieces of it, and he said the crust was thick in some spots and thin in others. Plus, again, it was basically a slab of pie—way too big. We are not delicate flowers or especially light eaters, and I can’t imagine how anyone could finish 3 courses from there. I guess if you get only a one-meat entree the total meat portion is way smaller?

 

Here’s the sauces they put on the table. The sweet and tangy one was quite good.

Also, while we were there, the Neilly Rich Duo played for a while. They’re a husband and wife from New Zealand and Australia, respectively, and they’re really good. I am not a country fan, but they played some older stuff which, if I have to listen to country, is what I like. It just makes it too loud in there.

 

Sorry; some of the photos are going upside-down again!

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by Dorhead1230