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

[bluesea777]

Well, a crowd of ppl just exited from a bus outside terminal.

 

 

[vacation44]

And then that bus load full of around 24 passengers!

[mking8288]

Caught that on Dockyard's cam ... gotta be a ship excursion or else, NCL wouldn't waited patiently for them to get back if late ... other 2 pier runners came out of nowhere, on the right side of the streaming feed.  Looks like Willie (pier's) crew are starting to release the rope lines, getting her ready to set sail shortly - 2 done, 1 more nearby. 

[vacation44]

And the engines are turned on now......

[Dorhead1230]

4 hours ago, mking8288 said:

The paper slip reminders about entertainment & dining is a good idea, since the Norwegian App is still not ready for prime time across the board with the "promised" functionality, are you able to access & see the digital version of the Freestyle Daily on the app (we couldn't, recently) and/or see the Specialty Dining menu on the app ??  Curious mind wanted to ask & know, thanks & much appreciated ... comment later, post-cruise & please be careful about "metering" those remaining & unused WiFi minutes onboard.  

 

Per Windy app, seeing a smooth homeward bound sailing later & overnight, fairly calm & smooth sea state, tomorrow with a bit of tailwind, light to moderate choppy - outdoors & waterfront should be fine all the way in.  

Yes, the Dailies have been in the app working perfectly! I love that! I know that we’ve been able to check the activities in the app for years, but having the images of the actual Dailies there is so much more convenient. I’ve just still been snapping pictures to post because I wasn’t sure how it would work downloading them on my phone and then uploading them here. The specialty menus are there, as well. Just not the MDR menus. I feel like I remember years ago they did load the MDR menus into the app to view once onboard, and DH agrees. Anyone else remember that?

 

I'm still doing well on minutes, mostly because I can pirate extra from the family 😜, but also because of your great advice about logging out once I get my thread to load! I have only needed to log in to upload photos and to reload the thread when it’s been idle a while.

 

Thanks for checking out the maritime forecast!

Edited July 14, 2023 by Dorhead1230

[Dorhead1230]

I’m in my cabin right now cracking up because you guys knew/saw more about the pier runners than we did! We were at The Local and didn’t finish up until right after we started moving, so we didn’t see the sprints to the finish line lol!

 

There would have to be a major catastrophe for us to ever be among the pier runners. I’m a pretty anxious person so I definitely like to make sure we’re always back early, and I think on this issue, DH is even worse than me. He’s always checking the time and worrying we’ll get back late. Better safe than running up to annoyed officers, though!

[Dorhead1230]

We got ready early with the intention of going to Horseshoe Bay, but LM derailed our plans a little. He was…let’s say…not on his best behavior. He was probably overtired from partying too hard so far and was being argumentative and whiny. He’s usually a really good boy in public and saves the bad behavior for home lol, but when he starts acting that way, a tantrum is imminent 😬. So, we ended up taking our time eating breakfast at Garden Cafe, figuring the beach was not happening anytime soon. We were not going to take a chance that he started having a meltdown while traveling to/from the beach or while we were there. We took LM back to the cabin, told him no beach until he could calm down and behave, let him cry it out, and then made him lay down to nap for a while.

 

We decided if he seemed in a better mood when he woke up, we’d just head over to Snorkel Park Beach for the afternoon. Certainly not our first choice to go to a man-made beach that charges admission on an island with some of the most beautiful free public beaches in the world, but in terms of timing, travel there, and dragging LM around, it made the most sense.

 

We passed back by Garden Cafe before getting off the ship, because there’s no way I was paying the crazy prices to buy food at the beach. I have to say, I hate the chaos of the buffet so much (although it wasn’t bad on a port day), but this Garden Cafe is my favorite of any ship so far, in terms of both layout and variety of the offerings.

 

We got off the ship and headed to Snorkel Park. When I looked at the website and it said admission was $15, I thought it meant $15 per person. We were still ok with it, because we had planned to take a taxi to Horseshoe Bay (didn’t want to do public bus or shuttle bus with LM), so that would have cost a bit anyway. However, they only charged us $15 admission, so I guess it’s per family? We also rented two loungers and an umbrella for $75. It was not crowded by the time we went in the afternoon, because I’m sure a lot of people had already headed back to the ship, but there were a decent number of people there. Overall, I can’t knock this option for people who have young kids, or who don’t want to travel far to a beach. It is probably the worst beach option in Bermuda, but the worst beach in Bermuda still beats most other places. It was clean, the water was calm, and there wasn’t a jellyfish in sight. If you want a place that’s quiet, this isn’t it, as there is a DJ and the music is loud; it was fun music though so I enjoyed that part.

 

Here is the big warning if you’re considering going to Snorkel Park—WATER SHOES! Water shoes! Water. Shoes. I don’t care if you think they look dorky, if you think your feet are tough as steel, or if you were raised barefoot on a volcano. This beach is rocky, especially for the first few feet that you go into the water (depending on the tide). I was raised and still live on the north shore of Long Island. Our beaches are pretty much rocks with a little sand here and there lol. DH and I said Snorkel Park reminded us of beaches at home, but with way prettier water and scenery. I saw multiple people doing all sorts of funky pirouetting chicken dances trying to go in and out of the water barefoot. My mom also found a piece of glass in the sand near the water (not pretty beach glass; a sharp shard). Again, the beach isn’t dirty, but they do have a bar and they also do nighttime beach parties a few days a week, so stuff happens. Wear something on your feet.

Several beautiful beach photos…upside-down 🤦🏻‍♀️

 

After a couple hours of beach time, we headed back to the ship. DH and I took LM right to the splash area so we could get any remaining sand off of us with one of the pool deck showers (Snorkel Park also didn’t have any showers we could find). After we got the sand off, we let LM go in the splash area. And then it happened. I saw a very little boy sitting on the floor of the splash area. I thought maybe he fell or got hurt, but then I saw something highly unpleasant erupting from his little shorts. LM was thankfully several feet away, and you’ve never seen two people move faster than DH and me. I hissed to DH “get him out of here now; there’s a kid ****ing himself over there,” and he swept LM up and hauled him out over the side before you could blink. The kid’s mother did go find a crew member to tell him (because let me tell you, I was already on my way to do it), but we did not stick around to see exactly what they did about it or how they cleaned. I’m assuming (hoping) they shut it down. And now I’ll rant for a minute—any kid can have an unexpected accident, but these people should be ashamed of themselves. This kid was in a diaper and they had him in the splash area anyway. DH said afterwards that he had noticed the diaper because he told LM to be careful not to knock the baby over. Prohibiting diapered kids from these splash areas is not the type of rule that’s made to be broken. It’s a serious health and hygiene concern. And it is posted clearly on the sign at the area. If you decide that you’re so special and important you don’t need to abide by that rule, you’re gross. Full stop. Keep your kids’ nasty diapers that will likely end up with poop in them out of the water that will end up in other kids’ mouths and eyes. Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.

 

Anyway, back on track…dinner at Cagney’s. First and foremost, the highlight was again the service. This crew is so friendly, hard-working, and attentive. The food, though—I just don’t get the big deal with this place. It’s like a small notch above Texas Roadhouse. (Don’t get me wrong; I like Texas Roadhouse, but it’s…Texas Roadhouse. Lol.) My strip steak was of a similar or maybe lower quality than most land-based steak chains. I do love their port wine jus, though. I also really enjoy their wedge salad, and the crab cake appetizer was okay (was better than Q’s crab cakes, but that was a low bar). DH and I both ordered mushrooms (called sautéed garlic mushrooms on the menu). He tells me to taste them after he takes a bite and I say uh oh what’s wrong with them? He said they taste like nothing. He was right. Literally nothing. No garlic, oil, butter, salt, nothing. DM had to ask them to take the branzino off her fisherman’s platter because she took one bite and it was inedibly fishy. They were super nice about it and brought her two more scallops to replace it. To be honest, I had taken LM to the restroom before the entrees came, and I could smell fish from a couple feet away when we were walking back to the table. DM did say her creamed spinach was quite good, but it definitely isn’t as chopped up and creamy as you may be used to. Dessert was good, of course, because it was the chocolate cake. It’s not like I won’t go back to Cagney’s on future cruises; I just need to stick to the filet, I guess.

ribeye

strip steak

fisherman’s platter 

 

We didn’t do any shows or anything because LM wanted to do a few arcade games and then it was time to put him to bed. Then DH and I went to the casino for a little while (surprise surprise) so I could donate some more (DH has been holding his own).

[Dorhead1230]

I just realized I did not label the last post. It was Day 5, Bermuda Day 2.

[Dorhead1230]

DAILIES DAYS 5-7

 

Day 5:

 

Day 6:

 

Day 7:

[Pitzel]

6 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

The food, though—I just don’t get the big deal with this place.

Same! We dined at Cagney's on the Prima this past April and it was...meh. The filet was fine -- nothing special, but fine -- but the ribeye was fairly chewy and lacked flavor. I ended up getting 2-3 sauces for it, hoping that one of them would save it.

We dined in the main dining room on our last night and ordered the NY strip there, though...and it was fabulous! We were stunned that the MDR steaks were considerably better than Cagney's, the service there was impeccable, and we ended up having an absolutely lovely dinner. On our Joy cruise next year, we will likely steer clear of Cagney's and spend our SPD credits elsewhere.

[vacation44]

6 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

I was raised and still live on the north shore of Long Island. Our beaches are pretty much rocks with a little sand here and there lol. DH and I said Snorkel Park reminded us of beaches at home, but with way prettier water and scenery. 

 

South shore here.....have you ever been to Robert Moses Beach?  Completely different, no rocks and beautiful sand.   My husband prefers the Hamptons beaches, but I prefer Robert Moses.     The water last week was Caribbean blue.

 

Enjoy your last evening on board and I am definitely getting that chocolate cake at Cagney's in August on the Jewel.

 

 

 

[Dorhead1230]

52 minutes ago, Pitzel said:

We dined in the main dining room on our last night and ordered the NY strip there, though...and it was fabulous! We were stunned that the MDR steaks were considerably better than Cagney's, the service there was impeccable, and we ended up having an absolutely lovely dinner.

After a MDR meal the other night, my mom and I said we don’t know why people always dump on the MDRs. We’ve had many really good meals there, and the servers are generally great!

[Dorhead1230]

36 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

South shore here.....have you ever been to Robert Moses Beach?  Completely different, no rocks and beautiful sand.   My husband prefers the Hamptons beaches, but I prefer Robert Moses.     The water last week was Caribbean blue.

 

Enjoy your last evening on board and I am definitely getting that chocolate cake at Cagney's in August on the Jewel.

 

 

 

Yes, I love Robert Moses when we feel like going a little farther away! Haven’t been this year, but I’ll have to take the little man!

 

That chocolate cake is always the highlight of any Cagney’s meal for me 😋

[Dorhead1230]

 

Ode to a Cabin Steward
 

Your name is Joel,

you are the man.

After sailing the Joy,

I’ll always be your fan.

You kept our cabin so tidy and neat,

and to our little man you were so sweet.

We tried not to be dirty slobs,

but no matter what you did a great job.

We know your job is harder than ever,

but, dude, you’re an NCL treasure.

Although too much work they’ve given you,

you still made our little man a towel animal zoo.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Dorhead1230

[UKstages]

7 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

I just don’t get the big deal with this place. It’s like a small notch above Texas Roadhouse.

I share your assessment. i find cagney’s is hit or miss, depending on the ship…. It was mostly a miss - for me - on the joy.

[mccoy132]

28 minutes ago, Dorhead1230 said:

After a MDR meal the other night, my mom and I said we don’t know why people always dump on the MDRs. We’ve had many really good meals there, and the servers are generally great!

I agree with you about the MDR.  On our Joy cruise last week, we spend our 1 SDR credit at Le Bistro.  The food was good, not great.  The rest of our dinners (and a couple of our lunches) were at the Manhattan/Taste/Savor and we really enjoyed our meals there.  

 

Enjoy your last hours of the cruise and thanks again for posting your cruise experience this week.  I was able to live vicariously through them.   Hope your disembarkation goes quickly tomorrow..  

[mking8288]

Look and sounded like you might've been busy filling out those Vacation Hero cards & drop them off before disembarking in the morning.  Nice & cute towel animals - by special requests ?? or your room attendant finding time to give that extra cheers, LM gotta be happy. 

 

That was a (yike) nasty hazmat pool incident involving red bag waste & a deep cleaning, probably meant shutting the splash pool, etc. - perhaps, a mandatory clean-up charge imposed could serve as a detergent, just an idea.  

 

Specialty dining onboard NCL ships these days, are consistently inconsistent, mirrored what one can often discover or find in the MDR ... since NCL sourced most of their provisions from their given pool of vendors.  Variations come down to, maybe, the skills & presentation of the junior chefs responsible down in the gallery.  Leaving them under the heat lamps for an extended period of time, also, doesn't  help - luke warm entrees seem to be mostly the norm.  Portion sizes in Cagney's, seemed to be on the "petite" side - never impressed about them (alas, food opinions are highly subjective & personal ...) 

 

Already seeing the Joy "live" on Cruisemapper being tracked doing 18 knots and the Summit slightly behind & port side, looking like an early to on-time arrival ,,, Captain & bridge in a hurry to bring her in ??  There are whale sightings in the area so probably will need to slow down once in the designated "zone"  

 

Have a great evening & safe journey getting home in the morning.  

[Dorhead1230]

@mking8288, no, we didn’t ask for them. I wouldn’t have had the heart to add to his workload, even knowing how excited LM would have been. Joel is a little on the older side compared to a lot of the stewards, so maybe he’s just from the old school and figured some towel animals would make a little guy happy. He’s been great all around, though! I just love this whole crew. I did do vacation hero cards earlier for the people who were extra special though 😊

[Dorhead1230]

The NCL app makes me sad now 😭😭😭

 

Sitting in Maltings waiting for disembarkation. Nice, comfortable, empty place to sit. They’ve already called through the Lime tags, so a little ahead of schedule. Of course, I wanted to go wait in the OL, but it wasn’t practical to try to get elevators back up when there was a nice place to sit right here. 
 

We had a nice, leisurely breakfast at Taste. We always do that on disembarkation day; I can’t handle the buffet chaos, plus we have the carry-on bags with us. I took Red tags because we have no reason to rush off the ship. It’ll only be an hour drive home for us. Although it looked like the line into the terminal was moving steadily while we were eating, it’s still an awfully long line, so I’d rather just wait it out and exit when most people are off already.

 

I’ll continue to update about days 6 and 7 later today!

[vacation44]

14 hours ago, mccoy132 said:

I agree with you about the MDR.  On our Joy cruise last week, we spend our 1 SDR credit at Le Bistro.  The food was good, not great.  The rest of our dinners (and a couple of our lunches) were at the Manhattan/Taste/Savor and we really enjoyed our meals there.  

 

Enjoy your last hours of the cruise and thanks again for posting your cruise experience this week.  I was able to live vicariously through them.   Hope your disembarkation goes quickly tomorrow..  

I also agree.  On our last sailing on the Epic, we ate at Taste and Manhattan Room and thought the meals were delicious.   

[goldmom]

3 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

The NCL app makes me sad now 😭😭😭

 

Sitting in Maltings waiting for disembarkation. Nice, comfortable, empty place to sit. They’ve already called through the Lime tags, so a little ahead of schedule. Of course, I wanted to go wait in the OL, but it wasn’t practical to try to get elevators back up when there was a nice place to sit right here. 
 

We had a nice, leisurely breakfast at Taste. We always do that on disembarkation day; I can’t handle the buffet chaos, plus we have the carry-on bags with us. I took Red tags because we have no reason to rush off the ship. It’ll only be an hour drive home for us. Although it looked like the line into the terminal was moving steadily while we were eating, it’s still an awfully long line, so I’d rather just wait it out and exit when most people are off already.

 

I’ll continue to update about days 6 and 7 later today!

I can't believe your cruise is over already.  Really enjoyed following along and looking forward to your final thoughts.

[Dorhead1230]

32 minutes ago, goldmom said:

I can't believe your cruise is over already.  Really enjoyed following along and looking forward to your final thoughts.

DH and I said this morning too that we thought it went really fast. Sign of a good cruise, I guess! In February, we were quite ready to get off Getaway because that one wasn’t such a great time lol.

[Dorhead1230]

We were off the ship and walked to our car by our nice porter by 10:20 AM. They were using the facial recognition in the terminal so it was moving quickly. LM’s passport is still his original with his baby picture, so it couldn’t recognize him. The worker at the machine sent us over to a customs agent who looked at our passports, asked our son if this was mommy and daddy, and sent us through. A couple hours after getting home, we all fell asleep for hours—guess the fun cruise finally caught up to us lol!

 

I’ll keep updating on the final two days later, but for now here’s a video I couldn’t upload during the cruise, from the BTS tour of Aris the laundry master demonstrating this crazy pressing machine. I want one for home!

 

 

 

[BlushPell]

Thank you so much for posting all about your trip. So glad you made it home safely and had a great time!

[Dorhead1230]

I was just looking at my pictures and have to post this one of my favorite piece of art decoration on the ship. It’s near the entrance to the theater. It’s cool to look at even from far away, but when you get up close, it’s even better because it’s made from cut-up comic book pages! Be sure to check it out if you’re on the Joy!

 

Also, on Day 6, I was able to get my geek on and check out the Joy ship model aft on Deck 6. I love looking at the detail on these models (all the tiny deck furniture, the slides, the go-kart track, etc.) and also checking out all the plaques from the ship’s first visits to ports around the world.