*LIVE* NCL Joy 3/9 - 3/16

[SliderNc]

I've been a long-time lurker and reader here at CC now and have really enjoyed much of the content, especially many of the live cruise reports that have been provided over the years.  I'm a bit of a blogger, mainly for my own enjoyment and my family, and I had tried to do one of these last cruises with my wife, but had internet issues and turned it into a basic review vs. a Live post.  This time, I'm sticking to my decision and will do a Live From Thread, which I know will drive my wife and daughter crazy.

 

The Family Introduction
 

It feels like forever, but my wife and I have been together for over 16 years now, 13 of them as husband and wife and 11 of them as mom and dad.  We are both very successful at our respective jobs/companies and look to our traveling as a gift because building memories is more important than material things to us.  While we have a bunch of hobbies that we both enjoy, I can definitely say that our number one “hobby” is following our 11-year-old through her events and sports and being the most supportive parents that we can.

 

Our last cruise was in 2017 on the NCL Escape on this same itinerary but it was only my wife and myself.  We needed a break at the time from our work and to be honest, the precocious four-year-old who basically followed us around (ironic how things change).  We booked that cruise to reconnect as husband and wife and it was just what we needed.  Since then our vacations have been mostly local beach or skiing vacations to the Rocky Mountains over the past 7 or so years, with about 20 trips to Disney sprinkled in.  When we were starting to think about what to do for Spring Break this year, we had thrown around doing a Disney trip and seeing some family, but my wife blurted out, “We should go on a cruise!”  In typical fashion, I got with my trusted TA and started the process right before we left for our ski trip with her family and had her start pulling last-minute deals.  What I had forgotten about is that on our last cruise, we won an upgrade to the Haven for next to nothing and it completely spoiled my wife similar to our first cruise on RCL Mariner of the Seas with a balcony, as she had been an inside cruiser most of her cruises.  We were able to grab a pretty good last-minute deal on a Haven Suite (HI category) for the three of us and as usual, we got a good amount of OBC and other things from our TA (she’s awesome and I have used her for years for a lot of other travel).

 

I’m going to try to chronicle from here on out, our process for traveling and the planning that we do.  My wife is an operations/supply chain nerd at heart so everything we do is either LEAN or Six Sigma in our house for the most part.  I’m a tech nerd and have worked in IT for 25 years, so everything I do is usually leveraging technology.  My daughter has the best of both of us so I will do a lot of telling things from her perspective.   

 

Our countdown clocks started on Saturday and we are at the 9 days to go mark.  Here’s where we are at:

The cruise was booked and fully paid for and all onboard gratuities were paid for in advance.

I have excursions booked for Roatan, Harvest Caye, and Cozumel but nothing for Costa Maya

Airfare and hotel for the day before is all done (flying into FLL, staying at Miami Airport Embassy Suites)

 

Looking forward to doing this and posting from the ship.  I’m a really honest guy about most things and will provide as unbiased opinion as possible about the cruise and ship itself.  Food is always subjective and being a foodie, I know I have to set my expectations for where I am at.  

Edited February 29 by SliderNc

[Pitzel]

With 9 days to go, should the title be 3/9-3/16, then?

[SliderNc]

Just now, Pitzel said:

With 9 days to go, should the title be 3/9-3/16, then?

Nothing to see here, keep moving along.. 🙂

[vacation44]

Looking forward to following along.

 

The Joy HI is my absolute favorite.   I could not believe the size of the closet.

[SliderNc]

8 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Looking forward to following along.

 

The Joy HI is my absolute favorite.   I could not believe the size of the closet.

It's our second time in Haven, first time we were in a Forward Facing Haven Suite and while it was nice overall, I felt like it lacked a bit of storage if there were more than 2 people there.  Also, the location on the Escape had us listening to the crew outside every night on the bow until around midnight.  But overall, we liked the suite and the shower especially.  My wife remarked about the closet as well on the drawing and video she saw so I think she's excited about it as well.

[dcu]

Following!

[love4god]

I'll be on the same ship the next week, I'll wave as we pass each other getting off and on.  If you can, please post pics of the dailies.  I'll be following.

 

Have a great Cruise!

[PatJim]

We’re on the Joy in May, in a 2-bedroom (H?) with friends from Copenhagen.  Loved the Haven atrium and fantastic coffee machine there in the mornings.  Latte? Yep.  Cappuccino?  Yup.  Expresso?  Yup….

Since dry dock, NCL eliminated the library/game room upper level of the atrium, to make room for 2 enlarged owner’s suite dining rooms that look out over the atrium.  Wondering how, if at all, it affects the atrium atmosphere.

Anyway, thank you for starting this post.  Will be following along

PS You may want to check out Secrets of the Haven thread on these boards.  It’s loooong, but well worth reading.

[vacation44]

3 hours ago, SliderNc said:

It's our second time in Haven, first time we were in a Forward Facing Haven Suite and while it was nice overall, I felt like it lacked a bit of storage if there were more than 2 people there.  Also, the location on the Escape had us listening to the crew outside every night on the bow until around midnight.  But overall, we liked the suite and the shower especially.  My wife remarked about the closet as well on the drawing and video she saw so I think she's excited about it as well.

Your wife will be even more excited when she sees the closet in person.   

[davalex]

Fellow long-time lurker here.  We’ll be on the same 3/9 sailing, with two kids (age 11 and 13) in the haven.  Look forward to running into you guys.  It’s our first time on this ship, but we’ve been on Escape and Encore (pre-Covid).

[SliderNc]

1 hour ago, PatJim said:

We’re on the Joy in May, in a 2-bedroom (H?) with friends from Copenhagen.  Loved the Haven atrium and fantastic coffee machine there in the mornings.  Latte? Yep.  Cappuccino?  Yup.  Expresso?  Yup….

Since dry dock, NCL eliminated the library/game room upper level of the atrium, to make room for 2 enlarged owner’s suite dining rooms that look out over the atrium.  Wondering how, if at all, it affects the atrium atmosphere.

Anyway, thank you for starting this post.  Will be following along

PS You may want to check out Secrets of the Haven thread on these boards.  It’s loooong, but well worth reading.

I will need to re-read it with the updates as I remember when that thread was started and there was a lot of great information.  Thanks for reminding me.

 

I'll get some pictures of that area, as well as all of the updates from dry dock and post them.

[SliderNc]

51 minutes ago, davalex said:

Fellow long-time lurker here.  We’ll be on the same 3/9 sailing, with two kids (age 11 and 13) in the haven.  Look forward to running into you guys.  It’s our first time on this ship, but we’ve been on Escape and Encore (pre-Covid).

Looking forward to seeing you guys in the Haven.  My 11 year old daughter will be happy to know that kids her age will be in the Haven with her.

[K_S]

My daughter is the same age and we are on that trip.  She was pretty certain she would be stuck with her brother all week.  Ha!

Edited March 1 by K_S

[dcu]

SliderNc , would you be willing to post the dailies while aboard? 
thank you! 

[tqdrivenws6]

Also on this trip (not in the Haven though) with my 11yr old daughter and 7yr old son.

[SliderNc]

It's been a full weekend for our family celebrating my wife's 18th 29th birthday with family and friends all weekend, but we finally broke down and got our suitcases out and started going through the list last night.  Both of us a pretty savvy business travelers and we've learned to pack well and as light as we can, except this trip, my wife wants to get some nice family photos of us to update the ones from 2020 that we had taken locally.  So I guess we're packing a little more than I thought we would.  The list is similar to our beach list for clothing, personal stuff, etc. but then has some added things that we normally wouldn't bring to the beach with us.  Either way, my daughter started putting her outfits for dinner/pictures tonight and laying them in the guest room with her bag.  Meanwhile, the wife and I are starting laundry and packing as we go.

 

We are a hardsided suitcase family and a big fan of the American Tourister series.  We each have a larger 26" and a smaller carryon that matches (we use the carryon ones most of the time for our business trips) and we also have these Patagonia bags that can be used as a duffle bag or convert to a backpack (large one) that will fit under the seat on a plane. Our original plan was to go with the 26" and then bring the Patagonia bags and a backpack of some sort, but now it looks like the smaller carry-ons will be needed for the extra picture clothes.  

 

Got upgraded on our flights to FLL already (thanks babe for all the traveling you do) this afternoon (at least when I had checked this afternoon) so that was a nice surprise.  Generally, we do not get many upgrades on American and I'm kicking myself for not grabbing the 777's from CLT to MIA instead to get those nicer seats now.  But it's a nice surprise and my daughter will be happy about our luck this time (January we didn't get upgraded for our ski trip).

 

Busy week to come as my daughter has 5 tests this week before the end of the period and two soccer games, I have a test before spring break (I'm in grad school) and my wife is traveling for work Tuesday-Thursday.   

[SliderNc]

With less than three days now until we board, the excitement here is starting to grow. Suitcases are out in a few rooms and our washer and dryer have been going non-stop since yesterday.  Each of our family has a packing list and tasks that need to get done before we head to the airport on Friday.  As we approach, I'm trying to lock down some final things.

 

First we are trying to decide what to do in Costa Maya.  We were going to surprise my daughter with the dolphin experience, but it was sold out through NCL and their website says the habitat is undergoing maintenance.  We also thought about doing the river tubing excursion, but I might be a wee tad overweight for it.  So we're looking at alternatives, but also thinking that maybe being on the ship for the day might be worth it.  Also know that a few weeks ago, Joy was unable to dock at Costa Maya due to winds/waves.

 

We have a good deal of time between getting back to Miami and our flight out.  Was thinking about doing the Everglades excursion after disembarkation.  Anyone done that before and if so, what did you think?

 

My daughter is begging to leave now (she has two tests tomorrow).  I have a long day tomorrow and the wife is traveling back from her trip as well.  There are many things to do and not a ton of time to do them.  Looking forward to Friday as we start the journey and the "live" part of this.

[love4god]

I don't know about that specific everglades excursion but I know we did an airboat ride/alligator tour with the kids years ago in the everglades and they LOVED it.  Very fast, very exciting ride.  

 

[KyleDefends]

We're on the Joy on Saturday as well.

 

We've done the everglades excursions a few times.  We always enjoy it.  It depends on the actual excursion but most also have an alligator show that is usually entertaining and educational.

[K_S]

Look up Hayhu Beach Club Muhahual. 

 

I found it by reading another post on here about CM.  VERY highly rated, non-NCL location close to the port.  We booked the day there. 

 

Space is limited to 40 ppl.  I know they had a large group cancel (think they were sold out), because I just got an email yesterday that they had upgraded our space to the upstairs terrace.  It was sold out when I made our reservation...

 

My 15 and 13 y/o teens will be there, which is your kiddos age range I think.

Edited March 7 by K_S

[SliderNc]

40 minutes ago, K_S said:

Look up Hayhu Beach Club Muhahual. 

 

I found it by reading another post on here about CM.  VERY highly rated, non-NCL location close to the port.  We booked the day there. 

 

Space is limited to 40 ppl.  I know they had a large group cancel (think they were sold out), because I just got an email yesterday that they had upgraded our space to the upstairs terrace.  It was sold out when I made our reservation...

 

My 15 and 13 y/o teens will be there, which is your kiddos age range I think.

Thanks  Out of curiosity did you book the VIP package or the Jungle & Beach package?  Looks interesting and since it's kid friendly, a plus for us.  Had to justify the three of us for the VIP package.

[K_S]

4 hours ago, SliderNc said:

Thanks  Out of curiosity did you book the VIP package or the Jungle & Beach package?  Looks interesting and since it's kid friendly, a plus for us.  Had to justify the three of us for the VIP package.

 

I don't think they have a VIP available.  Maybe so, not sure.  We took a "third" package which they were going to set up on ground level.  When they messaged us this week and said they had a cancellation for the upper VIP, we switched.  I had told them to put us on the wait just in case.  That would mean our "ground" VIP they were reserving for us would be open. 

 

Basically, they were converting the lower space reserved for walkups and converting it just for our group of 6.  Honestly, if I weren't stuck on the private bathroom, I would have stayed down there.  It kinda looks like even more space.

 

Ps., they threw some significant meal credit for the lower section instead of the upper portion...like book the VIP and we will give you 10% off the booking and an extra $50 in meal credit IIRC.

Edited March 7 by K_S

[xkritter]

We did Hayhu before the pandemic shutdown and it was amazing. Absolutely the best food we had on the trip. We had the upstairs area and loved it. 

[SliderNc]

Finally started packing.  Forgot how much I hate this part of it.  Even with the list I always think I’m going to forget something.  
 

It’s been a long day for me.  Class went late and my team wanted to meet after class to talk through our deliverables.   Don’t really spend much time with the wife as she was asleep on the couch waiting for me to fit home.  
 

Tomorrows fun before heading to the airport:

big dog to inlaws

dry cleaning pickup

bank withdrawls

finish packing

turn out of office on

 

 

Edited March 8 by SliderNc
Fixed photo settings

[cruiseny4life]

Ok...you've mentioned dogs. You realize it is now mandatory you post photos of said "big dogs!" 

 

Alright, you don't really have to. We'll let it slide! 

 

Happy packing, if it's not quite all done yet!

 

Also, I had those kind of groups when I was working on my degree. I was the one that tried to get out as quick as possible - like I have a hike to go on, y'all (in my more slim days). Then we'd be there two hours debating how to present a chart.