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Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 57

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Joy

16 Night Panama Canal (Miami To Los Angeles)

Sail date: November 08, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Joy

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 13128

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Already said it all. Excursions were hit-or-miss but NCL was really good on non supervisory and really poor on supervisors. Took 20 minutes for supervisor to find out what time it was on shore (an hour earlier) and they were upset that we ask

Embarkation

1 out of 5
We waited in a standing line for 2.5 hours. Their excuse was they were short of people

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Main dining room and buffet were acceptable, not spectacular. Oceans Blue was over priced for 2 shrimp, 1 fish and a huge piece of calamari ($84) for two and we drank water. Q was the best of the bunch

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
Just typical, some activities were just plain silly

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Rated 3 stars because Footloose was terrific and Elements was super loud and uninteresting

Children's Programs

No kids

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Waiters and room stewards were pretty good. Anyone with a little authority was uninformed, rude and aware that THEY were in control

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Fairly roomy and a place to store everything. Always clean and cool (we brought a fan for early morning when it could have gotten stuffy)

Ship tip

Think long and hard about cruise line and length of trip

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

3 out of 5

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

1 out of 5
Captain decided it was too rough so didn't visit. Appreciate his concern for our safety

Cartagena, Colombia

4 out of 5
Great excursion but not through NCL

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5
WOW. Was very interesting and had birds-eye view from observation deck. Get there early (4:30 AM) for window seat

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

1 out of 5
Antigua was a long ways, many delays, crowded and not much history. Guide lost site of the fact that there were 40 of us, a huge crowd, and many turns. He was in a hurry and would not keep us in view so we were left to guess which way he went. Got back to ship after All Aboard but he kept reassuring us they would wait. If there are delays or crowds, skip something and reduce the stress. ONLY NCL excursion but would not ever book again

Acapulco, Mexico

4 out of 5
Great excursion, Just enough city and cliff divers were great, We saw 12 (including a 7 year old) would have been nice to be warned that they work for tips only so we could have had more tip money

Mazatlan, Mexico

5 out of 5
Good excursion with outside group. Would do again

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

4 out of 5
Great driver and very knoweldgeable

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

2 out of 5
Mostly shopping. Not much else

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

1 out of 5
Noisy and unorganized

Disembarkation

1 out of 5
Got better the further you got from the ship. Port is what it is but NCL was super disorganized
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2 Comments

BabyAnnie    4 years ago

Thank you for the review.

trvljet    4 years ago

We thank you for taking the time to fill out your review. We really appreciate it and use the information provided to help us decide on future cruises. Don and Helen from Newnan, Georgia

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