The very best vacation of my life

Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 78

Overall rating:

4.8 out of 5
Norwegian Joy

16 Night Panama Canal (Miami To Los Angeles)

Sail date: November 08, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Joy

Cabin type: Suite

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Best vacation ever; 16 days from Miami to LA via Panama Canal while staying in The Haven.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Was staying in The Haven and NCL has a seperate embarkation process for those but there was a 60 minute process due to a "glitch" for an individual ahead fo us.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Ate most meals in Ate most meals in The Haven private dinning area and five dinners in specialty dinning rooms. Ate twice in buffet twice and The Taste and Food Republic.

The Haven Lounge

5 out of 5

Private first class with outstanding service

The Waterfront

5 out of 5

One of the best features to enjoy the outdoors with bars and food nearby and convenient.

The Haven Restaurant

5 out of 5

Ate most of our meals here. Staff very friendly and very competent. Never disappointed.

Teppanyaki

4 out of 5

Entertaining as usual.

Savor Restaurant - Main Dining Room

4 out of 5

Food and service was great. Very busy at peak dinner.

Q Texas Smokehouse

5 out of 5

Did Wine Lovers Show in venue. Boneless ribs and 6 wines were great education and entertaining.

Ocean Blue

5 out of 5

Outstanding food and service, twice!

Cagney's Steakhouse

5 out of 5

Outstanding food and service, twice!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Spent a lot of time in the lounges and sun decks of The Haven. The wait staff was outstanding for the entire 16 days.

Atrium

4 out of 5

Always had activities going

Entertainment

5 out of 5
All entertainment was top notch.

Children's Programs

No kids!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The Haven staff was perfect, as was the room steward when was cleaning our room two or three times a day; the butler was helpful in a couple cases.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Clean in every case I experienced, so a small percent of passengers ended up with the virus the last several days of the cruise.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
The Haven suite was about twice as large as a mid balcony. Bathroom, closet, storage and balcony were all oversized and more than enough storage space.

Ship tip

Understand the layout of the ship

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5
Took a day trip to Key West which we enjoyed.

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas Did not visit port

Weather so tenders could not pick up

Cartagena, Colombia

4 out of 5
Just visited town informally

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5
Experience of a lifetime. NCL did an outstanding job taking photos and a video which we purchased.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

3 out of 5
Just visited town. Did not take any excursions.

Acapulco, Mexico

5 out of 5
Took the city tour and cliff divers.

Mazatlan, Mexico

5 out of 5
Took the day long tour into the mountains. Ate well. Tour operator was entertaining and informative.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Did not visit port

Did not go into the port as have been there a number of times.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

4 out of 5
Took the lands end tour. Tenors were well organized but pier where all excursion attendees get offloaded was beyond crowded.

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5
Just took a NCL shuttle to LAX which was fine

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Took more than an hour. The process as slow because all the passenges that had the virus where handled seperately outside the terminal which caused custom agents pulled from terminal to deal with.

Traveler Photos

One of the Panma Canal locks Entrance to The Haven, a ship within a ship Staff welcoming party at ship after port excursio Lands End Excursion
Was this review helpful? 46

3 Comments

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise

snakmama    4 years ago

Sounds great! Thank you for sharing.

Summerholiday    4 years ago

Sounds awesome that's what cruising is about doing what you want when you want happy cruising

Other reviews of this sailing