Good Experience

Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Mexico

Goldenknight2

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 105

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5

7 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 01, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Joy

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

This was our second NCL cruise and would choose them first in the future. The crew is always friendly and will make every effort to ensure guests receive excellent service. For this reason - - the outstanding customer service - - we will continue to cruise exclusively with Norwegian. There was norovirus on the ship for the previous two cruises, so NCL made extra efforts to sanitize and keep areas clean. Regardless of how norovirus took over the prior cruises, I am confident that NCL did everything possible to eradicate it for our cruise. I can't fault NCL for the attitude and behavior of its passengers. Despite requests every single day in the Freestyle Daily newsletter to wear socks when putting feet up on sofas, the majority of passengers stubbornly ignored that mandate. It was disgusting to see people's filthy unwashed feet on sofas and tables. Moreover, people would alternatively keep on their dirty shoes and put them up wherever they felt like it. In the buffet, kids regularly put their feet up on tables. Can't blame NCL for not stepping in to parent these kids, especially when the grown-up "children" can't be bothered to follow written directions or exhibit good manners. Our cabin steward, Cris, was friendly and helpful, always fulfilling any of our requests. Our cabin was meticulously maintained. In addition, all of the crew were exceptionally pleasant and some remembered us by the third day, greeting us by name. In sum, NCL provides attentive service and great value.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Very long queue that wrapped around the port entry. Disorganized

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

You won't go hungry. We didn't pay for any specialty restaurants and dined primarily at the Manhattan and the buffet. Enough choices for even the pickiest diner.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

The cruise director, Roberto, was just okay. We didn't pay for any of the fee-based games such as Deal or No Deal or bingo, and that was fine . . . . fun to watch anyway.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Liked the two main theater shows: Footloose and Elements. Saw the comedians twice, just okay. The Beatles cover band was not so good.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

NCL goes out of its way to please its guests. Our cabin steward, Cris, was outstanding. Many of the staff at both the buffet and the Manhattan remembered us and greeted us by name.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

The Atrium is way too small with insufficient seating to host evening activities. The ship was coming off two weeks of back to back norovirus, so the staff did extra work all week to clean

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Plenty of space in our oceanview window cabin. Kept meticulously clean by our steward.