Excellent Cruise/Cruise Ship

Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 51

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5
Norwegian Joy

12 Night Panama Canal Partial Transit (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 02, 2020

Ship: Norwegian Joy

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 12956

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Partial Panama Canal trip lets you experience it without transiting completely through. Experience the three locks into the lake. Had a great time!

Embarkation

4 out of 5
Overall once started it was fine. There was a delay as they search for 2 people that had not gotten off the previous cruise

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Didn’t use the main dining room or Buffett. The Specialty restaurants were very good!

La Cucina Italian Restaurant

3 out of 5

This was just Ok, nothing to rave about, but not bad. Would recommend other specialty restaurants over this one.

Cagney's Steakhouse

5 out of 5

Excellent - wife had a very tender filet and I Surf n Turf, lobster tail and filet!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Didn’t really use anything however observed the pool, race track, water slide etc and it appeared to be well run.

Casino

5 out of 5

Nice casino! Not the norm but actually walked away in the end winning.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Saw a couple shows, Footloose and Elements were very nice! The comedy show was funny as well.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Couldn’t ask for any better! Any time we needed anything our Butler, Achmed was just a call away and fast to respond. Troy the steward was outstanding as well!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Well laid out and maintained! Easy to navigate around.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Aft Haven Penthouse corner was very adequate. Living-room, bedroom, two bathrooms, large tub and a large deck. Very clean. It was a walk to the Haven where we ate, used the pool etc but worth it. The aft may not be for everyone but it’s our favorite place on the ship.

Ship tip

No matter what category you go in you’ll have a great time.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5
Stayed in South Beach before cruise. Enjoyed people watching as it was super bowl weekend.

Willemstad, Curacao

5 out of 5
Fun Beach Express excursion! Nice tour and a couple hours on the beach which was good for us.

Kralendijk, Bonaire

4 out of 5
No excursion

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5
Kukoo Island Tour & Beach Getwaway. Nice island tour and beach. Carlos Montrose, excellent tour guide!

Cartagena, Colombia

5 out of 5
Ride to Old Town with a Caribbean Taste. Ferry ride over and walked around in own own. The locals are all over you trying to sell whatever they had. Can bargain but need to be able to say No Thank you and keep walking!

Colon, Panama

5 out of 5
Tour to Monkey Island. Had a great time! Tour guide very knowledgeable. Don’t feel this Port is safe to leave on your own. If you don’t normally do excursions I’d recommend one here.

Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal)

5 out of 5
The main reason we went, bucket list! Going through the locks was an Awsome experience. Loved the view from our Aft cabin and forward Haven!

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

5 out of 5
Private tour with Syl tours! Highly recommended. Went to Jaguar rescue, Canal boat ride, Island tour. Our tour guide was Enrique a knowledgeable friendly young man! Our tour was to be 6 hours and ended up 8! Never rushed and worth the $$$. The van was new and AC great! Made several stops allowing some shopping if wanted. Thank

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Haven escorted us off the ship. To common area. Disembarkation seemed organized for all.

Traveler Photos

Livingroom Bedroom Cabin Balcony
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3 Comments

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise

cruisereckoning    4 years ago

Thanks for your review.

Cruiserike0322    4 years ago

Loved your review. We are taking a similar cruise in November. Looking forward to it

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