Fantastic cruise of the North East.
Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York
Contributor Level:
Staff Captain
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 190
10 Night Canada & New England (New York Roundtrip)
Sail date: September 06, 2022
Ship: Norwegian Joy
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 11202
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
We arrived at the terminal and got soaked in the 50 yds dash from the car to the elevator down in some very heavy rain. We parked the car at 10:30 and proceeded to check-in. We did not check any luggage but brought our own 1 large suitcase and 1 carry on onto the ship ourselves. Completed customs, check-in boarded and finished muster drill by 11:15 and headed for an empty buffet. Enjoyed a nice lunch and went down 1 deck to the Observation Lounge. What a beautiful spot. Covers the whole front half of deck 15 and has floor to ceiling windows and lots of little nooks and private seating areas as well as a bar and a starbucks. This is also the location for the early risers breakfasts starting at 5 am. We relaxed here until our room was available. Ran into the Senior Director of F&B and had a nice conversation with him. We had 2918 passengers and only 18 of them were under the age of 18. Ship lists at a capacity of 3804. We had a corner balcony, 11202 where the first side bump out is. This gave us about 30% more space than a standard balcony and afforded us an awesome view looking forward along the port side of the ship. We were right beside the forward elevators and never heard any noises from outside of the cabin. Balcony cabin was clean and pretty standard and was exactly as expected except for the smell of smoke the first day or 2 until it was aired out enough. Seems there were previous smokes in the cabin :(. Walked a lot of stairs as observation lounge was on 15, buffet and pool on 16 and walking track on 17. Most of the food venues were on decks 6, 7, 8 with the 3 MDR at the rear of 6 & 7 with Cagneys and Le Bistro at the stern of 8. Food was good but was nothing special the first day or 2 but the menus seemed to improve as the cruise went on. There were 2 items that had to be sent back but over 10 days that is to be expected. The food quality and variety was very good. We hit 3 specialty restaurants on ship, Le Bistro and La Cucina for dinner and American Diner for a lunch (wife baddly wanted one of their milk shakes and lobster and shrimp slider). We found the diner to be ok but not worthy of the expense. The milkshake on its own is worth it but the slider was lacking. Le Bistro and La Cucina were excellent. Le Bistro was the only venue we saw on ship that had escargot and lobster but then we did not do Cagneys. Never had to wait in a line for the bar. Bars were open and well staffed and libations were flowing freely throughout the ship. My favourite haunts were the pool deck bar, observation lounge, and sugarcane mojito lounge and of course a nightly stop at the wine bar for some port on my evening stroll. The ship and crew were absolutely awesome. The ports were great with much to see at all of them. We had a few hicups but such is life. We had booked an excursion through Viator to go to Peggys Cove as the ship tours were all booked when we went to get this one. The Viator “tour” turned out to be a glorified shuttle run. First they gave us the wrong pickup address (gave us one ½ mile walk from the terminal) and then crowded 8 people into a mini van. Yes 2 in the front and then 3 people squeezed into the mid bench and the back bench. No masks, no social distancing and no open windows for ventilation. They drove us to Peggys Cove and dropped us there saying they would return in 2 hours. As we got out of the van another bunch got into it to be driven back to Halifax. When they showed up 2 hours later to pick us up they dropped off another group. Company name was “See Sight Tours”. Not someone I would go with again. US Customs decided they wanted to pre clear us in Portland ME as this was our first stop back in the US. All passengers whether they were going into port or not had to debark the ship and see customes in the termnal to be cleared. No exceptions. Well this turned into a fine debacle with us finally clearing customs at 14:30 Unfortunately we had a 13:30 excursion booked to Kennebunkport which we missed. NCL immediately credited our account for this but still the missed experience. Ah well. We did not venture into the town as it was a mile walk and most shops closed at 5. We did not get off the ship at all in Boston but instead enjoyed the empty ship to relax. We did have something quite unusual occur. We encountered 3 different land birds on the ship while out at sea. The first was a sparrow on the second sea day when we were well out to sea. Up on the mini golf at the top stern of the ship. It was hunting and pecking around on turf as if it were a park. Then on our last sea day while we were 20 miles off the coast a small wren or nuthatch briefly showed upo on our balcony and he was followed about an hour later by a northern flicker (woodpecker) which I managed to get a picture of. Debarkation was smooth. Very smooth. We did the self walk off and dragged out luggage and were scheduled to start at 07:15. We started at 07:30 and were clear and in our car and heading for home at 08:05. Awesome. And yep … also picked up 7 or 8 pounds on the cruise. Need to thank all them stairs as that could have easily been much more ;)Embarkation
Embarkation was fast, easy, and painless. From when we parked our car it took 45 minutes to clear customs, check in and complete our muster drill.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Dining was a true pleasure. We ate in all 3 of the MDR but our favourite was Savour. Buffet was clean and tasty and although got it busy at times was never over crowded.
Onboard Activities
We did not take advantage to a lot of the activities. The mini golf is not easily accessible and requires going up 2 flights of stairs which my wife is not able to do. As does the race track and the water slides. No basketball net or court on this ship :(
Entertainment
The only entertainment we wanted to see was Footloose but that was cancelled after the first performance due to illness for the lead performer and the understudy was out for bereavement leave. All Footloose performances were cancelled. The general entertainment playing at the pools and various areas throughout were good.
Children's Programs
No kids. In fact ship phad only 18 passengers under 18.
Service and Staff
All service and staff were outstanding. That summs it up.
Ship Quality
I was amazed at how clean the ship was. Corners nooks and crannies where dust hides and is frequently found did not exist on this ship. The ship layout is extremely logical and very functional. And with having the observation lounge now much more roomy on bad weather days.
Cabin / Stateroom
Cabin was that of a standard balcony with lots storage, a nice sized washroom and good space. This cabin is a corner cabin on the port side and is at the first bump out of the ship. This means an extra ~30% floor space on the balcony as well as an beautiful front facing view looking up the side of the ship. Highly recommend this cabin.
Ship tip
The balcony cabins no longer have a coffee maker in them ... however ... they are available. You just have to ask your room steward.
Thumbs up
1
Ports of call
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Can't miss the big fiddle at the port and this stop has very much to do. For the historian there is Fort Louisbourg. For the scenic there is Bras D'Or lake or the Cabot Trail which offers some of the most beautiful unspoiled coastline in North America. And the town is very comfortable to just walk around.
A beautiful big city with lots to do around the port itself. Also many historical sites. Lots of scenery and small quaint fishing towns all along the coast.
On the Bay of Fundy which has some of the highest tidal changes in the world this city has much to see. The reversing falls is very cool if you can see it going both ways. Also many wonderful scenes up and down the coast.
Disembarkation
Quickest and easiest we have ever debarked. We did the self walk off and dragged out luggage and were scheduled to start at 07:15. We started at 07:30 and were clear and in our car and heading for home at 08:05. Awesome.
Traveler Photos
11 Comments
Yankee47 2 years ago
Glad you enjoyed it overall. Clearly, it was a "special" cruise for you guys. You're a sneaky so and so...we snag those bump outs on any ship that has them. We try to alternate front facing or rear facing. Generally don't advertise them online tho. hehehhe Those CUSTOMS "debacles" have been know to happen, either personnel or attitudes, not that it matters. Until it happens to you, folks have no idea what a PITA it can become. WELCOME BACK!