The ship was good, getting on and off the ship was a nightmare

Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Mexico

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 9

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5
Norwegian Joy

7 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 30, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Joy

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8158

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

The ship itself was good. The embarkation and disembarkation process is chaotic and disorganized. The Norwegian staff don't seem to know what they are doing when it comes to getting people on or off the ship. This happened every time we had to get on or off the ship. The tendering process was a mess. Even when we were able to walk off the ship in Puerta Vallarta, you had to take a shuttle to get to the port area and they didn't mark where or how to get the shuttle.

Embarkation

1 out of 5
This was chaotic and frustrating. The Norwegian staff did not seem to know what they were doing. Essentially we were dumped in a parking lot and told there are the tents, figure it out on your own.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
The dining room and the buffet were both good generally. Based upon a few other cruises, there always seems to be that one meal that isn't very good, but generally the main dining room was really good and the buffet was fine.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
We did attempt to see a movie on the pool deck one night. It was too cold and windy for us, but that isn't Norwegian's fault. Generally, they seemed to have movies every evening and there was plenty for people to do.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
Footloose was really fun and a great cruise entertainment. We wanted to see the other show, Elements, but due to weather, they had to cancel it the night we were to see it. The musicians in the bars were fine, nothing special, but they also seemed to have a good range of different music on request.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
Our room steward, Larry, was really good. The waitstaff in the main dining rooms were good, with the staff in Taste more attentive and friendlier than in Savor. The bar tenders were all really good. There was a person reminding you to wash your hands as you went into the buffet, but they often sang little tunes which got into your head, but were also more fun than just being told to wash your hands.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Everything was clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
The cabin was the usual size for a balcony cabin. They are never huge, but as two people we were able to be in the room comfortably. The balcony was nice to be able to sit out on.

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

3 out of 5

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

3 out of 5

Mazatlan, Mexico

5 out of 5

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5
Just like the embarkation process, disembarkation was chaotic. They weren't calling out people to line up in any order and were doing so at random times. No one knew who was supposed to be lining up including the Norwegian staff who were supposed to be helping. They didn't follow the printed guide they had given to us. This was a mess.
Was this review helpful? 9

3 Comments

jmhodg    1 year ago

We were on the Christmas cruise and embarkation and debarkation were absolutely horrendous too. The priority tender process for Cabo was equally as bad; NCL staff had zero organization for the masses of people, it was chaos. They do this every week! Shocking they just can’t get it together.

javawoody    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Glad you made the best of your cruise

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