A Nice Way to Travel Through the Panama Canal
Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America
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Cruise Director
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 12
Helpful Votes: 409
15 Night Panama Canal - Eastbound (Los Angeles To Miami)
Sail date: February 24, 2023
Ship: Norwegian Joy
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 14836
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
A good trip overall. NCL has some opportunities on embarkation and disembarkation.Embarkation
We were taken to a new pier where we had to stand in line after line (some outside in the cold) while we checked in. Then we stood in more lines to get shuttled to the ship. In the pouring rain and blowing wind, we had to walk to the ship as it was tied off as if in a port. There were no enclosed walkways. We ended up on the ship at 3:45 pm
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Main dining rooms were slow. The wait staff seemed to be scurrying constantly but still slow on service. Most meals, one or more items got omitted or mixed up. We ate at Cagney's (very good), LeBistro (so-so) and La Cucina (very good). The buffet was good but got a little boring after two weeks. We enjoyed The Local and ate their quite often.
One major disappointment was their reservation system. We made reservations for every meal. At the Manhattan, they had a separate station for people with reservations. Taste and Savor did not. Therefore, we had to stand in line with those who did not have a reservation which kind of defeats the purpose of a reservation.
Onboard Activities
There was a lot of trivia but very few skill games (bean bag toss, ring toss, etc.) There was only one line dance class which was disappointing. The Galaxy Pavillion was nice and the race track was novel, but not my cup of tea. Too much banging and getting hit from behind which was supposedly against the rules but apparently not enforced.
Entertainment
There were two main shows: Footloose and Elements. Footloose was good. Elements was great from special effects but did not like the theme or music. The other "headliners" in the theaters were repeated several times and too many illusionists
Service and Staff
Our room steward was great. Always calling us by name whenever he saw us in the halls. The ship's personnel always said hello and of course, the "washy-washy" greeters at the buffet are among the best.
Ship Quality
The ship was easy to learn but has several design flaws. The theater is too small for that big of a ship. The area outside of the Social where the staircases are is a major waste of space. It's a high traffic area, but could have been designed where activites could have been held. The atrium is not big enough to handle all that they did there, although it was nice that they sometimes brought out chairs due to the large number of people attending an event. This should tell them something. Not having a bank of elevators in the middle of the ship was also odd. The inset above the Manhattan dining room is also a waste of valuable space.
Cabin / Stateroom
The balcony was average in size but the door to go back and forth to the balcony was easy to slide which was great. Storage space was adequate and the bathroom was large. I liked the way it was laid out. Our friends had a mirror image of our room so their bed was up against the closet making it hard to utilize it. Our sofa was next to the closet, so it was easily accessible.
Ship tip
Restaurants are on the back of the ship - buffet is on the front of the ship.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
There is a lot you can do right at the waterfront if you don't want to book an excursion. The sea lions were fun to watch. We did the electric bike excursion (through the ship) and it was fun.
Other than the cliff divers, there is not much to see or do in Acapulco. If I ever go again, I won't get off of the ship.
The little shopping village that they have as you disembark is nice. Everything else is a good hour's drive from the port.
The new dock they built for this ship was nice. The shopping area they built was very nice as well. We did a zip line excursion (through the ship) and it was a 45 minute drive through the outskirts of the city which was nice. The negative on the excursion was that they booked too many people on it. (35) We spent most of the time waiting in line to zip. Because there were so many people, we were an hour later getting back. We were going to go into town but decided against it since we were supposed to depart in less than 3 hours. About an hour after we got back they announced that we were going to sail later and could now stay out until 11:30. By then we'd already chilled out. This port was very chaotic as the length of our stay changed three times!
It was great going through the new canal. The narration throughout the day was good too. The major problem is finding a place at the front and back of the ship if you want to watch the locks open and close.
We were pleasantly surprised when we got off the ship to see the Animal Sanctuary. It was very nice and throughly enjoyed going through it as seeing all of the animal. Our excursion (not ship sponsored) was wonderful. We spent most of our time in old Cartagena which is quaint and bustling. Beware of people coming up to you and trying to sell you something.
The shopping area they have at the port is nice. That's all we did while we were there as we'd been to the major attractions on a previous cruise.
We did a transfer to the airport that included an airboat ride excursion. The picture for the airboat was deceiving and we were surprised when we got there that so many people would be on each airboat. The ride into the Everglades was nice. Afterwards we saw an alligator show which was sad. He tried to be funny but the jokes didn't work.
Disembarkation
We thought the disembarkation would have to be better than the embarkation but we were wrong. Once our tour group was called, we stood in line for over 30 minutes and never moved an inch. Once we started moving, there were other crowds trying to merge in and it was not pretty. Even after we got off of the ship, we had to wait in hallways untill we could go down the escalators. Not really sure what all that was about, but it the entire process was a WHOLE lot longer than it should have been.