Great Cruise, Terrible Transit and Customer Service
Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 4
12 Night Southern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 15, 2023
Ship: Norwegian Joy
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 12312
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
The cruise itself was terrific. Food was very good, ship and staterooms were clean / well maintained, staff was incredible and the itinerary was great. See below for details. However…. NCL should be ashamed of their customer service and flight planning. They initially had us on a flight plan with a 45 minute layover from domestic to international flights. Anyone who flies in major airports knows that’s impossible. They initially said they would fix the flights…then 10 days before the cruise they called me and said they refused to change anything for us, even after promising this would not happen and us purchasing 800$ CAD insurance through NCL. When speaking with NCL customer service I was so disappointed with the attitude I was met with. I asked an agent - “what do I do if I miss my connection and the cruise embarkment, I’m losing my vacation and money spent” to which I was told “well I would never book flights the day of the cruise”. This was infuriating…and all interactions were similar to this. Very disappointed. It all worked out because we actually got lucky - the airport we supposed to fly in to flooded, so our flights changed to a different airport and benefited us…dodged a bullet. Upon arrival at the airport there was no shuttle service ready for the load of people waiting who had prepaid for it. We ended up waiting over an hour for any sort of transit. Meanwhile all other cruise lines had representatives and shuttles ready to go. See below for the insanely poor disembarkment details… Like I said, once we got on the ship everything was as close to perfect as you could expect - for cruise experience NCL has it all and I would always recommend the cruise line.Embarkation
Easy boarding experience, fast and efficient.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Speciality restaurants were incredible. We ate at Cagneys, Le Bistro and La Cucina. All three had terrific food, with huge portions. Would do all three again.
Main dining at Taste and Savor were good, but not great. Very simple foods, with many redundancies night after night. The portions were hit or miss - it made it challenging to decide what to eat based on hunger level. Breakfast in these restaurants was similar - very redundant foods, nothing outstanding, but all good.
The Buffet was terrific for lunch - always stocked with the classics (hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken fingers, French fries, pizza, sandwhiches etc…) but also had some great daily specials that made it worthwhile. Breakfast was good, but no variety day after day - it made breakfasts boring. Never went for dinner, but I’m sure it was similar to lunch with the classics and specialities.
Best food in the Joy was at The Local - very good pub food, fast service, and good variety.
Onboard Activities
Overall? Very good. The water slides were so much fun, but be aware, to ride the non-tube water slide guests must not have any plastic or metal on their bathing suits. Fitness center was small compared to some other cruise ships, but more than sufficient in terms of quality. GoKart was great, a little pricy for 30minutes especially considering the amount it costs to cruise, but fun nonetheless. Other activities (arcade, 3D/VR) looked good, but we did not use.
Entertainment
Amazing - there was always something going on. The evening shows In the atrium we’re incredibly fun. The theater shows were all fantastic. Comedians on board were all funny, and lots of shows with different routines - a must do.
Service and Staff
All staff on board were incredible. So friendly, very timely, always willing to help. The service provided made the cruise an overall great experience.
Ship Quality
Washrooms weren’t consistently clean in main areas - sometimes it looked like it may have been hours since it was cleaned. Otherwise the ship was clean and tidy, and we always saw staff working on cleanliness throughout the day.
The layout was super easy to follow and “learn” - well designed ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
We booked late, so not many choices of cabins. Although our cabin was toward the front of the ship, we felt essentially no motion. The room size was standard for a balcony room on a cruise ship, washroom was adequate size. Storage for clothing was sufficient. Is perfect for 2 people, I would not try to fit more - it would not be large enough in my opinion.
Ship tip
The elevators are some of the worst I’ve seen on a cruise ship. Consider taking the stairs if you’re only going a few levels up or down.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
7 Mile Beach was wonderful. Chairs and umbrellas are affordable (20$USD for 2 chairs and an umbrella), water was clean and there was no pushy salespeople on the beach. Great experience.
Taxis are extremely affordable, 5-7$ USD for a 10-15 minute ride to the beach.
Shops near the port were very nice and easy to navigate.
Very nice local area at the cruise terminal. Lots of local vendors with all the classic tourist souvenir items. Locals were not very pushy which was nice. Easy to negotiate prices as well. Just outside the cruise terminal there were nice local cafes, shops etc… and a very nice park where you can see sloths and owls. Some locals will help you spot them, and you can give them a small tip if you’d like. Very nice views of the ocean from this area.
Not much going on around the terminal. They are almost done building a beautiful mall-like terminal area, which is going to be a nice addition. However, besides a small market area near the terminal there is not much to do and it quickly becomes “scary”and run down. This port had by far the worst and pushiest tour guides and taxi drivers - it was off putting for many people, and many cruisers just turned around and went right back onto the ship.
I’m sure tours to the canal/locks are stunning but we decided against that as we have seen them before on a canal cruise.
Beaches were terrible - sand was not typical of the Caribbean - it was dirt not sand. The cost for chairs and sun-shades were absurd…now I know why the beaches were fairly empty.
The Old Town is stunning, but extremely busy with cruisers and vacationers. If you are okay with that, then it’s the place for you. Even though it was busy it is definitely worthwhile to visit - such beauty.
Make sure to negotiate prices with taxi drivers. We did, with a certified (blue shirt) driver. Even with that when we got dropped off he told us that we owed him more and that he would have never agreed to the price we did…not a great experience. On that note, these were by far the most expensive taxis of all the islands we visited. Be aware of this.
Not much to say here - absolutely incredible beaches nearby, cheap taxi to get to and from the beach (5$ USD per person), incredible local market near the cruise terminal. Locals are not pushy at all - overall incredible port.
Just like Aruba, this port has a stunning local area around the cruise terminal. Great architecture, friendly locals, great food and drink. Beaches are beautiful, we went to Mambo Beach, 8$ USD per person each way if you take a large taxi. The facilities here are top notch - lots of chair rentals available that are very affordable (20$ USD for 2 luxury chairs and an umbrella), shops, bars etc…
Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas
The port is beautiful with a lovely beach area. Since Norwegian owns the island the food and beverages are all included, which is nice. What was confusing is that it cost 30$ to sit under and umbrella…Norwegian really failed on this one - they charge thousands of dollars to cruise and then can’t provide the umbrellas. This made many cruisers upset, and I think it’s just ridiculous. Otherwise all good here, enjoy the beach and amenities !
Disembarkation
By far the worst experience ever. Took over 3 hours to disembark after they called you’re group. Many cruisers, ourselves included, missed flights because of this. Worst part was that cruisers got stuck in the tunnel connecting the ships to the terminal, with no Air Conditioning and 95 degree heat - it was absolutely the worst experience I’ve ever had with a cruise line and for that reason alone I may consider avoiding NCL.