Relaxing Caribbean Cruise
Norwegian Joy Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 41
12 Night Southern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 15, 2023
Ship: Norwegian Joy
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 13796
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
Overall a beautiful experience, loved seeing all the different ports and checking out the multitude of entertainment onboard. Can't wait to go again!!Embarkation
Extremely quick as we were late arriving in Miami and as such there was zero line up.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Manhattan Rm (comp) - food was delicious and the more "dressy" atmosphere was enjoyable.
Teppanyaki (specialty) - first time trying this and was not disappointed. The chef was very entertaining and the food was delicious.
Q Texas Smokehouse (specialty) - did not care for this as it wasn't really anything special or at least nothing you couldn't have gotten at the buffet. I personally thought it was a waste of one of my specialty dining perks.
Cagney's Steakhouse (specialty) - Love the steaks here and the way in which everything comes in its own separate dish. Yet another excuse to dress up for the evening!
Taste/Savour (comp) -very much enjoyed these 2 restaurants not only for dinner but many times for breakfast as well.
The Local Bar & Grill (comp) - I adore the pub food and especially enjoyed the dessert here, I did have the raspberry swirl cheesecake more than once.
Garden Cafe (comp buffet) - I am not personally a buffet person however my husband enjoyed it immensely. He preferred the omelette bar where he could get it made to order right there in front of him.
Observation Lounge - great for stopping in for a continental breakfast or if you just wanted to relax with a beverage of choice and watch the view from inside.
Onboard Activities
I will rate this 4 stars as we did not participate in a lot of the activities however what we did do we tended to enjoy.
We tried the Ocean Loop water slide once - which was enough for my age :)
Pools were generally busy but long as I had a Mudslide in my hand I always found a spot to park it and enjoy the sun.
The Waterfront was a beautiful area with the seating and bars scattered along the upper deck.
SpiceH2O - didn't spend much time here. i prefer the waterfall area in SpiceH2O found on getaway & Breakaway. This ship had a super large hot tub instead but found it much to warm on our cruise to actually enjoy it.
Entertainment
Footloose - was entertaining although I did find the performance wasn't as good as I've come to expect on NCL
Elements - fully enjoyed this performance, was particularly entertained by the vast array of performers involved in the show.
Comedy Club - comedians were excellent, we saw 2 of the 3 performing on this cruise. My only neg is that the seating is rows of chairs in the small little comedy club. I think they should either leave it set up with the tables for an intimate evening or just do them in the theatre to accommodate everyone.
Duo "something" was the acrobat show, these two were amazing and a must see while onboard.
Lord Nil, the mentalist show was also very entertaining and we enjoyed the show immensely.
Beau Tanha performing in The district is a must see. A great entertainer and thoroughly enjoyable.
Stiks - this was the country band that performed mostly in the "Q", did not particularly enjoy and the lead singer was the only vocals, neither the bass player or drummer did any vocals, at least not while we were listening.
Beatles Revolution - we went to see this on our last night in the Theatre as the previous shows were held in the Cavern with standing room only. Not being a big Beatles fan myself I did quite enjoy the show and was up clapping and singing along with everyone else by the end.
Children's Programs
Did not travel with children
Service and Staff
Overall the staff were genuinely great. Bartenders and waiters were always prompt and I always got exactly what I ordered. I do find that maybe the larger ships are less personal now or maybe due to COVID. For instance on a 12 day cruise I only seen our room steward twice, the first time was on day 4. They no longer turn the beds down in the evening as they only come around once a day now and I haven't seen a towel animal on my bed for the last 2 cruises.
Ship Quality
No issues with cleanliness as everything was always clean and well-maintained. This is just a preference but I think I prefer the smaller NCL ships as Gem had an area back aft where you could enjoy breakfast under the open air with a bar as well.
Pool area had me wondering why there is no walk in access. Both the adult and other pool were only accessible by ladder and had no shallow end.
As for the casino, it was nice to see that they enclosed one whole side in glass and that's were the smoking was.
Cabin / Stateroom
Balcony - average size, big enough for the two if us to sit outside and watch the sea go by.
Bed - my husband was fine with it however I asked for and received a 2nd mattress topper on day 4....helped immensely.
Storage - not a lot, have had balcony with more storage area. I prefer the couch and tv, etc to be close to the balcony rather than the bed which I find gives a better layout for the closet.
Bathroom - met all our needs, especially liked the pull out clothesline in the shower to hang wet bathing suits.
Ship tip
Once you have settled in go to the screens found all over the ship and book your activities ahead so that you don't miss out. Look over the menus before choosing your speciality dinners.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Lovely place to walk around, visited the National Museum. La Casa del Habano was a great little place to get cigars and see them rolling them right there in front of you.
We found it too hot to bother with 7 mile beach after walking around town and opted to head back to the ship before we expired. Found this trip much warmer than previous Caribbean cruises. Did do a lot of research on the tendering beforehand. The experience was effortless and very quick. From loading to the trip in to unloading was no more than 10-15 mins total.
Late day excursion (1230) so lots of time to wake up and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Tortuguero Canals was our excursion of choice and we thoroughly enjoyed. We were able to see both 2 and 3 toed Sloths, Howler monkey's, Toucans, a crocodile and iguanas.
Toured the Aqua Locks and Old canal Zone. Lady luck was on our side as we were in time to see the Norwegian Escape transiting the locks..quite an impressive thing to witness.
Did the "Walled City" tour. Tour guide was very good and informative however the locals were a different story. Very pushy trying to get you to buy things, my husband had to actually remove himself from a park bench as a lady just started massaging his leg after repeatedly being told not interested. From the tour aspect I also found they tried to cram way too much into the time we had. Very rushed thru the sites and museum we visited. Would definitely have enjoyed more time to spend looking around the area. of note I did find a local vendor selling fresh sliced mangoes - delicious!! Tour was about an hour longer than expected due to traffic and therefore by the time we returned to the ship we just wanted to get back onboard and get in the pool. There was a Free aviary there in the port which I will definitely visit next time before leaving the area.
Nice area, did not do an excursion and quickly returned to the ship after 2 hrs of walking around.
I loved all the pastel colours of the house and the pontoon bridge was really cool. Did another museum here which wasn't a far walk from the port.
Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas
Tendering was quick and easy. Lots of new eateries since I was last here in 2015. Brought my own snorkelling gear as I remembered a very active corral reef from last time. A bit disappointed as all the corral seems to be dead (had that bleached look) and had to swim out further to see the colourful fish. Did also spot 2 stingrays. I also was disappointed that they have closed off Silver Cove and made it into a Private Beach. other than that the food was great and I love that you can use your Beverage pkg on the island as well.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was tedious. We had a 8am departure time but neve even left the ship until almost 11am. Customs was very slow. A lot of passewngers missed their flights but we were fortunate to not have that headache.
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