Norwegian Joy

Lots of things to do but service glitches

April

Pros: Kids and kids stuff

Cons: Service glitches, small rooms

Recommended: No

Many things for kids to do and the food was good. There were service glitches in food service, Cagneys, room steward service was not on par with other cruises. Tge cruise itinerary changed without any explanation. All in all we would not recommend Norwegian particularly after the recent public disclosures how passenger health situation were handled. It was average service , we are "nickel and dimed to death" and feel we have gotten better service on most every other cruise line we have been on. Also it is very apparent that very few employees have any authority to handle/solve problems. It goes up the chain of command and us lost. We were lied to about a major service problem in Cagney's and it soured the rest of the cruise.

Beautiful ship and venues

March

Pros: Ship design and ambiance, service, newly renovated Mandara Spa, spacious bathroom (club family balcony), evening shows

Cons: Pool too small, lack of trash can throughout the ship

Recommended: Yes

We had an overall wonderful experience aboard the Joy. The ship is beautiful, including the cabin and all its venues. The service was great! The food was, as expected, much better in the main dinning and specialty restaurants as oppose to the buffet which lacked some good fish (there was mainly tilapia) and red meat, mostly chicken and pork. The night shows in the theatre were spectacular! The pool unfortunately is way too small for a ship this size. The Atrium, where a lot of the games happen, also runs out of space as it gets packed.

New England Canada Sept 2023

September

Pros: I've been on the Encore twice and this ship was an older version that's scheduled for and update within the year. Food, entertainment and stateroom was typical NCL nice

Cons: The first 2 stops (Boston and Portland Maine) were deleted and we lost a day of the cruise because of a Hurricane by Bermuda where the ship came from. Some of the tours needed better on shore leadership via signs- it was confusing without the normal signs on shore

Recommended: Yes

A nice ship that will be made even better with the upcoming refurbishment.

Bringing Joy

May

Pros: Everything we needed and more

Cons: None

Recommended: Yes

This was our second trip to Bermuda on the Norwegian Joy. That alone should tell you what we think of the ship, the service and the destination!

awesome ship

January

Pros: big enough to not feel crowded.

Cons: none

Recommended: Yes

We have been on Joy twice now to 2 different locations. We love this ship. It's big enough to not feel crowded with the amount of people onboard. Great entertainment. Great bars. Great pool & upper shaded pool area. Absolutely great staff as always on NCL.

Panama Canal is an experience not to be missed

January

Pros: Exceptional entertainment, observation deck, great variety in buffet

Cons: Embarkation process was a disaster, slow service in restaurants

Recommended: Yes

We truly enjoyed our experience in the Norwegian Joy. Our biggest complaint was the embarkation process. We’ve been on almost 20 cruises and by far this was the worst. Sitting in a tent for over 3 hours waiting for your group number to be called was torture. This will definitely affect my decision to cruise with Norwegian again.

Great Vacation Cruise to New England and eastern Canada

September

Pros: Beautiful, modern ship with every amenity you could want; immaculately clean everywhere; extremely friendly, attentive and professional crew and staff; great food quality with incredible choices of venues and cuisines; 2 dinners in specialty restaurants included in our cruise package and both meals were excellent (Teppanyaki and La Cucina); quality beverage plan included in our cruise package and outstanding bartenders at all locations; amazing production shows (Footloose and Element) with very nice smaller music venues and entertainment throughout; great cabin steward service; nice, big veranda with 2 chairs, a chaise and a table; great shower in cabin bathroom; comfortable and quality mattress, bedding and bath linens; safe in the cabin; plenty of hangars in the cabin closet; Freestyle Daily was extremely well done and very informative; helpful guest service staff; plenty of very fast elevators throughout the ship with ship’s maps in all of the lobbies for ease of finding things; touch screens located throughout the ship for information and setting up daily activities and reservations; timeliness and accuracy of itinerary; nice, smooth sail; ease of disembarking at ports, especially at final New York docking where we had an early return flight from LaGuardia; overall value of this cruise.

Cons: Location of Atrium right next to guest service area with staff using extremely loud microphones carried (including up to The Local) and made it very difficult to communicate with service staff; cabins somewhat sparse on amenities (no robes, bottled water only for sale, not complimentary, no towel animals, no writing pad and pen); no instructions for using the television entertainment center in the cabin; sofa in the cabin was hard; $9.95 charge for room service other than the complimentary continental; charges for Internet are a rip-off.

Recommended: Yes

We had originally booked this itinerary for September 2020 but were forced to cancel due to the Pandemic. We re-booked and are extremely glad we did. The cruise was our first “real” vacation in over 2 years, and it totally met our expectations. This was our first time with Norwegian, and we were more than satisfied. Thank you.

Could be better

September

Pros: Friendly staff and food

Cons: Entertainment and activities

Recommended: No

The entertainment was not up to the standard of the other ships I've been on. The magician was extremely annoying when he expected the audience to clap after every thing he did. He wasn't that good. Also some of the activities were held in too small an area for the amount of people that wanted to watch or participate.

Western Caribbean Cruise

December

Pros: Great service! Great and friendly staff! Seamless overall trip: excursions, shows, cleanliness, beautiful ship. Cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed it!

Cons: None.

Recommended: Yes

Special shoutouts and high praise to all attendants in The Haven Restaurant and our Haven Butler and Room Attendant.

Panama Canel

January

Pros: State room 10958 was perfect for veiwing canel

Cons:

Recommended: Yes

Great trip

Fun on Norwegian Joy

January

Pros: Fun activities, great theatre shows, lots of specialty dining choices with fabulous food and superb customer service by all their staff!!

Cons: Lots of passengers on this ship so the elevators were a pain when there was special events or port days. We found the buffet food good but needs more variety. Other NCL ships had theme nights with meals devoted to different countries. We took NCL’s airfare and transportation from airport to boat and boat to airport. The flights were fine but were on the day the cruise left which did not leave much room for possible delays. The ground transportation was horrendous. We waited at the airport in a line for 3 hrs. with about 100 others to get transportation to the ship. Big lack of communication as to why such a long wait. The boat sailed later than it was scheduled to due to poor organization of the ground transportation. We spoke to others who waited 4 hrs.!! I would have assumed that having done this long enough, they should have this transport situation well under control.

Recommended: Yes

Despite the hiccups, we had a fabulous time. My husband had lots of fun on the racetrack circuit!! I would have loved to try but my knee issues held me back. He also tried the fast, loop waterslide where the floor drops out from under you and you feel like you are travelling like a speeding bullet! This was our 6th cruise on NCL and it will not be our last hopefully.

Bucket List Panama Canal Cruise

October

Pros: Ship, Crew, Ports, Food, and Entertainment

Cons: Didn’t broadcast the World Series

Recommended: Yes

The trip was wonderful. The only port that we would not be interested in returning to is Cartagena. The reviews are accurate in that the vendors are very aggressive and there are hundreds of them everywhere you go. Traffic was very bad. Glad we booked an NCL tour as we were 45 minutes late getting back to the ship. Luckily we were not the last tour to return and the ship waited. Going through the locks was amazing. That was what we booked this cruise to see. Recommend you find your spot early. Costa Rica was amazing. We would definitely like to go back. We went on a NCL rainforest walking tour and a canal boat ride. We saw lots of wildlife in their native environment. Highly recommended. In Roatan we went snorkeling. NCL tour Tabyana Snorkeling and Beach Club. Very nice. Harvest Caye Belize we took the NCL Black Swan Electric Boat ride. I don’t recommend it. Waste of time we saw no manatees. Costa Maya was another NCL snorkeling adventure trip. The trip was great. Very good snorkeling and the rest of the day at the beach club which included free drinks. The drinks were free but not very good.

Unforgettable Cruise Experiences

June

Pros: Lots of scenery, diverse food, wonderful stage performance, friendly staff

Cons: Not so convenient for my dad who only knows Chinese.

Recommended: Yes

I would like to come again on Norwegian Joy! If only Chinese elements are added. I’m thinking of helping do something to help in someway.

Alaska Inside Passage Dream!

May

Pros: Great food in specialty dining, amazing entertainment, friendly & attentive staff

Cons: Buffet was not good, except for the crab night

Recommended: No

Now I gotta cut loose....FOOTLOOSE! Wow, what a show! The entertainment everywhere was some of the best I've ever experienced, hands down. The ship is beautiful, of course. The suite had a spacious shower and bathroom. The dining at specialty restaurants was exquisite - we went to Cagney's & the French Bistro. Spent mush of our time at the bar / observation lounge listening to music and playing games while sipping wine/beer/mudslides/mimosas/bloody marys with new friends. Great service too throughout.The crab night in the buffet was actually quite good!

The Joy was a Joy!

May

Pros: New, clean and beautifully decorated in neutral tones

Cons: Large ship, lots of people

Recommended: Yes

We enjoyed our week on the Joy. It is a big ship and we committed to only taking the stairs! The food wasn't the best I’ve had at sea, but it was average and plentiful. If you can splurge do Teppanyaki it was incredible and worth every penny. There was always plenty to do, family friendly and adult only. Both shows were incredible! Not to be missed! Especially Elements! Book your times before you board or you’ll be in the standby line. The buffet can be busy, but we always found seats. It’s all about timing. No towel animals, but you can ask. All the staff was very friendly. Jody our cruise director was fun. Not as many photo spots at night as I’ve experiences before, only 1 changed each night. so if you like the portraits be sure to do them each night. Cabin was comfortable and the balcony is worth every penny! Bathroom was huge in the mini suites. Be sure to grab a blanket from the towel stand- it gets chilly on deck! The ports were all fantastic. Friendly people and easy to navigate. The peaceful beauty of the glacier viewing (although we couldn’t get close enough because of ice) was a highlight for our family. Being from South Florida we loved putting our sweaters on. definitely recommend this cruise.

NCL Joy review

May

Pros: I was impressed with how fast we got on the ship, on embarkation day. They were very organized.

Cons: They didn’t have a good variety of shops on board

Recommended: Yes

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