I Took The Most Controversial Norwegian Cruise in the Caribbean
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- čas přidán 12. 07. 2024
- I tried the most controversial Norwegian Cruise in the Caribbean. On boarding day, you are normally filled with excitement. You see a bunch of happy families ready to relax and a huge ship docked in port, ready to take you on an incredible vacation. But that's not what happened on my last cruise.
When we showed up, people were yelling, cars were honking, and people were blocking lanes and entry points to the parking garage.
It was complete chaos.
We had just driven 5.5 hours, and I knew that in our particular case, at least one thing could go wrong that would result in us not being able to board the ship in time. However, I remained positive. Let's talk about it...
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Blown away at your bad experience. Was on the NCL Joy in Feb 2023. Loved it. Staff was amazing. People looking you in the eye was so regular. All were awesome - room steward, wait staff, bartenders. Shocked at your experience.
Love you guys.
Thanks R Oliver! Service was great, food amazing, but yeah something weird is happening with the Joy lol.
I was on the Joy December 2019 sailing from Long Beach, CA good time only one negative experience with staff but other than that enjoyed our time onboard
Thank you for the detailed review and content.Glad to see your back taking cruises. Hope all is well!
Thanks for watching!
Norwegian was my first cruise ever and swore I’d never cruise again because of being charged for every little thing. Was convinced to try a different line years later and loved it, have been cruising ever since. Have not been back to Norwegian, granted that was years ago but why take the chance.
I’ve been on 20 NCL cruises. I’ve never had an experience like you described. Have always had a great time and experience!
Crazy right.
I’ll be on NCL Joy in June for a 7 day to Bermuda out of New York. Will let you know what I think. Haven’t been on this ship before.
This couple read the reviews and still opted to pay premium for their experience. And they expected a medical grade refrigerator? Seriously, if they had all that breast milk, how would they transport it back since they drove 5.5 hours to get to Port? Pretty sure they don't have a medical grade cooler or fridge in their vehicle. They also can't blame anyone for their decision to spend that much last minute on a cruise knowing that it was "controversial." And why di they keep calling NCL a luxury line? It isn't 😅 It's a good solid line for families and just plain cruising. I think some content creators purposefully want to create or perpetuate negative content to increase traffic to their CZcams site.
@@BlissGroove We had a cooler to fill with ice to travel home with us. Breast milk can stay cold in a cooler on ice for 24 hours before it goes bad. If I was able to keep my milk in a refrigerator during the cruise to regulate the temperature, it would have been fine in a cooler with ice for the amount of time it took to get home.
Third, SEVERAL other cruise lines offer Medical grade refrigerators for this purpose & for those that have medicine that requires refrigeration. When I spoke to the NCL person on the phone prior to sailing, she said I could indeed get one. So imagine my dismay when no one seemed to be helpful on the ship. - Alyssa
That’s CRAZY that there’s no medical fridge! There are ppl that have needs that need to be refrigerated. So they’re just not able to go?! Unacceptable
Glad to see your video & what has been happening. Cruising line (a go go), sounds & looks a bit maddening. Trying to make the 'joy' out of enjoyable & putting the pure fun in mustering the trip. Thanks for your 'rating system blitz's', Griff -- bon voyage on down the cruising seaports 🎉
Thanks for watching!
Happy ya'll were able to get away for a couple days. Wish it would have been a better experience. Love your travel content, keep it coming! :)
Thanks Amy =)
Thanks for all the info. So glad u got away for a while. We’re parents n totally get it! We’ve done this same thing before. 4 days is hard but with kids with grandparents it works! Glad to c ur faces again. Miss seeing y’all almost on the daily. Be blessed! 💛
Trying to get back into the swing of things!
I was so excited to see a new vid today! ❤
Trying our best to get back in to it!
We just recently went on a celebrity cruise for the first time and let me tell you I am hooked. The embarkation process, the ROOM, the Food, the service yeah they have us as customers from now on.
Celebrity > NCL
Agree! Us as well. Celebrity and Princess might go to cruise lines
Agree, just came back from 7 day West coast and give Celebrity a 10!
Celebrity looks soooo fancy I would love to get on a ship one day. Without my kids hehe
Me too!!!
Happy first Mother's Day!!!!! Enjoying the video❤️😎❤️
Thank you!
Very high quality content, useful observations, good footage good editing. Great honest review, seems even tho there were lots of rough spots that you could still acknowledge the good & offer praise when it was due. Ive never been on the Joy, wonder what caused all the differences. We just cruised on the Escape in march & had almost a perfect time. Agreed on annoying upcharges but overall my wife & I are NCL fans
Thank you!
I’m sorry you went through this you guys deserve a much better vacation
Brutal!
Good to see you guys!
Thank you =)
Thank you so much for sharing this! I am blown away by this. I read many reviews about what cruisers liked and disliked on a cruise and most of it is personal opinion and some are just being picky. However, in your own experience it is more than words it is proof about the reviews on NCL Joy! My former co-worker swears that NCL is one of the best cruises. All I say they need to clean up their services on the NCL Joy!
Yeah they Joy needs some love and TLC
My wife and I cruised on the Joy last month. Our check-in to embark was between 3 and 3:30 PM. We got there at 3:15 and there was not one person in front of us anywhere. We got through security instantly and right up to the desk to check in and we went straight to the ship. No problem at all. Disembarking was much busier but still not bad. We wish they had more entertainment, especially on the sea days. Footloose was canceled but Element was incredible! The food and service was outstanding in Taste and Manhattan but the service was lacking in Savour. We had a balcony room that was clean and comfortable. I would sail with Norwegian again but prefer Royal Caribbean.
Welcome back Griff and Alyssa we've missed you
Thanks Mario, trying our best to try to pick the camera back up. Much harder with a baby lol
OMG!! The part where you talk about the show and the technical issues that exact same experience happened to me on our last NCL cruise. Exactly the same scenario.
Were we on the same cruise!? LOL
We just got off the Joy on Friday and were on the sailing after you guys! It was an 11 night cruise and we had so much fun and a totally different experience from you guys. I will agree embarkation in Miami sucked, that terminal was NOT designed properly and to handle so many people. Our embarkation took a while and very slow, nothing compared to the quick embarkation process that Royal and Carnival offer. And it’s a brand new terminal so I was expecting much better. I think your embarkation was delayed because the ship had came in from a long cruise, so customs delayed boarding for you guys.
I was disappointed with the embarkation process too, but once onboard the ship everything was great, aside from waiting a while till 3pm for our room to be ready.
However, our cruise was overall amazing, probably my favorite cruise I’ve done so far out of 17. We love NCL, but definitely agree there’s some policies/rules that need to be changed and a lot of room to improve on some things.
Hope you guys give a NCL another shot in the future and have a way better experience than this one!
Yesss love that! We plan to sail Norwegian again on the Viva! Haven’t given up entirely =]
Thanks for the honest review! We're avid cruisers and this has helped. ❤
You’re welcome!
Thanks for your honest review, you guys rock
Thanks for watching!
Have been on the NCL Joy 3 times loved everyone of them !! Sorry to hear your cruise didn't go as plan at the beginning
No bigs! We have the Viva planned =)
It kept getting worse and worse and worse... Then when the lawn chairs came out... 🤯 This was such an eye-opening experience for all 😤
It was terrible
Happy first Mother’s Day Allysa 🥰🥰
Thank you!
You are SPOT ON!!!! My husband and I were on the Encore in March which is the sister ship and just about identical to the Joy. My husband and I have been on almost 20 cruises with NCL alone, so much so that we’re platinum level rewards. Their cruises and ships are getting worse and worse each year that ticks by!! I was dying laughing while watching this video because we had the exact same experience and kept saying, “WTH NCL????’ We went during spring break and spent 7 nights on that craziness!! We also had a POLE in out doorway but to our luck?, we had an end room and our pole was offset and we didn’t have to share the pole lol. We were like WTH’s with the pole NCL???? They re-routed us twice, once the week before we sailed and once when we got on board. We LOVE Stirrup Caye but they sent us to Nassau because they were “revamping” the tender boats???? WHAT??? SMH How did they not know that BEFORE we sailed?????? Poor, poor customer service and way to expensive for all the “extras” is for sure!! We will never cruise NCL again platinum or not!
Love this honest review! Every thing we’ve been saying about NCL. Never again and people who like NCL seem to sit around drinking all day.
I just went on 12 day cruise on the joy in April. We had a great time always had something to do. Staff were amazing. Excursions were great. We did not experience lines everywhere as you described. I look forward to cruising again . We did have a private cabana on the island and it was worth every penny.Tge staff was very attentive. So you didn't have the same experience.
I think we’ll to haven next Time
What an experience! From the reviews seems like your experience has been shared with others. Hope all is well
It was wild!
Lol “hear and see how much fun coco cay is”. It’s so true! I booked a rcl after seeing it from a distance at great stirrup cay. Le bistro yum ❤
Lol yeah it was wild 😜
I couldn’t agree more with your assessment of the Joy. I went on it in late March and stayed in a similar room. The rooms were clean and the staff was very friendly and the Cafeteria and Observation areas were very nice. Embarkation was a nightmare, the luggage didn’t make it to my room, I found it on my own. You didn’t miss much, their production of Footloose was poor. There were lines for everything except for things they charged extra for. The disembarkation process was nonexistent, I waited in to get off for at least an hour and a half. That will be the last time I take a Norwegian cruise for a long time if ever again.
I still have one more sailing with them before giving up.
Your commentary mentioned "maxing out capacity" on the tenders. Unfortunately, my recent sailing on the Getaway was quite similar. The food was good, our cabin was well attended, and the itinerary was delightful. NCL's current issues fleetwide seem to revolve around capacity and their ability to service that capacity in good order. Our ship was simply too crowded in EVERY venue thus creating lines for everything including the bathrooms at times. In addition, the enormous passenger load made it almost impossible to schedule entertainment and/or dining reservations. The pool deck was untouchable due to restricted size and maxed out sailing capacity. Even the private island was unbelievably crowded......even in the public water spaces. Personally, I was kicked twice while literally standing still in the water. I have never experienced anything quite like this on over 40 sailings across multiple cruise lines. Everything resulted in cues and long lines. Considering how almost all NCL reviews read similarly in recent months, I will avoid NCL until this is fixed or addressed by NCL management. Perhaps the focus should address passenger experience(s) as opposed to potential revenue for the line.
That is so crazy, b/c we sailed Joy last year, and it was one of THE BEST experiences ever! So much so, we booked it for March 2024. Not sure why, maybe people don't like the ship b/c it was set for the Asian market, but we had the best room, and enjoyed the differences of the ship! (We also booked Encore the following year to compare). I didn't get to the rest of your video yet...but interesting for sure!
Thanks! It was an interesting cruise for sure!
I have always said though, that NCL nickels and dimes. I was ok paying for the go karts (i only did it once) though. It kept people from doing it over and over, keeping it not as busy. Royal is my absolute fave, but NCL is a good second. The drink pkg makes it worth it for us.
Thank you so much Griff! My daughter and I are scheduled on the Joy for 2024 and now.....because of your review I think I will cancel and schedule a different cruise! Your review was excellent and I don't usually go off other's negative reviews but yours was SO thorough! You just saved me a lot of money!!! Thank you very much! Love you guys!
Thanks so much guys! We loved the encore. @Emma Cruises was on Prima and enjoyed it. We also booked the Viva, so if Norwegian is your go to go check out those experiences! =] best of luck !
Oh wow! I just saw the little yellow super chat! Thank you =]
@@GriffandAlyssa I'm not completely sour on NCL....I will give them a shot again but I enjoy my time with my daughter so much I like to minimize the drama we have to deal with when vacationing. I just wanted you to know how much your review helped! Thanks again!!!!
GOOD CHOICE!!! everything grif said was exactly how my NCL cruise went in March. Very disappointing and I'm like super easy going and have no standards in life haha! So it's gotta be bad if I didn't like it
Can't believe their review. Was on the Joy 1-12 May. Absolutely loved it. Service was fantastic. Food was fantastic. Entertainment was fantastic. Anyone who complains about the charges obviously haven't researched the cruise properly.
The complaints from Griff and Alyssa seem as though the went on board with a negative attitude. If you analyse the comments, most were about things off the ship. To call it the most controversial ship in the Caribbean is totally false and unfair to NCL. They don't even say what is controversial!!!!
Do not trust this review, the ship and everything on it are well worth the money.
Dude, great review. I'm an NCL fan, and this stung. I appreciated how you tried to find positives and praised things when you found them worthy. Sorry you didn't enjoy this first post baby time away, and hope you give NCL another shot.
Thanks man! We will, we’ve got Viva booked. Emma just got off of Prima and it looks amazing!
I have been on Prima, it's awesome. Loved your pre video about Prima.
Took a cruise on Norwegian Bliss in october 2022. Probably the nicest staff I’ve seen on a cruise. Speaks to how different ship to ship experience is.
Right? Loved Encore
We have cruised on the Norwegian Joy and Dawn. The staff was equally friendly, accommodating, and efficient on both ships. We chatted with staff and learned some do go back-and-forth between ships.
So sorry that you didn’t enjoy your cruise. We sailed on the Joy in February of 2022, out of Miami and it was a wonderful experience. I will say that the ship was not full, so that probably helped. We like NCL, but would not call it a luxury experience. I think you have to adjust some expectations there. We love the free style and we always book a balcony to enjoy away from the crowds. The observation lounge is great with wonderful late afternoon snacks to hold you until dinner. Great music entertainment throughout the ship on most evenings. 4 nights is a little rushed and I would think it is a different cruise vibe from a longer sailing. Hoping your next experience with NCL is better.
Love that!
I did a 14 night cruise on Norwegian and loved it…there was only 4 kids the whole cruise and it was peaceful…best cruise ever and I slept most of the time. ☺️ visited Cuba and all the way down to Aruba. .. I don’t drink not even soda.. and I can’t believe it’s been 14 months since I saw your last video…you hadn’t had the baby in fact I think the last video I saw Alyssa was 6 months pregnant…life got in my way. Great to see you again!
Maybe the ship had an inspection and that’s why no one could get on. I’ll still take a cruise over any other type vacation …I love the smell of the ocean and the views…rocks me right to sleep.
And as a mother who breast fed it’s not a big deal…the body will make up whatever you express.
Ok ok..my 14 night cruise cost me $1100 and I had my own room…it was a room for the deaf and was located over the teen nightclub but there was only one teen on board so the club was never used. ..and the room was huge! ..and it was an inside room way forward. Loved it…and although the food was pretty much the same thing everyday..I pretty much eat the same thing everyday at home too and it was all good so I was happy. This was a last minute purchase cruise to fill up rooms that’s why the great price…plus it was the end of October and school was in so not a lot of families with kids on board. Yeah I’d do it again.
Glad you had a great time!
@Jean Kile thank you James Jean
The wine thing makes no sense. NCL has gone downhill in the last few years
Weird right?
The wine does make sense. Ncl charges a corkage fee. Seems that is what you paid. It is listed on the website in the details. You are not charged a corkage fee if you have the drink package. Been sailing with ncl for 15 years.
@@KristinStrouth agree.
I spy a Disney cruise cooler bag 😍 I have it, too! Great video! We had an excellent time on the Norwegian Escape in April. Have y’all done Alaska? That’s on my bucket list.
love the DCL bag
Thanks for the review. Going on the Joy out of Miami this November. Been in a solo cabin on the Escape and that was great. Hoping to have an overall better experience than you did.
So, I’m listening and taking it all in. Knowing that even a drink would not make me forget that terrible embarkation… But. When I saw the pole! 😂 I would have fell over laughing. What the ?? Ok. I’ll watch the rest now. 😂
We had ad a cruise on the Norwegian Joy in April of this year. We arrived early to the terminal and got on the ship early. The WiFi worked the entire time. The food was subpar!!! The experience was great. We also had a interior cabin. It was very very small! We lived out of our suitcases! The staff were excellent!
FIRST TIME CRUISER: Your observations are spot on. We took our first cruise last November on the Norwegian Escape. We made the rookie mistake of paying for our cruise in- full at the time of booking, thus our European Cruise booked pre-Covid was downgraded to a 7-day Caribbean cruise post-Covid, since there were no refunds and pricing had gone up. We thankfully had booked the Vibe Beach Club or we would have had nothing much to do as the pools were packed. Practically everything costs extra. Food was a 3.5 out of 5, except for the specialty dining which costs extra. Our on-boarding experience was great, debarkation was HORRIBLE. We stood with several hundred guests (4,000 capacity) in the ship stairwell (with our luggage) waiting to disembark for over 40 minutes. We waited 2 years to take this cruise after it was initially cancelled and were really disappointed. I really was hoping that cruising would be our new thing...Is there hope for a great cruise out there???
No refund... WOW on your first cruise... I'm so sorry! Celebrity is great! Check out Celebrity Beyond I think it's headed to Med & Greece right now. WE have a review on it on the channel, great overall!
I am doing land travels only. Done with cruising. NCL is awful.
Our only NCL Cruise was out of Barcelona in 2013 and I can't remember problems checking in even back then when things weren't really as simple as they are now with all the things you do online before hand. Sure glad to see you guys again!
Glad yours went smoothly!
I think this backup at port could be isolated to this Boat or port? I boarded the Escape 2 months ago at Cape Canaveral with 4000 packed sailing. Spring break! We boarded at 1pm and it couldn't have been smoother. Most ppl were already on, so took us maybe 15 min from getting off the bus. We were impressed
Granted the decks were slammed & similar crowding at top decks, buffet almost impossible 4-7pm. Embarkation day can be wild onboard, I agree. But hopefully this Miami terminal issue was isolated
Observation lounge always a good move!
@@harrisonjonesRVA Might be a boat problem considering I've been on other NCL cruises and it wasn't this bad.
Whoa!!! I will wait a little longer on NCL 😂 MSC Seaside Aurea experience was fantastic last week 🙌🏽
Lol well I mean at least on the Joy.
nice to see u bck on the cruise scene
Good to be back!
I love NCL. Never had a bad cruise. Been cruising for at least 20 years. Don’t cruise any line now but NCL.
Love that for you!
Had me with the specimen size cups, LOL
Lol like…what the hell
Yikes on the cruise. The good and the bad is real. Love your channel. Glad the girl is back. (lol) Hey, because I would love to see you as a very top rated and successful show, consider some acoustic panels in the production room? Your editing is some of the best I've seen. Thanks for the great content.
Thanks!
Yes very high quality content, useful observations, good footage good editing. Great honest review!
We got off the Escape last week, port of Miami was a disaster! It most likely wasn’t NCL with embarkation/debarkation. Customs/port authority has been having issues with facial recognition causing major delays. We debarked almost two hours late , while waiting to get off we watched customs sit down to breakfast 🤷♀️ hopefully when construction finishes in the port there will be a better traffic flow. Because of this we usually try to avoid going out of Miami. The tender is the reason we don’t get off at GSC anymore . Overall I hope you two had a great little getaway together. Enjoy following you both here and on insta .
It was fun to relax!
We just got back two weeks ago from the Carnival Celebration and no problems boarding or leaving and it was Miami port, we usually sail with RC and never have any problems in their port terminal either so I think it is the cruise line because each of the lines have their own port terminal.
Glad to see yall back on a ship, even if bad.
Feels good to be back!
Was thinking about booking NCL, not anymore, thanks for the good information..
You’re welcome!
I can personally attest, “Perfect Day” is amazing.
Griffffffff!!! Long time. Missed you guys. Great seeing you. Oh the Joy. How built in 2017 and refurbished 2 years later in 2019 🤷🏻♀️? Oh my ; 1:33 and no one boarded? Something had to be happening on the ship to cause this delay. Wait. You gotta pay $15 to bring the wine on the ship AND $15 to open it. Per bottle??? Agreed. The interior cabins are very small. We were on the Gem in 2017 and couldn’t walk on the sides of the bed. Had to walk sideways. Or get in the foot of the bed and crawl up. Oh no. No fridge. Race cars 🏎️. Virtual games. Fold up chairs? Off the topic. Loving Alyssa’s dresses. At least the food was good. The aerial of the beach look amazing. Glad the food was good. I’m looking at my iPhone measuring your baby cup 😂. Tender drama 🫤. 50/50 show. Wow. Detailed review. Well you had a few issues there but you had good food, good drink and great company with your lady love. Thanks for sharing and see you next Vlog. Following your IG stories and baby Noa is beautiful.
Hi =) miss you too
I only cruise NCL and every cruise I have been on has been wonderful. Sorry to hear about your experience.
It's all good, we booked the Viva (very excited)
@@GriffandAlyssaSounds good!! Enjoy🎉🎉
love the joy
Yo!! What camera are you using? Footage looks great!!
Sony A7iii , thank you =)
I took my mom on a NCL epic cruise for her retirement March 2023. Only cruising on carnival 5x before I was excited I was going on what I thought was a higher class cruise ship also paying more than carnival. Remind you I also read reviews about Norwegian and saw alot of bad reviews before I went on but ignored them because I never hold hire standards and easy going and not picky. But I took my mom's advice since she had been on the epic before and and loved it. Boarding wasn't too bad from Puerto Rico. The food was as same as carnival I think, the parties were the same 10 people every night on deck. The cleaning was short staffed and I told the guy I felt bad for him and I wasn't picky but it was cleaned 2x in 7 days. I had to find him to get towels. I was peer pressured to take pro photos for like 30 mins after I kept telling them I wasn't rich and just spent all my money just to get on this cruise. The vibe of the cruise the people were more snobby i thought I deff didn't fit in. The bingo was $$ and a rip off and the activitys were like simple origami. The big shows were a beetles cover band like every night. I didn't drink but the lines to get a drink were insane everyday. My mom said the ship used to be way better back in the day. It was the worst cruise I've ever taken and felt like I wasted my money. I've never came home from a cruise thinking my vacation sucked. I don't know anything about Norwegian but I think they are going down hill from what I see and also from what others are seeing.
Wow! Yeah I didn’t enjoy this cruise at all!
Dang Griff, you went hard in the paint on this one 😂😂😂😂😂. Keep those reviews coming.
haha I thought I was being fair lol
@@GriffandAlyssa You have to call it like it is.
My 1st cruise was in 2018 on the Norwegian Gem and it was awesome. Smaller ships are great. After 2 cruises on MSC and 2 Carnival afterwards I'm ready to travel NCL again.
been on several NCL ships. It's amazing you didn't have the greatest of times. Well on to the next I guess. Honest Review is a good review.
That’s what I said, this was an L, but we’ll take a W on the Viva.
Norwegian Escape was my first cruise experience and our experience was so horrible I’ll probably NEVER cruise again. It gives me a LITTLE bit of comfort to watch this and realize that it wasn’t just us who thought they charged ridiculously for everything.
Omg! That was my first cruise on the Escape in 2015. It was not great at all. I ordered room service at 11 pm it came at around 2:30am but then again all the service was slow. I plan on cruising in the future but not with NCL. I spent 2500 dollars for that 3 day cruise. I feel that I didn’t get my money’s worth in the end.
This explains why I got to use NCL Joy as my free PhD cruise. I had no complaints when I took it to Bermuda last year.
Lol 😂
Griff, we had a similar experience on NCL Bliss for our cruise to Alaska. We had to wait outside (in the pouring rain) as there was complete chaos when trying to check in. Crowds, long lines, staff discombobulated. The ship was beautiful but the inside cabins were tiny, the crew were rude and unfriendly. I got the feeling they were glad this was the last sailing. There was nothing to do and sea days were very boring. One little central area for any activities. Because of this, we are hesitant to sail NCL again. We going back to Alaska in a few weeks (this time on Carnival) and we got a balcony that was less the cost of the inside cabin on NCL. We know with Carnival there will be plenty to do.
WOW - well I hope you have fun with Carnival!
I am surprised to hear this about the Bliss... but I don't doubt it... the boarding experience for ANY large ship can be maddening. I've also found that crew tends to be a LOT friendlier on the smaller ships (I love the Jewel class ships!) and there is a lot more to do -- I did a 51 day transpacific on the Jewel and was never wanting for something to do. I don't know how you managed to snag a balcony on Carnival for the cost of an inside on NCL... I'm going in October and I've priced different cruise lines and I'm getting a balcony on the penultimate cruise for 2023 for $300 less than an inside on Carnival's last sailing to Alaska. Anyway, enjoy your cruise... I work in a building with a view of Elliot Bay in Seattle and will be watching your ship leave port :) Bon voyage!
Bliss out of Seattle April 29, 2023 and embarkation was smooth for us. 9:30 check in. On ship by 11:30. Boarding group 2. Disembarkation was also smooth as can be.
We've sailed many Carnival Cruises because they were cheap and enjoyed all of them. Some more than others but they were good. Then we decided to cruise NCL and got on the Norweigian Joy around the same time you released this video. It was an 11 day but I have to tell you, it was way better than Carnival. WAY better. The boarding process was just fine. It was nothing like you described. The Food was better than expected. It was great everywhere we went. Except that Italian place. It was HORRIBLE. The crew was nice. The free drink package cannot be beat. The buffet lines were not too bad. I would go on the Joy again in a heartbeat. I'm sure cruiseline's have bad boarding days or bad days in general but all in all, I'm sold on NCL.
Our last cruise was the joy. We aren’t crazy about Norwegian bc like you said, it feels like they nickel and dime you. But our service was great and food was good. I absolutely loved the observation lounge and the bars.
We did the water slides and didn’t have the same experience as you, there were lines but they took a normal amount of time. My hubby did the drop slide and didn’t get stuck thankfully 😂 with that being said, we probably won’t do Norwegian again unless there’s a really great deal or location bc it’s very expensive and I don’t like how you have to book the shows.
The food is so good!
With all do respect, did you not research before you booked your cruise? No secret about everything with an extra charge.
WOW guys- what a WHOOOLE lotta let downs!!!! Soooo sorry you had this experience!! At least you had some warning from the reviews, but I was truly hoping you'd have a different experience!! At least there were some standout moments!!
Feels good to be back tho!
Just cruised NCL for the first time on Pearl. We had the same experience with cramming people into smaller venues when larger ones were open. Spinnaker ( observation lounge) was used mostly for private functions on our last sea day. It was cold and windy. No one on outside decks. There was nowhere to go that was quiet except Bliss Ultra Lounge. Think dark, no bar and bowling alleys not open. Also, it was our least favorite food experience ever. Embarkation was weird because some staff were boarding by groups and other were telling everyone get in line.
Wow, I'm sorry!
They gave you an obstructed interior room 😂.
Haha 😂
We did NCL EPIC last November. One word on boarding, "Cluster." Meanwhile, off in the distance are the RCCL ships docked at their private island.:-)
Just got off the Joy in New York this past Sunday, and your review was spot on. We had the same problems. Disastrous embarkation , and even worse disembarkation . And again absolutely no communication from NCL. The ship is very understaffed. But they worked very very hard to please you. It seems NCL changed their beverage package and removed some of the brands of liquor which are now and up charge. Norwegian seems to be trying to make as much money as they can by charging us for every little thing, we’ve done 40 cruises and realized most of our problems, mostly small, one major problem Was always with Norwegian . Might be time to move on. Great review.
WOW Really? So it wasn't just us. It really is a terrible experience...
Loved this, but sorry for your experience. Dixie cups?! What’s with that? Lol
Dixie cups were annoying! All good, we booked the Viva =]
I think we were on the same cruise bc we waited FOREVER to board! It was a disaster of a process. We sailed out of Miami on April 27th I think. Boarding & disembarkation we’re both a disaster. It was extremely crowded in the pool area as well.
Ugh terrible 😢
What an experience! I think will just stay with Royal where I know it will be good. BTW there is a 14 day transatlantic on Oasis next April for $704 pp interior if you are so inclined, great deal.
Thank you for sharing =) !
Key point out of this video: some CZcamsrs embellish their reviews. You’ve mastered this…thank you. I have sailed many cruise lines, not all cruises were great. Cruises on the same line have been good and bad. One bad experience doesn’t necessitate a trashing of the entire line. Also, in my opinion all cruise lines nickel and dime…except the luxury cruises. Sail Chrystal next time at $10k + per person.
Just sailed on the Prima out of NY. Hands down the worst embarkation ever. Just like it was everyone’s first day. And we were Haven.
I have been on a couple of Ncl cruises and they all have been great. My favorite was the Alaskan cruises I was on. I am sorry your experience wasn't the best. Try going to Alaska you will love it on Ncl
We loved our experience on the Encore to Alaska, we have a video on it. So incredible!
Good morning guys happy Mother’s Day enjoy your day mama. You can’t go by what people say on line
Morning!
I stoped in the middle of one of NCLs slides, on the NCL Breakaway. It was strange because you do slide backwards, before you come to a stop! There was an open part in the tube, right above where I stopped and fortunately someone came within a minute. They guided me out and safely back to the start. I tried the other drop slide on the other side and got through it fine (5-6 times).
Scary!
Boarded the Norwegian Joy from New York in June 2022. Had priority boarding and was able to get on the ship before noon and even enjoyed lunch in the Haven Restaurant. Only complaint I had about the ship is the lack of the Thermal Suite and broken down arcade game machines. Aside from those, had a great time.
Love that for you! Maybe computers were down or something?
Sorry for the experience you'll had on the ship. I'm thinking twice if I even want to go on the Norwegian Cruise.
It wasn’t the best but I love the encore.
I will be traveling with family this summer on the Norwegian Sky (August 1st to 10th), which I believe is a considerably smaller ship than the Joy. There will be a group of 8 of us in all, though 2 of those are friends of my brother. It will be my first cruise ever, as well as my brother in laws first. Ironically, it will be the second cruise for my 2 sons who were on a trip with their mother earlier in the year. In any case, have you ever sailed aboard the Sky, and if so have you any tips to ensure that we get the best experience possible? This trip also visits Stirrup Cay. So I was wondering if the lines there had more to do with the number of passengers aboard the Joy versus the level of staffing on the island.
I considered that ship but it is very small, very old, and has limited entertainment for younger kids and teens. It still has a chapel! When was the last time you heard of a ship having a chapel? It’s like when I first cruised back in the early 1990s and they used to still have church services onboard ships. 😊Echos of the Titanic 😅
Great to see you guys crusing, but sorry NCL Joy has issues. lol
Hey Cyn! =)
Were you not worried about being in Florida? We have a cruise booked next year but with the way things are going there I am very worried to step foot in that state.
Not sure what you mean? We live in Florida..
We sailed on Norwegian Bliss from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska. We were the first cruise of the season for Norwegian m. Was a good experience. No hitches getting on board. Was absolutely packed but wasn’t bad. Wifi package wasn’t good. Food was good but not great. The Local was our favorite place to eat and The Local bar was great and our server was fantastic!
Excursions were ok. They cancelled two of the ones we chose…bummer because they were one of the reasons we chose the cruise and the time
spent “at sea” was too long on a 7 day cruise.
Huge bummer!
I’ve had to do this for the Epic in Barcelona for wine and that was back in like 2017. The first and last time I brought wine onboard NCL.
Lol 😂 us too
Yeah, NCL is declining. I got suckered into a Cruise Next cert, so I'll go on at least one more, but itll likely be my last. Their prices are much too high for what they offer. I'm actually considering trying Carnival's Excel class ships. Have y'all done them yet?
I haven’t but I’m working on it!
We recently went on the Escape out of Port Miami. The embarkation process was also horribly delayed. There were all sorts of rumors on why this was the case but no official reason was given.
Really no communication for you either eh?
Same here. I was with my girlfriend and for some reason the woman who was processing us didn’t talk to me because she thought I didn’t speak English.
Just getting off a back to back on NcL Encore and Bliss. We will just say this is happening across the board now on NCL. Doing a small ship to Alaska on the sun in September and hopefully the experience is different because other than the amazing crew the overall experience was not up to our expectations. Definitely going to have a video on our experience.
I think we’re going to try Alaska this year too, undecided on the ship though!
@@GriffandAlyssa the sun was a good deal, smaller ship and hits all the major ports in 10days. Plus you get to stay in port all day at each port. I think we just aren’t a fan of the half day rushed ports in Alaska. (Especially with a kid!)
Went on the Bliss back in 2019 and decided never going on Norwegian again (it was my second NCL cruise). Like you said, nickle and dime for everything! Getting onboard was average, due to medical disability in our group we got on right away. Our trip was full and had more children onboard than average, it was a Thanksgiving cruise, but I didn't feel like their were too many kids running around. We had the family cabin, so space and storage was not an issue. Overall we had a good trip but I didn't like being charged for so many activities onboard the ship.
never again lol!
Sounds bad...but at least you got to do it together!! Great review!
yep! Thank you!
I just got off the NCL Bliss Alaska cruise last week. Some parts were ok, I had some issues as well with some things. Not the best cruise I have been on. I did a video on that one as well.
Bliss sounds fun!
Sorry it was rough, but I think I would go on celebrity, you look like you had a blast on there any everything looked amazing
Trying to get Alyssa on a celebrity now!
Nine of our nineteen cruises since 2014 have been with NCL on different ships. Every single one of our NCL cruises were awesome with only a couple of issues that were always fixed quickly with no fuss. Having said that we sailed Celebrity Equinox for 10 days this past February and both of us came down with Norovirus on different days from likely contaminated food (warm tartar sauce and mayo likely left in the sun too long). Shit happens though and we will keep sailing, Lol.
oh noooo that's awwwwful! Hate that for you guys!
I am curious if you may have boarded out of Miami or New York by chance? Thanks in advance and sorry if this was mentioned in the video. If it was I guessed I missed it. Best wishes to you and your beautiful family and God bless. 🙏
Out of Miami =)
@@GriffandAlyssa thanks for the reply. Our family took a cruise out of Miami once and we won't be back. We will choose Ft Lauderdale or Cape Canaveral from now on when leaving from Florida. Lol. We just took a cruise out of Cape Canaveral three weeks ago and it was very laid back and refreshing. Gonna try the new Norfolk VA port this October, can't wait either. Greetings from NC and have a great day sir. I enjoyed the video. 😊👍
Thank you for watching! Enjoy your cruises
I sailed on the Joy's US Inaugural voyage... and yeah, the pole! I had to laugh because it was so annoying and I'd forgotten about it. I also thought the room (I had an inside) was super small... but maybe that's because it was built for the Asian market? I didn't like how crowded the ship got at full capacity... but then, I'm more used to smaller ships like NCL's Jewel class. Our boarding experience has never been as bad as yours, although boarding in Miami *can* be a total cattle call. Sorry you had such a rotten experience!
stupid pole lol!
We had a cabana just before the pandemic and there was no staff for the cabanas. So we had no drinks either and also stood in 1 hour drink line. And when we nicely went to customer service to ask for some reimbursement for lack of cabana service we got nothing.
WOW .. I am shocked. What the heck?
On Great Stirrup Cay?
@@harrisonjonesRVA yes
@@shannonb7438 yikes! That's not the norm
Dang. I'm sorry you had this challenging experience. I loved NCL in the Mediterranean, but we had no sea says, so with porting every day we didn't depend on the ship's entertainment which felt limited. The food on NCL is very good for a cruise.
Oh well, you win some you lose some!
Sorry you had a bad experience with Norwegian Cruise lines. My wife and I sailed on the Norwegian Encore November 2022 out of Miami and had a very long embarkation like you had,but it seemed like they were having trouble getting the previous cruise passengers off the ship in a timely manner. We did enjoy our cruise on the Norwegian Encore, but we actually prefer the smaller ships. We sailed on the Norwegian Dawn in March 2022 out of Tampa and absolutely loved that ship (really enjoyed the production show Elements), and we are sailing on the Norwegian Spirit, (which I believe is Norwegian‘s smallest ship) to Alaska in August 2023.
Alll good! We look forward to the Viva! =)
Took the Chileno Bay snorkeling tour while anchored in Cabo. 1.5 hours in line for Tinders as seas were rough, so they moved the tinders from port to starboard. 15 minutes to get everyone on to the charter boat. 35 minutes to the bay. 20 minutes snorkeling (no one saw anything of matter), and time to head back for another 1hr of lines to get on the ship. Full Day for 25 minutes of snorkeling.
Been on several cruises, but only one on NCL (Breakaway). 0.5 stars and would have to really be talked into trying them again. Food was terrible in MDR which is usually my fav. Embarkation was an absolute nightmare- several hours long. Very uncomfortable beds. Thermal suite was amazing, but closed early on our last sailing night with zero warning (for cleaning…closed like at 8pm. Can’t clean at 10 like every other night?!). Entertainment was meh. Customer service on the phone (not the ship) was the worst I’ve ever experienced. I was just stunned. Communication was awful- unless it’s to watch the muster drill-my goodness I got about 10 emails prior to sailing about that! Can’t address embarkation and possibly parking options in any of those emails?!! Too many choices to risk sailing with them as most of us only get 1-2 vacations per year.