In our past cruise attempts, we have gone with Norwegian, and we have been very pleased. On our cruises to Hawaii, we sailed aboard the Pride of America, a 920-foot ship that services about 2,200 passengers. The Norwegian Joy dwarfs that liner. This baby would occupy most of the Barracks Road Shopping Center. It’s 1,100 feet long and holds over 4,000 passengers with a crew of 1,821, of which 8 speak English. It’s a small, floating city. During the year, the Joy visits Alaska, the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda. It’s a relatively new ship, first launched 2017 and recently refurbished.
It is so big that Nancy and I spent most of the first two days asking how to get back to our room. At the huge cafeteria, Nancy went missing in action for about 20 minutes on the first morning as she struggled to find our table. My wife is directionally challenged, and I had to put her on a leash. But eventually we got our bearings and now we only have to ask once which way to our room.
The Joy has all the bells and whistles for kids – like a water park, game rooms, a Disney-type water slide, racetracks, and special entertainment. There is also a casino and multiple bars to serve as entertainment for adults.
One thing that appealed to me most of all about this cruise was that on the second day, you do nothing. You’re at sea with no ports, no shopping, no tourist attractions. Your sole responsibility is to sit back, take in the violet waters passing beneath the ship, eat like it’s your last meal and enjoy the cruise. Overall, the food was good, and the service was excellent. The entire staff was friendly and accommodating.
On Monday, we thought we would lay in the sun for a bit by one of the pools, but there were 4,000 people aboard and approximately 250 lounge chairs, which we taken withing minutes after dawn. Instead of laying in the sun, you had stand in the sun. The bald guys had it bad. So, we sat mostly on the deck off our room, and I liked that a lot.
I could do this for seven days, but we wouldn’t. Our first port of call would be the coast of Honduras the next morning. Nancy set her clock. She wanted to be early.