I am pleased to report that it has happened again.......my birthday!! For a very long time, l have made it a goal to be away on my birthday. In my search, I considered both land and sea. Then, I looked to see who was cruising out of my local port, Port Canaveral, Florida. The Norwegian Joy was leaving for seven days to the Bahamas ON MY BIRTHDAY!! How could I not? Once again, I contacted NCL and an agent had available to me a single stateroom with balcony. I provided the requested information (which by now is almost autofill with my cruise history with NCL), received my Booking Number and followed the routine procedure of downloading my eDocs when available and was good to go.
I contacted my favorite parking lot online to make my reservation-portparkingspace.com, 8945 Columbia Road, Cape Canaveral, FL, printed my confirmation to add with my trip documents.
I requested a boarding time of between 11:00 AM and Noon. I arrived at Port Parking Space around 10AM and with their usual high level of efficiency, assisted me with my luggage and directed me to the parking area. The shuttle to the dock was a short ten minute drive.
As mentioned in earlier posts, there can at times be a queue despite having designated boarding times. Once at the dock, a member of the dock staff took the luggage for transport to the ship. As a NCL Latitudes Reward member, I had the easiest boarding experience that I can remember. A slow pass through of security as passengers made adjustments to their carry on items before passing through the metal detectors. There is a special line for Latitude Member check-in and I just had no wait at all. Before I knew it, I was presenting my stateroom key to a crew member on the deck of the ship and was given a warm 'welcome onboard' by the crewmembers as I crossed the threshold onto the ship.
As it was again an issue with trying to make specialty dining reservations by telephone or online, my first stop was to visit the specialty dining reservations desks setup in the Teppanyaki specialty dining room. There was only one other passenger in the room, staffed with several crew members which made this my first visit a good idea. I got all five of my specialty dining room reservations where and when I wanted. It was great. And, yes, I did mention that it was my birthday. After that task was completed, I went to my Muster Station to check-in with a crewmember to confirm my being onboard and that I had watched the safety video while at home. If you haven't as yet, before boarding the ship, download their new App.
My usual procedure in creating a post is to stay within the 'booking to boarding' guidelines. However, where it is my birthday cruise, I will expand into the cruise itself without getting into areas outside the realm of the passenger experience.
My previous boarding experience aboard NCL ships has been that around 1 PM an announcement would be made from the Bridge that 'your cabins are ready. On this trip, the announcements coming from the Bridge were quite different. The assistant cruise director on the Bridge would announce the room preparedness by deck when ready. And, that the goal was to have all staterooms ready by three PM, one hour before sailing. So, it went something like this: 'staterooms on Deck 8 are now ready for passengers'. Then, about thirty minutes later, staterooms on Deck 15 are now ready for passengers', and so on. The result was that passengers were sitting on the stairways, lying on the floors and loung wherever they could find a space. It was pretty unusual and appeared to be uncomfortable for the passengers. I went to Reception and inquired if this was a one time experience or was this random deck/stateroom preparedness was going to be the new norm aboard NCL ships. I was informed by Reception staff that this was going to be the new norm for NCL. Time will tell by passenger feedback as to how this process is being received.
The onboard experience of shows, entertainment and music. The activities onboard the ship are all provided for the pleasure and enjoyment of the passengers. The variety offered is to provide something that will appeal to everyone. As this area can be subjective in nature, I will not go into the variety onboard the Joy other than to say that the offerings are all presented in a professional and thoughtful manner by professionals who train and rehearse as to provide you with a memorable experience.
The ship departed on schedule at approximately 4:00 PM.
On this Day 1, I had my birthday dinner at CAGNEY'S Steakhouse. As expected, the meal and service were excellent. The birthday cake was also appreciated. I was seated early and got a table at the back of the ship overlooking the water. By the time I finished my meal, the restaurant was nearly full.
Day 2 was a Sea Day. Your FREESTYLE DAILY program of activities is made available to you the previous night at your stateroom. A Sea Day on a cruise ship to the Caribbean can also be considered by some as an 'insane day' if one has intentions of lounging around the ship's pool. I have no idea how to address the issue of having about 800 loungers on deck when there are over 3,000 passengers onboard. No, not everyone will be wanting to hang around the pool. The issue continues to be that some passengers get towels, put them on multiple loungers at sunrise and disappear until they are ready to use them depriving many of the availability. There are notices posted to secure a lounger if you are going to use a lounger, however, I did not see any enforcement of the removal of personal affects if left for an extended period of time unattended. I do not know if other cruise lines have come up with a workable solution and any feedback is appreciated.
There are more dining options than can be mentioned. A restaurant named LOCAL is popular for breakfast and lunch as is the American Diner. My dinner this evening was at Cucina for a taste of Italian. As expected, the meal and service makes this Specialty restaurant, well, special.
Day 3. We arrived at Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic at approximately 9 AM. There was some morning rain, but cleared up nicely. I had already decided that I would not be doing any excursions on this trip. Rather, I spent hours walking about TAINOBAY. There was much to see and I spent a few hours visiting the shops and local offerings. All aboard time was 3:30 PM. I had dinner at Le Bistro a French cuisine restaurant. The escargot, pork entrée and dessert were only equaled by the professional level of service.
Day 4. We arrived at St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands at about 11 AM. I have been here before and have always enjoyed the peacefulness of my walk AND the many yachts! All aboard time was 6:30PM. I had dinner at one of the several 'freestyle' dining restaurants this evening. No reservations required and a choice of seating. The food was very good as was the service.
Day 5. We arrived at Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands at 6:45 AM. with an All Aboard time of 5:30 PM. Another interesting walk about with many shops for people to explore. I had dinner at Q Smokehouse. A restaurant with BBQ flair and three piece band. The presentation and service was very well done.
Day 6. A Sea Day. A pleasant day for passengers to slow down the pace and enjoy the time onboard. I had dinner at Teppanaki which is always a fun shared experience with other passengers. And, what a shock. Another birthday cake!
Day 7. A Sea Day. A day to prepare for disembarkation, but not just yet. There is still a full day of activities available. I had dinner in the Manhattan Room which is the main dining room onboard. The service and food was up to the noted NCL standards.
Day 8. Back at Port Canaveral on schedule for a beginning disembarkation time beginning at approximately 7 AM for those doing a 'walk off. The walk off is for those passengers that choose to carry their own luggage unassisted off the ship. Although the vessel may be ready for passengers to disembark (after clearing Customs), the queue for the walk off passengers starts to line up at about 6 AM.
Before port parking space brings passengers to the port, they have you take a photo of their location upon disembarkation as to where their shuttle will be for your return to their lot. I had no wait as the shuttle was there and it did not take long for it to fill and we were on our way.
It was a great way for me to celebrate my birthday. I met many wonderful passengers. Some from Fort Worth, Texas, a few from Kentucky and a gentleman from Maine who decided to take a leisurely 29 hour drive to take the cruise. I'm thinking celebrating a six month birthday cruise may be in order!
Happy Cruising and thanks for allowing me to share my birthday cruise with you.
BTW. A download of Booking to Boarding' would make an excellent birthday gift!! Just saying!
Tom