10 Nights Alaska: Glacier Bay, Skagway & Juneau from Seattle Cruise

Norwegian Joy 10 days RT Alaska great experience.

Very happy w this trip. The 10 day was far superior to the 7 day cruises because we got much longer port days while the 7 day ships were always rushing off to the next port we would get 10 - 12+ hours in each port. Seattle was good starting point with reasonable air connections decently priced even with last minute booking. We stayed downtown at Hyatt Place which was nice and convenient to both the port and the space needle park area. Uber to drop off and they take the bags right at the street. Embarkation was much easier then expected - line looked huge but the new facial recognition software makes the process fast and smooth - we basically were onboard in the time it took the line to move maybe 30 minutes total. Posted up in the Taste/Savor dining room for full service meal until the rooms were ready starting before 3PM. We had booked last minute and ended up in an inside family room but I noticed it was located under the Atrium area and got worried about the noise - so used Norwegians bid up system and got lucky and scored a balcony room. This room is starboard side far rear of the ship and while it was pretty long walk to elevators it also has an extended length balcony due to location in the rear structure of the ship - very nice to have a nearly double length balcony. Inside passage on way was great - calm after you get out of the open Pacific. We saw multiple whales and sea lions while underway. Juneau was first stop and shortest of the whole cruise arriving at 1PM but still plenty of time to see the town and Mendenhal Glacier - Don't miss Nugget Falls trail at Mendenhal - fabulous waterfall. We booked a bus via Viator but could have easily booked in the port - around $60/each for various transport options. Skagway was a cute town and we did 2 trail hikes here. There is a loop bus you can buy for the day to/from the port but it is easily walkable downtown as well. There is different bus that stops at the same 3 stops downtown that will take you to Reid Falls/Cemetery for $10 - well worth it and several paid tours were going to the same location for much more $. Easy hike to the falls maybe 1/2 mile and not too much vertical. Then back downtown we walked length of the town and then did our second hike crossing the river on the pedestrian bridge to get to Yakutania Point trail - this is mostly flat bit over a mile one way - you end up on various beaches and very few people made it really enjoyable - great photo ops on this well maintained trail. Most people in this port take the rail way tour to White Pass - they all seemed to enjoy it - but I will say it is pretty pricy at least $125-150/person and you must take the bus one way - so that tour can take as long as 4-5 hours with waiting on both sides. The train itself is not that comfortable with old school wooden seats not really accommodating today's amply sized Americans ;-) Most people that took the train tour didn't do anything else in town. Glacier Cruise by day was the only day that the ship seemed a bit crowded in the Observation Lounge. This lounge is one of the premier areas of the ship and most days was not busy at all. They have a small snack area with coffee, a full bar, and a Starbucks. Seating is very nice with little alcoves and couches and overall a very comfortable space. People were already posted up in the premium front window seats very early - we were told as early as 5:30AM, but there was still room on the side windows when we got down there before 8AM. Note that they do open the bow area for the glacier cruise by - but it was rainy misty and cold so we were happy watching from the Observation Lounge and later from our balcony. Icy Straight Point (Hoona) is a cruise ship built port located at an old cannery building. There is a bus to Hoona for $10 RT. Hoona is worth a quick trip - it is compact with a working marina. The brewery there was good and also where the bus picks up. We took the ship tour for Whale & Marine Mammal tour which leaves directly from the same dock the cruise ship is docked too. We had excellent whales with at least 20 tail groups plus some sea lions. It was rainy and bit cold on the open water, but the tour boat put us on the whales which is what your paying for. Not badly priced either at $150/person plus we used a tour booking credit of $50 making it $250 for 2 people for ~3 hours on the boat and about 2 hours on the whales. Fabulous photos and we seem to have gotten lucky to see that many Humpbacks. Highly recommend tours from this location! Sitka another nice walkable city - bit more touristy then other ports but not really in a bad way. We hiked the National Historic Totem Park which was very nice and again you could get down to the rocky beach if you wish. Nice creek runs through this park and many totems along the way. You can put in miles on these trails by crossing over the creek and well worth your time. This port is now issuing free tickets for the bus to town - so you need to reserve your trip to/from town but they still run continuously and any bus not full is on a space available basis. Ketchikan was one of our favorite ports. A true working port with 5 marinas and so many working crab/fishing boats. Prices in this town were the most affordable of any of the other stops. Don't miss the Artic Bar right downtown over the water for $3.50 Happy Bear beers - all the time. Even the tourist trinket shopping was affordable here. Don't miss the Creek Shops area here and take the Salmon Walk trail for some really nice hiking opportunities - we linked that together with the city park and the Salmon Hatchery in a big loop. Back in Seattle make sure to use the SEATAC luggage transfer process. It was wonderful and easy. You leave your bags outside your room same as everyone else, but your bags get transferred directly to the airport checked to your destination. It is completely free and allows you to explore without dragging bags around. There is a free waterfront loop bus that picks up along the pier area - we took the bus to the Pioneer Square area to check out their old town with couple of parks (check out the pocked Waterfall park) and plenty of eats/drinks in this area at better prices then tourist areas downtown. Later bus dropped us by the pier where we walked about and at a take away lunch from Ivers - great and very affordable food right on the water! From there we moved into the craziness of the Pikes Shops to check out the wonderful seafood offerings. We hit Pikes Pub located nearby for decent beers at half price during their happy hour. We took the nearby Light Rail to the airport - it is only $3 and was clean but not as fast as expected - supposed to be like 40 minutes but due to delays it took well over an hour so take that into account. Train drops you in the airport parking garage and you walk from there into the terminal - not the shortest walk but still worked fine and saved us probably $60 vs Uber/Cab

Fantastic Haven Experience

This is my second cruise in the Haven, and I don't know if I can ever go back to steerage. The thing that most stood out to me, beyond the impeccable service, incredible food, and luxurious stateroom, is the sense of space and calm that the Haven provides. Whenever I ventured to the other decks, the venues were always crowded, and in some cases, at full capacity. The Joy, like the Bliss, is one of the best ships to visit Alaska with its large floor-to-ceiling panorama lounge windows and comfortable seating. The entertainment was good, especially the Cirque du Soleil-style primary stage production. Specialty restaurants were equally good. I visited Food Republic 3 times and Texas Smokehouse once. I did not visit the go cart track, but have done that previously on the Bliss. i dd not have any children with me, so cant rate that activity, nor did I visit the Spice H2O or the water slides..

A CHARISMATIC COMPROMISE

There’s something that happens around the middle of a good cruise holiday where you learn or get used to the ship and her crew, her foibles, her noises, her movement and peculiarities and start to bond with her. I’ve been on cruises where this sadly never happened, and others where I was quite moved at the end to get off and still even now have a really special place in my heart for the vessel concerned. I have to say, I think Norwegian Joy has surpassed my expectations and I find myself very sad to have left her in Seattle a few days ago. This is a lovely ship that defies her “megaship” tag and feels a lot more personal than others of her size. The crew have been very good to excellent without fail and really help to make a great trip. Of my fellow passengers I must say I think many Alaska passengers on these cruises are a more challenging and higher maintenance bunch than you get in warmer climes and the crew work incredibly hard on these itineraries. I think Joy is still a little understaffed in some areas but her crew do a superb job in occasionally trying circumstances and must be commended. She’s NCL’s “Jack/Joy of all trades” in that she is found across NCL’s network and tends to go where they need her. She’s a beautiful ship that in some ways isn’t suited to Alaska, but in other ways is perfect for it. The American Diner just doesn’t work in cold weather, the racetrack (while an absolute blast, I can confirm) is rarely used and the waterpark is slightly absurd dead weight on these Alaska cruises. Joy doesn’t have enough elevator capacity for a ship this size and the number of older and mobility-challenged guests they get on these Alaska runs. Conversely, the observation deck on 15 is a stunning space that seems custom designed for the epic views Alaska offers, and the really nice amount of windows along deck 5, 6 and 7 give you much more of a feeling of what’s out there than you get on other ships this size. She was designed to be a warm and cold weather ship - and everywhere in between - and so there’s always a feeling of compromise in her design. That said, she is an excellent seakeeper, appears to have no issues in getting on and off some fairly tight and difficult berths on this trip, and has plenty of power to make much higher speed runs than we’ve seen on this trip. The weather on the last sea day headed south to Victoria was a brisk six or seven and we had four metre swells and she took them like a champ. We were quite heavily trimmed by the stern as well and there is very little pitch and the rolls are shudders really. That’s high-end German engineering for you. PROS So what did I like about the cruise? The service. Absolutely blinding. So, so good. Our cabin steward Leonalyn was outstanding, as was Frenz in the MDR and buffet - she and my four year old son really bonded, she went above and beyond in the most heart warming way. Hugs all round. Brilliant. The WiFi was (expensive but) great. The ship is being absolutely hammered on these Alaska trips and looks in superb nick, super clean, in great shape. NCL do take very good care of her. The mini golf was great fun. Loved the observation deck. I thought the food was - by and large - very good. Portion sizes in the MDR have been cut back by the looks of it (and we heard a lot of moaning about this) but that’s a symptom of passengers ordering more than one main course more than anything. It’s a food waste reaction measure, I’m fine with it. Quality was good, service generally excellent as I’ve said and I didn’t eat anything on board that I thought was truly poor. The Joy’s real shining strength is the buffet though which is streets ahead of any buffet I’ve seen on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, etc. The quality, cleanliness, presentation and variety is outstanding - I’m not exaggerating to say everything I ate there, I really enjoyed. Best things I ate this trip? The filet from Cagneys. The prime rib from the Garden Cafe. The Indian food every day from the Garden Cafe. Outstanding. Elsewhere, Cagneys is good although for the $60 cover charge you’re better off getting the filet or ribeye in the MDR for less than half of that. The Q Smokehouse is a nice supper club concept with distinctly average food. The Local is a decent and simple menu done well but they really struggle to get the food to your table hot. I very much enjoyed American Diner but again, the food arrived lukewarm and my table ended up leaving their food as it was too cold to sit for an extended period. Teppanaki is a loud, boisterous affair with okay food that is rushed and uses way too much grease/butter. It is fun though. For good food, Garden Cafe buffet is where it’s at. That alone makes me feel like the food on this cruise has been very good. Ports-wise, Alaska is a magnificent place and I loved every minute of it. Utterly magical. Nothing else to say, I’d 100% go again. I like the fact that NCL take safety really seriously and really make you know they do. Some other lines are much less focused on it, as far as the passengers experience it anyway. I am a former merchant mariner and career shipping professional who is reassured at how seriously they do take it. I like the fact the ship’s deck officers have a minimal guest relations role and leave the schmoozing to the hotel services and entertainment crew. I think it feels more professional. CONS What didn’t I enjoy? The guest services / next cruise area and atrium bar etc is horrendously busy and there’s not enough places to sit and chill. The bar tenders were rushed and appeared under-staffed so it was hard to strike up the first name rapport you get on other lines. That’s a shame. Nowhere on board would make me a Hurricane, which was sad. Man, I love that drink. Blame Royal Caribbean! I can’t comment on the entertainment side as I didn’t see much really but the country guys in Q Smokehouse from Brazil were excellent. I saw a few instances of my fellow passengers being rude and extremely unpleasant and obnoxious to some of the crew which I didn’t like, but that’s hardly the ship’s fault. We witnessed a lady at Reception desk have a full on shouting, fist-slamming meltdown at the women behind the desk as she felt obliged to come down from her Haven perch to complain in shrill (and very entitled) terms every time she felt costs had been cut relative to previous trips and she was extremely upset to have made six trips on the day we saw her… she was “P*SSED!!!” - they handled her very well but it was an unpleasant twenty minute tear down session I hope I don’t see again. Wasn’t nice. The HVAC issues on day two are not the ship’s fault either (people flush dumb things they shouldn’t on every cruise, it is one of those things) and the water pipe burst and associated flooding we had near the end of the cruise are unfortunately par for the course on a ship. We don’t tank fuel or water in any of the ports of call. Stuff breaks, they fixed it. No issue. There were some instances where service got jumbled or we got starters and mains together etc but I think that’s just because of how busy the Local was. Those guys and girls got absolutely slammed nonstop on this cruise, it was so busy. I didn’t see much of the cruise director in contrast to other trips on other lines where the CD is very much front and center. I wonder if that’s an NCL thing? The ship really misses a Magrodome to cover the pool area over for cold weather itineraries like this so if/when I go back to Alaska I’d pick a ship that has one. Or pay for Haven! I wasn’t sure if I’d want to pay the extra for a Haven suite on this trip and now I’d definitely say I would do next time. Our family suite didnt have a balcony and I wrongly thought I would not miss it on this trip because of the cold. This was a mistake in hindsight. Food wise, I feel like there’s a lot of choices (maybe too many?) but the Local experience should be better than it is. It’s a decent menu but let down by an odd and oddly claustrophobic positioning on the ship and cold food. Worst things I ate? Nothing bad per se but the wings in the Local were cold on the four instances I ordered some. They are okay but clearly not straight from the fryer but are seemingly microwaved to warm them up, so are almost cold when they get to the table. They don’t really deliver the hit of sticky buffalo or chilli flavor they should do. My son’s PB&J was stale every single time he ordered it. I thought the Q smokehouse food was greasy and didn’t really deliver on the forty buck price tag. Decent, but I for sure wouldnt do it again. The draught beers are universally poor on this ship too. I’ve not had a single draught that’s been okay. Clean your lines more frequently and store your casks properly, NCL! I get I’m a Brit on a US ship so have a very nuanced view but the beer selection on board is poor, particularly in Brewhouse. Guinness in cans I understand as it’s finicky to keep and pours better from cans but draught Heineken? Really? Come on guys. The US has some of the best beers in the world: try harder. I still don’t think there’s enough lounge space or seating for guests when it’s too cold to go outside, as well. Some sofas on the landings and more in the deck six atrium area would help. But that’s about it. SUMMARY My overriding feeling of this ship is of great crew, great food and wonderful ports seen from a really great ship that has real personality. In this age of faceless, gaudy and tasteless megaships, Joy is a rare and oddly charismatic thing. She has genuine personality. From the dazzling smiles of her Filipino crew ladies every time they see my four year old son, to the bright hull art, to the heady perfume of burned VLSFO in Spice H2O, to the little shudder along her keel in heavy weather, she’s a proper ship. She’s not pretentious. She’s exactly what you want from a mega cruise ship family holiday. She’s not perfect but she does pretty much all you want her to do in a safe, fun, comfortable and hugely enjoyable way that is a compromise in lots of ways - but doesn’t feel like one. As for NCL, well I’m platinum with Royal Caribbean and a big fan of Carnival and Princess as well in their own ways, but I think NCL is an elevated experience from Carnival and Royal Caribbean in terms of food, service, product and the ship herself. I believe NCL does deserve their reputation as being the most high end of the big four mainstream family lines. NCL will be seeing a lot more business from me, that’s clear. I was very sad to get off. That’s the sign of a good cruise and a great holiday isn’t it? Well done Norwegian Joy!