How we chose a future cruise (some guidance for new cruisers)

Although this is not the ship I will be cruising on, it is a ship that I would cruise on if it were to sail a route I wanted to be on from New York.  This post should help the novice cruiser in selecting a cruise by illustrating the decisions I would make in that selection process.

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Next year, I will be traveling to Norway with my partner.  This destination is on many peoples' bucket lists, as the Fjords are breathtakingly majestic.  We chose to take the cruise in 2024, as most of the scenic fjords will be off limits to conventionally powered cruise ships after the end of the year.  This left us with a lot of questions to be answered, and choices to be made.

Given that we already knew the main destination, Norway, we needed to prioritize things such as departure ports, ports being visited, cruise length, cruise line and ship  Many ships will be sailing the Fjords next year, so we decided which ports were musts and which ones were nice to visit.  For me, riding on the Flaam railroad was almost a must (I am a railroad junkie).  That limited cruise selection, ruling out a few cruise ships and itineraries.  Then, not having pets to worry about, we chose a 14 day vacation, with 12 days being on the cruise.  We could have sailed out of several European cities, London (Southampton) and Amsterdam being our top 2 choices.  The former was picked, as I have family in London.  This finally limited us to cruising on Princess, and not Holland America.

One might be asking, what other factors did we consider when cruising a cruise line, itinerary, and cabin type?  Well, I've sailed on NCL, Holland America (HAL), and Princess lines in the past, and I consider all of them when picking cruise lines.  MSC has a mixed reputation, especially on European cruises, and I didn't want to risk things on a once in a lifetime cruise opportunity.  Each cruise line (and ship) has unique Norwegian Fjord cruise itineraries, and with much of our time to be spent in the Fjords. a balcony cabin became an essential part of our requirements - we wanted to view things from the comfort of our own cabin.  Since all 3 cruise lines being considered have activities appropriate for seniors, I wasn't as concerned about life onboard ship as if I had been cruising with Carnival, Royal Caribbean,  or MSC.  (Royal tries to do everything on its ships, and I prefer older, smaller ships found on the 3 cruise lines I've sailed on before.)

You'll note that I ruled out MSC because of a lack of experience cruising the line in Europe.  I place a lot of value in the reviews of ships and cruise lines that I've read online.  Why is reading reviews and doing preliminary research so important?  Well, if I chose a cruise on price and cruise length alone, I might have chosen a different cruise.  At the time of  writing, the following were the lowest prices cruises being offered:

16 Days:  Jun 14, 2024 Southampton, England  Caribbean Princess  $1,394 pp
14 Days : Jun 15, 2024 Southampton, England  Sky Princess  $1,667 pp
14 Days:  Jun 29, 2024 Southampton, England  Sky Princess  $1,667 pp
16 Days:  Jun 09, 2024 Southampton, England  P&O / Arcadia  $1,777 pp
14 Days : Jun 17, 2024 Hamburg, Germany MSC Preziosa $1,909 pp
14 Days:  Jun 08, 2024 Rotterdam, Holland  HAL Rotterdam $1,979  pp


On the site where I extracted this list, the Princess and HAL ships were rated as 5 stars, the P&O ship was rated as 4 stars and the MSC ship as 3.5 stars.  The MSC ships often give the best prices, but it caters to a multilingual European audience. Entertainment on their ships is known to be abstract.  The P&O ship oozes British formality, and might feel a little too stuffy for an American cruiser.  That leaves Princess and HAL at the top of my list.  Given that Princess skews to a (slightly) younger demographic than HAL and offered a cruise both at a better price point and reached a port I wanted to visit, the Princess cruise won out.  

Norwegian Joy - New England/Eastern Canada Cruise Review (09/23/22 - 10/03/22)

This post is constructed from notes I made while taking this cruise before I planned to start blogging.  As a result, it is incomplete, and reflects what I thought of the cruise at the time.

(Norwegian Joy - Courtesy of Wikipedia)

The Norwegian Joy is one member of the "Breakaway Plus" class of ships sailing for the NCL cruise line.  Originally intended to sail under the name of Norwegian Bliss, it was renamed to the Joy, for its deployment in China, sailing Asian routes.  In 2018, it was redeployed to the North American market, where it has sailed ever since.

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Ground Transit:

Mass transit is impractical for people who need to reach the Manhattan Cruise Terminal from the most areas in outer boroughs of New York City.  So, we used a ride share to deliver us from central Queens to the cruise terminal.  This area of Queens does not have a modern street grid, so our driver had to zig-zag through narrow streets to reach the 59th Street Bridge, and from there, make it to the West side of the island to reach the terminal. Unfortunately, Manhattan was jammed up on embarkation day, and this trip to the terminal took longer than expected.

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Embarkation

When we arrived at the cruise terminal, it was very crowded.  There was a line of people stretching from pier 90 (a vacant pier) to pier 88 (where our ship was docked), all waiting to check in and take this cruise.  Yet, the line moved tolerably well, and we were on the ship by 1:30 pm. 

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Stateroom

(Norwegian Joy Balcony - Courtesy of NCL)

This would be my first cruise with my partner, so I figured that it would be better for her to have a first cruise staying in a balcony cabin.  I can't remember whether we selected a guaranteed balcony cabin, or a specific cabin.  But we were very pleased with the cabin, as it was nicely situated on the ship.

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Itinerary:

The ship had the misfortune of sailing along the North American East Coast after hurricane Ian came through. The path of the hurricane was aimed directly at the places we planned to visit before heading away from the coast.  Shortly after we left American waters, the captain announced that the hurricane had devastated both Sydney and Charlottetown, and that we would not be making port in these two places.  In their stead, we had an extra sea day, and made port in Corner Brook, NL so that the ship could have made its required port stop in Canada.

Sydney, NS (Not visited due to Hurricane Ian)

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Charlottetown, PE (Not visited due to Hurricane Ian)

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Corner Brook, NL (Only visited due to Hurricane Ian)

NCL had no plans for us to visit Cornerbrook, so there were no excursions or other activities planned for us when we reached port.  Only a small handful of port side shops (as few as they were) were open, but nothing worthwhile was for sale.  Most people who got off the ship found themselves walking off the ship into a town where nothing much was worth seeing.

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Halifax, NS

There are several excursions available from Halifax, including trips to Lunenburg and Peggy's Cove.  On this trip, we chose to visit Peggy's Cove.  For those unfamiliar with the place, Peggy's Cove is the home of both an artist's colony and a fisherman's village, and is best known for one of the most photographed lighthouses in North America.

I could easily fill a page with all the photos my partner and I took while in Peggy's Cove.  Instead, I've selected the iconic lighthouse here, as I feel that this is one of my favorite views from this trip.

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Saint John, NB

Saint John itself is not that interesting town to visit.  Although it has some nice architecture that one can explore, the most interesting excursion one can take from here is to Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, where one can walk on the sea floor while the tide is out in the Bay of Fundy.  Since the tide was not working for us this day, we chose to walk around town and visited its central market, getting a good workout as we walked up and down the city's waterfront hill.

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Portland, ME

Many shore excursions that take place at this port visit the area's lighthouses, as well as visiting places such as the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport. (Note: The compound is not open to the public.)  We chose to explore the waterfront area, walking a cobblestone street and eating lobster in a nearby restaurant.

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Boston, MA

There are too many things to do and see in Boston for me to mention.  My cruise partner and I decided to meet one of her friends and visit the USS Constitution (a.k.a. "Old Ironsides" ), the oldest currently commissioned warship in North America.  If one is a history buff and has a chance to see this ship - do so.

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Manhattan, NYC

Returning to one's home port is always a sad affair.  We sailed past the Statue of Liberty just before dawn, and was off the ship by 9:00 am.  walking across the street to the cab stand, we tried to catch a Yellow Cab to bring us back home.  One problem: NYC TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission) wasn't bothering to insure that cabs would accept fares to any point in NYC.  So, we were refused by several cabs who only wanted fares to the NYC airports.  As a result, we walked another block and called for an Uber to get home.

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Entertainment

Ship Theater:

A Tribute to Sir Elton - Donnie Troy

This performer did respectable performances of Elton John songs.  However, his performances were not special enough for their memories to last the rest of time. 

Footloose

This adaptation of Footloose by NCL was an enjoyable musical.  The performers were energetic  And it was a play that I wouldn't have minded seeing again, if I were on the ship again while it was being staged.

The Beatles Revolution

This show was performed by the ship's Beatles' tribute band.  It focused on songs from the Magical Mystery Tour, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Band, and "White" albums.  For a tribute band, these men were very good.  But then, they had great material to work with.   

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Specialty Dining Areas:

Cagney's:

This restaurant is a steak lover's dream. No, it's not because one can get any type of steak imaginable.  Instead, it's because they prepare their dishes so well.  Both my partner and I feasted on Prime Rib, and loved our meal.  However, the staff made a mistake with my key card, and I had to ask for it to be returned, so we could go to see a play in the ship's theater. 

OceanBlu:

This restaurant specializes in seafood - and it does it well.  The portions were plentiful for a seafood restaurant; the dishes tasted as if only fresh ingredients were used; and the atmosphere in the restaurant exuded a casual elegance. 

Teppanyaki:

We had a big lunch on shore the evening we visited this restaurant.  So, my opinions from that day were influenced by the prior meal.

My notes mentioned that the hibachi chef didn't do as well as his equivalents in the Japanese restaurant near my house.  Most of the time I have visited this restaurant on NCL ships, the food has always been plentiful and tasty.  

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Disembarkation:

This process was relatively straight forward.  One picked up luggage tags at guest services, put their bags in the hall the night before disembarkation.  And the next morning, one would then wait for one's luggage tag color to be called before proceeding off the ship to pick up one's bags and clear customs before reentering the "real world".

Memories:

This was a pleasant trip, even though we didn't know whether we would make any of the Canadian ports we were scheduled to visit when we boarded the ship.  We didn't like having to make port in Corner Brook, as there was nothing to do there.  However, we were glad to make it to Halifax, as my partner and I wanted to visit Peggy's Cove.