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My wife and I had such a wonderful time on our first ever visit to the NCL Joy a few weeks ago. While we both still prefer smaller ships, this NCL mega ship had a lot to offer.
As Sapphire elites (we earned Diamond after our sailing) we were some of the very first to board the ship. That has it’s advantages. As soon as you board an NCL ship you should find where they are setup to schedule for specialty restaurants and other onboard activities you have not been able to schedule before your sailing. Clearly, being first onboard gives you the most open choices.
One of the things we were really looking forward to trying was the Go Kart races as in our younger years we spent many a weekend on the trails of “Tin Cup”, “Little and Big O” and more riding our quads. We booked the ride despite the possible risks of this intense onboard entertainment (fyi one person is suing NCL for an injury sustained during a race).
We booked just one half hour session, for an upcharge of $15 each, for near the end of our cruise. In hindsight I think we should have booked a few more as it really was fun but be forewarned it comes with some risk.
While chatting with other guests one of them told me she would never ever go another round on the track as the last time she had raced she was t-boned on the track and it really hurt her neck.
Yikes!
For our race there was a mix of old and young people. This was a mistake for NCL. The one young man who was driving by himself over and over got stuck on the track and that is where the problem began.
There was another older redneck hillbilly (you can tell by the look) who was bound and determined to set a “record lap time” and during one of the slowdowns smashed into me at speed.
Yes – It hurt!
These Go Karts fly and are NOT bumper cars and are not meant to slam into one another. And there is the second problem, that is, when idiots are not paying attention and slow down when an issue shows up on the track.
The poor young boy kept having issues the entire time we were on the track and when we were done he walked off sobbing and ended up falling into his mother’s arms who was waiting for him after the race. He clearly did not have a very good time.
So would I do it again? I really can’t say for sure. My wife, who had the benefit of me stopping well short of her before I got creamed from behind had a simply wonderful time and would race again in a heartbeat. Plus NCL is, at this point anyway, installing new tracks on all of it’s PR1MA class ships so they are clearly popular with guests.
Bottom line is if you have any medical issues that would be aggravated by getting hit on while driving one of these rather fast machines – don’t book a race. Instead, I would save your money and book a nummy specialty restaurant onboard! – René
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No way I am paying to get hit. No thanks.
They are very slow compared to traditional gas-powered karts at your local family amusement park. These electric karts have a governed top speed of maybe 15 mph. Would it be jarring to be T-bones? Sure, but if you are even a reasonably capable driver, you shouldn’t end up sideways.
I wouldn’t ride these karts simply because they aren’t a good entertainment value.
@Tim – My understanding is up to 30 MPH and was hit from behind fyi.