WanderlustJourney

Just got off the Bliss this morning... AMAZING ship!

There were just over 3100 passengers on our 4 day/3 night sailing with VIP's including Pitbull, Jason Derulo, Wyland and his family and of course many top executives with NCL, Oceania and Regent.

Have a great sailing to Alaska, I'll be following along! :)

I was Deck 14 forward on the Bliss, just got off her this morning...

What exactly are you wanting to know?

Thanks for the info. She is arriving way earlier than I was expecting. I will still enjoy seeing her already at the dock when I am commuting to work tomorrow.

 

I'm going to try and get down to the pier to watch the christening live. Enjoy your cruise! I board on Saturday!

Yeah, me too lol, I was thinking they might arrive around 6am ish...

She looks like she's going to be rounding the very tip of the Olympic Peninsula very shortly and enter the Juan de Fuca Strait...

That will be a great view on your commute... Hope you're able to catch and see the Christening!

We'll make sure she ready for you on Saturday! :cool:

Just heard back from my contact who is on the Bliss... ETA into Seattle is around 2:00am PST.

Checked on Marine Tracker and she looks like she's now level with Olympia still on the Pacific. ETA on Marine Tracker says 1:00am arrival.

She is arriving early as she is carrying quite a bit of the supplies and staging for the Christening event. Saw a photo of the Observation Lounge with gear everywhere in wooden crates.

Christening kicks off at 4:00pm PST :)

I still don't know what time she will be arriving in Seattle on May 30. I'm presuming early morning. It's light in Seattle around 5:00 a.m. this time of year.

 

I plan to watch her arrival on the Space Needle webcam and any local news networks that carry it. https://www.spaceneedle.com/webcam/ It's a great webcam and rotates 360 degrees. And if you can't see it live, you can rotate the dial and change the time back to what you want.

I’ve asked someone who is onboard right now, she’s going to try to find out what time they are due to arrive in Seattle. Haven’t heard anything yet.

I’m hoping they will update our app soon with the schedule for our sailing, I’ll post times as soon as I can 😊

They are not doing away with the groups program, it’s just changing. We will know more soon :)

I know you will be on the May 30-June 2 cruise. Do you know what time the Bliss will be arriving in Seattle on the 30th? I haven't been able to find that information. I will try to alter my commute schedule to work that morning to get photos of the Bliss as she arrives (presuming it's in the early morning). I commute to downtown Seattle via ferry from across Puget Sound so want to try and get photos of her arrival.

 

Do you know what time the actual christening is? I have not found any information about that yet either on the local news as far as specifics. Ugh!

 

5 days until the Bliss arrives in Seattle! And 8 days until I am onboard! Cannot wait! Cannot concentrate on work or anything else. I'm sure next week at work will be the longest week ever.

My understanding is that she is arriving very early in the morning of May 30th. I've asked someone who is supposed to be onboard while she sails in as to if she has any info on what time.

I know as per our last update from NCL that we will be able to board starting at 10:30am. The document also shows "all aboard" by 2:00pm, so I'm assuming the Christening event will be around that time? Sail away out of Seattle is scheduled for 6:00pm.

I know there is an app for the inaugural cruises (so that attendees can plan to attend different events and sessions onboard), seems they have been releasing the schedules 24 hours prior to the departures of the cruises, so I'll know more hopefully on Tuesday.

I'm getting excited too! Counting down the days :)

Here's the most up to date info I have:

May 25-27 - Travel agent/non rev client cruise, sailing into international waters (Mexico)

May 27-30 - LA to Seattle - Sailing mainly empty (just NCL staff and cleared guests as they won’t be sailing into international waters)

May 30-June 2 - Christening/travel agent/investors (June 1 stop in Victoria, BC)

Thanks for your review, really enjoying it so far!

I take it they removed the water slides?

 

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Yes, and the palm tree lights lol

Looks so inviting and spacious.

Link?

Search for NCL - Norwegian Dawn Sun Sky Star Spirit & Pride of America Fan Page on fb

The photos of the Star are amazing!! They have heated loungers in the thermal suite! The pool deck is so nice and open, nice to see the cabins were refreshed too.

Looking forward to sailing on her in October!

I can’t find pictures either, despite joining various fb groups and searching twitter/pinterest/insta.

I know, I tried as well, found a few photos of the dismantling of the waterslides, maintenance to the azipods and to the undersides of the ship but not much else...

Hopefully someone on today’s sailing out of Barcelona will post a review with photos!

From what I understand it is a private event--invited guests only.

 

For the travel agent cruise on the 30th, they can not board until late afternoon (4:00 or so).

We will be able to board much earlier than that, I’m arriving to the port at around 10:30am, edocs say we need to arrive no later than 1:00pm probably because of all the Christening events. Upon check in we are going to be instructed as to where our vantage point of the Christening will be.

Not only is she brand new again but her itinerary is amazing!

 

 

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That’s the exact reason I’m sailing on her, itineraries are great and I prefer the smaller NCL ships :)

Hopefully someone will post photos of the updates soon! Can’t wait to see the results!

So exciting!

Thank you so much for your review, I’m looking into booking Ponant for the exact same itinerary to Antarctica. I am looking at a few cruise/expedition companies, but would like something on the more luxurious side as this is a huge bucket list for me.

How did you find the landings with them, did you feel rushed or was there a good amount of time between all the guests to enjoy? It sounds from your review there were plenty of opportunities to go ashore?

Also, were there any opportunities to do a “polar plunge”?

Thank you for your review of the Epic, I’ll be on her next May and next August doing the Baltics (so will keep an eye out for your review this Summer). Very sorry to hear about the theft of your backpack, it’s a very unsettling feeling.

No visa needed for a Canadian for a stay 90 days or less. Just make sure your passport it valid for at least three months past your return date, six months is the safer bet as airlines could deny you boarding...

I agree with a lot of the other posters, I really like the older ships because of the size, the larger ships haven’t really appealed to me, I pick cruises more based on itinerary than ship...

Has anyone heard any more updates regarding what is being refurbished, in addition to what has already been posted? She should be entering dry dock in just a few days now...

The observation lounge, thermal suite and production shows! Also excited to try the race track and laser tag :)

Thanks for sharing your journey with us! Enjoyed your review!

Thank you so much Doug for your review! Probably the best review I’ve read on cruise critic! I’m even pricing out the Encore TA lol. But honestly, thanks again for all your photos and posting such great information in this live review. Wishing you and Sue safe travels home!

Actually I'm going to wrap it up right now since this thread has devolved into arguments and martyrs.

 

Thanks everyone who enjoyed the review and I hope everyone who sails her after enjoys her as much as I did. Except without the pain.

 

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Thank you so much for your review! Really enjoyed following along, and appreciated the information you were able to provide about the Bliss! :)

I was on this one day cruise as well and found it a huge improvement from last May’s sailing. Staff were much more friendly and while I also had to wait for a plate and a coffee cup in the buffet in the morning, I still enjoyed the quick trip.

With Elite benefits of being able to board by 11ish in Vancouver, I felt I was able to really enjoy this mini trip. I even caught some sun by the pool! My mini suite costed me $150 Canadian as I booked super early and I took the bolt bus home for $10 bucks, it’s still WAY cheaper than a night out with friends downtown Vancouver or up in Whistler! Disembarkation was way better too, everyone was lined up mid ship, went forward to the other disembarkation point and walked right off the ship with no line at 9:00am.