HBCcruiser

Excursions - Shore things: We booked mostly NCL excursions due to the great prices with the NCL Free at Sea Plus where we each get the $50 off each excursion. In Cabo we want to get off of the ship early so we booked the Luxury Sail at 12:30 PM. It is a short excursion which allows us a few hours to go to Nicksan for great sushi and hit a few bars on the pier before catching one of the last tenders back. In PV some of us are doing the horseback riding excursion (I LOVE horses and have ridden most of my life). The DDs and younger crew are going on the 4X4 excursion. In Mazatlan our port times suck so we decided to book the Stone Island excursion which wound up being practically free with the discounts. One of my favorite shore thing will be in Ensenada. Ensenada you inquire? That h3ll hole? Yup! Many Napa wineries are opening up boutique wineries 40 minutes outside of Ensenada in Valle del Guadalupe. We have booked private transportation to take us to our favorites. You must prebook some of the better wineries which we did. We will only have time to visit two - Vena Cava and Casa Frida. Frida also has infused tequila tasting. Yum!

Glad you are following along. That way we can laugh and cry together! 🥂🥂

Great! Could you tell me what theme parties they have? Was Glow Night as you were leaving PV? Have a great cruise! The waves here in LA are intense RN. I hope it’s not too rough heading back up for you.

Booking things: So this was a learning experience. I have never really had to worry about booking dining and shows on NCL ships before. Traveling with 16 people, though, changed that. Dining opened up for those of us in Club Balconies 26 days prior at midnight EST. That was 9 PM my time. I made the foolish mistake of trying to book tables of 6. The only times available were 5:30 PM or 9:30 PM. I should have booked for 4. Lesson learned. I booked the 5:30. Stupid! 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️. I should have called and booked tables for 4 at the good times. By the time I tried to do that the tables and times were limited. My DDs were able to book dining at 21 days out. They booked tables of 4 at the times we all wanted. Most in our group got times close to what we wanted but there are still some times we need to try to fix. If we are lucky. It’s definitely third world issues and not the end of the world if we can’t all eat the same time. New Year’s Eve dinner would be great if we could eat at the same time. Lesson: Have everyone book tables of 2-4 at the time you all want. Even if only 2 in the cabin you can spread those reservations to others in your group as needed. Booking shows was another experience. As Platinum I was able to book shows earlier. The problem was that I could only book the shows for me, not my DH because he is not Platinum. When I tried to book his shows at 21 days out I couldn’t. There is a glitch in the system. 🙄 I called NCL and the rep had to cancel my booked show times and rebook us both. Lesson: if only one of you are Platinum don’t book shows early. Wait until 21 days out. Luckily we all have the early check-in time of 9:30 AM. My hope is to be able to board early to try and change some dining times around. Also, I’d like to book the Platinum wines around the world. Unlike RCI, my DH won’t be able to join me. That sucks.

I can’t believe this cruise is finally here! It was a long time in the making. It started out as a Virgin Voyages Brilliant Lady MerMaiden cruise out of Puerto Rico. We were so looking forward to that cruise and itinerary! I had a hunch that it was going to be cancelled due lack of communication from VV, and sure enough it was. Boo! The ship was, and still is, no where near ready to sail! Luckily all 16 of us were able to jump aboard the Bliss sailing out of our home port of LA. It was an easy call. No flights needed for most of us and the price was right. So, those of you who have blog-sailed along with me before are now wondering how I will ever survive an NCL cruise without being in the Haven. 😱😱 well I’m still wondering but time will tell! We thought about booking a two-bedroom suite but first, the prices were astronomical and second, there are 16 of us going and we all wanted to enjoy things together. Sooo we decided to go with @Sthrngary’s Haven-Light”. We booked a Club Balcony Suite with the Vibe, Premium Plus Beverage package, and dining package. Oh, and this is the first time I will be sailing as Platinum so we get the extra dinners as well. Score! 🥂 That makes 6 nights of specialty dining. Others in our group just bought the extra dining nights. Trying to book dining times together, well that’s another story. So who are the 16 cruising with us? My DH and I are in one cabin, my BIL and his GF are in the cabin next to us, my two adult DDs are down the hall, our very close, dear friend’s niece and nephew who are the same age as my DDs are a one cabin away from my DDs (Yeh, I’ll address that in a min), my friend and her mom are close by, her sister and BF are down the hall followed by their friends who I have not yet met. We are all on lucky deck 13. An omen? Perhaps. 😂 Oh, I plan on giving the cabin occupants sandwiched in between my DDs and the niece and nephew’s cabin a bottle of bubbly to apologize in advance for any shenanigans they might witness between the two cabins. All of the young adults are polite, but may come back a little boisterous after the clubs close. We want the neighbors to know that it is ok to let them know if they are bothering them, and to knock it off if they get too loud. Of course if the occupants in the sandwiched cabin are into partying then all bets are off. 🤪 Here is the itinerary:

Well actually the playtime party already started. We are in Vegas enjoying some family fun time before driving back to LA tomorrow. Then the REAL fun begins on Friday when everyone begins to scurry into town.

Oh believe me, we plan on it! I have a few bottles of “Nic” aka Nicolas Feuillatte to share and some good reds (Silver Oak and Caymus) not to share. LOL. Yes, a good champagne bottle stopper and the stoppers with the pump for the reds. Good reminder. Thx! We have the premium bev package so we should be good to go.

YES! 😱😱 We are trying out @Sthrngary’s Haven Light strategy. This will be my first time on NCL without being in the Haven. I’m a little panicked RN. I guess I can always just drink to calm my nerves. 😂 I’ll start my Live in a few days. There are 16 of us so should be a wild “herding cats” experience! 😂😂

I can let you know in a week when we board the Bliss. I have been told deck 6 The Social for shows and Teppanyaki for dining. We shall see.

Welcome back to CC! To this day I think of you whenever I am getting gas and want to step over the hose. Don’t do it! You taught me a lesson. Seriously, thanks for that. I am glad you are healing but three surgeries just this year? Wow. 🙏Thanks for another great review. Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁

Well, we all know how spectacularly accurate and on-the-ball the Princess tech department is. 🙄😂

The Princess website just lists it as a Premium Deluxe Balcony. I read nothing about suite benefits with those cabins. Where are people seeing this info?

The S9 is considered a Signature Collection Suite which include the following: https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/su-sun-princess/#accommodations

This is the S9 description on the Princess website.

And we get on when you get off - NYE cruise. If you can, please post the dailies for your Christmas cruise. Enjoy!

Are you using a VPN or on a cruise/out of the country? Sometimes it happens to me in those situations.

Do you happen to know which restaurant is open for lunch on sea days and embarkation? Thanks for this great review. 😃

I have the Premium Package and am in a suite which may be the reason I was able to book. My reservation is still showing so not sure what the issue is.

Yes. I also have the Premium Package though. And I’m Elite. not that that should matter…

Ahhh more info to add. Good to know! Funny how we Pax have to figure all of this out via trial and error instead of Princess just notifying us. 😂

Good info for pax to know - Suites do NOT get Love comped like 360. The Premium package includes it.

If you look at the pic it shows dining credit applied.

I was not charged. I wonder if it is because I upgraded to Premium Package? 🤷‍♀️

I was just able to book Love for our November cruise! It shows that it is free for suites! SWEET! ❤️

I live in LA County. LA traffic is a crap shoot and LAX is a $H**T show. Just saying.