NevadaCruiser2023

Hello, fellow Cruise Critic folks. 

As the title said, we're just back from the Norwegian Bliss Mexican Rivera cruise out of Los Angeles. 

First and most importantly, if you have mobility issues or social anxiety, I would think hard about choosing this particular ship for your cruise. According to the agent who checked us in, the cruise had 5,000 passengers this week. The official passenger capacity is 4,004, but I think we exceeded that. Let's assume the agent was being hyperbolic and the count was 4,004 passengers on the nose. The Bliss has 16 passenger elevators, a ratio of 1 elevator for every 250 passengers. The elevators are located fwd. and aft. There are no midship elevators.  If you have mobility issues and must take the elevator everywhere, prepare to wait at least 15 minutes for an uncrowded one. It was so ridiculous that people in the elevators were closing the doors when they stopped at a floor without waiting for someone to attempt to enter. Some elevators looked like clown cars, and people kept popping out. If you have issues with being cooped up in a small box with 20 other people, think hard or consign yourself to using the stairs. 

If you are a smoker (I'm not, but my wife is), be warned that there are only 2 areas on the Bliss that accommodate you.  The casino has a smoking area (but you have to be actively gambling) and a small section in Spice H20 on deck 17 starboard side.  The cigar lounge does not allow cigarette smoking. 

We had dinner at 3 specialty restaurants:  Los Lobos, Ocean Blue, and Teppanyaki.  

Los Lobos was underwhelming, and we didn't finish the food. The queso fundido, did not use queso asadero as the cheese. I think they used something like white cheddar, which melted atrociously and was just a big blob of hardened cheese. It didn't get better.  I would never recommend this to anyone. 

Ocean Blue, however, was a completely different story. Everything was perfection. We were able to eat on the "waterfront" as we were leaving Mazatlán, and it was great! The Crab Cake and Tuna/Avocado Tower apps were fantastic, and the roasted beet salad was delicious. My wife had lobster, and she loved it. The new champagne on the P+ package (Pommery Brut Rose) was outstanding. The black sea bass with white wine lemon butter was mighty tasty, too. 

Teppanyaki, we did it on the final night of the cruise.  While the food was excellent, the pitter-patter routine of each of the chefs was precisely - word for word - similar to each other. Our chef arrived as the one on the opposite side grill was finishing and we heard the same jokes and songs and "impromptu" actions all over again. Our chef wasn't as naturally funny as the other guy, poor guy suffered by comparison. The people next to us got their meal comped because (apparently) their scallops were not fresh.  We had chicken/steak and shrimp, so can't speak to scallop-gate, but apparently, they were convincing enough for the manager to take care of them. I'm not a big fan of scallops myself, so if it's not fresh,  I wouldn't be able to tell. 

Let's see - the Garden Cafe was good for a quick breakfast in the morning before an excursion or a bite to quiet a rumbling stomach, but we didn't have full-blown meals in there.  Good Soft Serve Ice Cream though, but I'm a heathen and will eat any soft serve without discrimination. 

The Local was very good. We never had a bad item of food, and it was a great place for lunch most days.  

The room steward situation. While I am sure our steward was a nice man, we only saw him three times in the seven days. One day, we saw him not at all. Our room was not attended to. He saw us entering and apologized for not being able to "get" to our room but promised to do it "first thing tomorrow."   I don't blame him; I imagine he has probably twice as many rooms to clean in the same time span. Obviously, there is no turn-down service in steerage; not sure about The Haven. 

Last but not least - the Vibe Beach Club.   A speck of tranquility in the chaos that is 4,004 or 5,000 other human beings in a confined space. Other than the fact that there were 6 people who made it their life mission to occupy the sole hot tub for (maybe) 16 hours straight, the VBC was good to grab a drink or just hang out for an hour or so.  During our cruise, it was either too cold or too hot to stay for an extended period since the hot tub was unavailable. 

We are probably missing a few things. All in all, we won't be sailing on the Bliss again. This was our first ship that accommodated this many people, and it was not for us. I heard from Ben and David that the MSC Yacht Club may be the way to go.  I'll just be sure to leave my camera at home. 

Ciao. 

On 10/19/2023 at 2:47 PM, hallux said:

They could, but if the cruise is closed-loop from a US port the US government might have something to say unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances...

It has to be America-owned to do that. A foreign-owned ship transporting passengers has to comply with the Passenger Vessel Services Act. Although, if they come back to the same port, it may not be applicable.  CFRs are not light and easy to read.  

On 10/23/2023 at 10:37 AM, acrbag said:

Hi All,

 

Apologies as I know this has been asked before but looking for any recent experiences. Vibe Beach Club has been sold out for our upcoming cruise for a while. Has anyone had any luck recently with buying passes once onboard (ie they hold some back)? Looking to see if we should get to the port early to secure. 

 

Thanks!

I'd recommend you check on the day final payment is due for your cruise. 

On 11/17/2023 at 7:14 PM, uneamie said:

How does everyone else feel about the currant state of affairs and our safety??? 

Not concerned in the least. I don't think a cruise ship has been the victim of a terrorist attack since the Achille Lauro in 1985 and that was in the Med.   Besides, with the sizes of cruise ships nowadays, it's quite possible that you'd never know it was hijacked. 😀

14 hours ago, Sunset329 said:

Can we eat in the main dining room if we have an Aqua cabin? Is there any charge if we elect to eat in the main dining room instead of the Blu Restaurant?

You might not want to. We ate in Luminae every night. The food and service were spectacular and the MDR would have (probably) not hit those standards. I think you'll find the same in Blu.  You can always order off the MDR menu if you want to try that food.  

On 4/12/2023 at 1:26 PM, Mark_T said:

I think it might be an attempt to stop those who are not actually US residents from taking advantage of the more liberal repricing policies in the US.

 

UK residents have often been happy to be subject to the US T&Cs since they cannot reprice UK bookings when prices fall...

 

This change would make it pointless for non-US residents to use a US TA in most cases.

Just be assured that any new contract language will benefit Celebrity. 

5 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Yes!  Download the Celebrity app and you can do the Muster Drill by watching there.  Or once onboard, in your stateroom on the TV.  Either way, before the ship departs you just go to your designated muster area and tell them you are there and they check you off the list.  That's it.

Yeah, we just stopped by the muster station once we got our sea-pass cards after boarding.  Checked in and on to the Martini Bar.  All in all, took less than 5 minutes.   

2 hours ago, AmberCascades said:

We take photo ID, seapass, copy of passport, one credit card and some cash.  Another thing we take off the ship is the daily with the Port Agent info on it.  We always plan to be back at the ship at least an hour before the all-aboard time, but stuff happens, so I want to be able to contact someone if there's an issue. 

Actually, that's a good idea, never thought of the port agent info. I'll remember to snap a photo of the daily. 

On 4/2/2023 at 10:11 AM, Jim_Iain said:

They always say to bring along in the daily but never bring mine and never been asked for it.  I do have a photocopy with me in my backpack.

 

Unless things have changed you will need a photo ID to get back into the terminal to re-board the ship.   I have always used my Drivers License.

They (the ship) have never asked for that "photo id" you allegedly need to get back on the ship,or into the terminal, you just flash your sea-pass card to the local security. Your seapass card, when scanned, pops a photo of you onto Security's screen. I've never taken my passport off the ship, talk about a nightmare that a stolen passport would be. 

4 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

@NevadaCruiser2023 Quick question - we are sailing in #6100 next month and occasionally like to have breakfast or lunch in our stateroom.  From the pictures i have seen, it appears that there is no table really big enough in the room or on the balcony to hold breakfast or lunch service for two.  Is my impression correct or would we be comfortable dining in the room and or on the balcony? 

 

I don't think the table on the balcony is big enough for a full breakfast spread.  Coffee for 2 with a few plates is doable. As to the room itself, I don't recall seeing any table in the room.  You can always ask your butler how to go about it. They can maybe bring in a table, but it's not something we explored. 

1 minute ago, Stem to Stern said:

Thank you for your report.  I will have to try the yellow beet risotto.  Sorry about the salty greeting you received in the Sky Lounge.  Good to know the rest of the crew was in better form. 

 

Question for you:  I have always been curious about the verandah of this particular Sky Suite adjacent to Celebrity Suite 6104.  Did it seem less private?  It seems like it would be from the deck plans and how the added Celebrity Suite verandah extends out from the ship.  Do you have any pictures of your verandah to share?  Thanks again.

I do, but they're still in my phone and I haven't uploaded them yet. I can tell you that I was worried about that "bump" too, but the partition between the Royal verandah and 6102 was frosted and there was no way - absent them hanging over the edge of their balcony and then peering over their shoulder, could they see into ours. 

The key word is "additional".  You'll lose your non-refundable deposit regardless of when you cancel. If you cancel within those specific date ranges, you'll lose your deposit and then the additional % of the "Total Cruise Fare" (which is the amount BEFORE deposit is deducted from amount owing). 

Hello all, 

We just left the Millennium a few days ago.  We went for a Sky Suite and the Retreat Experience.  First the good: 

We arrived in San Juan a few days early and stayed in Old San Juan.  If you can do so before a cruise, highly recommended. 

Embarkation:  We arrived at the Pan American Pier after Hotel Check out (around 12:30pm) on Saturday.  The Retreat Check in area wasn't as visible as it could have been, we checked our luggage into regular bag check before we spotted the Retreat Check-in.  We told them where our luggage was and someone went over to the bag check area and retrieved our suitcases. 

From the moment we gave our passports to the agent at check in, until we were stepping foot onto the deck of the Millennium was 6 minutes and 30 seconds. ✔️

We made our way to our stateroom (6102 Sky Suite) and grabbed our sea pass cards, opened the door and dropped off our carryon.  Luminae was still open for lunch, so we made our way down and introduced ourselves to the Maitre'd (the only time we had to the entire cruise) and was immediately seated at a window table. The food was outstanding as was the service.  Prawn Ceviche and Seared Bronzino for me and Pea Soup and Lobster Roll for by DW.  ✔️

I won't go into what we had every day in Luminae (except for Day 4 when we went to Le Petit Chef), however each day was amazing and on Lobster night, the lobster was regular sized (the table next to us got one from MDR and it was huge too).  I also want to nominate for a nobel peace prize, the Yellow Beet Risotto.  That was the best risotto I have ever had, even better than the Hells Kitchen Lobster Risotto. ✔️

Our Butler (Push), Room Attendant Arnel were great. We didn't really ask for much, but they dropped by several times a day to see if we needed anything.  We always had a bottle of wine and cheese plates every day. ✔️

There was a downside and it's not really Celebrities fault.  The retreat sundeck was always WINDY and not just a little windy, they could have performed aerodynamic tests of air-frames up there. It was never crowded, even on sea-day, we saw that maybe 10 people were up there.  Kind of a shame, I think on the newer ships, the windbreaks are much higher than on the Millennium. ⬇️

Martini Bar was entertaining and the bartenders have the multi glass pour down to a science.  But it wasn't something that we really felt we couldn't wait to get back to.  I actually preferred the Rendezvous Lounge for a pre-dinner drink.   

Le Petit Chef was - interesting - but nothing like the video of it made it out to be.  It was cute, but the food wasn't great and I didn't really get the sense that the plates were "prepared" by the little guy.  The video makes it seem as though the little chef makes the food on your animation and then it becomes "live" when the waiters present the plate in front of you.  It wasn't like that.  It was a nice one time thing, but I don't think we'd ever do it again.  ❌

The Sky Lounge had the rudest bartender I have ever experienced. I actually had to say "excuse me, what did you just say?" and she repeated it. I ordered drinks for us as there was no waiter in sight and she said "go sit down and someone will be over ". I felt like a child being reprimanded. I mentioned it and her in my after cruise review.  We never set foot in the Sky Lounge again after that.  ❌ ❌   I won't mention her name here, but that kinda ticked me off for a few hours.  

Overall:  Loved the ship, loved the ports and the people were fantastic, except for the Sky Lounge bartender mentioned before.  

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

I met a fellow on Coco Cay who actually thought a power cord was run from Nassau to power the place.  He didn't believe me or the crew who told him diesel generators were on the island for that purpose.  

Could you imagine the chaos were someone to trip over that cord? Mayhem! 

Just now, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

That would take a really long extension cord.

I think Tesla is working on putting solar chargers in the ocean along the route, It'll take 1,500 hours to charge the ship enough to make it to the next charging dock, but hey, it's for the environment. 

Suspicious how?  Trenchcoat, Fedora and sunglasses suspicious? 

1 hour ago, NJLochness said:

Celebrity seems to be worried about the climate so why are they not using electric ships?

I think they're developing a brand new revolutionary method of ship propulsion. It has big sheet of some type of fabric material that is unfurled from huge masts anchored to the decks, this fabric material captures wind and uses it to push the ship along. I know, it sounds like science fiction, but I got faith that it could work. .  

This site passportwaitingtime.com isn't affiliated with the State Department and it relies on users submitting times, but I found it was pretty darn accurate when I was waiting for my renewal. 

It's quite possible that they decided to scale down the buffet at dinner to the bare minimum level, knowing it was going to generate squawking, then had plans to slowly reintroduce stations/items until a happy equilibrium was reached. They then have the benefit of saving food costs/reducing waste and passengers that are satisfied with the offerings. 

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 It does not matter as you will be boarding on the same deck as all the other passengers. 

 

I think it might matter to a person with mobility issues.  If you're on Deck 10 and the embarkation is deck 4, the stairs might prove a challenge and prior arrangements may have to be made. 

On 2/28/2023 at 9:04 AM, jacelyn said:

I tried the search but didn't come up with anything, I'm sure this has been asked. We're doing a 7 day mexico rivera cruise in April, but we are both a bit introverted and also trying to be smart with our money. Are excursions a must on port days? Are there things to do at the ports that are free-ish? Like somewhere to eat and people watch or chill? Or walk around and self tour? 

First cruise we took we excursioned each and every port. Never again. We now look at excursions offered and if it's interesting, we'll do it.  Otherwise, we'll glance through Fodors about that port and self tour if possible. 

21 hours ago, K32682 said:

In most Caribbean and Latin America countries the docks and surrounding streets are filled with souvenir vendors and street hawkers. Haggling on price is expected and some cruisers seem to delight in badgering a vendor down to a very low price and then boast about it when they are back on the ship. 

 

Haggling in developing countries with street vendors and small shopkeepers is not something I enjoy and I have probably over paid for the few items I’ve purchased in ports. I have a mild sense of discomfort knowing that relative to the person on the other side of the transaction I’m very wealthy and the money I spend on trinkets is far more important to them than it is to me. 

 

Does anyone else feel a bit reluctant to haggle down a vendor too far at a cruise port in a poor country?

Not in the least. There's a difference between haggling and negotiating.  The art of negotiation is to ensure that both parties feel good about the outcome of the transaction. Recognize that the vendor will always price high expecting the purchaser to offer a lower price, to eventually agree to a price that's mutually agreeable to both parties. As a purchaser, you do factor into it that the vendor does have to "cover his nut", so to speak and realize he (or she) will never go below what is acceptable to them. You reach the equilibrium in just a few offer/counter offer bids. This is not the vendors first rodeo and they're probably better negotiators than 90% of the people walking off cruise ships. I pay what I perceive the value to be. If the vendor disagrees, we don't have a deal and the person walking behind me who feels a completely unnecessary sense of guilt will happily pay what the asking price is. 

On 2/26/2023 at 7:11 AM, wcook said:

I was just about to hit my teenage years when The Deep came out. Great movie, and we’ll leave it at that. 

14 years old for me and Jacqueline Bisset made it a mighty fine movie. 

On 2/16/2023 at 12:01 AM, wcook said:

Titanic. Duh. 

Double Feature - Titanic followed by The Poseidon Adventure, then a documentary on the Costa  Concordia so you'll take the muster drill seriously.   

Expedited Service and 2 day postage got a less than 4 week turnaround time. As an aside, I really don't like the *new* passport design. It looks like a 4th grader made it in the backyard treehouse using elmers glue and an etch-a-sketch.