cruiselover19811981

Really? Princess staff didn't wow you? We haven't sailed Princess, so cannot personally comment. Just know NCL has blown us away on service both times we've sailed them.

I didn't try to redeem anything from Starbucks, although we treated kids once. We are Canadian, thus I didn't try to redeem gift cards, etc because I figured ours wouldn't work either way. I could be wrong

Gambit57 there is "fruit salad" in there, which we had on the side :)

Klfhngr, I agree that staff does help make the cruise. Only on our 2nd NCL last week, and we recognized over a handful from the Escape 2 yrs ago. Additionally, one of the M'aitre D's gave us his card and told us to ask him for anything we needed at all. My parents and in-laws were with us. Their very 1st NCL cruise. My dad happened to then mention to that same Maitre D that he had no way of using his Waterpik in his bathroom, that he was kinda trying to make it work in the cabin, but with difficulty. Don't you know how impressed they were to receive an extension cord delivered to them so my dad could use his Waterpik in the bathroom? They thanked him endlessly. And in addition to the thank you's, chats, and daily hellos to this individual, he even surprised us by allowing us to choose any 2 bottles of wine at dinner on the last night of our cruise. That certainly gave our parents a very good 1st impression of NCL.

All of you make valid points .I guess I kind of knew the responses I would get. There is no real right answer here.

Patrlr: we absolutely love the Waterfront & Observation Lounge. My husband said he even prefers Bliss to Escape (slightly). Even in the Carribean itineraries, the Observation Lounge would be excellent. Last week proved to be a perfect area for hubby, kids & I to always regroup and meet up with my parents & inlaws. None of us grew tired of it. Funny how I read so much negativity on here about the Bliss prior to our sailing, but our family LOVED the ship.

Snownow, I totally hear you. When you take vacation at same time each year, you are limited to itinerary. Hence why we thought RCL next summer. We sailed the sister ship on our honeymoon back in '05 & still rave about that first cruise to this day. We want our kids to experience it, so next year see what they think. However...they have only sailed NCL and are already saying "We love NCL" and "Why do we have to try Royal?" But we are Canadian, and are also using cruising as a way to travel some provinces that would take us 4-5 days to drive to. We did BC last week on Bliss, and will hit 2 East Coast provinces next year. So very convenient.

I value your insights, and tend to agree. It is whatever your personal tastes/interests are. We have no desire to try anything larger than 4000 passengers. We sail in July/August because I am a teacher and so are set on summer sailing (hence another reason why we booked Royal for Canada/New England next summer, as NCL doesn't do that outside of fall months), and we tend to do majority of meals in MDR's. Never tried specialty dining, although after last week on Bliss, we realize we would have made out better with dining package as opposed to UBP, as we just didn't drink as much as we thought we would. Only at dinner. Our parents outdrank us last week. Not to get drunk, but just enjoying leisurely afternoon and post dinner drinks, and we didn't want to spoil feeling good for early morning Alaskan excursions. We will have to research specialty dining & look into the cost. Our 10 yr old son is a foodie, so if we started opting for specialty meals, we would pay for him to eat as an adult.

Hubby and I have cruised:

2005 RCL Voyager

2012 CCL Paradise

2016 NCL Escape, with our 2 kids

2018 NCL Bliss, with our 2 kids

2019 RCL Adventure booked (so kids can try Voyager class & a different line

So...after next year, we will have sailed RCL and NCL 2 apiece. Hubby & I have enjoyed each above cruise and made most of what each ship/its size/amenities had to offer. Question...in perhaps wanting to stick to either NCL or Royal after next year's sailing, for a family of 4 with kids now 8 & 10, would you say NCL is the way to go? We did enjoy Voyager, hence why we want to try RCL again (before megaships)...and feel we don't think we are interested in anything larger than Breakaway Plus...actually, we are kind of excited for Leonardo class. For ships of 3500-4000 and under, who do you prefer? NCL or RCL if we wanted to start building loyalty to one? Sorry for the long msg;);););););)

So we ate lunch & "tea time" snacks in the Observation lounge pretty much every day after returning from our early excursions. They had a salad bar, tuna/chicken salad sandwiches, hummus, crackers, pita and veggies, a couple types of focaccia, always a chowder (either clam, seafood or salmon) and some fruit, as well as a dessert station, water/coffee/juice station. Hint...hubby wanted to grab us all a round of water from the observation deck one night to have in our room, but they shut it down...so he had to run up to Garden Cafe instead

We got off the Bliss this past Saturday. The Manhattan was a louder MDR on Bliss than it was on the Escape. Maybe tables were a bit closer together than Taste/Savor but if they were, not by much. Just seemed a bit louder in there because it is more open and a larger room, hence more tables & people. We enjoyed eating in all 3 MDR's

Mr. Goalie

Deck 9 mid will be a good location. Mdr's are on decks 6 & 7. Deck 8 is the observation lounge, and decks 15/16 are pools, buffet, Go Karts. We were on 13 & loved taking stairs all day up & down. Hence why we didn't gain any extra lbs. But the elevators are there if you need them. We just felt we would beat the in-laws to deck 5 or 6 from 13 when they took elevators, also thought we would leave them for those who really need them.

We were abnormally lucky the week of Aug 11-18. Minimal rain, warmer temps. We used the pools/water slides 4 days. First day in Seattle, the next day at sea, then Thurs at sea & Fri before Victoria. Pools warm like bath water. Cooler air when you get out, but just have your towels ready. Hot tubs were packed like sardines. They aren't my thing, anyways so didn't care about that at all. We never use them.

We embarked by 11:30a.m or so and disembarked by 9:30.

Yes - seafood buffet is Sun evening in the garden cafe, we went. That was our only dinner in the buffet, all other dinners were in the MDR's

Thanks for your replies. We can't wait for our kids to experience the ship. We never make use of the kids clubs, either. Excited to explore the Canada/New England itinerary. We are Canadians from Ontario and are enjoying cruises to visit parts of our own country that would otherwise take 3-4 days to drive to. Just got off an Alaskan cruise yesterday. We would all do it again in a heartbeat!

Regarding tipping: we prepaid these on NCL. On our honeymoon on Royal we paid these at the end using envelopes provided. Is that still the system Royal uses?

I'm sorry in advance if these are obvious to all of you veterans... but help a newbie out. We are going on the Bliss on 8/25 and I'm at the "obsess about your vacation" stage of my planning... So here are my random questions, in no particular order:

 

1. Can you or can you not decorate doors on the Bliss? Yes, you can decorate. We didn't but many did last week.

 

2. Is there any dress code at all in the evenings? I have read "no dress code!" and "no jeans or shorts after 6PM".... You may wear tasteful, nicer looking jeans. My hubby and I did with dressier/collar tops. Some dressed even more casual...shorts. This is in the main dining rooms, though. Smart casual is what we aimed for. Hubby mostly wore golf shirt & khaki pants

 

3. Are the pools heated? Do people (kids?) actually use the pools on an Alaskan cruise? Yes we did last week. We had no rain. Pools were heated. Used on embarkation day, 1st day at sea, and last day before getting off for Victoria. We were lucky on weather last week, though.

 

4. Are there kids menus at the specialty restaurants or are they the same generic kids menus as at the complimentary restaurants? We have the Specialty Dining Package but it's only for 2. And my kids (9 and 11) are good adventurous eaters. We have reservations at Los Lobos, Q, and La Cucina. So.... Kids menus? Pay for SDP for them? Pay A La Carte? We only ate in Main Dining, so I can't help here.

 

5. For the large-bottomed passengers among us... are the chairs on the balconies comfortable with the arm rests? Or are they small-ish chairs? Is there any ability to get arm-less chairs? Not applicable.

 

6. Any tips for actually getting reservations for the race track? As soon as you board, go up the stairs to "Q" restaurant located on deck 6 forward and book. We had no issues but do it straight away. Only 5 in front of me but I ran up there and sent the family to grab a table for lunch. Once I finished, the lineup was out the door to book them and Laser Tag (we did not do Laser Tag)

Sailed on Voyager back in 2005. Have since sailed Carnival 1x and NCL 2x. Booked Adventure for a year from now, as the Canada/New England itinerary is on our bucket list and we honeymooned on the Voyager & loved it. Want our kids, who will be 9 and 11 at sailing, to experience a tad smaller ship than NCL Escape & Bliss (which we all loved, by the way). So...do they still offer onboard laundry facilities for guests? And since it has been awhile, what activities does this ship offer for our kids. We didn't have kids on Voyager, but still enjoyed rock wall, ice rink, ice shows & promenade. Still do parades on promenade deck?

Just off the Bliss yesterday, our 2nd NCL cruise. My husband wore khaki pants & a collared shirt each dinner. A couple of times, his nicer dark dressier looking jeans and collared shirt. Our children, 8 & 10 wore smart casual. My daughter wore a summer dress with a cardigan overtop when she felt chilly. I wore dressier capri pants & tops at night. A couple of nights, a dressier top, with my dressier jeans. Many dressed as we did, many a lot more casual, and some more dressier. Anything goes

To Gottagonow2018 re the movements of the ship and the beverage package:

My wife is concerned about noticeable movements of the ship?

my mother was pleasantly surprised that for the size of ship, minimal movement was felt (we were all on deck 13). Parents/inlaws each had an inside, midship cabin and my family of 4 had a family, oceanview stateroom which was located forward and just directly below the bridge (one of the circle windows you see outside of the ship when looking up). I get carsick easily, but with a patch, was fine all week long. I simply wear one as a precaution. Our children were both fine, too. No need for gravol or any other type of motion sickness remedy for them.

Did your family purchase any of the drink packages? Is it worth it? If we don't drink alcohol beverages?

I am going to be honest about the beverage package. My husband and I have discussed this since we got off the ship yesterday. We agreed that perhaps next time, we should just purchase drinks a la carte, or a wine package solely for dinners, as we have done on a previous cruise. We did not drink enough to make it worthwhile. Yes, it was convenient to have the alcohol, as we do love a glass or two of wine with dinner, and we did have an occasional afternoon drink. However, we did not drink 4, 5 or even 6 drinks a day. When we booked way back in Jan. of 2017, we got to choose 2 perks. We chose the beverage package and the $50 onboard credit for 1 person for each excursion booked. This allowed us to end up with virtually a $0 balance at the end of the week, and that was after I spent $40 on 1 bingo session, a couple of rounds for the GoKarts, and a couple of arcade visits. We even purchased a couple of photos. Excursions and gratuities I had prepaid from home ahead of time. Anyway, I digressed...back to the beverage package...we found we would have been better suited to use this in the form of a different perk...but didn't want to choose the dining package with our parents joining us...they did not have the dining perk, and the point of this was for all 8 of us to eat our dinners together each evening. They all booked after us, and only got to choose 1 perk, as they were booking an inside cabin. They did all 4 make good use of their beverage package perk. While they by no means drank excessively, they did enjoy themselves. They would have a couple of glasses of wine each in the afternoons, a before dinner cocktail, and then a couple of glasses of wine during our dinners, followed by a late night/show cocktail. So a bit better used by them, than by hubby and I.

The bliss has now become a contender for Alaska next year. 1.it sails from Seattle; which is easier for us to fly to 2. It cruises through glacier bay. So I have to ask how is the smoke on this ship. We have never cruised NCL before but I have read complaints about the smoke on the larger NCL ships. We are also looking at princess and HA for glacier bay. However, they do not sail round trip from Seattle. Thanks!

We did walk past the casino area many times throughout the week, and never really noticed the smoke. Perhaps once I noticed it, but again, walking past. We didn't utilize the casino area, and never smelled it when visiting other parts on the same deck. A non issue for us.

I, also, really appreciate your review. Increased my anticipation of my upcoming cruise.

Enjoy yourself, Flaham! This was our first time to Alaska, but glad we were able to do it on the Bliss! Also, there is some type of chowder out each day. You can find it either on the pool deck, or in the observation lounge (either salmon chowder, clam chowder or seafood chowder).

Another tip....on cooler days, we sat out on the Waterfront under the big, comfy blue blankets we were able to get from the towel exchange kiosk on the pool deck. This was a tip I had picked up from Cruise Critic cruisers who sailed Bliss before us!

Thanks for taking the time to write a review! We though the Bliss was wonderful too.

Thanks to you for answering my q&a prior to our trip. You had replied to me several times, and provided great tips/info, even in other threads that we had read.

Not really sure why people were complaining about the Bliss on here, so thought I would post what our family of 4 experienced (in addition to my parents/inlaw's opinions who joined us this past week).

Service/Cleanliness/Staff on the Bliss - top notch! No complaints on service in the MDR's, or in regards to cleanliness of our room, or the ship itself. Our room steward was AMAZING! He was great to our children, ages 8 and 10 who took a liking to him pretty quickly. They enjoyed our daily chats with him. The service was always impeccable. Pleasant staff, over the top genuine kindness and dedicated, too.

Food on the Bliss - we only ate in the Main Dining Rooms, and had made reservations each night for dinner, only because we were a group of 8 and wanted to be sure we could eat together each evening. We are of Italian descent (my parents and inlaws all born in Italy), so we were curious as to what our parents would think of the food - - - our family of 4 had sailed Escape 2 yrs earlier and enjoyed the MDR's, but were waiting to see what our "picky" parents would have to say. They all enjoyed the food, no complaints. They were actually quite impressed with the options and the quality of the dishes. Both sets of parents had sailed on other cruise lines, but they really did enjoy the food on this ship.

Pools on the Bliss - we did make use of the pools/slides despite the Alaskan itinerary. The hot tubs were full on the last day, but this didn't bother us as we don't utilize the hot tubs anyway. We enjoyed the aqua racer once again, as we had enjoyed it on the Escape as well.

Elevators - people complained about them on here prior to our cruise. My mother in law had a knee replacement and utilized the elevators frequently. We just used the stairs all day long from our room on deck 13 to anywhere, and most often would beat my mother in law to whichever deck we were going to, even when it was time to eat on decks 6 and 7. However, this isn't really a complaint, we all felt it was normal on a vessel carrying 4,000 + passengers and perfectly acceptable.

Observation Lounge - this is what made this ship a smidgen better for our family over the Escape. We never had issues staking out a spot. In fact, we spent a lot of time in here, particularly with the parents/inlaws. We enjoyed the light lunch spread that was provided each day in here as well. Excellent location for us to view the glaciers and whales altogether.

Did our kids make use of the bowling/arcades? Yes, but not every single day. They were content with our early excursions, then gathering back in the observation lounge for some family time, lunch and r&r. Never bored.

Overall, great ship. Our second NCL cruise. We are cruising Royal next summer, as the New England sailing they offer is during the summer when I am on vacation, but our family is definitely looking forward to trying out the upcoming Leonardo class NCL is coming out with. Any questions for upcoming cruisers, please do not hesitate to ask.

Many responses I love about cruising have already been mentioned. Nonetheless, my husband and I have been on 1 each of a Royal Caribbean, Carnival & NCL cruise. On Saturday we are boarding the Bliss to Alaska for our 4th cruise and our son & daughter's 2nd cruise. They are 8 & 10, and cruised with us on the Escape to Seattle 2 yrs ago. We feel NCL is perfect for our family right now - - - they enjoy eating at main dining rooms over the buffet for dinner, but NCL has a more smart casual dress code, for which it makes it easier to pack when flying to port cities, rather than having to worry about packing dresses, and more formal attire. Additionally, we love the NCL vibe....family oriented, laid back, but also lots to do as a family...or our favorite, to sit on our balcony/Waterfront and enjoy some R&R, family chats and views of the ocean

Thanks for the info, much appreciated

Are there blow dryers in the cabin? Can't recall from our Escape cruise two years ago. Also wondering about access to an iron on behalf of my mother in law?