Bliss to Alaska with kids - quick review

[lantzalot]

8/25 sailing 7 day Alaska Highlights on the bliss

Kids 8.5 and 11.5

Mid ship mini suite on deck 11

 

We had a great time. It was our first cruise and we really enjoyed it.

 

Room:

Plenty of space. Loved having a balcony. I put more details on the room review thread. 11184 if you search for it.

 

Service:

Service everywhere was fantastic. We had so many nice interactions with wait staff and our room steward and the guys at the go karts and laser tag. Several people remembered my kids by name days after meeting them which I always find impressive.

 

Kid activities:

The kids never actually went to the Splash Academy so I can’t comment about that. They loved the Go Karts and Laser Tag. We had some get cancelled because of rough seas but they worked us in later no problem. I feel like even though the reservations are booked, you can go up there and just see if you can get in and they’ll work it out. They spent more time in the pool than the weather would have warranted. :) Played ping pong quite often and we all played mini golf once. The bowling in the Local was a hit but I didn’t like that it was $6/person so they only played twice. The arcade prices were crazy so we limited that as well. Plus I didn’t want them to hang out in the arcade on a cruise! :)

 

Planned activities:

Most of the cruise planned activities during the day didn’t really appeal to us. We did the Escape the Big Top (and won!) which was fun. It was probably too hard for my 8.5 year old but my 11.5 year old was able to help more. They both said it was fun anyway. We attended one “game show” in the atrium which was ok but not super entertaining.

 

Shows:

Havana - this was fine. Well performed but not a compelling story/show. Older son left midway through out of boredom. Minor language and “sexy” dancing if you are concerned about kid friendliness.

 

Jersey Boys - this was GREAT! Kids liked it a lot. This show was really well done and the music was fun and I’d see it again! They should offer it on more nights. Book ahead! A lot of swearing. Some innuendo that I’m sure my 8 year old didn’t get and my 11 year old might have gotten a bit?

 

Beatles - we saw them on Friday mid day in the bliss theater because we hadn’t stayed up and gone out for “night life” in the evenings. Only my husband and I went while the boys roamed around and played ping pong. They were really good. The show was a little cheesy. But the music was fun if you enjoy the Beatles at all.

 

Comedian - we went to an early show with the kids and laughed a LOT. The comic kept it clean although the topics were still probably more adult-ish. But my kids were still cracking up.

 

Dining:

We had 3 specialty meals as a booking perk and also the beverage package. We didn’t buy either package for the kids. I commented on another thread that I’m glad we didn’t because servers worked things out to make things the kids ordered “count” as our things under the package so we paid very minimally for their a la carte foods at the specialty restaurants. I also found the prices at those restaurants to be very reasonable. We ate at The Q, Los Lobos and La Cucina. La Cucina was the best of those three but we enjoyed them all. We sat outside there and had a really nice meal. The Q was a lot of food. And really good desserts. The table side guacamole was really good at Los Lobos and the package allowed you to order about a zillion courses (which we didn’t do) so if you’re really hungry you can stuff yourself here. The nacho appetizer (only $4.99) was gigantic. I had carne asada that was very good.

 

Our worst dining experience was at Savor. I found the menu there to be boring and stodgy and my sons fish was super over cooked and almost rubbery.

 

Breakfast at the Local was a favorite. The kids loved the buffet because of the all you can eat aspect and the ability to get pizza and fries and dessert all on one plate. :) The buffet was better than I’d have anticipated but was not earth shattering. The Omelette station was a good option for breakfast. And the hash browns were really good. The buffet desserts were prettier than they were tasty. The self serve ice cream was a favorite with the kids. :)

 

Desserts at Cocos were yummy! Good gelato, yummy crepes, and ridiculously decadent milk shakes (way too big for one person). Cupcakes at the bake shop were good and lower priced than fancy cupcake shops here in Seattle.

 

Ports:

I’ll preface this by saying that we are not big “adventure” people. So our excursions were pretty tame. Plus we had already spent a lot on the cruise and couldn’t afford to be paying thousands on excursions.

 

Ketchikan - we went to the lumberjack show (do not book this through NCL - it’s much cheaper to book direct) and it was a hoot. Then we just walked around town some, saw some totem poles, etc. Ketchikan isn’t much but it’s cute.

 

Juneau - it was cold and rainy and socked in with fog. We arrived at the AJ dock which is a 15 minute shuttle to the main dock. We didn’t account for that so we missed our bus to the Mendenhall glacier. They fit us in on the next one. That bus broke down on the way. Like engine on fire broke down. So we had to wait for a new bus. Got to the visitor center and couldn’t see a thing so we watched the little video there and when we came out the skies had cleared and the rain had stopped and we had beautiful views! We walked around there for an hour and took a million pictures and then caught the bus back.

 

Glacier cruise - we made it half way up Tracey arm and saw a lot of ice bergs and then it got so foggy it was dangerous and we had to turn around without seeing the sawyer glacier. Big let down. But... what can you do?

 

Skagway - booked this through NCL - gold panning, dog sleds, train to white pass. It was all good but I will say the train ride was a bit too long. Very pretty. But at some point, I think everyone was over it. Kids loved the gold panning and each got $20-ish worth of gold so they think they’re rich! Holding dog sledding puppies was a highlight. We bought lunch on this outing to the tune of $13/sandwich. Things aren’t cheap in Alaska! We should have brought snacks from the buffet with us (shhh probably that’s not allowed).

 

Victoria - we didn’t get off here. The timing was weird. We live in Seattle and have been to Victoria anyway. And this was a good opportunity to do the race cars and laser tag one more time.

 

——————

 

I think that’s it? That turned out to be way longer than I thought it would be. Ask me questions if you have any. I have tons of pictures if you want to see anything from the trip or the ship.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[vacation44]

Sounds like you had a lovely family vacation. Thank you for posting.

[AtlantaAlly]

Thanks for the review! We’re looking forward to this cruise next summer. I agree the Victoria timing is odd, almost as if they just stop there to meet some type of international port quota to allow certain tax breaks or something.

 

Thanks for sharing. You’ve confirmed some of my questions re:Havana Nights, ports, etc.

[lantzalot]

Thanks for the review! We’re looking forward to this cruise next summer. I agree the Victoria timing is odd, almost as if they just stop there to meet some type of international port quota to allow certain tax breaks or something.

 

Thanks for sharing. You’ve confirmed some of my questions re:Havana Nights, ports, etc.

 

 

 

They do need an international port for taxes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BirdTravels]

Thanks for the review. Cocos = yummy!

[havenfan]

Thanks for the review.

Ketchikan - we went to the lumberjack show (do not book this through NCL - it’s much cheaper to book direct)

That's true at full price, but not necessarily so if you've got the Shore Excursion Credit and the Latitudes Platinum discount.

[LincolnLog]

Thanks for the review. I have a question about the go carts since my kids are about the same age as yours. I’ve heard mixed responses about what age can do them, as far as being able to reach the pedals and operate them. Did your kids do okay with that?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[lantzalot]

Thanks for the review. I have a question about the go carts since my kids are about the same age as yours. I’ve heard mixed responses about what age can do them, as far as being able to reach the pedals and operate them. Did your kids do okay with that?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

 

They had to be 55 inches. And they could reach fine at that height.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums