Today's Bliss Reports from CCer's... Really?

[eddeb]

Now the signature Rib Eye is not on the menu in Cagney's. Cannot even buy a lobster on the ship.

The weekly arcade pass went up several days ago from $56 to.... Guess folks....

Only $161, get em now it may be 300 next week.

Read all the ccer's cruise reviews, I have never seen a new ship have so many negative reviews.

Note that most top reviews are from haven guests.  I saw the cc rating and it places Bliss 14th out of

the ratings for the NCL fleet. 4992 guests for 16 elevators is about one elevator for 750 guests, may get a little crowded.

Stay tuned... It's always 5 o'clock on the ship.  

[rtkenmore]

8 minutes ago, eddeb said:

Now the signature Rib Eye is not on the menu in Cagney's. Cannot even buy a lobster on the ship.

The weekly arcade pass went up several days ago from $56 to.... Guess folks....

Only $161, get em now it may be 300 next week.

Read all the ccer's cruise reviews, I have never seen a new ship have so many negative reviews.

Note that most top reviews are from haven guests.  I saw the cc rating and it places Bliss 14th out of

the ratings for the NCL fleet. 4992 guests for 16 elevators is about one elevator for 750 guests, may get a little crowded.

Stay tuned... It's always 5 o'clock on the ship.  

 

The arcade pass can be a single pass per room now too...  Instead of required to be purchased by all occupants as it was under the old way.  Under the old way, if a kid was traveling with parents, it would costs $168 because all three had to purchase the pass...  Now, they can purchase just the one pass for the kid and it actually works out cheaper...  If you have 4 or more in a room, it's even cheaper than the old way.

 

Most ships have 12 elevators (3 banks of 4) while the newer ships all have 16 elevators (2 banks of 8 but typically operate separately as 4 banks of 4).  We were on a sold out Escape for Thanksgiving last year and had no issues with the elevators except immediately following large events such a theatre show or getting back on board in port late in the day (everyone rushing to make it back at once).

 

Not to mention, you're math is wrong.  750 guests for each of 16 elevators would be 12,000 guests...  If the ship is sailing with 4992 guests, that's about 312/elevator.

[Two Wheels Only]

Is it possible to filter out the "...OMG, the hurricane ruined my cruise to Mexico....we sailed around in circles...NCL didn't do anything to make it up to me..." reviews?

[eddeb]

Thanks for correcting my math typo RTK. Our NCL rep said the should have put in 3 banks

instead of two, and the congestion issue is a repeating concern.  When we were 21 we had no problem running up ten flights of stairs, now I'm in a scooter and stairs are an issue.

Please read  the reviews as what  we are relaying is from other CCer's

[sid_9169]

I will have to agree, that a steakhouse without a ribeye is pretty lame...

[rtkenmore]

16 minutes ago, eddeb said:

Thanks for correcting my math typo RTK. Our NCL rep said the should have put in 3 banks

instead of two, and the congestion issue is a repeating concern.  When we were 21 we had no problem running up ten flights of stairs, now I'm in a scooter and stairs are an issue.

Please read  the reviews as what  we are relaying is from other CCer's

 

They did put in more elevators.. Again, there are 16 total public elevators on the Away and Away+ class ships.  I believe most if not all operate as separate banks of 4 as well so essentially, there are 4 banks of 4 elevators instead of 3 banks of 4 like most NCL ships before the Away/Away+ class.

 

Anyway, I'm like two wheels above...  Most of the negative reviews I've seen are uncontrollable issues for NCL like weather and being rerouted due to hurricanes.  People would rather sail into a storm I guess than go to a few different ports.  😕

[TFLG]

We are jsut off the Bliss and the elevators were not bad most of the time.  After shows, after the muster drill etc they were crowded just like on most ships. Once I figured out that you needed to press a few butons to get them all on call it got a lot better.  I was a bit shocked that you could not get a lobster but there is plenty of other great food.  Yea, no ribeye in a steakhouse is strange and I wasn't super impressed with Cagneys.  The food was very good but it should be great.  Overall the Bliss was fantastic.  I've done 24 cruises and it was easily in the top 5.

[ColinIllinois]

You can read ten reviews from different people on the same sailing and you can get "best cruise in the history of cruising" to "it was worse than the Titanic sailing" and anything in between.  People tend to write reviews more so if they had bad experiences than a good one.

[amscene1]

So will my haven card make the elevators move still or not? Lol

[funat55]

I was on the Bliss recently for the last trip to Mexico.  Got off on November 3rd.  We did not notice any problems with elevators except after the shows.  I too was disappointed that I couldn't find lobster on the ship.  I'm not from the East coast where you can get the best lobster in the world.  I'm from California and to get the delicious lobster that the East coast folk talk about, you have to go to a pretty nice restaurant and expect to pay a hefty price.  That is why my lobster on a cruise has always been the one special dinner treat that I looked forward too.  And I might say, that to me, based on what I've had otherwise, cruise ship lobster has always been just fine for me.

I would also like to mention that there is a show on the Bliss called "Prohibition".  I heard it was pretty good but we cancelled our reservation because it was not a dinner show like we thought.  I was surprised based on the $34.99 price tag.  On the other NCL ships that we have been on, the Imaginarium and Cirque shows included dinner.  Prohibition included drinks, but big deal when more then half the ship had the drink package anyway.

As to the cruise in general, we had excellent service in every dining venue and we were satisfied with all our meals.  The crew was very friendly and never had to wait for a table, even when we didn't have reservations.

 

 

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, amscene1 said:

So will my haven card make the elevators move still or not? Lol

You need a bracelet for the MSC Yacht Club on the Seaside so the elevator becomes "your's".

[amscene1]

10 hours ago, NurseJEB said:

The biggest problem with the elevators is caused by the guests.  Riding up to go down or down to go up causes more of a congestion issue than what would normally exist.

I agree. Everyone got in that mindset because of people on here told them it saves time. No everyone is doing it adding to the time each passenger is in an elevator.

[Gershep]

Prices keep going up and they keep taking things away.

[jjlen11]

I liked it...……..yeah they didn't have some things I thought they would...like Lobster and a rib-eye. The elevators---well I didn't have any problems...sometimes a small wait.  I realized you cant keep everyone happy---saw more temper tantrums over dumb stuff......and I rationalized it with one pitching a fit that people pay a ton of money to go to Disneyworld to stand in line and wait...so sometimes you had to wait! I was more miffed at my lousy cabin steward...….and saying good bye to some real nice people I met!

[pete_coach]

17 hours ago, eddeb said:

Thanks for correcting my math typo RTK. Our NCL rep said the should have put in 3 banks

instead of two, and the congestion issue is a repeating concern.  When we were 21 we had no problem running up ten flights of stairs, now I'm in a scooter and stairs are an issue.

Please read  the reviews as what  we are relaying is from other CCer's

Please forgive me for what I am about to say, it is not prejudicial nor meant to offend, it is an observation I have made.

I have found on the cruises we have been on that scooters are often a problem in the elevators. People in them take a while to get in and out and they take up significant room. After shows, when the lifts are very crowded it exasperates the problem. I suggest that one lift, in the center of the ship be reserved for scooters.

Staying on topic of complaints,  all complaints are personal. Many are just shortcomings of expectations, the impressions of those that have expectations not being met. I submit reviews to sites based on expectations as well but, temper them to reality and promise.

 

[rtkenmore]

1 hour ago, Gershep said:

Prices keep going up and they keep taking things away.

 

What all have they taken away?

[BirdTravels]

We sail 4-6 times a year. We were on the Allure in March, Escape in April, Bliss in June, Getaway in August, Symphony in November.

 

The Bliss was the best of the bunch. We at and Cagneys twice and loved the food. We had a lobster pie, full of large chunks of lobster in Ocean Blue. Would never go in an arcade on any ship. And had no more problems with elevators on the Bliss vs any other mega ship this year. 

[PATRLR]

I've been on the Bliss and found the elevator congestion no different than any other large cruise ship.   Any large ship is going to have crowded elevators during peak use periods. 

The "no ribeye" in Cagneys is just ridiculous.  I'm not aware of any decent (or better) steakhouse that doesn't serve ribeye.   Essentially, there is no no place on the ship to get a good steak if you like well marbled steaks (e.g. ribeye).

[need2cruisesoon]

22 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

I've been on the Bliss and found the elevator congestion no different than any other large cruise ship.   Any large ship is going to have crowded elevators during peak use periods. 

The "no ribeye" in Cagneys is just ridiculous.  I'm not aware of any decent (or better) steakhouse that doesn't serve ribeye.   Essentially, there is no no place on the ship to get a good steak if you like well marbled steaks (e.g. ribeye).

Our cabin is aft, no congestion in our elevators.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

12 hours ago, amscene1 said:

I agree. Everyone got in that mindset because of people on here told them it saves time. No everyone is doing it adding to the time each passenger is in an elevator.

 

I try to take stairs as often as possible, work off the desert.  The average person gains 7 lbs per cruise, so could help with congestion too, especially if it's downstairs, or up a flight or two.

 

What happened to your Virgin thread?  I found such lovely chairs from the appraised designer.

 

 

[littlelulu01]

The pricing of the sdp also just went up considerably.

 

I can’t think of any fine seafood or steakhouse venue anywhere USA that serves pot pie as the ONLY lobster available and won’t offer a porterhouse. 

 

I’m convinced the free at sea is the culprit.  Give them free drink and specialty dining - just make sure the service fees associated more than cover the bottom line cost.

 

I guess those of us willing to pay extra for such items are just out of luck on Ncl. 

 

We enjoyed our Bliss sailing to Alaska. We found a great last minute rate so could justify all the extra expenses.  Had we paid what most did for the Alaska season I’d have felt differently. 

 

The solution to elevator issues is to book aft if you need to use elevators.  Aft elevators never had the issues.  

 

[PhillyTravelBug]

I always take the steps. How about burning off all of these indulgences? Or at least a small portion of it.

[Son of a son of a ...]

Mega ships are not for everyone

[tallnthensome]

Most, if not all of the recent bad reviews are due to the port cancellation and itinerary change due the hurricane that week. Mostly bitterness reviews towards NCL on that even though it's done out of safety for everyone aboard. Lame .....

[purpletequila]

On 11/9/2018 at 3:48 PM, eddeb said:

Thanks for correcting my math typo RTK. Our NCL rep said the should have put in 3 banks

instead of two, and the congestion issue is a repeating concern.  When we were 21 we had no problem running up ten flights of stairs, now I'm in a scooter and stairs are an issue.

Please read  the reviews as what  we are relaying is from other CCer's

 

It is a stupid elevator design on ships this big, but it has been an NCL thing for years now. Every other line I know of has the 3 bank, forward, imd aft, elevator design. What can you do? Start running stairs.