Post Cruise Review NCL Bliss 1/19/2019

[leos037]

Post Cruise Review NCL Bliss 1/19/2019

This was our 12th cruise. Second on NCL. (RCL, MSC and HAL in the past)

Cruised with 2 kids 6 and 8. 5th cruise for them. Everyone had a great

time. We look at cruising as floating resort with babysitting. We live in Florida so beach access is not a priority.

Room (5746)

Booked a family ocean view. Great location midship near the elevators and kids club. Pretty quiet aside from gangway deployment woke us up once but was not a big deal. Lots of storage with 2 closets, shelves and a drawers. 2 tvs, pullman bed and curtain to divide the room. Bathroom has a tub and double sink. King size bed leaves very little space to pass by it. 9/10

Food

You will no go hungry on this ship! There are almost too many restaurants!

We used a booking bonus to try Q - BBQ place ( food was good - service slow, pecan pie divine) Cagney Steak House ( Great steak, good dessert, shrimp in the appetizer was not cleaned and was sent back - got grilled shrimp as an apology) French place ( Mushroom soup, escargo and peppercorn steak were amazing. Licked the plate clean!)

Buffet had great variety every night. An unexpected highlight was top notch Indian food. We had it almost every day. On the other hand Asian station was mediocre. Pizza was lousy. Fries were good. 8/10

Water Slides/ Kids Aqua park. /Pools

There are 3 slides on board. I will post rules for all in the photos. Drop Free one ( we ignored it) Aqua racer that we used and a tiny pink slide in the kids park. Aqua racer was fun but carrying tubes up the stairs get old after a while. Crowded during sea days. Kids aqua park is nice but is so close to main pool that it gets super loud. Main pool is small and was usually packed like a sardine can. The adult pool is close to a smoking area and was a no go for us because of it. To few hot tubs. The rule against drinking in the pools and tubs was not enforced 5/10

 

Spa

We thought that $250 weekly pass per person was too much. Bought $59 day passes for port days. Can be only bought the morning of. Spa was nice steam rooms, heated chairs, and a huge therapy pool. Not as serene as some i experienced in the past .

Laser Tag and Go Carts

Some of the main attractions of the ship are go carts and Laser tag. Cost is $10 per person. Despite advertising they do not have "Hero Blastglove " for smaller kids. Gun was a too heavy for my tiny 6 year old. My 8 year old was fine. After getting instructions you play 2 five minute games. Was fun but i thought that games should have been longer. 7/10

Go Carts are also $10 and if you doing doubles $20. Book early as they fill up (also true for laser-tag). You go 4 laps. Fun to do. Make sure you wear shoes with closed toes AND heel for both activities 9/10

Kids Club.

Kids liked it. I was annoyed that it was closed for lunch AND dinner on Sea days so i had to shuffle some reservations. They will feed kids dinner on port days if you sign up. There is a $6 charge for this service. (cheap enough but added the feeling of being nickeled and dimed by NCL) Lots of activities 7pm-10-30 so if you plan for later dinner without kids you are fine. 8/10

Arcade

Its on Deck 5 close the kids club. If you buy Ultimate arcade pass ($25 a day) you can play most of the games that don't have tickets or prizes. Those are that have green tag are included: A star-wars flying game, Pirate shooting game, Jurassic park shooting game, Air hockey, VR ride, and 5 racing games cars and bikes. Prices are around $2 bucks VR game is $10, SW game is $3. Skee ball and basketball as well as claw machines are not included in the pass.

6/10

Overall NCL Bliss is nice ship family friendly ship with lots of activities and lots of food options. We had a good time but not in a hurry to go back because there are other ships that fit our needs better.

[Dayana]

The arcade package requires all

7 days to purchase our can it

be purchased by day?

[tallnthensome]

I've seen in pics that the bowling lanes (not ski ball) on board has a green swipe, is that included in the arcade package?

[TrpngBilly]

On 1/27/2019 at 12:59 PM, leos037 said:

Post Cruise Review NCL Bliss 1/19/2019

This was our 12th cruise. Second on NCL. (RCL, MSC and HAL in the past)

Cruised with 2 kids 6 and 8. 5th cruise for them. Everyone had a great

time. We look at cruising as floating resort with babysitting. We live in Florida so beach access is not a priority.

Room (5746)

Booked a family ocean view. Great location midship near the elevators and kids club. Pretty quiet aside from gangway deployment woke us up once but was not a big deal. Lots of storage with 2 closets, shelves and a drawers. 2 tvs, pullman bed and curtain to divide the room. Bathroom has a tub and double sink. King size bed leaves very little space to pass by it. 9/10

Food

You will no go hungry on this ship! There are almost too many restaurants!

We used a booking bonus to try Q - BBQ place ( food was good - service slow, pecan pie divine) Cagney Steak House ( Great steak, good dessert, shrimp in the appetizer was not cleaned and was sent back - got grilled shrimp as an apology) French place ( Mushroom soup, escargo and peppercorn steak were amazing. Licked the plate clean!)

Buffet had great variety every night. An unexpected highlight was top notch Indian food. We had it almost every day. On the other hand Asian station was mediocre. Pizza was lousy. Fries were good. 8/10

Water Slides/ Kids Aqua park. /Pools

There are 3 slides on board. I will post rules for all in the photos. Drop Free one ( we ignored it) Aqua racer that we used and a tiny pink slide in the kids park. Aqua racer was fun but carrying tubes up the stairs get old after a while. Crowded during sea days. Kids aqua park is nice but is so close to main pool that it gets super loud. Main pool is small and was usually packed like a sardine can. The adult pool is close to a smoking area and was a no go for us because of it. To few hot tubs. The rule against drinking in the pools and tubs was not enforced 5/10

 

Spa

We thought that $250 weekly pass per person was too much. Bought $59 day passes for port days. Can be only bought the morning of. Spa was nice steam rooms, heated chairs, and a huge therapy pool. Not as serene as some i experienced in the past .

Laser Tag and Go Carts

Some of the main attractions of the ship are go carts and Laser tag. Cost is $10 per person. Despite advertising they do not have "Hero Blastglove " for smaller kids. Gun was a too heavy for my tiny 6 year old. My 8 year old was fine. After getting instructions you play 2 five minute games. Was fun but i thought that games should have been longer. 7/10

Go Carts are also $10 and if you doing doubles $20. Book early as they fill up (also true for laser-tag). You go 4 laps. Fun to do. Make sure you wear shoes with closed toes AND heel for both activities 9/10

Kids Club.

Kids liked it. I was annoyed that it was closed for lunch AND dinner on Sea days so i had to shuffle some reservations. They will feed kids dinner on port days if you sign up. There is a $6 charge for this service. (cheap enough but added the feeling of being nickeled and dimed by NCL) Lots of activities 7pm-10-30 so if you plan for later dinner without kids you are fine. 8/10

Arcade

Its on Deck 5 close the kids club. If you buy Ultimate arcade pass ($25 a day) you can play most of the games that don't have tickets or prizes. Those are that have green tag are included: A star-wars flying game, Pirate shooting game, Jurassic park shooting game, Air hockey, VR ride, and 5 racing games cars and bikes. Prices are around $2 bucks VR game is $10, SW game is $3. Skee ball and basketball as well as claw machines are not included in the pass.

6/10

Overall NCL Bliss is nice ship family friendly ship with lots of activities and lots of food options. We had a good time but not in a hurry to go back because there are other ships that fit our needs better.

Great summary, quick and to the point. Thanks for sharing.

[cheech907]

Thanks for the review - one follow up question 

 

Did you purchase the daily spa pass on the day you needed it? or was that something you had to purchase in advance?