It’s time for some Margaritas, NCL Bliss Mexican Riviera LIVE review, October 24th 2021

[BENNETT531]

1 hour ago, aubreyc1988 said:

No whenever I booked, stayed the same. What are your ports? I wish this one had more ports

I'm on the Christmas sailing.  Ensenada is our 4th port.  Times in port are shorter though 😞

 

[Alexv500]

24 minutes ago, BENNETT531 said:

I'm on the Christmas sailing.  Ensenada is our 4th port.  Times in port are shorter though 😞

 

I’m on the January 9th sailing and have that same exact itinerary. Not too thrilled about the short stops and the addition of Ensenada, would’ve preferred that to have stayed as a sea day like how it is on the traditional Mexican Riviera itinerary! Probably just going to stay on the ship in Ensenada, but nonetheless we will be on a cruise and that’s all the matters!!!

[aubreyc1988]

Doing the airport ending tour today 

[coastcat]

We arrived in port on time but were delayed in clearing Customs. Disembarkation started about 30-40 minutes late and then NCL rushed through all the colors for no apparent reason. I was in the final group, scheduled for 9:45, but they called the last two groups at about 8:30. End result was that we Brown tag people were ushered to the end of a long Customs line. And then there was no transfer buses to board because they hadn’t had time to return from the earlier airport run. 

 

A bus finally showed up at 10:30. It couldn’t hold everyone so a few of us Type Bs with later flights said we’d just wait for the second. That arrived a few minutes later and the 8 or 9 of us got this bus for ourselves - and with so few bags we actually left first! Ah, fun times with cruise transfers. 
 

So sad to say goodbye to lovely Bliss. I’m considering taking the April repositioning cruise LA -> Vancouver, but we’ll see. 
 

Safe travels everyone!

[dobiemom]

3 hours ago, BENNETT531 said:

I'm on the Christmas sailing.  Ensenada is our 4th port.  Times in port are shorter though 😞

 

 

3 hours ago, Alexv500 said:

I’m on the January 9th sailing and have that same exact itinerary. Not too thrilled about the short stops and the addition of Ensenada, would’ve preferred that to have stayed as a sea day like how it is on the traditional Mexican Riviera itinerary! Probably just going to stay on the ship in Ensenada, but nonetheless we will be on a cruise and that’s all the matters!!!

Yup, this is our itinerary for Nov 14 also. I have done several 7-day MR cruises and have never had Ensenada as a 4th port. I don’t like it since some of the other ports were cut short or port times changed. 🤨

But I’ll be on the Bliss and that’s all that matters! 😉

[greatestvalue]

4 hours ago, BENNETT531 said:

I'm on the Christmas sailing.  Ensenada is our 4th port.  Times in port are shorter though

I thought they actually had 2 different cruises, one included Ensenada and 1 didn't.

 

Im on Dec 12 Mexican Riviera and no Ensenada.  

 

Did they change your itinerary BENNETT531 or did you always have the 4th port? 

 

 

[rjcortinas]

4 minutes ago, greatestvalue said:

I thought they actually had 2 different cruises, one included Ensenada and 1 didn't.

 

Im on Dec 12 Mexican Riviera and no Ensenada.  

 

Did they change your itinerary BENNETT531 or did you always have the 4th port? 

 

 

Same for us on The Dec 19 cruise. No Ensenada. I just double checked because I thought maybe they changed it.

[ramdoggiesmom]

5 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

Doing the airport ending tour today 

Thank you for your live review of your cruise this week. We are on the Bliss in a week and I’m so excited I can’t stand it. We’ve cruised 20+ times but it’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited! Safe travels home.

[Alexv500]

1 hour ago, dobiemom said:

Yup, this is our itinerary for Nov 14 also. I have done several 7-day MR cruises and have never had Ensenada as a 4th port. I don’t like it since some of the other ports were cut short or port times changed. 🤨

But I’ll be on the Bliss and that’s all that matters! 😉

I agree!! I’ve done this itinerary multiple times so I’m not too upset about it, just not thrilled about the weird itinerary haha! Maybe because I’m just so used to the traditional Mexican Riviera itinerary. But at the end of the day, all that matters is we get to be on the beautiful Bliss!

 

My last cruise before COVID hit was actually on the Joy in January 2020 and I loved this class of ship, so I am super excited to cruise on the Bliss! 😄

[Tonysplus2]

I have truly enjoyed your review. My wife watches the blogs on YouTube and there aren’t many bloggers doing NCL cruises. Thanks to you I’ve already picked my excursion for the 11/28 Bliss sailing. Our cruise as of now has the traditional MR stops. Thanks again for the review. 

[LinnieRed]

Fun review! We will be on the Bliss for this cruise in March. 
We just returned from a Princess cruise with the same itinerary, we thought we’d try something different. 
 

I will wait for the OP’s go ahead, but we did a Stone Island trip completely and easily on our own.  I can give details if anyone’s interested, but don’t want to hijack. 

[dobiemom]

1 hour ago, greatestvalue said:

Did they change your itinerary BENNETT531 or did you always have the 4th port? 

Not BENNETT531 but we were notified of the change 9/16/21. Port order remained the same but some times were changed (boo! 🙁), and Ensenada was added. 

[greatestvalue]

11 minutes ago, dobiemom said:

Port order remained the same but some times were changed (boo! 🙁), and Ensenada was added. 

The Dec 12 cruise has 2 immediate sea days Monday & Tuesday; 3 ports, 1 Sea Day and done on Sunday. At this point I dont care what the itinerary is, I just want to be cruising...LOL 

[greatestvalue]

@aubreyc1988- Thank you so much for everything, from the packing tips - food & excursion reviews - to thinking twice about a hair cut on board and everything in between.  Your reviews are so much fun...

 

 

[Cruisingcrew5]

@aubreyc1988 Thanks for the review. Loved seeing the dailies and menus as well! Now to wait until December when we will get to experience it all! 

[aubreyc1988]

I'll be posting a lengthy recap today, as well as scanning the dailies I brought back! 

[alaska2008]

@aubreyc1988 Thank you so much for all of your effort to pull off this "live" review of the Bliss MR cruise. You have helped us get even more excited about our upcoming sailing on December 19, 2021. Happy future sailings to you!!!

 

[brad0576]

Thanks for the trip report - in 40 days I will be on the same cruise - so excited!!

[LinnieRed]

On 10/30/2021 at 10:18 AM, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonddd said:

Love your review, Aubrey! It’s hilarious and getting me psyched for my 11/14 solo cruise on Bliss. Thanks for taking the time to post all this. 

Just want to say that I LOVE tour screen name! PF4ever ♥️

[GALSews]

Thanks, I enjoyed following your travels. 

 

[DMommyP]

1 hour ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I'll be posting a lengthy recap today, as well as scanning the dailies I brought back! 

 

I got to this thread from the link in the roll call but can't figure out how I would have found it if just looking for "Bliss Live Review". Could you please explain how I would go about finding similar ones?

 

Thanks!

[NikiPinkston]

Just wanted to add my big thank you for your live review, @aubreyc1988!  It was so much fun following along and hearing about your adventures.  I appreciate your posting the menus & dailies, as well as all of your lovely pics, and I love your awesome attitude & fabulous sense of humor!  We're super excited about our December Bliss cruise (which you inspired us to book!).  (BTW,  just checked our 12/19 itinerary and no Ensenada.)  Hope you're home safe & sound, planning your next cruise! 😊

[aubreyc1988]

19 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

Just wanted to add my big thank you for your live review, @aubreyc1988!  It was so much fun following along and hearing about your adventures.  I appreciate your posting the menus & dailies, as well as all of your lovely pics, and I love your awesome attitude & fabulous sense of humor!  We're super excited about our December Bliss cruise (which you inspired us to book!).  (BTW,  just checked our 12/19 itinerary and no Ensenada.)  Hope you're home safe & sound, planning your next cruise! 😊

thanks, glad people enjoyed! You will have a fabulous time on the Bliss!  I think I am planning on Feb for my next cruise, maybe Epic out of San Juan.  I wanted to do a Dec holiday cruise, since prices are good right now, but that is contingent on me finding a kennel for my dogs so may not happen.  

[KeepCalmBearOn]

16 hours ago, dobiemom said:

Not BENNETT531 but we were notified of the change 9/16/21. Port order remained the same but some times were changed (boo! 🙁), and Ensenada was added. 

 

I really liked the Oct. 24 Itinerary, 2 sea days after leaving LA and starting the port stops at Mazatlan. The two days at sea gave us time to unwind and enjoy and explore the ship. It also gave us more time in Mazatlan. I could care less about Ensenada as a port stop; it is a day trip for us from Coronado Island and that last day at sea from Cabo to LA again gave us time to relax before they kicked us off the ship.

[Brickwood]

19 hours ago, LinnieRed said:

I will wait for the OP’s go ahead, but we did a Stone Island trip completely and easily on our own.  I can give details if anyone’s interested, but don’t want to hijack.

I was on the NCL tour this cruise and have also done it DIY in the past.  We had fun on the NCL tour but I'd say the drinks and food were much better when we did it on our own.  Lots of shade available on the NCL tour but no loungers - it was all tables and chairs.  I think a description of your experience would be very helpful to folks.