Coastal - West Coast Cruise Reviews

Redemption for NCL. After an underwhelming cruise on the Breakaway, my wife and I were at the crossroads with Norwegian. This cruise was going to be the decider on whether we would vacation with them again. Well NCL, you can thank the Bliss. What a beautiful ship! No compaints other than booking the specialty resaturants. Great service, great food, great experience.

The cruise was great. We had the Spa mini suite. The balcony was bigger than any balcony we've ever had. We could have gotten a third chair on it. The only gripes we had was: Could hear the lounge chairs from our cabin. To me it sounded like distant thunder. It didn't bother my son and I at all. My wife it bothered a bit. Good thing it wasn't right above us. In Taste restaurant. The far back corner bench seat tipped. My son felt like if I got up to fast he would go over. In the theater, the seats felt like they dipped to far forward. Also had a feeling I was going to slide off the seat. The cruise was awesome. The crew were great. I do know about the issue in San Francisco and getting back on the ship. It took almost 7 hours for US customs to clear the ship. I heard many people complain about that and even the captain addressed the ship about it too. But you can't blame the ship for US Customs.

The Bliss is an amazing ship with so many restaurants, bars and things to do onboard. The observation lounge was my favorite.

This is a fantastic room for families. Largest one on ship as best I can determine. It did not have a pullman so only good for 4 people. Ship is beautiful and very clean/new. Elevators were not nearly what I was expecting. People moved arounded fairly easily. Peak times did get busy but aft elevators were much better. Loved the Local. Didn't love the buffet so only had snacks there. Kids loved Splash and Entourage. Didn't love that the pool area doesn't have a snack station so when kids were hungry after swimming at 3:30 and the buffet was closed (only coffee and pastry), they referred me down to deck 7 to Local for pizza. I was not going to leave kids in pool area alone. They need a snack station near kids area for quick kid snacks. San Fran was a disaster. Our deck didn't get called to after 11am and we exited the ship at 1:30. Missed 12:30 Alcatraz time but they let us go on willcall. NO apologies not acknowledgement by NCL of problem. Likely it is US Customs as they only have 8 wickets open but NCL could have handled this MUCH better. It was a wasted day and after waiting 2 hrs, kids were totally fed up and wanted back on the ship to go to pool. Super disappointed that there was not recognition to many guests who were impacted. Getting on in Vancouver was a breeze and we carried off our bags so super easy in LA as well. We will likely cruise again with NCL but will go back to a smaller size vessel. Just too big for our preferences. EVERYTHING costs extra now such as room service, certain food, so we did feel that we were constantly being upcharged. We would have purchased arcade pass for kids but everyone in cabin had to get so we passed?? $160 for 5 day cruise. Who decides this stuff for families? Overall it was 8/10 experience.

Cruise was great with the exception of Coast Guard/Customs in San Francisco. Already have another trip planned on the Bliss.

A nice getaway would do it again! Entertainment ok but have seen better on a different cruise. Some entertainment saw on Grand last year just different cast.

Easy on and off. Cruise ship left a lot to be desired. Food iffy. Not family friendly.

Overall great cruise!All new ports for me and I enjoyed visiting and exploring these ports and cities!

Cruise was great. Some ports of call in Mexico could be elimated because there were only few excursion choices. Lived Puerto Vallarta, Aruba and Curaçao.

Great cruise, perfect weather, and met lots of fun people onboard!

The ship 🚢 is showing its age , and it is not a good ship for kids activities Pools are good but no water slides

Great cruise for my wife and I as we were first time cruisers. The whole trip was great. The ship was off the hook! The tours were awesome and well run. The only issue was The Los Angeles tour. The guides were great but the city was disappointing especially Hollywood. I expected it to be a lot more than what is was. Oh well it’s off the bucket list now!

i really enjoyed this trip. the interaction with the staff (entertainment, dining and room stewards) was warm, friendly and kind.

If you want access to everywhere on the ship, do not sail the week before dry dock. If companionship and the itinerary are your main objective, you might find a good bargain the week before dry dock. This is a great itinerary and we'd do it again as long as the ship wasn't going into dry dock after we disembarked.

This cruise seemed to go fast! I did shore excursions in Astoria, Monterey, and Victoria. They were great. I’ve included a brief review under each city. For me the mood of the ship was noticeably down beat versus my previous three cruises on the Ruby. No doubt due to the dry dock that starts later today in Victoria. My room stewardess was outstanding. I sail on Ruby in November. I’m looking forward to seeing the ship refurbished.

We relaxed, ate, and drank! Our room was great for an interior. The steward too great care of the room for us. The ship is beautiful! I was not impressed with the buffet. There was lots of choices. But it was like eating at the Country Buffet. Breakfast at the buffet was the same foods everyday. Don’t waste your time paying for the fining. The food in the dining room was amazing and you didn’t have to pay for it. International cafe food was really good. I preferred it for breakfast and lunch. Vines wine bar was the best bar by far. All the bartenders at the other bars were not very friendly, they didn’t greet you, and were very slow serving. Movies under the stars was great. They were doing some work on the ship of painting and varnishing. The smell from the varnish was very very strong. That seems like something that should be done when passengers are not on board.

This was my 3rd time sailing on Explorer of the Seas. The first time was in 2014 and I was wowed by the beauty of the ship. This 2018 sailing followed a cruise on Harmony and although I have learned that I prefer ships smaller than the Oasis class, after sailing Harmony, Explorer was not as flashy and the entertainment was just OK. I prefer over-the-top theatre productions rather than the music & dance reviews found on Explorer, however, the comedian was terrific and Graham Seymour, our cruise director, was awesome. Our cabin was kept clean but I have had better steward service. Our balcony had a great, unobstructed view. We had My Time Dining and had no problems getting seated on time. I did reserve each dining time prior to boarding. The food was OK. We did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants. Lobster was served one night in the Main Dining Room. Embarkation was quick and easy. We used the Seattle Valet at debarkation. We placed our luggage outside our cabin the last night of the cruise and didn't see it again until we arrived at our home airport. This is a free service that the Port of Seattle offers. I wish more ports would offer this service. All-in-all, we enjoyed our time on Explorer and have another Explorer cruise booked for 2020.

Overall, as I stated in the title, this vacation did what we asked of it. Relax. Having only cruised on Carnival Cruises in the past, we definitely noticed the difference in aura, or lack thereof. If we had family with us we would've been sorely disappointed, but because we really just wanted to get away and be lazy, this cruise accomplished that. The food was a disappointment though. Thank goodness we had a great table of people so dining was not terrible. I was sad to see that the crew did not seem to be very out-of-their-way friendly as I have experienced on other cruises. Even in passing, most times they did not smile. Hopefully they get a break to rejuvenate like we did. Anyway, we got away, we were able to be lazy, we got to spend time in our favorite city and the price wasn't too bad. We will try The Royal Caribbean again in hopes that this one was just a fluke.

The ports are good on this cruse. I think San Francisco is over done. I think another port could be substituted or at least shortened. Victoria would be a better two day port.

It’s a pity the shows in the theatre let the whole cruise down. The on board entertainers were ok, but the other stage acts were very very poor !