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Item: Norwegian Bliss
Rating: 3
Author: henrysims

Norwegian Bliss Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

henrysims

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 11

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

15 Night Panama Canal Westbound (Miami To Los Angeles)

Sail date: May 10, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Bliss

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: GTY13786

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Very disappointed with the cancellation of 2 ports of call and adding back of only one. The 2 cities we did not visit were a major part of the reason we booked this cruise. A $24 refund for the port tax was an insult. We paid over $6,000 for this cruise and at least a third of it was not completed as promised and expected. Very poor planning on the part of NCL. I feel that as a minimum you should refund us $2,000. We usually travel with Royal Caribbean. They do a much better job. You should send your people to their training classes

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

slow, slow, slow We did not enjoy freestyle dining. There is no incentive for the waiters to serve you in a timely manner. If the do, it just means they may have to serve someone else. In the Manhatten, the waiters we more interested in cleaning tables for the next day than serving the customers they had in front of them.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Ship tip

Poor design in many areas. Door openers are unsanitary. They closed on several passengers, knocking one lady to the floor

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5

Cartagena, Colombia

1 out of 5

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

1 out of 5

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

3 out of 5

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

3 out of 5

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

11 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

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Ship2Shora 6 years ago

After reading your commentary in reference to the free style dining, we opted to book specialty dining for every night we could get reserved. Thank You!

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surfandsnorkel 6 years ago

We thought the NCL BLISS was the prettiest ship ever. One extra sea day meant more time to relax, swim, hot tubs, dine, gym, walking on the waterfront, enjoy the vast beautiful ocean, watch for sea life. When we switched up our excursions we ended up selecting better and more exciting ones. I can’t wait to go on next cruise.

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William1026 6 years ago

Henrysims, First of all if you did not know the waiters bring the food now the cooks make the food dont blame the waiters they had nothing to do so they cleaned tables as you said. As oceanwaver said you didnt read the T&C. I completely agree with him. You didnt. I understand just clicking argee without reading it but when buying a cruise for alot of money.. It might be a good idea to read up on it and do your reasearch before booking a cruise.

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MontiCruise 6 years ago

we‘ve been on the same cruise. Felt the same of the lost ports. 8 seadays are too much. They paid a lot for the panama canal and the rest of the ports should be cheap since they used mostly the industrial ports instead of nice cruise ports, but 24 USD refund per person isn’t enough for one missing port. I think they filled their pockets to pay the new ships. This felt really bad to us. They told us that there isn’t enough space in the port. But they have planned it more than one year before, so how could they give us this information only two weeks before the cruise? And I’ve planned shore excursions without NCL (they are too expensive and too much people in one bus, like it smaller and also want to support local people instead of filling NCL’s pockets) and had a lot of work to change everything. Fotunately I‘ve get a refund for that from the local travel agencies. And I‘ve booked that only days before I got the itenery change information. But we hadn’t the same experience with the rest. The Bliss is a wonderful, beautiful and great ship, the service and the food was outstanding. Maybe we‘ve visited other restaurants. Shows were also great, had a good time with nice people.

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jltanner56 6 years ago

What was the reason for missing the ports

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gfellmayer 6 years ago

I wrote my review before reading yours and I do agree with most of what you had to say.

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stephenroth 6 years ago

T and C refers to Terms and Conditions, which the OP may not have read.

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AnnaBanana1978 6 years ago

What is the T and C and what ports were cancelled?

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ralbert236 6 years ago

I'll bet weather had something to do with missing 2 ports.

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onlysail 6 years ago

You obviously didn"t read the T&C

Thumbs Up 3

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