Nickel and dimed to death...

Item: Norwegian Bliss
Rating: 3.4
Author: jennifer177

Norwegian Bliss Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

jennifer177

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 41

Overall rating:

3.4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Alaska Highlights (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 01, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Bliss

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Disembarking from the ship was an absolute nightmare. Even though they put people in groups to disembark each group spent will over an hour standing in line to get off the ship because they only had one person checking people of the boat. The were over 4 thousand people on the boat. My time for disembarking was 8:15 my group wasn't called until 8:30. It took me until 9;30 to get off the ship and only 15 minutes fo pick up my luggage and get through customs. The racetrack had wet white and black ash falling on it from the smoke stacks which got on and dried on your clothes. The back open air bar was covered with the ash from the smokestacks which landed in your drink and food. The fee for the unlimited spa access was way over priced. I would have been much better off to just get day passes, I would have saved a bunch of money. The buffet was closed quite often and a $15 daily service fee was granted on to my bill at the end of the cruise. I will never go on another Norwegian cruise ever again. 95% off the passenger's I spoke with planned on writing letters to Norwegian expressing their anger and disappointment. Out of my 5 cruises this one was 2nd to worst even though it was by far the most expensive. Carnival was the worst but at a quarter of the price.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Very few activities and the best activities were always fee based. An example was the net tasting, it was $20 per person, if you had the unlimited drink package it was $18. For beer they included in the unlimited drinks package.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

The show Havana was awful, there were only 2 shows to choose from and even though they were free you had to reserve a place.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

Even though I paid for an unobstructed view I was 1 of 6 cabins on the entire ship with an obstructed view. When I told customer service on the ship I was informed that they considered 50-100% an obstructed view, anything under 50% obstruction was an unobstructed view. Also this 'new' ship is actually a retrofitted boat. They crammed in more rooms and skimped on the sound proofing. I could clearly hear my shared wall neighbors talking in normal voices. The balcony was tiny and even though the ship was not full my room was 4 doors down from a restaurant and directly over the theater. I could literally hear the music from the theater. The room I was in was an upgrade for inside cabin travelers. I was sent an email before saying asking if I wanted to bid on an upgrade. As a single traveler I paid for 2 people to satisfy the double occupancy. The update bidding was charged at double occupancy.

Ship tip

Don't

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

4 out of 5

Ketchikan, Alaska

4 out of 5

Juneau, Alaska

3 out of 5

Skagway, Alaska

5 out of 5

Victoria, British Columbia

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

4 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

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brendascrusin 6 years ago

Wow! Our experience was awesome! We loved the Bliss. Sorry you didn’t have a good time.

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Phaellynn 6 years ago

Dont judge all NCL by this experience. We just did one on the Epic and while somethings are the same (daily gratuities- which is industry wide, and the overpriced spa) we had no issues otherwise and a good time.

Thumbs Up 1

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Shh813 6 years ago

Wow, that sounds pretty bad. Always research the deck and cabin before booking it. We try to make sure our cabin has either all cabins above and below us, or nothing that will be noisey.

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