1957cruiser Cruise Review on Norwegian Bliss on Sep 01, 2018

Norwegian Bliss Cruise Review

1957cruiser

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 24

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Sail date: September 01, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Bliss

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

This was our first cruise so hard to do any comparison. But first I’ll start with embarkation which was an absolute breeze. Very smooth process and helpful friendly staff. The ship itself is absolutely gorgeous, everything is state of the art and all areas are nicely appointed and tastefully done. The areas around “678 Ocean Place” tend to be very noisy and have a “shopping mall” feel to them. Any time we walked through there it was just noisy and extremely crowded so we avoided this area at all cost. The Observation lounge. It’s stunning upon first laying eyes on it and you immediately see what the draw is for prime viewing and the “Observation” of Alaska and the sea. But the key word here “observing or observation” which is not what guests’ use it for which made even going up there a huge disappointment and futile attempt at utilizing the area for its intended use. Here’s just an example of what the typical experience was; at one point we looked everywhere for a place to sit (it was just my husband & I) there were no chairs, loungers or sofas that had vacancies. We did however spot the large white leather sectional in a corner that we could see only one man sitting at. As walked over to it we noticed a woman sprawled out from end to end, all pillows under her head sound asleep taking up the entire remainder of the sectional sofa. As we approached, I (politely) asked the man if we could share the sectional with them as there was no place else to sit and he said no, because his wife was sleeping! At that point the wife woke up hearing the conversation and angrily said “well now that you woke me up, I guess I’ll just have to go to my cabin”. The point is, this is an area everyone would like to enjoy at some point for observation purposes it is NOT YOUR CABIN to use as a bedroom! Be courteous about fellow guests wanting to enjoy the views and don’t commandeer the space like it’s your personal Stateroom for the day! Speaking of Stateroom. We had a mini-suite which was very well thought out and convenient with a nice bathroom area. My husband & I are very organized which made for a very comfortable space. Our Stateroom Steward, Joseph was wonderful. Restaurants; we ate in four upscale restaurants. Teppanyaki, Ocean Blue, Cagney’s and Los Lobos, all excellent and staff phenomenal & friendly. The Garden Cafe was just average food. Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville disappointing. Shows; !Havana! very good, Jersey Boys was AMAZING! Britain’s Finest, excellent and a must see in the Cavern Club. Shipboard activities; we did do the race track and even though that day was pouring it was still an absolute blast! Excursions; Ketchikan; our Seaplane excursion was canceled due to weather. But you roll with it and find something else to do even though all other excursions were full. So we found Fat Stan’s in town and had a great time meeting & enjoying new folks. Juneau; was by far the BEST excursion of our lives. We did The Pilots Choice Helicopter excursion. Words could never describe this day. Skagway; we did the White Pass Scenic Railroad Excursion which was just excellent. Overall we had an amazing time on our first cruise and will probably do another at some point but next stop is Ireland in 3 weeks but not on a ship! Happy cruising everyone!

6 Comments

1957cruiser 6 years ago

@bryanric hope you have a better experience than we did. The sleeping all day and hoarding the lounge was a major downfall of our first cruise.

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bryanric 6 years ago

Making it my goal next week to wake up the idiots sleeping in the observation lounge.

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ytsejamr 6 years ago

Appreciate the honest review 👍👍

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1957cruiser 6 years ago

@brendascruisin what time did you do the helicopter I never saw you?

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brendascrusin 6 years ago

We did the helicopter in Juneau too! It was great!!!

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IkeDeb 6 years ago

Thanks for your review

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