Norwegian Bliss - Mexican Riviera Cruise 10/27/18; Beautiful modern ship, excellent food, courteous & friendly staff, great amenities...overall an excellent experience!

Item: Norwegian Bliss
Rating: 4.9
Author: lauraluvcruisn

Norwegian Bliss Cruise Review to Mexico

lauraluvcruisn

Contributor Level: Third Mate

71 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 71

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 27, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Bliss

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Beautiful modern ship, excellent food, courteous & friendly staff, great amenities...overall an excellent experience! Lots of activities such as the water slides, go carts, laser tag, etc. Not understanding why there were so many complaints about crowding on this ship and lack of elevators. Maybe the complaints were geared more towards the Alaska cruise where, due to the cold weather, everyone was inside the ship, making it more crowded everywhere. On my Mexican Riviera cruise, the elevators were never crowded and there was always something to do or somewhere to hang out. One suggestion about booking restaurants and shows is, if you are able to book everything online, great. But NCL only releases 1/3 of the reservations online, then doesn't allow additional online bookings after that. So, I would opt for the earliest boarding time, and as soon as you get on the ship, go to deck 6 to book your restaurants and shows before they fill up. You can also use any of the electronic kiosks on the walls found throughout the ship - super handy.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Food in the main dining rooms and buffet was great and exceeded our expectations - we enjoyed it all! Presentation was always beautiful in the MDR's and specialty restaurants. Q, Cagney's and Le Bistro were amazing!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Jersey Boys was such a great show, still talking about it. Havana was pretty good and so was the Beatles show. Just a side note, I would say Jersey Boys and Havana are "PG-13", just in case you have any kiddies along. My only complaint is how small the The Cavern Club was (where the Beatles tribute band plays). People would get angry if you stood in front of them blocking their view, even though it was standing room only, and it was also difficult for the servers to get through the crowd.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Opt for the earliest boarding time, and as soon as you get on the ship, go to deck 6 to book your restaurants and shows before they fill up. You can also use any of the electronic kiosks on the walls found throughout the ship. Out of the main dining room options, Manhattan always had a line so we never ate there, but Savor & Taste were super easy to get into (all 3 MDR's have exactly the same menu).

Thumbs up

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

5 out of 5

I recommend Vallarta Food Tours! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and took us around to I think it was 9 food tastings! Excellent tour, highly recommended.

Thumbs Up 8

Mazatlan, Mexico

5 out of 5

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

5 out of 5

If you've never seen it, visit the Arch by water taxi - so beautiful! Also, check out Gardenia's for the BEST fish tacos! (~25 min walk from the port).

Thumbs Up 7