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Norwegian Bliss Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 43

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Alaska Glacier Bay (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 01, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Bliss

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: GTY

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Would probably do this cruise again but would certainly go with a different cruise line. The overall cruise was great with what we saw. The weather held out and we had no rain in all ports of call. The vistas we saw in Alaska were unbelievable. Specialty restaurants rule the roost on NCL and they will give you better foods and entertainment but you have to pay for it. Musicians had limited venues to play from, mostly near bars or specialty restaurants. Atrium was used for game shows instead of the main theatre. No extra shows in them other than the broadway shows which were good. We love country music but the only venue for country was a specialty restaurant. We either had to sit at a very small bar on a bar stool and order something to drink or to sit in comfort at a table had to order and pay for a meal. Sad! We don't drink but for those that do there are 22 bars in all parts of the ship to quench your thirst. Can't bring pop or even a small bottle of water on board. They want you to buy. Beers go for up to $10 and mixed drinks up to $15 and the drinks were pushed. The food was ok but nothing to write home about. We didn't use the main dining rooms a lot because when we did we did not have good experiences with the quality of the meals(tough steaks and bland salmon). No lobster unless you went to the upscale specialty restaurants and paid a surcharge.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

No lobster in main dining rooms. Steaks, even rare were tough. Salmon was tasteless. Ate a lot in buffet where you could at least get a lot of selections and if not ok go and get something else. Restaurant The Local was a lot better and the food was better but the prime rib was tough.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

nothing outdoors was really used as you were in Alaska. Atrium was used a lot during the days for game shows.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Theatre not used to full potential as was basically used for the broadway shows for 4 nites and if you didn't reserve you probably weren't able to get in to the 4 shows given. Luckily we got in to Jersey Boys. It was done really well but a lot of x-rated language in Jersey Boys which wasn't there in New York even though all ages of kids were allowedin to see the show. People weren't told about the language. Musicians were great.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Do you really need 22 bars and the front of the Observation deck which should be geared to see Glacier Bay was a glorified lounge with a large circular bar taking up a large portion of the floor space and lounge style seating. Not everyone drinks!

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Don't believe everything told to you by Norwegian. Check the reviews, especially the unbiased ones.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

4 out of 5

Juneau, Alaska

4 out of 5

Skagway, Alaska

3 out of 5

White Pass railroad trip was unbelievable. Visability was superb. Very comercialized town.

Thumbs Up 4

Cruise Glacier Bay

5 out of 5

Again the visability was great with the clouds staying high. Glaciers and the mountain vistas were...'WOW'! Too bad didn't see any whales.

Thumbs Up 0

Ketchikan, Alaska

4 out of 5

Victoria, British Columbia

3 out of 5

can't see much when you only have 3 hours to see a beautiful city and we arrived at 8pm so dark. Would be great to see the city in the daytime with more time to see it.

Thumbs Up 2