The Bliss is a beautiful ship! The dining rooms had delicious food however, as the cruise went on, the main entreés had less choices. Do breakfast in either Taste or Savor, as the buffet was sooooooooo crowded and it took forever to find a table. Activities on this ship didn't have as many choices add the other NCL ships. If you're going to seder only 1 show, go see Jersey Boys! Fantastic! Cagneys and La Cucina are a must do!
If it's just adults traveling, and you don't need to dip in the pool (which was always crowded), check out Spice H2O on deck 17 aft. Hot tubs, has a nice watery feature to walk thru, quiet. You can sit and relax and get some sun.
As for us, we prefer the smaller ships. This was just way too crowded for us.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation always east at Manhattan Cruise Terminal. We're Casino's at Sea members and we have a quicker line. Check in quick, hint-make sure you print your e-docs, makes check in go much quicker.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Drinks- great as always!! Buffet was always buzzing, vey tough to find a seat during peak times. We did breakfast in Taste. Nice sit down, relaxed atmosphere. Food always tasty and served hot!
Must - Cagney's! The filet was so tender, and the service was great! Get the chocolate layer cake for dessert!
Cagney's Steakhouse
5 out of 5
Never disappoints! Filet was cooked to perfection. The creamed spinach and scalloped potatoes were great accompaniments. Wait staff was vey attentive. For dessert, make sure you order the chocolate layer cake. Hint- they will give you a plate to take back to your cabin if you don't have room for dessert.
Q Texas Smokehouse
2 out of 5
Maybe I had high expectations going there as I an a big fan of BBQ. We went thet on the 1st night, service was great, live music was great, food- not so great. I ordered the shrimp, dry and kinda rubbery. Hubby ordered the platter, one rib was great, the other we couldn't cut the meat off it was so tough. The brisket, there were 2 pieces and cut so thin like cold cuts, and dry. The sides, they served in tiny ramekins. Barely a mouthful of each, so I really didn't get to taste. Kinda disappointed.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There weren't as many activities as on previous NCL cruises. There was always something going on in the Atrium, however, the pool area didn't have as many.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Oh my gosh! If you only go to 1 show, make it Jersey Boys! Fantastic! I felt like I was seeing it again on Broadway. Everything was great! Acting, singing, dancing. I really don't have to say more but do go see Jersey Boys!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Here's where I say some employees went above and beyond, some did exactly the bare minimum, and ome just seemed like they didn't care at all. Our cabin steward Allan always had our room neat and ice in our bucket. And I had asked him in the beginning about the towel animals, and for our 14 night cruise-i had a different towel animal on our bed every night!
The staff and service at Taste was always superb! Kevin our "coffee guy" always filled out cup with a smile and had a little chat with us each morning.
Special shout out to the guys at the bar at Spice H2O! Thank you for a great 2 weeks!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Ship was easy to maneuver around and everything was easily accessible. The public areas were always neat and clean as were the bathrooms.
Yes, at times there were line waits for the elevators, especially on excursion days. Hint- take the stairs if you're only going up or down a few decks.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Mid ship Balcony. Just the right size for the 2 of us. Great feeling having your morning coffee overlooking the beautiful blue ocean! I do think we had enough storage with all the cabinets, shelves, drawers, closet, plus I bring an over the door organizer which does keep the counters neat!
Ship tip
Explore the ship. There's so many hidden things (public sundeck on deck 17 (?) forward. Shares a bar with Vibes. There's a hot tub and lounge chairs. Also make sure you check out the Observation lounge. They serve a light breakfast buffet and lunch and snacks throughout the day. Beautiful views!
Love GSC, been here a few times. However not so enjoyable this time. With a mega ship like this and so many passengers, couldn't find a seat so we settled for chairs behind the grill. Ended up going back to the ship early. Disappointed because I was really looking forward to a chill out beach day.
We did a non NCL excursion to the sloth and monkey farm. Had a personal driver and he took us on a tour of the island stopping at a beach for about an hour.
Felt like a cattle call. This disembarktion was different, instead of going right into the terminal, we had to walk the entire length outside. We disembarked at the rear of the ship (out of the Manhattan Room Restaurant). This was strange, never disembarked like this before.
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