The PROS and CONS of the Norwegian Bliss

Norwegian Bliss Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 8
Helpful Votes: 82

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5
Norwegian Bliss

15 Night Panama Canal: Mexico & Costa Rica (Miami To Los Angeles)

Sail date: January 07, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Bliss

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 14403

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Review for Norwegian Bliss 15 day Panama Canal cruise (January 7th-22nd) Cabin #14403 PROS: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Nice clean modern ship! Excellent food in the Garden Cafe buffet, expecially the vegetables, eggplant, salads, desserts (fruit cake) and Indian section. Observation Deck (deck #15) is nice (its quiet with lots of chairs and snacks). Country music band (Chatahochees) in the barbeque restaurant (Q) dekc #6, played great music for dancing and the wood dance floor there is clean and large enough for country two-step. Ballroom hour (every day) in the Atrium deck #6, (nice wood dance floor) from 6-7PM with DJ Luis (who takes requests). DJ Luis did a nice job of playing a good mix of waltz, tango, foxtrot, swing, cha cha, salsa, hustle, etc... Comedians (Dylan Mandlsohn, Allison, Johnny Cardinale) Good Magician (Greg Gleason) also did an improve memory workshop. Live (Duo Estrella) and DJ (Mike Blocker) Latin music in the Sugracane Lounge on deck #8 with a small but nice wood dance floor. Good shower water pressure in stateroom with good temperature controls. Four ping pong tables on the ship in a good location so you can play anytime. Good choice of free in-room TV and movies. Good shows (Jersey Boys and Live! The Beatles). Nice clean wood dance floors in the Q, Atrium and Sugarcane lounge. Best ports (Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucus Mexico). CONS: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Not enough closet space in stateroom. No drawers in stateroom (only cubbies). Not much room to walk on outdoor deck #16 when all the deck chairs are put out. Must walk before 9AM to avoid the additional deck chairs (tripping hazard) or walk on outside deck #8 instead. The Go Cart track is a waste of space. I recommend that it be removed and replaced with more space for walking, sunning and/or some pickle-ball courts. The gym is small. The free weights are good but the exercise machines are old and difficult to use. Warning! The pood deck is wet and slippery at night in front of the stage where they play dance music. This is a safety hazard! Many of the seat cushions in the Garden Cafe Buffet are filthy dirty. I often put a cloth napkin on the seat before sitting down. In our stateroom (14403), there is the sound of water running through pipes at all hours of the night (2AM, 5AM, etc...). Makes it hard to sleep. Don't book this room! The ship was supposed to stop in Costa Rica but for some reason this stop was cancelled and replaced with a port stop in Acapulco Mexico. Acapulco Mexico looks great from the ship while in port, but I would not recommend getting off the ship as there are machine gun wielding military troops everywhere on the street and also running around in military vehicles with machine guns mounted on top.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ports of call

Cartagena, Colombia

3 out of 5

Panama Canal Transit

4 out of 5
Very interesting.

Panama City, Panama

3 out of 5
We took a taxi to the old city. Not much to see there. I would not go there again.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

3 out of 5
There is nothing to do in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. I suggest that you book a shore excursion to Antigua.

Acapulco, Mexico

1 out of 5
Not safe. Armed militia everywhere!

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

5 out of 5
This was the best port. Take a taxi to El Mercado (the boardwalk) and enjoy a 1.5 mile walk along the beach.

Mazatlan, Mexico

4 out of 5
Take a taxi to El Mercado (the boardwalk) and you can walk for miles.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

5 out of 5
Take a 20 minute walk around the marina to reach the beach.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
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7 Comments

Joshharris    1 year ago

Is garden cafe included?

Ship2Shora    1 year ago

Thx for the info, very thorough 😉

leeinme33    1 year ago

I was in 14405 in November and I heard that same noise of running water late at night too. There was also repeating noise like someone was pushing a cart from one place to another repetitively through out the night. Maybe like a laundry cart, not sure but I typically took a melatonin and wore earplugs so I slept pretty good but on the nights prior to bed i heard it too. That and the heavy doors. My neighbor just let it slam shut, they were older so they probably didn’t think much of it but there’s a definite difference between letting it shut on it’s own and shutting it as one should.

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

Jerrec    1 year ago

Nice thorough review, though many would disagree about the go karts, myself included. I enjoy them and think they are a fun addition to the ship.

javawoody    1 year ago

Appreciate the feedback

AuntPinkie    1 year ago

Appreciate your details.

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