For a first cruise experience, this wasn't bad. Most of the things that I didn't love were just rookie mistakes. If you're someone who doesn't care that much about the ports, this is a good cruise. This cruise is simply too short and too late in the season for people to get the Alaska experience, though. I'm not too upset about it, because I'd already had lots of experiences whale watching, seeing bears, visiting glaciers, etc, but I think I would have been disappointed if this was a bucket-list cruise for me. The Bliss is also just so large that getting on and off is a production for such short port calls.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
The ship's computer system crashed and delayed embarkation by several hours, but they had us all line up in the terminal anyway, where it was hot/stuffy and terrible.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Main dining rooms all offered the same menu, and usually similar to the buffet. American-style dishes were just average, while the other cuisines were better. Desserts were always excellent. Soups were mediocre, and the breads were disappointing. Specialty dining was better, certainly, but nothing was mind-blowingly good. Expected more/better seafood offerings for an Alaskan cruise. Didn't have a drink package.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Lots of kid centric activities (laser tag, waterslides, go-karts) for a late season Alaskan cruise that hardly saw any use until the last sea day of the cruise when we happened to have good weather. This is a not a good ship for a late season Alaska cruise.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Entertainment was excellent. Two musicals, and very talented Beatles tribute and rock cover bands.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Really great service in the restaurants and from our stewards. The on-board credit and guest services desks need a fair amount of work, though. Lots of communication difficulties, and I think everything was exacerbated by the technology troubles.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Was pretty cozy for two large adults. No outlets near the beds, though, so we had to get an extension cord for CPAP use. Temperature was good, everything was in great condition.
Ship tip
Bring and extension core for CPAP. Sign up for Port Valet as soon as it is available! 1-2 days into the cruise.
Best stop on this cruise. We had good weather so that helped. Easy to walk through the rainforest to some of the attractions and save money over ship excursions.
NCL's docking location is bus ride away from downtown. Many excursion providers were out of passes to visit Mendenhall glacier, and the time was too short for a proper visit or to even take the tram really. Local dining was great though.
Poor docking location. Hoonah itself is pretty dead this late in the season. Many tour operators have stopped providing excursions this late in the season and gone home. I think the cruise operators I trying really hard to make Hoonah a thing, and it's just not really working because everything outside of town is just artifice.
Great port, once you get away from the main drag. The whole main route into downtown is stuff run by the cruise lines mostly. Again, the busing was a real issues. Ended up taking a taxi from the bussing point to the lumberjack show to make it in time.
On-board credit office wasn't able to use my CC for room incidentals, so I ended up at the on-board credit desk on disembarkation morning. Waited in a long/slow line to pay a measly few dollars in extra tips to staff.
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