Cruising the Panama Canal is a must do in a lifetime thing. It is worth the money. I think a partial transit would be nice if you're looking for shorter, but full transit was a cool experience.
I love NCL and cruise with them when I can. The Bliss is a great ship and I highly recommend.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
NCL needs some help with embarkation. They have scheduled arrival times, yet no one checked and they allowed every person that arrived to go in. This caused the area to be so full that there are people sitting on the floors everywhere for almost 2 hours before they opened embarkation. The worker kept yelling at people to not block the walkways, but there was literally no place else for them to go. Keep to the scheduled times and stop when it is full until you allow people to embark.
The NCL terminal Miami is so beautiful and modern. It's a great facility, they just need crowd control.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Food was great. The buffet had amazing Indian food every single day! There was a large variety plus a lot of American staples. The desserts were delicious. Specialty restaurants were wonderful as well. Service was spotty. There were times in the main dining rooms where service was A+ and times when it took over two hours for a meal and it was disorganized. Food was always warm when received and everything was always very good.
Le Bistro
5 out of 5
Food was great. I had duck breasts and they were cooked perfectly. The wait staff appeared to be very new as they were uncoordinated. They did this weird thing where they brought the main dish to the table covered with metal covers. They sat everyone's on the table and then the waiters removed the lids all at the same time. I haven't experienced that at LeBistro before. Everyone was nice and their service good.
Coco's
4 out of 5
Very cool place and the shake was yummy. However, I don't think it was worth the $15 for a single small sized shake! Also, their menu is in a booklet, even though you order at the counter. Would make way more sense for it to be a menu board. Also, three shakes we requested (our first, second, and third choices) were not available due toissong ingredients (bananas and candies).
Ocean Blue
4 out of 5
Good restaurant. I really wished they had a much bigger variety of seafood dishes, but what they did have was delicious. I think it's crazy that they charge you extra (on the dinner package) if you order lobster. It's a seafood restaurant. At least one lobster should be included somewhere on the ship.
Maltings Whiskey Bar
5 out of 5
Cool little place. Nice place to hang out on the couches while waiting to go to dinner or a show.
La Cucina
5 out of 5
Ate here twice. The food is amazing. Service was good. Way too much food!!
Cagney's Steakhouse
4 out of 5
The steaks were good. There is always way too much food! I always love Cagney's but I would say this experience was a little less stellar than normal. It was not bad by any means, but the quality didn't seem to be as over the top that it used to be.
Food Republic
5 out of 5
This is by far the most amazing place on the ship!! The service was absolutely amazing!!! Every worker in the restaurant working every table. You order on an iPad and the food was coming to the table within minutes. The food was top notch as well. I think this is the "hidden gem" of this ship!
Los Lobos
5 out of 5
Great food and service. The guacamole made say table-side is amazing.
Q Texas Smokehouse
4 out of 5
Interesting place. Food was great and so was the service. However, the band playing in this restaurant was so loud we couldn't talk to the person next to you. Waitstaff had difficulty talking to us. It was like being in a club while you're trying to have dinner. They need to turn down the music.
Garden Café
5 out of 5
Great Indian food every day!! Ice cream (not just soft serve) was a nice touch. The design seems to help with congestion.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
The go cart track is a cool feature. However, on a cruise where it is mostly older people, not that much fun! The day we did it, it was just the two of us. It was not a race because they slowed the second car down until half the track was between us and the speeds were restricted to prevent catching up and racing. With more people, it would have been a lot of fun though.
The water slides are both fun and well-designed.
Pools were great. I never understand why they make them so deep...no one is diving, make it so most people can stand!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Entertainment was top-notch. Jersey Boys cast was absolutely amazing and talented. Nine cast and band was also wonderful. It was a Broadway production for free (and I've been to hundreds Broadway productions).
The number of passengers who ignore the "No photos or recording" rules and have to have a flashlight flashed in their face, was stunning 🙄.
All of the singers and performers on the cruise are wonderful and talented.
The Beatles group was fun and funny! They need to host this is bigger locations or limit the number of people in the room. The lounge they performed in was so overcrowded (plus the millions of hover round scooters that every person now rides) that it was actual dangerous in rough seas. One person that was standing watching the show during rough seas, fell because a scooter behind her moved.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
As always, the staff was amazing. Very attentive and never had any problems. There are clearly less staff members, but they were hard workers and took great care of us.
The bartenders at the two pool deck bars were great. Sat chatting with them and watched some of the crap they get asked and was amazed at how dumb a lot of passengers are. It was entertaining.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Loved this ship. It's not what most NCL ships look like, but it still is an amazing design. The ship was very clean and they were constantly maintaining it.
The biggest in issue I didn't like was the center of the ship. In the atrium, there is a bar and stage/screen. Great music and entertainment, but it made the Pub upstairs very crowded as that is open to the downstairs. If you wanted to eat there, it was very loud and always too much going on.
The best location was the Observation Lounge IF you could get a seat. The views there arr amazing and the light "snacks" or food served throughout the day is a nice touch. I just wish they would enforce the "no sleeping or feet on the furniture" rules.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Loved this cabin. The bathrooms are amazing compared to every other ship I've been on. Two sinks provides a lot of space and the shower was twice the size as others. The massager was nice as well. Room was comfortable and balcony was perfect.
Noise levels of this room were perfect. Never really heard another person while in our room. The key card in the wall for lights, electricity is a pain, but understand need. Just wish at least one outlet would stay on when key card was out. Not able to charge anything when you aren't in the room.
I thought the room was always freezing (I'm usually chilly in the a/c anywhere). Steward brought me an extra blanket and I was perfect. I always get extra pillows as well (theirs are pretty flat).
The poor cabin stewards are incredibly overworked. They have more rooms than they've ever had and still did a great job. They work all day every day.
Ship tip
Spend some time in the Observation Lounge to sit and read. If was relaxing and amazing. The Food Republic is a must visit!! Sorry that's two pieces of advice!
One of the coolest experiences of my lifetime. What an amazing feat of engineering and history. The cruise line brought a tour guide on board and he announced what was going on and how it worked all the way through the canal (yes all 8 hours). His info was great and I enjoyed it. I kind of wish he was in a place that you could go ask him question or talk to him though.
The pictures they took of us were wonderful and they opened the bow of the ship for people to go watch. This area was very crowded, but was neat.
This made the entire trip worth every penny! They gave us a certificate as well, which was really neat too.
We did the panama canal tour...little did we know that we would be repeating our transit of the canal from the day before again....in the heat...with less shade...and food not as good.
It was neat to go through the smaller locks, but I would have done something different if I had known it would be exact same info.
Panama is pretty run down, even a long the canal zone.
I've been here several times and it's always just OK. We did a hike to a mountain villa and BBQ. The hike was through a typical Mexican village which didn't feel very safe, but was definitely interesting (think raw meat in the back of a pickup truck, next to a horse tied up, by someone's house, on a gravel road). Hike was nothing. Villa was nice, but needs a lot of work. Pool wasn't heated and the "hot springs" were a complete joke.
The port area is really nice. They've opened the new port area and the shops are really like a shopping mall (although that means higher prices). But it was a neat area. The market just behind the shopping area is awful. They won't leave you alone the entire time. I felt like they would be better since they're competing with the mall area, but it was worse than ever.
First time here. What a beautiful and small place. Very friendly. It's a newer port for cruise ships (I think it opened in 2020). But the shops right along the main street were nice and it was a good visit. I would go back here anytime.
Went to the safari on a bus. Cool experience, but it is not close to the port. The bus was hot (a/c could not keep up and needed serviced) and it takes about 1.75 hours one way. Wish we had time at the zoo area as there were some cool animals there. This is largely an industrial port.
The new(ish) NCL terminal is beautiful. I always enjoy visiting Miami and the Biscayne Bay area. We stayed at the Hilton and walked to many things from there. A lot of homeless people and some were pretty crazy, but I never felt unsafe.
Have been here several times bi always wish it wasn't a tender port. Went to a private resort for the day, which was great.
They have made a lot of improvements to the port area, but it just isn't my favorite place. Plenty of things to do there though.
This was a first for us and I very much enjoyed seeing it. However, a thief (a parrot) stole the aglet from my shoelace there!! The area they have right at the port is amazing. If you don't want to go into Cartegena, a least go to the port area. The food was good there as well.
I like the port area here. The little food stand there is always very good. I've never cared much for the rest of the city in previous trips. I stayed in port area and had a fine time and bought a few things for relatives.
Debarkation is never fun or organized anywhere. However, the CBP had it so backed up, it was insane. We stood in line off the ship for almost 2 hours to get through customs. Once outside, the staff were incredibly rude. There limited space at Long Beach Port and no really designated area for ride share (there's an area, but it's only 3-4 cars and it's for people being dropped off and picked up). She kept yelling no matter where we went to be picked up.
Debarkation from actual ship was fast and not a problem. It was once you were in the terminal.
I was very lucky to sail on Bliss post-COVID on a vaccinated only cruise. We went to The Mexican Riviera and Panama Canal (L.A. to Miami), it was very awesome. Since the ship was at such a low capacity, the lounge only got crowded during the high points of the Canal crossing, like when we passed under The Bridge of the Americas.
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