Norwegian Bliss - Reviews

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.

My wife and I just returned from this Alaskan Cruise in late August. We both have mixed reviews. There is a lot to like about this ship - it's new, it's clean, it's got a wonderful spa and thermal area! We also paid the premium rate to stay in the VIP section called the Haven. Definitely worth the extra $$. The Haven has it's own dining room with excellent dinner and breakfast and ok lunch. You also have your own indoor pool area and outdoor sun deck with hot tub, which we used a lot. The Haven guests have their own separate observation room, consierge desk and bar area. You also get special access when getting on and off the ship using the crew elevators so you can really avoid the big crowds that are in the general population onboard. So, if you're going to do this boat, I highly recommend the Haven experience...otherwise this is a very very crowded ship. In terms of excursions, we did the Mendenhall Glacier and whale watch which I rate a 7 of 10, we also did the helicopter, hike and train glacier experience in Skagway which i rate a 8/10, if you are in shape for the hike of 6 miles. We saw the Jersey Boys show and it was excellent but it only played for two nights and the rest of the trip was void of any really good entertainment. We both had massages at the spa and were very pleased, but the best part of the spa is the (extra charge $) Thermal suite which was never too crowded and had a wonderful sauna, steam room, salt room, and pretty cool massaging pool area. Besides the Haven restaurant, we ate a several specialty dining places including the seafood restaurant (excellent), the steak house (very good) and the french restaurant (excellent dover sole). But there arent many restaurants that are always open on this ship, so we had to do the garden buffet once or twice just to get some late lunch and it is a massive food trough. As far as the schedule, there is a whole lot of onboard ship time on this cruise. And with a lack of activities and entertainment, you can get bored. One stop in Victoria was at 8pm at night, for only 2.5 hours! Ketchikan was only half day and it took 48 hours from getting on the ship to getting off at the first port in Juneau. So the negatives are the crowd size, elevator wait times, the lack of activities and entertainment and limited port times. The positives mostly are due to the Haven experience we had. Alaska is wonderful and so beautiful!

Awful, our vacation was ruined. Ship was over crowded, never less than 45 min wait for restaurants, all specialty restaurants were booked the first hour on board. Food was only good at the French restaurant. Buffet food always cold, but most of the time the only place you could get into. I think they added more rooms without increasing the size of any of the common areas. I was pushed and shoved repeatedly by unsupervised young people.

Mostly great. Disembarkation for the Excursions were not organized well. The security as we came aboard in the ports were rude and arrogant.

We met a really nice group of people due to having to sit in the 20 seat smoking section while getting rained or snowed on, but it made for lots of laughs. I would've been pissed if I had small children who expected to swim or do the the Big Slide advertised. I've sailed Norwegian for 25 yrs & would say this was my only disappointing cruise. But it was ALASKA, so I expected it to be Cold, just expected a Ship made for it (enclosed pool & upper decks). This ship was made for it's original NYC port & trips to Bermuda & Bahamas.- and should stay there.

Norwegian needs some QA/QC. Not sure if Norwegian will be our cruise line in the future. . Did a survey for them, no response yet. They are already trying to solicit another cruis.

Although we were looking forward to the Bliss, turns out they just put too many passengers on it for comfort or safety. The service in the dining rooms was consistently much much slower than we have ever had on any cruise before (10 or 11) and this was frustrating. Also, most public areas were just way too crowded and noisy to enjoy. The exercise room was overcrowded, with waits for the machines. Even the "library" had no comfortable chairs (it was combined with the game room -- bad idea.) They made a larger ship, but sacrificed passenger comfort in the process. And it was more expensive than other 7-day cruises that were more enjoyable -- so what's the upside?

Awesome ship, first time ever seeing a cruise line dispensing free upscale ice cream with multiple flavors for free in the Garden Café with your meals. Plus have multiple ice cream dispensing machines to satisfy any extra cravings. Extra charge I found on other lines. Meeting Wyland the artist (who's paintings are at the bow of the ship) by chance. He just happened to be on the ship. Coolest guy ever! Thanks for all you do to save the whales and make us aware of our environment.

Ship was wonderful, food the best I have ever had, rooms nice for a ship. The Alaska cruise was so beautiful !!! While your sailing you see mountains on both sides of ship, see lots of whales, sea lions, and more it was just wonderful. The crew was so nice but the guest service desk was horrible no help at all they just read from a script. Didn't like the hidden cleaning cost of 15.00 per person each day !!!

It was a nice vacation. I enjoyed all the excursions we went on. The two shows, Havana and Jersey Boys were very good.

Overall excellent. Positives: Allowing passengers to experience the glaciers on the bow of the ship. Medical evacuation for a sick passenger was announced and went smoothly. In spite of delay, the ship still arrived on schedule in Seattle. Some concerns were: the muster on the first day did not have any staff helping passengers get where they needed to go. The PA was not clear in the hallways & we were not sure where to tune in on our TV.

Paid Excursion were not staged on the ship to get everyone of in a timely manner.

We did a 7 day inside passage Alaska cruise in July 2019. Alaska experienced record breaking high temperatures during that month. We expected to see snow, ice, glaciers and icebergs but we saw only one from the ship. Book excursions! See Alaska in all of its glory. While we only saw one glacier, the scenery was still majestic. I was in awe every time I opened the curtains to our balcony. We paid attention to the weather forecast and packed bathing suits, winter coats, boots, flip flops and everything in between. Yes, we sat poolside in Alaska. Amazing.

The Bliss is a nice ship, but truth be told, if I was to book another Alaskan cruise, I'd compare time in port and go with the ship that gave us the most time in port. This was our 24th cruise, but I don't see going to Alaska over and over, so I sort of regretted basing our pick on the ship instead of itinerary.

We enjoyed our time but the crowds off and on the boat made our experience not as restful. Our room and views were amazing and the staff was helpful and kind. The restaurant experience proved to be the best. The food was wonderful.

The waether was perfect for this ship. The staff was awesome. Bartenders were very attentive.

This is our first cruise, and we were very disappointed. We travel quite a bit, and considering how expensive the trip was, it did not meet our expectations. I would not travel with Norwegian again.

Bliss is a great ship but it has its issues. You need to plan, book things early. Do not count on the Cruise Staff for entertainment, you need to entertain yourselves, unless you like trivia 3 times a day for 7 days. Go to the Specialty dining it is worth it. Buffet food is real good, main dining room food is good, but they need to expand the menu a bit. More themed nights. I would the cruise again.

Muy Buen servicio el de la Aviation en especial atención

Read my comments above for each. Overall, this was a 'Walmart experince in a Neiman Marcus type store' The cruise needs restructuring for much longer time at each stop; not a few hours in rainy Ketchikan ; not get to Victoria in the dark late night for less than 3 hours; not spend a lot of money for excursions in Juneau to be rushed back . The whole experience was bad