Hllb

Onboard Breeze right now. As far as I know, we are going to all ports but $8.62 was refunded to each of us for taxes, fees, and port expenses. Any idea why? Guest services lines are LONG.

Thanks! It’s our first cruise so we weren’t sure how strict they were. The rest of us have cocktail attire.

We forgot to pack my sons pants. Would we be turned away if he was in khaki shorts and a dress shirt?

Great, thanks everyone.  I had planned to put them in the checked bags anyway, just wasn't sure how it worked.

We leave on Saturday for our first cruise and I need to know how and when they search bags at boarding.  We have an 8 year old and we are bringing Santa presents on the cruise.  I'm worried about them searching the bags in front of us and our son seeing his presents. Do they search your bags in front of you, or later?  Do they search every bag or only ones that they see something fishy on x-ray?

18 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I just did it last week. I covered it pretty good in my live review including the times we left and arrived places along with bathroom breaks. But the short answer is an hour and a half being the longest between bathroom breaks.

 

 

 

Thank you so much! I’ll have to read your full review

Can anyone who has gone on this excursion through Carnival tell me how accessible bathrooms are during the trip?  Specifically, how long one would have to go without access to one?

I'm canceling my 2019 trip on the Bliss today. Mainly because of the cost of the trip and the disappointment in how the extras on the ship are working. We booked the Bliss because we have 3 kids (ages 9, 14, and 15 next summer) and thought the go karts and laser tag would be great for them. When we booked (quite a while ago), NCL hadn't stated those activities cost extra. I did find that out pretty quickly, and got over that issue. Then, they started raising the pricing, from $5 each to $7, and now I believe they are $10 each. Not thrilled with the price increases but still generally OK enough with it. Then I started reading that unless you're on the ship and reserve times before noon on embarkation day, all the slots are sold out. That was my tipping point. For a family of 5, with excursions and plane tickets, the AK cruise was going to cost us nearly $15,000. For just one week of vacation. When I start thinking about what else I could do with that money (we spend less than that for 2 weeks in Korea, could easily spend 2 weeks in Europe for less too) it just wasn't worth it. Add on the competition to get reservations for activities, and it just was no longer worth it to me. We'll pick a different vacation for next year and maybe my husband and I will do an AK cruise when the kids are older.

 

That's not to say that the Bliss is a bad ship and that everyone would view the scheduling and upcharge issues the way I do. I just decided that spending almost $2200 per day was not a good use of my money.

So there's no way to book some of these things in advance? Honestly, from what I've read, I'm really considering canceling our trip (Bliss to AK in 2019). The reason I picked that ship was for the extras for my family to do but if I can't book ahead, there's a very good chance we can't do any of them. And they keep raising the prices.

 

Has anyone else thought that it sounds like a lot of money and work for no guarantee you can actually do anything?

While I haven't been on a cruise, we are a family of 5 and travel together. We were just at Disney and our hotel room there was similar in size to the family suite on Bliss (our hotel room may have had an additional 20 to 30 sq. ft). It was absolutely fine. We didn't spend much time in our room. One bathroom is tight, but fine. I mean, people live in houses with only one bathroom all the time.

 

There is another option, however. We are booked on Bliss for AK in 2019. It's about $2K more, but we have 4 people booked in a balcony cabin, and 1 person booked in a studio across the hall (I think deck 7). If you were willing to do an ocean view and then a studio, you could get that price point down a bit (though maybe wouldn't be on the same deck). Just something to think about. I'm still kind of torn on spending the extra money, but likely will. For AK, I really wanted a balcony option.

There is a form you fill out on NCL.com and submit. Hover over the help button, and then click "contact us". Click the + button where it says "Guest Relations - before your cruise". You will see the link to email them.

 

Thank you! The issue was that selecting "Help" from within MyNCL would only get you phone numbers. To see the other options, you couldn't be in MyNCL.

One of my reservations isn't showing up in NCL. The only thing I can find on the website is a phone number, and I'd prefer not to have to call. Is there an email somewhere?

I seem to disagree... compared to the cost of the other ships going to the same intinerary, the Bliss is double the price.... the go-karts should be included in the fare!

 

The RCI ship that has bumper cars doesn't charge for those. But again, it's not the fact that they're charging that bothers me, it's the fact that there aren't other activities available that are free. And, while I'm sure the kids clubs are good, I'm not looking to dump my kids in a club and not see them. It's a family vacation, so I'd like to spend time with them and do stuff. We'll be going to the Caribbean at Christmas on our first cruise and do plan on taking in all the activities on that Carnival ship together. I have no intention of canceling the AK trip because of the charges, but it's disappointing. I really wanted Ovation of the Seas (RCI) but their itinerary isn't good.

I don't mind the charge if there is more to do like on the Joy. It looks like that ship has a whole virtual arcade.

 

Unfortunately, that doesn't exist on the Bliss. We would've liked it too.

If they made them free by reservation, it would have to be limited for reservations. So if they charge $5, you or your kids can ride as many times as you are willing to pay for.

It's the better system actually.

You'd have plenty of pissed off people if they made it free and you could only get one reservation for the cruise. So the people who won't do it, won't - whereas if it were free they would make a reservation anyway thinking they might try it.

 

If we were bringing kids, we'd just do what we always did. $20 a day spending money for each kid for video games or whatever. If they required more, they just had to come ask. We'd either say yes or no depending on what it was for.

So my boys, when they were young, would probably drive the race cars 4 times a day the first two days and then would be over it.

I think the laser tag will be the bigger draw. More fun. Especially for families and kids with their friends.

 

My issue is that these are the only real "activities" aside from the pool (at least that I've seen). If there were other things to do, like mini golf, a ropes course, climbing wall, etc. than have a couple things for an upcharge wouldn't be a big deal. But, on an AK cruise, having an open air pool isn't necessarily going to be usable. Perhaps there are other activities on the ship and I just haven't seen them yet? I'd also say that with 3 kids, a 7 day cruise, $20 per day per kid is a LOT of money for something that should feel mostly all inclusive.

I'm curious about why they're charging for the go-karts and the laser tag. When I booked originally, I wasn't aware of that. I became aware shortly after that they would likely be a charged thing. But, those are really the two main options on the ship for activities. There isn't much else. Why are they charging for the main activities? Is it really just a money grab? For crowd management, they could have made them reservation only, but still free. It's just another thing I have to factor into cost with a family of 5.

I have two pair of Vionic and they're fairly comfortable. However, they aren't particularly wide. I have regular width and they're a bit too narrow. So keep that in mind if you have wider feet.

I double checked and yes, the balcony cabin only holds 3 and the inside only holds 2, so we are at max capacity for the cabins. We should be good then. I got worried when I read another thread about someone being moved without notification LOL. I supposed not that it truly matters, but...

Good to hear!

We have two cabins - a balcony and inside, directly across from each other, for our family of five. I’m worried they’ll move one of our cabins. I think we are at max capacity for both cabins so I think that should help our chances?

Oofos flip flops are running recovery sandals. I have Achilles tendinitis and they are awesome.

I would not leave my kids alone in a foreign country and that’s how I view a cruise ship.

Yes they do, just leave the kids with the groups. Some do it with the little kids.

Well, that is better - you're not just leaving the kid on the ship to wander LOL. But I still wouldn't be likely to do it. You just can't guarantee you could get back quickly if something happened.

We also did not leave the ship without them when they were younger. We wanted them with us in case something happened that caused us not to get back on the ship. All it takes is once.

 

Wow, yeah, no way we’d leave them on the ship if we went ashore. Do people do that?!

I have 3 kids, who will be 9, 14, and 15 when we go. We chose NCL Bliss because of the larger number of activities for the kids. In 2019 (when we're going too, in June), the Bliss will have a better itinerary than it does in 2018 as it will include Glacier Bay.