Trip Report of 7 Days on NCL Bliss - First Seattle to Alaska Sailing - June 2-9, 2018

[SeahawkSiren]

Stunning, absolutely stunning photos, Siren! Two tips, though … always carry a fully charged spare camera battery in your pants/jeans pocket! And if your camera has this option, put the Airplane Mode on, this will conserve the battery and stop it from draining fast but it means no GPS.

 

Thanks so much. I will look into that airplane mode feature.

[SeahawkSiren]

We are doing the Bliss in February 2019 and then the Mexican Riviera the last week of October 2019! Halloween should be fun on the Bliss right?

 

That's the same week in October we are looking at too. Should be fun! :cool:

[SeahawkSiren]

Enjoying your review so much! I'm loving that Waterfront area...I can't believe there weren't more people out there with you! Or ANY for that matter...

 

Hi Anita. Glad you are enjoying the review. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either that I had The Waterfront area all to myself most of the week. I think a lot of people on this cruise must live in very warm climates so those temperatures (in the 50's and 60's) were considered cold to them. Fine by me. It was awesome out there and so quiet. There were times I didn't even need a jacket on. Other times when it was a little windy I did wear a jacket. And when we ate outside at Los Lobos that one evening we were sitting under the heat lamps so that was nice too.

[SeahawkSiren]

Outstanding post of your Bliss trip to Alaska !

We moved to Seattle in 2011 from Tampa Florida.

We quickly realized that the West Coast was where old ships went to live out their last days.

I hoped and hoped we would get a state of the art ship ANYWHERE on the West Coast.

Bliss is our dream come true and with the widening of the Panama Canal I'm certain more will follow.

We are booked for a B2B in October on Bliss.... can't wait :)

 

Hey Mike. Thanks for the kind words and glad you are enjoying the review!

 

Wow, Tampa to Seattle - there's a major change in climate for ya!

 

I'm jealous you are doing a B2B. I don't know if you have been on a Panama Canal cruise yet or not but if you look at my signature I also did a review of our Panama Canal cruise back in 2016. We were on the NCL Sun. So check out that review if you are interested. That was an amazing bucket list cruise which happened completely by chance after NCL cancelled a Mexican Riviera cruise we had booked and they switched it to a Panama Canal itinerary. So we got a 14 night cruise out of an originally booked 11 night cruise. I would put our Panama Canal cruise in the Top 2 of all our cruises. It was awesome!

[SeahawkSiren]

Thursday, June 7. At Sea. Well, unfortunately the Alaska part of this cruise is now over. It went by so fast. This was our second and final at sea day and we were heading for Victoria, BC. We spent the morning exploring the ship a little more.

We then went to Margaritaville for lunch. We ordered the Volcano Nachos which are listed under the “snack” section of the menu so we thought it would be a small appetizer size plate to share. Uh, no. We were laughing by the time we saw the size of this plate of nachos! It was huge and that in itself could have been a meal to share. :eek:

 

 

But no, we had more food coming.

 

I had the Beach Club sandwich and DH had the Volcano Burger.

 

 

 

And of course I had to get a Perfect Margarita!

 

 

My clothes do feel tighter this week and I'm sure this meal alone was a solid contributor to that! :')

Edited June 14, 2018 by SeahawkSiren

[SeahawkSiren]

Later in the afternoon I went to a wine and cheese tasting event at The Cellars. What a very nice space this is.

 

 

 

 

 

Now that's a bottle of wine!

 

[SeahawkSiren]

The cost of the event was $21.95 pp. It was fun and very informative and I learned some new things.

 

These were the tastings.

 

 

 

 

 

I probably had the least sophisticated wine palate of anyone in there. But it was fun and I'm glad I went. It did inspire me to try a couple of glasses of red wine during the cruise, and this coming from a gal who only drinks white wine. I will also be buying some red wines occasionally now that I'm back home. So you never know what experiences on a cruise will carry with you.

[SeahawkSiren]

Guess where I went next before dinner?

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Our first of two Platinum dinners was at Le Bistro which included a bottle of wine.

 

Here is the wine list when using a Platinum voucher.

 

 

Here is the wine we chose.

 

 

 

I have to get the french onion soup every time!

 

 

I had the Portobello Mushroom with spinach and red peppers.

 

 

And creme brulee for dessert.

 

Edited June 14, 2018 by SeahawkSiren

[SeahawkSiren]

We enjoyed a very nice sunset from our balcony that evening.

 

 

 

 

I love this shot where these really low, dark clouds rolled by ever so briefly.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

That's it for tonight. I will get my final installment done as soon as I can over the next day or two.

[Mimi19510]

Nice review. Thanks for posting.

[cruisingjodi]

Very nice review. Love the pictures.

[atanac]

I know there will be a basic shuttle from the cruise terminal in Victoria to downtown. If you could

find out what they charge for it I would really appreciate finding out.

[cruisestan2]

Excellent review, great commentary and beautiful pictures. Thank you for your time and effort. Will be on the 2019 Bliss cruise during super bowl. Maybe your Seahawks will be playing.

[SeahawkSiren]

I know there will be a basic shuttle from the cruise terminal in Victoria to downtown. If you could

find out what they charge for it I would really appreciate finding out.

 

My review is not a live review and the cruise is already over. But I'm sorry I don't know the answer to your question anyway as we didn't get off the ship in Victoria.

[SeahawkSiren]

Excellent review, great commentary and beautiful pictures. Thank you for your time and effort. Will be on the 2019 Bliss cruise during super bowl. Maybe your Seahawks will be playing.

 

Thank you very much for the kind words. Yes, it is time consuming and a lot of effort but I'm enjoying reliving the cruise.

 

Have fun watching the Super Bowl on the Bliss. That would be fun. Yeah, that would be awesome if the Seahawks were in it but I don't know how high I'm going to get my hopes up this year. I think we're in the dreaded "rebuild" mode. And I've gotta admit, it's going to be painful to see Richard Sherman in a 49ers jersey this year. :mad:

[SeahawkSiren]

Friday, June 8. Victoria, BC, Canada. We did not get off the ship in Victoria.

Had an early breakfast.

 

 

This Vanilla Pound Cake French Toast was soooooo good!

 

 

 

We had an early breakfast because I wanted to get to the Thermal Suite right when they opened at 8:00 a.m. I was on a mission to get a heated tile lounger!

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Mission accomplished this time!

 

 

Some other photos of the Thermal Suite.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Me likey the Thermal Suite when there are no people in it.

 

 

And me likey the water with orange slices to drink while in the Thermal Suite.

 

We need more areas like this in life.

 

 

Aaahhh. Happy girl now on a heated tile lounger with this view.

 

 

I would probably not purchase a Thermal Suite pass again for an Alaska cruise. It was not worth the money as I didn’t utilize the pass enough with being busy in ports and only 2 sea days. And when I was in there I was usually not successful in getting a lounger. Will rethink in the future whether I will purchase one of those passes again. Perhaps on a longer cruise with more sea days it would be a better investment.

[SeahawkSiren]

Had a nice lunch at Savor.

 

Caesar Salad and a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich.

 

 

 

We skipped dessert after lunch so we could save our appetite for later in the afternoon when we finally made it to Coco's for sweet treats!

 

I had the Nutella and Milk Chocolate Gelato.

 

 

And DH had the Snickers Bar Milkshake!

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After Coco's it was time for my last visit out to The Waterfront. Oh how I miss this place.

 

 

It was a nice to have these on The Waterfront to get a close up view of things!

 

 

Watched the Canadian pilot boat pull alongside as we headed into Victoria.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

It's Go Kart time!

 

 

 

At first I was not sure I even wanted to go on these things, but it was so much fun! Our reservation time was for 5:00 but we didn't actually get into the carts until almost 6:00.

 

 

 

It's Go Time!

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Since we didn't get off the ship in Victoria we just sat on our balcony for awhile watching the other boating and ship activity.

 

 

 

HAL Eurodam coming in.

 

 

Followed by Ruby Princess.

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Our second and final Platinum dinner was at La Cucina.

 

 

 

 

I usually only drink white wines but I was inspired after the prior day’s wine tasting event that I ordered a couple different red wines to try something different. I had a Chianti and a Pinot Noir.

 

Evidence that I drank a red wine.

 

 

We always enjoy our meals here.