First Haven experience to Alaska on the Bliss

[Cyclops32]

I have been following the Bliss for quite some time but have not see anyone who was in the Haven on the Bliss Alaskan cruise, so I will be posting on some of the things we are doing on the trip as well as highlighting some of the Ha en differences.

 

We flew in from St Louis on Friday and are staying at the Marriott right across the street. I have watched the web cams the prior weeks and have seen the Bliss docking around 5am so I started watching for it at 4:30. It came into sight about 5am and was docked at 5:30. Saw my first people off the ship at about 6:50. Here are some of the photos from our room

 

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[Maya1234]

So excited to follow you! We are going next week. What kind of Haven room are you in?

[BirdTravels]

Have a wonderful cruise! The Bliss is a beautiful ship.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Thanks so much for posting, I will definitely be following along. I really appreciate you taking your time to give us your feed back and updates of the Bliss to Alaska. I do have one question :D Can you post when you find out what day the do the Haven VIP Party, I always enjoy those but dinner reservations sometimes get in the way:(

Great pictures of the Bliss arriving this morning

Just 11 more weeks for me :p

[erdoran]

Following. Dying to know if the haven pool is swimmable without freezing!

[Cyclops32]

Just fi I shed checking in. We called for a bellman at 9:15 since we had a ton of luggage. If you only have a few pieces it is basically across the street. Maybe 500 feet from hotel door to bag drop-off.

 

It appears people started in to security at 9 am. We where in the Haven waiting area but 9:35. Very fast through security. As soon as you get to the top of the escalator there is a sign to the Haven with Doble doors. That's the Haven waiting area. Both pictures are from inside the waiting area.

 

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[Cyclops32]

Following. Dying to know if the haven pool is swimmable without freezing!

My boys will surely test out the pools so will let you know.

 

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[Maya1234]

Our cruise is next week. Staying at the same hotel. Thank you for reporting on how close it is to the Marriott. How was the hotel?

[erdoran]

What time did you drop off luggage? Board? We’re staying by the airport the night before we sail and thought we’d get to port early, drop luggage and explore a bit but not sure how to time it.

[davesgirl51]

Thanks so much for posting, I will definitely be following along. I really appreciate you taking your time to give us your feed back and updates of the Bliss to Alaska. I do have one question :D Can you post when you find out what day the do the Haven VIP Party, I always enjoy those but dinner reservations sometimes get in the way:(

Great pictures of the Bliss arriving this morning

Just 11 more weeks for me :p

 

Haven VIP party is first day at sea. First 2 cruises it was 6:45-7:30.

[tampadee]

Looking forward to your pics & postings!

 

 

We're booked in a Haven in January of 2019.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Haven VIP party is first day at sea. First 2 cruises it was 6:45-7:30.

Thanks so much!! :);)

[Cyclops32]

They brought out some snacks in the Haven waitting area about 10 o'clock and we ended up boarding shortly after 11. They took us to the Haven Observation Lounge and offered virgin mojita or fruit punch along with a few snacks. After about 5 mins they gave us the standard Haven briefing. And as was talked about in another thread the outside sun deck is only for those 16+ which I am not happy about because we would love to see some of the outside forward views with our kids.

 

After the briefing I did some of our bookings that we could not do before the cruise. For some reason they said laser tags was only in the evenings even though a waiter at lunch was surprised to hear that. They also stated that kids between 48 & 58 had to do the two person go karts. So we are split up that our youngest will ride with one of us and the older one will race with the other parent in the race following.

 

After that we went to our cabin just to drop out carry-on off and left a note for our butler.

 

From there it was off to splash academy and checked the boys in and the up to Margaritaville for the free Haven lunch. We were at a table by 12:30. I then headed down to upgrade my 250 mins of WiFi to the unlimited. Surprisingly compared to our Escape cruise last year there was no line. I also found out that I could upgrade to the unlimited plan myself using the icafe app I had from last year. Just choosed the plan I wanted. It did char e the $245 but then looked and saw it credited my $125 for the 250 mins I not used.

 

Going to explore a little bit before Muster Drill

 

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[Cyclops32]

What time did you drop off luggage? Board? We’re staying by the airport the night before we sail and thought we’d get to port early, drop luggage and explore a bit but not sure how to time it.

We dropped off luggage at about 9:30 and boarded a little after 11

 

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[Cyclops32]

Our cruise is next week. Staying at the same hotel. Thank you for reporting on how close it is to the Marriott. How was the hotel?

The hotel was nice. For a corner room and the price it was a bit small. On kid slept on a rollaway that was not the best but over all happy with it. We also at in the hotel the night before and the clam chowder was great. Breakfast was expensive $30 for the buffet which none of us got but even at that 4 adult breakfasts and a kids was still $135 including tip.

 

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[Two Wheels Only]

...And as was talked about in another thread the outside sun deck is only for those 16+ which I am not happy about because we would love to see some of the outside forward views with our kids.

So now I have to wonder.....Will BA/GA/Encore implement the same 16+ policy for the Haven sundeck?

 

What I would do is (don't hate me :cool:) have the Haven take the forward facing sundeck on all the BA/BA Plus ships but split it into all ages on one side and 18+ on the other. This could eliminate Haven guests going for VIBE passes....if the Haven adult half has built-in VIBE access, of course.

[Cyclops32]

So now I have to wonder.....Will BA/GA/Encore implement the same 16+ policy for the Haven sundeck?

 

What I would do is (don't hate me :cool:) have the Haven take the forward facing sundeck on all the BA/BA Plus ships but split it into all ages on one side and 18+ on the other. This could eliminate Haven guests going for VIBE passes....if the Haven adult half has built-in VIBE access, of course.

I would have no issues if the forward facing had half as 18+ but atleast leave some of it open. My wife loves to take photos with her camera and there will be parts of the cruise we want our kids to see and being outside forward would be the best for our family with no glass in front of us

 

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[mjccolorado]

We sailed in the Haven on the 6/9 Bliss cruise with our 12 year old and we had no issues with him being on the top forward facing deck. He met a bunch of boys around the same age and they were in that top level hot tub all the time.

[Two Wheels Only]

We sailed in the Haven on the 6/9 Bliss cruise with our 12 year old and we had no issues with him being on the top forward facing deck. He met a bunch of boys around the same age and they were in that top level hot tub all the time.

The policy recently changed.

[Sand and Seas]

Great pictures!

 

Thanks for sharing with us and hope you have a wonderful cruise:cool:

[erdoran]

Cyclops thanks for boarding info and pix. Can’t wait!

[celie1110]

I’m so excited to see this. We will be in the Haven in August!

[Falckon]

We sailed in the Haven on the 6/9 Bliss cruise with our 12 year old and we had no issues with him being on the top forward facing deck. He met a bunch of boys around the same age and they were in that top level hot tub all the time.

 

Most likely, why the policy was changed.

[Cyclops32]

Most likely, why the policy was changed.

It appears to be across the line. May ask about it but everyone was busy today just trying to get everything booked for everyone.

 

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[Cyclops32]

Well the day has ended for use with such an early start today. The second half of the day we stopped my our cabin before the muster drill and had a few snacks from the captain. We then were assigned C5 as out muster station. Was a bit surprised with having a family 2 bedroom. Was expecting the theater. The C location is in the local. And C5 sign is my the last row of tables going back to the bowling ally. Heard many people complain that there are almost no seats and it was hot standing there for almost 30 minutes.

 

After the drill my sister who is traveling with us wanted to watch the sail way from our balony so she went there with our boys. DW and I headed to the spa for the raffle. Only about 60 people were there and you had to be present to win. They gave a few 75 and 100 dollar and a single $150 spa credit. Was fun. If you won then you had to do a dance. Surprising about 3 peoples names got called but were not there so they drew again. They had a small sales pitch before each name was drawn.

 

After that we went to Food Republic since Haven guests got 1/2 the first night. It was great. Food was great but maybe only 3 or 4 tables had anyone there. The waiter Allan did some magic with our kids and then taught the tricks to them.

 

The kids went off the splash after dinner a d they found out Joker who is one sons favorite staff members is on board.

 

Finished off the night watching the line dancing and played majority rules. Which was a blast

 

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