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Bliss / Live / Solo - Dec-01-08-2018...


sid_9169
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Four score and 687 days ago, I booked myself a cruise upon the Norwegian Bliss... It was still only a couple of months into construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany... It's inaugural transatlantic sailing was still 465 days into the future. The deck plans were not even made public yet, but after sailing the Epic, Getaway, and Escape, I knew it was my destiny to sail upon her to the sunny Caribbean... This will only be the 3rd cruise for the Bliss once it reaches Miami, following it's transit of the Panama Canal. 

 

Now that the Bliss has made it to Miami for it's official Caribbean debut, a few mostly mixed reviews have trickled in on the CC message boards. Some include words, such as "underwhelmed" and "folding chairs" in the Garden Cafe, to "slow" or "poor" service in some of the restaurants, "the public bathrooms were a nightmare", ect...  Also, reports of laser tag and go-karts completely booked up on boarding day, with no reservations for the rest of the cruise... As usual, I'll be going in with a totally open mind, and look forward to an awesome week on the nearly new ship!...

 

***This photo stolen from NCL FB page... I don't have any actual ship photos yet...

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For whatever reason, the website added my previous photo to the next post. Have I mentioned that I hate that they did away with the Cruise Critic app? It was so much easier and straight forward for use with a mobile device...

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One final check of the PO box before leaving town...

 

***Side note: I can't stand the way that the "new improved" CC website loads and then loads a second time every time I visit the page. Am I the only one who experiences this? Any tips or tricks would be helpful, I haven't totally figured it all out yet...

 

 

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This cruise will mark my "return" to Norwegian. My last 2 sailings being on the Carnival Vista in May, and the Carnival Magic in September... I will try to compare / contrast the similarities and differences along the way. As I don't really attend the entertainment on either line, the main differences for me are mostly the ship, with Carnival being a bit more "basic" while Norwegian leans a bit more "upscale"... Other than that, the food and beverages on the 2 lines are a bit different, with Carnival offering more "included" lunch options, while NCL offers more "specialty" / "for fee" options... The one thing I will miss the most is Carnivals' Alchemy Bar, which NCL has no equal, other than possibly the Haven Bar, which I will not have access to. 

 

I booked my flights way back in February of this year, and I used Priceline Express Deals (where you don't actually know the hotel until after booking) and ended up at the Conrad Miami in Brickell, which I've stayed at before. My normal pre-cruise night shenanigans will include eating and drinking at several places around the Brickell area. I'll be hitting a few of my regular happy hours spots, as well as a couple of new places, which I try to do each visit. 

 

I'm booked in the Studio Cabin complex in the exact same cabin that I've stayed in 3 times on the Escape (12539) I don't have any sort of specialty dining package, but I'll definitely be trying out Los Lobos and the new "Q" bbq venue, as well as Food Republic... I'm going to visit Cagney's and La Cucina for my 2 free Platinum meals, as well... I can't say that I'm excited at all about the go-cart track or laser tag, but I believe that I'll be able to find plenty of things to occupy my sea days... I do plan on going for a Vibe Pass, so I plan to get to the port relatively early on embarkation day to stake out my spot at the front of the boarding area. Being Platinum helps in this regard, as I won't require a boarding group number. 

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Greetings, and THANK YOU for your background and pre-trip report. We will be boarding with you (although at different times as we're not near Platinum). This will be great fun. Now if only the NCL Upgrade fairies would render a positive decision. I mean, they only have a few hours to accept one of our awesome bids ............

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As far as my port plans, I will probably take the Red Hook ferry to St John while in St Thomas. In Tortola, I have a catamaran trip to Norman Island, the Caves, and the Indians booked with Aristocat Charters... For Nassau, I've decided to just count it as a "sea day" on a mostly empty ship...

 

I've gone back and fourth on whether to buy NCL's obscenely priced Unlimited Premium WiFi Package for the Live Review. It costs about twice the amount of Carnivals', but in order to go "totally live" I'm going to have to just "grin and bear" the absurdly priced plan. Hopefully this review gains some traction, so as to make spending all that money worth it for both of us... $206.50 buys a lot of food and adult beverages, you know... Also, with the "Death" of the Cruise Critic App, I find using the site with the browser to be a real battery vampire, but hopefully with the use of 2 different phones, I'll be able to keep it moving along... I'll be alternating back and fourth between my trusty rusty Motorola Droid Turbo II and my newer Google Pixel II XL, which takes fantastic pictures. 

 

Hopefully you're all ready for a week filled with plenty of food and beverage p0rn, as well as whatever else interesting I can get into on Norwegian's nearly new flag ship... I will try and answer some questions along the way, if you have any. I will bring home a full set of the Freestyle Daily, but I don't have the computing skills to upload them. I would be willing to mail them to someone's PO Box, if anyone is interested. My reviews lean more towards "entertaintment" than "informative", but I will try my best to cover all the bases... (My reviews lean towards something of a "train of thought" type narrative more than anything. Often just ramblings about this or that...) Other than that, my style of cruising mostly revolves around eating and drinking and exploring about the ship. Hopefully I can make this entertaining enough to keep you engaged throughout the week. 

 

***Another stolen from the internet pic...

 


 

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My work day has been (thankfully) serene... I'm hoping to make it through the next hour and a half stress-free. Unfortunately, I then have to do my "part time job" which will hopefully be done before 7:00 PM. I clean a local small office building weekly for extra cash. Cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors isn't really my idea of a good time, but my goal is to pay off all of my credit card debt in the next few months, and every penny counts. (Plus, I'm going to be spending a small fortune this week, first in Miami for Happy Hour. Then I have some port plans that will put another nice dent in my wallet...)

 

After that, it's home make dinner and pack my suitcase. I never do this any further in advance than the night prior to leaving. (Tradition, I guess) Of course, there will be some adult beverages flowing during and after the whole dinner / packing thing. My entire suitcase will mostly consist of swimming trunks and T-shirts, so it should come together pretty easily...

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2 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

How's this for an exciting pre cruise day lunch? I need to eat quickly. Things are starting to get really busy on my final work day.

 

 

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I never put tobasco on them before. I might have to try that if I can't find the ones canned in hot sauce. 

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Are you planning on attending the planned solo meetup groups for studio cabiners? If so, please let us know things like... how attendance is, how (and who) the solo coordinator is and how overall the experience is.

 

Its an excellent program, generally, but I have seen instances where it can get rocky depending on the participants and how well the solo coordinator can work to keep people concordant. In one instance, I witnessed a full-blown revolt against the solo coordinator, complete with a letter of complaint posted publicly and signed by participants.

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9 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

Are you planning on attending the planned solo meetup groups for studio cabiners? If so, please let us know things like... how attendance is, how (and who) the solo coordinator is and how overall the experience is.

 

Its an excellent program, generally, but I have seen instances where it can get rocky depending on the participants and how well the solo coordinator can work to keep people concordant. In one instance, I witnessed a full-blown revolt against the solo coordinator, complete with a letter of complaint posted publicly and signed by participants.

 

I always attend on the first night, at the least... The solo group can vary from sailing to sailing. Sometimes a nice fun group, who does things together, sometimes the whole thing goes to s#!t pretty quickly. For myself, I normally feel it out at the beginning, but depending on how that goes, I head out on my own... I will fill you in once on board...

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38 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

 

I always attend on the first night, at the least... The solo group can vary from sailing to sailing. Sometimes a nice fun group, who does things together, sometimes the whole thing goes to s#!t pretty quickly. For myself, I normally feel it out at the beginning, but depending on how that goes, I head out on my own... I will fill you in once on board...

I was shocked and stunned to hear that you had no other solos with you at the solo table on your Vista cruise. Not even one. What a let down.

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