Bliss review - Mexican Riviera Oct 27-Nov 3

[tanyaewa]

Thoughts on the Bliss...

 

We love the aesthetic of Norwegian.  Amazing modern decor and spaces.  The Observation Lounge is incredible.  The Waterfront is spectacular. Simply lovely.  It's what I loved the most from our first Norwegian Getaway cruise and made me want to cruise with them again - again I was blown away at how nice it is to lounge out there

Many specialty dining options to choose from so the dining perk is a plus- but main dining is a little uninspired.  Buffet is really big, clean space but repetitive.  The Local was good for wings and their chicken salad sandwch was the BEST

The theatre shows were simply amazing.  "Six" was the best musical I've ever seen. I can not praise it enough

Drinks perk and dining perk were great to have and the staff was very gracious and generous.  Excursion OBC perk is useless on this itinerary as their excursions are very wildly over priced. Wifi perk is confusing tp acess and adds a user fee

 

There are drawbacks of a super ship.  It's HUGE and there are LOTS of people.

Only 2 banks of elevators (with no central atrium elevators set) means you do a lot of hallway walking, stair climbing, or waiting for elevators.  It's slightly off-putting and limits how much exploring you can do, and your ease of moving about.

There are lots of areas that sit mostly empty during the day and after 8pm- The District, Q, specialty restaurants,  had only a smattering of people in them that I ever saw whereas the atrium was always crammed with people for every *activity*.  Margaritaville is a waste of space.  There are very limited food choices between 3:30 and 5 on the outside decks (only Observation Lounge or Local) and after 9:30ish it's only the Local.  They should REALLY change Margaritaville to a grab and go outlet in those off hours for when you are returning from an excursion or hanging out enjoying the decks or  playing games later in the evening

There is a lot of square footage that has limited access - Vibe, Haven, Spice so there really aren't many places to go during the day unless you are over 18 or ante up extra $. I wasn't even given access to the spa after I paid $175 for a massage.

 

The staterooms were so pretty and modern but the storage space was so limited it was almost impossible for 4 pple to manage in a balcony room. We really prefer  the Princess layout with accessible closet and dressing area.  The couch was a big plus but the layout with it next to the balcony is preferable if you want to access the closet. The mini bar is a waste of space in my opinion

 

My teen boys liked the slides, the racetrack and the lasertag but the only pool they could use was the little kids one.  16year old boys shouldn't have to swim with 5 year olds. But alternatively, the main deck on sea days was a boozefest with people using their drinks pkg in the sunshine.  The idea was to unplug so playing video games in the arcade or teen club wasn't what we were there for.  They played a lot of ping pong.

Limited amounts of family games or comedy.  We went to every show we could but the venue is pretty small for the number of people.  In general the programming was off and it left us looking for things to do as a family.

The extra costs were really a drag too.  $60US for a family of 4 to race for 10 min is excessive. Bowling was $7 for 15 min.  Fee to access Perk *free internet*, fee to link onto messaging for their free app, 

 

So, in conclusion, we really liked the cruise (it's cruising!!)   The Mexican Riviera is a great quick warm destination.  Puerto Vallarta we did a jungle zip-line - so beautiful.(and BUGGY)  Mazatlan was very beautiful.  We did an e-bike excursion through a 3rd party and it reminded us of Europe. Cabo was fun on the main beach for a few hours in the sun. The ship was beautiful and so incredible to see it's vastness but we would not choose it again as a family.

 

Thanks to everyone for their help in posts  - any questions?

[TFLG]

We were also on this sailing and for the most part really enjoyed it.  It's a cruise after all and it beats working.  We also loved Six and thought it was one of the best shows we've seen on a ship if not the best. We enjoyed many of the other entertainers too. The beatles cover band was good. There was another band that was pretty good, don't recall the name though.  The DJs played pretty good tunes most of the time.  The late night tunes got a bit too techno/thump for this oldish party animal lol.  But there were also a few misses.  Siglo, when they let the keyboard player sing was horrific. I mean really, really bad. The other singers were fine,  I can't believe they let that guy sing.  The Silent Disco was dumb as a post.  What's with making people move around the room to listen to a different channel.  The place was wall to wall people and moving around wasn't much of an option.  Every other one I've done just has a switch on the headphones to change the channel. The Halloween party was a blast!  

Dining,

We did 5 of the specialties and for the most part they were pretty good.  Food Republic was a let down as we went in for sushi and it was pretty pathetic as sushi goes ( I called it gas station sushi). We are sushi snobs so our standards here are pretty high. On a tangent, does anyone actually pay for these specialties because the prices are stupid if you were actually paying (considering you've already paid for a decent meal in the MDR). I got a scallop appy at Le Bistro and the menu price was something like $14, it was 5 tiny bay scallops with a little sauce.  I got the exact same appy in the MDR the night before, they need to do better!  For comparison a REALLY good meal in Murano on Celebrity will cost you $50 and you can often get 20-30% off if you ask nice so say $35.  My meal in Cagneys would have been $77 if I had to pay for it. Trust me, Murano is WAY better than Cagneys. NCL's fantasy pricing is silly.

We ate quite a few times in the Buffet and it was pretty decent for a buffet. The Indian food was really good! I also liked that it was rarely busy when we went there so easy to find a nice table.   But our party of 6 had some nightmares in the main dining rooms for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Apparently much of the staff was new and it showed.  Our orders got messed up way too many times to laugh it off. And we found the service in the MDRs to be generally chaotic. The polar opposite of our cruise on the Bliss last year.  Hopefully they will get the MDR staff dialed in before we board the Bliss next November. 

I re-read this and it seems pretty negative but overall the cruise was pretty good. 

[tokidoki]

8 hours ago, tanyaewa said:

Thoughts on the Bliss...

 

We love the aesthetic of Norwegian.  Amazing modern decor and spaces.  The Observation Lounge is incredible.  The Waterfront is spectacular. Simply lovely.  It's what I loved the most from our first Norwegian Getaway cruise and made me want to cruise with them again - again I was blown away at how nice it is to lounge out there

Many specialty dining options to choose from so the dining perk is a plus- but main dining is a little uninspired.  Buffet is really big, clean space but repetitive.  The Local was good for wings and their chicken salad sandwch was the BEST

The theatre shows were simply amazing.  "Six" was the best musical I've ever seen. I can not praise it enough

Drinks perk and dining perk were great to have and the staff was very gracious and generous.  Excursion OBC perk is useless on this itinerary as their excursions are very wildly over priced. Wifi perk is confusing tp acess and adds a user fee

 

There are drawbacks of a super ship.  It's HUGE and there are LOTS of people.

Only 2 banks of elevators (with no central atrium elevators set) means you do a lot of hallway walking, stair climbing, or waiting for elevators.  It's slightly off-putting and limits how much exploring you can do, and your ease of moving about.

There are lots of areas that sit mostly empty during the day and after 8pm- The District, Q, specialty restaurants,  had only a smattering of people in them that I ever saw whereas the atrium was always crammed with people for every *activity*.  Margaritaville is a waste of space.  There are very limited food choices between 3:30 and 5 on the outside decks (only Observation Lounge or Local) and after 9:30ish it's only the Local.  They should REALLY change Margaritaville to a grab and go outlet in those off hours for when you are returning from an excursion or hanging out enjoying the decks or  playing games later in the evening

There is a lot of square footage that has limited access - Vibe, Haven, Spice so there really aren't many places to go during the day unless you are over 18 or ante up extra $. I wasn't even given access to the spa after I paid $175 for a massage.

 

The staterooms were so pretty and modern but the storage space was so limited it was almost impossible for 4 pple to manage in a balcony room. We really prefer  the Princess layout with accessible closet and dressing area.  The couch was a big plus but the layout with it next to the balcony is preferable if you want to access the closet. The mini bar is a waste of space in my opinion

 

My teen boys liked the slides, the racetrack and the lasertag but the only pool they could use was the little kids one.  16year old boys shouldn't have to swim with 5 year olds. But alternatively, the main deck on sea days was a boozefest with people using their drinks pkg in the sunshine.  The idea was to unplug so playing video games in the arcade or teen club wasn't what we were there for.  They played a lot of ping pong.

Limited amounts of family games or comedy.  We went to every show we could but the venue is pretty small for the number of people.  In general the programming was off and it left us looking for things to do as a family.

The extra costs were really a drag too.  $60US for a family of 4 to race for 10 min is excessive. Bowling was $7 for 15 min.  Fee to access Perk *free internet*, fee to link onto messaging for their free app, 

 

So, in conclusion, we really liked the cruise (it's cruising!!)   The Mexican Riviera is a great quick warm destination.  Puerto Vallarta we did a jungle zip-line - so beautiful.(and BUGGY)  Mazatlan was very beautiful.  We did an e-bike excursion through a 3rd party and it reminded us of Europe. Cabo was fun on the main beach for a few hours in the sun. The ship was beautiful and so incredible to see it's vastness but we would not choose it again as a family.

 

Thanks to everyone for their help in posts  - any questions?

Welcome home! Glad u loved Six, cause I read some negative reviews of people walking out of show!  

[EllieinNJ]

I know the NCL excursions are overpriced but if you did any can you review them?

[hallux]

8 hours ago, tokidoki said:

Welcome home! Glad u loved Six, cause I read some negative reviews of people walking out of show!  

Maybe they expected something different than it was.  I was also on this sailing.  I quite enjoyed Six, but I do recall that the row behind mine emptied out at some point during the show.

[tokidoki]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

Maybe they expected something different than it was.  I was also on this sailing.  I quite enjoyed Six, but I do recall that the row behind mine emptied out at some point during the show.

Wow? Maybe it’s too loud and an adult theme?