It’s time for some Margaritas, NCL Bliss Mexican Riviera LIVE review, October 24th 2021

[galliegirlie]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:11 AM, aubreyc1988 said:

I'll be posting a lengthy recap today, as well as scanning the dailies I brought back! 

I’m on the upcoming cruise this weekend. Are you able to post the Day 5 daily? It was missing from your ship daily postings. Much appreciated. 

[LaCal]

13 hours ago, galliegirlie said:

I’m on the upcoming cruise this weekend. Are you able to post the Day 5 daily? It was missing from your ship daily postings. Much appreciated. 

Here’s the day 5 daily 

[OrcaGirl]

@aubreyc1988 Since you were also just on the Encore, did you happen to notice if the Bliss was using the same new menus as the Encore in their specialty restaurants? (At least the restaurants that are the same on both ships.)

[aubreyc1988]

1 hour ago, OrcaGirl said:

@aubreyc1988 Since you were also just on the Encore, did you happen to notice if the Bliss was using the same new menus as the Encore in their specialty restaurants? (At least the restaurants that are the same on both ships.)

I did completely different restaurants on the Encore so can't comment on that 

[aubreyc1988]

4 hours ago, LaCal said:

Here’s the day 5 daily 

Thanks, having trouble with my scanner

[coastcat]

1 hour ago, OrcaGirl said:

@aubreyc1988 Since you were also just on the Encore, did you happen to notice if the Bliss was using the same new menus as the Encore in their specialty restaurants? (At least the restaurants that are the same on both ships.)

I ate at Le Bistro on both ships, same new menu.

 

The strawberry fraisier was a poor substitute for the now-gone profiteroles. Sigh.

[Shellbelle28]

On 10/25/2021 at 10:09 AM, aubreyc1988 said:

Hair update - much better. We had to go a little shorter than originally wanted but it’s much better and closer to what I wanted 

OMG, I was thinking today, what if you'd gone ahead with getting color along with the cut... what would you have ended up with!?! 

[Kimnick87]

Love your review, especially your photos.  Thank you for that.  We will be on the same cruise in two weeks, and I am hoping you can answer a couple of questions:

1.  I goofed up my dining reservations and can't seem to cancel my multiple bookings.  Do you recall if there was a place to go for dining reservations on embarkation day?

2.  We are checked in for 9:00-9:30, but I just read in my edocs that boarding begins at 12:00.  Was that true for your sailing or did you notice people boarding before noon?

Thanks so much!!

[coastcat]

21 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

OMG, I was thinking today, what if you'd gone ahead with getting color along with the cut... what would you have ended up with!?! 

Plaid.

[coastcat]

6 hours ago, Kimnick87 said:

Love your review, especially your photos.  Thank you for that.  We will be on the same cruise in two weeks, and I am hoping you can answer a couple of questions:

1.  I goofed up my dining reservations and can't seem to cancel my multiple bookings.  Do you recall if there was a place to go for dining reservations on embarkation day?

2.  We are checked in for 9:00-9:30, but I just read in my edocs that boarding begins at 12:00.  Was that true for your sailing or did you notice people boarding before noon?

Thanks so much!!

Go to Teppanyaki to sort out your dining reservations on boarding day.

 

The noon boarding thing is boilerplate language.  I've no idea how long they'll be doing it this way, but at this time the staggered arrival times mean no waiting. Once you've got your sail card, you're directed to the ship. Heck, I don't even remember seeing a seating area set up in Seattle or San Pedro.

[aubreyc1988]

22 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

OMG, I was thinking today, what if you'd gone ahead with getting color along with the cut... what would you have ended up with!?! 

Originally i was like no color because I didn't want the color to bleed all over the towels when showering. Now I am so glad I originally said no lol. In 6 months I'll get a trim somewhere local to make sure my layers are going out nice, then maybe a late spring color. 

[aubreyc1988]

26 minutes ago, coastcat said:

Go to Teppanyaki to sort out your dining reservations on boarding day.

 

The noon boarding thing is boilerplate language.  I've no idea how long they'll be doing it this way, but at this time the staggered arrival times mean no waiting. Once you've got your sail card, you're directed to the ship. Heck, I don't even remember seeing a seating area set up in Seattle or San Pedro.

 I had to wait in a seating area in Seattle, but it was because the ship wasn't ready. 

[Twinbooty]

Im really struggling for excursions on this.  Cabo is sorted as thats a beach and restaurant day.  But i cant seem to settle on anything for the other trips.  I dont like the thought of long bus trips or being tied up for 6 hours on something so looking for something thats fairly short and fun.  Im even happy going it alone rather than a cruise organised trip.  If anyone has some really nice suggestions for the ports other than Cabo, it would be appreciated.

[aubreyc1988]

57 minutes ago, Twinbooty said:

Im really struggling for excursions on this.  Cabo is sorted as thats a beach and restaurant day.  But i cant seem to settle on anything for the other trips.  I dont like the thought of long bus trips or being tied up for 6 hours on something so looking for something thats fairly short and fun.  Im even happy going it alone rather than a cruise organised trip.  If anyone has some really nice suggestions for the ports other than Cabo, it would be appreciated.

The people who were on the pirate ship excursion had a blast! Because of the lack of vendors selling tours, I'd stick with NCL tours for a while UNLESS you are certified diver and want to do a diving excursion

[Twinbooty]

19 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

The people who were on the pirate ship excursion had a blast! Because of the lack of vendors selling tours, I'd stick with NCL tours for a while UNLESS you are certified diver and want to do a diving excursion

which port is that?

[aubreyc1988]

2 hours ago, Twinbooty said:

which port is that?

all three of them i would stick with NCL. I know some people will disagree but my opinion only. I did two non NCL excursions and wished I was on an NCL one the whole time

[hallux]

On 11/3/2021 at 1:35 AM, greatestvalue said:

Would you mind sharing the repositioning cruise you mentioned early in the thread from LA to Vancouver?

Did you have a specific question or were you looking for a 'live' thread like this one?  I know you asked several days ago but I was browsing this thread looking for some other information and saw your post that didn't seem to be answered.  I've done both the cruise that Aubrey did and the one you're asking about, I took them both in 2019.

 

I don't want to clutter Aubrey's thread with info on a different cruise, we could start another for that discussion if you want.

[Cinebrat]

Thank you for the review and all the info. I'm going on the Bliss in a little over a week and I was curious what the COVID protocols were while in port if there were any; mask mandates, distancing, etc. I know each city is in its own state and the rules might vary. Thanks.

[Twinbooty]

4 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

all three of them i would stick with NCL. I know some people will disagree but my opinion only. I did two non NCL excursions and wished I was on an NCL one the whole time

I have put pirate in the search box on my cruise and nothing coming up. 

[brad0576]

what was the temperature like while you were at sea?

[Cinebrat]

8 hours ago, Twinbooty said:

I have put pirate in the search box on my cruise and nothing coming up. 

It's not on my itinerary for Nov 14 either. We've done the pirate ship in Puerto Vallarta a couple of times and loved the first time so we did it a second time a few years ago but hated it that time. The second time around they packed the ship with twice as many people so everyone was on top of each other. When you get to the beach activities they have two small tender boats that takes you to and from the ship which took forever due to the amount of people. By the time we got off we only had 30 minutes on the beach and then had to go right back. Maybe with COVID, they aren't packing it as much right now.

 

Here's a link to the actual tour in Puerto Vallarta. We always booked through the cruise in the past but its the same tour and probably cheaper.

 

https://www.pirateshipvallarta.com/

 

[Twinbooty]

16 hours ago, Cinebrat said:

It's not on my itinerary for Nov 14 either. We've done the pirate ship in Puerto Vallarta a couple of times and loved the first time so we did it a second time a few years ago but hated it that time. The second time around they packed the ship with twice as many people so everyone was on top of each other. When you get to the beach activities they have two small tender boats that takes you to and from the ship which took forever due to the amount of people. By the time we got off we only had 30 minutes on the beach and then had to go right back. Maybe with COVID, they aren't packing it as much right now.

 

Here's a link to the actual tour in Puerto Vallarta. We always booked through the cruise in the past but its the same tour and probably cheaper.

 

https://www.pirateshipvallarta.com/

 

Thanks for that but your 2nd experience means its a big no from me.  Much appreciated.

[dobiemom]

16 hours ago, Cinebrat said:

Here's a link to the actual tour in Puerto Vallarta. We always booked through the cruise in the past but its the same tour and probably cheaper.

 

https://www.pirateshipvallarta.com/

 

I’ve tried to do the pirate ship on our own but the problem was our ship never docked in time to do the excursion. The pirate ship leaves at 10am, and we don’t get to PV until noon. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

23 hours ago, brad0576 said:

what was the temperature like while you were at sea?

 

The first day out I'd say it was in the high 60's, maybe low 70's. Second day was mid to high 70's, last day was high 60's, low 70's again. I had no problems lying out in the sun by the pool.

[greatestvalue]

On 11/5/2021 at 8:13 PM, hallux said:

Did you have a specific question or were you looking for a 'live' thread like this one? 

@Hallux, thank you for responding.  No, I was just looking for when the reposition cruise was. 

 

Im going with an older friend of mine who is 82 to Alaska on RCL next May and thought maybe a repositioning cruise would be a better choice for her. Not so active, not as many ports etc.  As she is aging she is getting very slow. 

 

I dont go on my first NCL cruise until December but from what Im reading, Im enjoying everything about NCL so far.  However, Im finding NCL Alaska cruises a lot more expensive than RCL right now. 

 

Just thought it may be an option.  Thank you again