Our Breakaway... Err... Joy... Umm.. Escape... Nope! November Bliss 2021 Review!

[tripleboom]

After the ride we got to also enjoy a wine tasting. Apparently the Guadalupe Valley has become a popular wine tourism destination of late. Not being much of a wine connoisseur, I will say that the wines we sampled were all quite good!

 

 

 

Alejandro (or Alex as he told us we could call him) was a delightfully knowledgeable tour guide.  He's lived one heck of a young life. Going to culinary school, becoming a certified scuba instructor, and leading adventurous tours like these. I really enjoyed our time spent with him.

 

 

With the sun rapidly setting, it was time to head back to the ship. So we all loaded back up into the tour van and made the trek back again.

 

 

 

Before we knew it, we were back on board, pulling out of our last port, and heading back to L.A.

 

[tripleboom]

Once we had coughed up all the red dust we could manage and had a good shower, we headed down to Savor for one last dining experience.

 

Shrimp scampi for me.

 

 

Stacy opted for the stuffed chicken breast.

 

 

It's worth noting that by Day 7 of the cruise, Stacy had had enough of me trying to take pictures of her food. 😂

 

 

The opera cake was SOOOO good!

 

[tripleboom]

After dinner we enjoyed a last few drinks from some of our favorite spots on the ship, including a bushwhacker and a BBC in The Local's bar.

 

 

And a first for me, a Honey Lemonade from Malting Whisky bar. I only wish I had discovered that one earlier!!

 

 

With a pre-noon flight the next day, it was time to retire to the cabin one last time, pack our remaining items, and get ready for arrival back into port in the morning.

 

[julie3fan]

The drinks look great!  I discovered the Eastern Legacy on the Epic, and I hope the Bliss also offers it when we sail next month.  My absolute favorite drink, and I was happy I had discovered it early on!

[tripleboom]

I was up a little before dawn to make sure we were ready to roll out as soon as we were docked and allowed to get off the ship. It made for an interesting entry to port as we backed in all the way.

 

 

 

Greeted home by the USS Iowa.

 

 

Docking completed a hair before 7 AM.

 

 

After we docked, we said our goodbyes to Sandi and Joe, we grabbed our luggage, and headed down to deck 7, knowing that we'd get off the ship on the level that we had gotten on.  Because we had an early flight, we basically had to elect to do the "self-assist" with our several suit cases in tow. We couldn't risk having to wait for luggage in the customs claim area.  Fortunately we were out of our cabin early enough that we caught an empty elevator, and found our place in line to exit the ship just outside of The Local.  We had to stand there maybe 10-15 minutes before the line started moving, and we were almost off the ship when we heard the first formal call for self-assist folks to begin to head to the lines to disembark.

 

We took the long walk down the winding gangway, down an escalator, and back to ground level. We walked through the customs area, had our faces scanned for reentry, and that was it. Didn't even have to speak with a customs official or have our passports inspected.  Done and out to the curb lickety split.

 

We hailed our Uber to SNA (about $52 before tip), and after a quick weigh in of our luggage (and subsequent shuffling of baggage contents), checked in and grabbed a bite to eat.  Our flight wound up delayed by about 30 minutes, so we were able to have more than enough time to grab a bite to eat.  I'm glad we did because our connection in Dallas wound up being a dead sprint from our arrival gate to our connecting gate.  The luggage didn't make the connection, but AA wound up delivering the luggage to our home the day after our arrival.

 

And that's it folks!  This has been such a blast getting to share our trip with you!  I really love sailing Norwegian, and hope to see you all on a future voyage!

[ronheg]

What time was your flight?  When did you arrive at lax?

[tripleboom]

10 minutes ago, ronheg said:

What time was your flight?  When did you arrive at lax?

 

We flew into and out of SNA rather than LAX for this trip.  We were off the ship by 8:15 AM and after the 45 minute Uber ride we were through security in plenty of time to sit down for some breakfast.  Even had time to visit with the airport's resident therapy dog.

 

 

With an 11:47 AM scheduled departure, we maybe could have taken luggage tags and disembarked later and made it, but the earliest tag time after self-assist was 9 AM I believe. That would have been cutting it too close for comfort for me.

[Krazy Kat]

Great review - thanks!  Can you tell me where you picked up Uber when you exited terminal?  Did you pre-arrange pick-up or just requested it upon exiting?  Thank you.

[tripleboom]

1 minute ago, Krazy Kat said:

Great review - thanks!  Can you tell me where you picked up Uber when you exited terminal?  Did you pre-arrange pick-up or just requested it upon exiting?  Thank you.

 

We just requested it upon exiting.  You come out of the customs area about where this red circle is.  As you exit, you turn right to walk down the sidewalk.  We were told by port staff that Uber could pick up anywhere beyond the prominent "Berth 91" sign and pole.

 

 

 

 

[LincolnLog]

Hey tripleboom, great trip report! I really appreciate you spending the time to do this and all the great pictures and details you included. It sounds like you guys had a great trip. 

[Krazy Kat]

Tripleboom - thanks for the details/pics for using Uber.  Most helpful!

Edited December 13, 2021 by Krazy Kat

[wampuscat7]

Great review! Thank you! I'm so glad you had a wonderful time. 

[kpjb]

Great TR. This is really getting me pumped for January. Can't come soon enough!

[nhtravels]

Fantastic review Tripleboom! Loved following along with your Blissful adventure with Stacy, Joe and Sandi!  Sounds like a great first cruise back!

[AKR2011]

Thanks for your review, and I look forward to the next one. Are you bringing the boys back again? They must have been so jealous of this trip!

Edited December 14, 2021 by AKR2011

[DW09]

👏👏👏 Well done Tripleboom! I am sad it's over. I read your trip report in the mornings when I would get to work. No one in the office, just me, a cup of tea and your trip report.

Thank you so much! I loved all the details of your trip, the pictures you included and the videos! As well as the info regarding the secret spot on deck 19!! I will be sitting in that spot on my cruise Jan 9th! Just a few weeks away.

 

I am glad you had a great time and I look forward to your next adventure!

 

Cheers~

Wendy

[tripleboom]

17 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Thanks for your review, and I look forward to the next one. Are you bringing the boys back again? They must have been so jealous of this trip!

 

Funny you should mention that! I would have gladly taken the originally scheduled trip on the Encore if it meant I could have foregone the stress and hassle of switching to the Bliss at the last possible moment.

 

But there was one definite benefit. Because of the last minute cancellation, NCL gave each passenger 50% of the value of what you had paid for the Encore sailing to apply toward a future cruise.  The only catch was that you had to book by the end of 2021 and sail before the end of 2022.  So once we got back from the Bliss and had read all the fine print we hadn't had time to digest before leaving, we decided that a family cruise in 2022 was clearly in order.

 

So, Stacy, Connor, Landon, and I are booked for the Breakaway over Spring Break/Easter 2022! 

 

 

 

We are making it the boys' (and Stacy's and my) Christmas present this year!  We're planning to let them unwrap a few gifts that have some tangential relationship to cruising to see if they can piece it together before unwrapping our family's countdown anchor. If they don't figure it out by then I'll be sorely disappointed. 😂

 

 

On Christmas morning it'll be 113 days until we set sail!  So stay tuned for a Family Fun Trip Review sometime in late April/early May!

[tripleboom]

On 12/14/2021 at 9:24 AM, DW09 said:

👏👏👏 Well done Tripleboom! I am sad it's over. I read your trip report in the mornings when I would get to work. No one in the office, just me, a cup of tea and your trip report.

Thank you so much! I loved all the details of your trip, the pictures you included and the videos! As well as the info regarding the secret spot on deck 19!! I will be sitting in that spot on my cruise Jan 9th! Just a few weeks away.

 

I am glad you had a great time and I look forward to your next adventure!

 

Cheers~

Wendy

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the review! Thanks for following along, and I hope you have an incredible time in January!! Have a killer time up on Deck 19!

[kpjb]

I was thinking that since this was all west coast, that it was all in the pacific time zone.  I looked this up recently and saw that this cruise actually covers 3 different time zones. 

 

Did they change ship's time for each one, or did it remain the same?  Just wondering as far as planning for times on/off the ship if everything is listed in local time or ship's time.

 

[tripleboom]

1 hour ago, kpjb said:

I was thinking that since this was all west coast, that it was all in the pacific time zone.  I looked this up recently and saw that this cruise actually covers 3 different time zones. 

 

Did they change ship's time for each one, or did it remain the same?  Just wondering as far as planning for times on/off the ship if everything is listed in local time or ship's time.

 

 

We left L.A. on Pacific time, then ship and land time in Cabo was mountain time, but it was admittedly a bit of a blur after that.  We were for sure back on Pacific time in Ensenada. I believe ship and land time was different in Mazatlán.

[SAPMAN]

On 11/22/2021 at 7:26 PM, Oakman58 said:

I’m following your trip report.  We will be doing the same cruise on Dec 5th.

 

Not wearing a coat to the airport was my philosophy too until we came back home a day after an ice storm.  Trying to get into a car frozen in ice and temps in the lower 20’s without a coat is not fun.  For cruises during cold weather months I now pack a flannel shirt, a hoodie, and GLOVES.

On your Dec 5 trip, how was check in and boarding.   And what was your check in time?   Thanks.   We are on same voyage in 2 weeks.  👏

[Oakman58]

I had chosen a check in time of 9 AM since we were using NCL for hotel and transfers and had I no idea what time we would actually get to the port.  Better late than never is my philosophy.

 

As it turned out our motorcoach was scheduled to pick us up at the hotel at 11:45.  The coach was on time and we departed at 11:55 and were at the port at 12:25 PM.

We got into a long slow moving line just to get into the building where the Covid testing was done and once inside there were more lines.

 

Once we were both tested it took another 30 minutes before we both received our negative test results.  It was a short walk to the adjacent building for the actual checkin and since we are Platinum level there was no line for us to wait in for checkin.  We finally boarded the ship at 2: 45 PM.

 

I put some pictures of our check in at the port in this thread that I started.    https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2819002-these-covid-times-and-surprises/#comment-62301277

 

 

[vtroper]

On 12/17/2021 at 7:11 PM, kpjb said:

I was thinking that since this was all west coast, that it was all in the pacific time zone.  I looked this up recently and saw that this cruise actually covers 3 different time zones. 

 

Did they change ship's time for each one, or did it remain the same?  Just wondering as far as planning for times on/off the ship if everything is listed in local time or ship's time.

 

We’re just off the Dec 12th sailing this morning.  The ship changed time zones between our 1st and 2nd sea days (to Mountain time if you will). Our first Port in Puerto Vallarta was still an hour ahead of us, so there were lots of reminders to stay on ship time as you got off.  Our other two ports, Mazatlan and Cabo were on Mtn time, so there was no issue there.  After we left Cabo on Friday, we switched back to Pacific time.

[kpjb]

Thanks.  

 

We go Cabo--> PV--> Mazatlan --> Ensenada, obviously LA on each end.  So we'd be Pacific/Sea Day/Mountain/Central/Mountain/Sea Day/Pacific.  I assume PV they'll do the same as you did so we're only switching before Cabo then back before Ensenada.

[tripleboom]

Christmas Day went off without a hitch. In the days leading up to Christmas the boys seemed to make note of the lower number of presents under the tree, particularly those with their names on them. No bellyaching or anything, just a comment or two like, "are you guys done wrapping presents?" 😆

 

But when Christmas Day arrived, they were all big smiles and a bundle of excitement. Now.... If only we can get Omicron to run its course between now and then!