Bliss Pacific Coastal April 17th

[YVRteacher]

Neither of those people were on the Bliss in March.

[ceilidh1]

Breakfast at Savor

[ceilidh1]

Lunch at The Local

[ceilidh1]

My first Veuve Cliquot

[pcrum]

Now that’s how to make the use of the upgraded beverage package!

[ceilidh1]

San Francisco was our first port stop - due to arrive at 2:30pm. I believe it was around 3:15 by the time we were allowed off the ship. It was a touch confusing as one staff person told us deck 6, another told us deck 7. Then we were told to sit and wait until announcements were made, then told to join the line near the gangway, then told not to approach the gangway until an announcement was made…lol.

 

In our room today we found a Canadian customs form. I have always filled those out the last day and handed them in toCBSA officers as we get off the ship. We finally met our room steward when he came to collect the form as apparently the ship needed them. Hmmm. Well, maybe if I had known I would have filled it out? I went ahead and completed it and signed and dated it. He then y to old me I needed to do it again as the date had to be the day we entered Canada. Um, no, the date is the date you signed the form. He insisted I do it again and I once again had no desire to argue, so just did as he asked.,.

 

I’m sorry I haven’t been responding to questions- I literally just hop on using the free minutes and try to get stuff posted! Someone asked about accessing the daily’s on the app - the app has been hit and miss. Sometimes it works, others it doesn’t. Someone else mentioned using the room service breakfast card for coffee… there have been no breakfast cards so far! I don’t know any of the cruise staff names other than Paquito the cruise director. All staff are very friendly and happy and always greet us!

[OrcaGirl]

A few notes on my day 2 experience as I finish my pre-dinner espresso martini…

The Cruise Critic meet and greet this morning was super fun, thank you Summer for organizing!

 

The approach into San Francisco was very cool, loved going under the bridge. I booked the hop-on hop-off tour, and for $10 after the shore excursion credit I have no complaints. But disembarkation was a bit disorganized… looked like a few people might have missed the boat in LA yesterday, as some people were coming on with luggage as we eventually disembarked to meet our bus.

 

They had three of the hop-on hop-off buses dedicated to NCL; I don’t think anyone from our bus actually hopped off, so it ended up being a 3 hour tour… started sunny, got cold and rainy, and then sunny again. I meant to hop off at Shake Shack and Trader Joe’s (Canadian pilgrimage sites) but decided to just stay on the bus and head back to the ship.

[YVRteacher]

That espresso martini looks amazing!

You can call guest services and ask for breakfast order forms.  May as well ask them to bring robes for everyone while you’re at it.

 

[gregmarty]

4 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Tip: the Bliss has great cookies.  If you go to the buffet at 9:00pm-11:00pm and ask for a plate they will give them to you.  They don’t put them out.  You can also contact chef Godfrey and ask him to send cookies to your room and he will.

I was on 3 weeks ago and went to the buffet every night after 9:30 and they never had cookies.  We asked for them and were told multiple times they were coming.  They never showed up.  Very frustrating, just put the cookies out, it’s what the people want.  I’ll be on again next month, so I guess I’ll contact the chef if there aren’t any.

[YVRteacher]

They kept them secret!  I didn’t realize this until almost the end of the cruise.

[ceilidh1]

Day 3 daily and the sad news that we have no shows…😥

[ceilidh1]

Dinner at Food Republic! I forgot to take pictures of most of it but it was amazing!

[ceilidh1]

Got the food amenity for club balcony today. Nice gesture, but there are three of us in this room…

[OrcaGirl]

Yay: found the elusive cookies tonight in the buffet, didn’t even need to ask but they weren’t where the desserts usually are so easy to miss.

 

Boo: Jersey Boys cancelled for tomorrow night. I’m 0/2 this season on the Bliss for having a planned Jersey Boys show actually happen. Maybe it’s me?

 

[ceilidh1]

Day 3

Woke up to a cloudy morning with rocky seas. Hopefully the sun will come out later. After a quick shower we headed to the buffet for breakfast. Food was ok - general buffet fare. None of us were that hungry so we had cereal, fruit, and some pastries. I did try a few pieces of bacon (it was extra crispy) but it seemed very salty to me. 

 

From the buffet we headed up to the spa to make an appointment for my teen to get her nails done ( birthday treat). We have no plans for the next three days so told the receptionist that anytime would be fine. I guess I should have been more specific as we ended up with an 8am appointment for tomorrow. 

 

Next stop was observation lounge where I grabbed an Irish coffee and we played some games. We have the cabin crawl organized by Summer and Chris later this morning so hoping that our steward has made it to our room before we all get there!

 

Next stop is guest services (again) to fix our Food Republic dinner. I told them twice that I wanted a la carte but there has been no charge to our account so I assume they took it from our dining package. We already have plans to use the remaining dining credits for Teppy and Cagneys so I need to get it fixed.

 

Talking of charges, let’s discuss the tax on drinks in port. This isn’t new to me and I have no problem paying it, but this cruise seems to have a LOT of charging. Lol. 8.5% in LA (even after we sailed apparently) and 8.5% in San Fran, where we were docked until around 9pm. I’m sure there will be tax in Vancouver and Victoria, too, and we will be there from tomorrow afternoon until we get off on Friday! The way the tax appears in the account is odd, too. I thought they had charged me for too many drinks but now I think they do each alcohol separately. For instance, a mojito with 2 types of liquor got 2 charges even though it was just one drink. Does that make sense? Just as a heads up, those high end drinks which are covered with the plus package end up costing between 2-3 dollars sales tax.

 

The cabin crawl was a lot of fun. We got to check out a studio, an inside, an angled balcony, an aft balcony, a club balcony, a spa balcony, and a Haven spa. Big thanks to the organizers and to the hosts! 

 

Trip to guest services (no line thankfully) didn’t really resolve my dining charge issue. The agent wasn’t able to see any charges other than drinks (tax) for Food Republic and also said that she couldn’t tell if it was taken off the dining package as there was nothing charged yet. I guess we just wait to see if anything shows up…

[ceilidh1]

Lunch at Taste

[ceilidh1]

Testing info for those that need it to go home…

[coastcat]

18 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

They kept them secret!  I didn’t realize this until almost the end of the cruise.

That's really weird. I was on Bliss for the October return-to-service cruise, and went to buffet most nights for a little pizza & cookie indulgence. Hoping the cookies return to normal distribution levels in a couple weeks when I'm back onboard...

[OrcaGirl]

How to make friends and influence people: walk around with a glass of frose and so many people will stop you to ask ‘what is that?’ and ‘where do I get one?’

 

The answers are 1) frose is frozen rose wine, like a sweet wine slushie; and 2) at the front pool bar…

 

[OrcaGirl]

The cookie saga is ongoing. This sign appeared tonight, but then I heard someone ask what kind of cookies were available and the staff person replied that she didn’t know, they hadn’t arrived yet. 😂
 

[ceilidh1]

Dailies….

[ceilidh1]

Teppanyaki 

[ceilidh1]

@OrcaGirl we need to hook up! I have the upgraded drink package and it’s getting wasted! Let’s drink tomorrow! 14202!!!!

[FM]

4 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

The cookie saga is ongoing. This sign appeared tonight, but then I heard someone ask what kind of cookies were available and the staff person replied that she didn’t know, they hadn’t arrived yet. 😂
 

 

Aware that there are supply chain issues ... but cookies of all things?! 

[FM]

7 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Talking of charges, let’s discuss the tax on drinks in port. This isn’t new to me and I have no problem paying it, but this cruise seems to have a LOT of charging. Lol. 8.5% in LA (even after we sailed apparently) and 8.5% in San Fran, where we were docked until around 9pm. I’m sure there will be tax in Vancouver and Victoria, too, and we will be there from tomorrow afternoon until we get off on Friday! The way the tax appears in the account is odd, too. I thought they had charged me for too many drinks but now I think they do each alcohol separately. For instance, a mojito with 2 types of liquor got 2 charges even though it was just one drink. Does that make sense? Just as a heads up, those high end drinks which are covered with the plus package end up costing between 2-3 dollars sales tax.

 

Is it only alcoholic drinks that are subject to additional tax when in port?