Bliss Pacific Coastal April 17th

[ceilidh1]

Treats for club balcony 

[ceilidh1]

District Brew House - Cannonball. It’s a tradition now!

[ceilidh1]

Heads up - cabin 14202 is quiet and in a good location BUT the balcony has a drainage pipe running through it so if you sit outside you hear constant running water! Not sure if every floor for this number has the pipe. Hasn’t really affected me, but I haven’t spent a whole lot of time outside as it’s kind of chilly!

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, OrcaGirl said:

Thermal spa was very quiet this morning, got noticeably busier/louder once the port stop in Victoria got cancelled. (There was no announcement in the spa that I heard, I only saw the update here on this thread.)

 

Hope this doesn’t mean we all get to fill out the Canadian customs declaration again! 😂 I filled it out per my stewards instructions, and then he left me another (along with a voicemail at midnight to fill it out) so I went down to guest services early this morning and she seemed to think it was because I filled it out wrong. But it’s not my first rodeo, so… 🤷‍♀️ So I filled it out again just in case, and left a note for my steward to let him know it was done. I think as NCL’s first cruise stop in Canada, they had some confusion about requirements between guest services and the housekeeping team.

 

Alas, due to the need to have a pilot take us through the strait, apparently we need to sit here and wait for the originally-scheduled departure time for the pilot to come back aboard. I had been hoping the cancellation might mean our journey through the strait would happen during daylight hours rather than after midnight. But alas, no.

 

My steward told me I had to fill out the customs form again! I did it ( for the third time) and handed it in to guest services. Told them this was the last time I was doing it! Lol

[luvcruzing]

38 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Treats for club balcony 

At least they gave you enough for three this time.  Who got the fourth cookie?

[OrcaGirl]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

If I recall properly from my cruise into Vancouver on that ship in 2019 there's a window at low tide of about 20 minutes during which that ship can safely pass under the Lion's Gate Bridge.  Any other time and there isn't enough clearance.

Yes, the captain explained the slack tide window yesterday and I can’t wait to see just how low that clearance is; but I was hoping that we could make it through Active Pass (presuming that’s the route we will take, but I’m sure Rosario Pass would be cool too) today during daylight hours for the scenic cruising between islands, and then wait in English Bay until the low tide at ~4:12pm tomorrow afternoon… instead of sticking with the original plan of going through the pass after midnight.

[YVRteacher]

4 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Ok, I’m going to vent a little. I made 2 requests of our steward - remove paid items from fridge and leave me a wine glass in the room. I knew I would get a bottle of wine at dinner each night and being the remainder back to the room to leave in the fridge and drink later. Neither request was fulfilled. On the first night, I brought back an empty glass with me. The steward took it away next day. I removed the paid items from the fridge and put them on a shelf. The steward returned them to the fridge. This has happened every day now, even though I have left a note with the glass saying Do Not Remove. 

Yesterday, as I was heading out to dinner, the steward asked me to fill out the customs form as he needed it right away. I filled it out. He told me I needed to do another one as I had to put the date as the day we arrived in Canada, not the date I signed. I filled out another. Today he gave me another form and asked me to fill out again. What?!?? 
 

I feel better now. Back to enjoying my vacation. I really am having a great time. The small frustrations definitely haven’t put a dampener on my experiences.

Is your room steward Joval?  I was 2 doors down from you on the Bliss last month.  He knocked on my door one morning at 7:30am!!!!  I am NOT a morning person and did not like being woken up early on vacation.  I had to keep asking for breakfast forms.  I also needed a laundry bag and he didn’t bring one so I went to guest services.  Laundry bag arrived but no form to go with the bag.

 

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

Treats for club balcony 

Yum! I love how they gave you one of each type they bake.

[hallux]

41 minutes ago, OrcaGirl said:

I can’t wait to see just how low that clearance is

If you've ever sailed out of NY, under the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge on one of the larger ships (RCI's Oasis-class ships have retractable stacks for that one!) I think it's actually a little tighter.

 

I have a video of the Bliss sailing under the bridge into Vancouver, we went through around noon.  I took a couple screen grabs if you want me to post them, or I can let you see it for the first time in person and be awed by it...

[YVRteacher]

Does anyone else find themself ducking when the ship goes under a bridge with limited clearance???

[fastpitchdad]

Grass fed New York Strip Oscar style with twin lobster tails 😋

Edited April 21, 2022 by fastpitchdad

[debenson0723]

43 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Does anyone else find themself ducking when the ship goes under a bridge with limited clearance???

Yes but particularly in Vancouver.

[CruiseNYR]

7 hours ago, westcoaster said:

It looks like the Bliss didn't make it into Victoria this afternoon, likely due to winds.

 

Here's a photo of her approaching Victoria.  Once she got near the mouth of the harbor, she turned around and left.

 

 

Love this! Do you have a high-res version you could email me?

[sid_9169]

Looks like you're going to end up with a hundred bucks worth of payments just in tax... I guess that it's true: nobody escapes death or taxes...

[BK7171]

Thank you so much for posting all of this info! I had no idea about the tax while in port! Based on everything you've said, it seems I'm going to have to go over our account each day with a fine tooth comb! It seems like every day, I'm getting a new email with some change. First it was the ArriveCan nonsense, yesterday it was all Yukon/Klondike excursions out of Skagway being canceled. Ugggggh! We just want to relax and enjoy ourselves....and get our damn cookies at night 🤣

[OrcaGirl]

12 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Does anyone else find themself ducking when the ship goes under a bridge with limited clearance???

I just hope there’s more clearance than on the hop-on hop-off bus in San Fran! 😂

 

 

 

[ceilidh1]

Dinner at taste last night. Lots of appies rather than an entree!

[ceilidh1]

CC is being weird. Sorry!

I drank way too much yesterday and went back to the room for a rest after dinner. Well, I woke up at 8am this morning!!!!

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Looks like you're going to end up with a hundred bucks worth of payments just in tax... I guess that it's true: nobody escapes death or taxes...

The tax is brutal - pretty much every day on this itinerary! There’s also no way to actually know if it’s the correct charge as it’s not broken down on the bill. Every one has been between 3-4 dollars so I’m guessing that’s between 8-10% of the cost of my drinks!

[ceilidh1]

No idea why my pics are not posting today!

[BK7171]

Is that form for a random test?!

[ceilidh1]

5 minutes ago, BK7171 said:

Is that form for a random test?!

It’s for people who need a test to go home (flying back to US etc). No need for us to go back into Canada!

[BK7171]

10 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

It’s for people who need a test to go home (flying back to US etc). No need for us to go back into Canada!

Oh thank goodness!!!

[wacruiselover]

13 hours ago, fastpitchdad said:

Grass fed New York Strip Oscar style with twin lobster tails 😋

Where was this served?

[coastcat]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

The tax is brutal - pretty much every day on this itinerary! There’s also no way to actually know if it’s the correct charge as it’s not broken down on the bill. Every one has been between 3-4 dollars so I’m guessing that’s between 8-10% of the cost of my drinks!

I'd never even thought about this as being an issue with a Pacific Coastal cruise! 
 

It’s a little sad (and worrisome) to read about so many service issues onboard. The crew was pretty flawless on my October Bliss cruise. I wonder if there was a lot of crew changes since then due to contract timings. Presumably the crew in place now will also start the Alaska season, which means it’s my turn to have a Wine Glass Battle…