Bliss Panama Canal Trip Review 2/25/23 - 3/12-23

[cruiseny4life]

That couple close up look like they're having the cruise from H-E-double hockey sticks! 

[lax19]

1 hour ago, drumming cruisers said:

Great review, a couple of questions. 

Is there pickleball game and if so, do you know the hours you can play?

Is the band Siglo aboard?

The Bliss does not have a sports court, so no pickle ball, volleyball or basketball.

[beachmiker]

What a fantastic trip report!

I'm sailing almost the same itinerary on the Encore next month. 

Thank you for some really great tips. 

[luckybecky]

Thursday March 2

 

Panama Canal passage!

 

I’ve already told you we are not morning people. We were awakened bright and early (7am or so) by a very loud and very long announcement from the hallway. Apparently we were entering the first lock.

 

We sleep with a white noise app to help drown out extraneous noises but this speaker could be heard even through our closed door and white noise. I finally got up and found some ear plugs.

 

We got up an hour or so later. Dressed and went out to the open decks to see what was happening. Deck 8 forward is normally closed, but was open for this event. This is normally the crew bar/ sun deck. We noticed several cabins at the very front that are not shown on the deck plans found online; these had name labels as being occupied by crew members. They are behind a door that is usually closed to guests but was open to allow access to the forward deck.

 

As you can see, the very front of the bow was roped off which was unfortunate.

 

It was quite crowded and hard to get a spot at the railing to take clear photos. We did our best.

 

It was also very hot and humid. NCL had set up several tents and had water, orange juice, and cool washcloths available. You reach the forward deck on deck 8, they had people to guide you. Tons of traffic on these hallways. Would be a busy day outside your cabin door if you happen to be in a deck 8 forward cabin. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the crew area. All the tables and chairs had been moved off to the side. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

This is an amazing feat of engineering!

 

 

 

After viewing the locks from several vantage points, we went to the gym for a run. It was moderately busy but we had no problem getting two treadmills next to each other.

 

Back to our room for a shower. Then we went to Taste. The Freestyle Daily said they would open at noon. We arrived at 11:40am, but a day or two ago when we arrived at 11:45, they were already seating people. So we got a drink at the bar just outside the restaurant, and sure enough, they started seating people at 11:45 and we were able to get a table by the window. That was nice since we were still doing the Panama Canal transit.

 

Room was not cleaned until just before 3pm. Steward Arif starts at the end of the hall so takes awhile to get to us.

 

More viewing of the Panama Canal transit, spent a little time in Observation Lounge but it was very crowded. The same thing was happening here as we all know goes on at the pool: towels, books and other items placed on chairs to “reserve” them.

 

It was intolerably HOT on our balcony on starboard side. Shady with a breeze on the port side. If you are doing this cruise from Caribbean side to Pacific side, I recommend you look for a port side balcony for viewing the Panama canal transit. – But on the other hand, for the remainder of the cruise our balcony was facing east, which meant we were in the shade in the afternoons.

 

Public viewing areas for the canal were limited and were very crowded.

 

[luckybecky]

Some more photos of our canal transit, not necessarily in order

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the view on our TV screen in our cabin of the forward ship cam

 

[luckybecky]

Panama City in the distance

 

 

There was a canal expert on board who gave informative commentary throughout the day. Depending on your location, it could be hard to hear him, for example outside on deck 8, or in the Observation Lounge where many people were talking. So if you want to hear him, choose your spot carefully. Of course you could also listen to him on your TV.

 

The full passage took about 12 hours. Two passengers were offloaded to waiting ambulances while we were in one of the locks.

[LloydJr]

25 minutes ago, luckybecky said:

Would be a busy day outside your cabin door if you happen to be in a deck 8 forward cabin. 

I'm pretty sure that the hallway being used was not the normal hallway to guest cabins.

[luckybecky]

We spent a little time in the casino in the afternoon. Then, having seen long lines at the dining rooms on previous nights, we went early to Manhattan at about 5:45. We thought we might have a long wait to get in. To our surprise, the line was short and we were seated very quickly. We had excellent service and got through appetizers (we usually order two apps each, often soup and salad) and entree within an hour. We were full so we skipped dessert.

 

However in general I didn’t like the Manhattan. It was large and loud. I like the more intimate Savor and Taste much better, and glad these are an option. I’m almost certain they all serve the same menu.

 

I'm not sure if I have posted the wine list, pretty sure it is the same in all restaurants.

 

 

 

 

Here is the dinner menu for tonight

 

 

 

 

View of the dining room

 

 

Meatballs appetizer

 

 

Asparagus soup

 

 

Baked brie -- Yummy!

 

 

Garden salad

 

 

Chicken and seafood paella

 

 

Sauteed chimichurri beef: Looks a little weird in my poor photo but was actually quite good

 

We finished just in time to make it to the 7pm show. It was hypnotist Kelli Karl . She was good but I am a skeptic. I am not at all convinced that people were truly hypnotized. Of course it did not help that the show was interrupted by an emergency call for a “stretcher crew” to deck 7, right a the moment that people were supposed to be entering deep hypnosis. 

 

 

After the show, I was just worn out from a week of pretty much nonstop activity and just wanted to go back to our room. I don’t go to bed early and it was only 9pm so I worked on writing this review and just chilling, watching TV for awhile.

[luckybecky]

16 minutes ago, LloydJr said:

I'm pretty sure that the hallway being used was not the normal hallway to guest cabins.

 

Yes, it was. If you look at the deck plans, there are numerous forward cabins on deck 8. When we exited the forward elevators or stairs, we had to walk down the long corridor on port side past cabins  8162 to 8110. After you passed through the open "crew only" door at 8110 -- normally a closed, restricted area, there were a few additional cabins, not shown on deck plans, that were labeled for crew. Then you exited outside to the crew bar /recreation area shown above and to the bow.

 

They had one way traffic, so on the return trip we walked past cabins 8710 to 8762 on the starboard side. There were several crew stationed along the route to direct traffic.

 

We went out there to the viewing area a couple of times and pedestrian traffic was heavy.  

Edited March 17, 2023 by luckybecky

[luckybecky]

Friday March 3 Sea Day

 

We slept late. I made our bed because I feel sorry for our steward being so overworked! It is an easy thing for us to do, and our room doesn’t looked so rumpled as we come and go if our steward doesn’t get to us until late. After a couple of times he told me to stop doing that LOL

 

Then went to the pool, our first time and we are already on day 7 of this cruise! Of course on a sea day it was packed. We found one chair to leave our towels and things on while we cooled off in the pool. We went down the water slide a couple of times. One of the slides looks pretty scary; you stand in it and then they drop the floor out from under you. You take an almost vertical drop. I haven’t gotten up the nerve for that one yet! This may have been taken on another sea day; as you can see, very busy and no chairs open. Chair hogging was in full force on this cruise on deck 8, observation lounge, and of course pool areas. 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch in the buffet since we weren’t dressed for the dining room. Today they had a lot of Spanish/Mexican themed dishes. I had Asian. They had Korean style beef which was excellent, along with lo mein and fried rice. There is always an Asian themed section and an Indian section, and they always have pizza and a burger bar open.

 

One thing I love about this buffet is that they have tortilla chips and potato chips available at lunch. On some ships, we have had trouble finding these kinds of snacks. Twice, we have brought some chips and salsa back to our room to save for late night snacking. (I pack a few ziploc bags for this reason on every trip.) They also have bar snack mix available at several if not all of the bars. Salty, crunchy snacks are my weakness so I really appreciate that they have them on this ship.

 

We had a short spin in the casino. Relaxed on our balcony watching some sea birds that have been escorting us for hours. They are fascinating to watch as they swoop and dive into the water. There were many of them. I don't know where they came from; we were not near land. They followed us for many hours, I think into the next day if I remember correctly. 

 

 

 

 

Then we went to the observation lounge for awhile until we were told to clear out. They were going to have the Latitudes party there and we weren’t invited. 

 

[luckybecky]

Cagney’s for supper. We had a 5:45pm reservation which I made months in advance. As I recall it was either early (before 6pm) or late (after 9pm) even making reservations so far in advance. Not sure if better times were available if we had gone to book once on board.

 

Dinner took two hours which was about right. Service slowed down at the end. Took a long time for our plates to be cleared after we finished the main course, and then for dessert. But everything was very good. Steaks were cooked perfectly to order. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oysters Rockefeller

 

 

Lobster bisque?

 

 

 

Wedge salad

 

 

 

NY Strip

 

 

 

Sides: au gratin potatoes, grilled zucchini, grilled mushrooms, creamed spinach

 

 

Filet mignon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw the Nashville Tenors again. Different show from the first time but equally good. They are really talented, put on a fantastic show.

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by luckybecky

[luckybecky]

Saturday March 4 Sea Day

 

Another sea day. We went to the spa for a run, then to the pool. The hot tubs are fantastic! Just the right temperature (not too hot) for a tropical vacation. We have been on one other NCL cruise where the hot tubs were unusable because they were only lukewarm – too cold -- on a cruise to Norway.

 

We had lunch in the buffet. After several times eating here, we’ve decided this is the best buffet of the cruise lines we have tried. It has been consistently good. I especially like the Asian section. Very good ginger beef, other stir fry dishes, and noodle soup.

 

Back to our room in the early afternoon for a shower. Still has not been cleaned. Our steward apologized to us that he has not made it to our room yet. He has 25 rooms, said they used to have 16. And there used to be a team of head steward and assistant. Now it is just him by himself. This is really off putting to me about NCL. Our steward is working 10-12 hours a day, every day, never a day off, and feeling that he has to apologize to us repeatedly that he isn’t working fast enough. 😞

 

By the way, we sent out a bag of laundry yesterday after receiving a $29 special flyer in our room. We were able to stuff quite a lot of clothes into the bag (fold carefully; if you just wad them up you won’t be able to put nearly as much). The clean clothes were returned today in less than 24 hours.

 

Anyway, after getting showered from the morning at the gym and pool, we went to the casino for awhile. We like to sit at the bar playing video poker. Bartenders Dom and Ernesto take great care of us.

 

Back to our room for a nap before dinner. Then we went to The Local. We want to try as many restaurant venues as we can. The Local was OK. It can be very loud if there are activites in the atrium going on. The reuben sandwich was excellent. Blue cheese burger was also good, a very big burger. Pretzel bites with cheese appetizer was good but a very small portion of cheese, certainly not enough for the amount of pretzels that was served. Spinach artichoke dip was also very good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reuben

 

 

 

Blue Cheese burger

 

 

We tried to get in the standby line for Jersey Boys. We saw people lining up a full hour before showtime outside the theater. We showed up much later than that for the standby line. When they let us in 10 minutes before the show, we could not find a seat so we left.

 

Then we went to get in the standby line for comedy at The Social. We had to wait, I dunno, maybe 20 minutes or so. We were able to get in and get seats easily. The comedian was Flip Schultz who we saw before. He is hilarious. The standby line for the comedians usually was able to get in but don't wait to the very last minute. It always filled up by showtime. I noticed all the shows always started *exactly* on time in all venues. 

 

Finally a last spin in the casino before going back to our cabin just to chill, watched a movie before bed.

 

Tonight we turn the clocks back one hour. The extra hour of sleep is welcome because we have an early excursion again tomorrow.

[kitkat343]

9 hours ago, luckybecky said:

March 1 Cartagena

 

So here’s one of my complaints about this itinerary: our port time today was 6am to 2pm (back on board time 1:30pm). This is just ridiculous.

 

We aren’t morning people, I admit, so early port times are off-putting to us from the get go. But nothing is open in virtually any port at 0600. If you want to just explore on your own there is almost no point because no stores, restaurants, museums or anything else are going to be open for at least 3-4 hours after docking time. I usually use private tour providers, but in this case I could not find any providers whose tours began early enough to get us back on time.

 

Sunrise in Cartagena

 

 

 

 

 

So we went with an NCL tour: Amazing Cartagena Bay and Walled City. $79 per person, but we had $50 off as one of our perks so it was pretty affordable.

 

We began with a 6am alarm, in order to be in the Manhattan Room for our 0700 meeting time. Pretty soon we were directed to our bus. We had a friendly, talkative guide. It was about a 20 minute or so drive to get to the starting point of the walking tour portion of this excursion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm so sorry they took away Costa Rica and left you with this port time in Cartagena.  That being said, we visited Cartagena with a  2 year old and 2 grandparents.  It's really hot, and we knew we wouldn't make a whole day's tour.  We had booked a private tour for just our family, and toured the Old City from 8 or 9 -12:30, and everyone was very ready to stop sightseeing and go to lunch at 12:30.  We cut out the new city entirely, and did feel we were able to see the highlights of the Old City in the morning.  If NCL is keeping this port time (and I hope they don't because Cartagena is an absolute highlight of this cruise) I'd recommend other cruisers contact all the private tour operators, explain you'd be willing to cut out the new city entirely and see if they can give you a tour in the morning of the old city.  Explain you will be flexible and understanding if you can't see everything because you are going to have more control over the itinerary on a private tour for just your family than a ship tour, where you will lose precious time waiting for people.

 

Also, if you are able to arrange a morning tour of the old city, please research ahead of time exactly which sites are most important to your family.  We did this at the Hermitage and in the rest of St. Petersburg because you only had 2 days there and we had a 3 year old with us, so we made sure to see the highlights for our family first in case we ran out of time (my oldest was a  really good traveler so it wasn't necessary but I was glad we had a  plan and you'd need one too to visit the Old City in a few hours).

 

We really liked our tour guide,  Dora De Zubiria (dora@cartagenatour.com), who was  a highly knowledgeable and experienced guide.  But if you might want to contact a number of the independent tour operators to see if one would be willing to give you a tour of just the old city in the morning (my panama canal tour was 10 years ago; back then there were a lot of highly rated tour guide operators and hopefully one would be willing to help you.)

 

 We also had a very nice lunch at the Club de Pesca (the Mariscos a la cartagenera allows you to sample a variety of excellent seafood). Please note that the service at Club de Pesca is very leisurely, so you should allocate enough time to return to the port (it is a short cab ride from the pier) and this is absolutely not an option if you have a 6 am-2 pm port day.

Edited March 17, 2023 by kitkat343

[LloydJr]

15 hours ago, luckybecky said:

 

Yes, it was. If you look at the deck plans, there are numerous forward cabins on deck 8. When we exited the forward elevators or stairs, we had to walk down the long corridor on port side past cabins  8162 to 8110. After you passed through the open "crew only" door at 8110 -- normally a closed, restricted area, there were a few additional cabins, not shown on deck plans, that were labeled for crew. Then you exited outside to the crew bar /recreation area shown above and to the bow.

 

They had one way traffic, so on the return trip we walked past cabins 8710 to 8762 on the starboard side. There were several crew stationed along the route to direct traffic.

 

We went out there to the viewing area a couple of times and pedestrian traffic was heavy.  

I stand corrected.  My experience is on the Encore, and with your detailed description I now remember it being as you describe. 😎

[LloydJr]

14 hours ago, luckybecky said:

Steaks were cooked perfectly to order. 

Do you remember which cuts you ordered.  I've had hits and misses in Cagney's, so last time I just asked the server which cuts were currently good.  He quickly recommended the Rib Eye and it was very good.

[mearsfansinboise]

On 3/15/2023 at 2:49 PM, luckybecky said:

I had a moment of panic when they asked for our vaccine cards.

---- nevermind, I see that it was because you stopped in Colombia.

Edited March 17, 2023 by mearsfansinboise

[GALSews]

Thanks for sharing your cruise. We are thinking about doing a Panama Canal cruise.

[mearsfansinboise]

16 hours ago, luckybecky said:

Pretzel bites with cheese appetizer was good but a very small portion of cheese, certainly not enough for the amount of pretzels that was served.

Ha ha - look at those yummy fat pretzels and that rinky dink cuppette of cheese! 😅

[luckybecky]

2 hours ago, LloydJr said:

Do you remember which cuts you ordered.  I've had hits and misses in Cagney's, so last time I just asked the server which cuts were currently good.  He quickly recommended the Rib Eye and it was very good.

 

We had the NY Strip and filet mignon. Both were excellent.

 

1 hour ago, GALSews said:

Thanks for sharing your cruise. We are thinking about doing a Panama Canal cruise.

 

I hope you get to do it someday! We really enjoyed it. 

 

Now on with our story. We still have several more days and a few more ports. This is where our itinerary had been changed. At the time we booked it last summer, we were supposed to have Costa Rica on March 4, then Nicaragua on the 5th and Guatemala on the 6th. Both Costa Rica and Nicaragua were taken away, and replaced with a short stop in Acapulco a few days later. We were very sorry about this but we made the best of it. 

[luckybecky]

Sunday March 5 Guatemala

 

So today was my reminder of why I usually avoid ship excursions. There were some good bits, but I just don’t like being herded like cattle with dozens or even hundreds of others. I prefer small group tours.

 

We booked the Colonial Antigua with lunch tour. We were supposed to meet in the Bliss Theater at 7am. Along with everyone else on the ship. The place was packed and the process for distributing your boarding stickers seemed a little disjointed. But we were onboard our bus with a total of 37 in our group by 7:30am.

 

It was approximately 1.5 hours drive to reach Antigua. Once there, we had to switch to smaller buses because the big tour buses are too large for the streets of the old town. Paul nearly got hit by a car! We thought we were in a parking area because there were so many large and small buses parked everywhere on both sides. So when our guide told us to cross to the other side to get on the smaller bus, we walked out from in front of the bus just as a car went zooming by! Scary!

 

Next we had a few minutes’ drive to downtown where we all joined back up with our guide. She was very good, but with such a large group it was impossible for everyone to hear her. Especially with lots of motorcycles and cars whizzing by, and a nonstop barrage from street vendors hawking their wares.

 

We walked through the city streets where she pointed out a few beautiful churches, but we were only able to enter one, very briefly. Because it was during Lent, many of the buildings and churches were draped with purple bunting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

We also saw the busy city square which was overrun with vendors who were very persistent. One member of our group was wearing a t-shirt that had printed on the front, “I don’t have any money,” and on the back, “I don’t buy anything.” I meant to ask him if it worked to keep the vendors away; I doubt it.

 

A man who wears many hats

 

 

 

 

 

I think our walking tour took about an hour. We had 20 minutes of free time to walk around the plaza. Then we went to a restaurant that is apparently a subsidiary of NCL. It was not busy when we arrived but almost immediately began filling up as group after group of NCL tours arrived. They had set up a buffet style lunch where you went down the line as they served you black beans, rice, chicken, fried plantains, tortillas, and a dessert which our guide said was not served hot and crisp as it should be. Instead it was cold and mushy. But otherwise the food was acceptable.

 

There was no drink included except for coffee that was so weak it looked like tea. We don’t drink coffee but others nearby complained about it. You could buy a beer for $5 or soda for $3. Nothing else to drink was offered with our “included” lunch. We were not impressed by the restaurant. Also this was the first time a bathroom (other than on the bus – yuck!) was available and we are 4 hours into the tour.

 

Lunch:

[luckybecky]

After lunch, we walked immediately next door (how convenient!) to the “Jade Museum.” We sat in rows of chairs for a mercifully brief introduction to jade. Then were immediately shepherded into the gift shop with many other NCL passengers from other tours. It was packed.

 

My husband and I did not want to buy anything and wanted to escape this mob scene. The “museum” turned out to be a few display cases. Otherwise just a big store. We ended up waiting outside on the sidewalk. We do not like these enforced shopping expeditions disguised as “museums.”

 

But now came a truly nice part of our tour. A very pleasant surprise! We happened to be in town on a Sunday during Lent. There is a tradition here that they make “carpets” on the street on Lent Sundays, for the processions that go down the streets. The carpets are made of colored sawdust, wood shavings, flowers and other natural materials. We got to walk down a street where they were making many of these. Later this afternoon, the religious procession would walk down the street on the way to the church, and would walk across these beautiful pieces of ephemeral art. They will be gone tomorrow. They were lovely to see and a nice treat for us due to lucky timing.

 

Close to completing the carpets: the procession would be starting in just a few hours.

 

 

 

A vendor of nuts. I wanted to buy some but you can't take them back on board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People picking the petals off thousands of flowers for use in the carpets.

 

 

Almost time to begin

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

We also briefly walked through an ancient monastery that had been destroyed I believe in an earthquake, and the ruins have now been incorporated into a luxury hotel. It was pretty cool but we couldn’t hear our guide well so didn’t hear the full story of the place.

 

This tree was amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, back to the Jade Museum! Here were dozens of buses and hundreds of NCL passengers milling about on a narrow street waiting to be assigned to the small buses, to go back to the big buses. We were there close to half an hour. It was hot and filled with bus exhaust fumes, very crowded. An unpleasant, unorganized mob scene. Our guide did her best. I really dislike this kind of excursion which is so crowded and commercialized.

 

We finally got on a little bus, then back to the big bus on the busy street, then hour plus ride back to the ship, arriving about 3:30pm. There is a large shopping area at the port if you just want to get off the ship to pick up a few souvenirs.

 

Word to the wise: this was quite a bit of walking (which we do not mind at all, but may be difficult for some people) on very rough cobblestone streets and uneven sidewalks. I was wearing sandals which were not ideal for these walking surfaces. Wear good solid walking shoes. Do not even attempt this excursion if you have mobility issues. I logged 8700 steps from the time we got up to meet in the theater until we got back onboard.

 

There is a pretty extensive shopping area just outside of the ship that you have to go through to get to and from excursion buses. We passed through this area but didn’t buy anything.

[luckybecky]

Back on board we rested in our room for a little while, then went to the observation lounge for a drink. Such a nice space! We really like it up there.

 

Dinner: went to Savor at about 5:45pm. They said they had only shared seating available. We walked across the hall to try Taste. They were able to seat us but were getting very full at that point. We got there just in time to get a table without a wait.

 

 

Hot wings

 

 

Tomato salad

 

 

Shredded cabbage salad

 

 

Mahi Mahi

 

 

 

We were so full we skipped dessert as we often do. We finished just in time to run over to the theater for the Beatles. This was their Sgt. Pepper show. It was excellent. Theater was quite full. It always helps to arrive early. Then we hit the casino, and finally back to our cabin early.