Live (ish) Bliss Apr 9-14 Coastal

[ceilidh1]

Gah! Why are they upside down???!

[ceilidh1]

DS decided we was tired so we stopped at the buffet and grabbed some snacks and went back to the room. DD and BFF had laser tag reservations - even with reservations they waited for an hour and then said they only played for 15 minutes (that might have been wrong, I wasn’t there). They said it was fun but super cold after the long wait. Afterwards they wanted to see the late show of Six and, since I love it so much, I joined them and watched again. We were on standby but there was no line and we got great seats. It was a packed house again but most people came 5 minutes before the show. Note to people attending a show - once it starts, STOP talking. Seriously, there was a couple right behind us that just chatted for the first 10 minutes of the show. I turned around and sternly shusshed them. The show was just as great second time round. After that I called it a night and the teens went to a party at the teen program. How the tables have turned - they are out far later than me these days!

[ceilidh1]

Day 5 -Vancouver 

 

We don’t get into port until later this evening as we need to wait for the tide to be low enough to pass under the Lions Gate Bridge. No real plans for the day other than to spend the credit we mysteriously acquired. I did get a messages on the phone telling me to stop by the credit desk to get it refunded- since I’ve never been in a position with NCL to have left over credit, I had no idea this was the process. On other lines it has been refunded back to credit card automatically. I appreciated the heads up as if it was a lot of money I would definitely be getting it refunded!

 

DS and I were up and showered by 8:30. The teens were still fast asleep so we went down to the Local for breakfast. Best, fastest service we have had so far! No wait. Everyone must still be sleeping. We got American Breakfast, breakfast sandwich, and French Toast. It was delicious! THIS is the kind of service I’m used to on NCL. As I was finishing my coffee, a lady stopped by and handed DS a huge wad of tickets she had won at the arcade. Guess that’s our next stop.

[ceilidh1]

Well, the arcade turned into the stuff of nightmares. Lol. We got in a few games with the unlimited pass but then it started to get busy and loud so we ran the stack of tickets through the machine and found we had 1016. There had to be an amazing prize to redeem that for, right? Uhmm. Wrong. The prizes were lame - even the higher redemption items could be bought for between $10-$20…DS opted to use 1000 tickets on a Marvel figure but the two redemption machines were jammed. Luckily, there was a staff member in the arcade helping someone that had not received tickets from one of the games. He came over and fixed the redemption machines then got called over to fix another machine that wasn’t working. We redeemed our tickets, tried to open the door to grab our prize, and…nothing. Door was jammed. Poor guy had a line of people with issues at this point but no way was DS walking away without his prize. Lol. Finally, we were able to get it and got out of there, only to find that somewhere in the process he had lost his cruise card. Up to guest services for another- luckily no line so it was a fast process. 

[ceilidh1]

Tried to go spend some credit but the shops were all closed and staff had no idea if/when they would reopen. The daily listed them as being open but I guess it was a surprise to the ship that we would be in Canadian waters so not allowed?

[ceilidh1]

We decided to head to Taste for lunch. There was already a line at 11:40am so we just joined it. The family in front of us have never sailed NCL before and said they would never be back. I tried telling them that this is not a normal experience, but who knows…maybe this IS the new normal? They had kids under 5 and had never been able to get into the kid program, they had to wait 2.5 hours to ride go karts , they had gone to Teppanyaki and had a food allergy so requested a different dessert before the meal even started and were basically told “oh, that’s at a different restaurant and we have no one to go get it”..,,wow. They commented that on other lines they had sailed, that would not have been mentioned, it just would have happened. I can’t help but agree. 

[ceilidh1]

To add to the absolute cluster that this sailing has been. Once again, the host that took us to our table had no idea which table we were meant to be at. We walked around, stood awkwardly next to an occupied table, were told to sit at one and another waiter said no…ok guys, get it sorted! Finally sat down and found exactly what I wanted off the menu in record time. Then things really got absurd. The waiters came around and took everyone’s menus saying they were wrong and they would bring new ones. People had already ordered by this point so there was lots of confusion. New menus came and nowhere near as good. Sigh. It’s 12:30 now so half an hour after sitting, we finally ordered food. No drinks yet either.

 

Food came out fast (no drinks) and was good, as always. My beer came as I took the last bite of my meal, but no soda for DS. The waiter said he would get it. He came back 10 minutes later with two huge glasses of soda. I get that he was trying to make it right, but two huge glasses of soda after we are done eating is kind of pointless. It’s such a shame that the service issues are overshadowing the fact that all of the food has been excellent. Instead of walking away with a great memory of the food, I’m walking away with the memory of the crappy service. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

17 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Wait in line starting at 4:40. It opens at 5:30 but they start seating at 5:15. This makes us first in! We did have an issue getting drinks- server explained they might take a while as only one bar was open (Canada).

Isn't it one bar per deck?

 

Regardless, some of us would get a drink at a bar and then join the line.  If the line moves fast, you already have your drink when you sit down (at which time you can order another and not worry about it taking a while).  If the line moves slow?  Just hold your place in line while a volunteer runs to gather refills.

[Jordan61]

16 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

The family in front of us have never sailed NCL before and said they would never be back. I tried telling them that this is not a normal experience, but who knows…maybe this IS the new normal?

 

I can't say I blame them. We'll be on the Bliss next month for our first NCL cruise, and if we have a bad experience I don't know that I'd want to spend a bunch of money on another cruise hoping *maybe* it'll be better next time.

[ceilidh1]

17 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Isn't it one bar per deck?

 

Regardless, some of us would get a drink at a bar and then join the line.  If the line moves fast, you already have your drink when you sit down (at which time you can order another and not worry about it taking a while).  If the line moves slow?  Just hold your place in line while a volunteer runs to gather refills.

That works when travelling with adults. It’s me with kids. Folks jump in line in front of them and I can’t send them to the bar. Yes. One bar per deck.

[ceilidh1]

19 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Isn't it one bar per deck?

 

Regardless, some of us would get a drink at a bar and then join the line.  If the line moves fast, you already have your drink when you sit down (at which time you can order another and not worry about it taking a while).  If the line moves slow?  Just hold your place in line while a volunteer runs to gather refills.

Also, I had a drink when I got in line. I finished it by the time we got a table.

[ceilidh1]

Shops still not open and unlikely to be opened the rest of the cruise. While this isn’t a surprise, having credit to use was, so in line at guest services to get some cash back from them! I would definitely have spent this had anything been open to spend it on…There was a smallish line at guest services and an even smaller line at onboard credit. Sadly, a staff working at onboard credit told me they were about to close so I should wait at guest services. I joined that line and then watched 3 other couples walk up to and get helped by the onboard credit folks. When I got to the front of guest services line and explained why I was there, I was told I had to go to onboard credit as he didn’t have access to that. Seriously??? I walked right to the front of the onboard credit line (sorry to anyone that thought I was cutting) and finally got my $$$ back. It seems like the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing throughout the entire ship. New staff? Poorly trained staff? Staff that just want to be off the ship? Who knows…

[ceilidh1]

DS and I decided to chill at the observation lounge. It was packed, with large groups and families camping out across multiple seating areas. We lucked out and happened to pass two ladies who were vacating some prime seats, so we grabbed them. Getting a drink at the bar took a looong time - I’m not sure how bartenders determine who is next as he definitely helped at least 3 people who came after I did. Bear in mind that I’m also one of the very few people tipping for every drink (creature of habit). A nice guy that was next to me actually reprimanded the bartender and told him I had been there much longer than the others so I finally got served. It would be really nice if the waitstaff that wander through the area actually came over to take drink orders but so far we have never been that lucky!

[ceilidh1]

I thought I added lunch pics..

Menu that was given to us

[ceilidh1]

Menu that replaced that menu

[ceilidh1]

Our food

 

The two huge Sprites arrived after DS finished his meal. His face says it all - my kids have been raised that you DO NOT waste food/drink. You order, you commit. Poor guy. 

[ceilidh1]

I’m aware that this review is starting to sound like a full on whining complaint, and that’s not how I wanted it to come across. We have had a great time despite all the little issues. The problem is, all the little issues add up and by the end of the cruise it feels as if there were more issues than good times! In isolation, these things wouldn’t bother me. When they happen one after the other, they become problematic. I originally booked Haven for this sailing, but with price drops prior to final payment i decided I would rather go for a lower category and cruise more with the price difference. I regret that now. Maybe Haven was no better. Who knows? 

[ceilidh1]

An observation regarding cruise next - if you’re trying to market to me, maybe do some research to know what will be successful! My first phone message encouraging me to buy a cruise next certificate began “Good Morning, Mrs Hollywood!” Spoiler: I’m not Mrs Hollywood, nor do I know a mrs Hollywood. My next phone message told me they had checked my cruise history and had an amazing deal just for me. They see how I like to book solo cabins and had an exclusive solo cruiser offer for Gem. Hmmm. This sailing I’m in a cabin of 4, and I have never sailed on NCL with less than 3 in a room. It’s not even like I did an upgrade so it was meant for someone else - this has been my same room number since final payment.

[ChiefMateJRK]

7 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Also, I had a drink when I got in line. I finished it by the time we got a table.

Next time join the line with two drinks, one in each hand.😎

[hallux]

32 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

To add to the absolute cluster that this sailing has been. Once again, the host that took us to our table had no idea which table we were meant to be at. We walked around, stood awkwardly next to an occupied table, were told to sit at one and another waiter said no…ok guys, get it sorted!

Every time I've gone to an MDR the host at the podium printed a slip and hand it to the host leading to the table and they would reference that slip as they reach the table.  I'm assuming the slip has a table number on it, since the tables have numbers on them.  I would think the host station has a diagram of the dining room and has available tables identified.

[ceilidh1]

DS was hungry so we left our prime seats at the observation lounge and headed up to the Garden Cafe. Sadly, it closed between 3:30 to 5:00. Is this new? I’ve never known it to completely close before - the whole thing, not just stations, but everything including seating and drink machines. Maybe that’s always been the case and I’ve just not noticed as we normally don’t go to the buffet that much. I find it odd that there is nowhere to grab a slice of pizza or a hotdog other than the Garden Cafe and then it’s closed for an hour and a half. The observation lounge had “tea” type foods like scones and sandwiches but nothing that appealed to DS. He will survive. I mean, we just finished lunch 3 hours ago. Lol.

[ceilidh1]

Just now, ChiefMateJRK said:

Next time join the line with two drinks, one in each hand.😎

The line was an hour. I drink fast. 

[ceilidh1]

1 minute ago, hallux said:

Every time I've gone to an MDR the host at the podium printed a slip and hand it to the host leading to the table and they would reference that slip as they reach the table.  I'm assuming the slip has a table number on it, since the tables have numbers on them.  I would think the host station has a diagram of the dining room and has available tables identified.

That’s what happened. The tables didn’t have numbers. Lol

[ceilidh1]

Next stop was District Brew House where I sampled a couple of beers that I can’t get elsewhere. Funky Buddha, Barrel of Monks, and Miami Weiss. The bartender was sure to warn me about the tax. No worries. But then he only charged it on one of the drinks. We are now back in Washington state after circling Canadian waters for the whole morning. We pass under the bridge around 6:30pm this evening and dock in Vancouver at 7pm. No idea if lots will get off in Vancouver (we won’t) or if folks can disembark tonight rather than in the morning.

[ceilidh1]