Semi-live from the Bliss | June 17-24, 2023 | Alaska ho!

[Panhandle Couple]

Thanks.  We love the Bliss.

 

We loved the Crab and chili at the Crab House in ISP.

Glad to see that new busses are arriving at Ward Cove.  (is the upper level open or closed?) If you build it, they will come, or eventually new busses delivered.  And the dock there was built for commercial (lumber and minerals) shipping, if I'm not mistaken.  NCL purchased it during the shut down, or shortly before.  

 

6 ships in Ketchikan makes things very crowded.  I'm guessing they will enact a limitation in the next couple of years.

 

Would you recommend the Thermal Spa for a Panama Canal cruise?  It is pricey for 15 days, I wish they sold 1 day passes. 

[OrcaGirl]

2 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Thanks.  We love the Bliss.

 

We loved the Crab and chili at the Crab House in ISP.

Glad to see that new busses are arriving at Ward Cove.  (is the upper level open or closed?) If you build it, they will come, or eventually new busses delivered.  And the dock there was built for commercial (lumber and minerals) shipping, if I'm not mistaken.  NCL purchased it during the shut down, or shortly before.  

 

6 ships in Ketchikan makes things very crowded.  I'm guessing they will enact a limitation in the next couple of years.

 

Would you recommend the Thermal Spa for a Panama Canal cruise?  It is pricey for 15 days, I wish they sold 1 day passes. 

The new Ward Cove buses were double-decker city transit buses, with enclosed upper levels.

 

NCL will sell thermal spa day passes when capacity allows. For this cruise, when we popped in on Wednesday, we had the option of paying $79+tax for one day or $179+tax for the remainder of the cruise (so, Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday and Friday). At that point, the spa staff said day passes for Thursday (Ketchikan) may or may not be available and to check back in the morning if that’s what we wanted, but that there definitely wouldn’t be any day passes for Friday (Victoria) since they treat it like a sea day.

 

Only you can decide if it’s worth it for you.

[OrcaGirl]

Honestly, I’m staring to fade and lose the plot a bit. 🤣

 

After re-boarding, I had breakfast (still no hash browns) then rejoined the Fox and Cub in the Atrium just in time for a Word Scramble activity. Which we won, so yay?

 

 

Not only was it not raining but the SUN ACTUALLY CAME OUT so we moseyed up to the pool deck so the Cub could play in the Aqua Park and I could have a mango meltdown.

 

 

 

I headed to the thermal spa for a bit which was PACKED. I think I grabbed the last free chaise chair, and enjoyed the amenities for the rest of the afternoon.

 

For dinner, we went to Food Republic as our only specialty dining of the cruise. No dining package so we ordered a la carte, sharing the California roll, an Alaska summer roll and the pork belly gyoza.

 

Apres dinner, I went to Guest Services to pick up our disembarkation luggage tags while the Fox took the Cub to Splash.

 

 

We had reservations for Jersey Boys tonight, but that was before we had thermal spa passes. So yeah, back to the thermal spa we happily went.

 

 

 

Random observations:

 

I’m not a prude, but come on, an old dude wearing tighty-whiteys (sp?) in lieu of swim trunks in the thermal spa is not appropriate.

[destar]

Thank you for posting, now Im contemplating booking an Alaska cruise on the bliss for next year.

 

[ceilidh1]

17 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

Yes, that was the Pacific Coastal repositioning cruise last year. I had a great time, but didn’t do a live from thread since I was technically working remotely while cruising and didn’t know how much time I’d have… (But having Teams meetings with a mojito in hand at Sugarcane was really cool and made my colleagues jealous…) 😎 

 

This is my third sailing on the Bliss, sixth Norwegian cruise, and probably 20th cruise overall, and to be honest I’ve never given a thought to who the GM is on any cruise. Usually any bad vibes on board I attribute to my fellow passengers rather than senior onboard staff. 🤣

 

 

 

That was a great cruise!

[garlictown]

@OrcaGirl Thank you for posting and giving me some insight into what the🛳️ Bliss is like. ( and including the Freestyle Daily)

Question: Were tickets readily available for shows like Jersey Boys and Six? 

👍BTW loved all your photos, Katie

[OrcaGirl]

Good morning from off the coast of Vancouver Island, again, some more.

 

We changed our clocks back last night and ‘slept in’ until 8am. 

 

Grabbed some Starbucks and slowly became human again in the cabin until our grumbly tummies called out for breakfast.

 

We headed to the Local and got seated right away. And then waited. And waited. No waiter came by and we couldn’t flag one down. Eventually we called it since we had 10:30am reservations for the speedway and didn’t trust our ability to order, receive and scarf down our breakfast in 30 minutes. So we bailed and headed to the buffet which was unsurprisingly packed. We ended up eating in the outdoor section under the heat lamps. 
 

 

After breakfast we hustled over to the Speedway to get the Fox and Cub checked in. And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. The lesson being that a 10:30am reservation doesn’t mean you’ll be in the cars at 10:30am. 

 

Anyway, after some delays, the Fox and Cub got their turn. Zoom zoom.

 

 

Then we headed to the theatre for some bingo and the free cruise raffle. Alas, though the Fox got down to two numbers left on the final coverall bingo, we didn’t win anything. 

 

 

We headed to the MDR for lunch; like the Local, service was noticeably slower than earlier in the cruise.

 

 

After lunch, the Fox and Cub went to Splash while I headed down to guest services to wait in a loooooong line to figure out why we had a voicemail about not filling out our Canadian Customs forms, when in fact we had. So we ended up filling them out again. 🙄

 

Oh well, a couple hours in the spa will make me feel better.

 

 

Random observations:

 

The NCL app was wonky all morning. Kept prompting me and the Fox to login but then clicking the login button doesn’t do anything. It eventually got itself sorted by the afternoon.

 

 

My arms got covered in soot while leaning on the railings at the speedway’s viewing platform.

 

If your bucket list items for an Alaskan cruise is to see a polar bear… you need to do more research my dude.

 

I entered the virtual queue for guest services about 10 minutes before I got in the physical line; when I talked to the crew member working the line and asked how the virtual queue worked (since there’s no obvious place to go), she just shook her head sheepishly and said “it doesn’t”… like come on, don’t have the functionality available on the app if it doesn’t work AT ALL. Way to needlessly frustrate people who — if they need something from Guest Services — are likely already primed for frustration.

 

 

[OrcaGirl]

Day 7 (Victoria) dailies

 

Day 7 Victoria .pdf

 

 

[hark sharky]

On 6/17/2023 at 3:13 PM, OrcaGirl said:

This is definitely the fullest ship I’ve been on since the restart. I miss the reduced capacity cruises.

 

100% full? Or just less pleasant?

 

[hark sharky]

7 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

After re-boarding, I had breakfast (still no hash browns) then rejoined the Fox and Cub in the Atrium just in time for a Word Scramble activity. Which we won, so yay?

 

 

What was #18?

[OrcaGirl]

4 hours ago, garlictown said:

@OrcaGirl Thank you for posting and giving me some insight into what the🛳️ Bliss is like. ( and including the Freestyle Daily)

Question: Were tickets readily available for shows like Jersey Boys and Six? 

👍BTW loved all your photos, Katie

We booked our Six and Jersey Boy reservations online about a week before the cruise; at that point the early performance on the first night of both shows was ‘sold out’ but the other performances had availability.

 

And then as mentioned we ended up walking in to Six just six minutes before the show started on the first night for the 7pm show.

[OrcaGirl]

4 hours ago, hark sharky said:

 

100% full? Or just less pleasant?

 

I haven’t heard the capacity announced, but several cabin categories were sold out a few weeks ahead of the cruise. My best guess is that if we’re not at full capacity, we’re dang close.

[OrcaGirl]

4 hours ago, hark sharky said:

 

What was #18?

Morse… we were kicking ourselves over that one…

 

[OrcaGirl]

We spaaaaaaahed, spotting the Royal Princess stalking us and a few whale spouts.

 

 

 

Eventually it was time to pick up the Cub from his final Splash Academy Session, and to pack.

 

I had a little bit of casino free play left on my card, and the Fox had six bucks and change of casino vouchers. But alas, the casino closed at 3pm. I knew it would close once we arrived in Victoria, but I didn’t think it would be that early. D’oh. (We were able to cash out the Fox’s six bucks.)

 

We headed up the buffet for ‘Oriental’ night, which… it’s 2023, couldn’t it be Asian night? But it was delicious.

 

 

After dinner we hustled to Sugarcane only to find them already closed, 20 min before the stated 7pm closing hours. Apparently the pilot just boarded and that’s the trigger to close all but one bar per deck. Blame Canada?

 

 

So we went to down to the Atrium for a Mai Tai, Aperol Spritz, and a Shirley Temple while watching bandaoke.

 

 

Since there was no Splash Academy tonight and we didn’t have any interest in touring Victoria (what with living a short ferry ride away and having visited many, many times), I stayed with the Cub as he went to bed and sent the Fox off to get her money’s worth in the thermal spa. Because I’m an awesome friend… and want to be invited on more cruises… and possibly a trip to Super Nintendo World…

 

Except… the spa was %#*£ing closed!!! I’ve never known the thermal spa to close that early on the final night… dang it all to heck. 🤬

 

 

So yeah. I should have checked the closing time of the casino AND the spa…

 

Thoroughly disappointed, we instead set out our luggage and retired to our respective beds to read (the Fox and Cub) and write I’m-not-mad-just-disappointed missives on the interwebs (me).

 

(If Starbucks isn’t open in the morning, though, we riot.)

 

 

Random observations:

 

The floor right next to an elevator door doesn’t seem like a great spot for a gaggle of teenagers to sprawl on the floor, but what do I know?

 

The app continues to say we arrive in Seattle at 12pm (eg noon). I’m 99.9999999% certain it is wrong… 

 

 

Wish the app had the MDR menus, so I didn’t have to pop downstairs to see what’s for lunch or dinner, before we decide on buffet or not.

 

I wasn’t emotionally ready for a ~6-year-old girl to slay the Highway to Hell chorus at bandaoke, but daaaaaaaaamn.

[OrcaGirl]

On 6/19/2023 at 11:10 PM, OrcaGirl said:

Oh FFS… captain just announced it was a false alarm and the person who had been thought to have gone overboard was found on board.

Completely unsubstantiated cruise gossip: the word going around is that someone was having a mental health crisis and climbing onto a railing, threatening to jump. Someone else threw a life preserver overboard just in case? And then someone else saw the life preserver in the water and called in the man overboard? And it took the crew a while to realize that he hadn’t actually jumped yet, but he was talked down safely.

 

Again, this is just the scuttlebutt.

[Panhandle Couple]

On 6/22/2023 at 10:35 PM, OrcaGirl said:

The new Ward Cove buses were double-decker city transit buses, with enclosed upper levels.

 

NCL will sell thermal spa day passes when capacity allows. For this cruise, when we popped in on Wednesday, we had the option of paying $79+tax for one day or $179+tax for the remainder of the cruise (so, Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday and Friday). At that point, the spa staff said day passes for Thursday (Ketchikan) may or may not be available and to check back in the morning if that’s what we wanted, but that there definitely wouldn’t be any day passes for Friday (Victoria) since they treat it like a sea day.

 

Only you can decide if it’s worth it for you.

Sorry its a little late, but thanks for the response!

[Happycrafter123]

I’ve enjoyed your review so far, thank you!  I liked the tips and details about the train, it’s a great option.  Heading out for a similar trip in the Sun next week and wish I’d booked the Bliss just so I could have the thermal spa!

 

As I’m packing was hoping fir some tips from you—did you bring boots, wear boots, wish you brought boots???  Also, the matter of hair straightening irons seems to be a grey one, did you bring one/ hear of any being confiscated?

[YVRteacher]

I bring my hair straightener on every cruise and have never had an issue.

 

Boots aren’t needed in Alaska but waterproof footwear of some sort is.

[OrcaGirl]

1 hour ago, Happycrafter123 said:

I’ve enjoyed your review so far, thank you!  I liked the tips and details about the train, it’s a great option.  Heading out for a similar trip in the Sun next week and wish I’d booked the Bliss just so I could have the thermal spa!

 

As I’m packing was hoping fir some tips from you—did you bring boots, wear boots, wish you brought boots???  Also, the matter of hair straightening irons seems to be a grey one, did you bring one/ hear of any being confiscated?

We each wore a pair of sneakers and packed a pair of flip-flops or sandals. Did not feel any need for boots at all.

 

Sorry, didn’t hear anything one way or anything about straightening irons. I’ve brought them on previous cruises when my hair was longer, but can’t speak to current protocols.

[OrcaGirl]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

I bring my hair straightener on every cruise and have never had an issue.

 

Boots aren’t needed in Alaska but waterproof footwear of some sort is.

I’ll respectfully disagree on the waterproof footwear being a necessity — last cruise (early May, very rainy) I wore non-waterproofed trail runners as my ‘outdoors’ shoes and thought even that was overkill. So for this one I wore my regular sneakers. It all depends on which excursions you’re planning.

[OrcaGirl]

Good morning from Seattle!

 

 

Showered then Starbucked. (My Starbucks card wasn’t working — maybe no one’s was? — so had to put the order on the cruise card. But my Stars!!)

 

Back to the room to throw my PJs and toiletries into my backpack and get ready to say goodbye to our cabin. 👋

 

Headed down to Taste (or was it Savor? 🤷‍♀️) for a leisurely breakfast.

 

 

They were only on pink by the time we were done breakfast, so we proceeded to the Atrium to chill until our colour (red) was called.

 

 

Around 9:32am we got called…. around about the time I double-checked our bus time and realized I should have picked an earlier departure time. Oops.

 

It took ~20 minutes to wind our way through the Manhattan Room to tap out, walk by the Customs and Immigration dudes (but we weren’t flagged down to stop), and exit the ship.

 

 

 

The luggage was well-organized and easy to find. 

 

We exited the terminal in search of a cab, but none of the drivers were interested in taking us the short distance to King Street Station or our insistence on using the meter. (No, I will not pay $25 flat fee unless that’s the posted fare by zone. Sorry not sorry.)

 

So a $12USD + tip Lyft ride later, by a Venezuelan driver who spent the entire drive convincing us to visit Los Roques (which, yes, looks amazing), we arrived at King Street Station and immediately boarded our bus.

 

 

 

And that pretty much wraps up our trip. I’ll write up a final summary (including insights from the Fox and Cub) on the bus home and post it later this afternoon. After a nap.

 

Random observations:

 

The disembarkation video song sounds soooo much like it could be the theme song for a second-tier Disney animated movie of the early 2000s, like a direct-to-video sequel about a family of loveable anthropomorphized possums where the children got separated by a storm and faced various solo adventures then reunited with their parents right before the end.

 

Really wish the Canadian government had kept the ArriveCAN app going for customs purposes. Who carries a pen anymore?!?!

[depplep]

Been lurking on this review and really appreciate the insight. Our first NCL and Alaska cruise is in October on Encore. I bought some super cute Sperry waterproof boots for the trip. I'm just going to tell the husband they are required.

[Happycrafter123]

Why did you need a pen at customs, was that at the Port or for the bus company??

 

i will be driving across in a couple weeks but thought we’d just drive through the border with some verbal questions to s it different now?

 

 

[OrcaGirl]

9 hours ago, Happycrafter123 said:

Why did you need a pen at customs, was that at the Port or for the bus company??

 

i will be driving across in a couple weeks but thought we’d just drive through the border with some verbal questions to s it different now?

 

 

 

We needed to fill out a paper Canadian customs form twice on the cruise ship (once for Victoria, even though we had no intention of getting off the ship, then again when they couldn't find our submitted forms), and then another when we crossed the border to return home via bus. The bus driver handed them out as we boarded, and we had to hand them in at Peace Arch.

 

One thing to note for people considering bus versus train to travel between Seattle and Vancouver: when taking the train, border control officers board the train and collect the customs forms. Easy-peasy. When taking the bus, you have to wait behind all the other buses until you reach the designated bus building, disembark the bus with all your belongings, grab your luggage out of the hold, enter the building and complete the customs and immigration procedures there, then head outside and wait for the bus to pull up again once everyone on your bus is done.

 

We had four buses ahead of us and one person on our bus with a complicated immigration status, and it put us about 45 minutes behind schedule. Annoying enough that -- while on the bus -- the Fox changed an upcoming trip to/from Seattle from bus to train, even though the departure times are much less convenient.

 

[Happycrafter123]

Interesting, I had not thought about it as I had not had to complete that on my last few travels in and out of the country by plane but I guess that is covered off on those big machines in the airport.

 

i do believe that arrive can is optional and still available for use, I’ll check it out.

 

appreciate the heads up.