Will it be Bliss? Our first NCL Post-Covid Cruise - Live!

[L1211]

 

Greetings Cruise Critic!  

We're sailing on the Bliss out of LA tomorrow - 7 night Mexican Riveria - all new ports for us!  When planning, I couldn't get excited about the Caribbean or eastern Mexico cruises - we'd hit nearly all those ports a time or 5  over our two decades of cruising.  We are time limited due to college spring break so Europe was out of the question.  West coast cruise it is! 

 

We're a family of four from Louisville KY, but left one DD home this cruise - she was supposed to have started grad school in Amsterdam in March but that's been pushed to June.  I will miss her terribly - she's my party child - when cruising with that DD, you get your 10K steps for the next day in after midnight before you go to bed!  She's known to close Howl at the Moon and still have dancing left in her - all before an early morning trip to the Local.  She will be missed for sure. 

 

We are huge fans of Away-class ships and our last NCL sailing was in January 2020. We're a bit cruise-line agnostic but gravitate to NCL.  Your cast of characters for this hopefully live review (I read Bliss wifi is pretty terrible...) are myself - an avid cruiser and family vacation planner.  DH - tolerates cruising and aims to please, my DD who is still in college and on break and her bestie from University of Kentucky.  We sailed together last Spring break on MSC in the Yacht Club.  We had a nice cruise, but didn't fall in love with MSC, truly, it made me long for NCL!  The ship was lovely, food OK, entertainment fine but service struggled - they were still working out supply issues and we found them to constantly be out of whatever it seemed you wanted at that time (no diet coke at breakfast, no bottled water, no bourbon for an old fashion, no chardonnay - have a sav blanc).  We also never really saw our butter, although our cabin was clean.  The biggest issue was children - the YC was full of kids - of course, it was a spring break cruise.  But, the lounge became a jungle gym, the pool really unusable - full of kids (MSC does have another adult only pool that we used), forget the hot tubs - kids jumping in and out, kids running through the dining room - it was crazy and just wasn't a relaxing environment - not what I was expecting.  

 

That brings us to this cruise - I just couldn't get myself excited about the Haven - "exclusive enclave" PTSD from MSC.  So, we booked two Club Balcony "Suites" and added on Free at Sea Plus which gets us extra dining and unlimited WIFI and hopfully better wine and spirts, added Priority Access to resolve the tendering issue in Cabo, and have hopes to add the Vibe when we board tomorrow.  We've had The Vibe on all our NCL cruises each time there has been a Vibe - we love it.  So, fingers crossed and I'll report back.

 

Here's the plan so far:

- We land around noon so have a few hours in LA.  We've vacationed here a couple of times so we've hit all the tourist spots. I'm actully in CA three times this March - hitting LA, San Diego and San Franciso all on different trips.  We will maybe drive up to the Observatory and certianly find some great tacos (any recommendations??).  We're staying at the Hyatt Centric The Pike in Long Beach so we'll likley hang out in Long Beach tonight.

 

- Cabo - we're really looking forward to this port, albeit terrible port times! We're only in port 7 - 2.  We've booked a private boat tour to go whale watching and private beach hopping through Kelly Boat Cabo. Deposit paid via paypal -  will let you know how that goes.

 

- Mazatlán - not much that I found exciting on this one- thought about Stone Island, but reviews are pretty terrible.  We booked the Hop on Hop Off "topless bus" through NCL.  

 

- Puerto Vallarta - The girls wanted a "spa day" and that was just terribly expensive on the ship - so, with the help of locals and cruisers from the Port of Call boards, I found Metamorfosis Day Spa - watched a few videos and read reviews 4.9 on Yelp), we landed on this.  Have booked treatments starting at 11AM - made the deposit through Venmo - we'll see... 

 

That's the start of the adventure - now off to LA!

[L1211]

Our dining plans are Cagney's - a family favorite although I'm not a meat eater (I had a piece of filet get stuck in my throat while dining at La Cucina in 2016 and had to have emergency surgery in St Thomas to have it removed - I kid you not...  Had the surgery and made the sail-away! I won't risk that any longer!!).  

 

Teppanyaki is also a family favorite and the request of DD so we'll enjoy the show and food there.  We also have planned Le Bistro and Ocean Blue.  We've dined at all the specialty restaurants on the Bliss although it is our first sailing on her so nice to revisit family favorites!

[L1211]

Speaking of 2016 - here’s some nostalgia- 2016 menus! 

[mimi'sgirl]

Following along! Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[L1211]

First flight Louisville to Chicago was uneventful.  I “willed” a small mimosa from the flight attendant- they were not doing service but I must have sent serious vacation vibes and she brought me a drink! 

[L1211]

Speaking of flights - our arrangements are odd today- DH and I had planned to tour Egypt in April - land and Nile cruise two week vacay of a lifetime. Well, war happened and that trip canceled. Who knows if we make that bucket list trip… that left us with rather expensive flight credits till use on United so the DH ans I are taking advantage of that.  I fly mostly American for work so it’s a bit of a new product for me.  The girls are actually on Southwest, Booked with points.  We’ll land in LA and they will land in Long Beach and Uber to hotel. 
 

Here’s the view from our planned hotel, the Marriott Mina House in Cairo that we’ll not be seeing this visit… 

[L1211]

The DH has his “wife-canceling” head phones on already…

[L1211]

Neither are really beach reads- anyone read either?? Makes me question my choices…

[L1211]

I probably should have named this review “Selling Girl Scout Cookies” or “NCL’s Great Decline!” For engagement - ha!! 

[L1211]

So, as a parent myself, I think I’d rather purchase three Economy seats versus two FC seats for three, including a very unhappy lap child for a 4.5 hour flight.  I’m exhausted thinking about it. Is that just me? 

[L1211]

Drinks incoming for sure…

[chill6x6]

I AM going to be following along! We have the Bliss booked this time NEXT year. Looking forward to hearing about your cruise!

[L1211]

3 minutes ago, chill6x6 said:

I AM going to be following along! We have the Bliss booked this time NEXT year. Looking forward to hearing about your cruise!

That means you could book vibe if you wanted!  We booked late- about 60 days out and it was sold out - sigh.  We got restaurant reservations since those opened 21’days out- I have no idea when vibe went on sale.  Let me know if you have any questions!  Glad to have you along!! 

[L1211]

34 minutes ago, mimi'sgirl said:

Following along! Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

Thank you so much!  We’re ready for it.  We don’t do much in the fall - we kept thinking the Egypt trip might happen- ready for a vacation!! 

[Kp125]

Cabo San Lucas had an issue at the port where not everyone could get off the ship. Tenders were super fast but there was a local demonstration where they blocked anyone from leaving or. entering the pier. We didn’t have any problems walking through the demonstrators but NCL held back out of an abundance of caution 

[Frogger22]

Love your live post so far! We did Bliss this past New Years with my parents and teens. All enjoyed! Saw lots of whales in Cabo. Tender line back was long but you’ve done all your research and got priority! They did let my parents board with Haven due to mobility issues. We had vibe but didn’t enjoy it as much as the larger one on Encore. Loved the thermal suite!! 

[L1211]

Just now, Kp125 said:

Cabo San Lucas had an issue at the port where not everyone could get off the ship. Tenders were super fast but there was a local demonstration where they blocked anyone from leaving or. entering the pier. We didn’t have any problems walking through the demonstrators but NCL held back out of an abundance of caution 

Oh my goodness!  I can’t imagine how disappointing that would be.  I watched some YouTube videos and Facebook posts showed that to be a challenging port to tender- short day so everyone getting back on at the same time.  Hoping priority access access

that!  Our first time with it. 

[Frogger22]

Whale in Cabo and GoCart docked in Ensenada (I know you’re not going there)

[L1211]

1 minute ago, Frogger22 said:

Love your live post so far! We did Bliss this past New Years with my parents and teens. All enjoyed! Saw lots of whales in Cabo. Tender line back was long but you’ve done all your research and got priority! They did let my parents board with Haven due to mobility issues. We had vibe but didn’t enjoy it as much as the larger one on Encore. Loved the thermal suite!! 

Now that’s interesting… hadn’t thought of thermal suite- I’ve never done it, only my girls have.  May be a great Plan B to Vibe (likely sold out). May I ask what you didn’t love about it?  Curious.  Thanks for joining!! 

[L1211]

Just now, Frogger22 said:

Whale in Cabo and GoCart docked in Ensenada (I know you’re not going there)

Love this!!! We’ve only seen whales in Maui-

So excited to whale watch. That’s an amazing pic!!  Do you recommend the racetrack? 

[Frogger22]

Just now, L1211 said:

Now that’s interesting… hadn’t thought of thermal suite- I’ve never done it, only my girls have.  May be a great Plan B to Vibe (likely sold out). May I ask what you didn’t love about it?  Curious.  Thanks for joining!! 

The bliss vibe is only one side so only one bar side, one hot tub. It was good. We’d still get it again. The thermal suite should be available to purchase on board. They even offered three and 1 day passes half way thru. 

[Frogger22]

1 minute ago, L1211 said:

Love this!!! We’ve only seen whales in Maui-

So excited to whale watch. That’s an amazing pic!!  Do you recommend the racetrack? 

Kids liked the racetrack fine. You have to buy the unlimited pass or book a time. 

[L1211]

Just now, Frogger22 said:

The bliss vibe is only one side so only one bar side, one hot tub. It was good. We’d still get it again. The thermal suite should be available to purchase on board. They even offered three and 1 day passes half way thru. 

Would love to treat the girls to a day pass!  Perfect compliment to their spa day in PV.  Taking a bit of a risk with the day spa but locals recommended it…

[Frogger22]

1 minute ago, L1211 said:

Would love to treat the girls to a day pass!  Perfect compliment to their spa day in PV.  Taking a bit of a risk with the day spa but locals recommended it…

Spa day in PV should be good! We had a beach pass to a day resort. I think it was Sabal. Others with us got massages and liked them. We did beach. Kids did jet skis. 

[L1211]

Any recommendations for a half day in LA?