Just back from the Bliss March 17-24 - Mexican Rivera - Short Review

[NevadaCruiser2023]

Hello, fellow Cruise Critic folks. 

 

As the title said, we're just back from the Norwegian Bliss Mexican Rivera cruise out of Los Angeles. 

 

First and most importantly, if you have mobility issues or social anxiety, I would think hard about choosing this particular ship for your cruise. According to the agent who checked us in, the cruise had 5,000 passengers this week. The official passenger capacity is 4,004, but I think we exceeded that. Let's assume the agent was being hyperbolic and the count was 4,004 passengers on the nose. The Bliss has 16 passenger elevators, a ratio of 1 elevator for every 250 passengers. The elevators are located fwd. and aft. There are no midship elevators.  If you have mobility issues and must take the elevator everywhere, prepare to wait at least 15 minutes for an uncrowded one. It was so ridiculous that people in the elevators were closing the doors when they stopped at a floor without waiting for someone to attempt to enter. Some elevators looked like clown cars, and people kept popping out. If you have issues with being cooped up in a small box with 20 other people, think hard or consign yourself to using the stairs. 

 

If you are a smoker (I'm not, but my wife is), be warned that there are only 2 areas on the Bliss that accommodate you.  The casino has a smoking area (but you have to be actively gambling) and a small section in Spice H20 on deck 17 starboard side.  The cigar lounge does not allow cigarette smoking. 

 

We had dinner at 3 specialty restaurants:  Los Lobos, Ocean Blue, and Teppanyaki.  

 

Los Lobos was underwhelming, and we didn't finish the food. The queso fundido, did not use queso asadero as the cheese. I think they used something like white cheddar, which melted atrociously and was just a big blob of hardened cheese. It didn't get better.  I would never recommend this to anyone. 

 

Ocean Blue, however, was a completely different story. Everything was perfection. We were able to eat on the "waterfront" as we were leaving Mazatlán, and it was great! The Crab Cake and Tuna/Avocado Tower apps were fantastic, and the roasted beet salad was delicious. My wife had lobster, and she loved it. The new champagne on the P+ package (Pommery Brut Rose) was outstanding. The black sea bass with white wine lemon butter was mighty tasty, too. 

 

Teppanyaki, we did it on the final night of the cruise.  While the food was excellent, the pitter-patter routine of each of the chefs was precisely - word for word - similar to each other. Our chef arrived as the one on the opposite side grill was finishing and we heard the same jokes and songs and "impromptu" actions all over again. Our chef wasn't as naturally funny as the other guy, poor guy suffered by comparison. The people next to us got their meal comped because (apparently) their scallops were not fresh.  We had chicken/steak and shrimp, so can't speak to scallop-gate, but apparently, they were convincing enough for the manager to take care of them. I'm not a big fan of scallops myself, so if it's not fresh,  I wouldn't be able to tell. 

 

Let's see - the Garden Cafe was good for a quick breakfast in the morning before an excursion or a bite to quiet a rumbling stomach, but we didn't have full-blown meals in there.  Good Soft Serve Ice Cream though, but I'm a heathen and will eat any soft serve without discrimination. 

 

The Local was very good. We never had a bad item of food, and it was a great place for lunch most days.  

 

The room steward situation. While I am sure our steward was a nice man, we only saw him three times in the seven days. One day, we saw him not at all. Our room was not attended to. He saw us entering and apologized for not being able to "get" to our room but promised to do it "first thing tomorrow."   I don't blame him; I imagine he has probably twice as many rooms to clean in the same time span. Obviously, there is no turn-down service in steerage; not sure about The Haven. 

 

Last but not least - the Vibe Beach Club.   A speck of tranquility in the chaos that is 4,004 or 5,000 other human beings in a confined space. Other than the fact that there were 6 people who made it their life mission to occupy the sole hot tub for (maybe) 16 hours straight, the VBC was good to grab a drink or just hang out for an hour or so.  During our cruise, it was either too cold or too hot to stay for an extended period since the hot tub was unavailable. 

 

We are probably missing a few things. All in all, we won't be sailing on the Bliss again. This was our first ship that accommodated this many people, and it was not for us. I heard from Ben and David that the MSC Yacht Club may be the way to go.  I'll just be sure to leave my camera at home. 

Ciao. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FLAHAM]

I was on this cruise and had a great time.  Never found it particularly crowded.  One thing I noticed was that the laundry bags, some sort of coated paper, were substantially stronger than on my prior NCL cruises.  Stuffed two full and no rips or tears!

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[DominicAUS]

Thanks for the review, love the Bliss and Mexican coast, never found it busy but understand the lifts can be challenging at peak times. I either go down to go up or just wait. Loved the VBC, hope Gede and Ben were there, they’re great fun and make a plethora of shots for everyone. 
 

Try the haven and the MSC YC. Both offer a ship within a ship concept. The Bliss haven is amazing and a great place to relax. 

[EllieinNJ]

Can you tell us about the ports you visited?  We are going next month but on another cruise line.

[hallux]

11 hours ago, NevadaCruiser2023 said:

First and most importantly, if you have mobility issues or social anxiety, I would think hard about choosing this particular ship for your cruise

My last cruise on that ship had about 1,000 fewer than yours, but very likely considerably MORE mobility-challenged people.  I didn't find the elevators to be an issue.

11 hours ago, NevadaCruiser2023 said:

The elevators are located fwd. and aft. There are no midship elevators

As is the case with every ship in that class, and ships from other cruise lines.  How many ships do you see these days with 3 sets of elevators?  I looked, even the Oasis and Icon class ships have only 2 banks of elevators and Icon has only FOUR MORE elevators total than the Bliss.

[decrepit old man]

I was on the Bliss 3 weeks ago and most times didn't have any issues with the elevators