SuzieQ521

4 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

I've stayed there a few times pre-cruise--even though I live in Southern California.  When it works out for us, we like to head down there a day before.  My wife and I walk around the downtown San Pedro area, day and night, and have never felt unsafe--especially around the area near the Crowne Plaza.

 

Our two favorite restaurants--both VERY CLOSE to the Crowne Plaza--are the San Pedro Brewing Company and the Green Onion...though I understand the Green Onion is scheduled to close soon due to a redevelopment deal...

 

Green Onion is a very comfortable, casual, reasonably priced Mexican Food establishment, right across a small side street from the CP...

 

http://www.greenonionmexicanrestaurant.com/menu.html

 

The San Pedro Brewing Company is an small local brew pub with a very eclectic menu (I LOVE the Tri-Tip Sandwich) just about a half a block from the CP...

 

https://sanpedrobrewing.com/menu

 

There are several other good restaurant choices within a few blocks of the CP... Niko's Pizzeria, further down the block from the Brew Co. comes to mind...

 

http://www.nikospizzeria.com/menu

 

Any of those are even appropriate with a four-year old...very casual...and, yes, the Brew Co. even has a Kid's Menu:

https://sanpedrobrewing.com/kids-menu

 

The walk to the cruise terminal is about three-four blocks, flat, only one major street to cross (with signals) and interesting--You walk along the waterfront past the USS Iowa.  I've done the walk myself a few times...rolling luggage helps...

 

BTW, we will miss you by a couple of days...I see you are on NCL Bliss January 22...We're leaving on the RCCL Navigator of the Seas January 20...Have fun!! 

 Thank you for the great recommendations! 

Have a great Cruise as well!

Hello:

We are staying at the Crowne Plaza in a couple weeks for our Norwegian cruise and I've heard different things about safety in San Pedro. How Safe Is it? 

We basically would only be walking around for dinner the night before (any recommendations?) and possibly walking to the cruise port the day of (although we have a 4 year old and luggage in tow so not sure how ambitious that is!).

Thanks!

If I may ask, how does this work with the specialty dining promo?

We booked Cagney's for our free specialty meal on Bliss...do we each receive 1 appetizer/soup/salad, 1 entrée, 1 dessert, etc.?

Thanks!

9 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

@spenecer has hit the nail on the head above.

3 weeks ago on the Breakaway we had no trouble ordering 2 at a time, one of us would grab a table for breakfast while other other grabbed 2 coffees at Starbucks.

While we had no trouble ordering 2 drinks at a time on P+ people who had the Starbucks package were limited to one drink at a time. I think this is where the confusion has come from.

Do you know if the 1 pp limit with the Starbucks package would still be the case even if you brought the other person's room key down (to show that he also had the package)? Thanks 

4 minutes ago, curlstravel said:

I just got off the Bliss and will be sailing the Joy in 2 weeks.  what are the differences?

Sorry I can't answer your question directly but what did you think of the Bliss? We sail her in a couple weeks!

23 hours ago, grobma said:

Came off the Getaway on Saturday and on my first visit to Starbucks was told only one drink at a time. This was different than when I was on the Bliss 3 years ago where I could get two at a time. My sense is they're cracking down on this. Bars are still two drinks at a time.

Oh really?! We sail on Bliss in a couple weeks and I was hoping to grab coffees for my husband and me while he stayed in the room with our son...I wonder if they would allow it if I brought his room card down too? (we have the unlimited Starbucks package).

20 hours ago, OttawaJohn said:

This was our first NCL cruise in six years, and our first ever time away like this at Christmas.  Below is some thoughts but the TL:DR, a lot of fun and a great ship.

 

 

 

The Good, the Bad and the Christmas

 

 

 

The Good

 

 

 

We loved the ship.  It's so new, despite being 5+ years old.  Lots of little things we loved, such as

 

*The hand sensors to open the doors on decks

 

*The Waterfront, even if it was too windy the one night we tried to sit there

 

*The shining chrome banisters, the gorgeous stairwells, the displays everywhere

 

*The interactive displays to do things

 

*All the storage space and plugs in our stateroom

 

*Strong shower, great pressure and hot water

 

*Buffet very nice, elevated almost, loved the seating everywhere

 

*The observation area on deck 15

 

 

 

And despite all the people on board, the most of any ship we've been on, it never felt crowded.  Never had to wait for an elevator or pass on it as too many people already in it.

 

 

 

The ship just worked well.

 

 

 

On a personal level, I loved the Mitel phones everywhere.  I work with those phones every day, so every time one rang though, I thought I was back in the office 🙂

 

 

 

The food was delicious for the most part.  The buffet was a buffet but generally tasty.  MDR dining was great in all three rooms, so was Local, and Cagney’s and Ocean Blue were great.  And the Christmas dinner was amazing.

 

 

 

American Diner was a really cool design, but we found the food very greasy though.  And the milkshakes looked FAR better than they taste.

 

 

 

Saw a whale come up for air at one point and thought that was an amazing scene, but it paled compared to breakfast the next morning.  Sitting in Taste, we saw, I don't know, 30+ dolphins leaping into the waves from the ship for over a minute.  It was the most jaw dropping experience ever.

 

 

 

Weather was great, a bit cooler on certain days but being Canadian, I loved it.  One night was really rocky but that just helps us sleep.

 

 

 

The staff were amazing, except for our cabin steward.  Everyone else always had a smile, a wave, a laugh and a desire to help make our vacation better.

 

 

 

It's been 6 years since our last NCL cruise and it felt like coming home.  We're meh on Celebrity.  We liked Princess. And Disney is its own thing. But NCL is just great.

 

 

 

The Bad

 

 

 

Boarding was a mess.  We arrived at 1030 as our assigned time but didn't get aboard till after 1230.  I think we were at a less then optimal berth.  Everyone just crammed into a tent, no social distancing at all, hundreds of people sitting on top of each other. 

 

 

 

They had shuttles to go from the tent to the ship, but there was a bad cycle to it.  Priority and Haven people went first, but due to the delays, more kept coming.  So for over 40 minutes, they kept calling for more Haven and Priority people to board shuttles, and never bothered calling any other groups.

 

 

 

Finally our group was called and it was just a chaotic mess, no order to the lines.  We got sent out en-masse into a parking area with cars driving by, and directed towards shuttle buses.  But despite there being specific ones it seems, were not told what buses to go towards. 

 

 

 

Later in the day, from our balcony, we watched literally hundreds of people stream from the tent areas to the ship to board, not sure what happened to the shuttles by that point.

 

 

 

The WiFi wasn't great.  I found the app had refresh issues.  I lost 20 minutes at one point as I logged out but it didn't catch it I guess?  So it counted it till I went to connect and noticed I still was.  So I started to close and reopen the app each time and noticed a few other times it didn't register my logout.

 

 

 

Also timer rounds down, so log out with 10 mins and 59 seconds and it goes to 10 mins even, costing you a minute

 

 

 

We only had WiFi on one other time, and that was unlimited.  Watching minutes sucks 🙂

 

 

 

Also, the app crashed on Christmas morning.  Thankfully, I knew how to get online around it.  Still, for those wanting to FaceTime home, that had to suck.

 

 

 

Our cabin steward wasn't the friendliest.  He never introduced himself, even when I gave my wife and I's names to him.  Never said hi when we saw him in the corridors, and was very slow at getting to our room.  Still, did his job eventually, so all good.  Just a standout though, since literally everyone else we dealt with in the crew was great.

 

 

 

Also, not sure if it was just him, but we never got a towel animal or chocolates on our pillows.  Again, 6 years since last NCL cruise so maybe it's changed?

 

 

 

As much as we loved the ship, one complaint, the walls seemed super thin.  It felt like we could hear everything around us, from deck chairs two decks up, to phones ringing in other cabins and our neighbour snoring.  And when everyone got up early for Mazatlán, we heard them all moving around us and talking.

 

 

 

The soap and shampoo were really bad.  We heard others complaining about it as well.  Just seemed very low quality.

 

 

 

99% of everything we had on board was delicious, but Q smokehouse sucked. The food was bland, no flavor at all.  It was cold and sad.  Very disappointed, especially as it was our last dinner.

 

 

 

Disembark last day was as bad as coming aboard.  Very long lines, and in the same bad berth again.  We had to go outside in the pouring rain, standing around in rain for shuttles to take us over to get our luggage, and then get out into the rain again to try and get a taxi.  Just not well put together.

 

 

 

The Christmas

 

 

 

This was our first Christmas away.  And it was very relaxing, none of the usual Christmas stresses. This may become a new tradition.  We are already doing one next year anyway.  We'll see what the future brings.

 

 

 

Christmas day was really neat on the ship.  Santa in the Atrium was adorable.  All the excited kids.  People in their PJ's.  It was just like Christmas at home, just with 4000 strangers 🙂

 

 

 

I was curious when they'd take the decorations down. I was thinking maybe the 27th but they stayed up the duration.  It was a Christmas cruise, so maybe that's why.  I wonder if those who boarded on the 30th after we got off found, like the residents of Whoville, not a scrap of Christmas cheer left?

 

 

 

I did hear a woman in the hall complaining on the 26th about still hearing Christmas music.  I wonder how she was doing come the 30th? 🙂

 

 

 

Speaking of the 26th, had a funny encounter.  On the elevator with a few others, and as a woman got off, the couple next to us wished her a Happy Boxing Day.  We turned to them and said "Aha, fellow Canadians!"  They asked how we knew and we told them only Commonwealth people typically knew about Boxing Day, and their accents narrowed it down.  They were surprised to hear that the US didn't celebrate the holiday, and had been wishing people it all day.  I wonder how many people were googling it after to find out what it was 🙂

 

 

 

As someone who is a bit Grinchy, I was surprised how much I loved it.  It truly didn't bother me at all.  It was fun and festive, but not in your face.  I really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

 

 

We love NCL and look forward to future sailings with them.  Though our next few cruises are booked with other lines, we'll be back.  And we're already looking forward to it.

 

Thanks for the review...we are doing the Mexican Rivera (5 day) on the Bliss in a couple weeks. 

Hopefully embarkation won't be so bad for us fingers crossed (we're in the first boarding group).

May I ask what you did in Cabo? Debating on whether to book the NCL deluxe coastal cruise tour...hoping to see some whales on there too. Thanks!

2 hours ago, sacteach said:

I was on the cruise right before yours (18th to 23rd) and we also had a delay in embarkation, even with the ship right there. But, we were luckily super early, so we were in boarding group 1. Later, when we were on the ship, we saw the huge line outside on the sidewalk so even though we had to wait a couple hours in the big tent, we were glad we weren't in that line. For disembarkation, we docked at one pier, had to take a shuttle to another to get our luggage (even though it was just across the big parking lot), then take another shuttle back to pier 92 where we started the cruise in order to get a Lyft to the airport.

 

I enjoyed the cruise, but don't think I'd travel on the Joy again as it didn't have a Thermal Spa and I've learned that it's a "must" for me. There were so many times when I just wanted to sit in a hot tub or sauna and it wasn't an option. 

 

Were you in boarding group 9-9:30 a.m.? Did you get there right at 9 or before? That's the group we have our our cruise on the Bliss in a couple weeks in San Pedro. We have a 4 year old in tow so hoping that with the first group, we won't have to wait in horrible lines (although I understand boarding likely won't begin until 11 am. at the earliest).

Thanks!

7 hours ago, Greg4502 said:

This is from the CP'S web site.

Shuttle Service to Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center San Pedro only for $5.50 per person each way.

I don't use the shuttle, when I stay at the Crown. But I have seen the line waiting for the shuttle, go from the front door and back to the gift shop. 

Do you usually take Lyft/Uber/Taxi? Since it's such a short distance, I wonder if there will be any available drivers? We were considering the shuttle but I assume it will be full and not sure when it leaves? (we have the first check-in time for NCL). 

We are staying at the Crown in a couple weeks. We would consider walking to the Port but with luggage and a 4 year old in tow, it may be difficult!

19 hours ago, J0Y0US said:

So I just found this out that while the area is open its not actually allowed for a drop off except for the late night hours. The daytime hours are only for time with parents supervising.

 

Never heard of this before but did find a couple hidden posts in other threads so thought I would just call it out separately.

 

Its not the end of the world but did catch us off guard but hope that on port days where you don't get in until afternoon or you are back on the ship by noon hopefully the kids club is fully open when at sea at that point. Sounds like this was never a thing with NCL prior to COVID either I guess.

So on PORT days (all day), you can take your kids there to play but have to stay with them?

Do you happen to know the hours on SEA days? *Sailing the Bliss in a few weeks. Thanks!

No Tylenol even in the gift shop?!

I was planning on bringing an arsenal of medications on our cruise just in case and now I definitely will!

Sorry in advance--newbie to NCL as a whole and was looking into the upgrade process.

Currently we have a family balcony on our January 22nd sailing for Bliss. We intentionally picked the family balcony for the sofa bed as we have a 4 year old so he would not be able to sleep on a high bunk bed.

I was looking at the bidding page; while most of the Haven rooms are out of our price range, I was looking at the lower level ones, like the Haven courtyard with balcony but could not tell if there was a sofa bed in there? What about in the club balcony or spa balcony rooms?

Thanks!

On 11/10/2022 at 5:56 AM, dcipjr said:

It was wonderful! My daughter loved it and looked forward to going every day, and my wife and I had 5 date nights over the course of the cruise. 

 

10/10, would do again

Going on Bliss in January and I assume it's the same as yours, I have a 4 year old (not sure how the age groups are broken up) but glad to hear your daughter loved it!

For the paranoid parent, how does it work? Do they give you a pager and call you if needed? Do they have any food for the kids at all or are they required to eat beforehand?

Thanks!

34 minutes ago, julig22 said:

What are your plans in Cabo?  If you are using a NCL excursion no need for tender tickets.

Keep in mind that rooms might not be ready until 1ish, even later. So you'll have any carryon luggage with you.

Thank you. Still trying to figure out a whale watching tour but may use a NCL excursion vs independent company; I did not know about the no tender tickets. 

So does that mean that all NCL excursions get priority tender boarding?

Thanks

3 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Those are conflicting objectives.  Typically, in most ports, boarding doesn't even commence until after 1100 or so.  The earlier you arrive at the port, the longer you will wait.  If you want to minimize waiting and have a smooth embarkation arriving past noon or later ensure just walking onboard with zero waiting.  How good is your child at waiting in lines?

Thank you...he can probably wait for an hour so  (will probably bring some distractions and snacks) but the shorter the better.

Since I know they don't strictly adhere to check in times, I guess even if we get an early check in time, we can still show up around Noon.

I'm not sure if the priority access pass is worth the extra cost then.

Thanks

Hello:

We are sailing on the Bliss in January from San Pedro; first time cruising with our 4 year old so although I know it's inevitable, the less we have to stand in line with a young child, the better! 

1) I know that check in time is different than boarding time and I read that boarding time is typically no earlier than 11 a.m. Is it still worth it to check in right at the 21 day mark and obtain an early check in time? And then what time do you recommend arriving at San Pedro to minimize waiting time? We are staying at the Crowne Plaza right there so can leave whenever we want to to the Port. Ideally, we wanted to board as earlier as possible, have lunch on board, etc.

2) Along those same lines, anyone who has recently sailed out of San Pedro--is it worth it to pay for a Priority Access pass for priority at both the Port and Tender (Cabo)? How much time do you actually save? I read conflicting things about the staff at San Pedro not even knowing where the Priority access line was so I want to make sure it would be worth it.  We have no priority otherwise as this is our first NCL cruise and we are not in Haven.  I'm not sure how full our ship would be as we are cruising during a non-holiday/during school time in mid-January. 

3) Disembarkation: Our flight is not until 3 p.m. If we decide to do self disembarkation so we can get off the ship later, what is the latest possible time they will allow us to stay on?

And on an unrelated note--has anyone tried to see if the Crowne Plaza would hold your luggage after disembarkation to allow us to tour the USS Iowa and kill some time before our Long Beach flight?

Thanks!

4 hours ago, SacCaliCruiser said:

Yes we did for the Broadway shows. You do not need to reserve the comedy shows or game shows. I couldn’t reserve the Broadway shows online before the cruise so we went straight to the Social club as soon as we got on board and reserved them. They do also have a standby line that lets in 10 minutes before the show and on our sailing the theater was never 100 percent full. 

Thanks for the great review.! We board Bliss in mid-January for the 5 day Mexican Riviera. Sorry in advance for the following questions, LOL:

1) Priority Access: Per New2 Cruise2022's link above, it says it includes complimentary daily room service breakfast...is this beyond the continental breakfast that's free anyway? How long was embarkation for you with this priority access? We have a 4 year old and the shorter we stand in line, the better!

2) I know you said you have teens but did you see many preschool-age kids? We are going mid-January so I assume there would be less than Thanksgiving time but I am hoping our son could do the Splash Academy.

3) Was your ship close to capacity? I know you said it did not feel crowded. Debating about buying the unlimited Starbucks plan but wanted to avoid the super long lines that might come with it.

4) Did you do a NCL sponsored excursion in Cabo? I was looking at the independent companies for whale watching but it was hard to find something that fits the timeframe we are in port for, after accounting for tender time.

5) Did your kids go to the Arcade? Do you know about how much the games were?

Was it warm enough to use any of the water activities/pool?

Thanks so much!!!

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Private vendors will get you back in time, as long as you plan within your port time window. Their business depends upon it.

 

What time do you depart Cabo?

It appears we are there from 11 am to 8 p.m. 

Probably looking for an afternoon tour; I would imagine any of the sunset sailings would be way too late, especially since we need time for tender.

Thanks

Hello: 

We will be having a stop in Cabo in mid January with our NCL cruise. We have a 4 year old in tow so we were looking at the whale watching or pirate excursions (likely a catamaran as I think that would be safer with a small child).

The problem is that our ship does not arrive until 11 am and with tender, I am thinking 1 p.m. might be earliest we could do a tour so we are limited in availability.

There is an excursion with NCL that begins at 1 p.m. of course that is significantly more than any of the independent companies. I did find a 2 pm. tour with Cabo San Lucas Tours but that's on a fast boat.

So I guess my question is:  Is it worth it to pay whatever extra and go with a cruise excursion as I know for sure that they will wait for us and bring us back in time?

Thanks!

21 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

We got a similar letter with our luggage tags for our December cruise. 

I looked online and then, apparently, tossed the letter in the shredder (because of the online message).

What is your itinerary? I assume it's part of the Country-requirement and not a NCL-specific requirement.

1 hour ago, mmooreark said:

Let's try this again, from a laptop...  Freestyle Daily, Day 1 and 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you!

Is Starbucks still there? I didn't see it listed as a dining option. Thinking of getting the Starbucks plan but not sure how crazy the lines are and if the plan is worth it.

We are doing the Bliss in January (unfortunately not the Haven though!).

Did you happen to see the embarkation line for the non-Haven folks?

Do you know if Splash Academy is running like usual (I have a 4 year old)?

**Did you happen to feel the earthquake that just happened in Baja?! Hope all is ok.

Can't wait to hear more thoughts about the Bliss! Thanks!

On 11/20/2022 at 7:38 PM, scottca075 said:

 

We were on the NCL Bliss about 10 days ago. Boarding took 15 minutes once inside the terminal. Honestly getting a porter to take our luggage was the hardest thing.

 

No hotels in Long Beach have cruise & airport shuttles.Only the airport hotels have shuttles and staying at LGB is a better option now than it was a few years ago. There are several new hotels and a nice shopping/dining venue called the Long Beach Exchange.

 

https://thelongbeachexchange.com/

 

Take the early flight; walkoff is easy.

 

 

Driving is simpler and more relaxing. That last day you can have a nice breakfast and relax, while those with flights scramble and get anxious.

 

May I ask what time you arrived at the NCL Boarding at San Pedro? We are staying nearby so just trying to figure out the ideal window to arrive (with a young child in tow!). Thanks!

3 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

I’m headed on the same cruise on Jan 22. Would love to hear about your experience in Cabo as I will have a few teenagers in tow. 

It's been a few years since my last trip there (not via ship) but Cabo is beautiful, especially because it's where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific. The Arch is one of the highlights (as is Lovers Beach) and a lot of people do the glass bottom boat thing. The marina which is where the cruise ships get off has restaurants, shops and I believe even a mall (at least they used to). The area where all the vendors are is walkable from the Marina if you're interested in shopping. 

If you want to do anything like ATV (did that years ago which was very cool) that's a distance away so you will need to go with the tour bus. 

San Jose del Cabo is a bit of a more authentic feel but that's probably a 30 minute drive. There's a stretch of road between downtown Cabo and San Jose del Cabo called "el corridor".

Not sure if there's time with our stop but Todos Santos is a town about 50 miles away, very quaint, where the famous Hotel California is.

Enjoy your cruise!

21 hours ago, JourneyDS said:

Here's what it looks like hung.  This was turned back halfway during the daytime.  2 panels of the 52 wide worked perfectly.

Great, thank you! Seems simple enough to figure out.