floridian1

We are sailing on the MSC Seaside 14th July for two weeks in yacht club suite 18021 also with 2 kids so I can provide you with feedback on our return.

Wow! That's awesome, thank you. Can't wait to hear your feedback. Are you sailing eastern or western? The ship and yacht club looks great. I'm only concerned about the sleeping arrangements and how the kids club is because my kids LOVE NCL kids club.

Planning our MSC seaside cruise for next year, booked yacht club room 18021. We have 2 adults 2 kids. I'm confused on the 3rd and 4th bed. All there was left was rooms with only the diamond. The room says it hold up to 4 people, but it also only mentions a double sofa bed...

Does anyone have a photo of the "double" sofa bed made up? Hoping this room comfortably holds everyone.

Thanks for your review! We are looking at Bliss for a July 2019 sailing and hope some of the negatives get worked out by then! We have only sailed with Disney so was wanting to know others experience with kids on Bliss.

We have sailed Disney Magic and Fantasy with the kids before. I would assume and hope issues would be worked out by next year. I will say we like NCL food WAY better than Disney's.

Oh man, I’m an adult at 58” tall. Guess I’m making my sister drive lol

 

 

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LOL, I'm sure you will be fine driving, my sons feet did touch the pedals but barely..I'm sure he could have driven alone if I would have insisted. 10 year olds coordination is not all that good compared to an adult, as I saw other kids his height and taller crashing.

just back from Bliss, I survived with no straw!

no paper straws anywhere. I learned on that cruise how much I really enjoy and miss having straws in my mudslides, cocktails, margaritas and mojitos. At the same time in the big scheme of vacation fun this was a minor annoyance.

I would ask for an umbrella or one of those wood sticks by the bar to mix my drinks if additional mixing was needed.

My youngest is 54". Will 6" taller than the minimum be enough?

didn't use messaging but the app worked poorly for us last week.

Great review! Thank you!

 

We board Saturday with a large group and lots of kids. How do the go cart and laser tag reservations work? Like shows where I can only book for those in my cabin or like restaurants where I can book for a bigger party?

 

I really appreciate the info about the heigh restriction on the go carts. How tall would you guess for a minimum height? My youngest is 54". Will 6" taller than the minimum be enough?

I was only able to book the gocarts and laser tag in the hallway screens very briefly that first day getting on the ship. I believe you book them like shows, not like dining reservations. If i recall you choose how many your booking for than select the names in cabin. I could be wrong though.

I would say its pretty unlikely the 54" child will be able to drive. My son is 50" and they took one look at him and said NO. Someone else in line also mentioned the 48" NCL minimum and the workers basically scoffed at that and said 48" will not touch the pedals, as if they are tired of hearing about the 48" rule because THEY KNOW the kids won't be able to do it. They took my son and the other persons child who was taller than 50" to put them in one of the gocarts to see and sure enough their feet didnt touch the pedals. I witnessed another father getting very upset about it and argue with the gocart worker. I'll measure my 10 year old today and get back to you, he barely reached the pedals and they suggest he not drive - hes average to tall for his age.

The gocarts werent open the first day until 5 I believe so It's not like you can have them test your child in the gocart before booking (if you want to book all your reservations before 5pm which you SHOULD!). If I were you I would book singles and doubles for the week and then go up to the gocarts at 5pm and have them see if your child can reach the pedals. If he can have them cancel the double reservations so it opens it back up for another family. Also, keep in mind that you will be charged for all of these reservations when you BOOK them.

Doing the zodiac boats in Ketchikan too! Were they pretty easy to drive?

Yes! and a Lot of fun.

Could it be the port fees and tax you see being charged for the kids?

Thank Judging by your review, the go karts likely would be a bust for my 7 year old....how were the water slides? Scary for kids?

 

What kind of activities were in kids club?

 

Thanks for any info!

My 7 year old still had fun on the gocarts riding with mom and dad, I'm sure yours will too! Both my kids loved laser tag best.

There are 2 slides. The drop slide which your son is too small for and the tube slide which is a lot of fun. My 7 and 10 year old rode down in the double tube and had a blast, its fairly gentle...not scary.

The kids water park area also has a small slide. Operating hours for the slide and water park is limited which I never understood with NCL.

Some activities included a pirate night, glow party, gagaball competition (my kids loved this) circus, just dance night, video game night, detective games. My 7 year old begged to stay when I would pick him up.:'):'):)

Thank you especially for confirming that there is no problem walking over from Marriott

It was a VERY short walk. Nice hotel.

How was the kids club? Was the yc dining servers good with the kids?

Also wanted to add ** You had to reserve the splash academy late night times in advance, they said because there were so many kids on board (true!). I reserved their spot up to 30 minutes before late night started (10:30) with no issues.

Our review of the NCL Bliss 7 Day Alaska with 2 kids under 11. We have sailed RCCL, Disney, Carnival, Princess and NCL before. I'll touch base on the kids club, onboard activities, shows, dining, excursions and what cabin NOT to book. Being the 2nd Alaska cruise on this ship was a bit of a risk for me as I am a big planner and researcher. I hope you find this review helpful for your cruise on the Bliss.

Embarkation on June 9 - SMOOTH and FAST

Smoothest we have ever experienced! No wait to check bags (the guys collecting the bags don't take tips - told us they get paid well!). No wait for security, No wait to check in. Only wait we had was for our boarding number to be called! We walked over from the Marriott Waterfront a little before 11am. The bellhop will put your luggage on a cart and walk with you across the street to the port. We did not do this as it was such a short and easy walk even with our 6 suitcases! Nice to know that it's an option and the Marriott was a great choice - nice rooms and close to Pike Market.

Cabin - Do not book 15790

Cabin was not ready until a little after 2pm. We were in 15790 (midship balcony). The pro's were being close to observation lounge and being close to the pool deck and buffet. I was worried that the noise from the deck above would be an issue - it was not. CON was the very very limited space in this cabin. It felt smaller with less storage than our Escape Balcony, I had a hard time trying to find places to put our clothes and we are 2 adults and 2 kids under 11 - I couldnt image 4 adults. BIGGEST CON was the pipes on the ceiling of the balcony that had a constant water flushing sound going through them and the white overhang bars that stuck out over the balcony which made it hard to take great photos, especially on glacier viewing day. My room and both rooms on either side of this cabin also had this issue. Do NOT book this cabin. Our cabin steward was also the worst we have ever experience on a cruise.

My BIGGEST TIP of this entire review

Immediately upon getting on board - book everything you want DO NOT WAIT. Everything was booked up before we even left Seattle. Luckily while we were waiting (for a long time - more on that later) for our lunch in Savor I tried to open the NCL app with no luck (the app never fully worked on our whole cruise) I went out to one of the booking monitors near the elevator where I booked 2 gocarts, and 2 laser tag sessions ( i prebooked my dining and shows 2 weeks before the cruise on the phone). My thought at that moment was that I'll book the rest in the cabin after lunch or the safety drill. By 4pm I tried to book comedy shows and another laser tag and it was all sold out. This had to be a joke? Nope. I figured things would book up fast but I never imagined everything would be gone by 4pm. Such a stressful way to start the cruise - and I fared better than a lot of people who couldn't book anything. This was the biggest disappointment of our cruise (and many other peoples too).

DEMAND EXCEEDS SUPPLY on this ship, IMHO they need to open the gocarts and laser tag for more hours each day and they should add in more show times (theater seemed really small!).I sincerely hope they go this route instead of keeping shorter hours and raising the prices more. They advertised these two activities as the wow factor for booking this ship- how could they not be ready for the demand??? Disappointing.

Muster Drill - Unorganized Mess

Long and unorganized mess. Our location was at one of the bars where they crammed in about 5x the amount of people that could be held. They started late on top of that - worst muster experience.

Dining Experiences -below is our experience and thoughts on the different restaurants. Food reviews are always subjective as is mine and servers are hit an miss like on any ship or any restaurant, but thought I would share anyways. Also, in the specialty dining restaurant it was never an issue to order multiple appetizers or sides (for those of your wondering). Book your reservations weeks before you cruise - they were totally sold out this cruise.

Savor & Taste Dining Rooms - Poor Service 3x

Ate here 3 times - received slow and poor service 3 times. I called over the Maitre d every time we ate there. We are not complainers and we are easy going, but there is no excuse why we have to ask the server 3 times for silverware, or 3 times for a new napkin and not receive it. I felt like this was the training ground for new servers. Food was good though!

Manhattan Room - Good Service

Best service on the ship BOTH times we had dinner here. Felt like more of the old traditional cruise dining with a very attentive waiter and assistant. Food was mostly good. I filled out compliment cards for our wait staff both times we dined here it was that good.

Teppanyaki - Hit or Miss

Same as the Getaway and Escape - some of the chefs are loads of fun while others barely speak. Ours was pretty boring, but the table next to us was having a blast, We received good service from our waiter. Kids also get the fried rice for free and the soup. Our chef also gave them some chicken and steak at no charge, both kids also ordered kids meals.

Q Texas bbq - Big portions

We had another really great server here - which I told an officer about (he took her name). She was quick, friendly and helpful. The food was good but I wouldn't return as we arent that into texas bbq. Portions are huge and it was a good one to use the dining plan on. The kid's ordered off the standard NCL kids menu - My son ordered the Mac n Cheese and got a small Mac and Cheese from the Q menu (and it was GOOD!) and not the standard one from the rest of the ship. The restaurant itself was kind of a strange and uninspiring set up, they could have really made these space a lot nicer with more Texas/country decor.

La Cucina - Kids should order the pizza!

We ate here on the Getaway and were not impressed. La Cucina stepped up their game on the bliss! Everything was delicious, service was excellent, Menu was large. Ordered multiple appetizers with no issues. If you're kids order a Cheese pizza from the NCL kids menu they will get a delicious one made in La Cucina (it's big!) and not the standard kids meal one.

Food Republic - Price increased

Great food - just like the escape. CON is the prices went up a bit too much for what you get. Service was good.

The Local - Good Food!

The Local's burgers and wings were better than I expected, you could also do a little customizing of the menu items with no troubles! The food came out HOT! The glacier cocktail was delicious! Food came fairly quickly, if you tried to dine during one of the atrium shows it was significantly slower and jam packed.

Buffet - Not overally impressed

We were unimpressed with the selection of the breakfast buffet. The lunch buffet was ok, but the dinner buffet was pretty good with a lot of options.

Observation Lounge - Nice little Haven!

Chair hogs camp out at the window seats but we did find a spot by the window a few times on the sides so it wasn't hopeless. The very front of the ship with the best view had people there for hours. The little buffet they have is perfect for the location with hummus and pita, salads and small sandwiches and dessert. Breakfast was limited to cereals, oatmeals, pastries. The Observation lounge bar service was great - they had servers walking around that you could wave over but they never bothered you. They constantly had people walking around and clearing food from the small tables. The furniture and decor was top notch. Some times (noted in the dialies) there would be audio playing about Alaska wildlife.

NCL App & TV - Dissapointing

The tv was showing my dining times wrong, the app didnt show all of my reservations, and never showed my current charges. when i brought it up with guest services and the internet desk the guy pretty much laughed and said yeah neither are working well! I had to write everything on paper to get our schedule straight - pretty annoying. How many more cruises will it take for their tech people to fix these issues?

Guest Services

They can't help you if the shows and dining are booked so don't even bother. They are unsympathetic - first come first serve is what they and the Box office will tell you. Tip - share your disappointment with an officer or manager as they may or may not be able to help get you in to any booked shows or attraction.

Spa

Booked a couples massage before leaving port - all times were booked up but on two days during port time. Massage was OK, They overcharged me but the Spa manager fixed it quickly. I did not receive a product sale pitch - yay!

Laser Tag - So much fun!

We loved the laser tag - it's extra fun at night! Everyone had a great time, the workers were friendly and did a good job making sure no one got out of line. It did take a while from check in to actually getting ready to play. It was up on deck 19 or 20 and it gets COLD up there when the ship is moving so dress warmly!! You get two 5 minute games.

Gocarts - Fun, but takes too long. The 48inch minimum is not true!

When I booked our gocarts I booked us singles since my youngest is 50 inches and the minimum height requirement as stated on the NCL site is 48inches. Pretty much no one under the age of 9's feet could touch the pedals! They took one look at my son and said we would have to book the doubles. Problem is the doubles were completely booked up already (by 5pm on sailaway!) Luckily the go cart employees sympathized and told us to come back in an hour and they will let us ride the doubles. This happened to ALOT of families. NCL really needs to take the 48inch minimum off the website! The gocarts took a bit of strength and skill to turn the corners - I don't see how most average sized kids under 10 or 11 would be able to do it. The double go carts were fun but seemeed slower than the singles - and only 4 doubles could run at a time. Singles are $9.95 per person and doubles were $9.95 for 2 people. Doubles only got 5 laps. From the checkin line to finish is about an hour. They tell you to arrive 10 minutes early. If you're in the back of the checkin line for your time you will likely be there over an hour. Singles go at 12pm, Doubles run at 1pm etc. It was cold on deck where you wait while the ship was sailing - dress warmly.

Also, do note that your account will be charged for reservations when you make them - not when you actually show up for your reservation time.

Splash Academy

I had one child in the 6-9 group and another in the 10-12 group. The kids club looked the same as the getaway and escape, and the activities were also basically the same. Both kids enjoyed their time their at night. We put them in late night a few times and its $6 per kids or $10 for 2 kids for 1 hour. The kids club employees were all friendly. 10-12 age group gets a free hour at the laser tag one of the days in the afternoon! I forget which day - be sure to check the schedule when you register your child! My son had a blast playing the laser tag with only kids his age - it didn't cost anything either. He was excited especially since it was sold out!!

Elevators - pack your patience

There are only Aft Elevators and Forward we spent a LONG time waiting for elevators. We took the stairs when we could. I don't recall spending so much time waiting for elevators on any other cruise.

Jersey Boys - FANTASTIC - Don't bring the kids!

AMAZING - truly impressive talent. This is a must see. Best show we have seen on a cruise ship. Glad I listened to other Cruisecritic reviewers and not bring the kids - thanks for the headsup! Lots of F bombs and some sexual references.

Havana - boring

We left early - found it cheesy as did many other people we overheard talking.

Comedy

The comedians had more misses than hits - could have been funnier.

Excrusions

Ketchikan - We privately booked Zodiac boats through Southeast Exposure, We LOVED it and were with only one other family. It was cheaper than the cruise ship. We saw whales, sea lion,eagles.

Juneau - Privately booked Coastal Helicopters dog sledding with extra glacier landing. HIGHLIGHT of our trip! It was amazing. We saved over booking with the cruise line - it did sell out months in advance so book early.

Glacier Viewing after Juneau - we went to a different glacier than planned. It was beautiful. I suggest NOT booking any dining this night as you will be glued to the beautiful hours of scenery around you and the sun sets very late (11pm?). This is the best day to grab food from the buffet.

Skagway - Rented a car from avis and drove the Yukon - very easy drive and Murrays free guide was spot on! We saw two black bears standing at the side of the road eating flowers. Took us 5 1/2 hours to go to Emerald lake and back with a lot of stops.

Victoria BC - Walked to the Wharf and took a water taxi to the downtown area and walked around for an hour. We spotted a seal hanging out under the dock...just waiting for a tourist to drop its fish and chips lol.

Alaska was incredibly beautiful, I wish our port times were longer.

Disembarkation - 9:20am

There was a wait to get off the ship but it was moving, I would say it was less than a 15 minute wait to walk off. Bags were easy to find and the customs agents were quick - no lines.

While we did have a nice cruise we will be taking a break from NCL for the next several years. We will be trying MSC Yacht Club next and I'm currently looking into some of the RCCL mega ships (do they charge for bumper cars? ;) )

Someone was complaining about the cost on another thread. It's obviously too cheap. The solution is for NCL to play around with the pricing a bit. $9.99 is obviously too low a price if they are selling out and have unhappy guests. I don't know how elastic that price is, but if they doubled it they might reach a point where there are open slots for people, or even if sold out, people won't be as disappointed.

Why is the only solution to double the price? They offer these activities for limited hours, they need to keep them open for longer.

I was on this cruise. Unless you booked laser tag and shows before sailaway you were out of luck! I did see single gocarts available at a few times through the week, however doubles were completely booked. It was a very stressful way to start a cruise seeing everything booked up.

Also yes, it took a full hour from gocart checkin to finish.

Demand far exceeds supply on this ship. Hopefully they start having longer operating hours for the laser tag,go carts and more show times. Guest services and box office wont help you get in if its sold out so dont bother.

I also saw a LOT of unhappy passengers too. Im so sotry your family didnt have a chance to ride, thats really unfair.

We prob wont be sailing ncl for awhile anymore either

The forward facing seats are always full. But The lounge is the entire front of the ship from the forward elevator lobby to the bow. Lots of seats. People come and go. We are fortunate since we have a Deck 15 Room a few doors down from the lounge. We run in for a snack or easy access to the bar which is never busy.

 

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we also have a deck 15 midship balcony down the hall from the observation lounge. I am concerned about the noise of the deck chairs/tables above, can you hear them in your cabin? We leave saturday, your review has been very helpful.

Leaving on the bliss soon and was wondering if the spa has any discounts or specials if you book and receive a treatment on the first day? I usually go later in the cruise but may want to kick off the vacay differently this time.

Thank you!!

Very dissappointed in the reporting that the F word is used so much in the show..my 10 year old was really looking forward to it.

A LOT! I saw the show.

 

 

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Oh no...do u mind sharing which ones?:o:eek:

Thank you for sharing! We are less thrn 2 weeks away from our cruise.

You mentioned cussing in jersey boys. My son is 10 and looking forward to the show as he sings in a chorus...how bad was the swearing?

We did this a few weeks ago with the free guide. There are a few bathroom stops and they are indicated in the free guide.

 

We made it to Emerald Lake and back in about 5 hours - that included many (many!!) stops for pictures, a stop in Carcross to walk around and a sit down lunch. I will say it was one of our favorite days of an amazing fun, filled cruise (we did a helicopter ride and a float plane excursion). The best part was seeing a black bear eating grass on the side of the road! I loved being able to avoid the big tour buses (or following them and then stopping on the way back when it was less crowded).

 

Attached are a few pictures of the drive - the scenery is spectacular. (Unfortunately I only have a video of the little bear and it won’t let me upload it).

 

Thank you!! Beautiful photos! Did u rent a car from avis?

Did you stop to eat?

Did you have cell service?

Our cruise is less than 2 weeks away and I need some advice on our day and Skagway. We will be two adults and two kids renting a car with Avis. Our cruise ship leaves at 5:30 p.m. our rental is 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. so about 6 hours. I did see the website with murrays guide (do I buy the guide or just go with the free version?)

How far do you think we will be able to drive with our limited time?

What are the must do stops we should see with our limited time?

Are there any bathroom stops along the road?

Are there any food or restaurant stops along the road?

Any other tips are greatly appreciated