BLISS Alaska Maiden Voyage Travelogue

[Blissful Cruiser]

Coco’s: The Food

 

 

We really enjoyed our crepes after being out in the wind and cold in Skagway. The couple next to usenraved about the Tiramisu Sunday too. Pam’s not into chocolate (other than the chocolate lava cake in the MDR) but she thought a lot of the pastries on display looked enticing.

 

 

Pam ordered the Crepes Suzette

 

 

I had the Dulce De Leche Crepes

 

 

They were both excellent and we’d order them again!

 

I found the Tiramisu on the menu and can I say OMG!!! Was it delicious? You both appear to be taking in all of what this ship has to offer and share it - so wonderful of you, and I might add I'm a lot envious!

 

Can I shoot out another request for a photo of the specialty restaurant kid menus? The other poster did post it but for some reason the photo's have disappeared :o. Thank you Tiramisu - I can't wait!!!!

Edited June 8, 2018 by Blissful Cruiser

[Vettegrl20]

Thank you so much for this amazing review !!! We are cruising this month and it’s helped us learn so much about the ship.

[Sand and Seas]

Absolutely amazing pictures and great details about your cruise and travels! Very inspiring for those of us waiting to cruise on the Bliss.

 

Thanks for sharing with us:cool:

[Motegi]

Thanks so much for all of the great reviews, tips and pictures! I can't wait to be there the end of June. 1 question, as a friend just returned and said they had a rough sea day coming back down from Skagway. How is the weather today and are there any rough seas?

 

TIA

 

Yes. Actually the wind picked up significantly in the afternoon in Skagway and I think it’s affecting the seas as we make our way back. The wind was so strong I understand that some of the afternoon excursions were cancelled. We had a hard time even walking back to the ship against the wind. Another thing is that we aren’t in the inside passage for the return trip so it’s not as sheltered.

 

We don’t get seasick easily but I know some other people aren’t liking it. I would compare it to the seas leaving the port of Miami. It can be a little rough leaving there sometimes.

[Motegi]

I really appreciate you guys using your valuable vacation time to post all this info. I am not sure what type of cabin you have, but I am trying to get info on the mid ship balcony cabins. Specifically if when you look down over your balcony you can see water. It appears to me in most of the videos and pictures I have seen there is a deck obstructing the view. I hope that's not the case as I have a BA cabin booked for May 2019. Thank you in advance if you are able to find out.

 

We have a midship balcony on deck 13. Although it’s categorized as midship it is a little forward of the forward elevators.

 

From our balcony you can definitely see the ocean when you are looking down. It’s true that deck 8 does jut out a bit because of the “Waterfront” design but not so much as to where you can’t see the ocean. I’ll see if I have a photo that demonstrates this. Perhaps if you are on deck 9 it may be more of an obstruction because of the angle

[Motegi]

I have to laugh at the Starbucks comment. I'm a WA native (live 2 hours north of Seattle). There is, indeed, just about one Starbucks on every block in Seattle! In other parts of WA, it's very common to see more than one coffee store on a block, just not necessarily Starbucks. We are passionate about our caffeine here! :)

 

LOL! You must all be addicted to caffeine to support that number of shops!

 

The coffee growers must love you!

[mrc311121]

Great job, thanks for taking us along with you and your wife. :)

[Motegi]

Looks like I fell a little behind on my travelogue! This cruise has been so packed full of activities it’s hard to keep up! I’ve taken thousands of pictures with my two DSLR cameras as well as two iPhones so it’s gonna take a while to process them all...

Anyway here’s a recap of our morning excursion in Juneau that preceded the Tracy Arm Excursion in the afternoon.

We pulled into the harbor in Juneau to a full on Fireboat Tug welcome. They were very excited to see the new Bliss in port and every person we ran into when they found out were on the Bliss were asking about the GoKart track and the other onboard amenities. It’s the largest ship they’ve had there. We pulled in the at AJ dock location which meant that we had to take a shuttle to the main gathering area at the Mt Roberts Tramway Station on Franklin Street. Norwegian hired a bunch of complimentary motor coaches that were running constantly to and from the Tramway Station while we were in port. The ride to and from was very quick, but keep in mind that you have a bus ride so factor that into any excursions you plan on your own as they usually depart from the Tramway location.

Silas, our cruise director and his assistant, Mandy, were on the dock and greeted us by name! Jovo the hotel director also was on the dock and greeted Pam by name and chatted with us about our plans for the day.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2018 by Motegi

[Motegi]

Juneau Continued

 

We booked the Juneau Dog Sled World and Taku Glacier Helicopter Adventure through Alaska Shore Excursions. They picked us up at the Tramway and took us by van to their heliport. There we actually met up with a large group who had booked the same excursion through NCL (and paid more) for the helicopter safety briefing. We were given lockers to store our bags and provided life vest waist packs and boot covers. You are only allowed to bring what you can carry on your person in your pockets. Cameras on straps are allowed.

We were then divided up into groups by weight and headed to our assigned helicopters where we were seated also by weight. I believe there were 4-5 tourists for each helicopter. They gave us each a headset to communicate with the pilot in flight and buckled us in. The four helicopters took off in unison and we were taken along the scenic route over the Taku Glacier to the dog sled camp. The Taku is apparently the only glacier in the area that is still growing. Our flight was extremely smooth and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Pam and I had our reservations leading up to this as neither of us had ever been in a helicopter before. But now that we have, our worries have been completely replaced with exhilaration and awe.

 

Edited June 8, 2018 by Motegi

[Motegi]

Juneau Continued

 

We landed on Norris glacier at the dog sled camp and were greated by the camp staff who gave us a talk about the camp and the dogs. This was followed by a quick safety briefing to familiarize us with the sleds. Then we were divided into groups of 4 to ride/drive the sleds that they had prepared for us. We each took turns driving over the snowfield with periodic breaks in between to let the dogs rest and cool down. These dogs loved to run and you could tell that even during their rest stops they were anxious to get going again! They all looked very happy and well cared for. We were told that the dogs are brought to the camp from breeders all over the state to train there for the Iditarod. Some are given shoes and some are even given mascara around their eyes to cut down on glare from the sun!

 

[Motegi]

Juneau Continued

 

Afterward we were introduced to our team of dogs individually and allowed to interact with them.

Finally we reboarded our helicopters for the return flight. We took a different route over some new terrain on our way back. The pilot was super friendly and we found out he was also from Florida like us!

We were back in the ship by 11:30 and had plenty of time to have lunch onboard and drop things off in cabin before our 1:15 PM Tracy Arm Excursion in the afternoon.

Again this was a FANTASTIC excursion and we HIGHLY recommend it! Not only was the helicopter ride incredible on its own but being on the glacier and visiting with the dog sled teams was an amazing experience!!!

 

[erdoran]

Were the little igloos dog shelters?

[twoznuff2]

We have a midship balcony on deck 13. Although it’s categorized as midship it is a little forward of the forward elevators.

 

From our balcony you can definitely see the ocean when you are looking down. It’s true that deck 8 does jut out a bit because of the “Waterfront” design but not so much as to where you can’t see the ocean. I’ll see if I have a photo that demonstrates this. Perhaps if you are on deck 9 it may be more of an obstruction because of the angle

Thank you so much. I will be on deck 14. If you do have a picture that would be most welcome. Your trip looks to be amazing so far. It is making me most impatient for next May to get here. :D

[twoznuff2]

Looks like I fell a little behind on my travelogue! This cruise has been so packed full of activities it’s hard to keep up! I’ve taken thousands of pictures with my two DSLR cameras as well as two iPhones so it’s gonna take a while to process them all...

Would you mind sharing the tour company and cost for both the helicopter tour and the Trace Arm excursion?

[CoffeeGoddess]

I really enjoyed reading your's and Bird's live threads. It's great to have different perspectives and now I want to do an Alaskan cruise more then ever.

[Motegi]

Manhattan MDR Menu

Tuesday

June 5, 2018

 

[Motegi]

Manhattan MDR Food

Tuesday

June 5,2018

 

Corn and Crab Chowder:

Really just a creamed corn soup. Didn’t find any crab. Very lightly seasoned.

Asian Noodle Salad:

Light. Fresh. Delicious

Hawaiian Pork Belly:

Pineapple flavor. Cooked just right

Grilled New York Strip:

Always a safe choice

 

[muzteach]

We are taking the same helocopter/dog sled excursion and you mentioned you can take your camera with a strap and noticed your camera strap. Is it a crossbody that snaps at your chest or do you also have a backpack on? Trying to decide if I want to take my DSLR on the excursion and if I might be better getting a crossbody strap. I will be using a Tamron 18-400 lens.

 

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[Motegi]

Were the little igloos dog shelters?

 

Yes those were the dog shelters. And the little tents in the background were the people shelters. The staff lives out there 24/7 on the glacier with the dogs.

[Motegi]

We are taking the same helocopter/dog sled excursion and you mentioned you can take your camera with a strap and noticed your camera strap. Is it a crossbody that snaps at your chest or do you also have a backpack on? Trying to decide if I want to take my DSLR on the excursion and if I might be better getting a crossbody strap. I will be using a Tamron 18-400 lens.

 

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It’s a Quick Rapid strap that I got on Amazon. It has sliding clips for two DSLR bodies and padded straps like a backpack. It is like a harness and has a clip in the front to hold it together.

 

They also make a single camera crossbody strap as well. I brought that one too.

 

For the dogsled excursion you are not allowed to bring any bags of any size onto the helicopter. But you can bring cameras.

 

I brought two DSLR bodies with an Tamron 18-270 zoom and a Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens for the dogsled excursion. For the Tracy Arm Excursion I used a Tamron 150-600 telephoto and the Sigma 10-20.

[macfam5]

Awesome thread. We sail on July 7th... Thank you for posting all the details and photos

 

 

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[Fishymom]

Thank You for taking the time out of your trip to post!!

[CrazyCruiser1234]

Great thread! Thank you!

[muzteach]

It’s a Quick Rapid strap that I got on Amazon. It has sliding clips for two DSLR bodies and padded straps like a backpack. It is like a harness and has a clip in the front to hold it together.

 

They also make a single camera crossbody strap as well. I brought that one too.

 

For the dogsled excursion you are not allowed to bring any bags of any size onto the helicopter. But you can bring cameras.

 

I brought two DSLR bodies with an Tamron 18-270 zoom and a Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens for the dogsled excursion. For the Tracy Arm Excursion I used a Tamron 150-600 telephoto and the Sigma 10-20.

Thanks! I looked at the 150-600, but thought it would be heavy and bulky, so went with the 18-400. (Will be my 1st trip with it) I also have the Sigma lens 8-16, which I plan on taking. This is our 1st trip to Alaska and Seattle.

 

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[Oceansaway17]

I had the smoked Mozzarella ravioli several times when I was on the Bliss for Panama Canal.

 

YUM YUM YUM.