Trip Report of 7 Days on NCL Bliss - First Seattle to Alaska Sailing - June 2-9, 2018

[cruiselover19811981]

Wow - great photos from you as well. Thanks for taking the time to post and share your thoughts. 2 months from today we will board, but in the meantime all of you who have sailed and are willing to share is fun :)

 

I have to admit, was a bit bummed out for our 2 kids that the waterslides/pools aren't heated, but oh well...we are all still very excited!

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

The Waterfront.

 

This place was just awesome! I spent so much time out here during the cruise. Will get more into that later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

One of the Platinum benefits we enjoyed was the Behind the Scenes tour on the ship. This tour took place in the morning of the first sea day. We got to tour three areas of the ship: the dressing room/costume areas behind the theater (we were not allowed to take photos here), the laundry area, and the kitchen. Very interesting and informative tour that we really enjoyed. The tour was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

 

 

Random laundry area photos. I will never again complain about how much laundry I have to do at home!

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Random kitchen photos.

 

Getting those sandwiches ready for lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I'll have one of those please.

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After the Behind the Scenes tour it was time for the CC Meet and Greet in the Manhattan Room from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Over 300 people attended.

 

 

 

We were served drinks, appetizers and also a nice cake!

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

When Klaus Lugmaier was introduced at the Meet and Greet we learned that he was the person responsible for starting the M&G’s with NCL way back in 2001.

 

 

I participated in the gift exchange and received this very nice gift!

By the time I got to the cake to take a photo it had already been cut into, but here it is!

 

A great CC Meet and Greet! Thanks to Stephanie for organizing it all for us!

[shoppgirl]

These are beautiful photos!! I can’t wait to see more!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[SeahawkSiren]

Had lunch at The Local. It was very loud here. Since it looks over the Atrium below and there were activities going on in the Atrium at the time we were eating it was very hard for us have a conversation and hear each other. It was also right next to the bowling lanes and some arcade type games. We enjoyed the food but the setting was quite noisy for us. We did not eat here again until the final breakfast before disembarking.

 

 

 

After lunch went back to our balcony and enjoyed the sun. I love watching the clouds over the ocean. They always seem so much closer when on the ocean, almost like I can reach out and touch them.

 

 

 

I also love aft balconies because I like to watch the wake. Such beautiful colors.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Later in the afternoon it was time for drinks out on The Waterfront. We spent a lot of time out here during the cruise as we had a hard time finding seating in the Observation Lounge and we prefer to be outside anyway enjoying the fresh air. I guess the outside temperatures were considered "cold" to most people so we had The Waterfront nearly all to ourselves every time we were out there. Fine by us.

 

Life is good when Chocolate Cowboy is in the house!

 

 

 

 

[Motegi]

Thanks for posting! Love the photos!

 

We had a great time too and look forward to sailing on the Bliss again in the future!

[SeahawkSiren]

More views from The Waterfront.

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Our first SDP dinner was at Teppanyaki. We had a really great chef! He was very engaging with the group and had a great sense of humor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Monday, June 4. Ketchikan. Welcome to Ketchikan! The weather started out promising in the morning, but the clouds rolled in and it did end up raining off and on during the day.

 

 

We parallel parked behind the Golden Princess.

[SeahawkSiren]

There were bald eagles all over the place in Ketchikan!

 

 

 

The rain didn't stop us from hiking to Carlanna Lake. A lovely little spot.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

After the hike we ate lunch at Bar Harbor Restaurant right near the port.

 

Had a view of the Bliss from our lunch table.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After we got back on the ship we found these were delivered to us, compliments of the hotel director, Jovo Sekulovic. We presume it was from attending the M&G as we met him there.

 

Another thing I did on this cruise was to purchase a Thermal Suite pass, my first time with one of those. (Dang! How many firsts are there going to be on this cruise!?!). The cost for the weekly pass was $199 for unlimited access. That price was also a $20 savings vs. if you wait to book onboard. I used this pass for the first time while we were still in Ketchikan thinking it would be less crowded since we were still in port and maybe a lot of people were still in onshore. How wrong I was. There were zero lounge chairs available so I just spent a little time in the vitality pool and whirlpool.

Time to say goodbye to Ketchikan.

The HAL Volendam and Coral Princess had joined the Ketchikan party too.

 

 

 

 

It was fun watching all the planes going in and out!

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After leaving Ketchikan we stayed on our balcony and had some whale sightings! No calving unfortunately, but some fins and numerous spouts. It was really fun being on “whale alert” with our binoculars!

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful scenery leaving Ketchikan.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Some evening drinks on The Waterfront before dinner. It's getting pretty packed out here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Our second SDP dinner was at Q, Texas Smokehouse.

 

I had the fried green tomatoes, the Jalapeno and Cheese Smoked Sausage platter, and the Mac and Cheese side dish. All of it was very good.

 

 

Goodnight from somewhere between Ketchikan and Juneau.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Tuesday, June 5. Juneau. Welcome to Juneau! It was an absolutely beautiful early morning. Nice to see after a rainy Ketchikan.

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

If you want a break from the masses in the buffet, the Observation Lounge has a nice continental type breakfast. That's where we ate on this morning.

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We headed back to the room to get ready to disembark.

 

The Radiance of the Seas arrived in Juneau shortly before the Bliss.

 

 

The Golden Princess arrived shortly after the Bliss.

 

 

Time to take the tram to the top of Mount Roberts!

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We took the first tram of the day (at 8:00 a.m.) up to Mount Roberts. The views were stunning on such a beautiful day! We walked the loop trail and also the side trail up to Father Brown’s Cross. So many birds were singing along this hike. It was so peaceful, and especially since we were on the first tram up of the day there were not many people on the mountain yet. A very pleasant morning overall.

Hello, Bliss. You look beautiful from up here!