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

[SeahawkSiren]

Goodbye Victoria. Bliss, can you please take a long route to get back to Seattle? Like maybe all the way back through the Panama Canal and then turn around and go back to Seattle?

 

Spent the evening packing our suitcases. :loudcry:

 

Final towel animal. And you know your cruise is ending when there is no daily with the towel animal. :loudcry:

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Saturday, June 9. Disembarkation in Seattle.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

I guess they didn't take the long route.

 

Final breakfast was at The Local.

 

Well, that week sure went by fast.

 

Since we live local and didn’t have a plane to catch we decided to wait for a later boarding group. That ended up being a mistake. We had the gray color tags and should have been off the ship around 9:30, but it was nearly 11:00 before we got off the ship. Yikes! They were making announcements that there were delays in the customs area. Hopefully they will get that all straightened out. Not sure what the reason was for such a long delay.

 

Walked along the Seattle waterfront (wishing I was still on the Bliss Waterfront) to catch our ferry.

Final photo of the Bliss after getting on the ferry to go home. We were home by 12:30.

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Final Thoughts. This was an amazing cruise! The ship was beautiful. Loved the décor, the flow and design, the color schemes and the understated elegance literally all throughout the ship! And it even still had that “new ship” smell. And so much to see and do. We had really resisted for many years going on a mega ship until this cruise. We admittedly should not have waited so long. Enjoyed it much more than we thought we would. Will we stop going on the smaller ships? Definitely not. But we will not hesitate to go on the megaships in the future either!

 

Unfortunately we did not see any shows. With DH being under the weather for most of the cruise we retired early most nights anyway too as we were up early several mornings. We had a reservation for the late Jersey Boys show one night (at 10:30) but didn’t go. I think next time I will just make early dinner reservations like at 5:00 p.m. and book the earlier show anyway. All of our dinner reservations were in the 7:00 to 7:30 time frame which didn’t work for an early show.

 

The Juneau day was our favorite in Alaska. The Dawes Glacier excursion was just awesome! A day we will never forget.

 

We are going back to Alaska next year, although not on a cruise. We are doing a week long land trip which will include our first time to Denali National Park. Will also spend a few days on the Kenai Peninsula.

 

Happy cruising everyone! Enjoy your cruises and your travels wherever they may take you.

The end.

[LdyMags]

Thank you for a great trip report! I’m excited to hang out in the cold on the water front and watch the scenery!

 

 

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[josumello]

Wonderful review. Thank you!!

 

 

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[Aprille]

Thoroughly enjoyed your review and pics! Thanks for posting.

 

You'll LOVE Denali National Park. We did a land package on our first Alaska cruise. The highlight was a mama bear with her 2 yearling cubs getting within 100 ft of our bus. I thought we'd tip the bus over with everyone rushing to the one side to take pictures. LOL! We also saw a huge male moose in the distance. I don't even know how the tour guide spotted it. We had to use binoculars to see it. The tour guide said it was rare to see a moose. Hope y'all see one too!

 

Your review makes me even more excited for our upcoming Bliss Alaska cruise in September. :D

[S&RCRUISE]

Thank you so much for sharing. The photos you have provided are spectacular! It has only raised our level of anticipation. We hit the road in just a few hours as we begin our travel to Seattle for tomorrow's departure! We are staying post-cruise to see some of Seattle's sights and visit the puget islands before heading home to Northern California.

[YVRBassElectric]

Thanks for taking the time to write a trip report! I really enjoyed it. I also avoided booking the large ships, until the Bliss - now I have 3 cruises booked on big ships - she really is beautiful!

[johnt83]

What an incredible review, thank you for sharing your experience with us on the Bliss. I was fortunate enough to be on the 3-night inaugural/christening right before you got onboard, and seeing the pics you shared brought back so many memories and smiles. Bliss is a wonderful ship and I'm glad you had a great time. I think everyone needs to experience this beauty and we are so lucky she is here in our home port of Seattle :):)

[sns1009]

Thank you so much for this wonderful report! I've been avoiding megaships too but we are trying the Bliss in Jan 2019. Your pictures make me excited to try it!

[SeahawkSiren]

Thoroughly enjoyed your review and pics! Thanks for posting.

 

You'll LOVE Denali National Park. We did a land package on our first Alaska cruise. The highlight was a mama bear with her 2 yearling cubs getting within 100 ft of our bus. I thought we'd tip the bus over with everyone rushing to the one side to take pictures. LOL! We also saw a huge male moose in the distance. I don't even know how the tour guide spotted it. We had to use binoculars to see it. The tour guide said it was rare to see a moose. Hope y'all see one too!

 

Your review makes me even more excited for our upcoming Bliss Alaska cruise in September. :D

 

Thanks, Aprille! Glad you enjoyed the review. Have a great cruise on the Bliss in September. She's a beauty.

 

You have me even more excited now about our Denali land trip next year. We have never been. I hope we get to see a lot of wildlife. What an awesome experience that you had bears within 100 feet of your bus! And I have never seen a moose in the wild. That would be amazing! I have already started researching our trip. So far I know we are going to take the bus tour that goes the entire 92 miles to Kantisha and back.

[SeahawkSiren]

Thank you so much for sharing. The photos you have provided are spectacular! It has only raised our level of anticipation. We hit the road in just a few hours as we begin our travel to Seattle for tomorrow's departure! We are staying post-cruise to see some of Seattle's sights and visit the puget islands before heading home to Northern California.

 

Thank you for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the review. I know you are onboard right now and hope you are having a great cruise and enjoy the Bliss as much as we did.

 

I hope you also enjoy your time in Seattle and the islands after the cruise. Are you going up to the San Juan Islands? So beautiful up there.

[SeahawkSiren]

What an incredible review, thank you for sharing your experience with us on the Bliss. I was fortunate enough to be on the 3-night inaugural/christening right before you got onboard, and seeing the pics you shared brought back so many memories and smiles. Bliss is a wonderful ship and I'm glad you had a great time. I think everyone needs to experience this beauty and we are so lucky she is here in our home port of Seattle :):)

 

Thanks, John. Glad you enjoyed the review. Yeah, it is pretty sweet that Seattle is the home port for the Bliss in the summer months. We loved the Bliss so much we are already planning our next cruise on her, hopefully a Mexican Riviera cruise next year. But I know I won't have The Waterfront all to myself on that itinerary! :cool:

[kuceramd]

Thanks, John. Glad you enjoyed the review. Yeah, it is pretty sweet that Seattle is the home port for the Bliss in the summer months. We loved the Bliss so much we are already planning our next cruise on her, hopefully a Mexican Riviera cruise next year. But I know I won't have The Waterfront all to myself on that itinerary! :cool:

 

 

Thanks for the awesome pix & very informative review. We sail on the Bliss with friends this Saturday 23 June. We’re all currently in Seattle for a conference this week, so furtuitous timing for us. We’ll definitely plan on enjoying the waterfront as well as our Thermal Spa pass :D

 

Mike & Sue

[newdestination]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos and review. Our Alaska cruise and time at Denali National Park two years ago was one of my favorite trips. I want to go back!

[TPgal]

Try the Efeste Final Final at Purple (restaurant)....that was my wine of choice when I lived there

 

Squee...we love Efeste! They now have a tasting room in the SODO district - which would be an easy side trip for anyone flying into Seattle for their cruise. It's not walking distance from the pier but a quick cab/uber. Final Final or Big Papa, totally worth the effort.

[KYBOB]

Great review and nice photos! We where in Ketchikan On June 5th and saw the Bliss as we sailed in on the Coral. I thought you might like to have these. Enjoy! Would love to know if you have any more of the Coral, especially as we sailed in. There was one guy on the aft balcony taking pictures you can see on the last photo. Would be blast to be able to see myself on the balcony.

 

 

 

[lizygirl3]

Thank you for the wonderful review, I am definitely going on an Alaskan cruise.

[SeahawkSiren]

Try the Efeste Final Final at Purple (restaurant)....that was my wine of choice when I lived there

 

Squee...we love Efeste! They now have a tasting room in the SODO district - which would be an easy side trip for anyone flying into Seattle for their cruise. It's not walking distance from the pier but a quick cab/uber. Final Final or Big Papa, totally worth the effort.

 

Thank you both for the wine suggestion! I will definitely try one of the Efestes.

[SeahawkSiren]

Great review and nice photos! We where in Ketchikan On June 5th and saw the Bliss as we sailed in on the Coral. I thought you might like to have these. Enjoy! Would love to know if you have any more of the Coral, especially as we sailed in. There was one guy on the aft balcony taking pictures you can see on the last photo. Would be blast to be able to see myself on the balcony.

 

Hi KYBOB. Thank you so much for posting those Bliss photos. Really appreciate it. Great photography!

 

I'm sorry I only have this one other photo of Coral as we were leaving Ketchikan. We were already off the ship and in port when Coral arrived so we did not see her sail in. Hope you had a great cruise!

 

[KYBOB]

Thanks for the Photo! and Thanks for the compliment. We had a great cruise and loved every moment. Scenery was awesome and would love to go back some day. Now I know what to pack! Took way too many clothes.

[EganFire]

Thank you for taking the time to post this review. I am going on Bliss for Alaska next month. I can't wait.

[CruisingAmazona]

....that I had The Waterfront area all to myself most of the week. I think a lot of people on this cruise must live in very warm climates so those temperatures (in the 50's and 60's) were considered cold to them

 

Yikes! This will be interesting. I'm sailing September 22 and live in South Florida. 50's and 60's is freezing for us, and that was the weather in June!

[CruisingAmazona]

What a fantastic review! Thanks so much for taking the time. I am even more excited now than ever. If I may, I have two questions. Since you're a local, we're staying at the Marriott Seattle Waterfront. My understanding is that the Bliss docks across the street from us. Is that correct?

 

Also, a casino question. Is the casino open every night and on sea days as is usual on other cruises. I know casinos are not legal in Alaska so not sure what the international water rules are?

 

Thanks again.

[SeahawkSiren]

What a fantastic review! Thanks so much for taking the time. I am even more excited now than ever. If I may, I have two questions. Since you're a local, we're staying at the Marriott Seattle Waterfront. My understanding is that the Bliss docks across the street from us. Is that correct?

 

Also, a casino question. Is the casino open every night and on sea days as is usual on other cruises. I know casinos are not legal in Alaska so not sure what the international water rules are?

 

Thanks again.

 

Yes, the Seattle Marriott Waterfront is directly across the street from Pier 66. The location of that hotel could not be more convenient!

 

Yes, the casino was open every night and on both sea days. I think it opened around 9:00 p.m. the evening we left Seattle and about an hour after we left each Alaska port. The day we arrived in Victoria it did close early (around noon I think) and does not reopen for the duration of the cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Edited July 9, 2018 by SeahawkSiren