Shadowmeboy helps close down Alaska on the Bliss!

[LeesaB]

Hoo, that view out the window does look a bit rough.  I hope it wasn't too bad for everyone.

[shadowmeboy]

On 11/13/2019 at 10:18 AM, LeesaB said:

Hoo, that view out the window does look a bit rough.  I hope it wasn't too bad for everyone.

 

It actually got rougher 😞

[shadowmeboy]

So, since this was my first cruise being Platinum, I had to take advantage of the behind the scenes tour!

 

The tour started at the CruiseNext Desk.

 

 

 

Matthew is the stage manager aboard the Bliss. He told us a lot about the production shows. unfortunately, no video or photography allowed due to copyright. We started to feel the rocking and rolling of the ship in the Theater.

 

 

heading to the laundry

 

 

Pressing Room

 

 

 

Laundry Room shift supervisor

 

 

showing how a shirt is pressed.

 

 

 

 

Washing machine - max load is 25 Kg per load

 

 

dryer

 

 

 

all of this is clean laundry that was washed from the changeover in Seattle

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

automatic folder machine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside the crew mess

[shadowmeboy]

 

Main Galley

 

 

 

 

 

today's breakfast items

 

 

prepping for lunch

 

 

 

 

dish washing room

 

 

menu cards for the week

 

 

 

 

Post tour questions

[nhtravels]

So enjoying this review!  I truly appreciate how you share the "journey to the journey".  It was nice to see some of your beautiful state.  

 

We are doing the Bliss at the end of May for a big birthday celebration with family.  We are coming in a few days early to acclimate to the time change from the Northeast and hope to see some of the great things you showed from your pre-cruise stay!  

 

 

 

[justhappy]

Im curious, what time did the tour start and end? Would I be able to do this tour and make the Meet and Greet, since they are usually at 11am on the first sea day?
Thanks again for such great reviews and all the helpful info I am gaining!

[Arzeena]

Enjoying your review and pictures.

[Love my butler]

12 hours ago, justhappy said:

Im curious, what time did the tour start and end? Would I be able to do this tour and make the Meet and Greet, since they are usually at 11am on the first sea day?
Thanks again for such great reviews and all the helpful info I am gaining!

The tours usually start at 9 or 9:30 and last about 1 hour.  Plenty of time to make the meet and greet.

[shadowmeboy]

On 11/16/2019 at 5:39 AM, nhtravels said:

So enjoying this review!  I truly appreciate how you share the "journey to the journey".  It was nice to see some of your beautiful state.  

 

We are doing the Bliss at the end of May for a big birthday celebration with family.  We are coming in a few days early to acclimate to the time change from the Northeast and hope to see some of the great things you showed from your pre-cruise stay!  

 

 

 

 

Thank you! It sure is beautiful!

 

Make sure to check out each review, since we tend to do something different in Seattle each time. 

 

Also check out my YouTube channel http://youtube.com/c/shadowmeboy. I have videos from Seattle and different things we have done in video form, and I am always adding more!

Edited November 18, 2019 by shadowmeboy

[shadowmeboy]

On 11/16/2019 at 7:23 AM, justhappy said:

Im curious, what time did the tour start and end? Would I be able to do this tour and make the Meet and Greet, since they are usually at 11am on the first sea day?
Thanks again for such great reviews and all the helpful info I am gaining!

 

We met at 9 am and were finished by 10:15 am.

 

On 11/16/2019 at 8:06 PM, Love my butler said:

The tours usually start at 9 or 9:30 and last about 1 hour.  Plenty of time to make the meet and greet.

 

Thank you for answering!

[shadowmeboy]

On 11/16/2019 at 1:21 PM, Arzeena said:

Enjoying your review and pictures.

 

Thank you!

[shadowmeboy]

After the ship tour it was time for the How to run a floating hotel presentation.

 

 

 

 

Then the Captain, Chief Engineer, and General Manager came up for the How to run a cruise ship Q & A.

 

 

The Captain

 

 

 

Chief Engineer

 

 

 

General Manager Mark

 

 

 

 

I asked my favorite question. What is your favorite restaurant to eat at onboard?

 

 

 

 

 

Good size crowd!

 

 

 

 

I thanked the Captain afterwards.

 

 

As well as the Chief Engineer Ivan

Edited November 18, 2019 by shadowmeboy

[shadowmeboy]

 

The seas were picking up and barf bags started showing up in stairwells

 

 

Food Republic - Deck 8 starboard

 

I stopped by Food Republic to get a few pictures. Nothing on their menu really tickles my fancy, so I don't really choose to go here.

 

 

 

 

 

Menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

maintenance workers fixing something

[shadowmeboy]

It was finally time for the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet

 

 

District Brewhouse - Deck 8 port

 

 

 

 

 

Officers

 

 

Jake Laflin - Cruise Director

 

 

Marina Caparros - Group Service Coordinator

 

 

Jocylito Orofino - Executive Housekeeper

 

 

Charlyn Padilla Saladin - Guest Services Manager

 

 

Adrian De Kock - Assistant Food & Beverage Director

Edited November 18, 2019 by shadowmeboy

[shadowmeboy]

 

Haide Balon - Beverage Manager

 

 

Sreekanth Sundaram - Executive Chef

 

 

Vikram Rao - Restaurant Manager

 

 

CruiseNext Manager

 

 

Rohinton Mottahed - Food & Beverage Director

 

 

Roland Schrock - Assistant General Manager

 

 

Mark Maeling - General Manager

 

 

 

 

 

@jimandlo - Jim spinning at the slot pull after the Meet & Greet

 

 

Our top three spinners! Thank you to all who participated in the slot pull, it was fun!

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by shadowmeboy

[shadowmeboy]

After the Slot Pull got done, I was ready for lunch. The local was still open and I headed there!

 

The Menu

 

 

 

 

 

Loaded Nachos

 

 

Pretzel Bites

 

 

I got the tortilla bowl with the beef and carnitas. As you can see, I was having a thrilling conversation with myself as I was playing Candy Soda Crush!

 

 

Brownie Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

 

 

Gamo was my server, and we was excellent. My water glass never got half empty. He was funny and had a smile that lit up the room. Great Job Gamo!

 

After lunch, I went wandering.

 

 

Coco's

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sugarcane

 

 

Last cruise Alaska blowout sale. I picked up a couple things for like 3.00. 

 

I headed back to the room, relaxed, and headed to the solo lounge early for the solo travelers meet up. 

 

 

Revised Solo activities

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

I ended up going with one of the fellow solo cruisers to the comedy show. Quinn introduced the act once again.

 

 

He talked to the people in the front two rows. They didn't respond.

 

 

Andrew Slater was on again, and luckily the act was slightly different.

 

 

After Comedy. I headed to Sugarcane to listen to music till my La Cucina reservation. Gold River Duo were playing.

 

 

 

They were good!

 

 

 

Finally, it was time for dinner.

[coastcat]

On 11/15/2019 at 9:32 PM, shadowmeboy said:

 

It actually got rougher 😞

 

And now I'm seasick all over again...  🤢

 

Your photos make me eager to get back on the Bliss and back to the Studios to spend more time with my favorite thing ever, the espresso machine in the Studio Lounge. Looking forward to more photos from that (despite the Day 2 seas) fabulous cruise.

Edited November 20, 2019 by coastcat

[shadowmeboy]

La Cucina was dinner tonight.

 

Menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burrata "Caprese"

 

 

Bresaola

 

 

Tortelli Di Ricotta Con Salsa Di Pomodori Secchi

 

 

Filetto with a substitution of the Ravioli Di Gamberi Con Salsa Di Aragosta Dragoncello

 

 

Dessert menu

 

 

Tiramisu

 

The food was excellent. The service was not so good. I had the waiter argue with me over what was allowed on the sdp. He wasn't going to allow me to order more than one app. I told him, no, terms and conditions only limit the entrée. He kept arguing. I then asked to see the Maître 'D. Lets just say, he came back two minutes later and said it was fine. He just had an attitude all dinner long. The table immediately to my left had the same server and had problems too. When I left, I was tired, and had pretty much decided to just write it off and not do anything.

 

By this time, the seas had really picked up, and we were really rocking. I decided to head back to my stateroom, relax, and get a good nights sleep and to be ready for Juneau tomorrow!

[ev98]

Thanks for posting this review. I also appreciate the travel preamble, especially the train journey. 

 

How many people would you say were at the Meet and Greet? It looked fairly well attended.

 

On 11/17/2019 at 11:35 PM, shadowmeboy said:

I asked my favorite question. What is your favorite restaurant to eat at onboard

 

Do you remember the answer that you got? Just curious - Bliss has quite the selection of restaurants but we saw a lot of senior officers in the Garden Cafe fairly regularly.

[shadowmeboy]

Sorry everyone, been really busy at work, and haven't had much time!

 

Dailies Day 3 - Juneau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The daily had info on the Port of Seattle Port Valet program

 

 

so, the seas were extremely rough over night. I almost rolled out of my bed 3 times. Closet doors were opening and shutting, and I had a hard time sleeping past 3:30 am. I got up and took a shower, made my way to the atrium by 5:15 and waited for Starbucks to open at 6am.

 

There were 10-12 of us there, right at 6 am.

 

 

My Iced Salted Caramel Mocha never tasted so good!

 

a lot of people had a rough night, and people were slow getting going around the ship due to the seas. Some just wanted to lay in their bed, until the seas died down.

[shadowmeboy]

4 hours ago, ev98 said:

Thanks for posting this review. I also appreciate the travel preamble, especially the train journey. 

 

How many people would you say were at the Meet and Greet? It looked fairly well attended.

 

 

Do you remember the answer that you got? Just curious - Bliss has quite the selection of restaurants but we saw a lot of senior officers in the Garden Cafe fairly regularly.

 

it was 75-80.

 

I will have to watch the video I filmed to get the answer for you.

[shadowmeboy]

I headed up to the Observation Lounge, since the outside decks were still closed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too back lit to see out effectively.

 

 

sat here first, didn't like the reflection, so I moved,

 

 

I ended up talking to one of the fellow cruise critic members up in the observation lounge. We talked about a few people we had sailed with, and about sailing the Jewel, since we had sailed the Jewel together before!

 

More observation pictures!

 

 

 

The seas had finally calmed as we got into Alaska's inside passage. I was finally able to get out on deck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, it was time for Breakfast.

Edited November 25, 2019 by shadowmeboy

[shadowmeboy]

I went to Taste this morning to change it up!

 

 

 

Breakfast Menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

it was fairly empty

 

 

view out the window by my table

 

 

Banana and Cottage cheese

 

 

Omelet, ham, and hashbrowns.

 

 

Pilot Boat approaching the Bliss

 

 

After I received my meal, the server never came back to the table. No water refills, nothing. I left feeling a little let down, Savor had always been on point. That pushed me over the edge. I decided it was time to call the Restaurant Manager about La Cucina and Taste and the service at both. I called him about 9 am and we chatted about the service. He remembered me from the entrance of La Cucina the night before. He said he would take care of it and that he wanted to treat me to lunch. more on that later...