Sistahs Cruise: Bliss NY to Bahamas, Feb 23-March 1

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[jbhcw]

Greenpea...enjoying your review especially the ocean/sunset pics...always my favorite to take pictures of when on a cruise......oh and maybe food pics LOL

[Greenpea2]

I meant to mention our embarkation day intro to the Haven. I found it interesting and a little bit of a let-down based on other reviews I have read. We were herded into a group in the waiting room in  the terminal and taken up to the Haven by an assistant Concierge and as we all entered were basically told:

 

1)    Your rooms are not ready yet. 

 

2)    Haven guests are invited to have a complementary lunch at Food Republic, but that won’t open for another 45 minutes. 

 

3)    Until that time, feel free to explore the Haven or the rest of the ship, have a drink, enjoy yourselves. 

 

4)    Welcome to the Haven.

 

No orientation, no sliders and fries so we would not starve to death while we waited for FR to open (that’s the only bit I cared about, the sliders and fries!). It was pretty impersonal. I’m was not  upset—but I was a little disappointed. I had hoped for my sistah that all that stuff would happen and I had told her it would, from what I had heard. Oh well! 

[purpleally]

I would love to go on a sistahs cruise with you. With the upgraded drinks we would have FUN

[Greenpea2]

1 hour ago, purpleally said:

I would love to go on a sistahs cruise with you. With the upgraded drinks we would have FUN

Agreed. Having that package very much added to our fun!I doubt we actually drank enough to pay for it but I don't even care. The fun of it was worth it to us! lol

 

At first I was a tiny bit embarrassed to mention it but that changed quickly. Every bartender's eyes lit right up and you could tell they enjoyed finally being able to serve someone the "extra special stuff." They loved telling me what the good stuff was and were enthusiastic about using it to create yummy drinks for us!

[purpleally]

7 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

Agreed. Having that package very much added to our fun!I doubt we actually drank enough to pay for it but I don't even care. The fun of it was worth it to us! lol

 

At first I was a tiny bit embarrassed to mention it but that changed quickly. Every bartender's eyes lit right up and you could tell they enjoyed finally being able to serve someone the "extra special stuff." They loved telling me what the good stuff was and were enthusiastic about using it to create yummy drinks for us!

Same especially in los lobos

generous pours of Veuve in Gatsbys. They used wine glasses

[Greenpea2]

Food/Restaurants.

 

Food

All the various complaints I have read of bad service and mediocre food just did not happen on our cruise. We enjoyed terrific service and very good to excellent food (with 1 or 2 misses) everyplace we went. We went to Star Bucks every morning, we ate meals at the Haven restaurant, Le Bistro, La Cucina, Cagney’s, Los Lobos, and Ocean Blue (plus that Day 1 lunch at FR I already reported on).  

 

Star Bucks: I am not a Star Bucks person. I used to be, but I found them just so inconsistent in quality (cappuccinos are my thing) that I stopped going there for overpriced too-often crappy cappuccinos. Also because the company got all political that turned me off even more (whether or not I agree politically, I am here for coffee not for indoctrination). But maybe that’s just me. Since we had the Premium Plus Beverage Package (PPBP) and they were included, I said the heck widdit. I’m all over that stuff and giving them one more try! And it was EXCELLENT. Every time. We went every morning for our double cappuccino fix and I figure we would have spent around $100 on it without the PPBP. By the second morning they remembered us (but I’m pretty sure that was due to having the package as apparently very few people go that route, people remember). 

 

Haven Restaurant: Our favorite. Great ambience (even when there was a screaming baby, which the host always seated us well away from). Consistently the best food on the ship for us. Just wonderful. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Delicious, great selection, unsurpassed service (except for my first breakfast).

 

Le Bistro: Excellent. I was afraid to try the filet at Cagney’s based on reviews so got my filet fix here. Cooked perfectly. Just enough of everything to be full but not stuffed. Only disappointment was the chocolate fondue (which I think I already reported). My Le Bistro chocolate fondue days are officially over. But I would have dinner there again in a NY minute.

 

La Cucina: Very good—have never been disappointed there. Service was great, all the food hot and cooked perfectly. Ambience was good too. Continues to be a favorite place. 

 

Cagney’s: The good: My steak (not filet) was cooked perfectly. Service was fine, although our waitress seemed a bit impersonal and did not seem to connect with people (not a bad thing, just pointing it out because that’s the only place we felt that way). 

 

The not good: Ambience. There was none, unless ambience can be bad in which case it had a lot of bad ambience. I used to love Cagney’s ... it was always relatively quiet, tables with plenty of space between them. No more. As reported previously, the table next to us was so close that none of us could have any kind of private conversation. And it was so close that I could easily have reached over to borrow their salt. That’s close. Too close. So close that the undesirable intrusive person next to us kept talking to us in a loud voice, all about him-him-him whether we responded or not, and we were forced to try and ignore some kind of gelatinous white sauce that was oozing through his beard the entire meal. Ugh. Honestly, just remembering makes me feel slightly nauseated. The restaurant is open to the bar outside it, separated only by a wall  about 3 feet tall. So noisy and distracting. Just no ambience or peacefulness. I would not go there again except on a ship where it is in a separate room with the tables a normal distance apart. Please, NCL, give the diners more space between them and their neighbors! The food was fine but the bad was bad enough that I gave Cagney’s a big no-thank-you fail. 

 

On to Los Lobos and Ocean Blue [with photos]…

[Greenpea2]

Los Lobos: This place was awesome. We had the most fun dinner here and the food was great! My sistah lived in California and Arizona for many years and so is a pretty good judge of authentic-tasting Mexican food. She was quite impressed. Our waiter was Ennyo Fierro and he was the best. Very friendly, great sense of humor—took really good care of us. I even gave him a hug when we left (good old tequila.)  Speaking of tequila, once Ennyo knew we had the PPBP he made it his personal mission to give us the best margaritas the bartenders could create based on our preferences (not too sweet, with a kick, etc). And he was successful.

 

We started with the tableside guacamole, street corn, and a big stuffed poblano pepper, all of which were delicious. For entrees, sistah had tamales and I had the fish tacos, and we both had rice and beans. 

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[Greenpea2]

[Cruisercl]

11 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

Agreed. Having that package very much added to our fun!I doubt we actually drank enough to pay for it but I don't even care. The fun of it was worth it to us! lol

 

At first I was a tiny bit embarrassed to mention it but that changed quickly. Every bartender's eyes lit right up and you could tell they enjoyed finally being able to serve someone the "extra special stuff." They loved telling me what the good stuff was and were enthusiastic about using it to create yummy drinks for us!

Good to know! Always think about upgrading but never have.

Nice!!😊

[Greenpea2]

Specialty Dining Package note: I know there is a big thread about this and various other ones regarding what is included. I can tell you that we were told (without asking) in 2 of them (Cagney's and one other, I think Ocean Blue) that we could order 1 appetizer, 1 starter (soup or salad), 1 entree, and 1 dessert (and in Cagney's, multiple sides). I had brought the T&C on the cruise in anticipation of this... but honestly? Did not want to argue, especially since we didn't want more than that anyway. I will post this on the big thread as well. 

[gizfish]

9 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

Specialty Dining Package note: I know there is a big thread about this and various other ones regarding what is included. I can tell you that we were told (without asking) in 2 of them (Cagney's and one other, I think Ocean Blue) that we could order 1 appetizer, 1 starter (soup or salad), 1 entree, and 1 dessert (and in Cagney's, multiple sides). I had brought the T&C on the cruise in anticipation of this... but honestly? Did not want to argue, especially since we didn't want more than that anyway. I will post this on the big thread as well. 

Our experience was totally different the cruise the week after.  I wonder if you were using (or the staff thought you were using) platinum benefits for meals which has a totally different set of rules.  We ate at Cagney's twice, Q once and food republic once.  Both times at Cagney's we ordered as many appetizers, sides and desserts as we wanted and one entrée.  At Q the waiter made a point of telling us we can have any and as much as we want of the things on the menu other than entrees ("teasers", potatoes, sides) and one entrée.  Dessert was also any and as much as we wanted.  Food Republic gives you any four plates per dinning credit.

Edited March 9, 2020 by gizfish

[Greenpea2]

Well, I don't know for sure. But the other restaurants always asked if I was using my SDP. Those where I did say I was using my Latitudes coupon, never limited us. OB is not a part of the Latitudes dining coupon and they limited us (and I have since remembered they were indeed one of the 2 that did so). Le Bistro is part of the Latitudes coupon thing and asked me (I said yes)--and never said anything. The whole thing is confusing I think. 

[kevink1955]

Wife and I were on the Bliss the same time as the Sistas,  we were not in Haven but had a great time.  As was said, the internet was bad (unlimited plan) but we got by Lol    Everywhere we ate or drank was great, saw Jersey boys again, had seen it the first time in NY and did not expect to much. I was wrong, it was as good as the show we saw in NY.

 

Weather was not to bad for a end of Feb, got to see relatives in Port Canerival, GSC was great. I said the last time I cruised that I would not get off the ship in the Bahamas, my wife wanted to so we did. I still have the same opinion.

 

Other than the bad internet and a 3 year old with heavy feet at 7 am  in the cabin above us it was a great voyage. We did not want to get off the Ship and go home LOL

 

 

 

[Greenpea2]

9 hours ago, kevink1955 said:

Wife and I were on the Bliss the same time as the Sistas,  we were not in Haven but had a great time.  As was said, the internet was bad (unlimited plan) but we got by Lol    Everywhere we ate or drank was great, saw Jersey boys again, had seen it the first time in NY and did not expect to much. I was wrong, it was as good as the show we saw in NY.

 

Weather was not to bad for a end of Feb, got to see relatives in Port Canerival, GSC was great. I said the last time I cruised that I would not get off the ship in the Bahamas, my wife wanted to so we did. I still have the same opinion.

 

Other than the bad internet and a 3 year old with heavy feet at 7 am  in the cabin above us it was a great voyage. We did not want to get off the Ship and go home LOL

 

 

 

Kevin, I agree. It was such a beautiful ship and so good to have at least a few days of warmth! Definitely having cruise withdrawal here.

[Greenpea2]

Ocean Blue: We liked the food but were not in any way blown away by it. Same with the restaurant itself. It was, like the food, nice. But no real atmosphere. We’d hoped to eat outside at least one time, but the weather never seemed conducive to that on this cruise. The bread, as reported elsewhere, was wonderful! Yum. I had the hog belly thing as an appetizer and Sistah had the crispy shrimp. She loved the shrimp—I sampled it and totally agreed it was great. The hog belly was good, not wonderful. For entrée I had mild white fish broiled (I think, can’t remember, but it was not fried) and she ordered fried seafood platter. My fish was very tasty and just as I like it—tender, mild, and not a big portion. Sistah was not in love with the fried platter—there was just so much she couldn’t make much headway. She felt it was overkill in terms of fried anything. I might eat there again, but since there are so many other choices, I’d rather aim for a dinner with the “Wow” factor, which this was not for us. Pictures coming up.

[Greenpea2]