It’s time for some Margaritas, NCL Bliss Mexican Riviera LIVE review, October 24th 2021

[aubreyc1988]

Just kidding, I’m a mojito drinker but I will have a margarita or two as well 

 

Ok, so I know this live review is a little bit early, but I leave tomorrow for LA and I am excited, OK?!?! 😄 

 

•    I will be live reviewing my experience on the Bliss. This will be my second time on the Bliss, the first time being in 2019 on a sailing to Alaska.  I will be sailing with my friend this time, instead of my husband (poor husband is staying home with two doggos, he’s a keeper for sure) 

 

•    Pre-cruise hotel is Hyatt Regency LAX. We arrive into LAX around 1:30-2pm local time on Saturday. We are taking the hotel’s included shuttle back to the airport on Sunday to get our NCL transfer to San Pedro Cruise Terminal.

 

•    Cabin type is a BF balcony on Deck 9 again, regular not angled. I was on deck 9 on Encore in Sept 2021 to Alaska, with an angled balcony, booked this cruise BEFORE the Encore, BEFORE my experience with the lady on the Waterfront overhang.  I was hoping pricing would come down so I could bump up to another deck, but that was not the case, but hopefully I do not have the same thing happen twice.  If you are wondering what I am referring to, here is a link to my last review (skim to the end recap to read about the lady on the Waterfront) 

 

 

•    This is the first sailing on the Bliss since the restart, so I expect there might be some hiccups, but I am a pretty relaxed, easy going person. I promise there won’t be any moaning unless the situation is pretty severe. 

 

•    I have the premium unlimited streaming internet, so I will be reviewing that pretty extensively. I bought it SPECIFICALLY to test out with my husband to see if he could successfully work and take phone calls while on a cruise. My husband works remotely, so it would be a dream if we could cruise more by him doing some work on the ship. 

 

•    We opted for all the free at sea perks of course, AND this is my first time sailing as platinum (my friend is Bronze) so I am so excited for my two platinum dinners. I believe the restaurants we plan to go to are Cagney’s, La Cucina, Q, Le Bistro, and we will pay for Food Republic ala carte. Last time on the Encore, my husband and I did Food Republic ala carte and we got a massive amount of food for both of us for 30.00 including gratuity, so it seemed like a no brainer to do it ala carte vs using a dining plan meal for it.  This will be my friend’s first time doing specialty dining on a cruise ship so I am so excited to see what she thinks about it! I might go to American Diner for a few appetizers one day for lunch too, we shall see! 

 

•    I have never done a Mexican Riviera cruise before. Our excursions are as follows: Yelapa & Majahuitas through NCL in Puerto Vallarta, Stone Island Tour thru Mazatlán Tours in Mazatlán, and we are winging it in Cabo (probably just take the tender, walk around, see what strikes us. 

Let me know if you want to see some packing pics, finishing my packing and "Charging of all my devices" today. My power brick takes 10 hours to charge, my husband says "omg upgrade to USB-C already" LOL 
 

Also we got our "96 hr in advance" optional Covid antigen test yesterday, my friend and I are both negative! 

Edited October 22, 2021 by aubreyc1988

[phillygwm]

8 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

Just kidding, I’m a mojito drinker but I will have a margarita or two as well 

 

Ok, so I know this live review is a little bit early, but I leave tomorrow for LA and I am excited, OK?!?! 😄 

 

Nice!  I'm on that itinerary in December.  Would you mind posting the dailies as well?  Have fun!

[CruisinMama2003]

Yes! Cannot wait for this review! Been thinking of doing a Mexican Riviera cruise. 

 

I followed your last review, so i know all about "waterfront overhang lady" lol 

 

Have fun! Cheers 🍸🍹

[aubreyc1988]

Just now, phillygwm said:

Nice!  I'm on that itinerary in December.  Would you mind posting the dailies as well?  Have fun!

Yes I do plan on trying to post dailies! 

[aubreyc1988]

Last cruise, I had such a hard time using Cruise Critic on my phone. This was partly due to the fact that my iPhone X was on its last leg and I didn’t realize it at the time. Now I got a shiny new iPhone 13 Pro so I am hoping to have an easier time using my

phone to give live updates. I am bringing my MacBook Air too for more in-depth nightly recaps. 
 

Here’s me right now, enjoying my morning cup of coffee poolside. My dog Emmett is barking at his reflection in the pool and my other dog Marty is barking at the neighbor, (his head is featured at the top of my coffee cup), ahhh such a soothing morning 😂 Also, I am planning to buy a NCL mug for better photo ops haha, but I DO love the Cosmopolitan! 
 

[kdmbluerzr]

Thank you for doing this!  I too, will be on the Bliss in December so I will be following your review. Safe travels and have a wonderful cruise!   🙂 

[rfkeith10]

We are on the November 7th cruise.  We are anxious to hear about the embarkation process.  Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.  We have done this cruise several times.  Hope you enjoy Mexico.  Have a great vacation.  Don't spend all your time working on live reviews...

[Seany527]

I love the Bliss. One of my favorite ships across the different lines. Looking forward to seeing pictures of her again. 

[aubreyc1988]

1 hour ago, rfkeith10 said:

We are on the November 7th cruise.  We are anxious to hear about the embarkation process.  Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.  We have done this cruise several times.  Hope you enjoy Mexico.  Have a great vacation.  Don't spend all your time working on live reviews...

To be honest, most of my time is spent eating and drinking LOL, not super thrilling trip report 😄 

Edited October 22, 2021 by aubreyc1988

[Crazy planning mom]

4 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

Just kidding, I’m a mojito drinker but I will have a margarita or two as well 

 

Ok, so I know this live review is a little bit early, but I leave tomorrow for LA and I am excited, OK?!?! 😄 

 

•    I will be live reviewing my experience on the Bliss. This will be my second time on the Bliss, the first time being in 2019 on a sailing to Alaska.  I will be sailing with my friend this time, instead of my husband (poor husband is staying home with two doggos, he’s a keeper for sure) 

 

•    Pre-cruise hotel is Hyatt Regency LAX. We arrive into LAX around 1:30-2pm local time on Saturday. We are taking the hotel’s included shuttle back to the airport on Sunday to get our NCL transfer to San Pedro Cruise Terminal.

 

•    Cabin type is a BF balcony on Deck 9 again, regular not angled. I was on deck 9 on Encore in Sept 2021 to Alaska, with an angled balcony, booked this cruise BEFORE the Encore, BEFORE my experience with the lady on the Waterfront overhang.  I was hoping pricing would come down so I could bump up to another deck, but that was not the case, but hopefully I do not have the same thing happen twice.  If you are wondering what I am referring to, here is a link to my last review (skim to the end recap to read about the lady on the Waterfront) 

 

 

•    This is the first sailing on the Bliss since the restart, so I expect there might be some hiccups, but I am a pretty relaxed, easy going person. I promise there won’t be any moaning unless the situation is pretty severe. 

 

•    I have the premium unlimited streaming internet, so I will be reviewing that pretty extensively. I bought it SPECIFICALLY to test out with my husband to see if he could successfully work and take phone calls while on a cruise. My husband works remotely, so it would be a dream if we could cruise more by him doing some work on the ship. 

 

•    We opted for all the free at sea perks of course, AND this is my first time sailing as platinum (my friend is Bronze) so I am so excited for my two platinum dinners. I believe the restaurants we plan to go to are Cagney’s, La Cucina, Q, Le Bistro, and we will pay for Food Republic ala carte. Last time on the Encore, my husband and I did Food Republic ala carte and we got a massive amount of food for both of us for 30.00 including gratuity, so it seemed like a no brainer to do it ala carte vs using a dining plan meal for it.  This will be my friend’s first time doing specialty dining on a cruise ship so I am so excited to see what she thinks about it! I might go to American Diner for a few appetizers one day for lunch too, we shall see! 

 

•    I have never done a Mexican Riviera cruise before. Our excursions are as follows: Yelapa & Majahuitas through NCL in Puerto Vallarta, Stone Island Tour thru Mazatlán Tours in Mazatlán, and we are winging it in Cabo (probably just take the tender, walk around, see what strikes us. 

Let me know if you want to see some packing pics, finishing my packing and "Charging of all my devices" today. My power brick takes 10 hours to charge, my husband says "omg upgrade to USB-C already" LOL 
 

Also we got our "96 hr in advance" optional Covid antigen test yesterday, my friend and I are both negative! 

Looking forward to this.  Love your prior reviews.  Plus, I have never been to the Mexican Riviera so looking forward to that as well.  Thanks for providing names of excursion vendors.

[ramdoggiesmom]

I can’t wait for your review! We leave on the same trip on 11/7 and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. Have a wonderful time!

[bookbabe]

9 minutes ago, ramdoggiesmom said:

I can’t wait for your review! We leave on the same trip on 11/7 and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. Have a wonderful time!

Have you joined the roll call?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2767865-norwegian-bliss-november-7-2021-7-day-mexican-riviera/

 

[NikiPinkston]

Thank you so much for doing this live review, Aubrey!  You inspired us to book the Bliss in December so I'm anxious to hear your impressions.  Loved your previous review of the Encore to Alaska (although we had just returned from that cruise, it was like going again).  Hopefully, there won't be anymore women on the waterfront, but you did a very good thing there.  I was honestly thinking about you yesterday wondering if you would share anything about your Bliss cruise.   We visited the Mexican Riviera once before but it's been awhile and, although we lived within miles of the Port of L.A. for many years, we've never sailed out of that port, only Long Beach, so we're looking forward to that.   Have a wonderful cruise & a fabulous time in Mexico!  You rock!

[phillygwm]

9 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

We visited the Mexican Riviera once before but it's been awhile and, although we lived within miles of the Port of L.A. for many years, we've never sailed out of that port, only Long Beach, so we're looking forward to that.   Have a wonderful cruise & a fabulous time in Mexico!  You rock!

Pardon my ignorance but I thought the Port of LA WAS Long Beach (or actually next door San Pedro.)  I'm on the December 12 sailing and don't want to show up at the wrong port 🙂

[NikiPinkston]

25 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

Pardon my ignorance but I thought the Port of LA WAS Long Beach (or actually next door San Pedro.)  I'm on the December 12 sailing and don't want to show up at the wrong port 🙂

No problem, it can be a bit confusing.  The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are two separate ports, separated by Terminal Island.  NCL sails out of L.A., which is San Pedro.  The Port of L.A./San Pedro Cruise Terminal is right off the 110, right before you cross over to Long Beach (via Terminal Island) on the Vincent Thomas Bridge.  If you're coming by taxi or shuttle, they'll know where to go.  If you have any questions about the area, I'd be happy to help!  😊 We're sailing the week after you.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by NikiPinkston

[phillygwm]

59 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

No problem, it can be a bit confusing.  The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are two separate ports, separated by Terminal Island.  NCL sails out of L.A., which is San Pedro.  The Port of L.A./San Pedro Cruise Terminal is right off the 110, right before you cross over to Long Beach (via Terminal Island) on the Vincent Thomas Bridge.  If you're coming by taxi or shuttle, they'll know where to go.  If you have any questions about the area, I'd be happy to help!  😊 We're sailing the week after you.

 

Thanks for clarifying!  I actually thought about booking a room on the Queen Mary the night before but apparently it's closed.  Good thing:  If I looked out and didn't see the Bliss I'd have had a panic attack 🤣

[ramdoggiesmom]

2 hours ago, bookbabe said:

Have you joined the roll call?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2767865-norwegian-bliss-november-7-2021-7-day-mexican-riviera/

 

Yep we joined.

[aubreyc1988]

1 hour ago, phillygwm said:

Pardon my ignorance but I thought the Port of LA WAS Long Beach (or actually next door San Pedro.)  I'm on the December 12 sailing and don't want to show up at the wrong port 🙂

What @NikiPinkston said. I have cruised out of Long Beach before, years ago with the friend I am traveling with this weekend, but that was on Carnival and probably was the *worst* cruise I've ever been on (everyone's stateroom bathrooms were not working so everyone had to use the public ones and then the public ones had sewage problems and it was just a nightmare)

 

First time out of San Pedro tho. 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by aubreyc1988

[Tonysplus2]

I’m on the Bliss 11/28 looking forward to your review. I have never done Mexican Riviera 

[BirdTravels]

@aubreyc1988Have a wonderful cruise! The Bird will be following and sailing vicariously. 

[kdmbluerzr]

2 hours ago, phillygwm said:

Pardon my ignorance but I thought the Port of LA WAS Long Beach (or actually next door San Pedro.)  I'm on the December 12 sailing and don't want to show up at the wrong port 🙂

We will see you on the December 12 sailing! 

[aubreyc1988]

He knows I am leaving! He also knows I am an expert packer, half of my carry on is empty, altho I do have a full backpack. Definitely will have room to bring stuff home! My dog Marty is in a cone because he had an accident a few weeks ago, he’s much improved now but still several weeks left of the cone of shame 

Edited October 23, 2021 by aubreyc1988

[LaCal]

Looking forward to your Live review.  Have fun 

[luvcruzing]

9 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I am an expert packer, half of my carry on is empty, altho I do have a full backpack. Definitely will have room to bring stuff home!

I would love for you to share some of your packing tips. Definitely no backpack for me.  As a matter of fact, I hate those things (no offense).  Most of the people who 

wear one, forget that there’s this huge bag on their back and turn around and bop the person near them. I try to keep my distance.

[LaCal]

Hope the covid testing goes smoothly.  Please post how it is