NCL Bliss - LIVE - 1/22/23 to 1/27/23

[New2cruise2022]

5 hours ago, NW Pacific said:

Any idea if all Ships are going back to traditional muster drill, the last year or so has been done online watching a video and then just as you board go to your assigned station and get your card scanned???  

We will ask tomorrow (today, I guess) at the Meet and Greet. It sounded like the return to the in-person muster is a compliance issue. If that is the case, I would assume it is fleet wide. 

[Seas2mountains]

8 hours ago, NW Pacific said:

Any idea if all Ships are going back to traditional muster drill, the last year or so has been done online watching a video and then just as you board go to your assigned station and get your card scanned???  

Yes, for NCL. See article below. No for other cruise lines.

 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/Cruise/articles/Cruise-Lines-Return-to-Traditional-Muster-Drills

Edited January 23, 2023 by Seas2mountains

[chloe173]

1 hour ago, Seas2mountains said:

Yes, for NCL. See article below. No for other cruise lines.

Ugh. Not a fan. The in-person muster drill has always given me "group project" vibes, since you always end up having to wait on the one person who was either too clueless or too selfish to just go stand in line when they first tell you to do so, lol.

 

Our last cruise was on Virgin and their muster video was amazing - like a whole musical theater production! Made Muster feel like a "get to do" instead of a chore to get out of the way.

[drwbrt]

1 hour ago, Seas2mountains said:

Yes, for NCL. See article below. No for other cruise lines.

 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/Cruise/articles/Cruise-Lines-Return-to-Traditional-Muster-Drills

"The safety of our guests and crew members is our number one priority," a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said…as such [we] have made the decision to reinstate synchronized, in-person muster drills on embarkation day across all vessels within the fleet."
 

DCL made the same choice. This makes sense to me because there are so many children aboard. Seat a memory with a young kid and maybe they do better in an emergency. 
 

This makes less sense on NCL and is a total revenue stopper on embarkation day. Very curious how that decision was made. 

[www3traveler]

23 minutes ago, drwbrt said:

"The safety of our guests and crew members is our number one priority," a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said…as such [we] have made the decision to reinstate synchronized, in-person muster drills on embarkation day across all vessels within the fleet."
 

DCL made the same choice. This makes sense to me because there are so many children aboard. Seat a memory with a young kid and maybe they do better in an emergency. 
 

This makes less sense on NCL and is a total revenue stopper on embarkation day. Very curious how that decision was made. 

From what I understand, once ships began sailing again, it was always planned to come back to the "old" system.  May have something to do with the SOLAS (Safety of Life at SEA) regulations.

[cruiseny4life]

41 minutes ago, drwbrt said:

"The safety of our guests and crew members is our number one priority," a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said…as such [we] have made the decision to reinstate synchronized, in-person muster drills on embarkation day across all vessels within the fleet."
 

DCL made the same choice. This makes sense to me because there are so many children aboard. Seat a memory with a young kid and maybe they do better in an emergency. 
 

This makes less sense on NCL and is a total revenue stopper on embarkation day. Very curious how that decision was made. 

I think it's staffing/financial. Since you didn't observe the "virtual" muster, you didn't see the crew members who would have to stay at each cruiser's muster station holding a sign and scanner from the beginning of embarkation (11 AM'ish) to the end of embarkation (3 - 4 PM'ish). These crew members did nothing but stand in a hallway for four or five hours. Granted, it wasn't a huge number of crew, but taking twenty or thirty crew out of action for half a day on the busiest day of the cruise) would be taxing for other crew, especially when ship's don't have nearly enough crew as it is. 

 

Then, crew also don't have an opportunity to actually practice the safety drill. I don't know the components, but there are other threads where a very knowledgeable poster has explained why it's so important for the crew (not posting, as I don't want your thread to get eaten up by this topic).

 

Or, these could be just the ramblings of a middle-aged, HR professional in a deadbeat job that's bored on a snowy Monday morning.

[drwbrt]

Not sure how SOLAS is involved, but I think they are currently negotiating how things will move forward, and DCL, NCL are proactively adopting. 
 

Carnival is not interested in adopting, but it doesn’t sound like it is entirely up to them. I think they’re using media to fight this negotiation. Last week their brand ambassador said: I don’t know if it will ever change or not but what I can say is that we are not returning to the previous way of doing this next month or indeed, at all. 

 

Doesn’t sound certain, but their objective is clear. 
 

*sorry, formatting issues in the phone this morning. 

[drwbrt]

3 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I think it's staffing/financial. Since you didn't observe the "virtual" muster, you didn't see the crew members who would have to stay at each cruiser's muster station holding a sign and scanner from the beginning of embarkation (11 AM'ish) to the end of embarkation (3 - 4 PM'ish). These crew members did nothing but stand in a hallway for four or five hours. Granted, it wasn't a huge number of crew, but taking twenty or thirty crew out of action for half a day on the busiest day of the cruise) would be taxing for other crew, especially when ship's don't have nearly enough crew as it is. 

 

Then, crew also don't have an opportunity to actually practice the safety drill. I don't know the components, but there are other threads where a very knowledgeable poster has explained why it's so important for the crew (not posting, as I don't want your thread to get eaten up by this topic).

 

Or, these could be just the ramblings of a middle-aged, HR professional in a deadbeat job that's bored on a snowy Monday morning.

This is great insight. I was concerned about the revenue but the cost outlay of manned muster stations may be the bigger issue with the current staffing constraints. Thanks for the expert weigh in.

 

I can’t share a coffee with you on a snowy Monday, but how about a good morning from the observation lounge?

 

[cruiseny4life]

33 minutes ago, drwbrt said:

This is great insight. I was concerned about the revenue but the cost outlay of manned muster stations may be the bigger issue with the current staffing constraints. Thanks for the expert weigh in.

 

I can’t share a coffee with you on a snowy Monday, but how about a good morning from the observation lounge?

 

I'll take any sunset from a cruise ship I can take. That looks like the perfect place to have that virtual coffee with you! Cheers!!

 

Also...definitely not an expert here. Except in stating my opinion. 🙂 I wish you, and the family, a most wonderful next few days! 

[rxlowry]

15 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

NFL Playoffs on (NOT on) Board:

We have some football fans. Specifically, the Cincinnati Bengals. (Who Dey?) For those traveling in the next few weeks, we were not able to find the game when we boarded. Not on the TVs in staterooms and not on the TVs in the Local. We will report back and let you know if the Niners/Cowboys is anywhere to be found. (It seems about as likely we will see the Cowboys’  game as Brett Maher will hit an extra point …)

Note: YouTubeTV was able to stream on my network connection with AT&T. So, we did watch the game on the phone. Go Bengals. 

So did they show the niners game?  I hope this isn’t a sign that football will not be shown.  

[drwbrt]

54 minutes ago, rxlowry said:

So did they show the niners game?  I hope this isn’t a sign that football will not be shown.  

We didn’t see football. We saw some Australian Open playing in The District.

[CruzinMel]

2 hours ago, drwbrt said:

We didn’t see football. We saw some Australian Open playing in The District.

You didn't miss anything if you are a Dallas fan.  The hubs is currently in a deep depression.  OTOH, the kicker hit one from 40 yards out, so something worked.

[www3traveler]

6 hours ago, drwbrt said:

Not sure how SOLAS is involved, but I think they are currently negotiating how things will move forward, and DCL, NCL are proactively adopting. 
 

Carnival is not interested in adopting, but it doesn’t sound like it is entirely up to them. I think they’re using media to fight this negotiation. Last week their brand ambassador said: I don’t know if it will ever change or not but what I can say is that we are not returning to the previous way of doing this next month or indeed, at all. 

 

Doesn’t sound certain, but their objective is clear. 
 

*sorry, formatting issues in the phone this morning. 

SOLAS: Articles of the International Convention for The Safety of Life at Sea     Rules and Regulations  Last updated shortly after the Costa Concordia accident January 2012.  My copy of SOLAS is coffee table book size and 408 pages in length.  Yes, i have read it several times.

[New2cruise2022]

Observation Lounge:

Day at Sea. I want to post more. I will post more. Dailies, reviews, all of the good stuff. All of it. 
 

But, there is a reason I haven’t posted yet. It is the same reason most people on the ship that come across us just shake their heads and move along. 

[SuzyQ132]

4 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Observation Lounge:

Day at Sea. I want to post more. I will post more. Dailies, reviews, all of the good stuff. All of it. 
 

But, there is a reason I haven’t posted yet. It is the same reason most people on the ship that come across us just shake their heads and move along. 

 

[SuzyQ132]

We are right behind you on the 27th so I am enjoying your thread. I am curious how main dining room works with 4k passengers allowed to select when they want to eat. 

[lax19]

21 minutes ago, SuzyQ132 said:

We are right behind you on the 27th so I am enjoying your thread. I am curious how main dining room works with 4k passengers allowed to select when they want to eat. 

We just got off the Bliss on the 22nd. We usually ate dinner around five or five thirty (so we could get to the 7:00 shows). No problems getting into taste or savor with less than five minute wait. The Manhattan Room usually had a longer line, but not more than ten minutes the night we went. The last night, we went at about 6:30 and both taste and savor had a thirty minute wait.

[debenson0723]

1 hour ago, SuzyQ132 said:

We are right behind you on the 27th so I am enjoying your thread. I am curious how main dining room works with 4k passengers allowed to select when they want to eat. 

With 3 MDRs (all with the same menu), the specialty restaurants, the buffet and the Local, diners are spread out all over the ship. On my last 2 Bliss/Encore cruises, I never ate in an MDR once. Somehow it all works out.  

Enjoy your cruise.

[eileeshb]

16 hours ago, CruzinMel said:

You didn't miss anything if you are a Dallas fan.  The hubs is currently in a deep depression.  OTOH, the kicker hit one from 40 yards out, so something worked.

Every so often a rugby union outhalf uses the NFL kickers recruitment negotiation tactic to improve their contracts, particularly if they have US connections. Honestly not sure why more of them haven't followed through on it, NFL would be so much easier and much more lucrative for them. 

[drwbrt]

I created a separate post with the dailies for this sailing.

Freestyle Daily: 5-night Bliss from LA: Cabo/Ensenada

Edited January 24, 2023 by drwbrt
Link wasn’t working

[drwbrt]

17 hours ago, SuzyQ132 said:

We are right behind you on the 27th so I am enjoying your thread. I am curious how main dining room works with 4k passengers allowed to select when they want to eat. 

It’s after lunch and there are still plenty of options for dinner tonight. If you can plan at least 5 hours in advance it’s seems you can have whatever you like.

[cruiseny4life]

Make those reservations now!!

[DrUrsula]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:00 AM, rxlowry said:

So did they show the niners game?  I hope this isn’t a sign that football will not be shown.  

The Daily shows that it was shown on the inroom TV .

I wonder if the Casino bar had it as well?

[drwbrt]

1 hour ago, DrUrsula said:

The Daily shows that it was shown on the inroom TV .

I wonder if the Casino bar had it as well?

I didn’t check my stateroom, too busy enjoying embarkation day. But I was in the casino, The Local, and bars. None of them had the game. 

[New2cruise2022]

2 hours ago, DrUrsula said:

The Daily shows that it was shown on the inroom TV .

I wonder if the Casino bar had it as well?

My son looked on the TV in the stateroom for the earlier game with the Bengals and had no luck.