Bliss Panama Canal Trip Review 2/25/23 - 3/12-23

[luckybecky]

Hello Cruisers!

 

We are recently off the Bliss. We had a 15 day Panama Canal cruise. I have a very detailed day by day trip report with photos and commentary.

 

In my reviews, I talk about the good and bad. Some people take minor criticisms as personal insults and think I am bashing the cruise line or whatever. The truth is, we have had a fantastic time on every cruise we have ever been on! Or for that matter, every land vacation has been amazing too! We love to travel.

 

There are always little (or sometimes big!) things that go sideways. I don’t whitewash these. If there was something less than perfect or just not to our liking for some reason, I’ll say so. Your experience may be very different. Please don’t take these criticisms to mean that we did not enjoy the cruise. To the contrary, we had a wonderful time! If you would like to follow along with our adventure, read on.

 

Last year, our generous daughter surprised us with an NCL cruise for an anniversary gift! The particular cruise she purchased turned out not to work but we found a terrific itinerary on the Bliss for Feb. 2023 and were able to transfer the payment she had made to this cruise.

 

Unfortunately the itinerary changed quite a bit after we booked. We lost two ports -- Costa Rica and Nicaragua. They were replaced with a few hours in Acapulco. I was really disappointed by this because we were looking forward most of all to the Central American ports.

 

And I was not happy at all about Acapulco, which I feel is not safe and is in fact on the US State Department “Do Not Travel” list. But we still were excited about sailing on the Bliss which is the largest, newest ship we have ever been on.

 

We joined our roll call which turned out to be extremely active. I’ve had some roll calls that were really dead, a few that were so-so, and two (counting this one) that were very, very busy. Both of those busy ones were NCL. We had a big meet and greet planned with a gift exchange on the first sea day, and a slot pull on the second sea day.

 

We packed way in advance. We had a pet sitting gig in Austin for 9 days just prior to the cruise and were only going to be home for a short time between trips. So I picked out all my cruise clothes and other necessities before going to Austin. When we returned home, all we had to do was unpack our Austin clothes and re-pack the cruise clothes.

 

By way of introduction, this is us in Austin

 

[luckybecky]

Friday June 24

 

Up at 4am, at the airport by 5:15 to catch a 7am flight. We had a short flight to Houston, then connected to Fort Lauderdale. Flights went off without a hitch – yay!

 

We booked our flights through NCL. Or rather, they booked the flights for us. We had no choice in the airline, flight time, connections, etc. However the cost was a fraction of what it would have cost us to book on our own. We notified them far in advance that we wanted to fly the day before the cruise and that was not a problem. We were notified of our flights about a month or so before the cruise. For some reason they sent us to FLL rather than MIA, which it states in the contract they may do. I’m not sure why because there should have been options to go to MIA but it was ok.

 

We chose to save a few bucks by taking the train from FLL to Miami rather than an Uber or taxi. We walked out of the airport at 1:20. Arrived at the train station using their free shuttle at 1:45. Two one-way tickets cost a total of $7.50. Had about a 30 minute wait for the next train. Arrived at Miami airport station at 3:00. Had to get an uber from there to the hotel. All in all, our total cost was about $22 and took two hours from the moment we walked out of the airport.

 

For comparison, an Uber would have cost about $60 not including tip, but would have taken half as long and certainly been easier. It wasn’t a big deal since we had no plans for the evening other than to just chill in our hotel, get a bite to eat somewhere nearby and eagerly wait for boarding tomorrow! But for many people, it may certainly be better to spend a little more for the convenience of Uber.

 

We stayed at Best Western Premier Miami International Airport. Booked this hotel because it was near the airport, back when we thought we would be flying into MIA. It was relatively inexpensive (under $250) compared to hotels nearer the beach or cruise port. It was a very typical room, nothing special, but clean and comfortable.

 

We walked to a Publix supermarket about half a mile away to get some wine for our room that evening and a couple of bottles to take on board, then got Chinese takeout from a very good little mom and pop place nearby.

 

Here is the hotel. It was fine for an overnight stay.

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Saturday Feb 25 Embarkation Day

 

Six ships were scheduled in port on embarkation day so the port was busy. We caught a shuttle outside our hotel for $12 per person. We stepped off the shuttle at exactly 10:30. We had an arrival time of 10:30-11:00, but nobody was checking this to see if you were on time. Everyone was herded into the same line.

 

It took about 20 minutes from start to finish to hand off our suitcase, get through security, and get checked in. We were in group 10 for boarding. Waiting in a large hall that was already full with more passengers arriving by the minute. They started boarding at 11:15. I think our group was called at 11:40. Our first cruise or two post covid, they let people on board immediately after check-in because they wanted to avoid people congregating. Those days are gone. In fact, pretty much any and all covid protocols are gone which I am sorry about, because Covid itself most certainly is not gone.

 

We had printed our boarding docs but were never asked for them. They are also available in the app. I had a moment of panic when they asked for our vaccine cards. I had packed them but then forgot where I put them! Had our passports ready but totally forgot about the vaccine card. Check-in is always hectic with so many people and the staff trying to keep everyone moving, so it was challenging to dig through my backpack to find the cards. Fortunately I had taken photos of them so I was able to show that. I’m not sure if technically they are supposed to accept a photo, but the lady graciously let us through.

 

Met the first of our cruise critic pals in the waiting area.

 

Here we are in the terminal and then getting on board.

 

 

 

 

Taken in the atrium about 11:45 am. Had arrived at the port at 10:30.

 

[luckybecky]

On board, we went to the observation lounge and had a bite to eat. This was so nice! 

I loved the décor and ambiance. And at this time, just before noon, it was very uncrowded. They had some light fare: a delicious spinach and cheese quiche, some sandwiches, scones, fruit, etc. I’m so glad I heard about this from someone on CC – such a nice alternative to the madhouse in the buffet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

I had a backpack and carryon size suitcase with me. Fortunately a crew member told us that we could drop bags at our room even though rooms were not ready. You had to open the heavy fire doors to the cabin corridor in order to do this. We saw a few people confused by this and a little nervous about going into what they thought was a restricted area.

 

Rooms were not ready until late! There were two announcements, one around maybe 12:30 or so and another around 2:00, telling us that our housekeeping staff was working hard! and there would be an announcement when rooms were ready.

 

We used the time to explore the ship. Here are a lot of ship photos. After eating in the Observation Lounge, we went upstairs just to see what the buffet was like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

More of the buffet. 

 

The burger bar, Indian, pizza, Asian, pasta were always open for lunch. I think the Asian was not open at supper but they usually had some kind of Asian stir fry available at supper. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

More of our ship tour:

 

First the all important bar menu!!

 

 

 

 

 

We had the drink package which included all alcoholic beverages up to $15. They did charge tax while docked in the port of Miami.

 

Also, I've heard complaints about prime rib being removed from some cruise line menus. Not here.

 

[luckybecky]

Here is the adult pool

 

 

 

Right next to it is the kids' pool and play area

 

 

 

Here is the gym

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

We rarely use the spa on any ship, and never used it during this cruise. I would have liked to try the thermal suite but never did. The spa looked beautiful when we toured it on embarkation day.

 

Barber shop/beauty salon

 

 

Reception

 

 

Pedicure station

 

 

 

 

Ladies' locker room. This area has always been free to use for any guests, even if you do not have spa privileges. At least that is true on other ships I have been on. I didn't try to use it here. But it can be great if you want more space than your stateroom offers or if you have several people sharing a cabin. 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

More of the spa

 

Large shower in locker room

 

 

Thermal suite. It looked amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

A few final photos of the spa

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Here is the American Diner

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Aqua racer. We went down the loopy tunnel slide, but not the aqua racer. Basically you stand upright in it and then they open the floor beneath you, so you do an almost vertical free fall. 😲

 

Be aware that they made us stand on a scale and be weighed before going down the slide! 😳

 

 

 

Go carts. We did not try this activity (or the laser tag) so I can't comment on them.

 

 

 

 

 

The view from here

 

[luckybecky]

 

Spice H2O

 

 

 

 

The bar menu at Spice H2O. Sorry it isn't very clear.

 

 

This is the rain shower area at Spice H2O. It was nice! And we also liked the extra large hot tubs here.

 

[luckybecky]

Sorry, I forgot to post the current spa price list when I was posting all those spa photos.

 

 

[luckybecky]

Some of the offerings on Deck 6

 

Coco's

 

 

 

 

 

Starbucks

 

 

 

The atrium. Lots of activities were held here: music, games, trivia, etc.

 

 

 

Card room. We never used this area.

 

 

Casino on Deck 7

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

The Cellars wine bar. They only serve wine so it usually wasn't extremely busy. I liked this area. 

 

 

 

The Cellars is adjacent to the La Cucina Italian restaurant. This is where we did a couple of wine tastings that I'll talk about later. 

 

 

The Cavern Club

 

 

 

The pretty chandelier and stairs in the Atrium. It was nice, but was not as large and grand an atrium as some ships have. 

 

[luckybecky]

Here is the Sugarcane mojito bar and menu

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Here's Cagney's steak house

 

 

 

And Los Lobos with the menu

 

 

 

[LloydJr]

1 hour ago, luckybecky said:

I had a moment of panic when they asked for our vaccine cards. I had packed them but then forgot where I put them! Had our passports ready but totally forgot about the vaccine card.

Was this for a foreign port?

[luckybecky]

Whew!! That was our whirlwind Day 1 tour of the ship while we waited for our cabin to be ready. 

 

During this time we also went to Social to make show reservations. The online reservations we had made several weeks ago were no good apparently. The lady said that if we had made them online pre-cruise they would not show up in her system. But we were able to re-schedule them and got everything we wanted.

 

This is a helpful memo that we got at that time from the Social and kept to refer to numerous times during the cruise. It has all the musicians and comedians listed in one place so you can plan your shows for the entire cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Just now, LloydJr said:

Was this for a foreign port?

 

This was at embarkation in Miami to board the ship. 

 

We were never asked for any documents of any kind in any of our ports: not passports, vaccine cards, covid test results, nothing. All we ever had to do was show our NCL key card to get back on this ship. 

[luckybecky]

So that was a lot of photos to get things started! Soon our cabin would be ready. I'll be back later to show it to you. Thanks for reading!

[www3traveler]

Thank you for your pictures and information.

Did you by any chance get a list of the current Officers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

t

[NikiPinkston]

Following along; this cruise is on our bucket list. Really enjoying your photos and writing style. We were on the Bliss over Christmas 2021 and will be on her again next month. I think that she's our favorite ship. Thank you for taking us along on your adventure!