Live (ish) Bliss Apr 9-14 Coastal

[ChiefMateJRK]

26 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

@ChiefMateJRK You will like Archie too!!

Thanks friend.  I'll will soon find out!😎

[fethiyeden]

Have a fabulous cruise. Hope the service gets better.

[AK Dreaming]

We get on the Bliss April 22nd. I've been told rooms are usually ready by 1:30 even after the switch to once a day service.  Seems your experiece proves that incorrect.  I am interested in how they work setting up the beds and reverting them back to daytime use with only once a day service.  We are three in one cabin and this is a concern.

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, AK Dreaming said:

We get on the Bliss April 22nd. I've been told rooms are usually ready by 1:30 even after the switch to once a day service.  Seems your experiece proves that incorrect.  I am interested in how they work setting up the beds and reverting them back to daytime use with only once a day service.  We are three in one cabin and this is a concern.

Rooms were meant to be ready at 4:30. They weren’t! We requested beds be put away in morning and made up at night. The bunk was folded up in morning but sofa bed remained a bed. At night, we had to pull down the bunk ourselves.

[prov2727]

My question has nothing to do with cruising: How do you pronounce Ceilidh? Kee Lee, Kale Ee? Keal Ee? 

[ceilidh1]

Met up with my little guy after the meet and greet. He wasn’t able to get into kids club as it was at capacity, so he made use of his arcade pass. We decided to go brave the water slides. It was chilly but not busy so we got a few slides in before hitting the hot tub.

 

Dinner was going to be at taste or savour, but at 6:30 each had an hour wait. We went to local instead. I tried to book for the rest of the cruise but nothing available before 9:30. How exactly is this freestyle when you can’t get in?

 

We ordered a selection of appies and mains at The Local. I didn’t get pics of some of it as we already ate the same things on day 1. Food was great but i would have preferred an actual restaurant. We were also treated to a guy in the booth behind us mansplaining racism and transgender issues. Sigh. After dinner we went to Garden Cafe for ice cream for dessert.

[ceilidh1]

1 minute ago, prov2727 said:

My question has nothing to do with cruising: How do you pronounce Ceilidh? Kee Lee, Kale Ee? Keal Ee? 

Kay Lee (like the Gaelic party)

[ceilidh1]

The kids went down to the arcade, so I watched the 18+ comedy. No reservations but no line up . It did end up filling and it was quite good. Not the best comedian I have seen but definitely not the worst. Next up was Jersey Boys. I’ve seen this six times on the Bliss and every time wows me. This one was no exception. I have to hand it to NCL - they know how to do entertainment!

 

By the time the show was done it was after 11. I really needed a drink of water or lemonade so I figured I would grab one from the machine at Garden Cafe. Wrong. Doors were closed. Headed down to machines at observation lounge but there were no glasses. Luckily I had my water bottle and was able to fill it with ice (I didn’t dare fill it straight from the machine). Now I need to wait for it to melt. I don’t recall everything closing so early, but maybe I’m just not usually out this late!

[ceilidh1]

The pay more for less service kicked in tonight. I had told our steward that I didn’t care about the room being cleaned but we needed extra towels (3 females with long hair) and the bunk bed put away in the morning and taken out at night. He agreed and I thought all was good. The bunk was put away when we went back to the room at noon. However, when we got back this evening at 11pm it wasn’t pulled down. Ugh. I managed to pull it down myself and have to hope that there’s no secret trick to get it to stay in place. This shouldn’t be my responsibility as I paid for a room to accommodate 4 and paid gratuities for 4, so basics such as this should be a given in my opinion.

[prov2727]

Just now, ceilidh1 said:

Kay Lee (like the Gaelic party)

Thanks! I Googled it but heard a few different versions. I knew it was Gaelic.

[ceilidh1]

[cruiseny4life]

37 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

This shouldn’t be my responsibility as I paid for a room to accommodate 4 and paid gratuities for 4, so basics such as this should be a given in my opinion.

You are so right. I'm sorry your service hasn't been in line with what you paid! 

 

However, I am glad you're making the best of your cruise with entertainment, drinks, and some of the food! 

[AK Dreaming]

46 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Rooms were meant to be ready at 4:30. They weren’t! We requested beds be put away in morning and made up at night. The bunk was folded up in morning but sofa bed remained a bed. At night, we had to pull down the bunk ourselves.

That is what I figured.  We were told a very different story by NCL.  They assured me the bed would be set up and put away daily.  Acutal reports from CC prove otherwise.  

Edited April 11, 2023 by AK Dreaming
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[The Traveling Man]

4 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

You are so right. I'm sorry your service hasn't been in line with what you paid!

I wonder if more guests start going to the Guest Service Desk and asking that their Daily Service Charge, aka gratuities or tips, be reduced, will NCL start to get the message that many passengers are dissatisfied with the increased gratuities and reduced service.  After more than 30 cruises with NCL, each time dutifully paying the designated amount for the DSC, we finally had enough of the poor service on our last NCL cruise and asked that our DSC be reduced by an appropriate amount.  I'm not sure that it had any impact on them.  The reports here of continued poor service would seem to indicate that it didn't, but what if more passengers did that?  I know, I know, I expect to catch some flak here for suggesting that "we're taking it out on the poor stewards," but it's NCL's job to have enough staff on duty and to pay them reasonable wages so they can provide the expected level of service.

Edited April 11, 2023 by The Traveling Man

[ceilidh1]

Found out there are 4087 guests on the ship, with just over 800 kids. I haven’t seen that many kids around the ship but my 11 year old hasn’t been able to get into the kids program at all as it’s always at capacity. The teens have gone to the teen program and most of the activities have involved them going around the ship in groups in scavenger hunts, etc. So all those folks who complain about “unsupervised kids” around the ship may need to look to NCL and the programming it offers. None of the kids I’ve seen have been unruly or problematic.

[ceilidh1]

Day 3 - At Sea

 

Woke up bright and early to get showered and dressed for the 9am pub crawl meet up. Hopefully more show up for this than the meet and greet. Grabbed a snack breakfast at the Observation Lounge since this was where we would be meeting. Just a few pastries, cereal, and coffee. At this hour, the lounge is peaceful and lots of seats!

 

Met up with a group of around 20 of us for the bar crawl. So well organized and fun! We had a passport to check off each bar we visited and also a scavenger hunt. We took a break for lunch at 12:30. Once again, every restaurant was an hour wait so we went to the Garden Cafe. Once again it was completely packed with no tables, so we had to grab our food and eat outside. Really not loving this dining situation!

[YVRteacher]

I’m really appreciating your review and perspective because I was worried I was being too picky while on the Bliss for spring break but seeing that you are experiencing the same service issues/waits/challenges I did just confirms that the Bliss is understaffed and that management is not focused on the quality of guests’ experiences.

[ceilidh1]

Success! First in line (we were there at 4:40pm) and seated right when they opened at 5:30pm. By this point the line was HUGE! The host told us that even on full sailings it wasn’t normally like this. Different demographic and lots of big groups (one of his bookings tonight was for 28 people). He also told us that 30% was available as reservation and the rest for walk in. The problem arises when everyone is in line at 5:30 as by 5:40 it’s full and there is at least an hour wait from there. Once again, if everyone wants to eat at 5:30 then freestyle dining isn’t working.

 

Despite being seated at 5:30, we just finished dinner at 7:30. It was fabulous food, but it took so long! Between us we ordered mozzarella ravioli with lobster sauce, bruschetta, sirloin, New York strip, bang bang chicken, and pesto rigatoni. All were great! My only gripe was the loaded baked potato was literally just sour cream. I asked for the toppings and our server looked at me as if I had two heads. She did go in search of the “loaded “ components and came back 10 minutes later with bacon and cheese. Dessert was lava cake and the girls both got their birthday cakes!

[ceilidh1]

[ceilidh1]

Found out there are 4087 guests on the ship, with just over 800 kids. I haven’t seen that many kids around the ship but my 11 year old hasn’t been able to get into the kids program at all as it’s always at capacity. The teens have gone to the teen program and most of the activities have involved them going around the ship in groups in scavenger hunts, etc. So all those folks who complain about “unsupervised kids” around the ship may need to look to NCL and the programming it offers. None of the kids I’ve seen have been unruly or problematic.

 

Went back to the room at 1:30 and no service as of yet. Beds are not made, towels not replenished, no sign of steward in hallways. Definitely not worth the additional increase in service charges!

 

After lunch I rejoined the pub crawl and it was even more fun than the morning version. Hands down, the Cavern Club were the most accommodating bar tenders! They decided to do “shot o’clock “ for us (by this point some of us were barely standing). I managed to complete the scavenger hunt first, but gave up my prize to one of the other gals who was the life of the party and worked REALLY hard on checking it all off. No one managed to complete bar bingo - I think we missed out on someone celebrating 21st birthday and a bachelorette. Oddly enough, we were able to find tramp stamps, whale tails, and public make outs. Yup, it reached that level!

 

We finished the bar crawl around 4pm and went our separate ways. A bunch decided to do the waterslides but no way was I up for that. I met up with the kids and staked our place in line to eat at an actual restaurant. Hopefully taste or savour will let us in before 9pm. Did I mention how much I despise this system?

 

At 5pm we got in line for savour. It opens at 5:30 and this was the line at 5. Something is not working with this system. If NCL wants freestyle dining then make it freestyle and stop taking reservations. First come first served. Or make it all reservation and allow people to have an idea of what’s going on ahead of time so they can make those reservations. Frustrating. Once again, I’ve sailed this ship full many times and I have NEVER seen lines like this.

[YVRteacher]

This bar crawl sounds epic!

[YVRteacher]

What is that orange blob on the plate with the meat and potato?

[Von & John]

A little late to the party…

And I have made it. 
Great review so far!!!

We’re getting excited for our upcoming cruise - Since it’s after midnight 9 days to go…

Edited April 12, 2023 by Von & John

[nadeki]

11 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

I’m really appreciating your review and perspective because I was worried I was being too picky while on the Bliss for spring break but seeing that you are experiencing the same service issues/waits/challenges I did just confirms that the Bliss is understaffed and that management is not focused on the quality of guests’ experiences.

Unfortunately we felt the same way in January. Previously the Bliss was our favorite ship. This time we thought if it was our first cruise we would not go again. My thoughts were really with the crew, this was not their fault yet becomes their problem.

[Travelicious]

6 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

This bar crawl sounds epic!

It does!