Live (ish) Bliss Apr 9-14 Coastal

[Apsalar]

14 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Disaster! Atrium bar is out of Blue Moon. Offered Bud Light as a substitute. Heck no! Maybe the Americans among us would go with that but I’m a Brit living in Canada and no version of Bud would ever be acceptable! (For beer)

 

 

This American would also not go for that!

[ceilidh1]

The Ugly

 

1. Service: Across all outlets, service was pretty bad. Waitstaff were clueless. Bar staff were snippy/impatient. Guest services staff were overwhelmed. Room steward wasn't present. Constantly given conflicting info by staff members. Probably the worst service I have ever had on a ship - and not just one department, but all departments.

 

2. Lines: The ship was packed. I've sailed Bliss full before, but never, ever, experienced hour long waits EVERY time we tried to do anything. NCL promotes Freestyle, yet you can't actually do things (like eat) when you want. The only solution was to line up at least 40 minutes before you wanted to do anything. That's not my idea of Freestyle. Every venue was crowded, very few areas to sit, elevators were a joke (we actually gave up even trying and just walked the stairs). We didn't attempt to get off in Victoria, but it looked like a long line/wait for those that did! 

[ceilidh1]

Disembarkation

 

At 7:30am, our steward knocked on our door to see if we were leaving soon. Rude. Two kids were still asleep - we have until 8:30 in the room, so no, we are not leaving soon. That ruffled my feathers a little.

 

We didn't bother with breakfast, knowing how insane the last morning is all over the ship. Instead, we did walk off with our bags, leaving the room at 8:20am. Forget trying to get an elevator - the line of folks waiting was too long to even contemplate, so we hauled our bags down from deck 11 to deck 7. The route to get off the ship took us on a snaking path through the Local, through the casino, around some of the machines, out onto the deck and all the way back the way we had just came (basically walked from aft to forward and back to aft) but once off it was a straight walk through the terminal with no passport/immigration stuff. We live an easy walk from the port and were in the house by 9:15am.

[AK Dreaming]

40 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

The Ugly

 

1. Service: Across all outlets, service was pretty bad. Waitstaff were clueless. Bar staff were snippy/impatient. Guest services staff were overwhelmed. Room steward wasn't present. Constantly given conflicting info by staff members. Probably the worst service I have ever had on a ship - and not just one department, but all departments.

 

2. Lines: The ship was packed. I've sailed Bliss full before, but never, ever, experienced hour long waits EVERY time we tried to do anything. NCL promotes Freestyle, yet you can't actually do things (like eat) when you want. The only solution was to line up at least 40 minutes before you wanted to do anything. That's not my idea of Freestyle. Every venue was crowded, very few areas to sit, elevators were a joke (we actually gave up even trying and just walked the stairs). We didn't attempt to get off in Victoria, but it looked like a long line/wait for those that did! 

We get on the ship April 22nd and are also in a Club Balcony Suite.  What deck were you on?  I'm concerned we will get the same steward.

[schmoopie17]

On 4/13/2023 at 11:17 AM, www3traveler said:

With The Viva coming on line soon, experienced staff will be moved once again and all those postions (on and off The Viva) will need to be filled.

Yep. The Chocolate Cowboy was on the Prima for our sailing and he told us he'll be moving to Viva.

[Jordan61]

45 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

At 7:30am, our steward knocked on our door to see if we were leaving soon. Rude. Two kids were still asleep - we have until 8:30 in the room, so no, we are not leaving soon. That ruffled my feathers a little.

 

Yikes, I don't blame you!

[ceilidh1]

8 minutes ago, AK Dreaming said:

We get on the ship April 22nd and are also in a Club Balcony Suite.  What deck were you on?  I'm concerned we will get the same steward.

We were in 11200. I much prefer the layout that has the sofa near the balcony as the one we had with the sofa and bunk next to the closet meant that it was impossible to get into the closet since the bunk was always down. For 5 days we made it work, but it wasn't ideal.

[ceilidh1]

On 4/10/2023 at 1:48 PM, cruiseny4life said:

In March, our sink drain had to be physically removed in order to let the water flow, so you're not alone in this struggle! 

Will that wand come out and function as what I so eloquently call an "undercarriage washer?" Seems that it should. I also suspect it should move up and down. Not really sure how, but it seems that it should. 

Yes, we ended up just removing the entire plug and leaving it out!

 

The shower was an anomaly - I searched back through my pics to the club balcony we had this time last year (also Bliss) and I'm not crazy. It WAS a large, round, rainforest shower head that allowed you to adjust water pressure. This time, the skinny shower head had one pressure only. You couldn't take the wand off as it was clipped on to the pipes. It moved up and down (with difficulty) but that was about it!

[ceilidh1]

Final Thoughts - Was this our best cruise ever? No. Would I cruise this ship again? ABSOLUTELY! In fact, I'm in the process of booking the exact same repositioning cruise for next year as I type (it's a tradition - glutton for punishment...). While much of this review has talked about the negative aspects and the decrease in service, etc. it's important to note that this doesn't seem to be unique to NCL. My preferred line has always been Princess and, even pre-Covid, I started noticing cuts on that line. In fact, it was some of those cuts that made us stray away and try NCL. Post Covid, Princess has also increased charges while reducing services, so don't believe the grass is always greener - it's not. However bad life is on a ship, it's a million times better than being at work!!!!

[edspec]

Thank-you @ceilidh1 Great balanced review. 

[Oakman58]

Thank you for the trip report and pictures, I enjoyed reading it.  I'm not one to reward bad service so if I had your experience I wouldn't spend money with NCL again.

This past January I was on Princess for the first time and experienced a less than satisfactory cruise, I won't cruise with them again.

[fastpitchdad]

I will start by saying the shot glass exchange was the best m&g idea I have seen, we are stealing it for our Lisbon to Rome next August. 

 

My good:

 

I thought the entertainment was great, the Argentinean Beatles are amazing, not just a great Beatles cover band but great musicians (especially Juaquin). 

 

The food we had at specialty restaurants (OB, Tep, LB) was excellent with good service. We tried to have lunch at Taste/Savor but the lines were always too long. We did Food Republic instead one day and it was pretty meh.

 

Yulia the Cellar Master was amazing, she was fun, entertaining, and informative. We did 4 tastings over the 5 day cruise (and stored our wine with her). She is transferring to the Dawn to be with her husband.

 

The Thermal Spa was nice for the first 4 days.

 

We had Free at Sea Plus and didn't have an issues getting a bottle of Moet every evening. I never had an issue with drink service at any of the bars (a couple of bartenders were a little grumpy). 

 

Despite the crowds, Spice H20 usually had open space in a hot tub (although the jets were broken in one) and fast bar service.

 

I love the new wings at The Local, just plain with ranch.

 

The weather in Victoria was amazing.

 

Gyu Kaku in Vancouver (and Tim's bits).

 

My bad:

 

I tried to upgrade unlimited internet to premium unlimited on day 1 thinking I would pay the $10 per day difference but they wanted to charge me the full price with a small discount. 

 

I agree that the ship felt really crowded and the main problem is that everyone would gravitate to the same popular places while complete wastes of space like American Diner were always deserted. 

 

The ugly:

 

730pm Vancouver counts as a port day so they completely oversold day passes for the Thermal Spa to the point where it was standing room only.

 

Embarkation was apparently a mess. We are platinum and got on early but others took hours to get on once boarding started.

 

Lines and slow service at any restaurant that wasn't Speciality (the buffet was a madhouse). 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by fastpitchdad

[ceilidh1]

I just realised that today should be the best experience ever for embarkation on Bliss - she sailed empty from Vancouver, so romms should be ready immediately, and there should be zero delay to board as there is no one disembarking. Now I'm feeling a little jealous...

[zzdoug]

On 4/13/2023 at 7:56 PM, YVRteacher said:

If so, try vertical. They seem to post the right way up.

Or turn the phone 180 degrees.  Still landscape mode but your phone apparently doesn't automatically orient the image so you need to do it. Maybe there is an aftermarket camera app that solves this? 

[zzdoug]

Wow! You are a good sport. I would not be so forgiving. These all seem to be training, management, and logistics issues. I hope you clearly wrote out your issues in a post-cruise survey or a lengthy letter to the ceo. They won't be aware of the problem if nobody tells them about it.

 

Remind me to liquidate my NCLH shares before the next quarterly earnings report. I think a lot of long time customers will consider the many alternatives to cruising. 

 

Thanks for this candid review and diary. 

Edited April 15, 2023 by zzdoug

[www3traveler]

1 minute ago, zzdoug said:

Wow! You are a good sport. I would not be so forgiving. These all seem to be training, management, and logistics issues. I hope you clearly wrote out your issues in a post-cruise survey or a lengthy letter to the ceo. They won't be aware of the problem if nobody tells them about it.

 

Remind me to liquidate my NCLH shares before the next quarterly earnings report. I think a lot of long time customers will consider the many alternatives to cruising. 

You are all forgetting that those staff members that are heading for The Viva have already left or will be shortly.  As with many other places, not just cruise ships finding qualified help is getting harder and harder.  With a shortage of staff for whatever reason may be a fact of life for awhile.  Yes, those in the Corporate Office are aware of the situation, but until they find qualified staff there is not much at the  moment they can do.

[ceilidh1]

15 minutes ago, zzdoug said:

Wow! You are a good sport. I would not be so forgiving. These all seem to be training, management, and logistics issues. I hope you clearly wrote out your issues in a post-cruise survey or a lengthy letter to the ceo. They won't be aware of the problem if nobody tells them about it.

 

Remind me to liquidate my NCLH shares before the next quarterly earnings report. I think a lot of long time customers will consider the many alternatives to cruising. 

 

Thanks for this candid review and diary. 

I never got the survey - does NCL even send one? I DID fill out the "Letters to the GM" form that sits at guest services (I may have been a tad intoxicated when doing so) and basically let loose with all that was wrong as well as giving credit for that which was great! Not that I think it will make a difference, but it made me feel better.

[hallux]

2 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

does NCL even send one?

Yes, I got one for my cruise last month.

[ceilidh1]

4 minutes ago, hallux said:

Yes, I got one for my cruise last month.

Hmmm. Maybe I've been blacklisted....🤣

[zzdoug]

21 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

You are all forgetting that those staff members that are heading for The Viva have already left or will be shortly.  As with many other places, not just cruise ships finding qualified help is getting harder and harder.  With a shortage of staff for whatever reason may be a fact of life for awhile.  Yes, those in the Corporate Office are aware of the situation, but until they find qualified staff there is not much at the  moment they can do.

I didn't forget this. I do question the wisdom of expanding the fleet when they have so much trouble finding staff. Viva may have been too close to delivery to cancel but there are apparently 3 or 4 more ships scheduled for delivery in the next few years. They may need to invest more in training which may mean higher fares unfortunately. Cheap plentiful labor from developing countries may be a thing of the past. 

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by zzdoug

[debenson0723]

12 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Hmmm. Maybe I've been blacklisted....🤣

I got mine about 3 or 4 days after my cruise. 

[www3traveler]

5 minutes ago, zzdoug said:

I didn't forget this. I do question the wisdom of expanding the fleet when they have so much trouble finding staff. Viva may have been too close to delivery to cancel but there are apparently 3 or 4 more ships scheduled for delivery in the next few years. They may need to invest more in training which may mean higher fares unfortunately. Cheap plentiful labor from developing countries may be a thing of the past. 

 

Remember all of the ships were ordered pre-pandemic and before all the labor shortage problems.  Many crew members found jobs at home and stayed home and a number died for various reasons. There have been discussions about delaying ships probably because of shipyard problems including labor shortages.  As a long term stockholder, I am not very worried.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zzdoug]

@ceilidh1 sorry for the derailment. I'll move on.

[www3traveler]

30 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I never got the survey - does NCL even send one? I DID fill out the "Letters to the GM" form that sits at guest services (I may have been a tad intoxicated when doing so) and basically let loose with all that was wrong as well as giving credit for that which was great! Not that I think it will make a difference, but it made me feel better.

You can always write a letter to the Corporate offices, try this:

               Klaus Lugmaier

               Regional Vice President Fleet Hotel Operations

               7665 Corporate Center Drive

               Miami, Florida 33126

[DwayneG]

Just a heads-up, my wife came back with Covid-19, so it's still out there.  In her case it just presents as a minor cold and she began coughing Thursday.  We usually avoid elevators but this time we were traveling with a handicapped friend and couldn't do the stairs.  I tested also and I'm fine.