Live From: Bliss 5 Day Coastal Mar 31-Apr 5 with Hollywood Pre Cruise

[erisajd]

We will be on the Bliss in about 60 days - @ceilidh1any chance you can swing by the cigar bar and get a photo of the available cigars for sale??? 

[ceilidh1]

9 minutes ago, erisajd said:

We will be on the Bliss in about 60 days - @ceilidh1any chance you can swing by the cigar bar and get a photo of the available cigars for sale??? 

That’s one place I’ve never, ever been! If I can find it, I will snap it!

[ceilidh1]

Breakfast was…interesting! It was very rushed, which is understandable as they were close to closing. I began by ordering a Starbucks Latte - this came as I finished my last bite of breakfast food. There were no waiters circulating with pastries - maybe that’s a thing of the past or maybe we were too late in the morning to warrant it. DS was sad about not getting his danish fix.

 

DS ordered the open faced salmon bagel. He gets this pretty much every time we eat here. His face was absolutely stellar when it arrived- it was a third of the size it usually is. I get that NCL is trying to cut costs but there are better ways to do it. In this case, the one side of a tiny bagel that was piled high with expensive salmon made no sense. Half the amount of salmon and both sides of the bagel would have made much more sense.

 

I ordered the banana waffles with a side of sausage and bacon. The bacon was perfect. Crispy and yummy. The sausage was good. The banana was missing from the banana waffles. The waffles themselves were ok - soft and soggy as opposed to crispy but tasted fine. But I kind of feel that if you’re serving banana waffles then bananas are pretty important!

[ceilidh1]

After breakfast we went up to the pool deck where we tried to keep our balance. It is choppy out there today! The pool water was sloshing around and only a few brave kids were even attempting to swim! Walked through the Garden Cafe, which was mobbed, and now taking a break in the surprisingly quiet observation lounge! I decided to try the expensive Brut Pommery Rose since I can’t have Veuve. It’s actually pretty decent!

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Ha ha! DS is clueless - he is still innnocent and at the age where he not only doesn’t care about such things but it likely doesn’t even register as to why I’m taking pics or what I’m doing with them. DD, on the other hand, refuses to pose for me and is mortified if I put her up on social media. My fave thing is to tag her on insta - that’s the ultimate mom sin!!! I was so sad when she got to the age where the opinions of others mattered to her. She was so fun and loved to dance the sailaway dances and sung karaoke - now she would rather jump overboard than do that and just watches from a distance. Happy to report that DS and I danced our little legs off yesterday. I figure I have at least one more year with him! 🤣

Thank you!!! I appreciate having an idea of what the kiddos are thinking. We rarely get their perspective. I'm glad you're still out there with the Insta tags! 

 

I'm sorry the time he wants to be near you is coming to an end. Hopefully he'll be one of those teens that still stays somewhat close. You seem like a pretty cool mom from this side of the screen!

[edspec]

10 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

#

The bagel looks like an hors'douvre.  

[ceilidh1]

1 minute ago, edspec said:

The bagel looks like an hors'douvre.  

Ha ha - DS said “I think they gave me an appetizer “.,,

[vacation44]

29 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

 There were no waiters circulating with pastries - maybe that’s a thing of the past or maybe we were too late in the morning to warrant it. DS was sad about not getting his danish fix.

 

 

 

We had to request the morning pastries in the MDR in February on the Encore.   I believe it is NCL's new policy.   

[ceilidh1]

Stood in line to redeem our Deal or No Deal cards for the instant win tickets. I wish they didn’t make it so hard to claim your prize. We needn’t have bothered as we did not win. Neither instantly or slowly. There was a guy at the box office yelling at the two girls working there and demanding to speak with a supervisor. The snippets from got it seemed he was angry that his group couldn’t get reservations for Jersey Boys - it’s only playing one time this sailing apparently (?) and with 4800 on the ship, there won’t be space for all!

 

I got a call about the latitude party and already forgot when and where it is.

 

Now at the How To Run A Cruiseship. 

[ceilidh1]

What I Learned

1640 crew members

60+ nationalities 

Total Capacity- 6700 (crew and pax)

 

Captain, chief engineer, hotel general manager at Q&A

 

Captain Robert from Sweden. Started life as a sailor at 16. Began as 2nd officer on Renaissance line. Moved to Disney. Started with NCL in 2016. Bliss was his first captain position.

 

Chief Enginee Ewan from Croatia. Started working on ferries. First cruise job was on Renaissance line, then Regent. He has been 17 years with NCL.

 

Hotel General Manager is from France. Worked in restaurants in London. First cruise job on Premiere cruise line as assistant waiter. With NCL since 2014. On bliss for 6 years.

 

Work schedule is 10 weeks on / 10 weeks off for captain / engineer 

and 4 months on / 2 months off for other staff.

 

All put Le Bistro as fave restaurant onboard.

 

Captain has officiated over 100 weddings.

 

Challenging Aspects of job: weather, maintenance, outbreaks, missing ports

Rewarding Aspects: satisfied guests, weddings and vow renewals, staying within budget.

[HeyJut]

Hi @ceilidh1, always enjoy your reviews, but especially this one of the Bliss as I am going on the April 13 cruise. I’ve never been on the Bliss and I’ve only been on two other NCL cruises. The last was in 2016 I think. I have been on four cruises in the past year on other lines though. All of those have been solo although met up with folks on The Tribe Cruise in January.Also enjoyed your pre-cruise adventures. I lived in California for a couple of years twice. One time was in San Pedro. 
Great tip about the behind-the-scenes tour at Universal Studios. I haven’t been there in many years. Although I have been to the one in Orlando a couple of times. Last year we went to Disney World on a VIP tour. Cost buckets of money, but was definitely worth it, as it was just the four of us with our own guide and we actually made it to all four parks that day although I didn’t go on all of the rides the rest of the family. 
 

Does DS have any tips for non-alcoholic drinks? I’m a non-drinker and rarely order any as I don’t know what to order.

[ceilidh1]

Oh dear. I may have just done something I swore I would never do. Don’t get excited - it’s not shenanigans! I’ve always said I would never book a cruise while on a cruise as it’s kind of an impulse thing and I don’t do that. Well, @YVRteacher is a really bad influence and she just booked for spring break while on Breakaway (check out her live - it’s awesome). So, of course, I had to book to sail with her. The cruise next lady was lovely and talked a mile a minute so I’m still not sure what I agreed to. But I appear to be booked on Getaway for spring break next year!!!! Yahoooooo

[ceilidh1]

I have legit figured out how to game this upgraded drink package. Even with the good tequila, I find the margaritas very weak. So now I order a margarita with patron silver plus a shot of patron silver and pour it in.Perfection!

 

I also snagged the Bliss mug to add to our collection!

[ceilidh1]

American Diner for lunch. I can confirm that even with the upgraded plus package (which includes all drinks by the glass) the shakes are not included. It makes zero sense as it’s really no different to a Starbucks Frappuccino but I wasn’t about to go Karen over $7. The port tax, however, I might lose it over - lol!

[ceilidh1]

American Diner also had a 30 minute wait and we were given a pager. I went down one deck to the bar and never even got to order before being summoned by the vibrator gods(see what I did there?). I’m sensing a theme..,wait time is not real!

[ceilidh1]

Currently sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge and the decks are packed with people getting the perfect insta moment. You know you are privileged when you simply shrug it off and say “meh. I’ve already been under that bridge a bunch of times” (that was DS not me. Though I may have also been thinking it). Currently bopping along to the tunes of the “Sail In Party”

[ceilidh1]

This is what a $9 shake looks like

[Lush LaRue]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

4 months on / 2 months off

Heya - did you by chance catch or get a sense if there would be a large crew turnover getting off in BC/Seattle before the Alaska run? TIA! (Loving the reviews and drink pics so far 🙂

[ceilidh1]

27 minutes ago, Lush LaRue said:

Heya - did you by chance catch or get a sense if there would be a large crew turnover getting off in BC/Seattle before the Alaska run? TIA! (Loving the reviews and drink pics so far 🙂

Not that I’ve heard so far…

[ceilidh1]

If anyone is interested in kids activities, this is the schedule for Splash Academy 

[ceilidh1]

American Diner

The only other time I’ve eaten here was when it was free for lunch on embarkation day for Haven guests. I remember having legendary nachos! It’s complimentary now (except milkshakes) so I was eager to try it!

 

The nachos were definitely not legendary. They had a weird melted cheese sauce and then topped with grated (but not melted) cheese. They tasted fine but the oddest nachos I’ve ever had!

 

DS got the cheeseburger and reported that it was good. I got the chicken salad sandwich and it was outstanding! We both got the chocolate mousse for dessert. The mousse was to die for, but they should ditch the strawberry sauce! All in all a very satisfying meal!

[ceilidh1]

Currently docked in San Francisco. There was some kind of delay securing the lines, resulting in the longest line of people waiting to get off. I’m happy I opted to stay on and avoid that nonsense! It seems like there are lots of angry people on this sailing. I’m seeing lots of folks yelling at staff and just being grouchy. Yes, it’s a full ship. Yes, there are lines. Yes, it’s hard to get reservations at this point. But none of that is the fault of the staff on the ship. I am (so far) finding it less crazy than this same sailing last year. In fact, last night the atrium and Local were completely deserted at 9:15pm! That being said, it’s nice enjoying the ship with everyone in port!

 

Tonight we have dinner in the Manhattan Room (it’s steak and shrimp night in the buffet so maybe the menu will be good) and Jersey Boys. I’m torn because Jersey Boys is the same time as the Awesome 80s party…

 

Highly recommend the Smoky Peach Margarita!

[#55worktoplay]

Great to hear your daughter got on a flight. 
 

I enjoy ship days on some port days it’s very relaxing.

 

I can’t believe they would think one show of Jersey Boys would be enough for 4800 people. I’d be upset too. 
 

Continue to enjoy!

 

Thanks!

[bedfordmom]

8 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Breakfast was…interesting! It was very rushed, which is understandable as they were close to closing. I began by ordering a Starbucks Latte - this came as I finished my last bite of breakfast food. There were no waiters circulating with pastries - maybe that’s a thing of the past or maybe we were too late in the morning to warrant it. DS was sad about not getting his danish fix.

 

DS ordered the open faced salmon bagel. He gets this pretty much every time we eat here. His face was absolutely stellar when it arrived- it was a third of the size it usually is. I get that NCL is trying to cut costs but there are better ways to do it. In this case, the one side of a tiny bagel that was piled high with expensive salmon made no sense. Half the amount of salmon and both sides of the bagel would have made much more sense.

 

I ordered the banana waffles with a side of sausage and bacon. The bacon was perfect. Crispy and yummy. The sausage was good. The banana was missing from the banana waffles. The waffles themselves were ok - soft and soggy as opposed to crispy but tasted fine. But I kind of feel that if you’re serving banana waffles then bananas are pretty important!

I always order 2 salmon bagels and make it one sandwich. They have been serving 1/2 bagels for a while and salmon has been decreasing in size. 

[rwest898]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Currently docked in San Francisco. There was some kind of delay securing the lines, resulting in the longest line of people waiting to get off. I’m happy I opted to stay on and avoid that nonsense! It seems like there are lots of angry people on this sailing. I’m seeing lots of folks yelling at staff and just being grouchy. Yes, it’s a full ship. Yes, there are lines. Yes, it’s hard to get reservations at this point. But none of that is the fault of the staff on the ship. I am (so far) finding it less crazy than this same sailing last year. In fact, last night the atrium and Local were completely deserted at 9:15pm! That being said, it’s nice enjoying the ship with everyone in port!

 

Tonight we have dinner in the Manhattan Room (it’s steak and shrimp night in the buffet so maybe the menu will be good) and Jersey Boys. I’m torn because Jersey Boys is the same time as the Awesome 80s party…

 

Highly recommend the Smoky Peach Margarita!

Is the smoky margarita extremely spicy?