7 Nights Mexican Riviera: Cabo & Puerto Vallarta Cruise

Beautiful, bubbly Bliss!

We loved this ship and the transatlantic crossing that took the ship on its way to dry dock for renovations. There were a lot of solo travellers onboard and people wanted to keep occupied and organised group activities in addition to those offered by NCL. I organised the official Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle with 10 officers attending and 150 guests. The general manager provided light refreshments for the group and this was apprieciated as this is not standard practice for NCL now and at the discretion of the management. The group enjoyed the officers input and we held a raffle with prizes from some of our hometowns. I have to say the management onboard was top notch and responsive to requests. I also held a duck exchange with 47 people. This went well and was a lot of fun. Others organised slot pulls, water colour painting workshops and book clubs. I attended my first ‘Roper Romp’, a bar crawl organised by another passenger, it was great fun dressing up and there were so many of us we split into two smaller groups! I also joined in with two poker bar crawls again, organised by a guest and these were also good fun. Yet another guest ran an ‘Impro’ introductory workshop. This was also great fun to meet others and try new things. There were almost daily LCR games held and these had numbers averaging 44 people per game so lots of prize wins and a lot of laughter along the way! These were also led by guests. The ships entertainment was also good. We thoroughly enjoyed the Beatles Experience from Argentina. We went to all their Cavern shows and the theatre ones too. I enjoyed every single song and thought they were friendly too. The Elton John trio called ‘This One’s For You’ were also really good. They were all so talented and their two different shows were very entertaining. The parties were fun and there were many silent discos that were also great. The other entertainment, two bands, Siglo and Temperature band, and a couple of pianists were also good. The cruise director, Richard was the best we’ve ever had. We ate a lot in the buffet as we were so busy going from one activity to another that we needed to fit in food around our busy schedule! We loved the Asian area in the buffet and often found delicious stir fry and rice or noodle dishes. We also had five dines in Specialty restaurants and enjoyed Los Lobos and Le Bistro the most returning to them both during our 13 nights onboard. This time, as we knew we would be kept busy, we didn’t book a spa pass. We did have one for our Alaska cruise in May in the Bliss and then we enjoyed the views from the front of the ship. This time the views were mainly sea so we enjoyed that from our balcony instead! The captain decided to an avoid a storm, miss a port, and keep us comfortable. We were so grateful for this as, instead of heading to Azores we sailed further south avoiding all the bad weather, we enjoyed calm seas and glorious sunshine! This was so welcome and a real treat for us in January. Our cabin was kept clean and all staff onboard were friendly and hard working. We met some fabulous people onboard, both workers and guests. The worst thing was the queue for two hours to get a board but I think this was caused by lack of staff on the baggage carousel in customs. There was just one guy, overseeing the tray filling, then screening bags, checking contents if flagged! Also, some reported needing the print out of their ESTA for entry into the ship. We had ours printed and it was looked at. The night before we had endured a nearly 3 hour wait to get through customs at Miami airport too! Everything else was great. I wish bottled water was included in the drinks package and not a separate package. We get it included in our MSC cruises and in lots of ways we prefer MSC yacht Club experience but for a lively, entertaining, fun cruise with lots and lots of sea days this was unbeatable! If you want to read in more detail about my cruise and see photos, I write a ‘Live Report’ and here’s the link. https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/3042491-live-report-from-norwegian-bliss-january-4th-to-17th-transatlantic/ In conclusion, would we sail with NCL again? Absolutely! We have some perks being Sapphire Lattitudes and having the Beatles onboard some ships draws us too. For us though, generally we like MSC for the Italian food but certainly do like the differences NCL offers. We usually do an annual cruise with NCL and look forward to the next one!

Great Experience on the NCL Bliss; Panama Canal

ROOM...Club balcony room was great and we appreciated the larger bathroom. Our room steward was very attentive and almost immediately knew both of our names and greeted us when he saw us in the hallways. Appreciated the extra USB connections on the bedlights (small things but they matter!). The elevators were a bit on the slow side but I've always found that true on different ships. Our room was close to the elevators and right in line to the buffet on 16, observation deck on 15, and below to the theatre on 7 and the atrium on 6. When we wanted to go aft to Cagneys or Manhattan what was perceived as a long walk really wasn't. FOOD...We ate at Le Bistro, Cagneys and Ocean Blue and all of our specialty meals were phenomenal. Ocean Blue, next month won't be any more but rather Palomar which debuted on the Prima 2 years ago. I believe it is a Mediterranean fish restaurant. Speaking of specialty restaurants, in drydock (01/17-02/02/25) they will be expanding Tepanyaki and taking out Los Lobos and using its space to expand Cagneys. Regarding the buffet, at times seating was challenging in the "prime" areas but if you went forward (by the buffet bar) or outside you could always find a seat. The carving station was diverse and most times to my tastes, great! For breakfast I highly recommend a freshly made omelet or if you prefer they'll make your eggs for you also. The buffet had something for everyone all the time. Everyone has different tastes and different demands. Yes, sometimes it was warm and not hot, but that didn't bother me (my cup is "half full"). If you really want your hamburger freshly grilled or the carved meat cooked more, just ask. They don't broadcast it but ask them if they can make you a fresh hamburger or put the medium rare on the grill to cook it more for you; they're happy to! ENTERTAINMENT was phenomenal. Jersey Boys (1 3/4 hours) and Icons were shown on 2 different days, 2 shows each day. The "Beatles band" played twice in the theatre and to sold out crowds in the Cavern Club (I've heard better but enjoyed them!). There were 2 other bands that played the atrium and pool deck and both were extremely enjoyable. A couple of the bars had entertainers and there were a couple of comedians who had "regular" and late night "adult" shows plus other entertainers. Half way thru the cruise a group of comedians, magician, and a few others left the cruise and a new group came on. No shortage of enjoyable entertainment during the day and night! WHAT I WISH I DID...I really wanted to go on the 2 outdoor slides and also try the race cars. I had never been aware of a Bar Crawl and although I won't drink 18 drinks, I'm going to try it next time because it's a great way to meet people. Speaking of meeting people, the Cruise Critic Roll Call group had a "meet and greet" with the officers and it was a nice place to meet other cruisers. WHAT I DID DO, besides the entertainment and play some of the games is a Slot Pull. Again I had never heard of it. Ours was $20 each and a great way to meet people and have a couple of hours (or more) of group fun. My wife organized Mah Jong and enjoyed that on sea days (no money, just having fun). And through all of these you meet people. Some you like, some you want to stay away from, some you enjoy their company on the cruise and some even you carry on relationships post-cruise. NOT MY TASTE...a couple of the games including Bingo can add up. But...one of the games someone in our group won $1,000 and someone did win a free cruise. It could have been me or you. I do look at spending money on gambling - as long as it is under control - as entertainment.

Our Family Cruise December 2024

To start with we had 18 family going on this cruise. It was the first cruise for half of us. We were very lucky that we had a couple of the family who had good suggestions. First we were all on deck 14 and 15 which meant we only had to use the elevators a times That was probably the worst thing about the cruise waiting for the elevators. We were close to the buffet and on the same level as the observation lounge. the ship was absolutely beautiful. The kids were able to go out on the pool deck and have fun dancing and watching shows. They played mini golf and rode the cars BUT it was to cold to swim until Cabo. The adults were able to hit a bunch of shows and the casino. We loved the observation lounge bar and nightly piano show, very talented and well rounded act's. We traveled with 8 month to 85year olds. It was bit tough using the tender services with the babies and the elderly but the crew was very helpful "always ask for help" The crew was happy to help so we had a minimum of issues. some of the family thought that being on a ship the motion would be a problem but only two people had issue we had the dramamine patches so they were okay and the rest were fine. The food and drinks were excellent, french toast and muffins were what the little ones ate. If you have the kids with you there is fruit and yogurt along with lots of Ice cream. it was a great selection. The onboard casino seemed a bit tight but was fun to go to. we enjoyed couple trivia and the idols show. we ate at the ocean blu as a family was a great time. I bought charms and bracelets they were good quality. Shore excursions were not what I thought but they were fun. Only thing I would say is on excursions be sure to stay as a group. With one last tip always come and go early.