After boarding ship and going to our cabin the very first thing we saw was a used condom on the balcony. Then the hangers were piled on the closet floor and a used bar of soap from the previous guest was left in the shower. Those were the main things in addition to some other minor issues,,, We understand things happen and were expecting the staff to immediately handle the situation, but 12 and 15 year old children still don't understand why or what a condom is doing in our cabin. Not happy at all. Once housekeeping was called and given a chance to correct the issues the steward supervisor said someone would come clean it and just walked away. I asked him to take the condom with him, but he just left. Then I went to the guest services desk and after a 19 minute wait were greeted by the housekeeping supervisor who said they will get there to clean the room again soon. That day there were no considerations made and there was no sense of urgency to correct. Worst of all there was no closure, empathy, nor follow-up from management. It was not until the third day of our vacation that I asked about the issue at the front desk and if there was closure. Unfortunately, it took e showing the photos and the likelihood that 'd share an honest review online that I finally got the attention. In my opinion, there is not must that can be done to correct the condom found on the balcony by our children. GiGi, assistant Housekeeping Manager offered a $100 obc which we declined and they posted anyway. This was our third Norwegian cruise Getaway 2016 and Escape 2017 (RCL Oasis was 2018). Not a great start to our annual vacation. Overall, the vacation was good and even the worst cruise experience can be a great vacation. 7 great sunrises and 6 great sunsets... Friday night sunset was missed due to a dinner reservation and late departure from Nassau. The "waterfront" deck is one our favorite parts of the ship. Entertainment was good overall: Havana was "ok", Jersey Boys was very good, Hypnotist Richard Barker was awesome, and the music around the ship was good as well. Dining was "average" a best: service better than expected and food quality hit or miss. The buffet and main dining rooms were good/average food quality. The premium dining in Le Bistro and La Cucina were great. Unfortunately, Cagneys was again a bit of a let down :( It seems like there have been cuts on food costs and quality has suffered a bit. Ports and excursions were as expected. Eighth time to St Tomas and our first excursion to Megans Bay. Tortola was or third time and just walked around town a bit. Nassau has one of the prettiest sail in and away, but usually we stay on the ship in Bahamas :) Our kids 15 and 12 were very excited about the go-carts and laser tag. Unfortunately, the week passes were sold out before the sail away. We paid for a couple laps around the racetrack, but at $10 per person per 5-7 minutes was not a good value in their opinion (or mine since I paid). The real estate used for racetracks and laser tag was a sacrifice of other areas which were omitted or cut back. We will not likely choose another cruise with either go-carts or laser tag. I guess to wrap up this review, stuff happens. Sometimes people are disgusting and leave used condoms on balconies. When I purchased / reserved our seven day cruise I put my trust in Norwegian Cruise Line and their ability to clean up after disgusting people's behaviors. The worst thing about the whole thing is the lack of response, empathy, or care. Hopefully, this review and others may affect change with Norwegian and the way they handle future situations. Read Less

We booked this cruise about 1 year ago, paid a lot for 5 rooms and kept getting invites to bid for upgrades, meanwhile on other lines they typically upgrade at no costs, needless to say we ended up on the 5th floor paying for an ocean view what the balconies costs, that wasn’t the biggest issue if you do not pay even much more to upgrade to the haven which is actually floors that are private that include a large pool, including a lap pool 4 large hot tubs a restaurant and a beach club, this space taken out of the ship makes this ship severely crowded and hardly anyone was using the havens private facilities. Impossible to get a lounge chair at the crowded adult pool every day. Food was good but service was average, At Cagneys they sat us in the bar and fed us dry filet mignons that we’re prepared, this was our third ncl cruise so we know the key differences. The ship Oversold the escursions, we know it would be a busy week but on larger ships are manageable but not when the space is limited by the poor architecture designed to separate guest this does not work and we paid way too much money to feel like second class citizens. We know there are suites and clubs that can be restricted but not 1/4 of the ship which took away from our experience and many others we get left with average service and overcrowding, this was our least favorite cruise out of 25 Read Less

We unfortunately went at a very bad time of the year. The ship was sold out. No room upgrades. We only made it to one show and that was because we waited in the standby line for 30 minutes. The specialty dinning location were full which meant the coupons we had were useless (dinning package). We did get into the ocean but that's an upcharge. . You can plan on taking 5 + minutes to get a drink too. The bars are packed. You'll eventually find a bar that isn't as busy. The smoking area was confined to a very small section of the H2O area and was closed periodically. Not a ship if you're a smoker. The food wasn't that great at the Ocean (small portion, cold), Smokehouse (expected better food, cold and band wasn't to my liking). The Garden Café was OK but the ice cream section was often closed and you have to wait in line...always. Observation deck is nice, quiet. But the best seating was always taken. (you know... book, towel, shoes holds the spot.) I wish the photographers would back off. There in your face a lot. The Brittan's Finest Band was good. (best Beatles cover band I've seen). St. Thomas, and Nassau were good shopping port but Tortola is still recovering. The worst was getting off the ship the last day. The lines were unbelievable. We got in a line we didn't need to for 20 minutes because there was insufficient direction once you got into the port. I think NCL has to get the reservation system working better. People get reservations for venues and then don't use them. You'll walk by a nearly empty venue but yet can't get in. I'd like to see NCL give us some insight on when to expect lineups and when not too. I would consider a cruise on a different date or option for the Heaven. Read Less

Boarding and Vibe beach club passes: We were novices to NCL so didn’t know what to expect. We knew the ship was sold out. Also none of our upgrade requests were accepted so we knew ship would be crowded. I had read about the Vibe and we decided to try to get passes. The Vibe is a private deck area with a dedicated bar, snacks, hot tubs and cabanas. There are also dedicated attendants. We knew the pool decks would be insanely crowded as this week is spring break for a number of groups. So we decided to try for the Vibe at 200$ per person. We were not provided a boarding time at on-line check in time. But we had heard that was irrelevant and so getting a Vibe pass would be all related to ones time getting on the ship and getting a low group boarding number. Thus we did not use ship transfers and arrived to the terminal on our own early. We showed up at 9. Everyone there was pretty much doing the same thing. I’d say there were about 20 people in front of us. People were “well behaved” lol until security. Then it was a mad dash- we tried to check in as quickly as possible then ran up the escalator to get our boarding number. The agent gave us one of 2 remaining boarding group 1 cards. From there a line formed early on to wait for boarding even though boarding would not be until 11. People were pushing and shoving to be closest to the boarding door. The security guard moved everyone away from that door, and then people were upset since they had been lining up. Security guard threatened to call police. People moved back. I noticed a family who was not group 1 boarding tried to board with group 1. Etc etc it was chaotic. Then - the doors opened. There was an almost stampede. People ran to guest services. We were among the first and were told Vibe sold out. But then we hung around there a bit and a couple of people changed their minds so we got in by the skin of our teeth. The Bliss is a bit of a problem for vibe as this ship was built for Alaska. So the outdoor deck size is less of an issue for an Alaskan cruise. But for the Caribbean??? Smaller deck space meant that there were only 80 vibe spaces available. And I’m pretty sure one “representative” per group meant that one person could buy a bunch of passes. I think passes should be capped at 4 per individual but that’s not what happened. On top of it, Haven guests could already buy these passes before non Haven guests boarded and they did (based on what we saw.) The vibe itself is really nice. There are 6-7 cabanas and pool chaises laid out in 2’s. There’s a private hot tub and bar. There’s a limited menu and they bring around fresh drinks and fruit skewers. It’s very similar to the private Haven area (it’s actually immediately adjacent but there’s a door for Haven access which remains closed) except they have a white terry cloth covers on the chairs in the Haven. Price was 209 per person each for a lounge chair and 489 for a cabana for 2. The waiters kept key cards upon entry. At one point there were about 9-10 Green key cards (identify Haven guest) versus my orange card as a minisuite guest. Haven guests do get priority boarding so simply needed to ask for vibe passes upon boarding. I’m not sure I agree with that as they have their own private area. But that’s what happened. Also I’m not sure if loyalty status with Norwegian would provide a green key card. Mike from the Vibe was excellent and took care of us very well. Rooms: we had a mid-ship mini suite for 2. I honestly found the room rather small. Balcony also small. Rooms modern and had the necessities. Bathroom was nice and had shampoo plus conditioner (2 in 1) so glad I brought my own conditioner. We were on deck 11, 3 floors above the waterfront (outdoor promenade). The waterfront is noisy at night so we could not leave our balcony door open until after 11 or so at night. Dining: Day 1- Manhattan. We booked a reserved time for all dinners given the sold out status. From what I saw we were wise. Not sure how “any time” dining works on a sold out ship. Lots of people were waiting to be seated for dinner. So book a time and go.... or not go but probably a better idea to at least have a booked time in my opinion. Day 1: embarkation. We booked manhattan dining room (complimentary) and food was pretty good. Service also good. We also ate at the garden cafe for lunch which was good and we especially liked the Indian food and rotisserie chicken. Day 2: at sea. Booked le Bistro specialty restaurant. This restaurant has an upcharge but 3 specialty restaurants were included with our booking. I found the servers a bit uptight. When we entered they would not seat us unless everyone was there. My daughter was a bit late so they were only going to seat us if we gave up her place. Eventually they relaxed and said they’d seat us, but at a table without any view. They then sat us at a good table and we had a very nice meal. Again, like embarkation, it took a bit of work and persistence. Day 3: at sea. Los Lobos - mexican specialty restaurant for upcharge- this was a group event, so not sure if it was the regular menu. It was very good as well and excellent service. Thanks to Karl who went above and beyond. We write out cards to thank him. Day 4: st Thomas- always an excellent port stop. Great shopping and sightseeing. la Cucina Italian specialty restaurant for upcharge (again included with our booking). This was excellent. Really really good. Service started off rocky as they were trying to rush us but once we established that wasn’t going to happen we had an excellent meal. We met the chefs who were very kind. And this restaurant has an outdoor patio on the waterfront (deck 8) so we ate outside, and we were able to watch as the ship was departing St Thomas port. Beautiful sunset. Just a wonderful setting. Day 5: Tortola. This island was very primitive and it seemed in the middle of no where, and that not much was there. There was a huge cost to go to the beach. 50$ return US for 2- but we paid it. The place was devastated by the hurricane and there were still upended yachts in the waters that had not been claimed. 2 cruise ships a day go to Tortola. The beach was perfect but I would have preferred a different port. Taste dining room for supper was really delicious. Shrimp dish had 6 huge tiger shrimp and the beef short rib was really nice too. Jersey boys show- was surprisingly good. Was 2 hours long and was much better than I expected. Day 6: at sea. Taste dining room for lunch was lovely. They had very nice selections and yummy peanut butter cheesecake. Dinner at Manhattan restaurant was very good once again. Day 7: Nassau and Cagney Steakhouse There were 5 ships in Nassau so it was very chaotic getting off the ship. Line to return to ship was also long. Cagney was really really good. Excellent meal for main courses. Desserts were not so great. Re: specialty dining. We did not see the communication to book these in advance to avoid disappointment. By the time we knew we were supposed to book it was very difficult getting reservations. At guest services on arrival, there were restaurant representatives that booked at the dining. And unlike online, all the restaurants, laser tag the go karts could be reserved. With the ship at capacity it was definitely a good idea to reserve immediately on boarding to avoid disappointment. There are people who were upset with not being quick enough. We were able to move around reservations once on board but this required immediate attention. Reservations were otherwise filled for the week except for Los Lobos. The spa - is beautiful. The view of ocean is gorgeous and the pools are unreal- like being in the ocean. Based on Turkish baths. There is one hot tub like area where there is a honest to goodness tide and sound of the ocean. Water rises and falls and pulls you along with it. Just beautiful. Highly recommend getting a weekly pass for about 225$. On board a daily pass is 60$ so it makes more sense to buy the weekly pass in advance. We went every night at around 8 pm. Not crowded at all then. Such a relaxing area at the front of the ship with full views and floor to ceiling windows. Observation lounge- deck 15. Not to be missed. It’s absolutely a stunning place for coffee, snacks, or a drink from their bar in the evening. Gorgeous room! Staff on Norwegian by in large very very good. Most greeted us only with smiles. You do feel on this ship that you are being constantly charged - so you need to be careful with what you’re charging etc, Norwegian has lots to offer for kids (water park) and entertainment. So that’s good. But at capacity it would be very difficult to find ones own space without the Vibe Beach club pass. My kids loved the laser tag and I did go karting once and wish that I hadn’t!! It’s not for those who don’t want to race. I did the inner tube water slide once which was great. Did not do the drop water slide one. Internet on board- unlimited did work, but there were limits on browsing and attachments. I messaging for iPhones worked. Could not otherwise text. We didn’t know about the 9.95 messaging service that you could do through the Norwegian App and had we know that definitely would have used that service. Overall: very good cruise. Now that I understand how Norwegian works I would do a few things differently the next time and try and cruise off peak. Read Less

We wanted to see what Norwegian was like and we were not disappointed. Between the tow of us, we have probably cruised 15 times on other lines, but never this one. The ship's layout was the best I have seen with things spread out enough that there was not that much congestion, even with over 4,000 people on the boat. There seemed like there was a different themed bar/lounge tucked into every corner. Each with it's own special drinks. While the boat seemed geared more towards adults to me there was still a ton of things for the kids to do. (The Go-Karts were awesome). It was also easy to see that cleanliness was important. "Washy Washy" was a common phrase heard where crew member had bottles of disinfectant to clean hands with before the buffet or getting back on the ship. There were some slight negatives....scheduling the go-karts/laser tag was almost impossible. It was all filled up the first day before everyone was on the ship. I was lucky enough to get a go-kart slot, no dice on the laser tag. Also, the cabin could have used some more storage space. While Jersey Boys was incredible, and Prohibition was awesome... Havana sucked. There seemed no point to it and was boring. Embarkation was just ok. Flew in to Ft. L and then had to sit around for an hour to wait for a bus. Seemed like an excessive wait, especially seeing other cruise lines take multiple groups of people. Getting off the boat was a nightmare as no one listened to the colors being called and messed the system up. Also, the number of people getting out on deck at 6:00 am and reserving chairs.... to not com back until after 9:00 was ridiculous. There was no enforcement of the advertised 30 minute rule at all. However, we were able to find a spot, just out of the way and only partial sun. Read Less

We just got off the bliss. We have three kids ages 9-14. I have to say out of the nine cruises we’ve done, this was by far the one we liked the least. First off, there’s no sports court. May not sound like a big deal to some, but to my children this was a very big deal. Instead there’s go carts and laser tag. We did both. They’re good. But honestly once was enough. They last five minutes if that. I would have preferred more pools and a court for kids to play basketball. There’s one pool for kids to use. And it’s tiny. The adult pool is right next to it. This makes no sense. There are few activities during the day to keep kids busy. I thought there would be more for them to do. The water slides are good but they could only do one as the other you have to be 100lbs to even go down it. Food was fantastic. Nothing bad to say. Tepanyaki was worth it. We also did Los Lobos which was good. Cabins are a little smaller than we’re used to but we made it work. Staff were all fantastic. Helpful and smiling. Over all a good cruise. But we surprisingly enjoyed the Carnival Magic more than we did the Bliss. Read Less

We have been excited for this cruise since we booked it back in November. This was our honeymoon and had everything we wanted in a cruise ship. We were immediately blown away from our check in. From the time we stepped out of our cab and onto the ship qas a total of 8 minutes. We have had multi hour waits before. The ship is beautiful from top to bottom. Modern and elegant but not over the top. We truly loved the Waterfront feature and that was where we gravitated to every night. All the tasty beverages, with the music but without the crowds. The one detractor from this cruise is the Bliss Theater. The entertainment was not to the caliber in which we expected. The theater is built over top of what we can only figure is one of the dance clubs. The late night performances compete with the pulsating sounds below. We literally could not hear Havana over the party going on downstairs. The food was above expectations and we would suggest Specialty Dining for sure...but our best meals were literally in the Manhattan Room. Spa is amazing...but pricey. Room is good. This is a great mid runner between entry level and luxury cruising. Read Less

We arrived in Miami 3 days prior to our Cruise to take advantage of cheap airfare and to give us a greater time buffer in case of travel difficulties. All went smooth. We stayed again at the Holiday Inn downtown for the three nights. An older hotel but nice staff and a great location. Across the street from Bayside Market Place which is a great place to spend time. Many shops, restaurants and water tours. Also a quick cab ride away from the Cruise terminal on embarkation day. If there is a game, also a two block walk from the Miami Heat basketball arena. We arrived a little early on embarkation day but were on the ship by 11:00. The terminal is older but the new terminal is supposed to be done sometime this fall and so far looks impressive. Having cruised on the Getaway and three times on the Escape, we were pretty well acquainted with the basic layout, which is similar. NCL must read these reviews, however, as there were several significant improvements over her sister ships. Most notably, the often criticized smoke smell from the casino has been well addressed with an enclosed smoking area within the casino. I really liked the buffet in the front of the ship vs. the rear placement on the other ships. A great view there, and also from the observation area, one deck below. I also liked that they moved the Le Bistro restaurant from the mid deck to the area previously used as a teen club and arcade. I liked that they moved these areas downstairs, next to the other youth facilities. The Go Carts were a blast and I see that there will be a larger version with some of the track extending over the edge of the ship on the upcoming Encore. A word of caution, however. We got splattered by specks of "black rain" while waiting for our turn to drive. If the wind is pushing the ships funnel exhaust over that area, beware and wear old and or dark colored t-shirts. I got about 20 splatters on my white shirt. We ate at Savor, Taste, the buffet, and The Local for the complementary restaurants. All very good with great service. We also enjoyed the specialty restaurants Los Lobos (Mexican), Cagneys (steakhouse), and Ocean Blue (seafood). All exceeded our expectations for quality, presentation and service. A true treat for someone like me who is not too fussy.... I read many of the other reviews on the ship prior to sailing. I found the staff from top to bottom well groomed, trained and extremely pleasant and helpful. We had the good fortune of meeting the assistant bar manager Haide Balon and Hotel Director's Secretary Kathleen Francisco. Both of them followed up with us several times to make sure we were happy and having a great cruise. We also were very happy to be able to see our good friends and great bartenders Rommel and Michael. These guys are great! My suggestion to having a great cruise is having the right frame of mind. You are on a ship with 4000+ other passengers. While NCL does a great job dispersing the crowd, there may be some times which you may have to wait a couple minutes for an elevator, or a drink or whatever. If you smile and are pleasant with the crew it makes them feel better and should also make you feel better...Unfortunately, I witnessed some people who were rude to the crew who work 12 hour days, seven days a week for 9-10 month contracts. Bring some cash, spread it around instead of wasting it all in the casino... St Thomas was an early cab to Coki beach. Get there before the crowd if you want a good spot. A beautiful beach with nice sand and great snorkeling to the right by the rocks. The large (3') weird looking silver fish swimming around is not a shark but a remora. I had never seen one before and had to ask a nice lady at the dive shop. If you rent gear there they will give you dog treats to feed the fish. It helps to let them get a little mushy. Go to the left end of the beach and you may see large iguanas. The beach gets a little crowded by noon. A good time to head back to the ship or do some shopping. We chartered a boat in Tortola from Island Time Charters. Julien Johnson is the owner and has several boats of different sizes. All clean and well maintained. He skippered ours for the day and was an excellent guide and captain. He made sure we were back to the ship on time but also gave us the full experience and the trip was an excellent value. We were able to snorkel two different spots and spend a couple of hours at White Bay's Soggy Dollar. Nassau was an extra sea day for us. A chance to do the water slides as much as we wanted, without waiting in line. The drop slide is intense! A fair amount of light people were getting stuck in the middle but the crew quickly gets you out though strategically located hatches. Not a problem for me. Plenty of momentum.. The balcony cabin was nice. Remember to bring an extra card to put in the slot by the door as you come in, to keep the electricity on. Also, if you have a CPAP machine, bring an extension cord as there are no plug ins by the bed... Vacations are what you make of them. We have enjoyed all of our previous cruises with NCL and are looking forward to more. Read Less

We had all great experiences on the Bliss ! A hugh thankyou to our cabin guy Ramundo Awsome!!!! The food and entertainment was great ! Lots of fun in the atrium! Great shows ! The ship was immaculate! Excursions were a little too short . It would have been nice if the atrium shows could have been shown on the big screen on deck as atrium got crowded. The pool deck screen was underutilized. More stuff could have been shown on it instead of screensaver type stuff. I would definitely take this cruise again staff were very nice . They were all super friendly and went out of their way to take care of us. I think they may want to look into the slide that hangs over the pool side . I got stuck in it and had to climb out the trap door on the side.! Apparently this happens frequently , I was told I wasn’t big enough . I am 5ft 3 and average weight . Read Less

We loved this whole experience. Everything was great! Service was amazing. Embarkation and Disembarkation were both very easy. The ship is beautiful. Make sure to take advantage of every thing they offer. Free entertainment and free jewelry. Cabins are beautiful! Make sure to get one with a Balcony. Don't settle for an cabin with out one. They make the experience 100 times more enjoyable. Dining: Where to start: Cagneys is hands down the best steak I have ever had! Taste and Manhattan Room were awesome. Savor was terrible, Service was bad, food was bad. The whole experience in that restaurant was terrible. The staff is not helpful. Make sure to see Jersey Boys!!! Awesome show! The 4 guys of the group are so good! The guy playing Frankie Vallie was the best. My room service was amazing! If you get floor 13 you will be taken care of greatly. Vergillio was my steward and he was amazing! Port excursions were fun and very worth it. We had 2 children with us. My son is 10 and my daughter is 7. They absolutely loved splash academy! They begged to go all day everyday!! Make sure to have your children check it out! I would go again and again! It is so fun! The bilss was amazing. I would Cruise NCL again. Read Less