This was my first cruise and I was very excited to be going on an Alaskan cruise because of all the good things I've heard about it. Also traveling on a very new and huge cruise ship, I was told there would be so many things to do on the ship. However, it was way too crowded. Every event I went to whether it was a raffle or seminar, I was being sold something. The spa was overpriced especially for a really low quality massage and the staff was stuck up. On top of the poor quality of massage and not having access to any of the spa rooms that were advertised in the pictures and no robe provided, we had to walk out all oily in our clothes we came in, and the masseurs wanted more gratuity in addition to their 18%. This was by far the worst experience I had on this ship. They also told my mom they didn't feel any knots but wanted to sell her alkaline oil to dissolve any tight lactic acid muscles. This goes to show how desperate the staff were to make a sale vs allowing people to have an enjoyable cruise. The best part of the cruise was the unlimited drinks and food, If that's all you're looking for on a cruise ship. I also heard from staff that Ncl doesn't want to pay the cost of the closer areas of the ports so that why we had to walk a very far distance in Juneau and Skagway. Overall, I came in with high expectations and did not get to see Alaska on land as much as I wanted to because this cruise was more focused about keeping their customers on the ship to buy more products from them. The specialty restaurants were all very good quality but I wish they had halibut and crab legs available on the menu. No complaints about the unlimited drink package. Read Less

We had loved Alaska on two previous cruises, (NCL Pearl in 2010 and NCL Star in 2004). On this cruise it was cold and rainy so; Everyone stayed inside. Ship was packed at all times. Most people were in the Observation Lounge. You could not find seating in The Garden Buffet. We spent a lot of time waiting for an elevator...Only two elevator banks for a ship this size. Could not traverse to the Sawyer Glacier. Did not see much of the beauty that I had witnessed the previous two cruises in Glacier Bay. Disembarkation was incredibly bad...Walked the entire ship three times to get off. NCL doesn't have a clue how to deal with their Elderly Clients that may have severe walking disabilities. Atrium was packed all of the time so you could not stay there. Can they not hold any of the events elsewhere? Jersey Boys sucks...Have seen the Production on other ships and was really disappointed. Walked out of Havana! All in all a very pricey cruise that basically sucked!!! Read Less

We booked our cruise one year ahead. We were so excited to cruise on the Bliss. Upon boarding we tried to book reservations for go karts and laser tag... Totally booked up. Evening shows were booked and only stand by was available. This was the first day! Everything had an extra charge, my 11 year old had over $300 charged for Arcade play before they locked her card. The buffet food was delicious, but there were not enough tables and people had to hover over other guests, to get a place. Guests were irritated and often somewhat rude. The bars and staff were awesome, the balcony room was very nicely furnished and comfortable. Our steward was very polite, calling each of us by name from day one. Almost every elevator ride had a wait and people continued to load until it was uncomfortable. If I were rating the beauty and luxury of the ship and the courteous, professional staff it would be a 5+ star rating. Unfortunately, with the overcrowding and even a 40 minute wait for an elevator, it drops the score to 3. So disappointed, we will cruise NCL again, but on the Pearl or Jewel, not another monster ship which equates to a floating city of 5000 people. Read Less

Great ship, new and beautiful Now the bad news Unlimited drinks,not so much No water or OJ included,reallllllly Bought specialty restaurant pkg but were sold out every night and they were still selling them in the ship.Pretty sure that is theft. Asked for a refund and they looked at me like I was a third grader All shows were sold out so never got to see one. All of this was within in 30 mins of getting on the ship at 11am Our rear facing balcony was unusable as it was covered in diesel crap every morning.So much for a nice breakfast on the Balcony.Reallllllllllly NCl The one highlight was we met three wonderful crew. Orest in the Observation lounge was a delight.Since we ate in Savor every night we were Blessed to meet Jose’ as our server and asked for him every meal.NCL should have him train others.And not least was Rowena in the Mixx bar between Savor and Taste was very nice and always had a smile no matter how busy she was. We have benn very fortunate to cruise more the 30 times and this was mostly very sad. Come on NCL I know you can do better. Larry F Read Less

Ship: Was absolutely beautiful and huge. Decor is attractive, and the large windows everywhere maximize Alaskan views. That being said, I feel like they crammed too many people onto this ship. Everything was WAY TOO CROWDED all the time - made you feel like you were trapped in an insane asylum with 3999 other crazy people after a week. There was never enough seating in the buffet, the atrium, or the observation lounge, there weren't enough elevators and even the stairways were crowded, it's impossible to get reservations to anything, and in general, it just felt like there were way too many people on board. Really wrecked the whole experience, honestly. Also, the passengers on this ship were some of the rudest, most self-entitled people I ever met in my life - letting their small children run all over the ship alone (stepping on and tripping people, pressing all the buttons before getting off elevators, screaming and yelling); crowding and bullying other passengers on shore excursions; saving much-needed seats in crowded areas for hours for people who never showed up; sleeping in the observation lounges so other people didn't have a chance to see the beautiful Alaskan views; refusing to let handicapped people on elevators, etc etc. And the crew never said a word about any of it. Just awful. Rating: 2/10 Cabin: I had a studio cabin, and it was great - just enough room for all my stuff, the video porthole was a lot cooler than I thought it would be (and had the added bonus of being able to go completely dark at night), and the lounge with water and snacks was such a great added bonus at the end of the day. Norwegian is really leading the pack in terms of catering to solo travelers, and I really, really appreciate that effort. That being said, our solo director was not very enthusiastic or engaged with the job and didn't do much for us. Instead of meeting for an hour every night in the lounge just to make boring small talk, how about scheduling a dinner for us at Manhattan so we know we always have someone to eat with at night? Rating: 8/10 Dining: I liked the food in the Garden Cafe buffet and in Manhattan/Taste/Savor (although the service was slow in Manhattan). It was also nice to have snacks/soup/salad in the Observation Lounge at lunch. However, due to overcrowding, it was often impossible to get a seat at the buffet, especially on port days. One day I couldn't get breakfast at all and was starving on my tour, which really undermined the experience. How about removing some of the extraneous stuff on the ship (like the watch shops) to add another buffet? Also impossible to get specialty restaurant reservations, because of, once again, too many people on board! Rating: 6/10 Entertainment and Activities: Jersey Boys was fantastic - highly recommend! Beatles show was the weakest of the 4 shows. Other activities too crowded and/or required extra cost. Bingo was kind of fun but too expensive. Rating: 5/10 Service: Cabin service was perfect, no complaints there. Was lovely coming back to a turned-down bed and a cute towel animal every night. As I mentioned, would have appreciated more enthusiasm from the solo traveler concierge. Loved the "washy-washy" girls in the buffets - so cute and sweet! Rating: 8/10 Ports and Shore Excursions: Loved the ports, and Alaska is fantastic, but again, too many people involved in everything. We often had to share ports and excursions with 3-4 other ships, which doubled or tripled the size of the actual town we were in. Skagway was the best port (super beautiful), and the White Pass train was the best excursion I took (excluding a really trashy, entitled family who made loud stupid jokes the entire ride, hogged both platforms of my train car, and then behaved rudely when they were asked nicely by another passenger to give other people a chance to see). Would have been nice to get into ports a later than 7 am, and stay a little later as well. I didn't get to see anything in Juneau other than my shore excursion because of the limited call time. To give Norwegian some credit, I had no issues with embarkation at any port even despite the massive amount of people they had to get off and on the ship in just a few hours. Rating 6/10 Would I go again? Honestly, probably not. It's just too much money to spend the entire week fighting with 3999 other badly-behaved people over lounge seats, shore excursions, meals, and elevators. Read Less

We chose as it was close to home. Were in Alberta and Seattle is about a 1.5 hour plane ride away. Our sons are turning 18 soon and one of them wanted to do the teen club again as he gets so much out of them. This was no different as he really enjoyed entourage and the teens that were there. Food was average to be honest. Best meal I had was at lunch in the garden cage. Lots of variety and tastefull. Worst meal was at Cagneys. I blame that on me as I'm not a beef eater so I had the fried seafood platter which was not that great. We had a mid inside cabin and it was great. Off the elevator and the inside cabins are right there. Turn left or right to your room. Enough space for 2 for sure. Enough storage for sure. Bed a bit hard. My wife asked and was given a foam pad which did the trick. I wish the shower had a setting so you could concentrate the spray to get into those areas where you need a blast of water. Other than that, would book a mid inside again. Entertainment was top notch. Siglo, the cover rock band was excellent. As was Beatlemania and Jersey Boys. Comedy shows were good as well. Cruise staff do a good job. Service staff were excellent. One major thing I hated was on the first day where you had to book restaurants, shows and the go carts. Its a bit of joke actually. Be prepared. We never was able to get on the go-carts. Read Less

We chose this ship for our family of 10 because it was new and it offered an itinerary that we wanted. It came down to Princess vs NCL and the appeal of a new ship won out. This was our 1st NCL cruise. Getting on and off the ship was easy and quick. The "freestyle" cruising that NCL advertise's was accurate only if you planned to eat at the complementary restaurants for every meal which pretty much had the exact same menu every day for the entire cruise. Anything else (shows, go carts, laser tag, specialty dining etc) all needed to be reserved well in advance or risk not getting to experience them at all. Our group never did get to do the go carts or lazer tag despite trying to book them starting at 1pm on the day we boarded...they book up fast as do the shows and specialty restaurants). I'll add that the promotion of up to 5 amenities "for free" is a little deceptive. For example, we selected the $50/cabin/port discount but found most all of the tours booked directly with the tour company or through Costco were much more than $50 cheaper than the same exact tours booked through NCL so we did not get much value out of this one. Food and service in the specialty restaurants Cagney's, Tappi & Los Lobos was great...of course for an extra cost even though we also selected the specialty dining package as one of our free perks we had to still pay a service fee. Guest services was great and our balcony cabins worked well for us...really appreciated the large showers in the cabins! We saw two shows, Havanna (mixed reviews) and Jersey Boys (really well done but could have skipped the "F" bombs that added nothing and the cigaret smoke that made its way from the stage to the front rows). Laundry special for $19.95 was a great offering that we took advantage of. Read Less

New ship, Breakaway class, Alaska. Inside Passage. Stunning scenery. There was no dancing floor in Manhattan Room although we were told repeated when we called that there will be. Throughout the ship, the little floor they had at night clubs were often covered by tables. The atrium was the last place left and unfit for packing in over 100 dancers. We were most disappointed because we sailed three times on the Breakaway and once on the Escape, both with Manhattan Room for dinner dancing. Food, identical menu to other NCL ships, but clearly better prepared or better delivered. A very pleasant surprise. Having chowder on observation deck most of the time was a great improvement. The observation deck was designed as numerous connected living rooms. This is a great feature for privacy and access to view. Service in general was great. room was clean and quiet but small. Shower was adequate and enjoyable. We did not get to see the glacier because of ice problems on the water inlet. Weather was in the 80F and sunny week. People the week before, rainy and colder, had no ice problem. Did see six humpback whales on whale watching. Best photos from smaller boats. Having the Garden Cafe now in the front of the ship is super confusing for us. However, it makes it possible to bring food down from it to the observation room easily. Seating hard to come by often in the Garden Cafe. Diners there often aggressive because of this. Bliss and Escape each added a floor of rooms without adding service support capacity, hence both led to overcrowding. Cannot recommend these ships! Read Less

We chose the cruise because our friends had never been to Alaska, so it was a first Alaskan for them. Our 2nd. And we chose this ship because it was brand new. We've been on 25 cruises so far: mostly Disney & Carnival. Some Royal and NCL. Pros: Ship itself is beautiful, modern and colorful. The entertainment is equal to Disney as far as quality. We were very impressed. The Cruise Director, Silas, was the best we've ever seen out of all the cruises we've taken. The restaurants were beautiful, great themes, lots of choices. The Garden Cafe was one of the best buffets I've ever seen on a cruise ship. Spacious and lots of choices for everyone. Entertainment was a lot of fun, different game shows than I've seen on other ships. The Jersey Boys is an amazing show, that was our 3rd time seeing it, its a must! Also the Cavern Club, Beatlemania Band was so much fun. They played at least 4-5 different shows during the week. They also held movies on their large hi-def screen in their atrium, approx. 4 times during the week, some in the afternoon, some in the evening. They had Coco & Zootopia, also, The Commuter and Justice League. The spa was absolutely beautiful and relaxing, best to use it first thing in the morning when its quiet. During the day it will get busy. The staff was superb and very helpful. Dale in the Hair Salon was the best! We didn't go on the excursions this time because we've been to these 3 Alaskan ports before. However, we did get off the ship and there is always something wonderful to see in Alaska. Victoria, BC is also stunning. If possible, book your excursions in the 2nd half of the day. You'll be able to enjoy quiet time on the ship when everyone gets off and use the spa when no one is around. Overall, Service is better than it was in the past on NCL. Most servers and bartenders are very attentive and went out of their way to get to know the passengers. All of these items I've mentioned in this area, I give them a solid 5 out of 5. Cons: Pricing - nickle and diming as you've seen on other posts I'm sure. Bliss boasts its Race Track & Laser Tag, there are fees for these items. With their "Free" Drink or Dining Packages you still have to pay gratuities, other companies that offer Free, its truly Free. Even while we're in port, the drinks are charged tax, it ended up being approx $1 drink. It just all adds up, NCL could have just covered this. Internet - pricing is much higher than other cruises and the service is not better. During busy times you'd get bumped out. Many people complained about the internet. Lines were very long at the internet desk, so much to the point that they're only there 2 hours at a time and they didn't get to everyone to help then, they mention you'd have to come back when they open back up. That's poor service and frustrating to say the least! Cabin Steward - I'm sure it was just ours, he was very nice, but we could tell he was newer or needed more training. We'd have to tell him we needed items that were obvious, more soap, more lotion. Not the end of the world, just more training is needed. Elevators - only 2 elevator banks instead of 3. So depending on where you're located on the ship it could be quite a walk, again not the end of the world, but you needed to leave yourself about 15 mins of travel time to get from point a to point b, between the walking and then waiting for elevators. Guest Service - could have handled a few things better, when needing certain help with the internet they just turned everyone around a made them go to the internet desk, but there is only 1 person working that desk or they're closed. Training should be given to Guest Services so they can help during busy times. Guest Rooms - while they're new they're smaller than other ships. We'll purchase anywhere from inside to outside category, usually about 200 sq ft. On Carnival we'll buy an inside and it will be 220 sq ft with couch and porthole. On Disney we'll have an inside from 180 to 200 sq ft and will have also a couch area in room. With NCL they only provide couches to rooms that are classified balcony or higher. They're balcony and mini suites are very small rooms, nothing special. This cruise was the most we've paid and room size received the least. This Cons area overall receives a 3.5 out of 5 Read Less

To start, the Bliss his a big ship. Getting from place to place can be a bit of an adventure if you need to use the elevators at peak times. Be ready for a long wait. Our stateroom was nice, we had a large oceanview window. Our steward was wonderful, she always kept our room nice and fresh. Each day we look forward to the towel animal she had created for us. We ended up eating at the many sit down restaurants instead of the buffet style cafes. The TASTE, SAVOR, AND MANHATTAN ROOM were every bit as good as the specialty restaurants It seems to be very difficult to find seating in the Garden Cafe because many passengers would use to tables for viewing scenery for hours rather than giving them up so people could have a place to eat. The Observation Lounge was the most disappointing. Passengers get up early to place belonging on the couches and chairs to mark out their territory for the day. Often times you would observe passengers sleeping on the couches and chase lounges for most of the day, not allowing others to sit down and enjoy the scenery. Really! All the staterooms have bed, if want to sleep, sleep in your bed and allow other passengers to enjoy the views. I really thing that Norwegian needs to look into this as I have seen several negative reviews on this subject. This is not going to encourage travelers to book the Bliss if they can't find a place to eat in the Garden Cafe or enjoy the views from the Observation Lounge. We basically booked all of our diner reservations, shows and excursions before the cruise, so this was not a problem for us. Those who did not, found it could be very difficult to to sign up for many of the activities. Jersey Boys was great and the theater is a wonderful place to take in a show. One of my biggest disappointments was the Go Karts. I made my reservations as soon as we got on the ship, however, the person that took our reservations canceled my time slot when I my wife made reservations for the both of us to go on the double karts, so I only was able to ride the go karts one time in the 7 days we were on the cruise. This like many, activities were booked up before the first day. The best excursion was the White Pass Yukon Railway. The views are awesome! You can't describe it. We also enjoyed the Whale watching in Juneau and were not disappointed. The only thing I would do different is take one of the longer excursions, as you spend a lot of time trying to find exactly where the whales are being sited. The Nature Sanctuary excursion was a disappointed. All they had was one eagle and some redtail hawks. The rainforest hike was interesting but you can see the same thing on the Mendenhall Glacier excursion and also see a real glacier! If you want to see eagles up close, Juneau had plenty of them flying around the pier, so you don't have to pay to see them! It would be wise to plan out each port. There are many excursions to choose from that can be purchased on and off the cruise ship. If you are just going to walk around Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan be ready to see Jewelry Store and T-Shirt shops for the most part. So in conclusion, to avoid stress and disappointment, plan ahead. Make all of your activity, dinner, show and excursion reservations before or as soon as you board the Bliss. Be ready for full elevators, no available seating at peak times at the Garden Cafe and Observation Lounge and have a great time. Alaska is beautiful! Read Less