Incredible ship that is both new and very stylish. Passengers aboard the vessel seemed very happy with their selection. When comparing ships to other Alaskan cruisers NCL Bliss customers seemed to be happier with their selection. Price point was also very reasonable when compared to other ships sailing Alaska. Food seemed to better than on most NCL vessels. The author of this review stayed in the studios. The studio lounge was very large and incredibly comfortable. The studios continue to provide a very cost-effective option for solo cruisers. The author of this review has stayed in the studios in two other ships than the NCL Bliss (NCL Getaway and NCL Epic) and found the NCL Bliss to have the best studio rooms by far. In terms of entertainment "Jersey Boys" was a great production, but "Havana" was fairly underwhelming. Only complaints were that disembarkation was hectic and self disembarkation seemed to be the only speedily way to leave the vessel. The HVAC system in the atrium did not appear to be operating in the most efficacious manner. Additionally the pools could have been covered and more heaters could have been available for cooler and rainier sea days. Read Less

I liked their website, they were nice to deal with. The ship is new and beautiful. The specialty restaurants excellent, and the Mandara spa outstanding. The room was very nice, and the rain shower and jets were great. Had a wonderful time. Very smooth waters for the whole trip. Loved Coco's for crepes and cappachino. Only compaint is the Internet did not work most of the time. Took the ships shutlle to and from airport and the baggage handling on last day was so helpful, sponsered by the port of Seattle. They take your bag check it in at airport, deliver boarding passes to cabin and luggage fee is added to your ship bill. Could not have been more convenient. The garden cafe buffet was not to my liking. All the other eateries were really top notch. The coffee pot in the cabin was much appreciated for that morning get go. Lots of outlets in cabin also. Looking forward to next cruise. Read Less

Going to Alaska was on our bucket list and doing it via a cruise seemed like the best way to see a few places in a limited time. Neither of us have ever been on a cruise, but we decided about a month before the cruise that it was time to give it a try. We read reviews and tips online and took the leap. We arrived in Seattle the night before the cruise because I didn't want to stress about any possible flight delays. We stayed at the Residence Inn Downtown, which is walking distance from the Pike Place Market. The hotel was wonderful! We walked down to the Market the next morning for breakfast at the Crumpet Shop (delicious) and wandered around before the area got too crowded. We boarded the ship at noon, and embarkation went very smoothly. Our first stop was to get tickets for the shows onboard, and we were able to get tickets to all of the shows. I was concerned with so many people on board and our last minute decision to go on the cruise that all of the shows would be booked already. Our cabin was actually bigger than what we had prepared ourselves for. We had a chosen a balcony because we knew we would want to see the scenery. We wandered the ship and definitely were impressed with how large and how nice the ship was. Our overall impression of the complimentary dining was that there was no major reason why we would need to eat anywhere else. The main dining rooms had great food and service. Lots of options for each course - it was often hard to narrow down what we wanted - and all of it was delicious. My favorite dish was an appetizer of baked brie with apricot en croute with a salad. All of the shows were wonderful. I didn't think I would enjoy The Jersey Boys as much as I did. Although I have to say the drinks with the Happy Hour Prohibition show were not very good - but the show itself was fun. Our favorite excursion was the raft float through the eagle preserve when we were in Skagway - you have to go to Haines by ferry and then bus up the river. The trip was amazing - the salmon were running so there were so many eagles and we even saw a bear catch a salmon. We also enjoyed out excursion to Totem Bight State Park in Ketchikan. Our guide was so informative and there are so many totem poles there. I enjoyed my excursion to Mendenhall Gladier and to the salmon hatchery in Juneau but it was very rainy and foggy that day so the views were not great. The salmon bake food was tasty but seemed a bit more touristy than I was really interested in. Overall we were impressed with the service we received on the cruise ship. Our room was always straightened twice each day - although occasionally we were missing wash cloths or a bathmat. The rest of the staff was always genuinely helpful and friendly. We did notice there was occasionally times when the information we got was contradictory - but nothing major. Amber and Sam provided incredible information about the shopping in each port. I highly recommend you go to their sessions if shopping is high on your list of port activities! Read Less

We choose this cruise because it was convenient to our location and the timing was right. We were also curious about this cruise line as we have not cruised with them in some time. We booked a balcony suite. We really enjoyed the cruise. We went out of Seattle to Alaska for a week. The food was fantastic, no complaints there, The accommodations were a bit less than stellar. There were no plugins by the bed, so if you have a c-pap you have to ask them to get you an extension cord that drapes across the room to the only plugins, on the small desk. The bed itself was not comfortable. We have cruised on Holland America (4 different ships), Disney, the Norweigan Pearl, and the Oasis of the seas and the bed on this brand new ship was not even in the same league as the others. The entertainment was really good but everything felt crowded. Maybe because this was an Alaskan Cruise and there were no people outside on deck chairs or in the pools. They have a great atrium where they do a lot of the entertainment like game shows and demonstrations etc but it was always packed, standing room only, at literally all the events we attended there. The shows in the big theatre were really very good "Jersey Boys and Havana", we went to Jersey Boys twice. Service and food was excellent in the dining rooms. We tried them all. The food was excellent in all of them, and they had the best bruschetta I have ever had. Ports and excursions were nice. We are glad the tram operator in Juneau told us about the line up for the buses back to the ship so we got in line early. That was really interesting and there is hiking on Mt Roberts at the top. I would recommend that as a must see as well as the white pass railway in Skagway and we had fun on the Duck boat tour in Ketchican. We would not go again, this is my second trip to Alaska and my Husbands first. Too bad about the beds. Read Less

We wanted to do something memorable to celebrate our "fifty years" of marriage. We chose the Norwegian Bliss Alaskan Cruise that was advertised by our local Senior Center. We chose a balcony cabin to enhance the scenic enjoyment of our trip. The accommodations were tight due to the two large bags of luggage that we brought on board. The complimentary dining facilities were excellent and the staff members were very pleasant and highly profession. Completely unlike the attitudes of some of the staff in the specialty restaurants. The food choices were excellent. Our cabin steward (Max) made us feel right at home. His professional attitude and sense of humor put the icing on the cake. Some of the shore excursions seemed a bit pricey, as well as the photo packages that were offered. The rain and sleet in Juneau put a damper on our sightseeing experience, however the "Observation Deck" was a good place to relax and entertain friends. Read Less

I have cruised with NCL 6x prior and had a lovely experience on each one, but I think this one is too much. The Bliss is like shopping at Walmart in West Texas on payday. Too many people clambering to get from point “A” to “B” it was exhausting. Embarking was a breeze ( I had a Haven suite), but the butler service was non-existent. It was ridiculous to have to ask for ice. I just don’t think it wasn’t worth the extra money. We couldn’t get one of the closets closed because it wasn’t deep enough. We had to angle the hangers just right. The food was extraordinary at the restaurants and the service there was awesome. Yet when we went to the Haven restaurant for breakfast 10 minutes before end of breakfast we were turned away and told to go to another venue. I told the staff it was chaos there and was treated like I wasn’t believed. We went and it was chaos. The buffet was just too much. There are too many people to make you comfortable. I just think that NCL has over achieved to the point they forget the passengers by presenting the big, bad and extraordinary. I don’t believe bigger is better. Sometimes less is more. I will not cruise the Bliss again. I will seek out something a little less obnoxious. Read Less

This was the worst cruise by far. I had high hopes though, as my first cruise was with Norwegian, which has been the bar in which I measure all cruises; it was very fantastic. This cruise was seemingly doomed from the get go. Getting on the ship was a pain, the porters were not helpful, the food was terrible, the wait staff was hit and miss, the stateroom was way too small for three people, the bathroom was too small for even one person, our toilet was broken the whole cruise, the service desk was slow to help, the service desk was further rude and unwilling to listen to complaints, the NCL reservation staff I spoke to was highly rude and unwilling to listen (told I had to fill out post cruise review), the shows on board were terrible and far too few, there was little to do on the ship that didn’t require a reservation, some items such as laser tag and go carts had a cost and were not indicated as such at the time the reservations were made, the Wi-Fi service was terrible and barely worked, it cost additional to setup my online account after already paying for Wi-Fi access, the elevator access was terrible, there was no onboard self serve laundry, the on board laundry service was slow overall, was impossible to book reservations due to not knowing what was going on on the ship more than a few hours in advance, there was little instruction on disembarking the ship on the final day, getting off the ship was far slower than I have ever experienced. I could go on and on but this was horrible. I’m pretty sure I will never sail with Norwegian again. Read Less

The Bliss is amazing. The food was the best I ever had on a cruise. The many dining and entertainment venues were sufficient to keep you busy at every moment. Norwegian never misses an opportunity to sell, sell, sell. They are always pushing a product, service, a future cruise, or something that will make them more profitable. The onboard entertainment was quite good, and the production of Jersey Boys rivals the Las Vegas production for talent and quality. Comedians were good, Lounge singers were enjoyable. Production shows are well worthwhile. A large number of both complimentary and upcharge restaurants and specialty food venues line the various decks of the ship. The Waterfront (outside on Deck 8) is especially enjoyable. It has many areas for outside dining and resting while taking in the passing views of the ocean, land masses, and other ships. Also a good place to view migrating whales on the Alaska voyage. For nippy weather, there are overhead bar type heaters to take the chill off. This is a very pleasant facet of the ship. The observation lounge is remarkable with a semi circular view of the outside of the ship and concurrent activities. A great place the relax, or read, or grab a quick snack. a continental breakfast, a coffee, tea, or juice. There is a full service bar within the lounge for your enjoyment, and frequently a person playing background music on a piano. The ship has the finest buffet I have ever experienced on a ship, and it is on par with the better Las Vegas Strip hotels. Each night was a food themed night that featured Alaskan Seafood, or Bar-B- Que, or Steak night, and other interesting offerings. Other features include Salad Bar, Hot Dog and Burger area, Indian Food, and Desserts, among others. The Desserts were unbelievably good and many (if not all) were home made, Truly spectacular. The ship was the star of the cruise, and I would recommend any trip on the Bliss for the pure joy of sailing on her. The ship has a Go-Cart track, a miniature golf course, several water slides, an outdoor big screen by the pool for broadcasting sporting events and sales promos for Norwegian. Read Less

I love cruises and take one a year. A friend encouraged me to go to Alaska next and soon after this conversation, I received a notice from NCL announcing The Bliss which was still being built. The Bliss is a very large ship, almost too large. The elevators were a nightmare during what we call normal hours. There were times when I had trouble finding a place to sit in The Garden Cafe and could not get any machines in the exercise room. NCL built a very large ship with more staterooms but seemed to cut back on the public places. The food in The Garden Cafe was excellent. I never ate anywhere else. Entertainment was good even though I am not a fan of musicals. It was cold and guests actually swam in the pool and got in the hot tub. There was no problem as there sometimes is when sailing in warmer weather. You could get in. I did not. The scenery was magnificent -- really beautiful. The ports were all great. The weather was cool but mostly comfortable and dry except for the inside passage and Juneau, Then it was cold and wet and uncomfortable. Read Less

We have cruised on 7 different cruise lines and been on over 45 cruises and this one was one of the best!! We were a little concerned when we read some of the negative reviews on line. The ship was absolutely beautiful!! The layout of the ship is very easy to navigate. We loved the observation lounge and never had trouble finding a seat. The staff and management were the best we have experienced on any cruise line!! The food and menus in the main dining rooms and in the specialty restaurants were very good. We dined at Le Bistro twice, Cagney's, Ocean Blue and Food Republic and the main dining rooms. We loved our mini-suite!! It was nice to have a big shower and two sinks! Our room steward was excellent! The management was all over the ship and very friendly!! The staff did an excellent job of providing gluten free food in all of the venues. Getting on the ship and off the ship was the quickest and easiest we have experienced! The entertainment choices were great, although we would have loved the player piano bar!! The spa was wonderful- they should institute a no saving policy for the heated loungers and you should only be able to use if you are on the lounger!! There were times where most of the loungers had stuff on them but no people for long periods of time!! Thank you to the management and staff for making the cruise experience special!! Looking forward to our next trip on the Bliss!! Read Less