So I have been on RC, Disney and carnival. I can honestly say, sailing on the Norwegian was the worst experience. We booked a balcony room, which wa tiny! I mean very very very small. The bathroom layout was good. There is not much storage space. So when entered the cruise to a small casino, most ships you enter into a grand atrium. We were not greeted by any staff. Their was no instruction on where the food was or where to go. We finally checked into our room which was 1/2 cleaned. The staff had to reclean as trash was left in our closet. Staff members (pretty much all of them) were rude. You will not find good help! They charge for everything on this ship. Their is no set dinning time, so if you do not book your dinning everyday, you won’t get in. The food is mediocre even at the speciality restaurants. Their is no sports court to play basketball etc. They charge for laser tag, go carts etc. theaters and shows are not impressive. The Havana show was a glorified strip tease. Needless to say, I will not be sailing with this cruise line again. Everything closes down at midnight. One cafe open 24-7 with crap food. Read Less

The Bliss does not have a sports area, only a tiny 5 course mini golf area, no pool activities. Indoor activities are very slim, no Quest on this ship. Basically this ship is for relaxation or if your a person that does not like any activities. Customer service I thought was very poor, I felt most of the staff seems unhappy. The bartenders at The Local were the best and always fun. Comedy was just ok, Jersey Boys is a must see. My cabin steward did a great job with my cabin, always very clean. We did the specialty restaurants they were all outstanding, food was delish! The garden cafe did seem to have a good variety of different foods, I did get sick of something I ate in the Garden Cafe (Buffet). Very easy to get off when docked they opened two gangways and seemed to have a good flow going. Read Less

If I could give less stars, I would. Not sure where to even start.... With this being a brand new boat, you would expect them to treat it like one and keep it clean. Our walls in our stateroom had feet all down the side of them. Maybe from the previous kids who left their crayons under the bed as well as their snot rags in the "under the tv" cubby. Out of all the staff, there were maybe 5 crew members who were remember able. Not counting our room steward who never once introduced themselves but expected that 14.50 service charge tip daily per person, per day, over the age of 3. One day, we sat two cups down the hallway near a cart and they were returned to our room. Yeah, you read that right. They brought the cups back to us that we were done with as well as the trash that was in them. On two separate occasions, I was looking at jewelry, not one person at either place could speak to me. They did spray glass cleaner in my direction right where I was looking though. It's a shame honestly. I really wanted that ring! -The only adult bar on the cruise ship turned into a teen night at 10pm each night. IF YOU ARE A SMOKER, DONT BOTHER. They put you in a 20 by 10 space on the back on the boat with 50 (drunk) people. No smoking cigarettes in the cigar bar but cigar smokers can smoke out in our hole. There is smoking allowed in the casino but you are patrolled to ensure you are putting money in the machine. Deck chairs are pulled up and strapped down by 4pm. No where to sit...(sun doesnt go down until almost 7) Make sure you eat by 330, otherwise you will be waiting until 530pm or ordering room service. Everything is just very forced. It's not on your time. If you do not prebook shows or restaurants, you wont be seeing any or eating anywhere other than the buffet. If you like to hang out in the pool while on a ship, forget the name Bliss. There is 2 small pools in the middle of the ship. That's it. I'll stop now. Back to Royal Caribbean we go. Read Less

We picked this cruise as we were celebrating our 20 year anniversary. This particular cruise included our very favorite islands, as it's probably the main reason why we chose this one. We have cruised with many different lines and never tried NCL - we thought it would be a great experience with one of their newest ships. Sadly, we were wrong! Our room was a spa room - typically on ships these are away from noise and near the spa. Not on the Bliss. I kept hearing constant noises above our room. Come to find out the workout room was directly above us. My husband walked the steps and sure enough it was the weights people were lifting and dropping. Over a SPA ROOM. We brought this to the front desk multiple times and were brushed off. The ship is very much designed for Alaska with many beautiful inside areas. Not so much if you're cruising the Caribbean and want to be outside. Pool chairs anywhere are limited. We went to the front desk and inquired and we were told about Vibe - the weekly passes were gone, but a cabana was open for $359. We decided to go for it to have a place to stay and not worry about people reserving chairs at 7a - only to come back and use for 30 minutes later. We made it up to Vibe - wonderful area and staff. Only to find out that the hot tub had been taken over by a loud crude group. Playing music on their personal speakers and ignoring the sign hanging - Quiet Area. The hot tub sits in front of the start of the 6 cabanas, so it was not really relaxing. We brought this up to front desk and they didn't seem to care. The free drinks are a joke. 2-3 bartenders per bar with many people waiting to get a drink. Not many bar staff members in areas such as pool or casino to order drinks from. Food was below average. It was difficult to follow the limited hours of the free places - for example on sea days the sit down dining rooms closed at 9:30a. Most people are on vacation and not setting early alarms to eat. Restaurants were ok - Le Bistro, Japanese, and Steak place were the ones we tried. Japanese was by far the best! Staff was rude and left really bad impressions. The spa and Vibe were the exceptions. Think again before you book on this ship! Read Less

I chose this due to timing with my children being off of college & the ports we would see w/ great weather. Everything pre-cruise was a nightmare trying to contact anyone. I had over 9 hours of hold time and no call backs & the supervisor did not help. Could not get dinner or show reservations I had previously booked. My kids got stuck on the “awesome water slide” & has to wait in a hatch until they were let out (they weigh almost 150# & should be able to make the turn), the race track is slow and costs $9 for 4 laps. The kiosks did not work to book shows on a “new” ship and you had to wait in long “guest service “ lines. There are no chairs available at the pool. The staff were not very friendly. We got sick on oysters at the steak restaurant. No one seems to care at all about our experience. I tried to contact nick but it says that page took a permanent vacation after I was again on hold for over 30 minutes to get that site info! Beware of ncl! The “freestyle “ allows you to hold up reservations & not show w/no consequences while leaving empty seats for food enters. Terrible program! Read Less

Did this cruise with a group of 26 people. While the ship was overall beautiful and the food and drinks were great, the price was way too high for what you got. We got the unlimited drink package and the 4 night specialty dining option. While the food and drinks were amazing, the service in 2 of the main dining halls (The Manhattan Room and Taste) were terrible. Took over 2 hours just to get our food and we were seated right when they opened. If you didn't book a reservation for any of the other specialty restaurants or the 3 main dinning halls when you first got on and had to be right when they start boarding, you had to wait to eat a nice dinner at almost 8-9 pm or go eat in the buffet. The one comedy show I was able to see had some very funny comedians and Jersey Boys was awesome but trying to get into these shows was terrible. They put you in a stand by line if you don't have reservations and if people show up 10-15 mins late, they still let these groups in. Wasn't fair in my opinion to those that were there 10-15 mins prior to showtime to get a seat waiting in stand by. Same with the Go-Karts and Laser Tag. The Go-Karts were fun but not worth the extra $10 in my opinion. The staff at the go-kart track was terrible and they let young kids (8-9 yrs old) race that cant even see over the steering wheel, barely reaching the pedals, are not staying over in the right lane so you end up running into them if they can't make the turn. They also get mad if you accidently bump into someone who crashed or cut right in front of you. They also don't even have a standby line for any solo racers so they would let 8 karts go in one and then send out 5 in the next group. Also, you would book a time for 3pm but wouldn't even race until almost and hour later. Also good luck if it rains because if so, they cancel your race without being able to rebook and just give you back your money. Not really fair in my opinion. Both activities they just show you a video and then let you go. Overall the reservation system is total garbage. Outside of those, the Cabin/stateroom is very nice and the staff take very good care of your room and your belongings. Overall, its nice if you just want a getaway but not worth the extra money they nickel and dime you for. Would much rather be back on Carnival next time. Read Less

This was our first cruise and planned for over a year for Christmas week 2018. Boarded in Miami and cruised St.Thomas, Tortola, and Bahamas. After exploring the ship on boarding day and eating at the buffet I thought we were in for a week of our lives. On Sunday morning we woke fairly early to have our first pool day, to my disbelief there was barely a chair to be found. We found a couple chairs eventually in a shaded area far from the one pool. Yes, that is correct they have ONE pool! They advertise two but the second has toddlers in diapers connected to water park area for toddlers. So unless you have little ones or like to swim in diapers its not for you. The first pool I mentioned is about the same size as the pool in my backyard! There's no easy entrance to the pool, no swim up bar, but plenty of salt if you bring your margarita! I literally swam once in the entire week. The two slides are flawed as it takes 45 minutes in line to ride them. The extreme ride was designed so poorly that many riders actually don't make the apex and slide helplessly backward and need to be extracted by personnel. Needless to say I did not attempt this nor my two children as the wait and failure rate just didn't seem worth it. I will finish with this regarding the pool area, on day two I woke early to mark four chairs for my family with towels and clips and bags, as this is how it's done on cruises. Upon arrival later that morning my chairs were now down to two, my bag was missing, and I almost got into a fight. Wow! what a cruise dream! They have go carts and laser tag for kids if you can sign up in time. I'll be honest I still don't know what that means because we never had a chance to sign up because it was full every time someone tried! Yes, we spent 7 days on a cruise ship with two teens and they barely swam, used one slide twice, and never saw go carts or laser tag. In my opinion they should have left the carts and tag off the ship and build some real pools. On the positive side the food and drinks were very good. The three shows we saw were also very well done. The room was decent size and always clean. The employees do an amazing job and are always friendly. Unfortunately for us this was designed around my kids and nephews who left highly disappointed. I would not recommend this ship to anyone with children, actually I would not recommend this ship to anyone as the pool deck experience is horrific! Read Less

We have gone on two previous cruises but both on Royal Caribbean. We did the Allure in the Caribbean and a smaller ship I can't remember the name of in the Mediterranean last year. This time we wanted to try something different and we took our whole family of 10 with us! We were excited to be on the new Bliss with a go kart track and laser tag! The whole family was looking forward to it for months! Plus we were spending a pretty penny! Early on I had a clue that NCL was not so great when I ran into issues with their customer service and booking. I actually wanted to cancel but I was too deep and would lose too much money. I decided to put the issues aside and was sure the ship and experience would be grand just like it is with Royal Caribbean. For starters, The staff on the ship are "indifferent" heck even the people who check you in at the port are passive aggressive. The words that come out of their mouth are polite but the attitude and disinterest far over power the vocabulary. This is such a contrast to Royal where we are hugging out wait staff and room attendants when the trip was ending. On NCL every time we dined it would take at least 10 to 15 minutes to get water and acknowledged. If you didn't like a meal they didn't care. Frankly they got you your order, dropped it off and NEVER asked you how you liked the food. Not one single meal were any of us asked if we needed anything else. They literally do the bare minimum to get by. I suspect NCL must treat their staff terribly because they are virtually all miserable and frankly it ruined our experience. Let me also tell you that the Ultimate beverage package is not for wine drinkers. Their wine selection is terrible on the ship and the wines by the glass that are included in your package are $10 bottles at home. Anything of any decent caliber is of course only sold by the bottle. I caved and bought a bottle because my beverage package had a 20% discount BUT they add a 25% service charge automatically! Normally this is fine but there is no service so what am I paying for? Even mixed drinks at the Mojito bar conveniently starting at $10.95 when your beverage package is only up to $10 per drink. So after you are nickeled and dimed on the drinks keep in mind the go cart track is $10 per ride. Now this is IF you can get a spot because it's reservation only so hurry up! Same with laser tag and the Prohibition musical. Jersey boys was great and free but again make sure you book it early to get your seat! Lastly the layout of the ship was terrible and there was one small pool for 4000 people. Ridiculous! The only good thing is the rooms are very nice and bathrooms are larger but certainly not enough of a plus to override the experience. I could go on and on but I will end here by saying NCL will never get a dime of my money again and there were ALOT of other people on the ship who were feeling the same way. Think long and hard before choosing NCL... heed my advice and go with Royal Carribean! I heard from others Carnival is great service too! Heck I would do anyone BUT NCL! Read Less

We have taken many cruises in the past but this was our first with Norwegian (I should say first and last). It’s a very large ship with not enough staff to provide quality customer service and the staff we encountered were not very friendly nor attentive to anyones needs. We hoped to take advantage of the shows, the specialty dining, the spa, the onboard racetrack. All of which required reservations in advance but you could not reserve in advance online. The only option was to book the onboard activities when you boarded. Well by the second day everything was booked and we could not take advantage of anything we had planned. Our family who joined us had a three year old with them and while they expected not to have much available for a child this age, the”Guppies” program that Norwegian advertises is a joke. A couple of toys and some coloring pages and not a staff in sight. Since there was nothing else to do, we ended up spending numerous hours in the casino where the machines were old and again no staff in sight to ask if we needed a drink. We had to leave the machine we were playing to go to the bar and get our own drinks where the staff made you feel like you were bothering them. The food was mediocre at best. The one specialty restaurant we were able to get into lacked the quality we expected from a “specialty” restaurant. The food was no better than what was served at the buffet. The cabin was smaller than I expected, but that was not the problem. The problem was that it was not as clean as it could’ve been. When the sun shined on the closet doors, you could see the splatter marks of god knows what. We could not even say anything to the cabin person because we never saw her/him. The air conditioning kept shutting down and all night long we had to keep getting up to turn it back on and no instructions on how to use it. You always had to keep your key in a slot by the door in order for the lights to work. If you didn’t, you would have no light in the cabin so you had to be mindful not to lock yourself out when you left the cabin. Absolutely the worst cruise we have ever taken. We met many other passengers on this cruise who felt the same way about it and so we knew it was not just us. Read Less

Due to medical needs, we were allowed to have priority boarding. While embarking on the ship, we noticed people literally running by us. Two quite large young woman literally pushed me out of their way (I wear an ankle brace due to recent bone graft surgery). Then we saw another couple sprinting up the gangway. We had wanted to buy passes for Vibe Beach Club and once we got to the area and were 8th in line, we were told that we did not have a number therefore we could not purchase the pass (no one was giving out numbers). The large women that pushed me out of the way were already there right in front of us and had numbers. We were also told that they only sold 15-20 passes and that everything else was sold out. My understanding is that they have somewhere near 70 passes to sell. Its impossible that they sold 50-60 passes when we were one of the first passengers on the ship.. Something was not right. We have always gotten the Vibe passes and have sailed numerous times on Norwegian Cruise Line. We did report this to the higher ups and let them know that this has become a very volatile, dangerous situation. It was like a stampede. We have never seen this on either Epic, Getaway, Escape or any other ship for that matter. We told Wade (the guy selling the passes) that if we could not get passes then we would be getting off the ship. He put us on a waiting list and I told him that I would be back in touch with him in an hour. Fortunately, we were able to get the passes. I must say that the Vibe Beach Club is usually almost empty so I do not understand where all the passes go because the people do not show up. I don't remember exactly how many cabanas there were (5 or 6 I think) and only 3 of them were taken and we were told that the other are reserved for high ranking officers. I don't understand why these officers can't go to Haven. It's always empty over there. This cruise line really needs to get their act together in my opinion. Now to move on to the casino. The ventilation is not very good. As soon as you get off the elevator the smell of smoke almost chokes you. They also have a very large smoking area which makes the non-smoking area much smaller than their other ships. Specialty restaurants - Not so special. They were better on Getaway and Escape. The first dinner at Cagneys was horrible, but in their defense, they gave us another night to make up for it and the food was much better. Cagneys had always been our favorite specialty restaurant. Keisha was great and was able to redeem the restaurant. LaCucina was not good at all and the service was terrible. It took over 2 hours and we missed the show that night. We also missed the show the first night due to the Cagney fiasco. It seemed that many of the guests were also having issues. We were told it was because hundreds of crew members were switched at Miami. So, needless to say, we were not having such a great experience this trip. This was going to be our last cruise for awhile due to upcoming intense medical treatments, so to say we were disappointed would be an understatement. In closing, unless NCL does something different about getting the passes for Vibe Beach Club and their embarkment procedures, we will most likely sail on other cruise lines. I am not going to risk getting hurt by passengers who have no manners and will push, shove and almost trample other passengers to get the passes. I have never seen anything like it in all my years of cruising. It's shameful for a cruise line to allow this to happen. Read Less