Norwegian Bliss Review
Rating by category
Additional details
I chose this cruise because my travel agent organized it. From the cancelled ports of call to the dessert that tasted like compressed sand, the 157 minute dinner service, the elevators being too crowded to fit people resulting in long waits, broken hand towel machines, dirty restrooms, staterooms that resembled those of an RV and then everything being closed for a private event, and NCL catering to a huge group of travel agents, poor entertainment, fitness center which was OK, but didn't allow to use the sauna unless you paid $267 additional - made this cruise was the biggest waste of time and money. I would have never agreed to get on the ship had they disclosed the trip itinerary changes. It was shady they waited until we had set sail to disclose the changes. Not having WiFi we couldn't look into the new ports of call. I had my heart set on Mexico. I have been to San Francisco and San Diego more than any other city in the world excluding the ones where I have lived. Had NCL offered me a deferral on a different date I would have taken it. Instead I paid way too much money to spend a few hours in cities I have been to 40-50 times and would never travel to for vacation.
This was disappointing at a minimum. Sorry if my story is not a good one, its just an honest one. I will for sure never choose to book on a ship of this size ever again and likely never go on NCL again.
Cabin Review
Inside Stateroom
Not enough room to move around the bed. There was no dresser, just a few shelves tucked in the back of the closet. There were not enough hangers for clothes. By the end of the trip, we had no where for our dirty clothes since we had to use the suitcases for our clean clothes as not enough space. We were tripping over shoes and clothes in the middle of the night. The bathroom was great, the shower was great.
Port Reviews
San Francisco
I have probably spent a total of 8 months of my life here. I went to a couple favorite hang outs and wasted time until I had to get back on the ship. I was freezing as it was 54 and cloudy for the first part of the day and I did't have clothes for cold weather.
San Diego
We were not supposed to be here. I didn't need a tour because i had been here 8 times and knew what to do and where to do it. San Diego is not that interesting.
Ensenada
Took a city guided tour for 1/3 the price of that offered on the ship and was likely far better. It gets 3 stars because its the only bit of Mexico I got to see. Its not a pretty city or a fun city or a beach city, but it was an interesting city and the people were friendly.
A few more specific details of note:
1. Havana was horrible. Middle schools had better productions. I was seated in the 3rd row and watched horrible out of synch dancing, a male dancer drop a female dancer, a male dancer tuck the shirt tag in on another male dancer mid performance, Cuban accents that sounded more like Boris and Natasha, a very odd rope swing and tons of off key singing.
2. Speaking of middle school, the theater looked like an auditorium from a 1980s build middle school with an odd neon ceiling.
3. Jersey Boys was surprisingly GREAT! I enjoyed it!
4. I fell asleep in the commedian - so thats my review of that.
Dinners were pretty much the same every night with a little difference. Only did Savor, Taste and Manhattan room as they were all that was offered in my package. They were mediocre at best. I had 2 soups that were outstandingly great, the rest seemed on par with what you would get at a wedding reception at a second rate hall.
Breakfast was fine, hard to mess that up. Lovely jovial staff singing songs and reciting poems as they served you muffins.
Coffee and bottles of water. Going to Mexico, there should be bottles of water everywhere! They had specialty coffee but not included in the packages so we wound up at Starbucks and had to pay extra. So not cool!
One of the few items we got to do, because someone made reservations in advance was the escape room. All that was, was 10 teams going into one of the restaurants that wasn't being used and doing word searches and figuring out puzzles. Nothing to do with an escape room.
Never got on the gokarts.
The water slide. First person I knew to go down the one that looks like a bank teller chute said it messed up his equilibrium and had balance issues for the rest of the day. Second person had a huge chunk of skin ripped off his back and they had to shut down the slide for some time after. The third person was covered in bruises head to toe. They need to remove this waterslide. This is dangerous. The one guy couldn't even get in a hot tub or pool and was in a lot of pain with his skin being removed! Shut this danger down!
The pool deck! The first day at sea there wass a few moments of sunshine before we headed into days of fog. The pool deck was full, atmosphere was nice. With the sun, it was just warm enough to enjoy but still not summer like. I went to go to the pool and it was cold, because the pool was 100% in the shade by a giant TV screen. There was no music playing, no DJ, no live band, just a giant TV screen. Then after a while they started playing Back to the Future on the giant TV screen. Why would they play a movie in the middle of the day, rather than at night when its dark out? Why would they pick a 33 year old movie to show that likely EVERYONE has seen! The sound effects were so loud but couldn't understand what people were saying in the movie. Ridiculously horrible choice! What was worse was that half the folks on the deck were ready to stage a mutiny and well into their drinks. So they were shouting non-stop to shut it off. I agreed with them, the movie had to go, but after a half hour of people griping, that got even MORE annoying and I went to the rear deck to relax. It was like going over to someones house to see them but their room mate has the TV blasting. Reading a book or relaxing on the pool deck was not possible. That was the only time I was there. Also a lot of times the pool deck was closed for a private event... or setting up for the private event!
Worst ship I have ever been on in every way.