Norwegian Bliss Review

Underwhelming and disappointing

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Bliss
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Michael730
2-5 Cruises • Age 30s

Rating by category

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jan 2019
Cabin: Mid-ship Mini-Suite with Balcony

My husband and I took this cruise for our honeymoon and were so excited to go on the new large ship both having been in Norwegian cruises a couple times each, myself on the Dawn a couple times to Bermuda. Overall the main problem came down to two things: first, the boat was far too large and had way too many passengers for the cruise staff to handle. From the table service dining to the bars, almost everything. The buffet was the only portion of the ship that I would consider ran very well and kept very well stocked. The sit down restaurants the staff were very nice but very slow, not attentive, very unorganized, everyone running around including the managers. Working at a restaurant myself full time I can tell when a place is disorganized and chaotic. This resulted in very long wait times for the food, the food being like warm when served etc. You could order a drink at dinner and not get it for 20 minutes or at all some nights without reminding the server. This seemed to be the same situation going on at all the tables around us as well, large or small parties (there were only two of us so shouldn’t have been hard). The steakhouse specialty restaurant had a good filet but minus that the food at the table service was just ok. The chicken dishes too salty, the strip steak very fatty, soups too cold, salads too much dressing and crappy quality lettuce etc. I was very disappointed when comparing to the dawn which we were all so pleased with the food and service. The restaurants overall were too large for the amount of staff to handle as well as the kitchen. We didn’t have to wait long when we would go for a table but we would’ve preferred to have waited a half hour and then have gotten better service. The hosts and hostesses did a great job though. Our server at the steakhouse was good. As for the outdoor space, I was so disappointed! The same number of hot tubs/jacuzzis as on the Dawn which is almost half the passengers!! And one small pool that is deep the entire length!? Made no sense, forget finding a lounge chair after 8 am! It was crazy! Some days we would circle the ship for an hour before we would find something and there was only two of us! There was also a beach club section closed off that you needed reservations for on the ship too which I didn’t understand! They should’ve spent less money on decor and added another six hot tubs and a second pool for adults (there is a fairly large child pool go figure). The casino was also not big enough and the gym weight area could fit 4 people at once! So crazy! Lastly the disembarkment process was a mess! We reserved a shuttle through them to Fort Lauderdale airport and they gave us color coded luggage tags and took our luggage the night before off the ship. The luggage was supposed to be arranged by section after you depart the boat but ours were spread out over three huge factory style rooms! We spent a half hour finding our luggage almost missing our shuttle! That was a horrible way to end my vacation! All the luggage tags indicating the color section came off all of our luggage? I told someone working for Norwegian and she didn’t seem to be too concerned with our issue. Outrageous! I am usually very used to crowds and vacations like this, I frequent Disney world often, but please avoid this large disaster of a ship! Take one of the smaller ships old or not!

Cabin Review

Mid-ship Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin MA

The cabin was one of the only nice parts, very annoyingly narrow for being a “mini suite” but had a very comfortable bed, large bathroom, and nice balcony, the balcony was one of the best parts! Our housekeeper was the best as well, he was on top of it every time we left the room!

Port Reviews

St. Thomas

Took a local outdoor seating large cab type thing to Magans Bay Beach, much cheaper than booking transport through the cruiseline. Ended up paying half the price. The beach was nice, it’s a bay so not real waves. Busy beach though especially for a Tuesday, it was nice but I preferred horseshoe bay in Bermuda.

Tortola

Went to the shops right off the boat, only boarded here until 2:30 pm so figured it wasn’t enough time to go to a beach. The shops were ok, would’ve gotten up earlier and hit a beach if were to go again.

Nassau

Took a cab to Atlantis just to see it, walked around and went in the casino. Came back and went to the area if Nassau right off of where the boats were docked. Very sketchy area and very trashy in my opinion. Too many hagglers.

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