We've been on quite a few cruises over the years mostly in the Caribbean so we figured Alaska has been on our list and began planning last year to do it. We're out of Atlanta so we planned an extra day to see Seattle. The locals folks us not to say this but..it is a really cool city. We walked 12.5 miles Saturday before and saw most everything...had the best Copper River Salmon for lunch...So back to the cruise, all of our research we knew that when Alaska cruise season opens up, prices and people counts do as well. Our Delta flight was over booked as were all flights they had to and from Seattle to ATL. We found a Holiday Inn Express in City Center, a nice $90 a night room for $300 during the season. After our marathon day of walking around we ended up at the Space Needle for sunset and a glass of wine. After that we hit McDonalds for a quick bite before bed, 2 Big Macs and 2 Medium fries was $19... We took advantage of some of the packages NCL was giving away, Ultimate Beverage and Specialty Dinners. As soon as we could book reservations we mapped out our excursion days and filled in the dining schedule. We'll get into the excursion pieces a bit later. So, we've been on the Getaway and Escape, they are all pretty similar. The Bliss layout takes it to a new level with the Observation Lounge, spectacular views with quite a bit of space. As we encountered some choppy seas heading out the patches and Dramamine was in abundance. People were passed out all over the Lounge sleeping. The service levels throughout by the NCL staffers was excellent, always a smile and "hello" from everyone. As mentioned in another review on the same cruise the cabin steward was pretty invisible. Ours did not show until Thursday and was slow in cleaning the room, most of the time waited until we left for dinner then took care of it..The ship was fully booked which at times made it crowded. There were large groups of international families that had a tendency to be very loud, particularly in the Garden Cafe and on excursions took the word "selfie" to a new level with little or no regard to the other passengers, 9 or 10 on the Rude meter, but like I mentioned it was crowded. Our guess on the availability of some of the activities was weather related. Many of the younger folks braved the pool and water slides. The pool water was heated but the air and breeze were cold so there weren't many places to go. Our stateroom was OK and held all of our long underwear, coats, and boots we could pack and keep us under 50lbs..The Entertainment was just ok, we had reservations for Havana, the dancers were good, one of the big guys wiped out and almost landed in the front row. Jersey Boys was really good, maybe a bit too harsh on the language but they got their point across.The Beatles show was awesome, they pulled together some very talented and visually compelling musicians. They were all spot on with the sound and mannerisms...We could not get into Prohibition it was available when we went on the 8 hr tour in Juneau be we weren't then it was booked solid..The dining was excellent, the Garden Cafe is one of my favorites as well as the Local (O'Sheehans) with Prime Rib first night out and then offered again later. We did La Cucina, Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, and Ocean Blue service and food was all good, the only negative was not being able to eat out side, too cold and sometimes rainy. Overall, we really had no expectations having never been through the drill before but if we do this one again we;ll be back on the Bliss, have a better idea of clothes to pack, and probably aim for later in June or early July to schedule it but we really enjoyed this one. We can get into the excursion later on but Glacier Bay paid for the trip..