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Norwegian Bliss Photo Tour
Norwegian Bliss cruise review 2020
Norwegian Bliss cruise review 2018-19
Norwegian Bliss in the Caribbean photo feature
Norwegian Bliss Goes To Sea video
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CRUISE REVIEW
NORWEGIAN BLISS Western Caribbean cruise Winter 2020 by Richard H. Wagner |
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This was a 14-day cruise from New York City to the Western Caribbean. The ports of call included: Port Canaveral; Great Stirrup Cay; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Grand Cayman; Roatan; Harvest Caye; Costa Maya; and Cozumel.
What a difference a year makes. Last year, we reviewed our cruise on this ship in glowing terms. (See prior review). This year, while we found the ship quite comfortable, we found some issues. Bliss is a Breakaway-Plus class ship. In other words, she is an enhanced version of the Breakaway class megaships and for all practical purposes can be considered part of the Breakaway class. The Breakaways are good quality ships, built by the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. Among the enhancements on Bliss is an impressive observation lounge that not only offers panoramic views but acts as a dining venue, an entertainment area and a social gathering point. Bliss' décor is the best of any of the Norwegian ships and includes an extensive contemporary art collection. The crew includes some of the friendliest people we have met at sea. People who are willing to go out of their way to make the guests happy. However, we also encountered quite a few people who viewed themselves as having a certain set of duties and who were unwilling to go beyond those duties. Rather than take ownership of an issue and bring it to someone who could resolve it, they were quick to respond “it is not my job.” This leads one to wonder whether NCL has grown too fast and cannot find enough of the type of people who traditionally served in its ships. Also, little things had disappeared. In the past, the Breakaway class ships had complimentary coffee and pastries at the Maltings bar in the morning for early risers and the “Pastry Girls” would offer guests complimentary pastries each morning in the atrium lobby. (Of course, on Bliss, there is a Starbucks where guests can buy coffee and pastries). And, as quite a few guests pointed out to us, unlike the past, there were no towel animals on this cruise. It was hard to escape from the hard sell. For example, one evening we were having dinner in one of the specialty restaurants. A ship's photographer approached us asking to take a photo. This happens on quite a few cruise lines. However, here, the photographer returned later and interrupted our meal again to show us prints of the photo she had taken and say that this would be our only opportunity to purchase these prints. NCL has always done quite a bit of selling products and services aboard but it seemed to be more so this time. Passengers The passengers on this cruise were mostly mature with few young children aboard. This is to be expected during a long cruise that takes place when the schools are in session in the United States. Most of the guests were from the northeastern United States. However, there were sizable numbers of guests from French Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Bliss can accommodate some 4,000 passengers. For the most part, she handles this number well as there are a lot of venues to absorb the passengers. However, there were problems with the passenger flow on the sea days running along the East Coast of the United States. The ship has a very open design with a substantial amount of outdoor space. It is wonderful to dine outside in the various specialty restaurants that line the Waterfront outdoor promenade on a warm Caribbean evening. Along the same lines, the Waterfront provides a less crowded alternative to the pool deck for sitting or walking during when there is nice weather. But when the ship is in cold or bad weather, all of the people who would normally be outside are forced inside. As a result, the indoor pubic areas of the ship become quite crowded on the winter days when the ship is traveling along the East Coast to and from New York and on the sea days when it is rainy in the Caribbean. On such days, it becomes very apparent that there are a lot of passengers on this ship. Dining Dining is a major part of an NCL cruise. NCL's Freestyle system is designed to allow guests to dine when they want and where they want. Of course, this is subject to availability but on this cruise, we were usually able to get a table when we wanted and where we wanted without too long of a wait. The ship has three main dining rooms - - the twin Taste and Savor and the larger more elegant Manhattan Room. Taste and Savor were open for breakfast, lunch (sea days only) and dinner on this cruise. The Manhattan Room was only open for dinner. All three restaurants used the same dinner menu, which changed each night. The food in the main dining rooms ranged from good (e.g., the salmon, the vegetable burrito) to mediocre. Service was generally good and friendly although there were almost always mix-ups in our orders. Unlike our experiences on Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway, there was no live entertainment in the Manhattan Room during this cruise. A complimentary alternative to the main dining rooms is The Local. This venue, called O'Sheehan's on earlier Breakaway class ships, has the décor of a New York City Irish bar and serves comfort food. It is open 24 hours. We had breakfast there most mornings and lunch there a few times so it was a venue that we enjoyed. However, the menu is not as extensive as in the O'Sheehan's on other ships and the burgers, once among the best at sea, have become mediocre. As with the main dining rooms the service was friendly but there was one or more mix-ups in the orders nearly every time we were there. Bliss offers an array of specialty restaurants that involve an additional charge. Cagney's steakhouse is the most popular.and the restaurant demonstrated why during our visit. The filet mignon was excellent as was the tuna steak. We also liked the unusual tasting tomato soup appetizer. NCL's oldest specialty restaurant is the French-inspired Le Bistro. Our meal there was disappointing. The steak (filet mignon) was over cooked. The Coquilles St. Jacques Provencal appetizer consisted of three tiny, rubbery scallops. Also disappointing was the Ocean Blue specialty restaurant. When this venue premiered on Norwegian Breakaway where it offered an extensive selection of fresh fish dishes. The menu now is much less extensive and less imaginative. Further, there seemed to be nothing special about the preparation. Indeed, the salmon dish was not as good as the complimentary salmon in the main dining room. A venue often overlooked by passengers is La Cucina, the Italian-inspired restaurant. We had an excellent meal there including tasty calamari and a large personal pizza. The filet mignon topped with Gorgonzola cheese was as tasty as the one in Cagney's. The service was excellent both times we visited this venue. We were also very impressed by Los Lobos, a Mexican-inspired specialty restaurant that premiered on Bliss in the location where Moderno is located on earlier Breakaway class ships. A staff member made delicious fresh guacamole tableside. The quesadills were excellent. And despite a mix up in our order, the Burrito Rojo was quite good but not as good as the excellent vegetable burrioto in the main dining room. |
Entertainment
Bliss offered a wide assortment of entertainment. The offerings were mass market fare with no enrichment programming or cultural shows. There were two production shows in the Bliss Theater. One was a version of the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys”, which is based on the story of the Four Seasons. Since it incorporates the music of the Four Seasons, it was bound to be a crowd pleaser. However, the quality of the production and the perforamnce were quite good and it was a highlight of the voyage. The other show is “Six,” which is very loosely based on the story of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. Dressed in Goth-inspired costumes, the six cast members sing and dance the stories of each of Henry's wives. We very much disagree with the idea that a human tragedy that involved the killing of quite a few people is a fit subject for light musical entertainment. However, this show was very well-received by those who attended. Appearing both in the theater and in the Cavern Club was the Beatles Experience. This is a Beatles tribute show with costumed performers playing the music of the Beatles. Given the enduring popularity of the Beatles, this was another show that was bound to be a crowd pleaser. However, In previous incarnations of this show, the performers had not only learned the Beatles' music but had studied their stage performance and copied some of their movements and banter. While these performers were accomplished musicians, their Argentinian accents sounded nothing like the boys from Liverpool. This spoiled the illusion and made the show unintentionally comic. It would have been much better if they had just played the music as themselves in their normal clothes. Still, the band played to packed houses both in the theater and in the Cavern. Four stand-up comedians appeared during this voyage, doing shows in the Social and in the Bliss Theater. Each did both family-friendly and adults-only performances. Of the comics, Mike Long and Dylan Mandlsohn were the best received. As with all modern cruise ships, Bliss offered internet connection. We found the service comparable to that of most other cruise ships. We had no problems with the service but in our opinion, it was rather expensive. The Stateroom On this cruise, we had a balcony stateroom. In general, we were pleased with the cabin, which was pretty much state-of-the art. It was comfortable with the furniture arranged in a standard cruise ship pattern. There was a decent amount of storage space including a closet and two cabinets under the counter of the combination desk/dressing table. (A third cabinet was taken up by the mini-bar). The décor of the cabin was in muted earth color shades - - a welcome change from the garish colors of the cabins up to and through NCL's Jewel class ships. It also had a nice piece of abstract art (not a flat print) that gave the room a more upmarket character. As on most contemporary ships, the cabin was equipped with a safe, a telephone and a coffee maker. You could also do such things as review your bill and check your calendar on the flat screen television. One flaw in the arrangement was that the only electrical outlets were a considerable distance from the bed. Thus, unless your device had a long cord, you had to rely on the battery if you wanted to use it in bed. Unlike the cabins on Norwegian Epic (and the studio cabins on Bliss) where the various bathroom components are located in different parts of the cabin, the bathroom in this cabin was a single unit containing the sink, toilet and a large shower. There was a connecting door between our cabin and the neighboring cabin. All too often a connecting door - - even when closed - - funnels the noise from one cabin to another. However, on Bliss, we heard no noise coming through the door. The room steward kept the room clean and well-supplied. However, it was not until afternoon on most days that the room was refreshed even though it had been vacant since early morning. We had the feeling that the steward had too many staterooms to cover in a timely fashion. The balcony was a good size and had a small table and two chairs. Just beyond the balcony railing was a glass roof covering the Food Republic restaurant. During the call in Port Canaveral, a flock of sea gulls took to roosting on the glass roof. They left souvenirs of their visit. When the guano had remained there for several days, we pointed it out to the staff and suggested that maintenance should clean off the roof. This was met with the “it is not my job” response. Eventually, most of the guano wore away due to the elements. Tendering On this cruise, two of the ports, Great Stirrup Cay and Grand Caymen were scheduled to be tender ports where the passengers are ferried to and from shore on small boats. Mid-cruise it was announced that Harvest Cay would also be a tender port because another ship had damaged the pier and Bliss would not be able to dock. Great Stirrup Cay is a private island in the Bahamas operated by NCL. The tender service there is provided by large tenders that are based on the island. As usually happens in a tender port, most of the guests wanted to go ashore shortly after the ship arrived in the port. Since more people want to go ashore than can fit in a tender, cruise ships typically require guests to obtain a ticket for the tenders during the morning rush. The guests then wait in the public areas until their ticket is called over the public address system. On this cruise, tickets were required well into the afternoon. In other words, the tendering process went unusually slowly. Meanwhile, guests could see two much larger Royal Caribbean ships docked at neighboring Coco Cay. Their passengers could just walk onto Royal's private island. Although Grand Cayman is a popular port frequented by many cruise lines, Bliss was the only ship in port the day it called. Thus, all of the numerous large tenders that operate in Grand Cayman were available to shuttle passengers ashore and NCL hired several to service Bliss during this call. Still, there were long lines waiting to board the tenders into the afternoon. Given this history, guests were dismayed when it was announced that Harvest Cay would also be a tender port. There was further dismay when the ship anchored far off the island, which made for a long tender ride to shore. The decision to anchor so far out was puzzling. Since Bliss normally docks at Harvest Cay, it follows that a ship can get close to the island. In any event, many guests that we spoke with who had planned to go ashore, decided to stay aboard rather than go through the tender process again. In sum, Norwegian Bliss is a well-maintained state-of-the-art large ship. The ship has many good attributes. However, because of the issues stated above, we did not find this cruise to be a “home run” like our previous cruise on this ship. |
In the Bliss Theater - - The Beatles Experience tribute band (above) and the country ad western Mickey Utley Band.
Above: A balcony cabin.
Below: Some dishes served aboard Norwegian Bliss. |
Cruise ship review - - Norwegian Cruise Line - - Norwegian Bliss - - Western Caribbean cruise