Lin and I have just returned home from a fantastic trip on the Norwegian Bliss. We did our fair amount of “homework” before we sailed, but we still learned quite a few things on the ship ourselves. The following is a list of 10 Things I wish I knew BEFORE sailing on the almost brand new NCL Bliss.
- There’s a FULL BAR at the very back of Garden CafeThis is something I learned on the VERY last day of the cruise, and really wish I had known on the very first day of the cruise. There’s A BAR at the very back of Garden Cafe!! I don’t think most people know this because I saw very few people with a drink at the meals, and those that did seem to have brought them in from outside. The bar is huge, with all of the standard beer and liquor. When I went by there, there was no one there except for the bartender. You can also get fresh squeezed juice at the bar (with a fee). The added bonus of visiting this bar is that there’s almost always seating available nearby, even when the rest of the restaurant is very crowded, and the view is amazing in this area.
- NCL no longer offers WiFi by GBs!When I signed up for internet as a “free” perk, I was told I can have either 250 minutes or 1GB of data free. As a financial advisor, I knew I had to have “internet on-the-go”, but I thought I would “get-by” with 1GB by turning off all background apps and tell all my friends and family to not send me pictures or videos for a week. Ha! Well, that is no longer an option. Good news is, if you upgrade the package to one of the unlimited plans, you are credited $125 towards the cost of the package. That means for less than $85, I was able to have free unlimited internet for the entire trip. Which is still a lot of money, but better than I had feared. If you did not have the WiFi as a free perk, you can buy the internet package online for 15% off.
- The Vibe Beach Club.Norwegian Bliss has an exclusive, adult-only beach club located on Deck 19. The Vibe comes with its own bar, lounge chairs, towels, and even its own wristband. The Vibe is noticeably less crowded, with no one hogging chaise lounges and towels are aplenty. The private bar also has shorter lines, and accepts Ultimate Beverage Package just like the rest of them. However all this comes at a price. It seems NCL has been inflating the price of Vibe a few times in recent years. On my recent sailing, the cost was $129 per person for the whole 7 night cruise. Despite the recent price hikes, Vibe passes were sold out on the first day, so if you want a Vibe pass, get on board early and go straight to the Guest Services on Deck 6. Vibe passes can not be purchased prior to boarding.
- The secret hot tub.Located on Deck 19 right outside of the Vibe Beach Club is a hot tub that is open to the general public, but noticeably less crowded due to the fact, well, if you didn’t have a pass to Vibe, you probably wouldn’t have known it was there. During our 7 night cruise, this was the only hot tub that was not overcrowded.
- Get the Ultimate Beverage Package as a “FREE” PerkThe Ultimate Beverage Package (UBP) is well worth the money if you are able to have it as a “free perk” and you enjoy drinking at least 2 drinks a day. Before I went on the cruise, I tried to prepare myself for the worst. I imagined long lines at every bar, watered down drinks, questions of what’s “included” and what’s not, or feeling cheap when signing my name after writing $0.00 on the tip line (all UBP packages have gratuities pre-paid). Turns out, none of that came true! The drinks were all measured, the wait was completely manageable (for a completely sold-out ship), everything $15 and under was included, and I never even got a receipt (other than the home port of Miami, for which there was a mandatory local tax). The joy of having a glass of wine with every meal (including the specialty restaurants), Bloody Mary with breakfast, Martini with appetizers, and almost any drink I feel like in any bar can-not-be-overstated. The best part? I learned after a few days that most of the Premium Liquors are $15 or less, so I was able to “call” my own mixed drinks, without paying anything extra. From then on it was Belvedere Cranberry, and Johnny Walker with Coke.
- How to Make Reservation Changes for Specialty RestaurantsCancelling reservations for specialty restaurants is not as easy as they make it out to be. So before we boarded the ship, we were told that we can “make changes” to our reservations from the NCL app on our phone, from the in-room TV, from the touch-screen monitors next to the elevators, from the in-room phone or Guest Services. As an introvert, I naturally chose the touch-screen monitor option – as soon as I boarded the ship, before I even made it to my room! Turns out, while you are able to “Add” a reservation, you have no way to “Remove” or “Change” an existing reservation. So while I was able to get the time I wanted for my dinner, I still had to talk to someone.
- How to ACTUALLY make changes on Dining reservations.Okay… I partly lied on #6. It seems you actually can’t change the dining reservations at Guest Services – at least majority of the time. Instead, you have to go to a customer service group that is especially set up to handle dinner reservations. The location seems to move around as well. Sometimes they are located in the Social Comedy Club, sometimes they have a desk directly across from Guest Services. Either way, they are always on Deck 6 and not too far from Guest Services, but since the line for Guest Services is always long and slow, it’s good to know this beforehand, unlike me.
- Be prepared for some “Risque” business from the on-board entertainment.Both of the complimentary shows, the Jersey Boys and Havana are marketed as all-age shows, but they do have adult contents and language thrown in, just a little. (The adult-only show Prohibition, of course, has even more.) In Havana, one woman was seen to release the clasp of her bra (on the back, no nudity seen.) In Jersey Boys, several times the F-word was used. I can see for families with children between the ages of 12 and 15, it can get a bit uncomfortable at times.
- Expensive on board laundry could potentially save you money.There’s a special for laundry service about half way through your cruise. For us it was on Day 4 (Wednesday, for a Saturday to Saturday cruise). You would get your laundry back on Friday by 6pm. The price is $19.95 for a whole bag of laundry, washed, dried and folded. I really wish I had known this because we had to “shuffle” at the airport to not go over the weight limit on our suitcases, which would have been easily more than the cost of that bag of laundry… Not to forget, if you are a Gold Latitudes Rewards member, you get 50% off one bag, and if you are Platinum or higher, you get 1 FREE bag of laundry service. Keep in mind this is per member, so if you have 2 people both with Platinum Latitudes Rewards, you are able to get 2 free bags in the same cabin.
- Tips on DisembarkationThe disembarkation line is long although it moves fairly quickly. I followed the directions given on the Daily and went down as soon as our “color” was called. Turns out I really should have done this 15 minutes before as the line was wrapped around the ship and it took me quite a while to just find the end. I recommend to keep this in mind and head down BEFORE your color is called (they did call the colors almost right on time) to avoid the rush of people coming all at once.