Norwegian Bliss

[candycorn]

Came back from doing a 7 day cruise to Alaska. Seattle knows what they are doing in terms of checking in and out. Curb to ship was about 25 minutes. Ship to curb was slightly longer (more than one ship was docked and going through customs). I wish I could say the same for Norwegian. I was in one of the forward staterooms but for some reason had to disembark on aft portion of the ship. Which is fine I guess if that is where you have to go. As I was on the gangway walking off the ship, I looked to my left to see another gangway for passengers leaving from the front of the ship. For some reason, they forced us to walk the quarter mile or so to the rear of the ship only to exit the ship and join back up with folks who were walking off the ship from the front. It was silly.

Norwegian did entertainment very well. There was plenty of activities on the ship. Since it was Alaska, there wasn't much in the way of outdoor entertainment although we were able to watch sporting events on the massive screen on the pool deck. The food was disappointing. Portions were small and not creative. Service was also disappointing. The itinerary had us leaving Seattle and shooting up to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and Victoria. Glacier Bay was easily the most impressive portion of the trip. Cold water seals, otters, eagles, large aquatics, were all seen from the bow of the ship that they opened up for cruising. We saw 3 calvings off of the glacier; the thunderous noise made the 2-300 people folks who congregated on the bow all be silent for a moment just to ooh and ahh at the echo.

As some of you may know, a large passenger vessel that is not flagged in the US must visit a foreign port if it visits anywhere. Meaning you can have a "cruise to nowhere" but you can't have a cruise, for example, from Seattle to Juneau and back. So the Bliss did the 6 hour stop in Victoria, British Columbia. I think we docked at 7 and were gone by 1AM. I was having a bit of cabin fever I guess so I got off the ship and took a walking tour of the surrounding dock area. It was so quaint and beautiful. Wide sidwalks...decades (if not centuries) old maple trees everywhere lining the street. We walked over to the waterfront (I forgot the name they called it) and had some food and revelry. I think everyone was pretty much ready to go home but it was nice to just have fun without the cruise directors (whose names were--not kidding--Dan Dan and Daniella) force feeding your the fun.

One should never say "never" but I think it's going to be a long time before I sail Norwegian again. Norwegian, Princess and Holland America are apparently the only 3 US Cruise lines that are allowed to cruise into Glacier Bay NP. So I could not stick with Royal Caribbean on this cruise. Royal seems to be a better line top to bottom.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

We have never done a cruise and I doubt we ever will.

If we did, it would be an Alaskan one.

Glad you had a good time

 

[candycorn]

We have never done a cruise and I doubt we ever will.

If we did, it would be an Alaskan one.

Glad you had a good time

Well, if you go to Alaska on a cruise ship, there are some things to know that are unlike other cruises.

The big one is that multiple cruise lines feature one-way cruising. They figure that if you're cruising Alaska, you're flying into either Seattle or Alaska itself so you're not beholden to returning to the same port where you dropped your car off or even live. For example:

This is a one way from Vancouver BC to Fairbanks that includes bus transit to Denali then apparently a train trip to Fairbanks. I haven't researched it much. But once it's over, getting home to the 48 contiguous states is on you.

And then there are the southbound only cruises.

This is where you fly to Alaska (probably Anchorage) then get a ride to Seward to cruise one way south then Fly home from VBC.


You'll want to pay close attention to the ship itself. The problem with the two I listed is that both of those ships are (to put it gently)...cozy in terms of today's monster ocean liners. They are small. If you're sailing to Grand Cayman, you're on the deck swimming, in the hot tub lounging, playing miniature golf, climbing the rock wall (for the life of me I don't know who does this), surfing on the flow riders, skeet shooting off the bow on ships that offer that. There is stuff to do on the "weather deck". Alaskan weather and unpredictable ocean currents can force you to spend most of your journey indoors so if you're on a "cozy" ship...you can run out of things to do on a 7+ day voyage. And if you want to see the glaciers, you're going to have to book a long 7 day trip. So pay attention to the ship itself....

Royal offers the Quantum Class ships on Alaskan itineraries. Massive ships with 18 decks, 5,000 passengers, Tons of goodies...

You usually run out of days before you run out of things to do. The "funny" thing about Royal is that the Quantum class isn't their largest class of ship...the Oasis class is even larger with more goodies. The point I was making is that if you're going to Alaska in July, don't bank on being able to take sun on the deck. You want a ship with some alternative things to offer. Royal has venues that are good for all time zones and most weather situations. Although that NorthStar is apparently only available when the ship is docked or stationary.

Don't buy that you have to get a balcony to enjoy Alaska. I had a tiny interior cabin that was plenty big for just me. There was zero times where I missed sitting on a balcony watching the world go by. Now, a balcony would have been nicer. Don't get me wrong. But in terms of "must haves"...you're fine inside.

Be aware that the interior height of a cruise ship is like 8 feet. The ceiling in your house is probably 10-12 feet. Cruise ships have like an 8 foot height. If you have closterphobia (sp?)...keep this in mind.

Anyway...as you can tell, I'm a cruise nut. LOL