That’s our ship taking a look at it from the market in Seattle.  The Norwegian Bliss She’s a megaship with 20 decks and 4000 people.  It truly seemed to have nearly limitless things to do.  Planner than I am,  I tried to hit them all.

This was our first cruise ever, so we didn’t know what all went into the planning.  I was PARANOID about packing, but I did just fine.  I didn’t know that the dinners, for the most part, would be very casual.  I only wore two dresses.  I read all the things that said to bring leggings and moisture wicking clothes, but I didn’t have any… and I didn’t bother buying any.  I brought one pair of sneakers, two pairs of open toed walking shoes, one closed toe walking shoes, four pairs of blue jeans, and one pair of black jeans.  I also brought one heavy jacket, one heavier sweater, one lighter sweater, and a poncho.  Then, just tops and a few cardigans.  I had plenty to wear, BUT it never got cold and it never rained on us, so you be the judge… Plus, I was able to shove my coat and all the pairs of jeans in one packing cube!   I love those things to keep the luggage organized!

I also didn’t realize all the paperwork to print out before hand. But I’m a rule follower, so I packed a stapler, too, and attached my luggage tags in the hotel room before we left.  We wandered the streets of Seattle a little the next morning while our luggage waited at the hotel.  We went to an unremarkable breakfast.  Back to the market where I bought a beautiful, handmade, pressed flower necklace, Then, had a remarkable ginger beer at Rachel’s before going back to summon our Uber.

Luggage drop off was a little unnerving because you dump it at one place before walking another block or so down the street to go through the whole process of boarding the ship.  If we had an earlier boarding time, I probably would have packed a carry-on.  But, as it was, I just strolled along confidently with my handy dandy Travelon purse.  (I love these things.  There is enough space and a pocket for everything.)  The signs on the streets were clear.  As one of the last boarding groups at 1:00, we never even paused anywhere.  We were passed on through security, showed our passport (which picture came up every time we ordered anything) were given our room card, and got on board the ship.

For first time cruisers, I was not aware of the HUGE importance of the room card.  You need it for everything.  It’s the only thing you can use if you want to purchase anything on the ship.  You show it at every restaurant, use it for every drink, scan it each time you get on or off the ship.  It tells you where you need to go if you have to evacuate, everything.  It even has your number on it for overpriced pictures at the end of the trip.

This cruise was a gift from my fabulous in-laws for their 50th wedding anniversary.  My husband, his sister, brother-in-law, nephew and, of course, Richard’s parents were all in 3 rooms ,side by side, on the 13th floor.  We had balcony rooms, so we were able to talk to each other back and forth through the partition.  (We originally thought we’d be able to remove the partitions, but it was often windy, so the captain said, “no.”  Turned out fine!)

When we got on board, people were running down to guest services on the 6th floor to make their reservations.  We had done ours in advance.  We found out pretty soon that most places if you went stand by you’d get in anyway…  Still, for our trip we had reserved tickets to Jersey Boys and Havana (complimentary), dinner at Taste, Savor, and Manhattan Room (complimentary), and Le Bistro, Cagney’s and La Cucina (all a la carte but part of the dining package my in-laws purchased.)  We also had excursions booked for Juneau (day 3 aboard ship), Skagway (day 4 aboard ship), and Ketchikan (day 6 aboard ship).

My sister-in-law texted that they had commandeered a spot in the observation lounge.  The Bliss was built for Alaskan cruising and nothing makes that more obvious than the 15th floor observation lounge.  It encompasses the front half of the ship and has floor to ceiling windows with a huge bar up near the front.  Service is MUCH faster if you go to the bar on your own.  We saw a few people tipping, but not many.  I know that tipping is not the norm on cruises, but we wish we had brought some tip money.

You can look at Google images, but it’s hard to get an idea of how massive this thing is until you’re in it.  They set up small bites and tastes from morning through early afternoon, and the bar is one of the first to open and last to close.  Speaking of the bar, if alcohol is one of the things you enjoy on a cruise, go ahead and get the beverage package.  It’s $100 per person per day, BUT with the average cost of a drink being $12, and including all drinks under $15, it’s not too tough to get to that amount.(Well, okay, fine… it wasn’t that tough for ME to get up to that amount… Think about it… a mimosa for breakfast, a bloody mary mid morning, a beer with lunch, 2 drinks while you’re sitting outside watching the water, 2 glasses of wine at dinner and you’re already there, and you haven’t even gone to see the night time entertainment.)  While you’re in port in Seattle, you do have to pay the taxes on it.  That all shows up on your last day bill.  You can check the status on that bill on your app at any time or look at it on the television in your room.

In the lounge, we had our first drink(s), and had our family fill us in about following the fish on the carpet to the front of the boat so that when we looked at front and rear, port and starboard, we’d know which way we were walking.  We also learned that the heart of the ship was on floors 6-8, but there was stuff EVERYWHERE! I took this picture from the 8th floor where you could stand out on the waterfront and many of the bars were.  Below is the 7th with the casino and many of the complimentary restaurants, including The Local which is open 24 hours.  Below that the 6th has the atrium with much of the daytime entertainment, the theater with a nighly show, comedy lounge with 3 shows a night before it turns into a dance club, and guest services with excursions and dinner reservations.

We went back to our room to unpack.  Our luggage was sitting outside our door by about 6 o’clock.  We like to unpack ALL the way, and there were plenty of nooks and crannies to stash all of our stuff.  We used all of it.  It’s somewhat odd that the minibar drinks in the room are not included.  I mean, they’re all on the ship… but whatever.  I suppose we could have had our steward remove them, but we just didn’t use them.  We were able to put all four suitcases under the bed and had room to walk.

Then, we set off to the 8th floor waterfront.  It’s a long deck at both port and starboard with a passway through the middle.  There’s PLENTY of seating, some of it heated, some of it not, and there are a variety of bars along the outside and inside.  You place your hand against the sliding doors to go inside and out.  I looked at my “what’s happening app” and could have gone to a party to see us off up on the pool deck, but we decided a glass of wine from the cellars wine bar would be more our speed.  And off on our first cruise we went.  That’s me…  day one…

We decided on the Manhattan Room for day one dinner.  It’s the “fanciest” of the complimentary dining rooms. There isn’t an actual “main dining room” or formal night like friends have said there usually are on ships.  You don’t get seated with a certain group.  It is just typical restaurant seating.  You can reserve dining if you want to, but you don’t have to.  It’s “free style” dining.  Some of the a la carte restaurants (Cagney’s, in particular) fill up early, but you can always go wait.  You can also do reservations online in advance, or from kiosks all over the ship, or from your app, or from the reservations desk on the 6th floor.  We got there at about 5:45.  It turned out to be a good thing.  By about 6:15 there was a VERY long line.  The dinner was okay, nothing remarkable.  We are pretty into wine, and there weren’t a whole lot of choices that fit the “has to be under $15 a glass” price range, but the tempranillo in that range is rather tasty.  The drink list is primarily the same on most of the ship with a few different specials depending on the bar.

After dinner, we went to the Bliss theater to check out the Beatles tribute band Britain’s Finest.  They were really quite good.  (The seats in Bliss theater are NOT.  The ship is only a year old, but the seats are worn, cramped, and uncomfortable.) The Paul guy particularly screamed like the actual Paul.  The cruise director mentioned that they would be at the Cavern bar throughout the week and would begin with the Beatles’ early days and be at their later years by the end of the week.

By that point it was the end of another long day, and time for our first full sea day as we motored all the way up to Juneau to begin the cruise; then, we’d work our way back.  Turndown service had come.  They had the list of all the times things would be open and all the things to do.  I carried that in my purse every day, but still used the app more.  I marked my “favorites” with hearts before we left the room each morning so we could be sure to keep the whole day planned! (Relaxing on vacation is not my thing.  I’m better at relaxing at home.)

….I should have taken a Bonine that first night.  That first day at sea had HUGE swells… and the water was more than a little rough.   But we’ll get there soon enough.