Trip Index
- Norwegian Bliss inaugural cruise and family visit: Planning and arrival
- Day 2 of Norwegian Bliss inaugural cruise to nowhere
- Hyatt Regency, Aquarium of the Pacific, Queen Mary
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(Warning - supersized post due to all the pictures!!!)
It's almost unheard of that a brand new cruise ship would sail on the West Coast; once construction finishes in Europe, new ships either stay in the area or go across the Atlantic to Florida, with older ships deployed to Baja and Alaska. Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) bucked this trend, building a state-of-the-art ship, Norwegian Bliss, specifically for the Alaska cruise market. After completion, she sailed across the Atlantic with paying passengers, then set off on a series of short inaugural cruises (open only to the travel industry and media) sandwiched around a revenue Panama Canal cruise (thanks to larger locks) on her journey towards Seattle. Last fall, I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation from my host agency to embark on a complimentary 2-night inaugural "cruise to nowhere" (meaning no stops) from Los Angeles, courtesy of NCL. Since the sail date was Friday of Memorial Day weekend, Kaleb could easily take off from work, so I RSVP'ed immediately as it was first come, first served. No confirmation was received, so I didn't make any concrete plans.
It took about four months to receive the official invite from NCL; I then worked on the logistics. As our cruise would end on Sunday morning, I pinged my brothers (who live in Southern California) to see if they wanted to hang out in Long Beach and do an overnight "staycation" to end the Memorial Day weekend. Everyone could make it, hooray!
FLIGHTS
Norwegian Bliss was departing from the World Cruise Center in Los Angeles. One would think that flying into LAX would be closest, but the airport in Long Beach (LGB) is a bit closer. After comparing air costs between the two airports using cash or points, I decided to redeem JetBlue points (thanks to the JetBlue Plus credit card) to fly into LGB. Long Beach is a smaller airport and the roads to get to the World Cruise Center would have less traffic than from LAX.
TRANSFERS
We planned to take Uber from Long Beach to the World Cruise Center and back, since I had $30 of credits to spend, a monthly benefit of the Platinum Card from American Express and the Mercedes-Benz Platinum Card (discontinued).
HOTEL
I used Hyatt points to reserve three rooms for Sunday night at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. Since I held World of Hyatt Explorist status (thanks to having Mlife Gold status, which came from having Celebrity Cruises Select status), I was able to apply a Club Access award to each of the rooms to get complimentary lounge access. If my brothers had booked themselves, I wouldn't have been able to use the benefit for their rooms. My brother Edmund transferred Hyatt points to my account, which was done easily by filling out a Point Combining Request Form and emailing it to the address indicated (can be done once every 30 days).
Now onto the trip...
Our journey to Long Beach started off with a hitch...I misread the departure time for our JetBlue flight as "boarding time", so I thought we had plenty of buffer to get some breakfast to go and visit the restroom. The gate was suspiciously very empty when we arrived. Even though the plane was still there, boarding had closed. Fortunately, the gate agent said that as long as we presented ourselves within 35 minutes after departure, she could invoke an undocumented "flat tire" rule and put us on stand by for the next flight free of charge. Whew! I hadn't missed a flight in many years, quite embarrassing for a seasoned traveler. I did an internet search for JetBlue's flat tire rule and nothing came up, so we were very lucky for a "your mileage may vary"-type of situation. I also want to mention that I chose an earlier flight to get to LGB, just in case there were delays or cancellations (or someone not reading the boarding time properly...ahem...) so we wouldn't miss the boat. Since we had another 2 hours to kill, we went back to the food court to enjoy our breakfast quesadilla.
It was nice to fly JetBlue to break the monotony of so many Southwest journeys. I enjoy the blue Terra chips that they serve on board. Despite some personal space encroachment, our flight went by smoothly and we had the whole exit row to ourselves.
It was easy to catch an Uber outside the Long Beach airport and we didn't have much delay getting to the port. It was the first time that we had boarded a ship from the World Cruise Center. The area looked very industrial. It was questionable if we would be able to catch an Uber back to Long Beach due to the remoteness.
Since we arrived at the port after 2pm, there was hardly any line and we walked straight onto the ship. We had an inside cabin on deck 5; it seemed smaller than the one Lynda and I stayed in on Norwegian Pearl a few years ago. But since everything was brand new, it was tolerable, though in the closet, I found plastic shopping bags and Ziplocs left behind by previous guests.
Our 2-night complimentary cruise also included gratuities, wi-fi, and beverages (including select wine, spirits and craft beer) so we didn't have to pay for anything except for spa treatments, shopping, etc. The crew was kind enough to remind guests what was included and what wasn't. Too bad I don't drink much, but at least Kaleb could enjoy some of the free-flowing libations. Specialty restaurants were also complimentary but invite-only; I wasn't high enough on the ladder to get in, so we had our dinners in the main dining rooms (choice of the Manhattan Room, Savor, Taste, The Local or the Garden Cafe buffet). The specialty restaurant "Q" would be open to everyone for lunch on Day 2, so I hoped we could get in and try some Texas BBQ.
Time to get some food and explore! Lots of pictures to share of this beautiful ship:
The Garden Cafe buffet was huge, organized well with many stations (some repeated) for guests to enjoy. The desserts were over the top. There was so much food to choose from. I wasn't able to try everything.
After our late lunch, we explored the ship's outside features.
Go-kart track at sea (20-second video, click here if you cannot see the preview below):
It was time for the mandatory life boat drill and our muster station was inside the Bliss Theater. It was organized well. Key cards were scanned for roll call.
After the drill, I attended a get-together with our agency's business development manager at the District Brew House. It was cool to meet fellow "local" agents who lived in the Central Valley.
Afterwards, I went outside and watched Regent Seven Seas Navigator leave the harbor. I sailed on that ship a long time ago! Eventually, Norwegian Bliss also sailed away, but there was no party since everyone was busy getting to know the ship.
I had planned to watch Jersey Boys in the Bliss Theater and tried to make reservations to see the 7pm show when we got on board, but it was full. However, the Box Office staff told me that there was a standby line that let people in 10 minutes prior to the show. We entered the line about 20 minutes beforehand and had no problems getting into the theater.
Jersey Boys was such a great show! The singing was strong and on point. I highly recommend seeing it.
After the show, we went to dinner at Savor, one of the main dining rooms. I think all of their best selections were put on the menu for the inaugural, so it was hard to choose. Thus, we got multiples of dishes (within reason).
After dinner, we walked along the Waterfront on deck 8. If it was warmer, guests could sit al-fresco for specialty dinners and cocktails.
I had planned on seeing the Happy Hour Prohibition musical inside the Social Comedy Club, but it was at 11pm and we were pretty tired from traveling. Oh well, next time!
When we got back to the room, commemorative gifts were waiting on the bed.
First night down, one more to go...stay tuned!
If you came here from a Facebook or Twitter link, thanks for clicking the "Facebook Like" button at the top of the page or retweeting!
Don't miss a blog entry! Sign up for updates direct to your inbox here or add the blog to your RSS feed.
Getting excited reading about these trips and want to go? Contact me at yellowdogtravel at gmail d0t com with your ideas and I can help you plan it! Or if you've already put a deposit on a cruise through the cruise line, contact me to get more information on transferring the reservation to me to get bonuses like extra onboard credit or gifts. I have lots of happy returning clients - references always available.
Come check out my other blog "What in the world is Kat Kong doing now?", documenting things other than traveling...sign up for blog updates direct to your inbox here!
Another disclaimer: The intention of this blog was to remind Future Me in full detail about where I went and what I did. I could have made it private, but I frequently get questions from family, friends and internet folks about how I planned things, got deals, etc., so instead of repeating the story over and over, I direct them here. If you are offended by anything I say or do, save yourself the discomfort and kindly click away from my blog. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
It's almost unheard of that a brand new cruise ship would sail on the West Coast; once construction finishes in Europe, new ships either stay in the area or go across the Atlantic to Florida, with older ships deployed to Baja and Alaska. Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) bucked this trend, building a state-of-the-art ship, Norwegian Bliss, specifically for the Alaska cruise market. After completion, she sailed across the Atlantic with paying passengers, then set off on a series of short inaugural cruises (open only to the travel industry and media) sandwiched around a revenue Panama Canal cruise (thanks to larger locks) on her journey towards Seattle. Last fall, I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation from my host agency to embark on a complimentary 2-night inaugural "cruise to nowhere" (meaning no stops) from Los Angeles, courtesy of NCL. Since the sail date was Friday of Memorial Day weekend, Kaleb could easily take off from work, so I RSVP'ed immediately as it was first come, first served. No confirmation was received, so I didn't make any concrete plans.
It took about four months to receive the official invite from NCL; I then worked on the logistics. As our cruise would end on Sunday morning, I pinged my brothers (who live in Southern California) to see if they wanted to hang out in Long Beach and do an overnight "staycation" to end the Memorial Day weekend. Everyone could make it, hooray!
FLIGHTS
Norwegian Bliss was departing from the World Cruise Center in Los Angeles. One would think that flying into LAX would be closest, but the airport in Long Beach (LGB) is a bit closer. After comparing air costs between the two airports using cash or points, I decided to redeem JetBlue points (thanks to the JetBlue Plus credit card) to fly into LGB. Long Beach is a smaller airport and the roads to get to the World Cruise Center would have less traffic than from LAX.
TRANSFERS
We planned to take Uber from Long Beach to the World Cruise Center and back, since I had $30 of credits to spend, a monthly benefit of the Platinum Card from American Express and the Mercedes-Benz Platinum Card (discontinued).
HOTEL
I used Hyatt points to reserve three rooms for Sunday night at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. Since I held World of Hyatt Explorist status (thanks to having Mlife Gold status, which came from having Celebrity Cruises Select status), I was able to apply a Club Access award to each of the rooms to get complimentary lounge access. If my brothers had booked themselves, I wouldn't have been able to use the benefit for their rooms. My brother Edmund transferred Hyatt points to my account, which was done easily by filling out a Point Combining Request Form and emailing it to the address indicated (can be done once every 30 days).
Now onto the trip...
Our journey to Long Beach started off with a hitch...I misread the departure time for our JetBlue flight as "boarding time", so I thought we had plenty of buffer to get some breakfast to go and visit the restroom. The gate was suspiciously very empty when we arrived. Even though the plane was still there, boarding had closed. Fortunately, the gate agent said that as long as we presented ourselves within 35 minutes after departure, she could invoke an undocumented "flat tire" rule and put us on stand by for the next flight free of charge. Whew! I hadn't missed a flight in many years, quite embarrassing for a seasoned traveler. I did an internet search for JetBlue's flat tire rule and nothing came up, so we were very lucky for a "your mileage may vary"-type of situation. I also want to mention that I chose an earlier flight to get to LGB, just in case there were delays or cancellations (or someone not reading the boarding time properly...ahem...) so we wouldn't miss the boat. Since we had another 2 hours to kill, we went back to the food court to enjoy our breakfast quesadilla.
It was nice to fly JetBlue to break the monotony of so many Southwest journeys. I enjoy the blue Terra chips that they serve on board. Despite some personal space encroachment, our flight went by smoothly and we had the whole exit row to ourselves.
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It was easy to catch an Uber outside the Long Beach airport and we didn't have much delay getting to the port. It was the first time that we had boarded a ship from the World Cruise Center. The area looked very industrial. It was questionable if we would be able to catch an Uber back to Long Beach due to the remoteness.
Since we arrived at the port after 2pm, there was hardly any line and we walked straight onto the ship. We had an inside cabin on deck 5; it seemed smaller than the one Lynda and I stayed in on Norwegian Pearl a few years ago. But since everything was brand new, it was tolerable, though in the closet, I found plastic shopping bags and Ziplocs left behind by previous guests.
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Our 2-night complimentary cruise also included gratuities, wi-fi, and beverages (including select wine, spirits and craft beer) so we didn't have to pay for anything except for spa treatments, shopping, etc. The crew was kind enough to remind guests what was included and what wasn't. Too bad I don't drink much, but at least Kaleb could enjoy some of the free-flowing libations. Specialty restaurants were also complimentary but invite-only; I wasn't high enough on the ladder to get in, so we had our dinners in the main dining rooms (choice of the Manhattan Room, Savor, Taste, The Local or the Garden Cafe buffet). The specialty restaurant "Q" would be open to everyone for lunch on Day 2, so I hoped we could get in and try some Texas BBQ.
Time to get some food and explore! Lots of pictures to share of this beautiful ship:
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|
|
|
|
|
|
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The Garden Cafe buffet was huge, organized well with many stations (some repeated) for guests to enjoy. The desserts were over the top. There was so much food to choose from. I wasn't able to try everything.
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After our late lunch, we explored the ship's outside features.
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Go-kart track at sea (20-second video, click here if you cannot see the preview below):
|
|
|
|
It was time for the mandatory life boat drill and our muster station was inside the Bliss Theater. It was organized well. Key cards were scanned for roll call.
 |
| seated by muster station number |
After the drill, I attended a get-together with our agency's business development manager at the District Brew House. It was cool to meet fellow "local" agents who lived in the Central Valley.
Afterwards, I went outside and watched Regent Seven Seas Navigator leave the harbor. I sailed on that ship a long time ago! Eventually, Norwegian Bliss also sailed away, but there was no party since everyone was busy getting to know the ship.
I had planned to watch Jersey Boys in the Bliss Theater and tried to make reservations to see the 7pm show when we got on board, but it was full. However, the Box Office staff told me that there was a standby line that let people in 10 minutes prior to the show. We entered the line about 20 minutes beforehand and had no problems getting into the theater.
Jersey Boys was such a great show! The singing was strong and on point. I highly recommend seeing it.
|
|
After the show, we went to dinner at Savor, one of the main dining rooms. I think all of their best selections were put on the menu for the inaugural, so it was hard to choose. Thus, we got multiples of dishes (within reason).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After dinner, we walked along the Waterfront on deck 8. If it was warmer, guests could sit al-fresco for specialty dinners and cocktails.
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I had planned on seeing the Happy Hour Prohibition musical inside the Social Comedy Club, but it was at 11pm and we were pretty tired from traveling. Oh well, next time!
When we got back to the room, commemorative gifts were waiting on the bed.
 |
| shopping bag and journal |
First night down, one more to go...stay tuned!
***
If you came here from a Facebook or Twitter link, thanks for clicking the "Facebook Like" button at the top of the page or retweeting!
Don't miss a blog entry! Sign up for updates direct to your inbox here or add the blog to your RSS feed.
Getting excited reading about these trips and want to go? Contact me at yellowdogtravel at gmail d0t com with your ideas and I can help you plan it! Or if you've already put a deposit on a cruise through the cruise line, contact me to get more information on transferring the reservation to me to get bonuses like extra onboard credit or gifts. I have lots of happy returning clients - references always available.
Come check out my other blog "What in the world is Kat Kong doing now?", documenting things other than traveling...sign up for blog updates direct to your inbox here!
Another disclaimer: The intention of this blog was to remind Future Me in full detail about where I went and what I did. I could have made it private, but I frequently get questions from family, friends and internet folks about how I planned things, got deals, etc., so instead of repeating the story over and over, I direct them here. If you are offended by anything I say or do, save yourself the discomfort and kindly click away from my blog. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
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