Panama Canal Cruise Day 14-15

February 9, 2024 – Port of Cabo San Lucas – On Board Ship

As I mentioned in my last post, due to illness, we all stayed on board the ship today. And, it was okay. The day started off with an amazing sunrise that really lit up the sky.

I spent part of the day wandering around the ship taking pictures of some of the amenities on board. I wanted to make sure I documented some of the highlights of the ship and some of the activities available. It also gave me some exercise without overdoing it!

There are a number of different specialty bars throughout the ship and we tried our best to hit most of them! 🙂 I believe that the total number of bars serving alcoholic drinks is somewhere north of 14. Along with those pictured below, we indulged our thirst at the District Brewhouse, The Cellars Wine Bar, the “Q” Texas Smokehouse and the Skyline Bar. I’m not really a “bar-hopper” so it was fun to enjoy the variety of venues and drinks.

Our final “specialty dinner” on this day was at the Italian La Cucina restaurant – which translates to The Kitchen. It was magnifique!! Specialty dinners are an additional fee and we paid for three of these during our cruise – which we reserved prior to departure. I started my meal with an Insalata Mista, followed by the main course of Wild Mushroom Risotto. For dessert, what else?? Tira misu – YUM!

The other two specialty dining venues we reserved were Le Bistro (French cuisine) and the Teppanyaki (Japanese cuisine). We ended up switching these and ate both remaining specials at the Food Republic (Asian). Our reservations at Le Bistro were just too late at night and we preferred the Food Republic over the Teppanyaki because they served sushi.

For our complimentary meals, we had a choice of six different restaurants that varies from buffet-style to more up-scale sit-down service. We managed to visit everyone of these multiple times and they were all good. The Garden Cafe and the Observation Lounge were both buffet-style.

Some of the many dining spots in the Garden Cafe which offer views out to sea and shore.

The Observation Deck food service was more continental in style with the only hot option being oatmeal in the morning. It was a large open area filled with comfortable seating and was a popular spot! It was so much nicer to enjoy this space when everyone else was off the ship on an excursion! Window seats were coveted!!

More views from around the ship – from the pool deck to the speedway.

For the kids and “kids at heart”, there is an electric car speedway on the upper deck.

And let’s not forget – for those runners and walkers out there – a jogging track.

There is also a giant water slide on board. We did not give it a try but our friend from the Panama Canal Transit day said he indulged and it was not as scary as it looks. No thanks anyway!

Cabo San Lucas was the only port that we could not dock right at the port. We anchored off shore and the passengers were escorted to land via “tenders.” I managed to get a picture of them as they were dropping off and picking up passengers.

On our Deck 8, the back part of the ship had what is called The Waterfront and it had an outside promenade that went in a u-shape from mid-ship to mid-ship around the aft. It was fun to stroll along here and look out at sea or stop and just sit and relax in one of the many seating areas near the outside bars.

Besides wandering around taking photographs, we sat in the Atrium and participated in some trivia games – at which we were horrible!! But, we had fun! I also took in the Jersey Boys musical in The Bliss Theater since I had missed the show earlier in the cruise. It was FANTASTIC! Loved every minute of the show!! Afterwards, I met Mom and Vicki in The District Brewhouse to hear Juci Do Carmo one more time.

As we left Cabo San Lucas and started heading north, I grabbed some photographs of the shoreline from the starboard side of the ship.

An interesting thing happened after we left port that evening. We had traveled north out of Cabo San Lucas up the coast for about 2 hours when I looked out and noticed that “land” seemed to be on the wrong side of the ship?? We should have been viewing wide open seas from our stateroom on the port side of the ship and I was seeing “land.” I mentioned this to my stateroom mates and just as I made this observation, an announcement came over the loudspeaker from the captain of the ship.

Apparently, we had turned around and were hightailing it back to Cabo San Lucas. There was a passenger on board who was having a medical emergency and needed additional care beyond the capabilities of the ship medical staff. It was reassuring to know that the Norwegian staff were doing everything possible to help alleviate this situation.

On our way back, we had a great view of the rock formations from our stateroom balcony so I got some closer photographs of them. We arrived back in Cabo in record time and anchored while we waited for a boat to arrive to transport the passenger.

February 10-11, 2024 At sea and Port of Los Angeles

Our detour back to Cabo meant we were now behind schedule for our early morning arrival time in LA on 2/11/24. Our captain made up time overnight and our next day at sea by “putting the pedal to the metal” so to speak. We were still traveling under the legal limit but it was obvious we were moving faster. Along with the very rough seas for our last day, it made for a little bit more of a “bumpy” ride – not enough to really be bothered but noticeable. It brought everyone in from outside as the temperatures, occasional rain and wind were not conducive to lounging on the pool deck!

We spent much of the day packing as we had to have our baggage placed outside our stateroom by early evening. We would pick it up the next day off ship in a staging area at the port of Los Angeles. We needed to keep just a small backpack with necessary items for overnight and morning with us.

We enjoyed our last dinner at Savor Restaurant and caught the last Beatles show in The Bliss Theater that night.

The next day we waited in The Local restaurant to disembark because we had requested wheelchair assistance for Mom. We were put on a waiting list according to our scheduled, color-coded departure time. Things went smoothly and, while it was a bit of a wait, it all worked and we picked up our baggage and walked to the bus that would take us to the airport. Since our flights were not leaving until later that night, we reserved a “day stay” at an airport hotel, so we would not have to sit in the airport for hours and hours.

The bus to the airport was arranged through the cruise package and we had paid for that so we went to the airport via the bus and then grabbed the free hotel shuttle to our hotel. It was a great way to pass the day and perfect timing as we could watch the Super Bowl from the comfort of the hotel suite! 🙂

So now that the trip is over, the BIG question is whether I will ever go on another cruise! It was my first cruise and I embraced the “cruise atmosphere” with enthusiasm. The Norwegian Bliss is one of the largest ships in their fleet and, while it came with many venues and activities, the crowds in the elevators and popular seating areas could be a bit overwhelming. It was an experience and I am so grateful to my sister and Mom for inviting me along and being able to spend such quality time together. In the end, that was more important to me than the size of the ship or any of the minor inconveniences we might have experienced with crowd control.

Would I venture forward on another cruise?? Yeah – I probably will. I might choose a smaller ship than The Bliss however. And, I would most likely stay with Norwegian – hey, I’m only 5 points away from Silver status on the Latitudes Rewards program in just one cruise! Just think about all the exclusive benefits I’ll unlock during my next cruise! 🙂