Floating Hotel

When it comes to cruise ships, bigger is always better. Amit Dixit spends a happy couple of nights on board the Bliss, Norwegian cruise line’s latest and greatest offering.
 

- Amit Dixit

I caught my first glimpse of the Bliss as I swooped down from the highway into San Pedro, where the city of Los Angeles’ cruise terminal is located. In that moment I knew that the 13,000 kilometres I had flown to board this vessel had been totally worth it. A smooth check-in later, I was trudging up the gangway and into the belly of the leviathan.

It wasn’t long before a nice drink was nursing me as I shot the breeze on the deck. We would lift anchor only by evening; for now I was content to gaze at the giant container ships docked in the port and the jacaranda trees that had doused the surrounding hills in purple flames. I could have passed off as a seasoned cruise traveller. Only, I wasn’t. In fact, this was my first cruise ever.

That would set anyone’s heart throbbing with excitement. When the ship happens to be the brand-new Norwegian Bliss, you know you did something really nice in a past life to deserve this.

The Bliss was built in Papenburg, at Meyer Werft GmbH & Co. KG, a major German shipyard which was founded in 1795, started off with building small wooden boats, and has now become one of the leading builders of luxury passenger vessels in the world. Not only is the Bliss a singular aesthetic achievement, oozing perfection in every part, it is an engineering marvel too. The stats are stunning: Gross register tonnage: 168,028. Overall length: 1,094 feet. Max beam: 136 feet. Guest capacity: 4,200. Ship crew: 2,100. Given the figures, it’s remarkable how little time it took to put the