This is the anticlimactic view as we leave Los Angeles on November 19, 2023. It doesn’t seem like much and if you look the other direction at San Pedro it doesn’t seem like much either. It’s a very flat horizon and we are going to get used to it along with the humidity of the ocean and air pressure at sea level. Being from the higher altitude desert this is going to be very good for our general health compared to ‘home’ in Las Vegas.

When we pulled up to the pier at San Pedro (Los Angeles) we could see our ship was massive. The USS Iowa from WW2 was moored next to it as a permanent museum exhibit. It’s pretty big with its 16 inch triple gun turrets and smaller anti aircraft guns. Next to our ship it looks small, but dangerous.

Our ship, the Norwegian Bliss, was made in Germany and christened June of 2018. There are 20 decks. It’s very tall and even longer. If you turned it on its end it would be a very large skyscraper!

It is 1,093 feet long and 135 feet wide. It weighs 168,000 tons and holds a million gallons of diesel fuel for the engines that generate electricity which power everything including the electric motor driven propellers. They didn’t say how often they have to refuel but our journey was over 5,500 miles and I’ve only seen them bring on fresh food. If you look online you will see it burns 11 tons of fuel every hour. These numbers don’t make much sense to the common person.

We get water from the sea, desalinize it and recycle all the waste water, just like the space station. They separate everything for recycling and compact what’s left to be disposed at the Miami port.

The captain says there are over 6,000 souls on board including the crew of 1,735 from 70 different countries.

There is a theater with two broadway shows going every night and many other smaller shows and games around the ship. There is a comedy nightclub, dance club, and lots of live music all over. They have new release movies at the pool every night when football isn’t on and it turns into a dance party after that with club lighting and a great sound system.

There is laser tag and mini golf on the top deck and a go-cart track too.

“Yawn. You’re boring. Anything else?”

I got this map.

It’s November and I want to leave the cold. I’ve been waiting for 3 months to start this trip. It looks tropical all the way through so I’m expecting warm weather start to finish. I’ve never been on a cruise ship before. There’s a lot of exploring to do since it’s all new to me.

The pool deck is one of the first places to go. I won’t swim a lot but I will enjoy the outdoors, sunsets, and the big screen. We are going to have great sunsets and sunrises almost every day. It’s worth getting up for and getting outside to see them. Some of us do this, but not as many as you’d think. Does everyone get great sunrises and sunsets?

“And the classic pool drink – The Mudslide”

The buffet will be the next stop and there’s no end to it! It stretches a hundred of feet on two sides of the ship and crosses twice in the middle. There’s something for everyone and plenty of it. I haven’t seen anything like this since the Tokyo train station and I fell in love with that. I like to imagine what it must be like to live in a big city and never cook anything at home. No shopping, no cooking, no dishes to clean, and such variety! When I look at my monthly grocery spend I wonder if the convenience of home cooking is worth it.

“It’s not an option is many places. Just like eating at the train station might be the best option in these places. Eating out every meal isn’t an option for a lot of people. They have to cook at home. It’s just different.”

There’s probably pros and cons both ways.

Deserts are so good. I never eat like this at home. I had no idea it would be like this.

“Danger zone! I can see the future and it’s FAT!”

There are several dining rooms. This is the ‘manhattan’ main dining room. Everything you would expect in fine dining. The menu is superb.

Typical desert menu. All included of course.

“Sherbet”

What?

And we have a big screen tv by the pool so I can catch the games. That’s a great way to spend an afternoon.

The changing lights in the Atrium make this one of the coolest places to be.