The inaugural sailing of the Bliss Cruise took place over November 29 - December 6, 2015. We thought it would be helpful to jot down our impressions from this vacation. Just so you know where we're coming from, experience-wise, this was our first lifestyle cruise vacation, though we have been to lifestyle resorts before. The last cruise we took was a Disney Cruise 18 years ago!
In a word, the Bliss Cruise was fantastic!
The Mrs. and I had a great time on the cruise. We met lots of fun, interesting, friendly people. And we played A LOT. This aspect of the cruise was the main reason we chose a swinger cruise over a trip to Desire for this vacation. We were looking for a more active play environment, and we certainly found it here! We played every day, and multiple rounds on most days. Between that and the late nights of partying, I (Mr. CoupleInMD) actually had to decline a couple of after-dinner play opportunities on the last two days, due to simple exhaustion. This is not like me! But it's an indicator of how busy we were. We left the ship very satisfied, exhausted, and happy, with several potential continuing friendships made, and plans to get together down the road!
This was billed as a partially clothing-optional cruise, and the outdoor decks were in fact clothing optional. Everyone had to cover up whenever they were in an interior portion of the ship, which made it impossible to just leave your clothes in your cabin and head out. This proved to be a little inconvenient, and meant that one had to plan ahead for being naked out on deck. Consequently, there were many people who chose to just keep their clothes on, which spoils the effect somewhat! For our part, we were happy to be naked on deck on several occasions, but did not make it a daily thing. Honestly, we didn't spend all that much time just hanging out on deck!
Another thing we didn't take full advantage of was the availability of playrooms. We used the main playroom once, and it was fine- though we heard that they ran low on condoms later in the week (big mistake!). There was a special playroom set aside for exclusive use by the elite-class cabin holders, of which we were not. I have to say that I reject the whole premise of an elite-class playroom-- once we're naked, we should all be equal! We intended on one occasion to use a 24-hour play area topside near the bow of the ship, but there were frankly a lot of non-playing people lurking around there and creating a bit of a creepy feeling for my play partner of the moment (I wouldn't have minded putting on a show, but she was not quite in the mood for that!). Also, that area of the ship is very breezy, and a little chilly on some days. No matter- we had plenty of sexy fun in people's cabins!
Although we were there mainly to meet the other people onboard, we also generally enjoyed the shore excursions. We did not go ashore in Casa de Campo (reports from others were that the town was not interesting enough to have been worth the trip to visit), but did go ashore at Samana for a horseback ride/hike to a secluded waterfall. The horses were not well tended to, and the trail was terribly muddy and rocky, but the waterfall was a spectacular destination.
At Labadee, we enjoyed kayaking and naked snorkeling, as well as a lunch ashore in the artificial "Haiti World" that the cruise lines have created there. The sense there was that we were in a constructed bubble, a Green Zone of comfort and safety, rather than in the real Haiti. And we got a small dose of what the real Haiti might have been like for us when we landed at a small spit of beach outside Haiti World during the kayaking excursion. The vendors who had their wares spread out on blankets on the beach were very aggressive, descending on us even before the kayaks hit the sand, guiding us to each of their "shops", picking up items and putting them in our hands, putting the items in a bag for us, and arguing amongst themselves over who got to shadow us and harangue us about the stuff on their blanket. All that said, the souvenirs were charming, if cookie-cutter, examples of local crafts. We felt a little guilty haggling on the prices, knowing that the outrageous prices they were initially offering were enough to provide a month's income to the average Haitian.
We are not experienced enough at cruising to comment expertly on the quality of the total experience compared to other cruises. We were a little disappointed at the fact that our expensive drink package did not include some non-alcoholic drinks that we prefer, but adjusted without giving it much thought. We occasionally struggled with the logistics of meeting up with particular people on a large and busy ship, but we figured that out pretty well. All in all, it was a busy, sexy, fun, deliciously-exhausting trip! And it was one we will repeat! We booked next year's cruise while we were onboard.
I hope that gives you a flavor of our experience. Come join us next year!
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