We flew in to Miami the day before the cruise and stayed at a hotel close to the airport and the port. Embarkation was a breeze but we were in The Haven so were escorted onto the ship as soon as we arrived at the port. We were taken directly to the Haven lounge but our room was already ready so we dropped off our stuff and went to the Haven Restaurant for lunch. By the time we finished lunch and went back to our room, our luggage had arrived so we were able to unpack and relax a little bit before setting off to explore the ship. The ship is huge. Amazing but huge. We were still finding new places on the ship the day before we got off. Our cabin was fairly large and the balcony was nice size with 2 chairs and a table. We were on Deck 18 and could look down on the balconies in the Haven on Deck 17 which appeared to be larger and had a lounger and a chair and table. If we do this ship again we would book one of those cabins to get the larger balcony. We tried most of the specialty restaurants since we had the 4 meal dining package and 2 more as Platinum perks (Cagney's, Q's Texas BBQ, La Cucina, Los Lobos, Le Bistro and 4 of the complimentary ones - Manhattan, Savor, Taste and The Local). We were very pleased with the quality of the food and the level of service. Beyond our dining package we also tried The Local one day for lunch and the rest of the time we ate in the Haven Restaurant which was easily as good as or better than any of the other restaurants onboard. We were a little disappointed initially that the menu didn't vary at all but when we mentioned to the Haven restaurant manager that we would like a little more variety, the chef started including a daily special to the lunch and dinner offerings.

Of the entertainment offered, we went to see Jersey Boys which was really good and Havana which we also enjoyed. The Beatles show was very disappointing both in quality of the performers and choice of songs. There are so many popular Beatles songs but they seemed to pick all the more obscure ones. The piano player was very good and very funny but seemed to operate more as a comic than a musician and never really sang any song all the way through. It was not a performance that you could sing along with, which is what we enjoyed on other cruises. The level of service we experienced was very high but again one would expect that in The Haven. And the butler, concierge and room steward didn't disappoint. We celebrated several special occasions during the cruise including our anniversary and the butler and room steward decorated our room with balloons and banners and made kissing towel swans with orchid flowers and set the table with white linens, crystal and orchid flowers and left us a really pretty cake.

We took the following shore excursions: Puntarenas, Costa Rica A Real Coffee Experience, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala Macadamia Nut Farm, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Tequila, Tiles & Shopping and Los Angeles LA Overview/Farmers Market (ending at the airport). We really enjoyed each of the shore excursions and would highly recommend them. By taking the one in Los Angeles our disembarkation was really easy. Our luggage was taken off the ship very early and segregated in a smaller area in the terminal so was ready when we got off the ship and was really easy to find. The excursion itself helped pass the time until our flight much later in the evening. We would definitely sail on the Bliss again but would probably not do the Panama Canal cruise again. We enjoyed it once but feel no need to do that again.