Bliss Cruise 2025: Booking and boarding basics

Bliss cruise is one of the biggest swinger cruises in the world. November 2025’s cruise was on RCI’s Symphony of the Seas and had over 6,000 passengers on board. November 2025 also happened to be our first time on Bliss. Truly, the experience could not have been better.

This post will walk you through an overview of the cruise as well as how we booked and what to expect when booking and boarding. 

Our ship in the Dominican Republic!

Bliss Overview

Bliss cruise is a 8-day, 7-night cruise for lifestyle people and likeminded individuals. In addition to the traditional amenities of a cruise ship, the cruise offers additional features for swingers. Playrooms, seminars, and parties take place 24/7. With each sailing, the features change, so please be sure to consult the cruise page for the individual trip you are going on. 

The demographics vary greatly. There are people 21+. I’d say the majority fall between 40 and 60. As a 25 year old, I did meet people my age, so there are people of all ages on board. As someone in an age gap couple, I would say age really doesn’t matter here. People are young at heart and that is so fucking attractive.

On this ship, there were three playrooms on board. There was a playroom in the solarium on the upper deck, which consisted of two levels of beds and hot tubs. Each bed had sheets (given fresh sheets as you go in) as well as curtains that you could close or leave open, depending on the level of privacy you were seeking. The second playroom was indoors in a multipurpose room on the ship. Though smaller than the solarium, it still had a good number of beds and was significantly darker than the solarium. This one was located closer to the dance floor and night time parties. Right next to this playroom was a fetish room where you could either play or attend seminars. One of the theme nights was Fetish night. On this night, they hosted special play sessions and demonstrations of different play. There was a seating area if you preferred to watch, but you could also use toys or sign up to go in front of everyone and be played with. The playrooms had specific hours to ensure cleanliness and allow for demonstration set up. 

Bliss has more seminars than you can count. They start as early as 9 or 10 am and include themes like Swinging for Newbies, BDSM play, communication in the lifestyle, oral pleasure, and many, many more. Some are free and some are paid. In addition to the seminars, they have meet and greets and other ice breaker activities where you can meet new couples. The meet and greets are by age, play type, sexual identity, and so much more. They occur multiple times throughout the cruise so there is ample opportunity to meet people.

If you prefer to meet people in a less formal setting, you can meet people ALL OVER the ship: waiting for drinks at bars, in line for food, at the pool, or on excursions. Lifestyle people are truly so kind and once we broke out of our shell, we found it really easy to talk to people about just about anything. 

Bliss cruise offers multiple different party opportunities throughout the cruise. There are pool parties, beach parties (depending on ports) and nightly theme parties, which also include preparties and after parties. All of these are optional, of course, but people really go all out.  

Booking

You have a few different options for booking. You can book directly through Bliss cruise or through individual travel companies. Both have their own advantages. Regardless of what you choose, you will want to book far in advance. We got extremely lucky with this cruise, but we were able to secure a spot three weeks ahead of time. This almost never happens. When we were on board in November, they had already fully booked the following year (25) and had mostly booked the year after (26). 

Bliss typically has its own pre-party at the official hotel of their choice. The night before the cruise leaves, they host a party at this hotel and offer an opportunity to meet people on board. I believe bookings through Bliss tend to book out earlier than travel agents do, but it truly just depends. 

Travel agents offer their own advantages. They sometimes have openings that Bliss doesn’t know about (which is how we were able to book so last minute). They also host their own pre-boarding activities and can sometimes provide smaller groups that are more specialized. Our travel agency offers their own pre-pre-party as well as transportation options to and from the port. We enjoyed this option because it allowed us to meet even more people and get our sleep (our hotel was far less busy).

To go on Bliss, you can expect to pay anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. It depends on: how far in advance you book, the room type, the view, the number of people in your room, etcetera. Some people opt for double beds and sleep 3 or 4 people, which reduces the price. We were booked on an interior room on the inside of the ship and felt it had a really good amount of room. Since we booked so last minute, we didn’t get to choose our room, but we did enjoy it. For the next cruise, we opted for a balcony. 

There are also premium options that will increase the price of your trip. Excursions, upgraded restaurants, spa experiences, paid seminars, photos, and more will incur additional expenses. Additionally, the drink package is not included on this trip. If you would like access to the ship’s open bar, you will pay an additional $700-900, depending on the ship and when you pay for the package.

When you book, you can choose to follow a payment plan or pay in full (depending on how far you are from the cruise). If you’re further out, you can pay monthly installments that become due as the trip gets closer. Once you book, you receive a confirmation email that outlines the deadlines. As the trip gets closer, you get information about the excursions, restaurants, and more through your email, however, you do not receive the full itinerary until you get on board. The itinerary is also subject to change depending on weather, which might change locations or times.

Boarding: 

Three weeks before the trip leaves, you get access to the app to reserve your embarkation time on the ship. The cruise sailed away in the late afternoon. Slots were available from the morning through afternoon. We didn’t find that booking in the morning necessarily had an advantage as the customs line didn’t start until about noon, however, it should be noted that this will vary depending on the cruise line and embarkation time. 

When you arrive at the port, you will drop bags with the cruise line attendants. The bags will go through a security check and then be delivered to your room. The bags are left outside of your room, so we suggest that you lock your bags if you have any concern about the contents. We didn’t have any issues with our bags being touched, but we did keep a backpack with us that had our computers, cameras, and a change of clothes to tide us over until we got our main bags.

After dropping your bags, you go through customs/a security checkpoint and then board the ship. After getting on board, you go to your emergency meeting location to get more information. There, you get safety information before being shown where you can book excursions or reserve other things such as restaurants or paid seminars if you have not already. 

There is a Bliss App that has the activities organized by time. You can save the activities so you can easily reference the time and location later. They also give you a brochure that outlines the seminars, dining hours, themes, parties, and just about everything you need. That means you will have both a digital and printed version to reference. 

Because we got on the ship around noon, we had a few hours before we left the port. We ate, jumped in the pool, and explored the ship before we went to the sail away party. Then, it was time for Bliss!

Swing and chill we did, my friends.