Long Pearl review-5 night Pacific Coastal

[MT_DreamChaser]

Just off the Pearl yesterday morning. We did the 5 day pacific coast part of the repositioning cruise that started in Vancouver, B.C. and ended in L.A. We did have a cruise critic meet and greet and I’ll touch on that briefly later on.

I tend to get wordy so bear with me as this review will be long.

Background:
Our group consisted of myself and my twin sister-both in our early 30’s, one friend in her early 40’s, another in her early 50’s and our mother who recently turned 60. This trip replaced our annual fall girls trip to Vegas and it took about 13 months of planning to get to the Pearl. I live in Montana, in the Billings area, as does my sister and our mother. Our 2 friends live in eastern Montana. My sister and I have cruised once before, on the NCL Star to Alaska in May 2008 in an inside cabin. No one else in our group had ever cruised before. None of us had been to Vancouver or any of the other stops, with the exception of one of us having been to San Francisco about 30 years ago.


The Beginning:
Our friends drove to Billings on Thursday night, 9/17/09. It was busy here that night as we were trying to get things set up to easily feed our 11 horses while we were gone. Long story short, ended up backing the truck through a new section of a wooden fence. Not off to a good start. Then, my Mom and I were flying out earlier the next morning than the others and we missed our flight. We are so used to flying Allegiant that we showed up with over ½ an hour before the flight with Delta and couldn’t figure out how to use the self service machines. We’d checked in and paid for our luggage the night before. They told us we were too late to check our bags (our fault, docs clearly state ½ hour prior to departure and by the time we figured out the machines we had less than that), and that our seats were no longer available (their fault, we could have had the rest of our party take our checked bags and we could have gone w/ our carry-on bags). The docs stated that we had to be there 15 minutes prior to departure to check in w/ carry-on bags only. We were just under 30 minutes. They put us on the next flight to Seattle which, coincidentally, was the flight the other 3 were on. We would now be arriving at the same time-late Friday afternoon. Luckily, the bumpy start wasn’t a sign of what was to come.

The Trip:
We spent all day Saturday being tourists in Seattle. It was cloudy and chilly. We rode the new light rail (great public transportation option!) from Tukwila in to downtown Seattle and spent most of the afternoon at Pike Place until we walked over to the downtown Hilton to pick up our rental car. The purpose of the car was to get us from Renton the next morning to the new pier used by Princess and Holland America.

Sunday dawned bright and early for us. We were all excited and didn’t get a lot of sleep. It took a lot of work but we managed to fit luggage for 5 women in to 1 car and head to the pier. We were taking the Star Princess to Vancouver. Due to the “Jones Act” or “PVSA” (still not sure which one it was) we couldn’t take the Pearl from Seattle so we chose a 1 day on Princess. We watched the Pearl sail out shortly before us Sunday afternoon.

The new pier is absolute pandemonium. There were 2 ships in that morning, the Star and the Westerdam. It took us close to an hour to inch over the bridge and down to the drop off area. Traffic was terrible-coming and going from 2 directions and the way they have it set up to get in to the pier, there is no sensible way to alleviate the madness. Go early and be prepared to wait.

Once we got into the building, the rest was great. The Princess baggage staff immediately took all our bags even though check in hadn’t officially started yet. They directed us upstairs and people were beginning to check in. The process was quick and everyone was very friendly.

Since this is a review of the Pearl, I’ll just note quickly on the Star Princess. The ship was beautiful, the staff was wonderful. We had booked one mini suite and one inside. The inside was upgraded to a balcony. The ship was only about ½ full. I have discovered, I am not a balcony snob. It was nice to watch us drift in to Vancouver and watch the sun come up over the city but it is definitely not one of those things that I will ever “have to have”. I would not hesitate to cruise with Princess again. The experience was awesome.

[MT_DreamChaser]

Monday:
Debarkation was simple and painless. We went through customs and had our bags in no time. We hailed 2 cabs and set off from Canada Place to Ballantyne Pier. 10 minutes later, we were staring at the Pearl.

Porters eagerly took our bags and we went inside the building. It was very early and debarkation hadn’t even finished yet. We had coffee and sat around for about 2 hours before getting in line to check in. Another 45 minutes later and the check in process started. We went quickly through security and checked in with NCL. Again, everyone was friendly and helpful. We waited upstairs for about ½ an hour before we went through customs and were able to board. It was about noon. We were met on the gangway by lots of staff, including Julie, the CD. She was awesome. She appeared to be very organized and on top of everything.

We had 2 aft insides on deck 8 over Bliss. I was concerned that we may hear noise from the lounge but never did. Actually, we never heard noise from the hallway outside our cabins either.

We actually left Vancouver late. From what I understand, there was a backup in the lines processing people through security so when we were supposed to have our muster at 3:30, they were still processing people to get on the ship. This wasn't really a surprise, we made it though quickly but there were only 3 metal detectors.

The Ports:
Astoria: Tuesday we tendered in to Astoria, OR. NCL’s Star got the one and only dock. This was my first time tendering, I’m not a big fan of it. I know the staff doesn’t do it on a regular basis and I found no fault with them. I just felt it was a big waste of time standing in line and waiting and then sitting and waiting. Astoria was a cute little town. We didn’t have any excursions planned, we wanted to go horseback riding in Cannon Beach and did some research before leaving home but couldn’t work out how to do it in the time we had. We just walked around town for a few hours and went back to the ship. 2 of us walked down to see the Sea Lions. I wasn’t one of them but the 2 that went enjoyed them immensely. The weather was warm and they skies were clear and sunny.

San Francisco: Thursday was our stop in San Francisco. This was the stop I was most excited about. We had purchased tickets to Alcatraz online, prior to the cruise. We had a quick late breakfast on the ship and headed for Fisherman’s Wharf on foot. It was maybe a 15 minute walk from where we docked. We spent a few hours there buying the required souvenirs and I finally got a good cup of coffee. Some people like wine, some people like cigars, I like coffee. Not even the Java Café could make me a good mocha so one of the first stops I made in San Francisco was for coffee. Our shopping trip was halted to head back to the Alcatraz landing to go on our 12:30 tour.

I had looked forward to visiting Alcatraz. There is a lot of hype and mystery about the place. It has a spot as part of American history. We spent almost 3 hours at Alcatraz and would have spent more if the day hadn’t been so cold and windy. It was so foggy for most of it that we couldn’t see across the bay. The experience was sobering and the facility was very austere and primitive. It is hard to believe it was a fully functioning prison only 50 years ago.

Los Angeles: We actually docked in San Pedro alongside the NCL Star and the Sapphire Princess. Debarkation was a mess but I’ll get to that. We booked a tour of L.A. through NCL. The tour was listed as an overview of L.A. lasting 3 hours and for those with flights departing after 2:00 pm. Our flight wasn’t until 4:30 and we wanted to see part of L.A. so we figured this would help kill part of the day.

For the tour, we were supposed to meet at the Stardust Theater at 8:30. We came in with time to spare and had to wait awhile. This is one part where I want to rant a little. Sometimes people are idiots and jerks. The ends of the isles were crowded with people and luggage and it made it very hard for us to find a spot to sit having to dodge feet and luggage that was stowed on the stairs. We carried our carry-on bags down to the front just to get out of the way. If you are the first person in the room, remember, you won’t be the last so be considerate to those coming in after you. This was very unorganized and that was just the beginning of it. There was probably close to 400 people waiting in the Stardust to get on 1 of 3 different city tours. We were not separated in to groups and all we were told is that they were waiting for a place for us to debark. Now, the ship had been cleared at least 30-45 minutes prior to us debarking with the tour and they were now calling colored tags. They had EVERYONE who was taking a tour get off with the rest of the general population. The gangways were on decks 4 and 5, weaving around cabins that people were trying to get in and out of so they could have breakfast and debark. Very poorly planned and frustrating for those in the tours and those just wanting to get off. When we got to the area for the tours, the buses weren’t ready yet and we had to stand and wait for them. Our tour, that was supposed to start at 9 didn’t get started until 9:45.

The tour itself was OK. I don’t care at all for L.A. Even in Beverly Hills, everything was built on top of someone else and the city was worn down and dirty. Not at all what I expected. Due to getting a late start, we only got to stop for 25 minutes at one stop and 15 at another. The bathroom on the bus was grossly dirty and the sink didn’t work. The driver and the tour guide didn’t know which streets were blocked off for filming and festivals and we ended up going in circles on side streets trying to avoid traffic. One party ended up missing their flight because the tour that was supposed to be over at 12-12:30 didn’t finish until almost 2:30. Next time, we’ll do something on our own.

[MT_DreamChaser]

The entertainment:
We went to Sharkbait the first night. As it started, I wondered why we had gone to the show, there was a goofy looking guy on stage juggling. Not really my thing. Good thing I didn’t have anywhere else to be because the show was awesome. Sean and Max are not only great at juggling but they work so well together and they are too funny! Definitely not a show you want to miss.

I skipped all the Jean Ann Ryan shows. I saw a couple of them on the Star last year, they didn’t do much for me. Others in our group went to the Sea Legs show on Tuesday and they said I didn’t miss anything.

As bad as it sounds, we spent a lot of time watching Karaoke. 3 nights I think. There was a large group of people having a convention on board and they were great at entertaining. Some could sing better than others but they were all fun to watch. I don’t sing and we are all better off that way but it was fun to watch others.

Second City was fabulous. Just go. You’ll be glad you do.

Didn’t go to the White Hot Party or the Toga party but both took place. I’m not a late night person and everything seemed to start so late that I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm to go.

Liars Club was on the last night of the cruise. I saw it on the Star last year and didn’t want to miss it this year. It is one of those things that makes me laugh so hard I cry. Second City was just finishing up when we came in to Spinnaker. After the crowd cleared out, we had an hour before the liars club started. We got a seat right in front and waited. Roots Link was playing and I’m sorry I didn’t catch them earlier in the week because they were very good. Sean and Max from Sharkbait, Julie, the CD, and the magician were the 3 groups in the hot seat. They didn’t disappoint. It was just hilarious. If Max hadn’t gone to work for Barnum and Bailey, he probably could have made it as a comedian. (Side note, please don’t bring your children. This isn’t child appropriate).

When it was time for quest to start, I looked at our group and said it was time to leave, as I knew what was to come. My mother, who is going through her second childhood, wanted to stay so we stayed. She isn’t easily embarrassed so it was good for her. As a side note, if you want to participate, you can play without any guys on your team but you aren’t going to win. Sean from Sharkbait was one of the emcee’s. He is a cutie. He let my mother wear his pants. That’s all I’m going to say about it!

Saturday came and believe it or not, we were ready to go home. Unfortunately, we had to rejoin the real world. We had to go home and get ready to go back to work Monday morning so we could pay for the memories we just created and start paying for those in the future. The real world is where we actually have to cook for ourselves and dinner might be a bag of microwave popcorn after a long day, my bed doesn’t come with turn down service and a mint, and the most entertaining part of my day doesn’t come with a drink and lots of laughs.

Food:
The food was hit and miss. We didn’t eat at any of the specialty restaurants and evenly split our time between the Garden Café and the dining rooms. We also ate at Blue Lagoon twice. I love all the fruit soups and hope they never go away. They are a meal all their own. The desserts for the most part were lacking in sugar but some were great. I never had anything I absolutely didn’t like but I did like certain things over others. Not going to dwell on food, it is too subjective. There was a chocolate buffet in the Garden Café the last evening. Again, many choices needed more sugar.

[MT_DreamChaser]

Bits and Pieces:
-The age group on the cruise seemed to be older. When I looked around, there wasn’t a lot of people who were even close to my age range unless you counted the staff on the ship.
-There also seemed to be quite a few children who weren't school aged yet. I'm not a big fan of stollers or kids, especially the screaming kind, so I probably noticed the children more than others would have. I didn't see hardly any school aged children.
-Ethnically, the group was very diverse. Many languages I couldn’t identify. Being from Montana though, we have very little diversity so it is always a new experience when I travel.
-hair dryers were great, you don’t need to bring a personal dryer.
-Staff was awesome everywhere. We filled out 7 STYLE cards but could have easily filled one out for everyone we came in contact with
-Seas were quite rocky 3 nights, one was considerably worse than the others
-Captain Lars has quite a sense of humor, don’t miss his daily update
-Cruise critic meet and greet was nice. (Thank you Helen for setting it up). I was a little dismayed to hear all the grumbling, although some of the complaints (soda card issue) were valid. I’m glad the complaints were countered with positives. I attended with my sister and we were quite a bit younger than the rest of the group.
-It was so foggy going in and out of San Francisco, we only got a glimpse of the Golden Gate bridge. Wish we could have seen it completely.
-had a great time, trying to decide where to go next, hopefully we don’t have to wait another year

Please feel free to ask any questions. I'll do my best to answer. I'm sure I left out a lot.

[Powriv]

Great review Dreamchaser, very even handed.

My fiance and I were visiting the Pearl when it was docked in Vancouver as we are getting married on the Pearl next year when it does the same repo to LA. We got on before y'all and were able to wander around and see potential sites to get married. We decided that the Spinnaker Lounge would be the place we are going to get married. It suited our needs more than any other place.

Can't wait to get on this ship. Hope the weather is just as nice next year as it was this year

It was late boarding as the crew was doing a drill and passengers were slow getting off which is surprising considering it was a 1 night cruise from Seattle. The Pearl must be something special for people to not want to get off

[mypleasure]

Originally Posted by MT_DreamChaser

Bits and Pieces:

-Captain Lars has quite a sense of humor, don’t miss his daily update

you are not wrong there. In alaska he must have been watching the Duck vehicles as he commented that the ship had to sail around a peninsula as it did not have wheels and couldn't go over it! Just one of his many wacky, off the wall comments. I hope he is captain when I sail on the Pearl again in February.

Nice review.

[DMH15]

I enjoyed your review. I could relate to your disembarkation/tour issues, as ours had been a huge fiasco. But, it was just a small part of the whole cruise that it is water under the brridge. But I agree, things sure can be chaotic on the last day.

I hope to sail on the Pearl someday. Thanks for the long and detailed review.

[MT_DreamChaser]

Powriv-we saw your group board the ship-we were already standing in line waiting ourselves. I assumed it was a tour for travel agents but I guess not. Best of luck on your upcoming wedding! What a wonderful way to start a marriage.

[MT_DreamChaser]

I forgot to add:

power strip is not necessary on the Pearl (but it was on the Star). We took one and didn't use it. There are several outlets throughout the cabin.

[kentear]

Great review. We are taking the Pearl in December and can't wait. It is our first cruise. I know you were on Pricess only one day but how would you compare the two ships?

[Powriv]

Originally Posted by MT_DreamChaser

Powriv-we saw your group board the ship-we were already standing in line waiting ourselves. I assumed it was a tour for travel agents but I guess not. Best of luck on your upcoming wedding! What a wonderful way to start a marriage.

there was a tour for travel agents at the same time, but we managed to get on board before them. There was just the 2 of us plus our wedding coordinator

[alwayssingin]

How far off the coast does the ship sail? Can you see the coast at all? Wondering whether or not to stay with the AFT cabin... Thanks!

[ddakrt]

Originally Posted by mypleasure

you are not wrong there. In alaska he must have been watching the Duck vehicles as he commented that the ship had to sail around a peninsula as it did not have wheels and couldn't go over it! Just one of his many wacky, off the wall comments. I hope he is captain when I sail on the Pearl again in February.

Nice review.

We loved Captain Lars when we were on the Pearl last year too! I remember he wasn't too big on his mother-in-law lol.