Roll Call NCL May 3, 2009 Repo

This is a great 5 day cruise from LA to Vancouver with a stop in San Francisco and another in Astoria, OR on the NCL Pearl. Anyone joining us??

Partner and I will be joining you on this trip. We did the same cruise in 2007.

Frank & George

Just booked this cruise today. It will be the first cruise (ever) for my partner and me, and we're so looking forward to it!

Corbin & Michael

Corbin & Michael,

Congratulations on your first cruise! I remember our first cruise and how excited we were, so I can just imagine the excitement level you must have.

I noticed you are from Georgia, how did you come to choose a cruise so far from home for your first one?

I think you are going to love the Pearl. As you can see, we like NCL pretty well. We would be happy to help with any questions you might have. Looks like Diane & Lori can help out too!

Looking forward to meeting everyone on board!

Frank & George

My partner and I will be joining you all as well for the repositioning cruise. This will be our first time on the Pearl but we have cruised with NCL seven times. We also have booked the Pearl in Oct for a Carib. cruise. We really like meeting new people on each of our cruises. Our last cruise was on the NCL Star in Jan. which we had one of the Villas which was VERY nice.

Let's set some gatherings up!

Dennis and Terry

greatlife29@yahoo.com

Dennis & Terry, Welcome to the group!

A Villa on the Star...Lucky You!

This is the 2 week countdown for us! Anyone else flying in the day before?

Yes, the villa was nice and lots of room. Would we do it again...hum....hell yeah! The best part was we did not have to pay for it - we are really looking forward in getting away. We are also staying in Vancouver for two days after the cruise. Will be staying on the Queen Mary the night before in Long Beach.

Hi everyone,

I just found this site! This will be the first cruise for both my partner and I. We have started counting down the days and soon hours ... We plan to stay in Victoria for a few nights before flying back to L.A. Would love to hear any tips that would be helpful for a couple of newbies....

Looking forward to getting to know you all...;)

julie...

1. Have fun and take it slow

2. Get to know the ship on Sunday

3. Coffee, Tea, and juice are free alcohol and soda's are not

4. Great place to unwind and relax

5. You are in control of your days

6. Try to take in the shows

7. Cruising on NCL seems to be liberal

Dennis and Terry

Would love to hear any tips that would be helpful for a couple of newbies....

Julie, welcome to the group!

If you have not read the 'Sticky' at the top of the NCL board, that would be a good start. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=348398

Some of this is older information now, but still a lot of good info for NCL.

If you have a specific question, ask away!

We are also staying in Vancouver for two days after the cruise. Will be staying on the Queen Mary the night before in Long Beach.

We are staying one night in Vancouver and then taking the Star Princess back to Seattle.

We considered the Queen Mary, but settled on the Crowne Plaza. You will have to let us know what you think of the Queen Mary, we will be back in LA for the NCL Star Panama Canal cruise in November.

We are staying one night in Vancouver and then taking the Star Princess back to Seattle.

 

We considered the Queen Mary, but settled on the Crowne Plaza. You will have to let us know what you think of the Queen Mary, we will be back in LA for the NCL Star Panama Canal cruise in November.

Got a good deal on one night on the Queen Mary - partner has always wanted to stay on board. In Vancouver we are staying at the Sutton Place Hotel.

I cant believe it is just around the corner that we leave....YEAH! It will be out first time on the Pearl but when we took the Gem last Oct in the Med - really liked it!

WOW!!!! I hadn't checked this board in some time and lookie,lookie at everyone thats dropped in! YEAH!!! 2inTul, I saw your post on the NCL Roll Call and assumed that you were family but its nice to see the rest of you too. ;-)) Lets all try and meet up at the FOD (friends of dorthy) that are held most nights in the Star Bar (oh, thats on the Star...not sure which bar on the Pearl. lol), but you get my drift. This is our first time on the Pearl and we're very excited about checking her out. We love, love, love the Star and her crew. Hoping that the crew on the Pearl are fun too! We have an Aft cabin on 11 smack dab in the middle of the wake, but mostly we're in the Casino or Spa. For you newbies....get your bags out and start your packing list now. DW & I are trying to make this trip with one ( yes, 1) bag and a carry on between us. LMAO If we do it'll be the first time. Normally we're dragging 3-4 bags plus carry ons. Game on! See you on board.

Diane & Lori

The Pearl does have a Star Bar and about 75% of the time the FOD will be held there. Sometimes they might have a private function in the Star Bar and they will move the FOD to some other bar. I have seen them at Maltings, The Champagne Bar and The Bliss Ultra lounge also. Just be sure to check for the location in the FreeStyle Daily.

Experience tells me there will be more at the FOD than just the five of us (and our SOs)

Thanks for the welcome & tips! Also had no idea about the FOD's ... so good to know.. we will look out for them!

So what are everyones plans for San Francisco??? DW has not been out to Alcatraz or riden a cable car so we'll be doing both on our own. I did Alcatraz years ago and it was IMHO well worth the trip to see this piece of history. It appears that the tour company for Alcatraz is close enough to walk to from where we dock and they seem to have boats leaving often so getting on one should be no problem and the price is considerably less than booking thru NCL (always is!). After we return from the "rock" we plan on riding the cable car, seeing Fishermans wharf, Pier 39, etc. I hope the weather will be nice and maybe we can even get some pics going under the GG bridge.

Anyone got ideas for Astoria??? Never been there & have no idea if there's even anything worth seeing. Maybe a good day to get a massage??? lol

We have no plans for either. We have been to SF many times so will probably go back to China town and walk around. Neither one of us have been to Astoria so not sure what is there.

We are really excited to meet all of you on board. We both are very down to earth and easy to talk to.

Dennis and Terry

If any one wants to exchange pictures let us know.

We are planning on going to Chinatown too, George is wanting a new bigger Wok from the Wok Shop. He has decided that the one we have is too small... You just can't find a good on here in Oklahoma!

As for Astoria, as far as I am concerned, I can just stay on the ship... but I think that George has plans to go see 'something' (he might be going by himself if he can't convince me.) They have a train/shuttle that will take you into town from the dock, it is still a little bit of a walk from the ship to the train though. If you have never been, it is probably worth the trip into town...

We are planning on going to Chinatown too, George is wanting a new bigger Wok from the Wok Shop. He has decided that the one we have is too small... You just can't find a good on here in Oklahoma!

 

As for Astoria, as far as I am concerned, I can just stay on the ship... but I think that George has plans to go see 'something' (he might be going by himself if he can't convince me.) They have a train/shuttle that will take you into town from the dock, it is still a little bit of a walk from the ship to the train though. If you have never been, it is probably worth the trip into town...

Looking forward in meeting you guys! Maybe walking around China town together....no wok for us...lol

Just a question...

I workout four days a week and will do the same on the ship. My partner does not workout and am interested in a workout partner while on the Pearl. If anyone is interested let me know.

Dennis

Don't discount Astoria. I was pleasantly surprised my first visit and have enjoyed my visits since! The people are the nicest I've encountered in any port. Down to earth, polite, helpful and sincere.

There is an old movie theater that has been restored that they are very proud of and there is a great view of the town from the top of the restored Edison Hotel which is also downtown. There are a couple of great bakeries that will give you a sense of stepping back in time (wonderful smells and cookies for .25 cents).

If you are feeling energetic you can walk to downtown from the ship, along the river. It an easy, flat walk and takes about 20 - 25 minutes. You can also take the trolly that runs about every 20 minutes. (I don't suggest the shuttle bus as you have to wait for all the slow pokes when returning back to the ship).

From there you can also take a short hike (up the hill) another 15 - 20 minutes to the tower that overlooks the whole area for great views of the river, as it makes it's way east. You can also chat with some local folks who are usually out tending to their gardens. It's a very gay friendly town! Enjoy!

We booked a shore excursion for Astoria... something like the lower columbia river boat charter... 3 hours and you tour by boat and then drop you off in a town and then back... Since it's our first cruise and first time in Oregon we figured we should do an excursion...

heres a link if anyone is interested: https://www.ncl.com/nclweb/shorexDetails.html?groupId=AST_09

For those of you who dont know....I Just found out this morning, from NCL, that all of the free laundry facilities on all the ships have been removed. We were just on Gem in Oct 08 and really liked the free laundry service.