My review of Pearl Alaska, May 7, 2015

I posted this as a review, but thought I would post it here as well.:)

Tuesday-Arrival in Seattle

We stayed at Best Western Pioneer Square, Seattle. Historic (Older) hotel, remodeled. Staff very friendly. Room nice, 7 blocks from King St. Amtrak station. Nice walk. However the hotel is overpriced.

Free WiFi in hotel worked well. Free breakfast was ok. Not great but sufficient.

Lots of restaurants close to hotel. Expensive, but worked well.

Wednesday –Vancouver

Took Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver, Great trip, sit on the left side of train for best scenery.

At Vancouver, there were no taxis. Someone called for taxis but we walked across the driveway to the left and took the Sky train to Stadium St and walked about 4 blocks to Hampton Inn. Great hotel, helpful staff gave us a map and told us where to explore, Gas Works area, along the sea. Beauty!

Ate at Black Frog. Explored for several hours. Jet lag set in. We returned to the hotel. Ate at the Back Forty, across the street.

The Hampton Inn was super. Great WiFi, great breakfast. Very helpful staff. Free shuttle to the pier.

Thursday-Embarkation

Embarkation in Vancouver was very smooth. However, I left our passports in the safe at the hotel. Grabbed a. Taxi for a whirlwind ride back to save the day. $20 later, we rolled through immigration fairly quick, scanned our passports and because we are gold status, we jumped past the entire line waiting to check in.

The Pearl looks clean and fresh. Lunch in the main dining room and explored. The entertainment seems better than the past few other ships. The sail away show was good. The comedian was very funny. Went and watched ‘Roots Link’, excellent kind of soul, Motown, groove band. Show band, ‘Future Perfect’ seems similar, also very good, along with guitarist, Dennis.

Dinner at Lotus Garden, which is now complimentary, but paid for sushi rolls. Very nice. As far as free drinks, we had our share!!! Michelle’s cosmopolitan was even free.

Friday- At sea

Our day at sea was fun. Plenty of entertainment. We stumbled into a martini tasting at Magnums. $15 per person for 6 Martinis. It was hilarious! We will be going to the margarita tasting later in the week.

So far, everything was awesome.

Saturday-Juneau

We didn’t dock till 1 pm. Had breakfast at Summer Palace, which is the main dining room. Very good. For lunch we tried O’Sheehans. Just like other cruises, they were terribly under staffed! We left after 50 minute wait and only received half of our order.

Our excursion was canceled as no one else signed up for the “bike & brew”, so we just got off the ship and took the free shuttle to town. There were several vendors all set up with tours. Trips to Mendenhall Glacier were $10 each way. So for $40 total we hoped on the bus to the glacier. Weather was about 50 degrees and off and on showers, but really nothing bad, we threw up our hoods and walked the trail to Nugget Falls. Got right up to the beautiful falls and a few hundred yards from the glacier in the bay. Small ice bergs were floating by. It was awesome. We saw a big porcupine in the welcome area. It was a great day. Watch where the pickup point is. We wasted about 30 minutes at the wrong spot.

We walked around town for a while. Stopped into Red Dog Saloon. Had a great time. Drank a beer, listened to the guitarist who was great and funny. Bought a shirt. Glad we went.

Got back to the ship, dinner at Indigo, very good, went to the spa for a little hot tubing.

Sunday, Skagway

We took the White Pass Train ride, great scenery. It was a very sunny day, so it was even better. You can stand outside the cars for better pictures, but it was very crowded and you couldn’t hear the tour guide. I think my inside pictures will be just as good.

We walked through the town and shopped a little. Visited the Skagway Brewery, a ordered a flight of their beers. They were all excellent!

Monday, Sitka

Very small town. There are free shuttles to downtown from the pier all day. I would guess about 4 miles apart. We walked through town a little and headed back for a quick lunch before our kayaking tour.

This Kayak Adventure excursion may have been one of our best ones ever. First off, the weather was great, sunny, about 60 degrees, slight breeze. We rode back to town and boarded a rubber motor boat for a 10 minute trip to kayak launch point. Along the way the boat stopped and we saw 20-30 bald eagles feeding in the water, they were fantastic.

We made it to the little launch area, and broke into groups of 3 kayaks per guide. Our guide, Apollo, was super friendly and knowledgeable. We were all impressed. We found leather back star fish and held one for pictures. It was an easy paddle on flat water. The ship called it level 3, but I contend it was a 2. Some first timers found it very easy as well.

Coming back on the rubber boat we were excited to find sea lions in the water feeding on fish by thrashing them on the water surface to break them apart. All the while, a dozen bald eagles circled and dove looking to steal the fish away. It was quite a sight 15 yards from our vessel!

We highly recommend Alaska Travel Adventures.

We came back to the Pearl. Dinner at Lotus Garden and watched Roots Link at the Magnum bar, went to the spa for some hot tub soaking and crashed by 10 AM.

Tuesday, Icy Point Strait, Hookah, Ak.

Another beautiful day, mid 60’s, bright sun.

NCL refurbished an old fish packing area to create a cool little attraction. You tender in from the ship to some shops and small eateries. They have a nice nature walk that brings you to the beach. Very nice. While on the beach we saw our first whale sighting. The first of many all day. He put on quite a show.

We took the free shuttle to the town. It was very small. The locals were nice and we saw a wood carving exhibit. The town itself should benefit from the tourists in a few years. We walk back to the dock/resort area (about 1 1/2 mile), went aboard, grabbed lunch at the Great Outdoors and watched whales all afternoon. We saw more whales on board then folks on whale watching tours.

A very enjoyable day.

Wednesday, Glacier Bay, National Park

First of all, the weather again was fantastic! Bright sunshine, upper 50 to mid 60’s.

There is no port here. The ship pulls into the bay and gives the greatest possible view of the Glaciers. Two park rangers boarded the ship and explained the glaciers and shared interesting facts. We went to various decks and outside areas for the best views. Pretty crowded but fun. After a while we went down to our room on the ninth floor and sat on the balcony. The captain spun the ship very slowly so everyone could get some awesome photos. We really enjoyed being able to watch from the balcony. I would recommend going topside for a grand view and then, head for the balcony.

Thursday, Ketchikan, Ak.

I put on my shorts and headed off the ship to explore and gather some souvenirs. There are some nice places right off the pier.

Our favorite area was Creek Street. Grab a map at the welcome center and head that way. Very old, gold rush area buildings, a wooden sidewalk. Neat shops, Dolly’s house, and a picturesque creek.

We wanted some salmon so we stopped at Annabelle’s Restaurant. We really enjoyed it and give it two thumbs up. We continued to wander the town and eventually headed back to the ship.

Late night we went to Sugarcane’s Mojito bar. Good folks gathered, good drinks from Alice. Good time.

Friday, At sea.

Since we bought the spa pass, we spent the morning hours lounging therewhile looking out the big windows. Lucky for us, a huge orca whale came across the front of the ship. The spa pass seems a little too high ($205 per person), but we enjoyed it several times, often after a lot of walking.

We went to the margarita tasting at Magnums. Very fun. $15 bought you 6 margaritas (about 2/3 the size of a regular one). But meeting and laughing with new people is the best part.

Later we went to the Legends show. Elton John was first and not very impressive (but we were in row 3, maybe he looks better from farther back). Next were Madonna and Tina Turner, they were excellent. Very high energy show, we forgot about Elton and left very happy. The goodbye song with the crew was next.

Saturday, Victoria, B.C.

We walked off the ship and jumped on the shuttle bus to downtown. I think it was $20 U.S. per person for an all-day pass. We have never been here before and were surprised how beautiful it is. The bus drops you off at the Empress Hotel. It is impressive. In fact the whole area was impressive. Right in front of the hotel you can buy a ticket to Butchart Gardens.

We went to the Gardens, which were gorgeous. We walked the gardens for a couple hours, grabbed some ice cream and back to the ship. The NCL excursion was probably $30 per person more. If the weather is bad, I wouldn’t go. It is all out doors. If you are not familiar, look it up. Probably not what you might think. We highly recommend if the weather is nice.

We had dinner at Orchid Gardens.

Saturday evening was like the last day of school, saying goodbye to our new friends.

Sunday, Seattle

Disembarkation went very smoothly.

Since we were not leaving Seattle until Monday morning, we decided to take the tour ‘The Best of Seattle’. It was a little pricey and our time at the Space Needle and the Public Market was way too short. Our driver, Bonnie was borderline obnoxious. Another 20 minutes at each stop would have made the tour worthwhile.

Summary

Food-Except for sushi a couple times we did not do any specialty restaurants. The Main Dining Room (Summer Palace) was typical of any others. There were two nights that we didn’t like the menu, so we went elsewhere.

O’Sheehan’s had good chicken tenders, but as it was back when it was called Blue Lagoon, very, very, very slow. One night we did have dinner at the buffet and again, typical.

Evidently, the chocolate buffet is gone, or maybe just on this cruise. But there was none.

We had the Ultimate Beverage Package. We never found a drink that exceeded $11. We tried several new drinks for fun, and made good use of this perk. I figured our bar bill would have been $750 without UBP.

Staff-after 7 cruises so far, the Pearl has the best staff we ever sailed with!

Ship-having sailed the Gem last June for comparison, I can say with confidence the Pearl is nicer. Things are clean, shiny and new. I know the Pearl was refurbished a few years back, and that was evident.

We had a deck 9 balcony, between mid-ship and aft. It was perfect location for us and provided some great views.

Entertainment-by far, some of the best entertainment we have experienced on NCL.

The band Roots Link (yes, weird name) were our favorite. The female singer and the piano player are fantastic. They play most of the time at Magnums.

The guitar player, Dennis is also very good.

A lot of folks loved Jim, the piano, funny guy. But after a night or two it got a little old. But worth checking out. You might love him.

Avalon played Latin music. They are extremely talented. If you like Latin, you will enjoy them.

There was a steel drum guy, David, at the Atrium a lot…I guess if you like steel drums……seemed odd in Alaska.

There was a show band in the theater called Fab Four?. We were not impressed. They screwed up lyrics to several songs. But not terrible.

The show band (Future Perfect) was very good but we didn’t hear them much. One night they did romantic dance music and we checked it out, but the song election was like from a bad wedding reception, so we left.

Tim the comedian was super. Very, very funny. But be warned, a lot of the audience gets called on stage.

Norovirus. We heard that a few folks were sick early on, but nothing big. But on the last Friday, we started to notice announcements about hand washing, and several new hand sanitizing stations added. Additionally, we saw staff scrubbing railings, and door knobs and all other surfaces. Saturday morning at breakfast in the main dining room, we noticed all the salt and pepper shakers were gone, no individual coffee pots, no butter dish, no jelly rack at the tables and basically, any common item was removed. Coming in through the buffet, the stacks of plates were removed as well as the condiments and utensils at the tables.

Staff were passing out plates and all drinks in the buffet, and all the food was placed on your plate for you. All the while, scrubbing of the ship continued. I felt they did a good job keeping things contained.

Throughout the cruise we noticed people rejecting the washy-washy staff. I watched a lot of men leave the restroom without washing their hands, and many other things like that. We honestly believed the guest were at fault, not NCL. None of our friends had a problem. My advice, don’t use the handrails and sanitize your hands at every chance.

Bottom line, it was a fabulous time. I highly recommend going in May (staff said last May was the only nice month). I would do the Pearl to Alaska again.

Thank for your review of my favorite NCL ship and yes the crew is awesome. Glad you enjoyed your cruise and sorry about the Noro virus, I hope the Pearl gets well quick.

Thank you for the review. I was very interested in this cruise, but couldn't make it happen for one reason or another. Glad you had a fab cruise.

We were on this same cruise and I have to say that everything you said was how we saw and enjoyed it as well.

What a wonderful cruise!

Can I ask what time disembarkation started? We are on the Pearl in August and I am getting ready to book our flights. Others have said noon or later, but just wanting to ask.

Thanks for the review!! I am reading everything I can between now and our cruise!!!

We were cleared to start disembarking at 8:15am.

It was a very smooth process and from leaving the ship to getting our suitcases and leaving the port it was only about 15 minutes.

Such a wonderful review!!! We hope to try an Alaskan cruise soon :)

Great Alaskan cruise review!

Crossing my fingers Tim (the commedian) will be on the Jewel this September. :)

What a great read THANK YOU!!! We are going on the Pearl in July and after reading your report I am more excited than ever which I barely thought was possible! I grew up in Vancouver.. Alaska never really interested me until now because I always assumed the geography between the two was too similar.. And now I am chomping at the bit to find out YAY!!!

Thanks again.. Very informative :-)

When I was on the Jade, I recalled seeing 2 drinks that were over 11 dollars. It was interesting how drinks were always $10.95. I swear, if you really, really love ur drinks, the UBP is super worth it.

We were cleared to start disembarking at 8:15am.

It was a very smooth process and from leaving the ship to getting our suitcases and leaving the port it was only about 15 minutes.

Did you self disembark or were you in one of the first groups since you are gold?

Sounds like your trip was similar to ours (departing Vancouver on the Sun May 8). We had a singing group called the Flashback 4 that was really good. I guess we got the good visiting group and you got the better ship performers?

Can I ask what time disembarkation started? We are on the Pearl in August and I am getting ready to book our flights. Others have said noon or later, but just wanting to ask.

 

Thanks for the review!! I am reading everything I can between now and our cruise!!!

We were off by 8:30. I think the lastest was 9:30 to 10:30.

They really hustled off very quickly.

Thanks so much for all your help! I am doing airfare today or tomorrow and don't want to book my departure too early but I also don't want to get home at midnight!!

And thanks again for your review!!! I hope to do one also when I return!!

Thanks for this review, I'm Psyched!

Thanks for the great review. Getting really excited for our turn. :D

Thank you for the review! :)

Did the Sun 10 day May 8 out of Vancouver, and at every stop they told us how lucky we were with the great weather. The only thing you did not mention which also impressed us was the ice falling into the bay from the glacier, it was very loud and got everyone's attention 5 or 6 times. We thought 10 days was not long enough, vowed to do the 14 day b2b next time, did not think it would be so warm the first cruise of the season.

Did the Sun 10 day May 8 out of Vancouver, and at every stop they told us how lucky we were with the great weather. The only thing you did not mention which also impressed us was the ice falling into the bay from the glacier, it was very loud and got everyone's attention 5 or 6 times. We thought 10 days was not long enough, vowed to do the 14 day b2b next time, did not think it would be so warm the first cruise of the season.

Yes, I failed to mention the ice falling, and a million other things that were awesome!!

Bottom line, it was great.

My best advice is go in May. The best weather of the year. :)