Alaska on the Pearl Aug. 14-21

I just got home from our first Alaskan cruise on the NCL Pearl. I do admit, I was a bit nervous after reading all the mixed reviews. Some of them were horrible. This was our 6th cruise, the first time on NCL. We have been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney before. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how great this cruise was. I have very few negatives about the experience. I will give a breakdown and will be glad to answer any questions.

Ship - The ship is older and shows some wear and tear, but we were happy with it. There were always people cleaning or painting something. The decor is a little outdated, but that surely wasn't a big deal. We got a laugh out of some of the decor. There is lots and lots of velvet, bright colored velvet. One thing I did notice and that it didn't have a grand atrium like the other ships I have been on have. It was very small, cramped place. There we no glass elevators in the atrium either. Not a big deal, but this is something you usually see on cruise ships of all size. The ship was always clean and easy to navigate as well. It took us about a day to get the lay of the land. There were many bars, restaurants, and quiet lounge areas throughout the ship. It was a full cruise and the only place it ever felt crowded was getting off the boat in Juneau and the buffet.

Cabin - We had 2 balcony cabins on deck 10. There was a king bed, small sofa that flipped out to a bed, and an upper berth that came out of the ceiling. The cabin was small, but I don't think it was any smaller than other cruise ship cabins we have been in. The bed was by far the most comfortable bed my husband and I have slept in and the bedding was so soft and comfy too. We miss that bed already. When the beds were set up for night time it was kind of a challenge to get to the balcony, but we were able to crawl out no problem to enjoy our balcony. The bathroom was the best part of the cabin. It was the biggest shower I have seen on a boat and it was nice it has a glass sliding door instead of a curtain. There was plenty of storage in the cabin and a digital safe too. Our room steward always had our room clean and stocked with extra pillows, towels, and of course a towel animal each night.

Food - We ate the buffet for breakfast and lunch and ate in one of the 2 main dining rooms for dinner and did eat at Cagney's one night. The buffet was fine, nothing fancy. Had lots of choices to make just about everyone happy. Trying to find a seat in the buffet was sometimes a challenge. They do keep Lucina restaurant open for seating during breakfast and lunch when the restaurant isn't open. There was usually lots of seating in there and it was kinda quiet. Both the main dining rooms served the same menu. We preferred Summer Palace over Indigo only because of the service. The service in Indigo was very slow, like they were short staffed. Getting a drink in Indigo was a challenge as well. The dining rooms had a standard menu of about 8 things and then each night they also had about 6 feature items that changed daily. The striploin and beef tenderloin was delicious. The salmon was good too. The only think we were not happy with was the chicken alfredo (it was not pasta, sauce and chicken, it was something weird) and the turkey dinner (that seemed like a processed turkey log). Everything else we had was delicious. We also never had to wait to be seated. We went between 5:30 and 6:00 each night and there were 7 of us and we always go seated right away.

UBP - So glad we got this as a promotion. I booked our cruise before you had to pay the 18% gratuity on it, but even if I had to pay that it would of still been worth it for my husband and I. We totally enjoyed being able to drink what we wanted, when we wanted, and how much we wanted. Our kids were also able to drink more soda than they needed too. If you are going to drink more than 4 drinks a day, I would say the UBP would be worth it. The drinks were good and they offered all top shelf liqour as well. We never had any trouble getting drinks at any of the bars either.

Ports - This is where I do have some complaints. Some of our times in port were either too short or they were weird times all together. I do recommend booking your tours from independent companies. They are smaller groups and most were a lot less expensive. I saved $650 booking all of my tours independently and we were happy with all of them.

Juneau - We were in port from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm. They asked us to be back on the ship by 9:00 pm. We enjoyed Juneau a lot. I booked a Mendenhall Glacier / Whale watch tour from a private company. They offered the same tour on the ship for more money. They picked us up at the dock area and took us to the glacier first for 2 hours. This was plenty of time to hike to the nugget falls and hang out there for a while, hike back, and explore some more of the park. From there we were picked up and taken to the boat for some whale watching. We saw tons of humpback whales. We even saw them bubblefeed. There was a pod of about 12-15 whales that we watched for almost 2 hours. They also took us to see some resident sea lions lounging on bouy in the water. When the tour was finished they took us back to the boat and it was 8:30, so we did not have any time to walk around downtown, which we would of liked to do. We would of liked maybe and hour or two hours longer in Juneau.

Skagway - We were off the boat in Skagway by 8:00 am and were there until 8:00 pm. We booked the White Pass Train that went into Canada. This tour was by Chilkoot Tours and took you up to Frazier, British Columbia on the train and then drove you back into Skagway down the Klondike Highway on a shuttle bus. The ride up on the train was breathtaking and so was the ride down the scenic highway. The driver stopped at multiple places on the way back down for pictures, including the Welcome to Alaska sign. The town of Skagway is very tiny, about 6 blocks by 2 blocks. There are some stores and a few restauants and that is about it. The White Pass tour lasted about 4 hours. We shopped around for a few hours and returned to the ship. We wish we stayed in Skagway less time. Seemed like we were there a long time.

Glacier Bay - Beautiful, but freezing. This was the only day of the cruise that was cold. I think I may of actually saw a snow flake. The park is beautiful. The water is so calm and a aqua color. The glaciers are huge and bright blue colored. We lucked out that it was a cloudy day. The rangers that came on board said the more cloudy it is outside, the more blue colors of the glacier you can see. It was really cloudy and we got awesome pics. Sadly, we seen no wildlife in the park. We were hoping to see bears.

Ketchikan - We were here from 6:00 am to 1:30 pm. We did a very early snorkel tour with Snorkel Alaska. This was amazing. Who can say they snorkeled in Alaska???? They provided very warm wetsuits and everthing else you needed. I was shocked at how warm the water was (it was 59 degrees and the air temp was almost 70) and also shocked how clear the water was and how many cool critters we saw. Very cool tour. We also went to the Lumberjack show. It was fun, but mainly geared towards kids and families. Ketchikan was a cute little town as well, but we didn't have much time to explore the city.

Victoria, British Columbia - We were in port from 6:00 pm to midnight. Again, a very odd time. The city is beautiful, but there is not much open. The only real option for a tour at this time was to Buchart Gardens, which we had no interest in doing. Unlike the Alaskan ports, everything in Victoria does not stay open the entire time ships are in port. We just walked around to Fisherman's Wharf and the Inner Harbor. This was probably my least favorite port, but only because there was not much to do.

Spa - I snuck up to the spa for a few hours one day. They were offering a bamboo massage and mini facial. After seeing the spa's thermal pool and lounge area, I decided to add a day pass to that as well. The spa on the pearl is fabulous. I had Lauren, from South Africa for both my massage and facial. She gave me the best massage I ever had. I wanted to bring her home with me, she was so good. The pricing wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a cruise ship spa, but they do add 18% gratuity on to your bill. After my massage I took a dip in the thermal pool and then napped on one of the heated tile loungers. I wanted to bring on of those loungers home too. I wish I would of went to the spa earlier in the week. Highly recommend a visit there.

Onboard Entertainment - Nothing great, but not horrible. We enjoyed the Legends of Rock Show and the acrobat show. The shows in the Spinnaker lounge were cheezy, but we enjoyed going up there, having a few drinks and getting a good laugh. I wasn't expecting much with the entertainment. I can only remember one cruise that had excellent shows and that was Disney (hard to compare). We always found something to do or something to watch. They had a few games that were fun to watch (Newlywed game, Jeopard, Name thta 80s tune, etc.).

All in all the cruise was great. NCL Pearl was good and Alaska was beautiful. We seen eagles, seals, orcas, and humpbacks from our balcony. You need to be prepared because you are on the boat for long periods of time. We left Seattle at 4:00 pm on Sunday and didn't arrive in Juneau until 2:00 pm on Tuesday. On Thursday you are on the boat all day as well. We were going a little stir crazy at times, but we used that time to just chill out.

Thanks for the review. We are leaving for Pearl on the 4th and can not wait!!!! I don't suppose you have any of the dailies from you cruise?

Sorry I don't. I should of brought them home, but didn't.

Glad to read your review and very nervous too about all the mixed reviews about the pearl. We sail sept 18-25! Hope we have a cruise just as enjoyable as yours.

Glad to read your review and very nervous too about all the mixed reviews about the pearl. We sail sept 18-25! Hope we have a cruise just as enjoyable as yours.

I was hesitant about the Pearl (my first NCL cruise) and ended up loving it! Did the same itinerary and agree about the short port times in Ketchikan and Victoria. Did not plan anything for Ketchikan because I wanted an unscheduled day and the time did not seem long enough to do anything. Ended up being bored - only took about an hour or two to walk around and do the stores. In retrospect, I wish that I had planned something.