Jump to content

4.29.2018 NCL Pearl to Alaska live writeup- and I don’t even sail for 75 days!


Weetahbugdotcom
 Share

Recommended Posts

I thought I would do something a little different with my “live” review and start it a bit early, and go over some of the pre-cruise stuff. I am trying to write more, and let’s face it, who doesn’t start thinking about their vacation this far out?

bc9c6214a590ad902b0efb078d0a456d.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a6331ccaa2ce008cc72391d35e9aed3c.jpg

Background on me:

 

I am about to turn 40. This cruise, alone, is a gift to myself. I always thought the idea of cruising was stupid. Like being trapped in a hotel that you can’t leave. I would hate cruising with my partner of 11 years. We were made to vacation together, but this is not the kind of vacation we would enjoy together. When I told him I was doing this, he said “ok, it’s alaska, and it’s your 40th. I’ll suck it up for you. It could be fun.”

 

I told him he wasn’t invited. He could stay with the cats like the last time I went on a cruise.

 

My best friend, or “Person,” if you watch Grey’s Anatomy, sells cruises for a living. 5 years ago she invited me to go on one- but what she really meant was for me and my boyfriend to go. I said I would, and I would get my own room (she was going with a coworker. She expressed concern that me being there alone might cause her to ignore her coworker. I reminded her that I like to entertain myself at least 50% of the time. We got adjacent minisuites and at the last minute, added my runner up “Person,” my college roommate. It was a great time on the breakaway with my two closest friends and a new one. 3 years later my Person and I went on another cruise on the Breakaway, which she had won, while I left my poor boyfriend with 7 4 week old kittens born in my yard that I had begun raising, in addition to our 2 older cats. This trip was great, but I felt like a cruise alone would be my favorite. I guess we’ll find out in April.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

d1b0a2efeff7687386c7461674dd402b.jpg

 

My favorite things in the world (besides my cats... you’ll sense a theme here.) Are travel, photography, food, and exploring. While a trip to Alaska is more conventional than the type of exploring I normally do, it is in some ways more picturesque! The second post on this thread gives you a better idea of what I am used to.

 

My goals on this cruise are as follows:

 

-sleep in a bed with no cats

-wake up, drink Bloody Mary

-get massaged or facialed or pedicured whenever possible

-sing (badly, and not so loud as to disturb my neighbors.)in the shower

-take thousands of photos

-drink lots of drinks with stupid names

-sit on my balcony in my mermaid tail blanket. A lot.

-take some “adventures” in ports. With more photos.

-write.

 

Bonus: a few friendly faces at night for drinking companionship.

 

Anyway, let me get into the meat of my planning this trip.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good for you! It is never too early to get into vacation mode. I am on the same Cruise in August but am secretly hoping to find a last second too hard to pass up deal in April or May.

 

 

 

Nice! I am on the first Alaska cruise of the season- April 29- holler if you end up finding a deal! I’m curious, being the first one of the season if the crew are going to be slightly unprepared, or extra energetic! We’ll see I suppose!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5b1442ed6d34cb319aaab0002c83f927.jpg

 

Here’s a photo of one of my kittens for no good reason.

 

I booked this trip over a year in advance, under my blankets like a kid in a fort, like 15 months in advance, at something like 4 in the morning, via iPhone. I Had been going back and forth about the idea, and I do my best (or worst) financial decision making when the cats step on my head and I can’t get back to sleep. I got a balcony with a single supplement at a good price. The plan was to send a small amount of money every week on payday so that it almost didn’t feel like I was paying for the cruise. Additionally, I would buy an even smaller amount of on board credits every week so that once I was on the cruise, all those massages and stuff felt free.

 

Fun fact: I broke the time off request system at work because it didn’t understand that I wanted to take off 15 months from now. I also wanted to get the airfare over with but you can’t buy airfare more than 330 days out.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

e316615fc00aa18bd5e962bcc7b1addf.jpg

 

Yes, I know that’s not s Photo of Seattle or the Pearl, but I haven’t gotten on the trip yet, remember?

 

The first time on the breakaway I obsessed over whether our balconies were on the “right” side of the ship and all the things we might miss from them. Spoiler: it didn’t matter. However, the second time (my friend had won the trip and had a free balcony cabin) she tried to press her luck and request an aft facing one. We got it, and it was one of the best things about our trip. But now, I was going to Alaska. Alone. Surely not having an aft facing view for when I wanted to drink things in my mermaid blanket would be a mistake right? Surely I had paid all of this money for the trip, what’s a little more?

 

I changed my cabin to one of the two “best” aft facing cabins with giant balconies. Behold, I could sleep at night now.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow I will enjoy following your adventure! We did Alaska last summer with my in-laws. It was great. I have always sort of wanted to do a solo vacay but I’m afraid I would miss my husband too much and end up regretting it. I can’t wait to see how this goes for you. Oh and I think switching to an aft was a great decision!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will be getting off the Pearl , the day you are getting on.

 

Our cruise will be 21 days from New Orleans , ending in Seattle .

 

Have always wanted to see the Panama Canal , and this trip will visit lots of ports we have never been to.

 

My twins (boy & girl) are now seven, but their first cruise was on the Pearl, to Alaska !

 

Looking forward to seeing the Pearl again , and heard it was refurbished last year.

 

Enjoy your trip !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay! I'm on this cruise with you. Nice that you're doing a live, I won't be buying the internet package. Another thing I've found that there isn't a whole lot of reviews of the Pearl. I've seen a few, one was good, one had photos that were now unavailable due to hosting stuff, and the others were olllllllllld, before the drydock.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow I will enjoy following your adventure! We did Alaska last summer with my in-laws. It was great. I have always sort of wanted to do a solo vacay but I’m afraid I would miss my husband too much and end up regretting it. I can’t wait to see how this goes for you. Oh and I think switching to an aft was a great decision!

 

 

 

Thanks! I treasure my time alone, and I remember coming back from my last cruise and REALLY being glad to see my boyfriend and liking that feeling. It might have even felt nicer if I didn’t equally miss the 5 week old kittens he had been caring for in my absence :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will be getting off the Pearl , the day you are getting on.

 

 

 

Our cruise will be 21 days from New Orleans , ending in Seattle .

 

 

 

Have always wanted to see the Panama Canal , and this trip will visit lots of ports we have never been to.

 

 

 

My twins (boy & girl) are now seven, but their first cruise was on the Pearl, to Alaska !

 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing the Pearl again , and heard it was refurbished last year.

 

 

 

Enjoy your trip !

 

 

 

Hooray! You guys leave on my actual birthday! Have a great trip!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay! I'm on this cruise with you. Nice that you're doing a live, I won't be buying the internet package. Another thing I've found that there isn't a whole lot of reviews of the Pearl. I've seen a few, one was good, one had photos that were now unavailable due to hosting stuff, and the others were olllllllllld, before the drydock.

 

 

 

Hooray! I see you on our meet and greet sheet. Did you see the one by Vegaschic? It never got finished but it was amazing, even if it was pre-drydock. I’ve only ever been on the breakaway so I am interested to see how I do on a smaller ship!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! I treasure my time alone, and I remember coming back from my last cruise and REALLY being glad to see my boyfriend and liking that feeling. It might have even felt nicer if I didn’t equally miss the 5 week old kittens he had been caring for in my absence :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I am not being remotely judgemental, but I do find the concept of a solo vacation without one's spouse/partner to be a bit unusual, if you have one - my wife would kill me if I suggested taking a holiday alone!

 

Glad you are looking forward to it though, do enjoy. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hooray! I see you on our meet and greet sheet. Did you see the one by Vegaschic? It never got finished but it was amazing, even if it was pre-drydock. I’ve only ever been on the breakaway so I am interested to see how I do on a smaller ship!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Oooooooh I'm going to look up that review. I have 75 days to kill. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As soon as I was booked on the ship, I wanted to know everything and anything. I was annoyed that the dry dock photos were not coming out fast enough for me. I was annoyed that there was no roll call yet and I was annoyed once I created one that it wasn’t full of information. I am an only child and I am impatient.

a8a035e72247ba2095f4ffe6e76117ad.jpg

I was impatient in this photo too.

 

I had just recently planned and pulled off a successful 20 year reunion, so I decided that l, having never planned or attended a meet and greet, I was going to do just that. It took awhile for anyone to join the group, and even longer for a good number to join the group but we are finally there.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not being remotely judgemental, but I do find the concept of a solo vacation without one's spouse/partner to be a bit unusual, if you have one - my wife would kill me if I suggested taking a holiday alone!

 

 

 

Glad you are looking forward to it though, do enjoy. :)

 

 

 

Fair, but what if it wasn’t something your partner would enjoy? We both love hiking and biking, so 90 percent of our vacations are that. But I also like getting massages and drinking foofy drinks. He would be miserable.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2a540bbaa1370c9da295b401515cd2ce.jpg

 

Ok, so, since I don’t have photos of the cruise I haven’t taken yet, here’s a recent photograph inside one of my favorite insane asylums. Because having this trip booked and not really having a lot to do was making me go mad. (Note: I’m being lighthearted but mental health is important. I think if institutions like above were still in use and used in the way they were often meant to, and not overcrowded, things would be a lot better. But that’s another post for another place.)

 

Thinking about excursions was exhausting. The only thing I knew I wanted to do is rent a car in Skagway and drive up to emerald lake, stopping along the way. I ordered my car, downloaded Murray’s Guide, and made myself a google map of all of the places I wanted to stop, so I could follow it on the trip:

973d4bd07ed07f9df49e2a28f8d9f3c2.jpg

 

I also made myself a map of things to maybe see in Seattle.

 

ee16983d1f4d65a176bbdf1333b22d6a.jpg

 

And then I had nothing left to do except refresh cruise critic and wait until the 90 day mark.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As soon as I was booked on the ship, I wanted to know everything and anything. I was annoyed that the dry dock photos were not coming out fast enough for me.

 

You HAVE looked at all the photos on cruise critic, right? There's like a thousand of them of the pearl, all post-drydock (we'll be on her on 3/18, so I've been obsessing too).

 

Sounds like this will be a fun thread!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...