Observations, Opinions, & Pics from NORWEGIAN PEARL to Alaska

[www3traveler]

Erine, I have a question for you. Is there a way that I could get a copy of the picture you took in Juneau of The Pearl and The Star? That is a beautiful picture. You might want to think about entering in a photo contest somewhere. Mandy

[eroller]

Erine, I have a question for you. Is there a way that I could get a copy of the picture you took in Juneau of The Pearl and The Star? That is a beautiful picture. You might want to think about entering in a photo contest somewhere. Mandy

 

 

 

Sure Mandy. Just send me a message to e r o l l e r at b e l l s o u t h . n e t and I will email it to you. Of course no spaces in the actual email address.

 

It was fun seeing these two sister ships together in such a beautiful locale. I might add that PEARL got the preferred docking space, although OOSTERDAM got the best dock of the three ships in port.

 

Ernie

[TravelWise101]

Hello Ernie.

 

Thank you for your review and wonderful photos.

 

I appreciate that you took the time to do this as we are embarking on our very first cruise and it happens to be on the Pearl to Alaska (but not until August).

 

My hope is that most of those kinks you encountered will be worked out before we head out on our first cruise. We will be on deck 11 so the water pressure may not be an issue for us (thankfully).

 

Again, your thoughts on your cruise was good to see.:)

 

Ann

[eroller]

Hello Ernie.

 

Thank you for your review and wonderful photos.

 

I appreciate that you took the time to do this as we are embarking on our very first cruise and it happens to be on the Pearl to Alaska (but not until August).

 

My hope is that most of those kinks you encountered will be worked out before we head out on our first cruise. We will be on deck 11 so the water pressure may not be an issue for us (thankfully).

 

Again, your thoughts on your cruise was good to see.:)

 

Ann

 

 

Hi Ann,

I'm glad you found the review useful. Wow, your first cruise!! How exciting!! You are going to have an awesome time. The experience is going to be so new and different and cruising truly is an amazing way to vacation. Even when things don't go perfectly, I still feel cruising is the absolute best vacation possible and the best value too!

 

One thing you won't have to deal with is embarkation in Vancouver. Be thankful for that. It was bad with just one ship in port and I recently read a review about embarkation with three ships in port on the Princess board. The lines snaked all the way around the terminal! Thankfully it wasn't raining. Anyway Seattle will be much better. I've embarked on cruises in Seattle with no issues.

 

As for the water pressure, really minor issue. I doubt you will have the same issue on Deck 11. In the gym and spa the water pressure was fine. It was just my cabin where it was really weak, even by cruise ship standards. One nice thing is the shower set up on NORWEGIAN PEARL. It's very large by cruise ship standards and has a door instead of a curtain. Don't be surprised if you take a cruise on another ship and the set up is not nearly as nice.

 

Anyway have a fantastic time. You are cruising in Alaska at the right time. August really is the best month. If you have any questions just let me know.

 

Ernie

[TravelWise101]

Hello again Ernie - thank you for the kind offer to answer any questions. I'll try not to be such a pest to you.

 

We'll be in a mini-suite for our first (I know spoiled already) - but to be honest, my DH is not looking forward to this adventure at all. We've never had the desire to cruise. I basically had to twist his arm to do this. First I researched going to Alaska directly and spending a week there sans ship. It cost more (now there's a suprise). That basically sold us on the cruise. I wanted the travel done for us via ship so he can't get behiind the wheel. Our last vacation was to the UK and I about begged strangers for some Valium to get back into the car with him. One-way streets, us going the wrong way, lethal curbs that seemed to grab at the wheels - I'll never get over that. I felt programmed to say left left left and curb curb curb (but he always seemed to hit them anyway). He would love to go back there - me - not so much with him behind the wheel. I'm not what I thought to be the tour-guide needy - but after that trip without one, I'm beginning to rethink our options. For me, a cruise seemed to be the safest way for us to travel that distance. My hope is that DH get's over the nickle and dime mentality, enjoys himself enough to actually book a Med. cruise or Europeon one. Crossing fingers that all goes smoothly and I can help guide him into having a fantastic first-time cruise experience with me.

[tarheelmjfan]

I have never been on an NCL ship that does not allow smoking in the cabins, I will add, I was surprised to hear the OP smelled smoke, I have never been on a ship period except HAL where I could smell any smoke in the cabins. Maybe I have always gotten cabins where the previous guests were non smokers.

 

NIta

 

I guess I have been lucky for 24 NCL cruises. :rolleyes:

 

PE

 

I would also say you have both been lucky. I have sailed on an NCL ship once. That was Star to Alaska. The cabin smelled strongly of smoke. The first thing we did was call for a cleaning. We immediately left to get away from the smell. After the first cleaning, it still smelled. They returned to replace the curtains & the smell was finally gone. I too was shocked to smell smoke. At the time, I didn't realize any ships allowed smoking in their cabins. My previous experiences had all been on Celebrity ships. That experience won't keep me from sailing on NCL again. As a matter of fact, we're sailing on Star next Oct. I just posted to say I totally believe the OP experienced this, because I have too. Obviously, it only takes one cruise for something like this to happen.

[UNCBlue4Us]

Don't take reviews too seriously. We all have our opinions: I have been on the Pearl and found it very different from the review you just read.

 

Our group of ten were on the Pearl May 8 - May 15. Unlike the OP, we all found the crew, from reception to cabin stewardess to MDR and premium dining staff to bartenders: outstanding. So friendly and responsive to every request.

[TravelWise101]

Good to hear UNCBlue4Us! Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

[Hikini]

Sorry that your experience on the Pearl wasn't up to your expectations - no matter what they may have been.

 

We have been on the Pearl to AK and we had all kinds of night life and entertainment, so I was surprised to read your comment about that area being lacking.

 

I would have HATED having a room with a smoky smell, and in 6 NCL cruises so far, we haven't had to deal with that. I'm glad to hear they remedied the sitaution as quickly and as thoroughly as they did. So if that ever happens to us (we walk in and get hit with even a little bit of smoke smell) I will know that it CAN be taken care of.

 

We've been on 6 cruises to AK, on 4 different NCL ships and I can assure you that the crew on each of them has been exceptional. I can't honestly think of one time that a crew member gave me a negative feeling. No, that doesn't mean that every cruise has been perfect, but when there has been something that wasn't right, it wasn't because of the crew. We've found that when something goes wrong, even when it's not something NCL can control, that they have done what they could to smooth things over and keep everyone happy.

 

I believe it was your review that mentioned the CD, Julie, as being a little boring. (I am paraphrasing because right now I can't go back and re-read what you wrote.) You weren't complaining about her, in fact you said you preferred that kind of CD instead of the louder ones. In our cruises I have found Julie to be my least favorite. Not that she did anything wrong, but she was a little 'boring' and therefore my least favorite. She was still very nice, informative and seemed to get along good with her staff. I just prefer the more hands-on, funny guys.

 

Anyway, thanks for your review. We will wave at you on your other cruiselines ship as we pass by on our NCL ship! :D

[TravelWise101]

We've been on 6 cruises to AK, on 4 different NCL ships

 

Hikini, I'd be interested in hearing your comparisons between the ships you took. It showed you only took the Pearl once to AK and the Star at least twice. Your thoughts?

[TravelWise101]

Hi Ann,

If you have any questions just let me know.

 

Ernie

 

Good morning Ernie, I was wondering if you did the garden tour in Victoria. We arrive there @ 6pm and I'm still hedging on whether it's worth it or not because of the daylight situation. Yes, it stays light longer there but with the 40+ minute drive to the garden it leaves little time there - no?

[Maryutah]

Thank you for your observations/review and especially the photos you took & posted, they look wonderful!

 

I appreciate the time you took to write your review. Our first cruise on NCL will be on The Pearl this September to Alaska. I have only been on 2 other cruises, both Carnival, so this will be first experience with new line, freestyle dining etc., so I'm 'hungry' for information.

[4774Papa]

Interesting, your review is so so for NCL, yet the issues that you cited (specifics) are those normal to most cruise. Yes, the buffet is usually crowded. Yes the MDR service can be slow.

I guess to some the glass is half empty to others half full.

[TravelWise101]

Mary, you are welcome to troll our roll call for the same Alaskan cruise before yours. We set sail in TWO days! Yippee!

 

On that roll call many of us have inserted direct links to various helpful sites (both on and off of cc).

 

This will be our first cruise ever (hopefully not our last).

 

Ann

[VideoTech]

Good morning Ernie, I was wondering if you did the garden tour in Victoria. We arrive there @ 6pm and I'm still hedging on whether it's worth it or not because of the daylight situation. Yes, it stays light longer there but with the 40+ minute drive to the garden it leaves little time there - no?

 

TravelWise: We did the Victoria Gardens on our July Pearl cruise last year. We went because it happened to be combined with an annual fireworks show, but the gardens themselves were amazing and beautiful!

 

Our tour was combined with a picnic dinner, which was served out on a beautiful green lawn. The picnic hamper was very well stocked, and there were bartenders circling the picnic lawn, offering both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for sale.

 

The gardens are extensive, with a number of different themed areas, and at the time we were there, flowers and blooms everywhere. There was plenty of daylight for sightseeing; we probably had a total of 3 hours of daylight and evening twilight available to us, although in our case, some of it was taken up by our picnic and by needing to get to the fireworks location early enough to get some good seats. The grounds are so extensive that I'm sure you could easily use all of the 3 hours for sightseeing.

 

As evening fell, we moved over into a grassy amphitheater area for the fireworks show, which included both air and ground displays of fireworks, and was completely over the top.

 

Since we had to wait for dark for the fireworks, we were one of the last groups to get back to the ship, arriving back about 15 minutes before departure. But the tour was an NCL excursion, so we knew they'd wait for us, and we had a great tour guide, who had a wonderful, dry sense of humor and put us completely at ease right from the start.

 

Forgot to mention that the drive to the gardens was combined with a smallish tour of some pretty residential areas of Victoria. I think the bus had to go that way anyway, but it was a nice addition to the trip.

 

All in all, we ended up deciding that our Victoria port stop was well worth it. We'd thought would be kind of a "throw away" after the beauties of Alaska, but it surprised us!

[collectingcoke]

Hi Donna,

I use an Olympus Stylus Tough 8000. Not only does it take great photos, but it really is tough too! Shock proof, water proof, and even freeze proof. LOL

 

I've been very happy with it.

 

Ernie

 

I love the pictures and so happy to hear they were taken with the Olympus I am buying one for my upcoming bermuda cruise as it is waterproof for the beaches, will also have my Canon with me on the ship.