Quickie review Pearl to Alaska

[Deb0702]

Wow we had an outstanding family adventure to Alaska on the Norwegian Pearl on July 10. We had a mini suite on deck 11, cabin 11088, and our 3 (almost) adult sons (ages 17, 20, 25) stayed together in an inside cabin, also on deck 11.

 

They are big guys yet their only real complaints with the smaller inside cabin pertained to snoring, slobbering noises, and teeth grinding. Unpleasant personal body odors were also mentioned. I strongly advise bringing A)earplugs and B)air freshner if packing 3 dudes into an inside cabin.

 

Rather than detail our cruise I'll just highlight a few things that stood out to me. A few things I'd read here on CC about NCL had me a little concerned but most of my concerns were totally unfounded.

 

For example I'd read that if you buy a soda card you can expect slow or nonexistant service. This proved not to be true. Two of our boys purchased soda cards (against my warnings) and their service was always very prompt.

 

I'd also read about being continuously swarmed by pesky cocktail waitstaff. Not true. We were approached in each venue but if we said no thanks that was the end of it. There was no swarming and no issues whatsoever.

 

We weren't interested in buying art or emeralds and never felt any pressure to do so.

 

Our cabin steward "Miller" was outstanding. He tidied up after us but put things where we could find them. We had towel animals 4 or 5 nights and so did our guys in the inside cabin. Being our first cruise this was a treat and I wasn't really expecting it, having read otherwise here.

 

Loved the bridge observation room! I don't think we ever saw the captain during our cruise but we often saw other officers strolling around.

 

I'd read a lot about Sharkbait and was looking forward to that show but they were not on our cruise. We had another juggler/comedian, Barry John, a solo act. He has a dry humor and it took me a minute or two to get into it, but I did, and really enjoyed his show.

 

Really enjoyed comedian Sam Fedele. He was hilarious and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. Some people in the audience didn't look that amused but they are fuddie duddies, lol.

 

Oh What a Night was very good, so good I kept wondering if they were really singing or were they lip syncing? Couldn't tell for sure, but their show had me humming Four Seasons tunes for the duration of the cruise. One night we saw them in the Blue Lagoon. When they came in some diners started singing "Sheri".. it was funny. They gladly took pictures with a few fans. I was too shy to approach them, lol.

 

The string quartet was outstanding. :)

 

There were 2 negative things on our cruise and they both involved disembarking at our first port Juneau. It was a mob scene! A gridlocked messy mass of humanity on the staircases and elevators. I have no idea what the problem was in Juneau but the other ports were nothing like that. Exiting the ship was smooth and quick in Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria.

 

The other negative thing about disembarking in Juneau was beyond NCLs control. There was this horrible lady who was determined to get on our fully packed and probably overloaded elevator. And she wasn't taking "there's no room!" for an answer. She backed herself in and pushed and swore and squeezed and grunted and pushed. People were getting upset. She couldn't get the door to close but she tried again and again. Finally she gave up but we saw her many times later on the cruise and my son would say "Psssst.. lunatic lady @ one o'clock.. evade.. evade!!"

 

But we laugh about that now. It was definitely an awesome cruise and a family experience we will never forget. We loved Alaska and saw so many things that popped our eyeballs. It was amazing and if you're thinking about Alaska.. go ahead and do it and I can enthusiastically recommend the Norwegian Pearl. :)

[Hikini]

Glad you had a great time. We were in 11086 on the Pearl in 2009 to AK. I know exactly where you were!:)

[roger001]

Oh What a Night was very good, so good I kept wondering if they were really singing or were they lip syncing? Couldn't tell for sure, but their show had me humming Four Seasons tunes for the duration of the cruise. One night we saw them in the Blue Lagoon. When they came in some diners started singing "Sheri".. it was funny. They gladly took pictures with a few fans. I was too shy to approach them, lol.

 

No lip sync. They're that good...and they have different casts that rotate through the shows. I had to buy me a Four Seasons "best of" CD when I got home the first time I saw them. Here's a link to the production company that creates the show. Click on video for a short preview of the show .

 

http://frankievalliandthe4seasonstribute.com/

[billet]

Thank you for the great review and I look forward to going on the Pearl in September. I like the 'evade evade'.:)

[jennygirlmt]

We boarded the Pearl a few hours after you got off! Your review sounds similar to the one I'm writing. I too loved Oh What a Night. We didn't go see the juggler, but we loved Second City!

 

As far as disembarkation in Juneau, it's an afternoon dock as well as the very first stop, so everyone on the ship is rearing to go and all exiting the ship at the same time. Thus the back up. When you are in port all day (Skagway) people trickle and there is no stampede. Ketchikan also docked so early that the trickle effect worked there and I think by the time we got to Victoria no one cared since we were all depressed that it was our last night :-) That's just my thought on the matter. They had three security personnel working and someone moving the line along, so I appreciated their efforts to get everyone off.

[www3traveler]

Wow we had an outstanding family adventure to Alaska on the Norwegian Pearl on July 10. We had a mini suite on deck 11, cabin 11088, and our 3 (almost) adult sons (ages 17, 20, 25) stayed together in an inside cabin, also on deck 11.

 

They are big guys yet their only real complaints with the smaller inside cabin pertained to snoring, slobbering noises, and teeth grinding. Unpleasant personal body odors were also mentioned. I strongly advise bringing A)earplugs and B)air freshner if packing 3 dudes into an inside cabin.

 

Rather than detail our cruise I'll just highlight a few things that stood out to me. A few things I'd read here on CC about NCL had me a little concerned but most of my concerns were totally unfounded.

 

For example I'd read that if you buy a soda card you can expect slow or nonexistant service. This proved not to be true. Two of our boys purchased soda cards (against my warnings) and their service was always very prompt.

 

I'd also read about being continuously swarmed by pesky cocktail waitstaff. Not true. We were approached in each venue but if we said no thanks that was the end of it. There was no swarming and no issues whatsoever.

 

We weren't interested in buying art or emeralds and never felt any pressure to do so.

 

Our cabin steward "Miller" was outstanding. He tidied up after us but put things where we could find them. We had towel animals 4 or 5 nights and so did our guys in the inside cabin. Being our first cruise this was a treat and I wasn't really expecting it, having read otherwise here.

 

Loved the bridge observation room! I don't think we ever saw the captain during our cruise but we often saw other officers strolling around.

 

I'd read a lot about Sharkbait and was looking forward to that show but they were not on our cruise. We had another juggler/comedian, Barry John, a solo act. He has a dry humor and it took me a minute or two to get into it, but I did, and really enjoyed his show.

 

Really enjoyed comedian Sam Fedele. He was hilarious and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. Some people in the audience didn't look that amused but they are fuddie duddies, lol.

 

Oh What a Night was very good, so good I kept wondering if they were really singing or were they lip syncing? Couldn't tell for sure, but their show had me humming Four Seasons tunes for the duration of the cruise. One night we saw them in the Blue Lagoon. When they came in some diners started singing "Sheri".. it was funny. They gladly took pictures with a few fans. I was too shy to approach them, lol.

 

The string quartet was outstanding. :)

 

There were 2 negative things on our cruise and they both involved disembarking at our first port Juneau. It was a mob scene! A gridlocked messy mass of humanity on the staircases and elevators. I have no idea what the problem was in Juneau but the other ports were nothing like that. Exiting the ship was smooth and quick in Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria.

 

The other negative thing about disembarking in Juneau was beyond NCLs control. There was this horrible lady who was determined to get on our fully packed and probably overloaded elevator. And she wasn't taking "there's no room!" for an answer. She backed herself in and pushed and swore and squeezed and grunted and pushed. People were getting upset. She couldn't get the door to close but she tried again and again. Finally she gave up but we saw her many times later on the cruise and my son would say "Psssst.. lunatic lady @ one o'clock.. evade.. evade!!"

 

But we laugh about that now. It was definitely an awesome cruise and a family experience we will never forget. We loved Alaska and saw so many things that popped our eyeballs. It was amazing and if you're thinking about Alaska.. go ahead and do it and I can enthusiastically recommend the Norwegian Pearl. :)

I am glad that you had a great time. I love The Pearl and will go aboard for the re-positioning cruise out of LA on September 30th. You might have seen Captain Lars strolling around the ship without realizing who he was. He is a tall distinguished white haired gentleman and speaks with a Swedish accent. he is a really nice guy. Mandy

[Maryutah]

Thanks for the review, Deb - we are sailing on Sept 4th, so soaking up what information we can get.

 

I am looking forward to "Oh What a Night" i've heard nothing but good reviews so far, and I enjoy the genre of music.

 

I know food is subjective, but were things basically to your liking?

[Deb0702]

I forgot to mention the food! How could I do that? LOL

 

One thing I read again and again prior to our cruise was that the food in the Garden Cafe was somehow sub-par and the offerings were limited to the same dishes over and over again without variation. I found this not to be true at all. They offered *some* of the same foods over again but the main protein dishes seemed to be different every day we ate there. The desserts were different. I thought there was plenty of variety.

 

Also, the Garden Cafe is very big and there's a huge selection. One time I ate Indian, another time American, then Italian, then the deli section. I didn't make it through all the sections and I couldn't see how anyone could be worried about variety.

 

Bottom line we ate at the Garden Cafe at least once a day, most days more. It was busy but we never had to stand around with our trays waiting for a table, we never left hungry, and we never left mad.

 

And then there's Le Bistro. We felt a bit out of our element in Le Bistro but in a wonderful way. You know how you go to a restaurant and the next day you can't remember what you had? It's not like that. :p I had the grilled beef tenderloin and I honestly think it was the one of the best meals I have ever eaten. The creme brulee was amazing too. One funny, uncanny, thing was how the waitstaff somehow knew what we needed without being told. We started to wonder if our table was bugged. Seriously! At one point my son leaned over and said he didn't have a fork and quietly asked what should he do? Within micro-seconds someone showed up with a fork! Then later it happened again. It was funny!

 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your food (and drinks) as much as we did. :)

[twosea]

Glad you had a good cruise!!...we will be onboard the Pearl on the Aug. 14th sailing...can't wait...do you happen to remember when lobster was served in the Dining room??...did they offer specials for the specialty resaraunts like the 2 for 1??