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Recent Pearl to Alaska cruisers

brunolvr

By brunolvr,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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brunolvr

brunolvr

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Hi' date=' Sandy! I've been watching this thread, even though we're not cruising on Pearl till May 2014 -- and we won't be in a haven suite this time; we're trying one of the SE's, right below the Bridge! :D Our good friends booked the suite right next to us!

 

Wishing you & Terry a wonderful cruise! I hope you will do a review so I can read about your experience! (I have every confidence it will be as awesome as it was in May 2010!) ;)[/quote']

 

 

Hi, Laura! Sure wish we were cruising earlier than September as May has been our favorite time to cruise but since we invited our daughter to join us for her first cruise, she could only get vacation time in September. Hopefully we'll get lucky and have great weather!:)

 

Depending on how this upcoming cruise goes, we'll probably book another cruise to Alaska for May 2014.

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brunolvr

brunolvr

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I just submitted a review from the May 12 sailing. We had an incredible cruise and loved the Pearl/Alaska.

 

Hi, littlelulu01! Has your review been posted yet? I'll be looking forward to reading it.

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dandl1986

dandl1986

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Yes, they did do the barbeque and they also had a german fest on one of the other days. We were just in a regular balcony room. the only option for room service is room service menu...there are pastries, fruit, cereal, and yogurt for breakfast along with juice, coffee, tea or hot chocolate. For lunch or dinner they had sandwiches. You could order pizza for $5. It is a very basic menu and it doesn't change. Yes, we did have blue lagoon deliver food to our room. i don't think they liked doing it, but we asked for carry out which they will not do. instead of carry out they sent it to our room via room service--worked just fine. we didn't have any children with us so i didn't look at any of those options,

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dandl1986

dandl1986

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no glacier calving on our trip:( but it was a glorious day just the same. absolutely my favorite day on the cruise---second only to a day of swimming with sea turtles in st thomas of any cruise i have taken...who does't love sea otters!!!

 

spa package included unlimited use of spa facilities for length of cruise...they were open till 10 each night. paying the $146 got you 3 different scrubs you got to pick the type. that was the only difference, so if scrubs appeal to you for the additional $30 dollars or so, that is the only difference between the two packages. not sure on age, but my daughter is 20 and she could come in. i did not see any teenagers at all though.

 

lobster night was the first night. i had intended to get it even though i had read bad things about it, but i like lobster so i was still planning for it. however the chef regional specialty was a seafood lasagna kind of thing super cheesey and gooey, so i got that instead and loved it...

 

the computer attached to my scanner is being bad right now...i kept the dailies intending to scan, but it might be a while..if you have specific questions i will be happy to look

 

there was a sail away, but we watched our departure from our balcony and were treated to porpoise and seal sightings which we enjoyed more than a sail away:)

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Jagggg

Jagggg

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Just got off the Pearl yesterday. Wow! We had an outstanding experience, can't say enough about it. Was I on the same ship as some of the negative people. I will try and get to a full review in a few days. :)

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dustyroad

dustyroad

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Just got off the Pearl yesterday. Wow! We had an outstanding experience, can't say enough about it. Was I on the same ship as some of the negative people. I will try and get to a full review in a few days. :)

 

cant wait for your review. I loved the pearl and cant wait to get back on her again.

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katie88f

katie88f

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no glacier calving on our trip:( but it was a glorious day just the same. absolutely my favorite day on the cruise---second only to a day of swimming with sea turtles in st thomas of any cruise i have taken...who does't love sea otters!!!

 

spa package included unlimited use of spa facilities for length of cruise...they were open till 10 each night. paying the $146 got you 3 different scrubs you got to pick the type. that was the only difference, so if scrubs appeal to you for the additional $30 dollars or so, that is the only difference between the two packages. not sure on age, but my daughter is 20 and she could come in. i did not see any teenagers at all though.

 

lobster night was the first night. i had intended to get it even though i had read bad things about it, but i like lobster so i was still planning for it. however the chef regional specialty was a seafood lasagna kind of thing super cheesey and gooey, so i got that instead and loved it...

 

the computer attached to my scanner is being bad right now...i kept the dailies intending to scan, but it might be a while..if you have specific questions i will be happy to look

 

there was a sail away, but we watched our departure from our balcony and were treated to porpoise and seal sightings which we enjoyed more than a sail away:)

 

Thanks for all the information- it was a huge help. Did you do any of the drink tastings? How did you feel about the day at sea and other down time on the ship? I was a little concerned as I usually spend my time at the pool, but that wont be an option this cruise. Did you find you had plenty of things to do?

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cruisewiththekids

cruisewiththekids

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Just returned from the Pearl also. I have mixed feelings about the ship.

 

 

The negatives:

 

My bed left my back twisted in knots for the whole 7 nights. Terrible mattress.

 

The buffet was a nightmare with seating. Just not a big enough area to accommodate all the guests. And the staff was not able to clear tables in a timely fashion either. I've been on lots of cruises and never seen this level of chaos at a buffet before. The food was underwhelming also, except for their breakfast, which I thought was good.

 

The main dining rooms, the service was exceptionally poor every time we ate there. The food wasn't too bad, but it was hard to overlook the lack of service. A couple of nights our waiter barely even uttered a word to us.

 

The bowling alleys were always breaking down, and the lane we used didn't appear to be level. If you go when they have a 2 for 1 special, it's not bad. Otherwise it's $5 per game.

 

I'm not sure what they did on the recent dry dock, but it was nothing noticeable. I thought some of the furniture in the lounges and dining room looked a bit worn and/or dirty. I had a hard time finding chairs in the lounges that were comfortable.

 

 

 

The highlights:

 

The "Oh What a Night" show was excellent. The magician was pretty good.

 

Staff was friendly for the most part, except those who worked in the main dining rooms.

 

I picked up a bouquet of flowers at Pike Place Market, and my room steward was able to provide me a vase.

 

We had beautiful weather!!!

 

 

Tips:

 

If you want to do the Deadliest Catch tour in Ketchikan, book directly. It will save you $30 pp, and the boat was almost directly beside the Pearl. You will be on the same tour as those who book through NCL.

 

If you don't like shower gel out of the dispenser, bring a bar of soap. And they only have shampoo in the dispenser, no conditioner, so bring your own.

 

 

We had a nice time on the Pearl, but if we return to Alaska, I would choose another ship.

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Hikini

Hikini

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Just got off the Pearl yesterday. Wow! We had an outstanding experience, can't say enough about it. Was I on the same ship as some of the negative people. I will try and get to a full review in a few days. :)

 

I look forward to what you have to tell us!! :D

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dandl1986

dandl1986

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no we did not do any of the drink tastings...we spent the sea day in the spa which was as good as a pool area for us, beautiful scenery, quiet, a great way to spend time with a good book just relaxing. IMHO the spa is worth the extra money just to have a nice place to stretch out with a good book and the hot tub and pool. I did see some brave souls out on the decks in the hot tubs and on one day even saw some kiddos in the pool, no way you could have gotten me in there. There were people playing shuffleboard and ping pong on deck also. Personally I was just in awe of the beautiful scenery and delightful weather. I was content spending time on my balcony watching the mountains and wildlife...spotting whales, seals, otters, and mt. goats can be addicting, they should post warnings, lol. We really did not feel the need to do a lot of activities and other than the first sea day if you are doing any excursions there just isnt that much time on the ship. We did not need entertained on Glacier Bay day. I was up at four and on my balcony searching the skies and seas by six and we didn't come back in until dinner time. Then my daughter went to see the show and I went right back to the balcony where I was rewarded with photos of a humpback whale fluke series of photos. The only day we got a little bored was the day we were going into Victoria, there just didn't seem to be as much to do that day. We did spend some spa time, we went to the history trivia as well, but did not fare too well :P Sorry if my review seemed negative to some, I just didn't find the Pearl up to the standards of other ships I have been on and as I was traveling with a disabled person in a wheelchair, we just had so many issues with accessibility that it made it hard to enjoy the cruise.

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Linda the Book Lover

Linda the Book Lover

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The DH and I had the best cruise ever. I have been busy with laundry and household things today so I have not had an opportunity to write a review. I will post one tomorrow. From the moment we stepped aboard until sadly we disembarked we enjoyed our stay. We met nice cruisers on board the staff and officers could not have been friendlier. We independently booked our excursions and also did alot of walking. The spa was a welcome retreat for us.

 

Like Jagggg I missed the negative events except for one which is we had to get off a wonderful ship!

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brunolvr

brunolvr

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no glacier calving on our trip:( but it was a glorious day just the same. absolutely my favorite day on the cruise---second only to a day of swimming with sea turtles in st thomas of any cruise i have taken...who does't love sea otters!!!

 

spa package included unlimited use of spa facilities for length of cruise...they were open till 10 each night. paying the $146 got you 3 different scrubs you got to pick the type. that was the only difference, so if scrubs appeal to you for the additional $30 dollars or so, that is the only difference between the two packages. not sure on age, but my daughter is 20 and she could come in. i did not see any teenagers at all though.

 

lobster night was the first night. i had intended to get it even though i had read bad things about it, but i like lobster so i was still planning for it. however the chef regional specialty was a seafood lasagna kind of thing super cheesey and gooey, so i got that instead and loved it...

 

the computer attached to my scanner is being bad right now...i kept the dailies intending to scan, but it might be a while..if you have specific questions i will be happy to look

 

there was a sail away, but we watched our departure from our balcony and were treated to porpoise and seal sightings which we enjoyed more than a sail away:)

 

The seafood lasagna sounds good! So was that on Sunday night? or the first full day of your cruise?

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brunolvr

brunolvr

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Just got off the Pearl yesterday. Wow! We had an outstanding experience, can't say enough about it. Was I on the same ship as some of the negative people. I will try and get to a full review in a few days. :)

 

 

Glad to hear you had a great time! Can't wait to read your review!:)

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brunolvr

brunolvr

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The DH and I had the best cruise ever. I have been busy with laundry and household things today so I have not had an opportunity to write a review. I will post one tomorrow. From the moment we stepped aboard until sadly we disembarked we enjoyed our stay. We met nice cruisers on board the staff and officers could not have been friendlier. We independently booked our excursions and also did alot of walking. The spa was a welcome retreat for us.

 

Like Jagggg I missed the negative events except for one which is we had to get off a wonderful ship!

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise on the Pearl. Looking forward to hearing all about your experience! We still have 3 months to wait!:(

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