NCL Pearl to Alaska-- Garden Villa and other stuff, July 21-28

[Sea Monster 2]

So, obviously, lots of joy because we were in the Garden Villa, a place I never thought I'd be!!! We have stayed in a DOS on the Epic twice, but the smaller ships are a very different experience. Instead of a full-on review, because I see other people from our sailing have already posted, I will just mention some things that struck us along the way.

 

First off, if you're from a tropical place like us, it was COLD!!! However, I think I might be a wimp, because I saw some people walking around in shorts, and standard pool attire seemed to be parka with bathing suit, truly a winning style combo!! :D Most days started very overcast or foggy, but cleared up by late morning and wound up being absolutely beautiful. Alaska was absolutely amazing, and the Pearl got us so close to some of the glaciers-- it was truly awe-inspiring. Prepare to take lots of pictures and spend lots of time just looking at everything around you and wildlife spotting.

 

Entertainment was pretty good. We loved comedian/magician Jeff Hobson and the Four Seasons tribute group, but comedian Heath didn't live up to the hype (or we were just too exhausted to be amused-- definitely possible). Pedro is probably the first CD whose name I would actually remember and with whom I would like to cruise again-- he's a genuinely funny, personable guy.

 

Food was fine-- Teppanyaki was a miss for us (it seems that we are never happy with these places, but we always go back and try again for some reason), Le Bistro was quite good (but not as good as Epic), La Cucina got mixed reviews (peperoncini pizza is excellent!), Moderno was good, Cagneys for suite guests was good, but the menu needs to be updated-- I don't think it's changed in the three years we've been sailing NCL. Didn't try the MDRs. The buffet was, as always, surprisingly good for mass-produced food, and the German lunch was great! We also finally made it to the chef's table, where we had a couple of really fantastic dishes, an awful lot of wine, and found the portions to be WAYYYYY too large for a tasting menu. The chef was a really nice guy and we enjoyed both the meal and the company.

 

Excursions were great! We did the helicopter/dogsledding tour on Mendenhall in Juneau, the train in Skagway, the lumberjack show in Ketchikan and a bus tour of Victoria. Mendenhall was the best thing we could possibly have done-- we had a once-in-a-lifetime experience and my son will never forget it. It is very pricey, but I would say well worth the expense. The train in Skagway was at least an hour longer than it needed to be, although I don't see how they would shorten it. The scenery was beautiful, but the narration was not particularly fascinating and got tedious by the time we were coming back down. It could be hard to do the round trip with young kids. The lumberjack show in Ketchikan was fun, if totally staged, but it had a great feel and fit well into the short stop. Victoria is as beautiful as everyone says-- we just jumped on an open-top bus for a tour; the guide was clearly enamored of how many condos are being built in the city and how much they are selling for, because we learned a whole lot more about Victoria real estate than we did about the city! :eek: It was a gorgeous ride, though, and we had a great dinner at Pescatore (sp?), across the street from the Empress Hotel.

 

In general, all of these towns and cities were VERY small and intimate, highly walkable (even for people with gimpy knees like me) and very charming and scenic. People everywhere were VERY nice, even though it seemed that most of them were imported seasonal workers. We really enjoyed all of the ports, but do wish we had scheduled more time in Seattle before or after, because we were so impressed with this city!

 

The spa-- I did get the spa pass, and probably used it five times. Very much enjoyed it. I think DH and I each had three treatments. One of my massages was with a therapist who was a last minute substitute (see below) and who gave a very businesslike massage-- I felt that she didn't want to be there, she put only a towel on me where I was fully covered with comfy, thick blanket/towel combos for the other treatments. I didn't feel that she was "feeling" and adjusting to my body in any way, for lack of a better way to put it. I did not complain because I felt that the spa had made their best effort to reschedule me at the last moment on a very busy day and I appreciated the fact that they had made this happen. I was very pleased with the other two treatments I had and found that therapist excellent. The pitches for products were, as always, heavy and ongoing. One thing that I didn't like-- after my first treatment, the therapist mentioned the ongoing discounts that you get if you book three or more treatments. I knew that I would be doing this and said as much, but didn't have my schedule with me, so I didn't want to book anything else at that moment. To my surprise, the therapist came back in the treatment room with the receipts for all three treatments, for me to prepay them, even though I couldn't yet schedule them. I felt that this was too pushy, but made the mistake of going along with it, which led to all of the later complications when I almost had to cancel an appointment. NCL, if you're reading, this is a bit too much!!!

 

Now-- the Garden Villa! It was everything you would expect: beautiful spaces, fantastic service, and some extra privileges. Because the rooms are all basically walls of glass, with both covered and uncovered spaces outdoors, we could really see Alaska's nature around us all the time, which was great. It was for the most part too cold and drizzly for us to get a lot of use out of those outdoor spaces (again, I think we are wimpier than other people), but they were still great to have, and we did have our own hot tub for when we needed to warm up. :p Concierge Patrick was just fantastic and so professional-- he is now my favorite concierge! He kept us updated on viewing opportunities in addition to scheduling everything for us and was always accessible. Butler Charlie was wonderful, and went above and beyond when our Glacier Bay viewing times got switched the morning of, and suddenly I had a conflict with a spa appointment at the exact time we were going to be at the Marjory Glacier. He was in the room when the announcement was made, looked at me, and was dialing the spa to get it rescheduled before I could even open my mouth. This is not usually a butler responsibility, plus, he actually knew my schedule?!?!?!? So he really impressed me with how quickly he handled that situation for me, and yes, he got it worked out. He was always there to help us with something if Patrick had other obligations, so we just really appreciated him. Tito, our steward, wins the all-time prize for towel creations!!!! He was very discreet and we barely saw him, but he was as professional as his colleagues. Elsewhere, we found the crew to be very professional and warm, as has always been true on our NCL cruises. The only exceptions, strangely, were the woman who checked us in at the VIP desk at the port, who made it clear that she did not share our excitement about our cruise, and we didn't find the kids club staff to be as warm as on the Epic, but I got the impression that this club functioned differently because it is so much smaller. DS10 was not too impressed and didn't spend too much time there, even though he has always enjoyed it on our other cruises.

 

Speaking of DS, he has a special warning for all the kids out there: there are NO kid TV channels on this ship. Now, don't tell DS that this is just fine with his parents since a vacation like this is not about TV watching!!:D He was dismayed at the beginning, although I think he had forgotten about this sad state of affairs a couple of days into the cruise.

 

Alaska is an amazing and special place, and we will always treasure the fact that we got to go there and that we were able to do it in such style! When I asked DS his favorite things about the cruise, he said 1) the helicopter/dogsledding trip to Mendenhall, 2) our amazing Garden Villa and 3) the way we were treated by the crew of the ship, and I have to agree with him. NCL's amazing staff and programming made this truly a trip to remember!

[3DBeach]

Great review!! Thank you for taking the time to post.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for your comments. Sounds like you had a great time. I am very surprised to hear that Nickalodean didn't appear on any of the TV channels.

[brunolvr]

wow! You did have an Alaskan cruise of your dreams to be in the Garden Villa. Thanks for your review and sharing your cruise with us. We have a short 6+ weeks until our cruise -- we'll be in a Haven Suite but one day I dream of cruising in the Garden Villa!;)

 

I hope Charlie will be our butler as we had him on our last cruise to Alaska in 2010.

[Mertziekakes]

We will be in a Pearl GV in August 2014. Does it have a sauna off from the hot tub area? Just curious because some places it looks like it does, others not.

[Fins2theleft]

Thanks for the review. Alaska is definitely on my bucket list.

[Whirled Peas]

The Pearl Garden Villa we stayed in had a sauna off of the private courtyard with the hot tub. We were traveling through the Panama Canal, and it was very hot, so we didn't use it.

[Sea Monster 2]

We will be in a Pearl GV in August 2014. Does it have a sauna off from the hot tub area? Just curious because some places it looks like it does, others not.

 

Yes, ours did, but every time we opened the door it set off the fire alarm, and the "fire lady" came barging through the door frantically looking for flames!!!