Pearl 9/13-9/20/2015 to Alaska

[Shellbelle28]

Here's my review of last week's Pearl sailing out of Seattle to Alaska (second to last on this itinerary before moving back to Miami for the season). I have photos but I think I'll add them at the end rather than try to insert within the narrative. I'm up to day 4 with the writing, hope to finish the rest tonight or tomorrow.

 

Pre-cruise

 

Booking- I booked our Norwegian Pearl 9/13-9/20/2015 cruise to Alaska online on NCL.com back in October of 2014. This was before the beverage and dining package promotions started but what I did get was a 10% of our cruise fare back as onboard credit and a pretty sweet deal for a category BA Aft Penthouse suite. I bought the 7-day specialty dining package and I think we still came out quite well on the deal. I worked with one of Norwegian’s Personal Cruise Consultants and he was always responsive, helpful and good at getting things done for me. I’ll definitely book through him next time and I hope he stays with NCL for a long time!

 

I also made a couple of requests of the shoreside concierge desk and they were really quick to take care of the requests. At one point I had an issue where I wanted to book an excursion, but couldn’t do it online because I already had a dining reservation at the same time as the excursion. The online system knows that and won’t let you book two things for the same time. I emailed the concierge folks before I went to bed one night with my request to change the dining time and by the time I woke the next morning it was done! The only thing they couldn’t manage was when I wanted to change from a 4-meal specialty dining package to a 7-meal one. For some reason, the concierge desk told me I’d have to wait until I was on board to make that change. But I contacted my PCC and he got it taken care of no problem.

Edited September 21, 2015 by mbuenzli

[Shellbelle28]

Sunday- Seattle Boarding

 

We live only an hour south of Seattle so getting to the ship was easy. Our ride dropped us in front of the terminal pier 66 at about 10:30 AM (our arrival time on our cruise docs said 12:00, but I’d told the concierge desk that I thought we’d probably arrive around 10:45 and they said that was just fine). There were plenty of porters and our bags were taken care of right at the sidewalk where we got out of the car. The line to go through security was not too bad, maybe 5 minutes. Once through the metal detectors there were people directing you to lines to check in. We showed our docs and were immediately walked back to the lounge area where suite passengers were being checked in. Since we were pretty early, after checking in and getting a photo taken, we had a bit of a wait before they were ready to hand out cabin keys, but the refreshments were nice and staff kept us informed of what was happening and how much longer it would take.

 

We were given a “Welcome Aboard” sheet with information about the ship, embarkation information and a map of the ship. I have to say that map could be more helpful. If you’re over 40, better make sure you’ve got your reading glasses! It would also be useful to have an indication of the decks you can’t get from one end of the ship to the other on. We frequently found ourselves on the deck we wanted to be, but unable to get from forward to aft or vice versa, because it didn’t go through!

 

Once Leah Rodriguez, the Concierge, came off the ship, she began handing out key cards to everyone in the order that they’d arrived at the check in lounge and once she had the early group taken care of, we were escorted aboard the ship to deck 13 to the Moderno/Cagney’s restaurant area. The private dining for arriving suite passengers was on the Cagney’s side, the rest of the week, breakfast and lunch was in Moderno. We both started with shrimp cocktails (and did so every single day!) the shrimp are drizzled in olive oil and have a little bit of fresh dill sprinkled on them with a cocktail sauce. My husband had the burger and fries and I tried the shrimp and scallop risotto. DH said the burger was really good, I didn’t care for the risotto, it wasn’t especially creamy and it had some kind of seasoning that I couldn’t identify other than to know it wasn’t my favorite.

 

Once we were done eating we headed down to deck 7 to what they call “Bar City” to see if we could find the Seattle Seahawks on TV since it was the first regular season game. At this point I did something dumb that could have ruined our whole cruise! Before heading out to explore, I used the restroom by Cagney’s and Moderno. Because I was loaded with my carry on stuff in a backpack, I hung my purse up on the hook inside the stall door and then forgot it there when I left! We took the elevator down to deck 7 and started looking around, which is when I realized I’d left it. Since it was boarding day, my bag had passport, cash, credit cards, cell phone, all the important stuff, in it! The elevators were a madhouse so I started up the stairs. Seven flights of them! After about three flights, I encountered a crew member and told her my panic situation and she skipped on up the stairs ahead of me and had the bag back in my hands before I made it all the way up to deck 13. Thank heavens she found it and nothing was missing. It really could have been a bad situation.

 

Once I could breathe again, we looked for the football game to get the score. We were in our Seahawk jerseys and had Seahawk lanyards for our key cards, so all day long people were asking us if we knew the score, or razzing us if they were fans of other teams. We thought that since it was a local game it would have been easy to get the game on in the bars, but it wasn’t. I am not sure what kind of TV service Norwegian has, but even assistant cruise director, the Legendary Leslie, was not able to get the Seattle game on a TV for us. (And that is all I’m going to say about THAT game, it’s probably good we missed it!).

 

By 1:00 PM, our deck number was announced as ready for passengers to access their cabins and we headed to ours. We were in a penthouse suite, cabin 9670, on the aft of the ship. We got to the cabin and looked around. Our last cruise was in 2004 on the Norwegian Star, also in an aft suite. I’m not sure if it’s my memory being distorted or not, but it seems as though this suite on the Pearl was a little less spacious. But it was still nice and had plenty of room. I loved the fresh flower arrangement in the cabin, and we found a fruit bowl, two bottles of champagne and a plate of canapés waiting for us with a note saying “with the compliments of the Captain.” We took some pictures of ourselves on our balcony with the Seattle skyline and holding our Seahawks 12 flag, then we taped the flag up to our sliding door (not on the balcony glass) to root for the team during the game we couldn’t watch.

 

Our butler, Putu, popped in to introduce himself and show me how to work the Lavazza coffeemaker and ask if there was anything we wanted. I was trying to figure out how to register my iConcierge app to get it set up. When you launch iConcierge but are not connected to the shipboard WiFi, you get a message to hit menu on your TV screen for a PIN code, which is totally not what you need to do, so I was confused. Putu got the information that I just needed to connect to the ship’s WiFi and then launch the app. Then you can sign in with your cabin number and personal information to track your onboard account. I didn’t use the paid part of the app, we didn’t need it, but the free options are quite handy!

 

We hung out in our cabin until time to go to the lifeboat drill at 3:00. Our assigned muster station was in the Summer Palace main dining room which was just an easy walk down the stairs to deck 7. I thought Summer Palace was really pretty, its style is Imperial Russian, big paintings of Czars and their families being opulent, all the furnishings are gilded. Makes you feel fancy.

 

We had an early dinner booked at La Cucina, the Italian Specialty restaurant. La Cucina doesn’t seem to get a lot of love in reviews but we thought we’d give it a try. I liked the décor, kind of rustic looking. The hot bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping is awesome. Both DH and I ordered the fried Calamari for our starters and I can honestly say it was probably the best we’ve ever eaten! The calamari was perfectly tender, the coating was crisp and not to heavy or overly seasoned. Just perfect. It didn’t even need the aioli accompaniment, which was a good thing, because it was a little too spicy for my tastes. Now, the entrées are where things go a bit off the rails for us. DH grew up in western New York State, where there are a LOT of Italian cooks, and he cooks a great red sauce himself. Most restaurant red sauces are just no good and we avoid them. I tried the pork marsala. The meat was tender and nicely cooked, but the sauce seemed too salty to me. The gnocchi accompaniment was really rubbery. DH decided he’d give the lasagna a try since nothing else appealed to him, but it was undistinguished, and as expected, the red sauce was not mellow at all. After the disappointing main courses, dessert was stellar though! DH had the lemon ricotta cheesecake and said it was amazingly delicious. I had a chocolate torte that was good, but actually was too rich and chocolatey for me, which is something I thought I’d never say!

 

After dinner we went to the Stardust Theater to catch the “Welcome Aboard” show. Comedian Tim Kaminski was hilarious. He did a bit where he brings about a dozen passengers on stage and makes them do some crazy animal sounds. He managed to choose one man from the audience who was deaf, so the sign language interpreter came on stage too. Tim made the situation very humorous while remaining sensitive to the deaf man’s abilities. The NCL production company of singers and dancers was very high quality too. Dan “the Man” Olsson was the Cruise Director, and throughout the trip I was very impressed by the entertainment on board.

 

After the show we were ready to go back to our cabin and do some unpacking and relax. We’re not nightlife folks, so we never did much at the nightclubs or bars in the evenings. I am so happy that NCL’s beds are comfortable. We sleep on a memory foam bed and since we got it, I’ve found I have an awful time sleeping in hotel beds because I’m so spoiled! NCL’s mattresses are solid and firm with a good pillow top or mattress pad and I slept comfortably the whole trip. I’d requested feather pillows, which were pretty good too. The comforters are down I think, so I had to turn all the heat off in the cabin at night because I was really warm.

All of our bags finally had arrived. My big bag was the last to come to the cabin and didn’t show up until we got back from the show. When I got it, it had a note inside that a “restricted item” had been removed from my bag. I was blown away that it was my power strip! One of the first pieces advice you get on Cruise Critic is “bring a power strip, there aren’t enough outlets” and I’ve always brought one along. I have no idea what prompted them to take it, it wasn’t an industrial cord, just three electric plugs and two USB, so I don’t know if it’s an emerging policy or I just got an over-zealous inspector!

[Shellbelle28]

Monday- At Sea

 

Monday was our full day at sea and we had a busy itinerary. We had breakfast at Moderno. I appreciate this option for suite guests. I liked being able to eat with less of a crowd and that Leah, the Concierge, was always there to check in with the guests, let them know what was going on for the day and the things she could do for you if needed. This change since our 2004 cruise is a great improvement. On that trip I’m not sure that we ever even saw the concierge face-to-face.

 

Our Cruise Critic roll call wasn’t super active, but we had a group interested in meeting and I’d done the organizing for our Meet and Mingle. I am really impressed with how NCL has embraced the Cruise Critic community and welcomed the roll call groups. I had a letter from Anne Valyn aka. “Apple,” the NCL Group Service Coordinator, that our meeting would be at the Bliss Ultra Lounge at 11:00 AM. When I arrived, she had sign in sheets and refreshments for the guests. The Captain, the Hotel Director, the Restaurant and Beverage Managers, the Cruise Director, the Head of Housekeeping, Guest Services Manager and the Food and Beverage Director were all there and came up front and introduced themselves. I was impressed that NCL acknowledges Cruise Critic guests by getting all of these very busy people in one room to greet us! We had a good time meeting all of the Roll Call group and putting faces and real names together with online handles. Everybody was excited because I’d asked the Captain if they gave tours of the bridge and he said that yes, they would take us on a tour and that Apple would arrange it for the roll call group.

 

A word about the Bliss Ultra Lounge and Nightclub. It is WEIRD. We ended up calling it the “Voodoo Bordello.” The decor is dark velvet, carved wood and ornate and there are all these little alcoves with BEDS instead of seats. Then there are the flanking bowling lanes to each side of the lounge space to add to the oddness. The beds were a source of mystification to most of the guests we ran into in that room.

 

Next on the agenda was a group from our Meet & Mingle who had signed up to do a “cabin crawl.” Five of us had agreed to get together and take a peek at one another’s cabins. It’s a fun way to look at different categories of cabins. I’d arranged the visiting order so we didn’t have to backtrack too much. We started on deck 8 checking out an obstructed oceanview with Shipmate987, then to my aft penthouse, then TashaMP6’s mid-ship balcony with king bed, then JHicks3636’s forward penthouse, and ending on deck 11 at Vashti42’s 2-bedroom family suite where we toasted with champagne to celebrate her birthday. I thought it was really fun.

 

At 1:00 there was a Latitudes party at the Spinnaker Lounge. There was wine, beer and rum punch. The Captain spoke and then the “Cruise Next” person gave her spiel on booking future trips. As you entered to party they took your invitation and put it in for a drawing. They gave out some bottles of wine and some t-shirts. We headed over to O’Sheehans to grab something to eat after the cocktail party. It was the only time we ate there. It was noisy, busy, crowded and the much mentioned fish and chips was not very good. The fish was cooked nice and the coating was crisp, but the fish itself was not so great. I thought it was supposed to be cod, but it smelled like mud. The server seemed confused the whole time and we had to hunt him down to get our key cards back so we could leave after he took them to run our beverage charges. It would be really nice if NCL had a couple of additional dining spaces that did NOT require table service. On the Star and the Sky I recall there was a place called the Blue Lagoon where you could get soup, burgers and a couple of other menu items by walking up to a counter, ordering then sitting and waiting until it was ready with a number on your table. It was much more efficient and a good way to get a quick bite to eat without having to brave the buffet. Since the weather was cool and rainy the whole cruise, the poolside grill was never in operation and the Great Outdoors was unappealing.

 

After the Latitudes party we had another Cruise Critic roll call group activity, this time, a slot pull. We’d agreed ahead of time that all participants would put in $20 to the group ante. I’d gone to the casino earlier and looked around for a slot machine that had a $5 spin so we could each get 4 spins for our $20. They had a couple back in a small high dollar slot area. Our group got together at 2:30 and we ended up with eight that wanted to play, me and my husband, Jinglesbella, JHicks3636, lucyvp, Trvlr37 and her DH, and another lady who I think was a friend of one of our roll call people. I popped in the money and off we went! I was glad that Cruise Critic had had a few threads on how to do a slot pull, because I had no clue! So I know I needed to find a machine that had a denomination that divided evenly for the amount we were all putting in, and that each person does all their spins at once and you’re supposed to track what the wins amounts are for each person. We all got our spins in and were up $80, so everybody took two more spins. After that we were still up, but decided instead of $5 spins, we’d bet max and each take one $10 spin. Our lucky player, Trvlr37’s husband, hit again, and we all ended up cashing out with $34. The overage after dividing the cash went to the high spin winner so he got a few extra bucks. One thing to know is that when you go to the cashier to cash out your winnings, $1 bills are in short supply, they won’t give you a pile of them to split up the winnings among the slot pull group, you you’ll want to have a pocket full of ones in order to split things up right. This was another Cruise Critic planned activity that I thought was really fun.

 

At 6:00 was the Captains Latitudes party, for “silver and above” members. It was in Bliss. We went in and got a photo with the captain and sat to enjoy some drinks and hors d’oeuvres. We met a cute couple from Texas, Kyle and Christina. Kyle had been one of the passengers pulled up on stage by the comedian at the “Welcome Aboard” show in Stardust the night before. He was one of the guys who tried to do an imitation of an elephant for the comedian to much hilarity for the audience. We ran into Kyle and Christina a number of times throughout the cruise and they were fun to talk to.

 

We had a dinner reservation at Cagney’s for Tuesday. Cagney’s ended up being our favorite specialty restaurant, the waiters were all great and the steaks were fabulous! A waiter named Carl Ann ended up being our favorite, we asked for her the other times we dined at Cagney’s and often, when we ate at Moderno for breakfast or lunch, she was working there also. The hostess for Cagney’s, Deepa, was also a winner. She laughed when my husband made a joke, and it was a genuine laugh, not just a “haha, I have no idea what you meant, but I’ll laugh to please you.” Deepa always remembered our names and took care of us quickly. This night DH and I both started with shimp cocktail, then had the filet with the garlic mashed potatoes, onion rings and mushrooms for sides. All were perfect and delicious! For dessert, I had raspberry crème brulee, which was delicious and DH had the Oreo cheesecake, which he said he could take or leave, it wasn’t OMG good.

 

Tuesday night’s show at the Stardust was called “Swing” and was a singing and dancing production, celebrating the music of the Swing era of jazz. The music was good, all of the singers were top notch, and the dance and costumes were also great.

[Shellbelle28]

Tuesday- Juneau

 

On Tuesday we were to arrive in port at Juneau at 2:00 PM. In the morning we ate breakfast in the Summer Palace main dining room. Service was good, they have so many folks working in the MDRs that it’s almost always efficient. Both of us had eggs and bacon and hash browns. The hash browns are little formed patties that I think are deep fried and they are VERY oniony. If you don’t like onion flavor, you won’t like these! The rest of the trip I requested “country potatoes” which was what I’d call potatoes O’Brien, cubes of potato plus sautéed onions and peppers.

 

We decided to take a look at the Garden Café buffet and grab something to eat since our excursion wouldn’t be back until late and then went back to the cabin to get ready. The excursion was the Whale Watching and Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari. I had to decide which camera gear to bring and what to leave behind. I ended up taking my 70-200mm f/2.8 and a 2x teleconverter. We waited in the Stardust for our tour group to be called and sent off the ship. We could have gone off early with Leah, but would have just had to wait around once outside for the rest of the group to assemble. We ran into a couple from our Cruise Critic roll call, Jeff and Tina, who were also going on the same excursion. It was a GREAT tour. Only 14 people, so no being herded onto a bus in a crowd. Our tour guide was Mircea, a photographer, he helped people with their cameras as well as shared a ton about the land and the animals. He was passionate about the connection of the land, sea and glaciers of the area. The tour started with a ride to Auke Bay, where we got on a boat and headed for the water. It was cloudy and overcast, but not raining. We saw tons of whale spouts and backs, and I got a couple of photographs of tail flukes. DH saw a whale breach, but most of the rest of us on the boat were looking the other direction and missed it. Going back into the marina at the end of the whale watching we saw quite a few bald eagles perched on pilings and in trees. After the whale watching we were driven to Tongass National Forest for a walk to Mendenhall Glacier. The hike was easy, we stopped frequently to hear about the land and the plant life and ended at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center with a panoramic view of the glacier and lake. It was truly beautiful. Walking back out to our tour van we saw a porcupine and a beaver, so that was bonus wildlife! It started raining as we were leaving the park, so we were lucky with that as well. I can’t say enough about this excursion! It was one of the best we’ve ever done and I would highly recommend it.

 

After getting back to the ship from the excursion at around 7:30 PM, we went to our cabin to get cleaned up for dinner at Teppanyaki. We’ve done teppanyaki on NCL before, and I thought it would be ok to try again, since the food was always good. But, oy! When did the entertaining teppanyaki experience turn into a manic, ear splitting circus? The clanging of the four chef’s sets of tools on four griddles at one time was migraine inducing! They have so many menu options now that we got our food piecemeal rather than all of it on the plate to eat like a normal meal. In the past it seems as though there was a bit of showmanship at the beginning, while the guests had soup then they got down to work preparing the food and getting it on the plates. This time, first you got some rice then you waited a while and got some meat, then you waited some more while others with different orders got their choices. Then you got some veggies and waited some more. Then finally you got the next item if you’d chosen a combo, which for us was shrimp. The food was delicious but the way it is dribbled out took away from the enjoyment to me, especially on top of the noise. Each chef apparently has some kind of an entertainment “bit” he does as well. Ours made origami dragons for everyone. The guy at the next table was doing magic tricks with handkerchiefs. This was at the end and not while they were cooking so that was ok, but while he was making origami, the gunk on the griddle was burning away and the vent wasn’t sucking it up too well, DH got seriously smoked out by it. Dessert is either sliced fruit with a couple of sauces to dip in or green tea cake and ice cream. I had the fruit, it was the same fruit as on every fruit plate on the ship all week. So, Teppanyaki was an experience to try, but not one I’d probably repeat.

 

The show in the Stardust that night was called “Pure Variety,” a variety show which spans multiple eras and genres including funk, country, and disco. We missed it, I think I was tired and just wanted to make an early night of it after our 8:30 dinner was done.

[Shellbelle28]

Wednesday- Skagway

 

The ship arrived in Skagway at 7:00 AM, we didn’t have any shore excursion plans, so were going to just have a relaxed breakfast and walk off the ship to wander around town. One of our roll call members, Jinglesbella, mentioned she’d communicated with the proprietor of a quilt shop in Skagway who had promised to be open even though they were usually closed on Wednesday. I thought that was really nice and wanted to be sure and visit the shop and make a purchase.

 

We thought Moderno would be a good breakfast option so headed up to deck 13. We were seated quickly but things went sideways after that. At breakfast they have an area set up where you can pour yourself juice, grab packs of cold cereal and milk and pick up fruit, Danish, oatmeal and smorgasbord items for yourself. Coffee water and cooked items are supplied by the waters. There weren’t any glasses to put juice in, no plates to put your items from the breakfast bar on and we sat at our table and waited for quite a while without being acknowledged by a waiter. Finally one came along, poured some water seeming very addled by my request for coffee and said someone would be around to take our order. After about ten minutes with no coffee, and no order taken we decided to give up and go to the Summer Palace MDR. A couple at another table got up at the same time and left saying nobody had waited on them either. As we were leaving, Leah the Concierge was coming into the restaurant and greeted us. DH gave her an earful about the lack of staffing (or possible supervision of staff) in the restaurant on the way past and she seemed mortified and apologized and said she wanted to to something to make up for things. We said it was really ok, they just needed to figure out why there weren’t any waiters serving, and went on to Summer Palace and got a table and ordered with no additional frustration. Of course, in NCL’s customer conscious way, we soon had the Maître d’at our tableside telling us how sorry they were we’d had an issue up in Moderno and wanting to make sure we had all we needed.

 

After breakfast we went back to our cabin and suited up in our raingear to head into Skagway for a bit of tourist shopping. It was raining steadily and rained for the rest of the trip until Victoria. But it was a gamble we knew we were taking by going that late in the season and it didn’t spoil our trip one bit. (It just made packing a lot of work!)

 

After shopping all we wanted in Skagway, we headed back to the ship. We got back to the cabin to a voicemail from Oscar, the restaurant manager, who wanted to ask what we’d experienced at breakfast that morning. I told him I thought they didn’t have enough staff up there compared to the guest to server ratio in the MDR and he told me they had six waiters working, so I said that they needed someone supervising them in that case because we did not see that many. We also had a bottle of wine in the room from Leah. All of the apologies and gifts made me feel bad, I am sure there are folks who take advantage of NCL’s desire to provide great service by making unreasonable demands and throwing fits over small issues, but in this case I know it improved service in the private dining room.

 

We had dinner booked at Moderno and then planned to go to the show in the Stardust. I’ve never eaten at a churrascaria restaurant and was looking forward to the experience. The waiter came to the table and explained about leaving a green card showing while they brought meats on skewers around and when you were full to turn the card over to red. He then told us to enjoy the salad bar. There were lots of nice salads to try and the bread was good too. The sides brought to the table were rice, black beans, garlic mashed potatoes and fried plantain or bananas. Then the meat started. First they brought two kinds of chicken, wings and bacon wrapped breast. The breast was dry but the wings were nice and moist and seasoned well. Next were sausages which we skipped. After that there were three kinds of beef, filet, garlic marinated sirloin and something else I think, all of it was excellent. Then came lamb chops, DH passed on the lamb, I took some and it was a little more done than I care for. Then some pork ribs that DH tried but I didn’t. Then there was stew of some sort and fish which we didn’t try because by then we were just about full. I didn’t think the green card/red card system was all that effective, after they’d been around with each variety they didn’t stop again unless you waved them down. Which we did, to get a little more of the filet. The desserts offered weren’t anything either of us were tempted by, I tried the coconut flan and it was ok but I didn’t eat it all. Again, something to experience but I probably wouldn’t do it more than once on a cruise. The people at the table behind us were really unhappy. One of them called the waiter and manager over and just reamed them out saying he couldn’t eat any of the food because it had too much garlic on it and he didn’t like anything they’d been served, and on and on. It’s one thing if there is something wrong about the food served, but if you just don’t like it, how is that the restaurant’s fault?

 

After dinner we went to the late show at the Stardust. It was the comedian Tim Kaminski again. He was very funny with generally family friendly content. And he seems to like working on NCL and love his interactions with the passengers on board, which was very refreshing.

 

That's it until later!

[Shellbelle28]

Thursday- Glacier Bay

 

First, a correction. We did not see Tim Kaminski on Wednesday night in the Stardust, DH zonked out early after wine with dinner and a Benadryl for allergies! We did see Tim perform several times throughout the cruise though!

 

Thursday was Glacier Bay day! We woke up early with the ship stopping to pick up the Park Rangers to narrate the visit to Glacier Bay. We headed to Moderno to grab some breakfast before we got closer and things were fine. The staff seemed to have a little more direction and cups and plates stayed stocked for juice and the self-serve bar. After an omelet for me and eggs over easy for DH, we headed back to our cabin to watch the scenery go by from our balcony. We stayed out on the balcony until about 1:30 PM when we came back out of Glacier Bay. It was an incredibly beautiful place to be. I shot photos from a tripod the whole time. It was foggy and rainy, I had to put the camera in its raincoat, but as we reached the head of the bay, the light brightened quite a bit, so the photos aren’t bad. I was kind of disappointed by the ranger narration, it was obviously being read from a script and didn’t have a lot of energy to it. Anyone could have read the words, I think it would be better for the Rangers to speak from their knowledge and experience instead of read a script. We didn’t eat lunch Thursday, we just hung out in the cabin watching the scenery and snacked on the fruit bowl. Our in suite snack delivery the day before had included a bowl of potato chips, and we munched those too. Dinner was early at Le Bistro, so the fruit and chips would hold us until dinnertime.

 

The Le Bistro location on the Pearl is odd. It’s got solid doors that are shut all the time so it looks closed. We got there and thought maybe ours was the earliest reservation time, but once they took us to our table, the place was nearly full! I guess the doors are shut because it’s so noisy out in the Magnum’s bar area. We had a nice window seat and it was still daylight so we looked out the window at the water during the meal, it was very peaceful. We ordered the French onion soup as a starter, that stuff is SO GOOD. We decided nothing seemed tempting in the more unique entrees so both ordered the filet. I ordered mine rare, DH chose medium. Sometimes it is really hard to know what a particular restaurant’s interpretation of degrees of doneness will be, so when he got his “medium” steak and it had practically no pink and no juiciness to it, he sent it back. I am not sure what happened, perhaps the waiter didn’t understand and thought DH wanted his steak MORE done, but the replacement steak was even less pink! DH told the waiter not to worry about it, that he’d filled up on soup and he’d be fine. But, the maître d’ came by and was apologetic and wanted to give us a bottle of wine. We told her we’d be happy if she just comped us the one we were halfway through since we didn’t want to drink another bottle. After the maître d’, next a chef came to the table. By that time DH was embarrassed by all the attention and kept repeating “it happens, don’t worry about it, I’m fine.” The chef was the executive sous chef for all the specialty restaurants, Chef James from Jamaica. He was very nice, very personable, wanted to make sure he couldn’t prepare something else for DH and agreeing that the meat was definitely overdone. After I was through with my (perfectly done!) filet, we both ordered the profiteroles for dessert. I was disappointed, the custard wasn’t lumpy but it did seem really eggy, and the three sauces (caramel, vanilla, and lemon) were nearly indistinguishable from one another. I know I’ve been pleased with Le Bistro desserts in the past, but I don’t remember what they were. I do think desserts are not really Norwegian’s strength.

 

After dinner it was nearly time for the early show at the Stardust, so we headed straight there. The night’s show was called “The Man From Mars” featuring Cirque du Soleil style performers Dizzy and Janna. Dizzy does a silent comedy routine that’s very sweet and funny, Janna performs various acrobatics and on a big aerial ring, and for a finale, the two of them perform an aerial act with silk ropes together that is pretty amazing for a cruise ship! Top quality entertainment and very enjoyable, in my opinion.

 

After the show, we wandered around the ship and bars for a bit, then headed to our cabin to relax. I think we both were hitting the vacation "wall." Where our energy was starting to wane a bit. We were still having a good time and enjoying the cruise, just not as much energy going. I am glad our big excursion was booked at the first port. Getting up and out for early morning excursions later in the trip would have been a big drag and for Ketchikan were were again just planning to visit town and look around.

Edited September 22, 2015 by mbuenzli

[Shellbelle28]

Friday- Ketchikan

 

Arrived in Ketchikan at 6:00 AM and only had until 1:00 PM in port. It was raining hard (normal for Ketchikan!) but also the wind was blowing the rain sideways. We walked off the ship after breakfast with no plans in mind, just to walk around the town and visit shops. Once off the ship we ran across Kyle and Christina again and asked what their plans were. They were going ziplining and were wondering if the weather would make the excursion get cancelled. We wished them luck and headed out into the wind and rain. Ketchikan seemed to have more nice shops with items that are less junky than we saw in Skagway. We also found a Christmas store that had everything 40% off and got some good collectibles (and said “hello” to Santa!).

 

We wandered around Ketchikan until we were soaking wet and then headed back to the ship. After dumping our shopping off in the cabin we headed to Moderno for lunch. Had our shrimp cocktail starters and I’d settled on the French dip sandwich and DH the burger as our go-to lunch choices. The French dip was so yummy, nice rare sliced prime rib on a roll with a beefy au jus to dip. They don’t heat up the meat as it goes into the sandwich, so you don’t lose the pinkness or dry it out. We also started requesting “plain” fries. The Cagney’s truffle fries were ok, but I liked plain better. They also had a banana cream pie for dessert that we tried for the first time that we wished we could have gotten at dinner some places, it was excellent! As we were leaving lunch we ran into Kyle and Christina coming in and asked how the ziplining was. They were SOAKED but said they'd had an absolute blast.

 

Friday was our 25th wedding anniversary celebration and we had Cagney’s reserved. We had a card we were supposed to present at the restaurant for our celebration, I was guessing we’d get a small cake, as we had for past cruises. We brought a bottle of champagne from the room and Carl Anne, our favorite waiter poured it for us and put the rest on ice. We sat back in a little alcove that felt private and tucked away. Nothing new on our food choices, LOL, shrimp cocktail, filet, garlic mashed, mushrooms and onion rings for sides (plus I gave the mac & cheese a try). It was all perfection. DH decided to go with medium rare on his steak this night and it was just right for him. While we were eating, Putu, the butler, popped his head around the corner and grinned at us and said “I’ll have a surprise for you in your cabin when you get back tonight!” About that time, all the waiters and the hostess showed up at the table with an absolutely beautiful (and huge!) cake and sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” to us. It was so touching, I got teary-eyed. We had a piece of the cake (vanilla cake with strawberry filling and whipped cream frosting with chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate curls) and asked for the rest to be taken to our cabin for later.

 

 

12039456_1009695782385667_1026960898139798358_n by Michelle Buenzli, on Flickr

 

Before we left Cagney's DH spied Chef James in the kitchen and asked Carl Anne if she could send him over to us, she got a spooked look in her eyes and quickly brought him over. DH told Chef James that his steak tonight had been the very best he'd had on board and that it was better than anything he'd had on land too. The chef asked how done he'd asked for this steak this time and DH said "medium rare" and Chef James said "ahh, now you know what to get!"

 

Time to head to Stardust for the “Legends in Concert” show. This show is celebrity tribute singers who cover Elton John, Madonna and Tina Turner. All of them were great look alikes, the Tina Turner singer was the best vocally. I thought the girl who did Madonna sounded more like Cindy Lauper! The Elton John singer was funny but sometimes it took us until he got to the chorus to realize what the songs were. The “Pearl Players” were great backup singers and the dancers were good and so were their costumes.

 

After the show we headed to the cabin. And what a lovely surprise was waiting! There were swan towel animals, champagne, a silver “happy anniversary” banner, silver bell and white balloons decorating the room. Again, we were touched by the thoughtfulness.

 

 

12006280_1009695509052361_3718435487077455299_n by Michelle Buenzli, on Flickr

[hpecorari]

Do you happen to remember who the HD is? Sounds like you had a great trip and anniversary!

 

Harriet

[herdingdogmom]

I am really impressed with how NCL has embraced the Cruise Critic community and welcomed the roll call groups. I had a letter from Anne Valyn aka. “Apple,” the NCL Group Service Coordinator. Everybody was excited because I’d asked the Captain if they gave tours of the bridge and he said that yes, they would take us on a tour and that Apple would arrange it for the roll call group.

 

Thanks so much for your review. I'm looking forward to seeing the Pearl on Monday 9/28. Our short sailing has a small roll call so we are not having a formal Meet & Greet, but we are the perfect size for a bridge tour on our one sea day. Was our tour of the actual bridge or did an officer some talk to you in the bridge viewing room?

[Shellbelle28]

Thanks so much for your review. I'm looking forward to seeing the Pearl on Monday 9/28. Our short sailing has a small roll call so we are not having a formal Meet & Greet, but we are the perfect size for a bridge tour on our one sea day. Was our tour of the actual bridge or did an officer some talk to you in the bridge viewing room?

We met in the bridge viewing room at our appointed time and were escorted onto the bridge from there. Then an officer (I can't remember his name or position, and didn't write it down!) spoke to us for 10 minutes or so about the layout of the bridge, what different functions were performed there and then answered questions from the group.

It appeared to me that they had several groups getting tours at about 10 minute intervals that morning.

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[Shellbelle28]

Do you happen to remember who the HD is? Sounds like you had a great trip and anniversary!

 

Harriet

Had to go look it up!

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

Edited September 24, 2015 by mbuenzli

[Shellbelle28]

Thanks so much for your review. I'm looking forward to seeing the Pearl on Monday 9/28. Our short sailing has a small roll call so we are not having a formal Meet & Greet, but we are the perfect size for a bridge tour on our one sea day. Was our tour of the actual bridge or did an officer some talk to you in the bridge viewing room?

His name was Cary*Turecamo. He seemed to be very good at his job and was the main person who answered questions and asked for feedback in the Cruise Critic meetings.

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[watchdiva]

Cary is a great HD...hoping to see him again on the Pearl next year.

[hpecorari]

His name was Cary*Turecamo. He seemed to be very good at his job and was the main person who answered questions and asked for feedback in the Cruise Critic meetings.

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

Thank you!

 

Harriet

[Shellbelle28]

Cary is a great HD...hoping to see him again on the Pearl next year.

All the HDs I've met on Norwegian seemed professional and concerned about passenger's experience, but Cary was the most engaging I've experienced.

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[Shellbelle28]

Something on Cruise Critic that really frustrates is posters who start a review then disappear with it unfinished. I am not going to be one of those people, BUT, the final bit is going to be delayed as I was hit last night by a nasty bug... bronchitis or flu, not sure which. Thank you anonymous person on my cruise who shared THAT. It's too much effort to do the typing on a tablet so I'll wait to finish when I feel well enough to sit at a computer again.

[herdingdogmom]

Something on Cruise Critic that really frustrates is posters who start a review then disappear with it unfinished. I am not going to be one of those people, BUT, the final bit is going to be delayed as I was hit last night by a nasty bug... bronchitis or flu, not sure which. Thank you anonymous person on my cruise who shared THAT.

 

Thanks for answering our questions. I saw a post from someone on the Sun the same week who is also quite sick. I'll be sure keep my disinfectant wipes handy next week. I hope you feel better soon.

[Shellbelle28]

Thanks for answering our questions. I saw a post from someone on the Sun the same week who is also quite sick. I'll be sure keep my disinfectant wipes handy next week. I hope you feel better soon.

I was so diligent at hand washing!

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[mariefisher]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this informative review. I hope you get well soon. I look forward to reading more.

[wrmiles]

Just a note on the restricted item confiscation. NCL once confiscated my wife's travel fan and the concierge was able to get it back for us. Too late, I know.

[Jinglesbella]

Something on Cruise Critic that really frustrates is posters who start a review then disappear with it unfinished. I am not going to be one of those people, BUT, the final bit is going to be delayed as I was hit last night by a nasty bug... bronchitis or flu, not sure which. Thank you anonymous person on my cruise who shared THAT. It's too much effort to do the typing on a tablet so I'll wait to finish when I feel well enough to sit at a computer again.

My son and I both ended up with a bug when we got off the ship

[Shellbelle28]

My son and I both ended up with a bug when we got off the ship

Sorry to hear that.

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[lannie62]

get well soon and look forward to the rest of your delightful description of your cruise

[Shellbelle28]

Saturday- Victoria

 

Saturday was another mostly at-sea day. First on the agenda was our Cruise Critic bridge tour. Our group had gotten invitations in our cabins from the cheerful and helpful “Apple” (real name Anne Valyn S., Group Service Coordinator) telling us to meet in the bridge viewing room at 11:00. There were other groups there also, so Saturday morning must be the time the tour requests get run through. Apple escorted us into the bridge, where a ship’s officer took over. He told us about NCL’s philosophy of bridge design, modeled after the design of an aircraft cockpit (evidently it is not industry standard to have the redundancy of equipment and manpower at the helm). The he showed us the fire monitoring and control center and the bridge wings (with the very spooky window in the deck looking down at the water!). Then we had some question and answer time and were done. If you’ve done a bridge tour before, probably no big thrill, but it was interesting and very hospitable of NCL to arrange for us.

 

At noon, we had our Cruise Critic recap with the ship’s officers. Again, the Hotel Director, Housekeeping, Restaurant, Beverage, and Guest Services managers and the Cruise Director attended. There was a LOT of discussion around NCL’s iConcierge app. Everyone agreed it was very useful (both the paid and the more limited free versions), when it worked, but that communication around how to sign in and how to make it function, both to the passengers and ship crew, were lacking. Also, a new version had been pushed out to devices during our cruise, and it was not working at all for some. Other discussion came up regarding NCL’s “Freestyle” dining philosophy, with some saying they preferred the way other lines do meals and that the variety of specialty restaurants with cover charges felt “nickel and dime” to them. The response was “yes, we understand if it’s not your thing, but that’s our niche.” Everyone agreed that they missed the shipwide lobster nights, whether they were fans of Freestyle dining or not. Nearly all the feedback from our group was positive, even those who’d had issues were pleased with NCL’s sincere efforts to remedy problems. I mentioned the confiscation of my power strip from my suitcase and all seemed surprised to hear that it had happened and didn’t have any answer as to why (and nearly every other CC’er there chimed in to say theirs had NOT been taken.)

 

During the CC meeting, DH had gone to the Columbian Emeralds International shop for their 12:30 raffle drawing. We didn’t win anything but he said they hadn’t given anything fabulous away. All through the cruise we’d been told that lots of items in the shops were heavily discounted because it was the end of the Alaska season, and everything was showing percent off signage, but who knows how much of a real discount that pricing is! We did pick up a few pieces that we liked though.

 

After the recap meeting, it was time to head to Moderno for lunch. We enjoyed our, by this time, standard meal choices, including the yummy banana cream pie. Leah was there and told us what to do the next day for disembarkation, she said to expect it to take no more than 45 minutes to get off the ship and collect our bags. We were to meet her outside of the Stardust Theatre, where she would escort us off the ship. We spent the afternoon in the cabin doing one of the least fun things on a cruise, packing our bags and getting them ready to put out for collection.

 

Dinner was at Cagney’s again. We’d decided it was our favorite. DH had the whole Maine lobster that night. He enjoyed it but said it was a little dry. He wasn’t sure if that was because it had been overcooked or because it had been frozen. The menu said that there was a $9.99 additional charge for the lobster, but we didn't see it on our ticket when our cards were swiped. I don't know if when you have the specialty dining package, the charge is waived, or it it was a mistake that we didn't get charged. I had filet again (sorry, I’m boring!). Our reservation time was early, so we were eating as the ship arrived in Victoria. It was still light, so we took a stroll on the deck and enjoyed being back to warmer weather.

 

We didn't have any excursions planned for Victoria, we've been there before and the time is so limited, and in September, so is the daylight! I do wish NCL offered an excursion to the Royal BC Museum though, because I would have done that. The museum is open late on Saturdays during the cruise season, so I think it would be a great addition, but I didn't feel like arranging to get there and back on our own.

 

After enjoying the deck walk, we went back to the cabin and finished packing, filled out our Customs form and watched the water and the sunset from our balcony until bedtime. I sent a text message to our ride that was to pick us up in Seattle that we planned to get off the ship at 9:00 and would be on the sidewalk by 9:45 the next morning. I also and found Putu, the butler and Wilbert, the room steward, and thanked them for their great service and gave them envelopes with tips.

[Shellbelle28]

Sunday- Back to Reality

 

Sunday morning, what can I say? We were sad that the cruise was over, it’s a pleasure to be so pampered! But, on the other hand I was ready to get back home to a more spacious bathroom and my normal routine. Travel is good, but so is home! We woke up already docked in Seattle, got dressed, collected all our carry-ons and headed up to Moderno at around 7:30 for breakfast. The food came fast and was good as usual. It’s weird to think that to the crew, it’s just another turn around with new passengers, but for us it was the end of the trip.

 

Once we’d done eating, we headed down to Stardust to find Leah. One last trip in the human-crammed elevators that stopped on every deck, whether someone had pushed buttons for them or not. One more time listening to passengers discussing if they could get to the location they were headed to from their current location, or if they’d come to one of the ship’s “you can’t get there from here” spots. We were way ahead of our 9:00 am time estimate, it was only 8:15 am but Leah was waiting with a few other passengers and walked us out for one last swipe of the key card. We were coming from the opposite direction than all of the other exiting passengers and could see a long line snaking along the deck waiting to go off. I handed Leah an envelope with a tip as we merged in at the head of the line and down the gangway we went. She definitely earned the tip and it was great to have the service she provided us throughout the cruise. I felt as though she made much more time for us than the invisible concierge on our 2004 cruise on the Star.

 

US Customs had people standing at the bottom of the gangway collecting forms, but they just grabbed them and sent us on to the baggage area. Suite guest’s bags were in a “gold” section and everything was there and easy to find. We snagged a porter and out we went!

 

Since we were off the ship so quick, we had to stand on the sidewalk quite a while waiting for our ride. I have to say, the city of Seattle could really do better for Bell Street Pier arriving and departing passengers. There is a tiny spot at curbside for private vehicles picking up and dropping off at the pier (the space is a city bus stop when a ship isn’t loading!). They have traffic wardens waving vehicles in and out and double parking them, but it is not enough. Once our ride turned up and was able to pull to the curb, we loaded bags and were off southbound on Interstate 5 and back to the real world.

 

DH started to feel sick that night with sneezes, coughing and all the accompanying misery, and I followed on Wednesday. We didn’t encounter anyone noticeably ill during the cruise, but are pretty much resigned to the fact that traveling means we’re probably going to end up with something despite frequent hand washing and use of the sanitizer stations. We don’t have kids in school or work in public places, so just don’t have much exposure at home, so are probably more vulnerable.

 

It was a terrific trip and I have nothing but positive things to say about NCL and the crew of the Pearl. The ship layout wasn’t my favorite, but it wasn’t a negative on my experience. I hope NCL continues to build and sail this size of ship and doesn’t change entirely over to the plus-size ships.

 

I’ll assemble and post photographs to this review this week as well.