Got Out There

This has happened to us twice, unfortunately work got in the way for me and I was not able to go last minute. We had two cabins both times and my DW just let them know I was not coming. As mentioned above they will refund your port taxes at some point in the future.

One of the times, I made the mistake of telling my wife I would try to join them at the first port of call and she let guest services know. The first port they rang the room and asked if I was joining that day so that they can have someone meet me on the dock. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it, but said I would try to wrap up work and join at the second port....never happened. When my wife told them at the last port I was not going to make it at all on the cruise, guest service sent a very nice bottle of Champaign to the room. Which resulted in me receiving a text photo of them (my family) toasting our vacation without me (again)!

Not a big poster here on CC, but thought I would share a few observations on the Pearl to Alaska last week....This was our first time on NCL and have cruised well over 70 times, mainly on RCCL. Also, we did an Alaskan cruise 20 years earlier, so will make a few comments on the differences between the cruises.

Booked a deluxe penthouse suite, great room and really enjoyed the hot tub on the balcony! The only services we used relative the butler and the concierge were the following:

- separate check in and early boarding with lunch in the steak house restaurant

- asked butler for the free three bottles of alcohol and some mixers

- went to private cocktail party offer from concierge

- express departure offered from concierge on last morning

Separate check was nice, but we actually did not know about it and went through the normal line and when we got to the check in desk they walked us to separate room where we waited for fifteen minutes to check in. The on board lunch after check in was nice, we ended up not eating there for the balance of the cruise (breakfast and lunch). In the end we just like to keep to our own schedule and we had pre booked all of our dinners and tours. As a consequence our interaction with the butler and concierge was very limited. Since I see this come up on CC often I will share what we tipped extra....Butler $100 (he brought a nice plate every late afternoon to nibble on). $50 for Concierge, spoke to her three times; at check in, cocktail party, and express departure. Both Butler and concierge were very nice as was our room attendant who we tipped an extra $50.

Did not attend many of the shows but the few we did we really enjoyed, comparing to RCCL same size ship I would say they are about the same. We loved the different variety of restaurants. We can really say that all of our meals were excellent....I would say NCL beats RCCL here by a notable margin. We enjoyed the different bars and thought the bar service at the bar was good but was very lacking if you wanted to sit in a lounge, the service was very slow or nonexistent. RCCL has better bar and lounge service.

The layout of the ship was somewhat confusing at first but we quickly got the lay of the land (ship). Elevators very slow and crowded...normally we use the stairs but since our room was on deck 15 and we typically were hanging out on 7...we opted for elevator. Overall décor was nice. Really enjoyed the great outdoors bar on the back of the ship. Great place to relax and take in breakfast or lunch and enjoy a drink or two...awesome view. Comparing the Pearl to say the vision class I would say it is a draw.

Booked whale watching in Juneau and glacier hike, great tour. We saw countless wildlife (whales, sea lions, dolphins, bald eagles, ...). Booked train and bike down the mountain in Skagway, fantastic tour! Did not book any tours in the other two ports.

Overall, we were really glad that we strayed away from RCCL and tried NCL. Looking forward to trying NCL's other class of ships. We also really enjoyed their entire freestyle concept!

As noted above we cruised Alaska 20 years earlier and it was interesting to see how some things have changed significantly and other things are the same. The port cities are really the same with the exception of the explosion of growth relative shopping...not sure why anyone would want to shop on this itinerary. The real action in the ports is really outside of the port towns...don't cheat yourself book a tour and SEE Alaska! The one thing that was some what of a surprise was how much Glacier bay had changed (Mendenhall too). They are still magnificent but wow how much they have melted off. We actually looked at our photos before we left and the difference was striking. As a comedian once joked....better go see Alaska before all the glaciers are gone....although the will be around for years to come, the best time in your life to go is now!

Hope this little review helps....we are now fans of NCL and look forward to sailing with them again in the near future! (sorry for the typos)