PDXTraveler

I just got off the Pearl from Alaska yesterday. This was my 2nd Alaskan cruise on the Pearl. I won't use NCL again.

 

My first Pearl cruise was two years ago and completely positive - it was 10 days long and I could have stayed on 10 more. This recent cruise was 7 days long and by about day 3 I was ready to be off the ship. The actual being in Alaska was perfect. The customer service on board the ship was very negative to me. The service crew (waiters, cabin attendants, etc) were very nice and did their jobs as they should. The ones I encountered of higher rank (guest services - people "in charge") always made me feel that I was being a bother for asking anything.

 

The day we got on the ship (May 6th) 3 of our bags arrived to the room fairly quickly. My bag in particular didn't get there until about 8 PM. I asked a couple times about my missing bag (that had everything I had brought) but only got dismissive answers that left me unsure if my bag had actually made it onto the ship.

 

We were planning to use the Port Valet service on departure to ease our getting from the ship to the airport. They offered no information about the service at all. On Monday I stopped by the guest service desk to ask for the form to fill out - I wanted to get things lined up before we got distracted with the port stops beginning on Tuesday. I asked the lady for the Port Valet form - she looked at me blankly and said nothing. I asked again. She finally said "It will be delivered to your room". I asked when I could expect it. She would only repeat "It will be delivered to your room." No friendliness, no smile, no anything.

 

So each day thereafter I carefully looked through the daily delivery of our newsletter and accompanying flyers. No form. I only saw our cabin attendant for a few seconds about 4-5 times the entire week but I never thought about asking him about the form - I'm assuming he's the one who put our daily newsletter on our door each day.

 

I had read on here that if you don't get your form by about Thursday to go to the guest services desk so that's where I went on Thursday morning. When I asked about the from the lady (a different one than Monday) said "You should have turned it in by 6 PM Wednesday. There's nothing I can do for you now." That was it. This was also in a very negative tone. I went on to have breakfast.

 

After thinking about the whole situation I decided I was going back and ask to speak to the hotel manager. Not so much about my not being able to use Port Valet but about the attitude of everyone in guest services that week. At the times I had spoken to anyone I had been the only guest there - not one of many waiting for help. This 3rd time I was speaking to a different person. He was as unconcerned as the previous two. He kept focusing on how they were unable to do anything about the Port Valet. I had a hard time making him understand that wasn't what I was irritated about - it was their attitudes (including his) I was wanting to speak to their manager about. He finally went through a door and stayed gone for about 5 minutes. When he returned he said the manager was busy with another guest but I could make an appointment. By then I decided I was going to just forget about it because I would obviously get nowhere.

 

I understand these people deal with many thousands of guests each month. My two cruise mates were with me at the last two encounters - I asked them if they felt I had been out of line. I was assured I was not out of line and that the guest services staff were very rude.

 

My first NCL experience two years ago couldn't have been better; maybe I was expecting too much this trip? I know my single bit of business with Norwegian makes no difference to their bottom line but I can't bring myself to spend another dollar with them in the future. I'll have to take my business elsewhere. Very disappointing.

 

Otherwise the trip went well - we had very nice weather and enjoyed our time in Alaska.

My wife and I were on NCL Pearl (Alaska with Glacier Bay) April 29 to May 6 2018 and we had no issue with any CSR at front desk. We visited the front desk four times with various questions. One visit, we purchased map of Alaska cruise route and asked when it would be delivered to our stateroom and received blank stare; repeated my question and the CSR smiled and told me "afternoon, before dinner." The map was delivered to our stateroom approx. 4pm. I was impressed with the CSR's we interacted with on the NCL Pearl.

Regarding luggage: One of our bags arrived 3pm; the others arrived 6:00pm. There were repeated announcements that bags would be delivered until evening.

Overall, the NCL staff acted professional on our cruise. And from our experience, they have been professional. We enjoyed our cruise to Alaska.

This is my absolutely-no-go list:

 

Organ meats and offal

Raw or undercooked meat (nothing below medium rare for beef)

Fish/seafood/shellfish (with the exception of blackened halibut)

Meat with high fat content (nothing worse than biting into a huge wad of gluey fat, ugh) or lots of gristle

Dark meat poultry

Eggs prepared in any way that does not involve combining the yolk and white (poaching, frying, boiling, etc.)

Ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, creamy salad dressings

Escargot

Amphibian/reptile meat

Insects

This reminds me of my wife's diet. She had a reaction to shellfish in 2012 (the evening before our cruise on NCL Gem out of NY City) and after we returned to Oregon, she had further testing and was given a list of foods to avoid. The list above is a similar list she was provided by her doctor.

I recently returned from a 15 night cruise on the Star Princess (Vancouver BC to Hawaii and back to Vancouver). In the Capri Dining Room (MDR), lobster tail was served multiple times.:):) It was very YUMMY and the waiter even removed the lobster meat from the shell.

Being served lobster on a cruise is a big deal to me. My parents were east-coast-USA born and we'd have east-coast lobster on special occasions; my dad traveled and often brought home a case of live lobsters from New York area. Today, I live in Oregon where, although lobster is plentiful, it is often times beyond our budget. Plus my dear wife had a bad reaction to consuming shellfish so we do not get lobster or much shellfish at home. We have gone out and I have ordered lobster or shellfish but it is often served overcooked and I feel odd being the only one ordering it. So, when I go on a cruise, I look forward to "Lobster Night", even if it is lobster tail.

The lobster tail served on the Star Princess was cooked to perfection. :) All seafood I was served was superb and not overcooked.