NCL - Star or Pearl

[rhinomike]

Well we thought we had made our decision.... LOL. We have booked our cruise on the Star but we are thinking about chaging over to the Pearl. We like both of their itenaries as they both have 4 stops....

 

The Pearl stops in Victoria and some say that is a plus but we have already spent lots of time there so it is not a plus for us....

 

Some say we have to do Glacier Bay for our first cruise... So that is why we are considering going on the Pearl.

 

The Pearl goes to Glacier Bay and the Star goes to Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier....

 

The price to change over to Pearl is an additional $2k for our 2 connecting cabins... Is it really worth it?

 

Any thoughts? Although I love the comments please do not recomend any other ships but the 2 listed... we have evaluated all our options and we are down to these 2 ships... Thank You. I really apreciate the input.

[Budget Queen]

I have sailed both these ships to Alaska. Each does a good job. But as you might know, I am cheap when it comes to cabins, and couldn't care less where I am as long as I'm on the ship. :) My cruise cost comes no where near $2000 for 2, so as an "increase", nope I would never consider it. BUT, the cabins are very important in your case.

[rhinomike]

I should clarify that the cabins are the same on both ships.... Ocean View (Port Hole) connecting rooms on both... We wanted an inside cabin but niether ship offers inside cabins with connecting rooms or maybe they just werent available... I dont remember.

 

Our sail dates are...

 

Star - June 26th 2010

Pearl - June 27th 2010

[InternetAgeTraveler]

As I said in the earlier post on the other thread, I really hate giving advice because its easy to second guess a decision that someone else made. But while I havent done as many cruises as some of those that post, I do a lot of research before I make my choices. I am pretty good at second guessing myself so I know how you feel.

 

I did peek when you were asking and knew it was going to quite a bit more. It wasnt clear if you were going to have to change your flights as well (and if thats included in your $2K).

 

We are doing our second cruise to Alaska this year and both times we went with the Pearl. Our first cruise, it was a situation very close to yours, we were taking the whole family, we weren't sure we would ever go again so we went with the Glacier Bay route. So all routes we checked included Glacier Bay and went with the Pearl but unlike you, we didn't have a price to compare with a non Glacier Bay route. This time we chose Glacier Bay again because we were going with my brother and wife and likely their only Alaska cruise...

 

As BQ mentioned, if you are worried you won't see enough Glaciers, and do excursion to tour Tracy Arm, you are paying over half of this difference for that one excurions ($1200).

 

I did see this link in another post and it gives you something to compare. http://www.bully4.us/alaskaglaciers.html the different experiences. I would also suggest you go through some of the member reviews on Cruise critic and see what similar families to you did.

 

I also know that you weren't sure about my advice of looking into non connecting cabins (to bring the price more in line). I will add a couple of other thoughts there too. Unlike a vacation on land, at sea you will be doing a lot together (meals, shows, excursions, site seeing). There will also be times the children will want to do some of the programs offered by the cruise line (which they will enjoy). What you will find it that with a few exceptions, the rooms will be primarily for sleeping so its not as scary as it sounds.

 

Shipwise, the Pearl is newer and has a few more amenities, but there isn't enough difference to make a big difference.

 

So there's no silver bullet here. I sense from your tone you want to go the Pearl route and hope someone will make the decision for you. That won't happen, but I am sure whichever you go, you will have a great time unless you spend too much time worrying you made the wrong choice....

[NancyIL]

Would I pay $2000 more? No - but I also wouldn't insist on getting connecting cabins. What's the price difference if you get two inside cabins on the Pearl that are next to or close to each other? I know you want them to be connecting so the kids can be in one. But for a significant price difference, I would put 1 parent and 2 kids in each cabin so you wouldn't have to get connecting cabins.

 

As mentioned, take into consideration the cost of the jet boat excursion to Tracy Arm if you want to see the glaciers at the end.

[rhinomike]

Great info.... Thank You.

 

Seperate Cabins is not an option. We all want to be in the same connecting room or a suite. That is half the fun in our family. We know we wont be in our room much.... We have been on 10 - 15 other cruises with Carnival and RCL but never to Alaska... My kids do not do activities on their own... We tried that on a couple of our Carnival and RCl Cruises and they didnt like it... We are a close family and they love hanging out with us..... We are the cool parents that dont do stuff without their kids.... Our kids are our life (until they are 18 then it is about us... LOL)....

 

But I apreciate all of the comments... Keep them comeing...

 

InternetAgeTraveler.... You are correct.. I wish someone would make the decision for me.... LOL. Right now I think we will stay on the Star and do the Tracy Arm Boat Tour...

[NancyIL]

Great info.... Thank You.

 

Seperate Cabins is not an option. We all want to be in the same connecting room or a suite. That is half the fun in our family. We know we wont be in our room much.... We have been on 10 - 15 other cruises with Carnival and RCL but never to Alaska... My kids do not do activities on their own... We tried that on a couple of our Carnival and RCl Cruises and they didnt like it... We are a close family and they love hanging out with us..... We are the cool parents that dont do stuff without their kids.... Our kids are our life (until they are 18 then it is about us... LOL)....

 

But I apreciate all of the comments... Keep them comeing...

 

InternetAgeTraveler.... You are correct.. I wish someone would make the decision for me.... LOL. Right now I think we will stay on the Star and do the Tracy Arm Boat Tour...

 

As long as you are willing to do the Tracy Arm jet boat excursion, then I would probably keep the Star cruise, too.

 

That's a lot of cruises with a family of 6! I have yet to cruise with my family of 5 all at once, although I have cruised with my husband and various kid combinations.

[lindseesmom]

The Star is an older ship and does not have as much on it so that is another thing to think about......

[rhinomike]

As long as you are willing to do the Tracy Arm jet boat excursion, then I would probably keep the Star cruise, too.

 

That's a lot of cruises with a family of 6! I have yet to cruise with my family of 5 all at once, although I have cruised with my husband and various kid combinations.

 

Our first cruise was just the 2 of us... 2nd was with a group of 20..... All of the rest have been with our 4 boys. I have the best time with my boys.... We didnt feel tied down at all.... We are not drinkers or partiers anymore.... So the kids do everything we can do...

 

My family of 6 has also done a few cruiises with my bother, his family of 4, my sister and her family of 3 and my parents....

 

Get the family together and do a cruise... you will be glad you did...

[NancyIL]

Our first cruise was just the 2 of us... 2nd was with a group of 20..... All of the rest have been with our 4 boys. I have the best time with my boys.... We didnt feel tied down at all.... We are not drinkers or partiers anymore.... So the kids do everything we can do...

 

My family of 6 has also done a few cruiises with my bother, his family of 4, my sister and her family of 3 and my parents....

 

Get the family together and do a cruise... you will be glad you did...

 

The reason I haven't cruised with everyone at once is the expense! My kids are all young adults now, and my two daughters and I are cruising in Europe this summer.

[InternetAgeTraveler]

Right now I think we will stay on the Star and do the Tracy Arm Boat Tour...

 

If you do, you'll have a good time, I have read many good reviews on the Star so not everyone has to go on the Pearl.

 

I'll make one suggestion for your boys, We really enjoyed the Klondike Rock Climbing & Rapelling excursion in Skagway (you saw photos from this in our cruise photos I recall

). Its not really as challenging as it looks, and was by far our favorite. And the age limit is 8 so everyone can do it (if you or wife don't want to they offer a ride-only option). We were an "advanced" group and went to some of the more challenging routes (did you notice there was no picture of me climbing the last one?).

 

Something else to look forward to, the $2K you saved would have paid for our OV cabin at the end of May, so you can use this as a good excuse to go after your kids hit 18....

[Kiera99]

I also have a choice of Star & Pearl and I decided on Pearl because of the activites on the Pearl. Bowling alley, rock climbing etc.

We use two state rooms. Mom with 2 kids and dad with 2 kids. I believe the Star has portholes because it is an older ship. I think the Pearl has picture windows for the ocean view cabins because it is a newer ship. I hope I've helped you decide on your ship choice.

[MT_DreamChaser]

I've been on both and both times in inside cabins. The Star to Alaska and a Pearl coastal cruise. They were with two very different groups of people so the experience is impossible to compare. If you are just comparing the ships and not the itinerary - as far as the ships go, I wouldn't spend an extra $500.00 for the Pearl let alone $2000.00. I loved them both but there were many, many more similarities than differences. I thought the Pearl would be great because of the bowling alley and the rock wall however we didn't use either of them and we did have the opportunity. There was always something else we wanted to do. Also, it is very windy up in the rock wall area when the ship is moving and when it isn't moving you are in port and off the ship. The Blue Lagoon is smaller and tucked into a corner on the Star but I thought it was a cute spot. I think I preferred the tiered seating around the pool on the Star. Honestly, I didn't use the pool on either but there isn't a lot of sunbathing spots around the Pearl pool. The only thing I preferred on the Pearl was the buffet area. The Star seating is more like a cafeteria and the Pearl has "the great outdoors" as part of the buffet. Again, when the ship is moving, you can feel the breeze (or in some cases a stiff wind) even aft in the great outdoors so it wasn't always pleasant out there. Oh, I would also choose the Pearl over the Star due to Sharkbait being on the Pearl. They were absolutely hilarious during the Liars Club and both awesome jugglers during their normal show. Your children wouldn't be allowed in to Liars Club (due to the adult content) so that may not be a deal maker for you. The service was outstanding on both and the food was virtually the same. I posted reviews after both trips so if check out my posts you will find them as I haven't posted a lot on the boards.