Pearl Garden Villa

[padirescu]

My wife and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in Alaska this year on the Pearl in the Garden Villa. We have been fortunate enough in life thus far to afford this experience and we are sharing it with our parents and close friends who were part of our wedding party. Our parents are staying with us in the Garden Villa and after numerous searches on the board and on the Internet I have been unable to find "recent" pictures of the villa. We are staying in cabin 14000 (the blue one) and would love if anyone can point us to some high quality pictures or video we can share with our family and friends.

 

Additionally, I have a few other questions I was hoping some of the regulars here could shed light on as I've found either mixed or little information regarding these specific topics.

 

- We want to renew our vows during the cruise and while NCL apparently has a program for this, their FAQ's specifically state that the Captain does NOT perform the ceremony. Has anyone had direct experience or heard of guests getting the Captain to perform the ceremony on request?

 

- While our parents are staying with us in the Garden Villa, many of our other friends and family are staying in either inside or outside cabins. We would like to share our experience in the Garden Villa with them as much as possible but after some research it sounds as if we will need to 'arrange for' or escort them up to our villa due to the restricted access to the Haven area. We would welcome suggestions from others who have cruised in a similar situation on the best approach to enabling our friends and family to enjoy our villa with us while at the same time not impacting other Haven patrons.

 

- Chef's table... In researching this board, it appears that this is offered only one night during the cruise and is limited to 12 guests. Ironically, we have exactly 12 adults total joining us for our anniversary cruise and I would like to surprise them with this experience (I'm sure they have never heard of Cruise Critic so I think my surprise is safe). However, from what I read reservations are on a first come, first serve basis either during check-in at the port or once on-board the ship. Is anyone aware of whether you can pre-book the chef's table for an entire party of 12 prior to embarkation or are we stuck with playing the lottery? If embarkation is our only choice, are there any suggestions on how early we should arrive for check-in to make sure we're "first" in line for suite passengers?

 

Thanks in advance for all of your informative responses.

[love2cruise42]

My wife and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in Alaska this year on the Pearl in the Garden Villa. We have been fortunate enough in life thus far to afford this experience and we are sharing it with our parents and close friends who were part of our wedding party. Our parents are staying with us in the Garden Villa and after numerous searches on the board and on the Internet I have been unable to find "recent" pictures of the villa. We are staying in cabin 14000 (the blue one) and would love if anyone can point us to some high quality pictures or video we can share with our family and friends.

 

Additionally, I have a few other questions I was hoping some of the regulars here could shed light on as I've found either mixed or little information regarding these specific topics.

 

- We want to renew our vows during the cruise and while NCL apparently has a program for this, their FAQ's specifically state that the Captain does NOT perform the ceremony. Has anyone had direct experience or heard of guests getting the Captain to perform the ceremony on request?

 

- While our parents are staying with us in the Garden Villa, many of our other friends and family are staying in either inside or outside cabins. We would like to share our experience in the Garden Villa with them as much as possible but after some research it sounds as if we will need to 'arrange for' or escort them up to our villa due to the restricted access to the Haven area. We would welcome suggestions from others who have cruised in a similar situation on the best approach to enabling our friends and family to enjoy our villa with us while at the same time not impacting other Haven patrons.

 

- Chef's table... In researching this board, it appears that this is offered only one night during the cruise and is limited to 12 guests. Ironically, we have exactly 12 adults total joining us for our anniversary cruise and I would like to surprise them with this experience (I'm sure they have never heard of Cruise Critic so I think my surprise is safe). However, from what I read reservations are on a first come, first serve basis either during check-in at the port or once on-board the ship. Is anyone aware of whether you can pre-book the chef's table for an entire party of 12 prior to embarkation or are we stuck with playing the lottery? If embarkation is our only choice, are there any suggestions on how early we should arrive for check-in to make sure we're "first" in line for suite passengers?

 

Thanks in advance for all of your informative responses.

 

Sorry I dont have any information but Congrats on your 10th Anniversary and your wonderful cruise and beautiful room....

[Fishbait17]

I can help you question number two. Access to deck 14 is restricted by key card, both by elevator and stairs. If you had just a couple of extra people, I would ask the concierge if you could have two extra keys made up for access to your villa. We did this when we had two friends who would visit us often in our GV, but we were told that more than this was not allowed. Since you seem to have eight others, I think your only choice will be to have your guests come up to deck 13, just outside of Cagney's, and use the house phone to call your villa. Then you can step outside and meet them at the locked doorway halfway up the stairs between the two villas and escort them in. It is much easier than it sounds and we did this for numerous gatherings in our villa - only a few steps from your door. This is what we are planning for our next GV sailing where we have several friends onboard. Just remember that your guests are not permitted to use any of the Haven facilities outside your villa - not that they will need to!

 

As for the Chef's Table, it's fairly new and we have only been on two sailings that offered it. On neither of these sailings was it offered in advance for any suites to book, it was always first-come, first-served. If your concierge calls you prior to your sailing (as they only sometimes do), you could ask then. If all else fails, I would, instead, invite everyone to your villa for a fantastic specialty dinner served by your butler. You could ask onboard if there are any special menus to arrange!

 

have a great time!

 

Robin

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[reefgirl]

As it is offered only once during a cruise, I don't think it would be fair for one party to have the Chef's table. But, hey, that's just my opinion. Regardless, you and your family/friends will have a fabulous time!

[DevCruise]

NCL Captains aren't authorized to do wedding ceremonies as they have no legal authority from my understanding. Since you're already married, that isn't a concern. You might be able to get them to do a vow renewal if you asked. Worth a call, all they can say is no...:)

 

It's also possible you might be able to get them to arrange a chef's table type experience if not a second private one. Again, can't hurt to call and ask.

[Relax@Sea]

As far as the access to your cabin have your Butler get as many keys as you need so that they can use it in the elevator and/or the security door between the 13th and 14th floor, we had 8 extra keys for our group made, the only thing I did was to mention to them that it is for the getting to the cabin only and to respect the other suite guests and not use the haven area.

[SeaHunt]

Our parents are staying with us in the Garden Villa and after numerous searches on the board and on the Internet I have been unable to find "recent" pictures of the villa. We are staying in cabin 14000 (the blue one) and would love if anyone can point us to some high quality pictures or video we can share with our family and friends.

 

If you haven't seen this yet, youngestof9 posted this fantastic link yesterday (warning though, as youngestof9 says you'll get addicted! :D):

 

NCL's facebook page has all the ships - I'm addicted. Like I need something else to suck up my time. LMAO!

 

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/Norwegiancruiseline/app_285302731539795

 

When you click on the Pearl this comes up:

 

http://www.iceportal.com/brochures/ice/Brochure.aspx?did=3719&brochureid=4782

 

Hit the "click here to view", and a full screen pops up (use your pointer to rotate through the 360 view).

 

After a couple seconds a drop down box appears on the left with an index. Go down through each of those and click on each for beautiful pics - and there's a couple of WOW ones of the GV. Guarantee these pictures will get them excited! :D (Use your ESC key when done)

 

This ship tour has a couple pictures on page 3 :

http://www.shipparade.com/cruise%20reviews/NCL%20Norwegian%20Cruise%20Line/Norwegian%20Pearl/Norwegian%20Pearl.htm