Review: Last Call for Alaska! Norwegian Pearl- Sept 22-29, 2013 (SEA-VAN) w/ Photos!

[rnargo]

In preparation for my recent trip to Alaska, I found so many helpful reviews on this website. In an attempt to "pay-it-forward," I have decided to attempt to do my own. My favorite reviews have definitely been the ones on the message board with photos, so that is my plan! I'm also going to post this on the Alaska board, so feel free to find it at either location.

 

A little about me....

I am a 30-something, native Seattleite. Not too many of us exist! It seems that most people move to Seattle at some point. Up to this point I had only been on two one-night cruises from Vancouver to Seattle, both on Holland America. A couple of months ago I became interested in the idea of trying a 7 day Alaskan Cruise in September. I asked a friend of mine if she would be interested, she immediately said yes. Our girls' trip to Alaska was set for September 22nd! After some conversation we decided to splurge for a balcony cabin. I kept hearing on this board how amazing it was to have a balcony in Alaska. After booking the balcony, I noticed the prices kept dropping. A few weeks before our departure I called Costco Travel back. They were able to get Norwegian to upgrade us to a mini-suite and no additional charge. We loved our mini-suite! It was in a great location in the aft of the Pearl, under La Cucina restaurant. We found that we had very little foot traffic outside our door, and we were close to so many amenities on the vessel.

 

So I'm getting a little ahead of myself...

We got down to Pier 66 in Seattle around 10am. Checking in and boarding went very smoothly. As soon as were were dropped off, all of our luggage was taken away. We went inside, got in line, and went through security (it opened up roughly around 1030am or so.) After checking in on the second level and getting a boarding number, we were able to go back outside. We headed across the street and got some Starbucks. The rain started coming down at that point! The weather forecast for Seattle that day was for lots of rain and quite stormy. Seattle typically has very nice Septembers, so I was a bit disappointed in the weather forecast. However, true to our micro-climate ways, by the time the vessel departed, the sun was shining!

 

After our caffeine break, we headed back across the street. By this time they were boarding. As previously mentioned, I had never been on the Pearl before. She is beautiful! Luckily I knew someone who worked for Norwegian, so he was able to give us a tour. My friend and I were both impressed with the restaurants, bars, and other amenities onboard. On our tour we noticed that the buffet was already slammed with people grabbing lunch, while Summer Palace was a ghost town. There were employees just waiting for people to show up. After the tour, my friend and I headed back to Summer Palace for lunch. We both were happy with our selections. While having lunch it was announced that our rooms were ready. The captain also announced that due to an incoming storm we were going to head up the Inside Passage instead of heading out to the Pacific and heading up outside of Vancouver Island. Bonus! After hearing about how many people head up to Vancouver to cruise through the Inside Passage, we felt like we won the lottery!

 

After settling in to our stateroom, we walked around the ship. At this point the sun started to come out. A little after 4pm, it was time to sail!

 

 

 

 

 

[Kingfisherhill]

We sailed on the Pearl 4 years ago to Alaska. It was one of the best holidays of my life, cant wait for the rest of your review.

[rnargo]

For the next 48 hours or so (we arrived in Juneau at 2pm on Tues) my friend and I relaxed and got to know the Pearl. We loved the Great Outdoors on the aft deck. We often would grab a meal out there, or even grab something from the main buffet and take it out there. It was rarely chilly out there as it is quite protected from the wind and weather.

 

While we still bought drinks around the ship, prior to cruise day I ordered bar set-up for our room. That was another thing I found out about on this forum. I ordered a bottle of Absolut. With your liquor you get 3 condiments and 3 mixers. We ordered 2 bottles of bloody mary mix, OJ, lemons, limes, and celery. I brought a small jar each of olives and pickled asparagus. I also brought a plastic bottle of Worcestershire sauce (also for Bloody Marys) and some small flavored cans of Perrier seltzer. We were set! In the morning we could wake up and have a bloody mary just the way we wanted it! In the evening I might have a Absolut with seltzer and lime. The bottles are expensive, but I figured it would come to about $3.00 per drink...cheaper than what you would find onboard.

 

Unfortunately, the majority of our Inside Passage cruise (eastern side of Vancouver Island) took place in the dark. I did wake up early the next morning and had the opportunity to see some of the scenery toward the northern tip of the island. It was certainly beautiful! After passing Vancouver Island we got a sample of what we had missed weather-wise as we transited an area open to the Pacific. This portion of the trip as well as the next night as we were heading into Alaska were the roughest part of the northbound trip. My friend started to not feel so good, so she put on a Scopalamine patch and took some generic Zofran. That helped her a lot.

 

After that rough patch we headed once again into protected waters. This area was gorgeous! Comparing the map on the TV (and the digital chart in the Bridge Viewing Room) to the map we had from the Alaska Cruise Handbook: A Mile by Mile Guide (great book!), we seemed to be heading up more narrower passages than most cruise ships. One area I believe the captain said was less than a 1/2 mile wide. We were enjoying eating a meal at the Great Outdoors when we transited that particular area. The day at sea was fun, but we were definitely looking forward to getting to Alaska!

 

After a night on rough seas, we once again woke up to calm waters...Alaskan waters! The beauty around us was spectacular. After breakfast, my friend and I came back to the room to get ready. I heard the PA come on. The captain announced we had Humpback whales on our port side! Lucky for us, our balcony was on the port side. :-) It was a gorgeous sight! I quickly got out my camera and telephoto lens and snapped some photos. Of course the one time I turn away, a Humpback breached! I got just the aftermath, as you'll see from the photos below. We were excited to see some whales...and we hadn't even gotten to our whale watching cruise in Juneau!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

Before continuing on with the day-to-day review, I thought I would talk about the food on the Pearl. My friend and I were pretty happy with it. Every morning for breakfast we would head up to the buffet. They have everything up there...eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, yogurts, potatoes, lox, pastries, and even Indian dishes. Every meal of the day you could find some great Indian options on the buffet cooked by Indian chefs. If you enjoy Indian food, definitely give them a try! I would say it rivals some of the best Indian restaurants here in Seattle. Also for a little extra fee you could get fresh squeezed juice, but unfortunately only until 10am. I think I would have enjoyed that in the afternoon as well. Once I tried the melon, carrot, and celery juice blend....it was very good. They extract the juice right there in front of you. They also have more traditional options such as grapefruit, orange, etc. For any meal, if you don't know what you want, the buffet is a great option.

 

We did go to a few specialty restaurants. The first night we went to Lotus Garden and had shabu shabu. I had not had shabu shabu since I was in Japan about 15 years ago or so. They did a pretty good job on the Pearl. Shabu shabu is a Japanese hot pot dish. It is a dish to experience. It takes a long time, so you don't want to go have it if you are in a hurry. They have a burner on specific shabu shabu tables. They place a large pot of broth on the the burner and dump a bunch of vegetables in it. They also then bring your choice of meat or tofu. We got the thinly sliced beef and chicken. For some reason they usually only use noodles on the Pearl, in Japan I don't remember having noodles...only rice. When I asked about the rice, the waiter said he'd would bring both, which worked fine. In shabu shabu, you cook your own meat (and noodles) in the broth. You then use the utensils they provide to take out the meat and vegetable from the broth, dip them in provided sauces, and then put it on your rice. It was very good. My friend, who had never had shabu shabu, also really enjoyed it.

 

One night we headed up to Cagney's Steakhouse. It was also quite good. I had the bison. My friend had the 5oz Filet Mignon. They were both cooked appropriately. We also enjoyed our salads. I had a wedge salad, while my friend had the arugula salad. By the end of our meal we were way too full to have dessert, so we had it sent to our room. The service by our waiter was very good, but it did take quite awhile for the hostess to come out to seat us initially.

 

The last specialty restaurant we went to was Le Bistro. I knew a few other passengers from work. One of them made a reservation for all of us at Le Bistro one night. I haven't really had the opportunity to eat much French food, so I really don't have very much to compare it to. We ordered several appetizers/starters for the table...including the cheese plate off of the dessert menu. When it came to the entrees, I think everyone liked what they got, but I think my friend ordered the best entree off the menu. She got the vegetarian option which looked like a tower of vegetables and cheese on top of a pastry. Several of us tried her dish and wish we had gotten the same. Her dish was so flavorful! I would definitely get that next time. I will say that the presentation at Le Bistro was amazing!!

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the food...

[triptolemus]

I don't think you got the aftermath at all! Your photos of the whale activity are amazing... Those are great shots!

[rnargo]

I don't think you got the aftermath at all! Your photos of the whale activity are amazing... Those are great shots!

 

Thank you...I appreciate that! I just wish I could have gotten a little bit of whale with that splash. :rolleyes: A lot more whales coming in my next post!

[rnargo]

Port: Juneau

 

With this being our first cruise, my friend and I decided to go ahead and book a couple of excursions through NCL instead of on our own. In Juneau we did the Whale Watch/ Mendenhall Glacier Combo. We both loved it! We just wish we had more time in Juneau. Eight hours with darkness quickly approaching is just not enough. On a positive note, it was a beautiful, sunny day in Juneau! We really lucked out!

 

Our excursion tickets had been delivered to our room on embarkation day, which made it very easy. We met in the Stardust Theater just before arriving in Juneau. After the ship had been cleared, we headed down to the 4th floor, through a crew only area, and out onto the dock. We found the buses that had been dedicated for our excursion. Several minutes later we were on the Gray Line bus.

 

Our bus driver was really nice. He gave us a bit of a tour as we headed toward Auke Bay, where the Allen Marine vessel was located. Once we arrived, we headed directly onto the boat and departed the dock. It was very quick and seamless! The Allen Marine boat was three decks. The third deck was only opened when we would stop to watch the whales. It certainly provided a great view! Turns out this was the very last cruise of the season.

 

We had a great whale watching experience that day! We saw so many Humpbacks. We had the opportunity to go to a few locations to get really great views of these whales. Also, the scenery was incredible! Toward the end of the cruise, it was obvious that the sun was starting to head lower in the sky pretty quickly. We headed back into the dock, boarded the bus, and departed for Mendenhall Glacier.

 

As many other reviewers have mentioned, when you go to Mendenhall as part of a tour group, you definitely leave wishing for more time. We had about an hour and 15 minutes to explore. My friend and I both agreed we would rather spend our time seeing the glacier instead of the visitor's center. While we headed up to visitor's center to get a great view, we pretty much bypassed the whole thing to get back out to the glacier. After taking some photographs from below the visitor's center, we walked down the nearby trail. We got to a fork in the road. If we go left, we go down the short Photo Point Trail. If we go right, we head down the trail toward the waterfall. We decided to head to Photo Point, as we knew we could do that easily in the time allowed. We got some great photographs from there. We then used the remaining time to walk down the waterfall trail for a few minutes before having to turn around and head back to the bus. It was definitely starting to get dark!

 

We got back on board the bus and headed into Juneau. The bus driver dropped anyone who wanted to off at the tram station, where you could get shuttles back to the ship. We decided to get off, walk through town, and grab a beer and a little food at the Red Dog Saloon. While the saloon is definitely meant for tourists, it is cute nonetheless! After finishing up, we walked back to the tram station, boarded a shuttle, and back to the Pearl we went.

 

We definitely considered it a successful, wonderful day in Juneau!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

Port: Juneau

 

More pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Medtech2]

Wonderful photos! :)

[nikibee]

Your pictures are GORGEOUS!

[McDebbie]

Great pictures! We did the same tour when we went in September 2009, sure brings back memories. Can't wait to see the rest of the review.

[kjquilts]

Your photos are just beautiful. Your whale photos make us want to do a whale watching excursion.

[rnargo]

Sorry everybody! I just realized I erased the re-sized images in photobucket, which in turn erased all my images in my review. Oops! I going to recreate all my photos in the next few posts:

 

Day 1: Seattle Embarkation Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

British Columbia, Canada to Juneau, Alaska:

 

 

 

 

[Medtech2]

Wouldn't it be great if we could just cut and paste from our computer and not use a 3rd party?

[rnargo]

Wouldn't it be great if we could just cut and paste from our computer and not use a 3rd party?

 

 

Yes!! :o

[rnargo]

Port: Juneau

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

Port: Juneau (cont'd)

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

Port: Juneau (cont'd)

 

Since I had to re-post all of my photos anyway, I thought I would include six more that I had not posted the first time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruiseGator1]

Great review so far! Thanks for writing it. Loving the photos - especially the whale pics. Awesome!!

[sdmike]

The only thing we missed on our trip was WHALES! Dang. I'm gonna have to go again. ;)

 

Thanks for the review. The pics are great!

[tymike]

Your review and fabulous pictures are making me seriously consider changing my cruise for next summer! Thanks so much!

[rnargo]

Your review and fabulous pictures are making me seriously consider changing my cruise for next summer! Thanks so much!

 

And I haven't even gotten to Glacier Bay yet! ;) Alaska was incredible! Definitely one of the best vacations of my life!

 

 

sdmike- The whales were amazing! Certainly recommend a whale watching cruise so that you can be sure to see them. :)

[rnargo]

Now that I have caught up on photos...

 

Port: Skagway

 

By far, our longest port stop was in Skagway. I believe we were there a little over 12 hours. We got to Skagway very early in the morning. I woke up briefly about 630am when we had just arrived. I stepped out on the balcony. It was beautiful! You could see the surrounding mountains and there were very few clouds (see first photo). I went back to bed for a couple more hours. When I woke up again and looked outside, suddenly the clouds were very low! The mountains were no longer visible. What a change! I had to show my friend the pictures I had taken on my camera earlier that morning for her to get an idea of what the area looked like.

 

After a late breakfast and getting ready for the day, we started to walk toward town. We didn't get too far. We decided to save the town of Skagway for after our train ride.

 

Our second NCL booked excursion was the 3+ hour round-trip train ride up to White Pass. We decided to take the early afternoon train. I'm so glad we did, because I don't think the views would have been nearly as spectacular due to those low clouds. The morning train probably would have gotten above the clouds at some point, but I think it happened much more quickly in the afternoon.

 

It's a beautiful old train. Per so many reviewers on this forum, we sat on the left side for the trip up. Another recommendation I have is to sit all the way up front in the train car. You have so much more leg room or room for your stuff. That extra space allowed me to be able to stand up and get some great pictures behind us from our seat. I also enjoyed spending some time outside between the train cars. My friend and I commented to each other that we had never been outside on a train going through a tunnel. That was pretty cool!

 

The views from the train were spectacular! Every time you think the view just couldn't get any better, it would. We were so happy we took the train. We both agreed it was worth every penny.

 

Like the whale watching cruise, this was the very last train ride of the year. The train crew have an initiation tradition. On your last train ride of your first season working, you have to take a dip in the very cold waters up at the summit. This time it was our tour guide's turn! It was obvious that the more experienced crew look forward to this tradition. Quite a few employees that were not working rode in an empty car in front of us...probably to witness this moment at the summit. Our tour guide did not just wade into the the frigid waters...he went for a swim! Brrrrrr! See photo below...

 

At the summit, the train benches are rotated to face the opposite direction and you switch seats with the passengers sitting across from you to allow equal opportunity for the best views.

 

Once we got back into Skagway, we headed for the Skagway Brewing Company. We went there at the suggestion of my friend who works with NCL. He told me we had to go there and get a Spruce Tip Ale. It is a beer that is brewed using Sitka Spruce tips. According to my friend, much of the town will go and harvest these spruce tips. This ale is so popular, I read they will often sell out. Thankfully, they still had some when we got there! It was very good. I think they said it is a blonde ale, which was just fine with me. I'm not really a fan of very hoppy beers. We also had some great food there as well.

 

After ducking in a few stores, we headed back to the Pearl. Another great day in Alaska!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

Port: Skagway (cont'd)