Norwegian Pearl Review (6/15 Alaska) -- Tips for those travelling with 2 kids

[Sundodger]

We just returned from the 7 day Alaska cruise (r/t Seattle) on the Norwegian Pearl (June 15 sailing). It was our 5th NCL cruise (4th in the more modern Freestyle era) and second on the Pearl.

 

However, it was our first in three years, and... there have been some noticeable changes. More on that soon. But wanted to mainly focus our review on our experience traveling with our two young daughters, ages 6 and 4.

 

There are plenty of reviews on here geared toward the adult experiences but wanted to give those with kids some idea what to expect and what might be a bit different than you're expecting, even if you've been on an NCL cruise before.

 

THE BASICS:

 

We booked last minute (2 weeks prior) on an Obstructed Oceanview Guarantee. We live in the Seattle area so it was a way to get a reasonable fare with no airfare needed. We ended up getting a slight upgrade to a non-obstructed porthole cabin on Deck 4, midship-ish.

 

ACCOMIDATIONS:

 

First shocker with the kids: Our cabin. Overall, it was totally fine -- quite cozy, but expected for the cabin class. But we were surprised to find it only had one bunk bed. Other oceanviews we had in years' past had 2 bunks on either wall. The kids had been psyched to get their own bunk. Instead, the cabins have a bit of an awkward shift -- the double bed shifts over to the wall, and a trundle bed comes from under the main bed to essentially make a three-bed across pattern. Apparently this is the layout for 4 on the entire ship -- no double bunks in any cabin.

 

That means at night, no nightstands, no spot for water or the phone (we stuck the phone up near the porthole) and no easy underbed storage. It also meant young kid was sleeping with Mom and Dad for the trip. Luckily, you can shift the bed lower to the floor to give some vertical space, if not horizontal space. Might be fairly awkward for older kids or really awkward if you're going as a group of 4 adults :)

 

We just asked our steward to leave the beds up all the time as it seemed like a waste to have to keep shifting the bed each night.

 

(The main double bed was up against the other wall)

 

THE POOL:

 

As mentioned, we had been on the Pearl before and remembered it had a nice water slide. NCL's website is quite thin on pictures for the Pearl, but Google image the Pearl's pool and you find several pics with the slide.

 

Imagine our surprise after getting on the ship, getting into swimsuits and heading to the pool deck to find... the slide is gone. I know ships undergo changes -- the Pearl has had some sprucing up since we were last on there, but seems strange to make something less fun. It's not like they replaced the space with anything.

 

Here is a current pic of the pool deck (don't let Google fool you!) :)

 

 

Other bummer: They have two nearly identical pools -- an adult pool and one for the kids. However, the one for the kids is 4 feet 11 inches at its shallowest point -- too deep to stand for most kids in the 4-8 range. My 6-year-old just learned to swim leading up to the cruise but I was uneasy having her in there with nary a place to stand up if she got tired or in trouble. I'm guessing it was probably liability related for kids jumping in but I see many other pools with like 4 feet that should suffice. Seems poor design. Also, water temp was quite chilly. I get it's Alaska and you're not exactly basking in 80-90 degree sun, but just a little warmer would help the adults who have to be in to help the kids who can't touch.

 

The Pearl does have a infant/toddler pool play area -- it's about a foot deep and has a very small slide. So you're well covered if your kid is like 18-months to 3 years old or older than 9-10.

 

THE KIDS CLUB

 

The kids spent quite a bit of time inside Splash Academy. Overall, they had a blast and the staff is SUPER. Only things to be aware of that we found a bit strange: During times when the ship is at sea, the kids club closes for 2 hours for both lunch (Noon-2pm) and dinner (5-7pm). This was a bit of a crimp as they had, for example, scheduled the Latitudes meet and drink party or the meet the Captain gathering -- during the middle of these kids closures. So the kids came along each time. Poor planning there.

 

However, kids club is open all day while in port for free (or at least open while in port. For example, it was open in Ketchikan at noon but we left Ketchikan at 1:30pm and kids club was closed for dinner at sea at 5) -- different than most other cruises where the clubs are open all the time at sea but close while in port, or at least charged for port time. The kids club will feed your kid for $6 if you want to leave them there during port time.

 

Kids club is free until 10:30pm, then they charge $6/hr ($4/hr each additional sibling) until 1:30 am.

 

The only other minor complaint from my oldest was that the activities were always structured and mandatory to all in the group -- there wasn't any free "do what you want" time there. The age breakdown is 3-5, 6-9 and 10-13 and they are separated into rooms --a little bummer for my littlest who could never play with big sis, but some families, this might be a plus and it makes sense on some levels to gear activities to age levels. Also, they expect your kid to wear a bracelet 24/7 and charge your $5 if you cut it off and it needs to be replaced. Seems a bit extreme for a 10 cent piece of plastic, but I guess it cuts down on their administrative time to keep reissuing it. They let the badge hang loose on our kids so they could slip it on and off -- a good option to ask for if your kid is sensitive to wearing plastic.

 

One very cool thing they do -- you spend the week training for their end-of-the-week circus. Depending on age and amount of time you've spent in the Splash Academy, the more challenging your event. They had lasso ropers, Dragon stick toss, Feather balancing, and Chinese YoYo tricks. Then they all perform for the parents on the last day on the big stage in the Stardust Lounge! That was awesome and a great experience.

 

BONUS AREA

 

One thing that we learned the first time on the Pearl, when the Garden Café (buffet area) is packed, head all the way back toward the rear of the ship-- just before you reach the outdoor Great Outdoors Café is a little seating area geared toward the kids. The seating is a bit lower but at least most times it's not quite as packed as the traditional seats.

 

OTHER NOTES NOT KID RELATED:

 

Some other odds and ends that we found a bit...odd.

 

Dining: I would suggest you look into the specialty dinner package when booking the cruise and just count it as a required cost of the trip. The dinners in the specialty restaurants were light years ahead of the main dining room counterparts.

 

But if you do want to partake in the main dining option, we learned, as other passengers did fairly quickly, to avoid the Summer Palace if you can. It seemed to us that NCL has cut back on service staff and it really seemed to show here as the staff and kitchen seem overwhelmed. We ate here on opening night and the waiter apologized over and over that the kitchen was backed up - this around 7:30pm start time. Dinner took well over two hours.

 

A second trip there was needed on a night when we wanted to try Indigo, but it was packed, yet Summer Palace was wide open (see!) It didn't help that Indigo was right next to the gangway that night, but our second Summer Palace experience too had very long wait-for-food times, a server who had multiple difficulties getting the order correct. Our night we did make Indigo (waiting 45 mins for a table while Summer Palace was immediate seating), it was a bit better but even there, we had where we went a good 20 minutes with no wait staff. In all three times, never once were we offered a wine list or anything to drink without us having to ask first.

 

On the other hand, dinner at Le Bistro and Lotus Garden were incredible. And while service might have been slow or had issues in the main dining rooms, the servers themselves ranged from pleasant to go-to-the-wall-for-you.

 

Oh, and the big shocker? No lobster night in the main dining rooms. Kept waiting for it. Never came. I've been on 13 cruises across the spectrum of companies and they've all had a lobster night. Not this time. The two "formal" nights main dishes were a turkey dish and a shrimp/seafood dish. Prime Rib was on the final night in Victoria. Also a surprising amount of repeated dishes. And they apparently ran out of half and half about 2/3 the way in and had to rely on the little packets till the end of the cruise.

 

One thing about NCL is if you're a casual dress person, this is the cruise for you. Very few really dressed up for their first optional formal night and it was even less the second night. But as one who hates to dress up, they get a thumbs up from me here to allow great options on your dress. No stress here.

 

Back to the pool: In another sign of change, no just grabbing clean towels from a bin. You now are supposed to sign out towels. Like write down your room number and number of towels and agree to $25 deposit if not returned, although this seemed loosely-to-non enforced and someone walked off with one of our towels and there was no surprise charges.

 

OK, figured that part out...except their towel "hut" closes at 10pm with the pool. Hot tubs? They're open till midnight (Woo!), just good luck drying off (D'oh! In retrospect, guess we should have checked for towels before we jumped in at 10:30) You can either bring a towel from your room (I guess) or as we did, sneak into the fitness room and grab some towels from the locker room (shhh!)

 

THE GOOD

 

Now, despite what I've written, I don't want it to seem like it was a bad cruise. Far from it. We had a great time. There were no horror stories.

 

Getting on the ship was a breeze; getting on and off the ship in each port went like clockwork. It's a little bit of a bummer that Ketchikan was a short port day and Juneau was evening only but that's a function of leaving from Seattle and having to touch that Canadian port for the Jones Act.

 

Tip for Skagway: If you're not into the train and have some young kids, they've built a new mega playground about a block east of the main drag there, about 6-7 blocks back from the start of town. Look for the tall plastic trees. Kids had a blast running around there.

 

Glacier Bay was awesome -- we had a good 6 hours or so in the bay with a solid 90 minutes up close with the two main glaciers in the bay, and the captain did a deft job of slowly spinning around in circles so that each side of the ship can see. There was plenty of room on the decks to roam around and see the glaciers -- no shoving required!! We've been on each glacier itinerary to Alaska and Glacier Bay is tops by far over Hubbard and Sawyer.

 

 

 

The staff was awesome all around. They work so hard and always keep a smile. The food in the Garden Café was pretty good. And as we mentioned, the specialty restaurants were top notch. And there's always ice cream. A big plus.

 

We aren't much for the shows and didn't take any shore excursions as we've been to the cities a number of times already. This was mostly a trip to just get away and have some fun on board.

 

Hope this helps a bit when planning your next cruise or if you'll be on the Pearl soon!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for taking the time to write and share your review.

 

Keith

[KeithJenner]

Just to answer your question about the slide, I believe it has been removed from the Pearl as that is the ship which is often chartered for music cruises and it gets in the way when the bands are playing. It was removed a while ago.

 

Regarding the kids club closing on sea days, I'm not sure whether this official or just speculation, but my understanding was that it closed so that kids weren't just left in there all day. It can be a bit of a pain, especially if you have other plans at those times. I suppose it gives the staff a break too.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[amarvel]

Great report! I had the same issue with the pool on the jewel. My kids are 5 and 7 and my 7yo is tall and can usually stand and he didn't like being in the pool knowing he couldn't just stand if needed.

 

Thanks for the playground in Skagway tip!

 

And yes the kid area is closed for lunch and dinner because people would forget to feed their kids. we also found that throughout the week it could be an inconvenience. I'd like to see it be only an hour rather than 2 hours closed.

 

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[abcmom123]

Thank you for your detailed report and the pictures of the bed set up. We are on the Pearl the end of July and I appreciate your insight. I was very bummed about the removal of the water slide as well. It was there when we booked and I read about its removal on CC. At least we know going in but still a disappointment :( Glad you had a great trip!

[ERed hot nana]

Thank you for the report. We will be sailing July 6 and can't wait. Getting nervous about the food though. Everyone is complaining about the Summer Palace and the crowds at breakfast.

 

But I am sure that seeing the glaciers and visiting Skagway and Ketchikan will be worth it.

[Susie51]

Thank you for your review from a kids point of view.

 

I whole-heartily agree with you about the pool design is not kid friendly.

 

Also, the pools are not mobility impaired friendly either. The adult pool is accessed by ladders instead of steps and a railing.

[Sundodger]

Just to answer your question about the slide, I believe it has been removed from the Pearl as that is the ship which is often chartered for music cruises and it gets in the way when the bands are playing. It was removed a while ago.

 

Regarding the kids club closing on sea days, I'm not sure whether this official or just speculation, but my understanding was that it closed so that kids weren't just left in there all day. It can be a bit of a pain, especially if you have other plans at those times. I suppose it gives the staff a break too.

 

That would explain the few pool pics on NCL site :) Bummer though -- seems they should do something in exchange. Like the Star has a great little kids swim park on the back with two little slides -- the ship definitely needs some better kid friendly swim activities.

 

As for kids club, I guess I can see that. We got spoiled on a Disney Cruise last year where not only is the kids club open all the time, but if you leave them there during lunch/dinner...they just feed them! Then again, their kids club area has like 5 times the real estate and its own private cafeteria :)

[Sundodger]

Thank you for the report. We will be sailing July 6 and can't wait. Getting nervous about the food though. Everyone is complaining about the Summer Palace and the crowds at breakfast.

 

But I am sure that seeing the glaciers and visiting Skagway and Ketchikan will be worth it.

 

If you can swing it, I'd get the dinner package or just try to budget in as many specialty restaurants as you can. We loved Lotus Garden -- it's $15 pp and the least crowded -- always a good backup to just walk up. I kept thinking they'd have more exotic dinners in the main restaurants but they never really came and you really don't miss much there. I hadn't factored in the big John Deere convention on the ship and its effects on dinner, so maybe our cruise had some unique challenges in the main dining rooms that other cruises won't have. I was in wonder that "Don't they have the same cruise every week? How could they be so backed up?" but maybe they're not used to 100 people ordering at the same time.

 

For Breakfast -- if the weather is OK, try heading back to the "Great outdoors" cafe. It's outside on the back of the ship but covered and offers A) Some great views and B) sometimes some actual eating space, and the typical breakfast foods are out there too in a mini-buffet. It might be a little breezy and you're only in port on two mornings (Skagway and Ketchikan) so you're moving the other 5 mornings but we didn't mind the chilly weather. Then again, we're from Seattle where 58 in June isn't out of the ordinary :)

 

Glacier Bay will be worth the entire trip and the other glacier (Mendenhall) is in Juneau and you've got plenty of time there if you want to take the 15 minute bus ride out there (a bazillion tours go out there. Going rate is $10 each way; they leave every 30 minutes; last shuttle at 6pm I think.). The day in Ketchikan goes fast -- you have to be back on board at 1pm so get up early if you want a full day there. The Pearl Docks just one slot off the main center dock so it's not a far walk to "downtown".

 

Should have mentioned that: The Pearl gets the far away "AJ dock" in Juneau so there's a free 5 minute shuttle that takes you into town. Or you could walk it but it's about a mile and there's a minor hill. They also share the dock with the Jewel, which is there in the morning until 2pm so you have to hope the Jewel gets out on time because they don't let cruise ships double park :) We were about 30 minutes delayed docking as the Jewel was a little late leaving, but it wasn't an issue since you're there till 10pm.

 

Pearl gets the prime dock in Skagway so that's a very short walk to town. In Ketchikan, they get the 3rd best dock out of 4, but it's still a short walk.

 

Have a great time!

Edited June 24, 2014 by Sundodger

[gi_pam]

The slide was there in Aug 2012 when we were on the Pearl. But it (to quote my kids) "sucked." It was slow, to the point of my kids having to use their hands to get themselves down! They tried it once or twice, then didn't use it again. It needed replacing, but disappointing that they took it right out.

 

Some of the things in the kids club sound disappointing. They used to have what they called "Freestyle Free Play." Which is one of the things that lured us to NCL for that cruise. We were cruising with 4 kids, cousins, who spanned two age groups and the ability for them to have some time to play together was one of the things we liked. And if I remember correctly, it was during meal times (like 11-1). But we have found that most cruise lines close the kids centre during meal times, so I guess NCL is following suit there.

[amarvel]

The slide on the jewel was the same. Low water pressure so they couldn't really slide down. I don't think having a slide is missing out.

 

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[ReggaeRoy]

Thanks for this wonderful review. My wife and I will be on the reggae cruise in October. Can hardly wait. Do you know where the bands perform?

[DonSolo96]

Thanks for the great review! We are first-time cruisers going on the Pearl's 7/20 sailing. One question: You mentioned the Splash Academy has three age groups: 3-5, 6-9 and 10-13. According to the NCL website, that last age group is actually 10-12, not 10-13. This is particularly important to us because our daughters are 12 and 13, and really hoped to be together (and preferably a more "teen" experience than a kiddie experience). NCL website talks about a teen program, too. I assume there is such a thing on the Pearl? And do you (or anyone else out there!) know if the teen activities would allow a mature 12yo to be with her 13yo sister, or are they sticklers for the ages?

[DonSolo96]

OK, I may have just answered my own question (almost). Entourage is for 13-17yo. I guess I am wondering if a 12yo can still make it in there.

[KeithJenner]

OK, I may have just answered my own question (almost). Entourage is for 13-17yo. I guess I am wondering if a 12yo can still make it in there.

 

 

They are strict on the ages. No exceptions.

[Sundodger]

Thanks for the great review! We are first-time cruisers going on the Pearl's 7/20 sailing. One question: You mentioned the Splash Academy has three age groups: 3-5, 6-9 and 10-13. According to the NCL website, that last age group is actually 10-12, not 10-13. This is particularly important to us because our daughters are 12 and 13, and really hoped to be together (and preferably a more "teen" experience than a kiddie experience). NCL website talks about a teen program, too. I assume there is such a thing on the Pearl? And do you (or anyone else out there!) know if the teen activities would allow a mature 12yo to be with her 13yo sister, or are they sticklers for the ages?

 

Oops! Sorry about that -- didn't pay that close attention to the older kids' groups as we're not that far down the parenting road yet :) Yes they are pretty strict on age. Only option to move up is if they have a birthday during the cruise, you can be in the older category from day 1. I think Enteroge and Splash Academy are next to, but two separate areas so I don't think they'll be that close. With our daughters, they were in separate rooms that adjoined between the "Turtles" 3-5 and... Seals? (6-9) so they didn't get to do much together.

 

About the only spot they might mix is in their late night post-10:30pm pay-for-care time -- I think they might all be together then. (Not 100% sure) It's more freestyle then.

 

I will say this -- if you have kids and can somehow swing it, try a Disney Cruise someday. It is typically quite a bit more $$ but finding it's worth it (and keep an eye for their guarantee-cabin deals -- they're pretty solid discounts) One of our unmentioned problems was our two prior cruises were DCL and I think the kids got spoiled :) It is kid Nirvanna and their kids program is unbelievable, as you might expect, although plenty for the adults to do too. I think our next cruise is going back to DCL :)

Edited June 26, 2014 by Sundodger

[Hikini]

Nice, thoughtful review - thanks for the pros and cons! :)

[TexasBorderAussie]

We were on the Pearl to Glacier Bay May 17. Had a blast. We found the service in Summer Palace to be fine. Maybe just different times with some group going. We like to eat earlier most of the time and when arriving close to opening we never had to wait to sit or waited more than a couple of minutes before being waited on or getting the next course. Start to finish never there much more than an hour and I tend to be a slower eater. We went most every night and most of the time for lunch as the buffet so crowded. We did always do the buffet in morning and could always find seating (quiet) in the Italian restaraunt or in Great Outdoors.

We did have lobster on second night in the main dining rooms only though. I believe they had crab legs at buffet that night. That night was very busy in Summer Palace but we were asked if we would like to share a table and we were happy to do so and very much enjoyed our companions for the meal. We were seated immediately with the table share and since we said yes, we weren't given a estimated wait time.

I had read much on reviews of the food so had very open mind. I didn't go expecting 5-star meals and will say was happy most every meal. Being able to get two desserts if I wanted helped. I am a life is short, eat dessert first type of person Certainly never went hungry and all in all at least on par if not better than many meals at say something like Chilis, Applebys, TGIF type of places.

[isaiahsnana]

We were on the same cruise with you: my daughter, three grandsons and a good friend.

 

Because there was a large group on board from John Deere, there were several evenings that they dominated one or the other dining room forcing groups to go to the other dining room which was often already crowded. We wound up eating most meals in the buffet which is very different from how I usually cruise.

 

My big problem with the dining room menus was that of the "every day menu" items 4 of them were some sort of lasagna every night so you really had very few actual choices. Our best meals were our lunch selections in the buffet - wished for some of those choices at night.

 

Our kids enjoyed the kids club. My oldest grandson, who turned 10 on the sail away day, was allowed to choose whether to go into 6-9 or 10-13 and he chose the younger group. He was told he could try both and I was very surprised as I had heard they were very firm about ages. We had one "guppy" and really liked the planned activities for his (under 3) age group.

[kurukthemal]

Thanks for the review and I really like the end of the week show. We have three girls going in August, 9, 7, and 6. So, I am glad they will be together in the kids club. We did get the dining option for the adults, so it will be a foodie delight for us. We also splurged on a family suite, so I am looking forward to plenty of room service. I agree on DCL, but their prices have dramatically increased this past year.

 

Thanks again...great review!

[pokerpro5]

This was a great review, and I agree with the parts I have already experienced on similar ships.

 

Your kids weren't missing anything by the removal of the slide. It looks cool, but it is SLOW and not fun at all.

 

I also have young children, and appreciate the review from that point of view.

 

Also I 100% agree about the specialty restaurants. The MDR food is SO inferior to the specialties, I just find that to be an odd place to skimp.

 

Here is a tip for next time:

 

You can often get a SECOND ROOM for equal or less than what you paid to add your two kids to your existing room. I just did this for my upcoming Alaska cruise (on the Sun), and I'm actually saving money over just adding the kids to my existing balcony room.

 

Here is how you do it: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2059377

[pokerpro5]

Oh, and I see you booked last minute, so you already got what was likely a cheap cruise.

 

I'm wondering if you looked into the price of getting a second cabin (even the cheapest category) and how that compared to adding the two kids to your room.

[lasnev]

On an Alaskan cruise isn't the pool water close to freezing, or is it heated somehow?

[amarvel]

On an Alaskan cruise isn't the pool water close to freezing, or is it heated somehow?

 

the pools are heated :)