Review of 6/7-6/14 Alaska Cruise on the Pearl

[GoAndHaveFun]

Hi all, I just got back from the Pearl sailing 6/7-6/14.

I went on the cruise with my parents and we are all Platinum members. This was our 11th cruise and first time on the Pearl. I can now finally say that I have taken all 4 Jewel-class ships (Gem once, Jewel once, Jade twice and now Pearl!). We actually did an Alaskan cruise last year (on the Jewel) so other than Juneau, we didn’t even get off the ship for the other 3 stops (Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria, BC).

 

On the Light Train heading to the Port (or closest we can get to Port)

There's our Norwegian Pearl! Almost there!

And lastly, before I begin my cruise review, although I cruised with my parents, we pretty much did our own things with the exception of eating lunch and dinner together on some days. I attended a lot of events onboard by myself. Although I didn’t technically cruise solo, for those who have always wanted to know what it’s like to attend events by yourself, you can read about my experiences here. And unfortunately yes, attending events by yourself still carries some stigma and I will address them soon enough in this review.

Because we live in Bay Area, California, we flew to Seattle on Sunday at like 8am. We got there around 10am and then took the train to last stop (Westlake Station). Unfortunately, there was some testing going on for the last 3 stations so because of that, we had to get off 3 stops early and take a bus to Westlake Station area before walking to the port.

 

New York Strip with White Truffle Fries from lunch at Cagney's

Because we were staying in a Penthouse Suite, we got priority registration and was escorted to the VIP lounge. We waited for a bit before one of the waitresses escorted us to Cagney’s for lunch as we all said we were getting hungry and Cagney’s was closing at 2pm on Embarkation Day I believe.

 

 

 

 

We stayed in the 9500 Forward facing Penthouse and we actually stayed in the same Penthouse (same room number!) on the Jade last year! The room is very nice and I LOVE the gigantic balcony. As for the butler and Elvina the Concierge, I say they were pretty forgettable as I only saw them like twice throughout the cruise. I thought things were off to a bad start when I asked our butler if we can move our Moderno reservation from 6:30pm to 7:30pm as we were still full from lunch. He then told me to simply call Elvina but thing was, I previously tried to call her twice but she didn’t pick up. I then asked if he can help us book teppanyaki for tomorrow as for some weird reason, I wasn’t able to pre-book teppayanki for a group of 3 on Monday. It was either for a party of 1, 2 or 4. Once again, he told me to call Elvina and I just thought “Um, I just told you I couldn’t get a hold of her so can’t you help bring the word to Elvina?” When I was in the Haven on the Jade, I was able to tell our butler our preferred specialty dining times for the week and he would then run it through Concierge and then smooth sailing (no pun intended!) from there. Fortunately, because my parents are CAS Gold and VIP, Executive Casino Host Glen Benedicto was able to help book specialty dining for us. Lack of butler and Concierge presence didn’t affect our vacation at all but I will say they were essentially a non-factor. Our Cabin Steward Tipo though, that guy remembered my name and was always full of jokes.

 

Our Penthouse Suite

 

 

Another shot of our Forward Penthouse

 

 

Our gigantic balcony. People have said they feel a bit exposed and being watched when they are standing on the forward facing balconies but I never felt that way.

 

 

More to come as I don't want to write a wall of text in one post

 

PS: How do I link to pics I took? I tried linking to imgur but then it's not working

Edited June 15, 2015 by GoAndHaveFun

[GoAndHaveFun]

 

I see you Pearl!

 

 

New York steak with white truffle fries for lunch at Cagney's

 

Our Penthouse Suite

 

Another view of the Penthouse Suite

 

Our gigantic balcony

 

This is my attempt at trying to post pictures after my first failed attempt

[GoAndHaveFun]

For dining, I always enjoy breakfast & lunch at Cagneys even though the menu never changes other than the soup of the day. As a steak lover, I love the steak & eggs for breakfast and New York Steak with white truffle fries for lunch. I also love the shrimp cocktail appetizer and the banana cream pie for dessert. I typically like the marinated fruits dessert but the flavoring was lacking this time.

 

The Turkey burger from Cagney's lunch. It's pretty delicious and this is coming from someone who don't really eat burgers all that much.

I thought the buffet was decent even if recipes are always recycled. In my past cruise reviews (feel free to look them up), I would always make a note of how we will always see curry chicken, beef, fish etc and then stir fry chicken, beef, pork etc. One thing I really like about Pearl’s buffet is that it doesn’t look like Jade and Jewel’s buffet. Instead, Pearl’s buffet resembles Epic’s and Breakaway/Getaway’s buffet layout. I really like that Pearl’s Garden Café has an ice cream section (like Epic and Breakaway/Getaway) as it allows for more variety besides frozen yogurt. We never dined at MDR the whole week.

 

For specialty dining, we had Modernos, Cagneys and teppanyaki (twice). For Moderno, it’s a meat galore so always come hungry! To me, the salad bar is NCL’s ploy of trying to get you full before the meat comes so don’t go crazy at the salad bar! I actually had a very bad experience with Moderno on the Getaway as for some reason, I just ate too fast and felt extremely full too fast. Ever since then, I have really learned to pace myself when dining at Moderno. I love their filet mignon, marinated chicken drumstick, lamb rack, and cinnamon pineapple.

For Cagneys, it’s not really my go-to place for specialty dining despite I do love steak. I got the 8oz filet mignon (medium) and it was just delicious. It was very well-cooked and I loved every bite I took. I also got the oreo cheesecake for dessert and omg it was very good. Do note that for Cagneys, an hour plus wait for your main entrée is to be expected.

 

Lobster and shrimp linguine dish and 8 oz medium filet mignon

[/font]

We will always get teppanyaki every time we cruise. Despite it can take a while for you to get seated and for appetizers to come after placing your order, there’s just something about watching your food get cooked right in front of you. Despite we have done teppanyaki countless times and more or less know what the teppanyaki chefs are gonna say, it’s still entertaining for us. If you want some lobster, definitely get the seafood entrée as it includes lobster, scallops, and calamari. The land and sea combo (filet mignon and shrimp) is also delicious. For dessert, I always get green tea cake and ice cream as green tea ice cream isn’t served anywhere else on the ship.

Edited June 15, 2015 by GoAndHaveFun

[GoAndHaveFun]

As mentioned earlier, every event I attended, I attended by myself. I attended events like the trivias throughout the day, different games in groups (ie charades, win lose or draw, golf putting, ipad games), This or That, Norwegian’s Night Out, 70’s Party, White Hot etc. I met some fantastic folks at these events and had the opportunity to get to know them. It was always nice to see these same folks at other events or just around the ship. I am actually shy by nature so I understand it can be tough to talk to a group of people or just talk to anyone. Fortunately, because people are on vacation, there’s a pretty good chance that they will be friendly. Yes, you will come across unfriendly people once in a while but that’s life.

Earlier, I briefly mentioned about how attending events by yourself carries a stigma and I will talk about it now. When I attended a “name that 70s song” trivia at Bliss Lounge, the DJ hosting the event said “man, you here by yourself?” as the others who attended came with their husbands/wives. I remember thinking “umm, what’s wrong with being here by myself? Second, people barely attend events like this and you gonna give me sh*t about attending alone?” I remember when I attended a Motown trivia on day 7, once again the DJ hosting the trivia commented about how I came alone again. And when he was breaking us up into different teams, he said “Team 1 for the lonely guy” and it was just like…wow seriously? I have previously attended events by myself on other NCL ships and this is the first time a staffer (or anyone!) has really pointed out that I was attending an event by myself.

Another incident (this one a bit more subtle) was at trivia and family events (like charades, win lose or draw etc). As mentioned, I attended a lot of those events. When I was at one event shortly before it started, it was me and then a group of 4 sitting nearby. I thought it was interesting how the cruise staffer (he was gonna host) naturally approached the group of 4 and interacted with them. This staffer has hosted like 5 trivia/games I have attended (including ones in which only 2 groups of people showed up) and I have previously interacted with him also! I just find it disappointing that as someone who has attended the events he has hosted, he couldn’t even say hi to me or a “nice to see you again!” Perhaps I am just expecting too much but I just always thought that a cruise staffer’s job (or one of their duties) is to interact with people onboard?

[2red4u]

Yuck about Elvina. She was able to get us reservation and switch our times around. We weren't picky though I had the printout of our reservations and marked the times we wanted but didn't require a certain restaurant on a certain day. She was always in moderno in the morning. If we needed her in the afternoon we usually asked the host at Moderno/Cagney to relay we were in need of something if we didn't call her. She even tracked us in the bowling alley one day. The butler doesn't handle reservations and really doesn't see the concierge, so that is why he was telling you to request through her. Where their 3 of your in the penthouse? Did you feel it plenty of space? Do you think 4 people would be comfortable in there!

[GoAndHaveFun]

Yuck about Elvina. She was able to get us reservation and switch our times around. We weren't picky though I had the printout of our reservations and marked the times we wanted but didn't require a certain restaurant on a certain day. She was always in moderno in the morning. If we needed her in the afternoon we usually asked the host at Moderno/Cagney to relay we were in need of something if we didn't call her. She even tracked us in the bowling alley one day. The butler doesn't handle reservations and really doesn't see the concierge, so that is why he was telling you to request through her. Where their 3 of your in the penthouse? Did you feel it plenty of space? Do you think 4 people would be comfortable in there!

 

I think I was just spoiled by my previous butler/Concierge experience on the Jade as the butler was able to help us with dinner reservations and Concierge Bruno was everywhere. He would always show up at whichever dining place and asked how we were doing and how he can help! I only asked our butler for dining reservations on the 1st day as I knew we HAD to book dining asap (especially for teppanyaki!!) and I couldn't reach Elvina.

 

And yes, there were 3 of us in the Penthouse and I thought there was plenty of space...although I really don't know how a 4th person would fit in there.

 

Just curious, were you on the same cruise we were on or different dates?

[2red4u]

We got off when you got on. Funny last year on jewel we had Bruno and he wasn't very good for us. He seemed put out when we asked for one dinning reservation. Did you visit the sugarcane bar? That became our goto bar. Many of the other bars were hit or miss, for us.

[GoAndHaveFun]

Oh wow, sorry to hear about Bruno not being good for you guys last year (now I am wondering when you took the Jewel last year as we also took Jewel last year and that was when we first met Bruno). Sugarcane Bar is on deck 13 at Modernos right? I never once went in there except day 1 for dinner. Because I don't really drink, I didn't really hang out at bars but I did like Magnum's Bar on deck 6 as I would go there to watch the NBA finals.

 

Did you have a favorite activity or event onboard?

[2red4u]

We did jewel last sailing in May, last year. We didn't get to much trivia or games this time. The port times were a bit wonky for us I guess. And we when came back from excursions we were pretty tired and yucky so needed to clean up. We did see several shows. We mostly enjoyed our deck or window seats. We did pop into the casino maybe twice. We love Alaska and are seriously looking into a summer cabin there.

[watchdiva]

Sorry that your experience with Elvina wasn't as great as ours when we sailed with her over Thanksgiving. She was fantastic, checking in with us daily by phone if we didn't see her in the morning and just generally doing whatever she could to smooth our way. When she heard that DH was under the weather she called to ask what she could do...we were in a Deck 10 AFT penthouse.

[GoAndHaveFun]

Sorry that your experience with Elvina wasn't as great as ours when we sailed with her over Thanksgiving. She was fantastic, checking in with us daily by phone if we didn't see her in the morning and just generally doing whatever she could to smooth our way. When she heard that DH was under the weather she called to ask what she could do...we were in a Deck 10 AFT penthouse.

 

You know..after reading this, it just makes me think "Elvina, were we just not worthy of your attention and services??" If it's like we were non-suite Platinum guests (as apparently Platinum members get access to Concierge) and we never saw Concierge, then I can maybe sorta understand just cuz we weren't Suite guests. Interestingly, when my mom was feeling a bit under the weather, the casino host checked in with her. It’s some sort of sad when the casino hosts treated us better than Concierge did.

[2red4u]

We ate nearly every breakfast in Moderno so we spoke with her nearly every morning, maybe that is the difference. Of course we did the same last year on jewel and we were snubbed by Bruno. Lol. It kinda sucks when others are made to feel special and you are treated like you have the pox! Did you eat at the German fest by the pool? We hard already eaten when we remembered it but samples a few things. It was pretty good!

[GoAndHaveFun]

I only went to breakfast twice and lunch 4 times (once just for dessert). I feel if I need to go to Cagney’s everyday just to get Concierge's attention or just to get somewhat okay treatment from them, then they are doing it wrong. I shouldn't be exerting that much effort just to be on Concierge's radar.

 

I walked past the German fest but I didn't eat anything. Actually, one of my favorite things to do is go to buffet and sample food despite having a specialty dining reservation in like 1-2 hrs.

[2red4u]

We are the same way. We walk through the Buffett looking at the dishes. Then put several very small portions on our plate. It probably looks like we are picky or dieting but it's because we go back and try more new stuff. I feel kinda bad about all the dirty dishes but oh well. You just never know what new things you wind up liking.

[NLH Arizona]

Sorry that your experience with Elvina wasn't as great as ours when we sailed with her over Thanksgiving. She was fantastic, checking in with us daily by phone if we didn't see her in the morning and just generally doing whatever she could to smooth our way. When she heard that DH was under the weather she called to ask what she could do...we were in a Deck 10 AFT penthouse.

 

I sailed with Elvina over Thanksgiving as well and I thought she was awesome. Not only was she in Moderno every morning, but she always seemed to come over and speak with me at each of the specialty restaurants I ate dinner at.

[GoAndHaveFun]

I thought the service onboard was pretty decent. Cabin stewards on other floors would say hi to me when I was walking through to avoid the wind on deck 12 and bartenders were always friendly. In fact, one bartender (Domingo Antonio) would remember my drink order (always diet pepsi) regardless of where I was placing my drink. I would either see him at Magnums, Atrium Bar or Bliss Lounge and he would always remember me. For me, I always love great service and I love it when staffers remember me from either the previous day or even an hour or two ago. As to say, it’s nice to be seen as an individual vs. another face in the crowd. Funny thing is, on the last day, I was filling out the Vacation Hero cards after placing my same old order with him. He was like “Hey, remember my name! Just kidding” with a smile but unbeknownst to him, I had already filled out his name in the Vacation Hero card and praised him a lot. Service at the casino, specialty dining, Cagney’s breakfast and lunch, Garden Café, bowling etc were all great as well.

 

The cruise director's staffers were also a great bunch and I think I met all of them too. The cruise director is Dingo Dave and he just seems like a fun guy overall with all smiles. However, other than at big events like Newlyweds game or White Hot Party, I didn't really see him around the ship tho I did say hi to him on the last day. Instead, I saw more of the assistant cruise director Philly Joel around and I always said hi to him every time I ran into him. He was definitely a cool guy and at events, he always wanted to make sure everyone had fun. I also really enjoy Maunee and Leslie as they all brought their own style when hosting an event. Shoutout to Rec Staffers Claudius and Mark as those two were very cool and encouraging during karaoke.

 

I also went to the complimentary Behind-the-Scenes tour for Platinum and I was the only Platinum member who showed up! The cruise staffer Zee was really friendly and engaging. It was pretty surprising that I was the only one who showed up as on my last Behind-the-Scenes tour, there was like 20+ people. Unlike my last BTS tour, I saw way more this time like crew bar, crew mess hall (all quick glances though), environmental recycling section, bakery section and freezer for diary, meat, seafood etc. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go inside the Bridge nor even visit the Bridge viewing room. After doing 2 BTS tours on a Jewel-class ship, I would love to do one on the bigger ships.

 

The freezer for the food!

 

 

Enviromental compacting section

 

In the kitchen

Because of the weird docking times and that we visited all the Ports of Call last year, the only city we disembark at was Juneau. It rained in Juneau last year so we only walked around briefly. This time, it was sunny skies so we walked around quite a bit. We also went to Tracy's Crab Shack. Because we will probably come here ever again, we decided to go for a 3lb King Crab for $110. It was very, very delicious!