Back from the Pearl 5/22 Alaska - good cruise! (plus, UBP for the WIN!)

[booinla]

Recently returned from my first NCL cruise. My sister, my niece and I were aboard the Pearl for the 7-day Alaska sailing out of Seattle. Had a WONDERFUL time. For me, the trip was all about the itinerary and it certainly did not disappoint. I did shore excursions at every port & spend glacier day wandering the decks, in love with all the sights. I attended the Cruise Critic M&G at the start of the cruise, as well as the Cruise Critic wrap-up the day before debark (which was, sadly, quite lightly attended.) This was my first cruise in a couple of decades - I had sailed on one of those three-day Los Angeles-Ensenada cruises in the mid-nineties, an "employee of the quarter" prize I had somehow won, plus a seven-day Greek cruise in 1981 back when cruise amenities were QUITE different.

 

Here are my impressions about the Pearl.

 

The room: With three adults, we splurged a bit with a mini-suite. It was cramped but not as bad as I had imagined, and we managed just fine with a large helping of "'scuse me" and "let me sneak past you here." Pearl is going to dry dock soon, and she does show she needs it with tired carpeting, etc, but everything in our cabin (11096) was in perfect working order. I volunteered to be the one who slept on the fold-out sofa (on the theory that I would mind it the least) and it was NOT great, but acceptable. My roomies tell me the twin beds were not all that much better - more comfortable bedding is probably the biggest improvement they can make to the cabins at dry dock! Our cabin steward, Angelo, did a great job, always friendly & working around our often-varied schedule.

 

The public areas: Lots to do, there always seemed to be an entertainer somewhere that I wanted to sit down and see if I was in the mood for it. I went to the "Legends In Concert" (which was FANTASTIC) and one other show - and found the seating in the Stardust Theater to be perfectly awful. Tiny seats/no legroom made it much worse than airplane seating, and that's saying something. I am tall+obese, and finding non-painful seating can sometimes be an issue for me. Most other places on board I was able to find places to sit that were OK. One of my favorite daytime places to hang out became the Great Outdoors, they have a nice bar and a small buffet back there & it's a great area. It took me a while to find my way around the ship but everything is sufficiently signed & if you are paying attention you will learn it in a couple of days. I really did appreciate the "fish swim forward" on the hallway carpeting, they saved me numerous times!

 

The spa: I did not get a spa pass, but my sister and niece did, and they LOVED it. Eventually I figured out that if I didn't know where they were ... they were at the spa. Every. Time.

 

The meals: I adore the freestyle dining concept, and will probably never cruise any other way again. This cruise, we opted for complimentary dining only. We had some pretty good meals at Indigo, O'Sheehans and Lotus Garden, but a couple of times managed to order something that was a downright clinker. (Hint: do not order the pho. It isn't pho. It is vermicelli noodles in unappealing broth.) Next time we will probably start hitting the specialty restaurants, because by the end of the cruise, we were pretty tired of the offerings at the MDRs and buffets. It's decent, but far from gourmet. Then again, I am a foodie living in a major metro area, so I am accustomed to cuisine best described as "adventurous." Norwegian will never be able to offer that level of cuisine because they are serving 2000+ guests daily with a weekly resupply, and a good portion of those folks do not want "adventurous" meals. The food staff does very well with what they have.

 

The bars: Turned out to be my favorite part of the cruise! We got the UBP promo when we booked, and I figured since I was on vacation and not driving anywhere, well ... let's just say I gave the package a good workout. I did not find one single bad bartender the entire cruise. (There was this one guy up in Spinnaker that was pretty obviously being trained who did not know what the heck was going on, but even he was smiling & friendly!) Never had to wait more than a few moments to be served. The three little bars down on 6 became my favorite nighttime hangout - great space to get a whiskey, martini, or champagne cocktail & enjoy the entertainment on the small stage. Best of all, the UBP let me order all kinds of fun premium brands that I hadn't tried before. I have a new second-favorite bourbon now (Bulleit) which is just lovely on the rocks or neat.

 

Overall I thought the entire cruise was GREAT, and I am already planning the next one!

[Pantherfan!]

boolinla;

 

Nice review. I will be on the Pearl with my family on the July 3rd Alaskan 7-day.

 

We are also planning on just doing complimentary dining also. That has worked well enough for us on other cruises. Can you please tell me what in the MDR you particularly enjoyed, appetizer, main, dessert? I have heard from other reviewers that desserts were not a strong suite for NCL with the exception of the chocolate lava cake.

 

Did you enjoy any of the other entertainers, singers comedians?

 

What excursions did you do? We are doing the Medenhall and Whale watch, Skagway Railroad trip and Lumberjack show.

 

Oh, we will have 4 people in the smaller family balcony room. Ouch!

 

Also, if you happened to have kept any dailies I would really like to see them posted.

 

Thanks again for your review.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your trip report. Sounds like you had a good time.

[trivimp]

I'm Boo's sister... a little more info....

 

We did the Mendenhall Glacier/Evening Whale Quest, and thought it was great. Saw lots of wildlife, including a fantastic breaching/fin-slapping display by a mother whale & her energetic calf, and about a hundred bald eagles. My daughter & I did the lumberjack show in Ketchikan, and thought it was good cheesy fun. We all enjoyed the Original Streetcar Tour in Skagway. The drivers/narrators are what makes it come alive.

 

Desserts made almost no impression on us; in fact, they were so meh that we just stopped ordering them by the last couple days of the cruise (which always seemed to confuse our server.) Daughter ordered steak several times, and seemed to enjoy it, but I generally preferred the fish & didn't have a bad seafood dish at all. In particular, the salmon tartare appetizer was good enough to order several times. But the menus get a little repetitious (not all the same every day, but some things appear over and over. We were ready to get something different by day 7.)

 

Yes, the spa is all that. I want a heated tile chair in my house now.

[booinla]

boolinla;

 

Nice review. I will be on the Pearl with my family on the July 3rd Alaskan 7-day.

 

We are also planning on just doing complimentary dining also. That has worked well enough for us on other cruises. Can you please tell me what in the MDR you particularly enjoyed, appetizer, main, dessert? I have heard from other reviewers that desserts were not a strong suite for NCL with the exception of the chocolate lava cake.

 

Did you enjoy any of the other entertainers, singers comedians?

 

What excursions did you do? We are doing the Medenhall and Whale watch, Skagway Railroad trip and Lumberjack show.

 

Oh, we will have 4 people in the smaller family balcony room. Ouch!

 

Also, if you happened to have kept any dailies I would really like to see them posted.

 

Thanks again for your review.

 

I think the best meal I had was a churrasco flank steak at Indigo - my heavens, it was good. The appetizer I really loved, and ordered multiple times, was the salmon tartare. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I did get a lovely opera cake dessert one evening, only ate about half because it was a little rich for my taste. I often ate breakfast at the buffet just for expediency, but if I had a do-over button I would get a sit-down breakfast instead. I particularly liked the "country platter" breakfast served at O'Sheehans.

 

One night early in the cruise I caught a "guy with a guitar" act in the Atrium, playing old-school pop/rock tunes that folks my age know and love, heavy on Clapton and Carlos Santana. He was really good! Named Lace (or something like that.) After that I would look at the dailies to see where he was performing, and catch a little more of it if I could.

 

In Juneau, we did Mendenhall & whalewatching, and got lucky with a close-up view of a whale calf playing around for a good long while. In Skagway, my group did the Original Streetcar Tour, we enjoyed it a lot, and then I split off and did National Park film & walking tour (I am likely the only person who is not interested in the train.) In Ketchikan, I split off from my group - they went to the lumberjack show, which they liked, while I went for the Rainforest Canoe Adventure which was 100% awesome in my book! It was pretty low-key but just enough different to be just what I wanted. We also booked a horse-drawn carriage in Victoria, so we got to see a little of the town on our short stop there.

 

You are gonna have a great time - a hint on that many people sharing that small a space, keep on top of the sprawl as much as possible & it will make the cabin much more livable. There is lots of space to put stuff away & keep things neat.

 

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

-- Boo

[tree.star]

Thanks for the review! I was just on the Pearl in early May as well, and I too had a great trip.

 

.

 

I went to the "Legends In Concert" (which was FANTASTIC) and one other show - and found the seating in the Stardust Theater to be perfectly awful. Tiny seats/no legroom made it much worse than airplane seating, and that's saying something. I am tall+obese, and finding non-painful seating can sometimes be an issue for me. Most other places on board I was able to find places to sit that were OK. One of my favorite daytime places to hang out became the Great Outdoors, they have a nice bar and a small buffet back there & it's a great area.

 

I totally agree about the theater seating! It was such a pain to get in and out every time. What annoyed me the most was people who would get there early to get a seat on the end of a row (I understand this, I don't like being crammed in the middle of a row either), but then they would react with shock and irritation when you needed to get past them to get to seats in the middle of the row. What do they expect, that no one at all will want to sit in that row?? One man wouldn't get up so I basically crawled over him.

 

I also agree that the Great Outdoors was one of the best places to hang out!

Edited June 2, 2016 by tree.star

[misslyss1220]

Glad you had a good time! I'll be sailing in a month! :D Do you happen to have the Dailies that you could post here?

[Clarea]

Appreciate the report.

[diskids2]

Going in August so I loved the report! Thanks.

[Pantherfan!]

Thanks Boo and TRIVIMP for your follow up reviews.

 

I will pass on your suggestions to the rest of my group. We are only one month away.

 

Did you have any time to tour Seattle? We are going to have a half a day there to sightsee. Probably will hit the Market and Space Needle.

[trivimp]

Did you have any time to tour Seattle? We are going to have a half a day there to sightsee. Probably will hit the Market and Space Needle.

 

Pro tip from a friend in Seattle: If you're in the mood for a swanky dinner, make reservations at the restaurant in the Space Needle. The menu prices look pretty steep, but when you factor in the free ticket to the Observation Deck (which is normally $22/adult,) it looks a whole lot more reasonable for a fun evening out. Call well in advance, though, they book up fast.

[Pantherfan!]

Pro tip from a friend in Seattle: If you're in the mood for a swanky dinner, make reservations at the restaurant in the Space Needle. The menu prices look pretty steep, but when you factor in the free ticket to the Observation Deck (which is normally $22/adult,) it looks a whole lot more reasonable for a fun evening out. Call well in advance, though, they book up fast.

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

Wow that is one expensive elevator ride! Will have to factor that in to where we have dinner.

 

Thanks!

[Kealy]

A couple other fun ideas for a Seattle pre-stay include:

Crab Pot Restaurant

Serious Pie

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Enjoy your trip!

[BirdTravels]

Alaska is one of our favorite places to cruise. Thank you sooooo much for sharing your cruise with us!

[Keith1010]

glad you had a great cruise and I enjoyed reading your report.

 

Keith

[Kdiamond55]

Thank you for your great review, I was wondering about which shows are out. Legends in Concert is always a good one.