Another 5/20 Review!

[heyitsmejudy]

Because I have a great Personal Vacation Planner at Carnival and, quite frankly, was completely turned off by NCL’s customer service when booking, I expected this to be my first and last NCL cruise. I was wrong. Several people had told me if you just stick with NCL’s rude agents and actually get on the ship, you’ll be hooked. They were right. While I believe the food on Carnival was better, the entire on board NCL experience has both Carnival and RCCL beat. We (my boyfriend and I) sailed May 20 through 26 on the Pearl to Alaska. We reserved a rental car through Thrifty at the airport (around $30... WAY cheaper than a cab) and were able to use it to drive around Seattle the next day and drop it off at the pier. We stayed in Holiday Inn Express (around $110) near the airport. Seattle was easy to navigate and stopped and purchased some binoculars and a travel mug (forgot mine) and people watched over coffee downtown before heading to port at 1 p.m.

 

EMBARKATION: Simply the easiest embarkation experience ever! We dropped our bags off, showed our driver’s licenses and were directed to the counter where we gave our credit card info for the cruise card. Then we went through security. No exaggeration, all this process took, TOPS, 20 minutes. I’m sure most of you seasoned cruisers know that is not the norm for most lines. Our room was ready so we headed there with our carry on stuff and went to explore our ship. Around 3 p.m. was the muster drill. Also short and sweet, and when we went back to the room to drop off our life vests, we couldn’t believe our checked bags were already there waiting on us. Again, NOT the norm.

 

JUNEAU: We’d booked a whale watching excursion through Harv and Marv. I can’t begin to do these guys justice in my review. The two (Jay and Pete) have been best friends since the 7th grade. To me, that says a lot about their character. In addition to A LOT of whales, seals, eagles, etc., Jay pointed out where he’d proposed to Eileen. How sweet is that? Eileen also kayaked out to the boat with homemade, fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies when we breezed by their house on the way to our next whale watching destination... speaking of sweet! After talking to Eileen via email and phone for several months leading to our cruise, she feels like an old friend. I was sorry we didn’t have time to talk when we actually met but those whales wouldn’t wait! Simply put, this company depends on word of mouth to drum up business, not thousands of dollars in advertising. They are so passionate about what they do and Jay acted like he was as excited as we were to see whales, and they’re usually playing right outside his front yard! There were six people plus Jay on our boat. The personalized service Harv and Marv offer can’t be beat. They sincerely want you to enjoy your time. Jay asked us when we loaded up what we primarily wanted to see. We said “whales” and away we went... having one surface about 20 feet from our boat when we first went out in Auke Bay. That was just a sign of what was to come. Those who watched with Pete in his boat said the same thing. If you want to whale watch in Juneau, and you don’t care to do so with 100 or so of your closest friends, and you want someone who knows whales and Juneau and is more than likely the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, Harv and Marv is the way to go. Eileen’s dad, Sandy, who could be an excursion on his own, he was so personable, drove the van to and from the dock and stopped off on the way back to the port to let us take in the sites of Mendenhall Glacier. Then he offered up a half dozen or so places he could drop us off in addition to just taking us back to the Pearl. We, of course, chose the saloon.

 

SKAGWAY: This was in all honesty the least favorite port for me. We did the White Pass Railway tour. Beautiful scenery, the weather, as was true for the entire cruise, was perfect. We had some time to shop Skagway (three times, in fact) when the train got back to The Pearl. My friend who’s from Alaska told me “you won’t need 13 hours in Skagway.” She was right.

 

GLACIER BAY: There should be a word that beats “breathtaking” but I can’t think of it. This is the only day a sweatshirt wouldn’t suffice weather wise. I filled my coffee thermos with hot chocolate and we found a spot on the deck for the day. We’d hear what sounded like distant thunder and a glacier would calve. We’d see something moving in the water and realize it was a seal. Just beautiful.

 

KETCHIKAN: Here, we’d booked the Eagle Island kayak tour. We saw our share of eagles, but were surprised to see the spout of a whale which stayed in the cove and gave us all a show for several minutes. Kayaking that close to one of those beasts is something that put diving in the Bahamas with sharks to shame. It started raining (the first time since leaving Seattle) when we were back in the van and headed back to the ship. We braved it and shopped (a lot!)

 

VICTORIA, CANADA: We were fortunate to get a last-minute booking to Butchart Gardens. My boyfriend isn’t exactly the flower type, but even he was amazed by the scenes we took in there. There is a Butchart Garden/City Tour as well. We talked to some who took it who told us their guide wasn’t very good. Ours was EXCELLENT. He took us through the country on the way back to town, through China Town, etc. He pointed out EVERYTHING along the way but presented it in such an entertaining manner, he was a lot of fun. He even stopped at an overlook so we could take pictures of the Parliament building, etc., lit up at the harbor before taking us back to the ship. Frankly, it seems we got what the others paid for free.

 

ON BOARD: We were treated to a Cruise Critic sail away party and got to meet the captain, the hotel director and Simon, the cruise director as well as several other officers. It was great to put faces with names from the Roll Call. We were also treated to bowling and a round of drinks later in the cruise and a tour of the Garden Villa on disembarkation day. Quite a treat. We booked inside guarantee and were moved from 4 to a stateroom on 9. We spend more time out of the cabin than in so we think the money we save booking this way is used better on excursions and such. The room was quite adequate, plenty of storage (I didn’t notice the light in the closet until we were packing to go home), showers were warm and roomy, bed REALLY comfortable.

 

STAFF and CREW: You know how annoying cruise directors who THINK they’re funny can be when they get on that ship microphone? They need to take lessons from Simon who was WONDERFUL. All the crew had great personalities, even the captain who mentioned when we arrived in Victoria “I’m not anticipating getting a Christmas card from the captain of that sailboat we cut off, but we’re here a few minutes early.” I remarked that I have seven reporters who work for me, all of whom are generally visibly miserable with their jobs part of the time. Of the 1,000 or so crew members, I never saw ONE person acting as if they’d had a bad day. There was one gal who was ticked I didn’t use the sanitizer thing (I’d used one just up the staircase) going into the dining room. She’s really the only person who chapped me. The assistant cruise director (can’t remember his name as I’m trying to forget him, he did the BINGO stuff) should go off and film some Girls Gone Wild video or work on a party barge and leave the cruise directing to Simon who I would imagine at one point or another PERSONALLY spoke to all 2,300 passengers on this cruise. I can’t say enough good things about Simon. We didn’t eat in any of the specialty restaurants because, frankly, not paying for food outside your cruise fare is what makes cruising a deal for us... would you pay for a bed after paying for a hotel room? We did eat at Mambo’s (Tex Mex) and it was wonderful. Otherwise, buffet most mornings and dining rooms most of the other time. LOVE the Freestyle concept. We were hooked up with some bad dinner companions on our RCCL cruise so welcomed the opportunity to pick our table mates.

 

DISEMBARKATION: We did self disembarkation, ate breakfast and watched some seals one last time and were outta there in 30 minutes. Got a Shuttle Express ($28 for the both of us) back to SeaTac. I’d be happy to give any more detail or answer any questions I can.

[cliffd64]

Thanks for the review :) I can't wait to try the bowling alley someday on the Pearl...

 

Isn't freestyle a great concept?

[heyitsmejudy]

Isn't freestyle a great concept?

 

I'd love to be free to WHATEVER all the time!!!!

[star7228]

KETCHIKAN: Here, we’d booked the Eagle Island kayak tour. We saw our share of eagles, but were surprised to see the spout of a whale which stayed in the cove and gave us all a show for several minutes. Kayaking that close to one of those beasts is something that put diving in the Bahamas with sharks to shame. It started raining (the first time since leaving Seattle) when we were back in the van and headed back to the ship. We braved it and shopped (a lot!)

 

Hey Judy! :) We booked the Tatoosh Islands Sea Kayak in Ketchikan, but now I'm looking at the Eagle Island tour because the brochure says you get 2 hours 10 minutes of paddling time, where Tatoosh is 1 hour 45 minutes.

 

Were you in the kayak for just over 2 hours? Does anyone know the main difference between these 2 tours?

[heyitsmejudy]

Were you in the kayak for just over 2 hours? Does anyone know the main difference between these 2 tours?

 

Star... I honestly didn't time it... I got so tired of trying to do the math re. time changes (I called my mom at what I thought was 9 p.m. when it was midnight on board... turns out it was 4 a.m. at her house) I nixed the watch! I'd say 2 hours was about right, though.

The guide DID tell us the whales were coming right through where we were kayaking as the were migrating. I don't know when you're going, so you may or may not have the whale luck we did... but the eagles were plentiful and the staff friendly.

[gsc500]

Loved your trip report/review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

 

Isn't it great when everything just clicks? Glad you had such a great time.

[ute_fan]

Good review, Judy!

[Newcruiser65]

This is so funny! I just read your review and couldn't help but laugh that I had just finished posting about trouble I had booking with customer service that had me afraid to go on the crusie, but that once I actually got there I loved it! Glad I wasn't the only one!

[heyitsmejudy]

This is so funny! I just read your review and couldn't help but laugh that I had just finished posting about trouble I had booking with customer service that had me afraid to go on the crusie, but that once I actually got there I loved it! Glad I wasn't the only one!

 

Wanna real knee slapper? Read the post I posted, more than likely while you were tying here, in response to your post there!

[glacier]

Where did you find the tour for Juneau? We are sailing on the pearl on June 24

[heyitsmejudy]

Where did you find the tour for Juneau? We are sailing on the pearl on June 24

 

Glacier... they're independent... http://www.harvandmarvs.com. I called them because, like a host of others, I grew tired of waiting for the Capt. Larry the apparent Alaska whale God to call me. Eileen called me about 2 hours later. Which makes since now that I know the time difference between here and there!

They're great to work with. Eileen is Jay's wife and makes the reservations, cookies etc.

Tell 'em Judy from Pearl 5/19 cruise sent ya! They'll get a kick out of that!

PS: It's my understanding that since the poster asked for the info, I can give it. If that's not the case, I'll go stand in the corner.

[ronandannette]

This is so funny! I just read your review and couldn't help but laugh that I had just finished posting about trouble I had booking with customer service that had me afraid to go on the crusie, but that once I actually got there I loved it! Glad I wasn't the only one!

 

 

You are SO not the only one! It's very unfortunate (not to mention plain weird on NCL's part) that one has to 'beat their way past' the shoreside service to get to what ultimately is a good experience. In future I will employ a TA to do the 'beating' for me and show up at the pier in a happy place...:D

[hildam18]

Hi,

 

thanks for the review and the recommendation for the whale watching tour. That sounds like so much fun!

 

I'm going to get in touch with them for our cruise!!

[heyitsmejudy]

Hi,

 

thanks for the review and the recommendation for the whale watching tour. That sounds like so much fun!

 

I'm going to get in touch with them for our cruise!!

 

You'll have a GREAT time! Tell them hello.

Judy