Anyone back from the Pearl 4-11 May?

[retiredAF]

I know you just got back yesterday and are probably exhausted (and up to your eyes in laundry:D ) but we can't wait to hear about your cruise!

Looks like the weather was not on your side but how was everything else?

Thanks and welcome home!!

[azlpn]

I was on the Pearl this last week and had a wonderful time!

 

The weather was actually really good. It was cold but no rain until Friday night and Saturday night in Victoria. We had lots of layers and kept nice and warm.

 

Alaska is amazing! We saw whales, seals, mountain goats, eagles and even a bear.

 

The food was fabulous! The staff are all excellent! The entertainment was OK.

 

You are going to have a wonderful trip! Let me know if I can answer any specific questions...

[CaboCruise]

Did you notice all the 2.0 items being implemented on the Pearl yet?

[doodlefan]

I know you just got back yesterday and are probably exhausted (and up to your eyes in laundry:D ) but we can't wait to hear about your cruise!

Looks like the weather was not on your side but how was everything else?

Thanks and welcome home!!

 

 

Hi

 

We were on this cruise and actually we had great weather. We had super calm seas for our whale watching in Juneau (we saw both Orcas and humpbacks). Our day in Skagway was sunny and no fog. We went up to the summit and on to Emerald Lake in the Yukon with Dyea Dave (who was awesome, highly recommend). He told us the day before was very foggy with a low ceiling and up at the summit it was not very good visibility, so we were lucky, we could see clear as a bell. The scenery was amazing, truly amazing. Emerald Lake had some open areas, you could see the wonderful green, and with the warm weather, it will be fully ice free very soon.

 

Ketchikan was sunny and cloudy with a bit of wind but again, comfortable with a spring jacket on. Don't miss Creek street, some of our group chose to skip it and shop and were disappointed they missed it when they saw our pictures. It's a short walk and can be seen quickly. I wish the Salmon were running though, that would have been an awesome sight.

 

There were flowers blooming in yards in Skagway, and we didn't have any rain at all until the evening in Victoria. It was an off and on drizzle, but we met my brother who lives on the Island and sat in a cafe and visited. Victoria is beautiful, don't miss the Parliament Buildings, very nice lit up at night.

 

Alaska has a vastness and beauty that is unique. I'm from Northern Ontario Canada and while we have no Ocean or Mountains, I am familiar with bears, moose, lots and lots of bush and forestry and lakes and uninhabited areas abound but Alaska is stunning.

 

Now, the ship. I'm going to do a longer review. I will say it was my first NCL cruise, my sister with us, has done 5 on NCL. I have cruised, Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean before. We all agreed, that the service was just not what we've all experienced on other ships. Not just other lines, but as my sister said, she felt the other NCL ships she had been on were much friendlier. There were some very unhappy staff aboard this ship. There were of course some genuinely happy ones too, but for the most part, the "connection" we usually make chatting with staff and just interacting was sadly lacking on this cruise. They served you, with an appropriate smile, but that smile never reached their eyes and if you watched, was gone the second they turned from you. Many didn't even smile or say anything as they served your food. It felt very imperonal to me.

 

The ship is lovely, clean, the Summer Palace has some amazing artwork and is just a beautiful room. Our room steward was great. We were a group of 6 women ranging in age from 66 to 16. Our mom, us 3 daughters and 2 of our daughters, and we all agreed that we felt there was some sort of a problem. Either the staff was overworked or something but most of them did not wish to converse with you or joke around or interact at all. They just wanted to serve you and move on. I missed the fun of meeting and talking to the staff and just the friendly greetings you get on a cruise. Now, please understand this did not in any way ruin our cruise and there were some great staff too, but as I said, the majority seemed very stoic or uninterested.

 

I'm going to go ahead and put together some sort of review and hopefully post it later tonight on here with more info.

 

Alaska was amazing and there wasn't any one BIG thing but there were many obvious issues and when comparing that to our previous cruises the Pearl was lacking in some areas. We still had a fantastic time and loved it.

[azlpn]

Did you notice all the 2.0 items being implemented on the Pearl yet?

 

I went back to the NCL web site to see what exactly 2.0 consisted of. The only thing I saw that has been implemented (we were in a balcony room) is that we could make reservations for 48 hours in advance.

 

We never had any trouble making those reservations. We ate in a different restaurant every night.

[Cruz-On]

Sounds like you guys had a really good time. Please tell us more. What did everyone dress in for keeping warm?

[retiredAF]

I am so happy to hear you had great weather and enjoyed your cruise. I looked at the weather a couple of times last week and it always looked rainy and cold!!

How cool that you actually did get to see whales and seals and eagles etc.. I am hoping we have the same luck!

 

I appreciate all of your feedback and any tips you want to share., I hope the crew is more in to conversation when we go because I really did enjoy getting to know a few of them on our only other cruise.

 

doodlefan, I found your comment about dyeadave because he was so helpful on the Alaska thread when I was looking for hiking advice but I had not realized he actually was a cruise guide. He just provided great advice and even a recommendation of one of the other companies I was looking at taking a tour with. Very professional of him and I will keep that in mind!

 

A few questions, did you dock at every port? Also, how did the reservation thing really go.. 24 hours in advance or 48? Is there a desk set up somewhere that you go to do this?

 

Thank you so much!

[doodlefan]

I am so happy to hear you had great weather and enjoyed your cruise. I looked at the weather a couple of times last week and it always looked rainy and cold!!

How cool that you actually did get to see whales and seals and eagles etc.. I am hoping we have the same luck!

 

I appreciate all of your feedback and any tips you want to share., I hope the crew is more in to conversation when we go because I really did enjoy getting to know a few of them on our only other cruise.

 

doodlefan, I found your comment about dyeadave because he was so helpful on the Alaska thread when I was looking for hiking advice but I had not realized he actually was a cruise guide. He just provided great advice and even a recommendation of one of the other companies I was looking at taking a tour with. Very professional of him and I will keep that in mind!

 

A few questions, did you dock at every port? Also, how did the reservation thing really go.. 24 hours in advance or 48? Is there a desk set up somewhere that you go to do this?

 

Thank you so much!

 

Hi

 

Yes, we did dock at every port. Very convenient. In Juneau we took the free shuttle bus to town (drop off is right beside Mt. Roberts Tramway) and we walked back to the ship at the end of the day. It's a little up hill but very walkable.

 

In Skagway, we walked into town, again very walkable, but took the $1.50 shuttle bus back to the ship.

 

In Ketchikan you dock literally right in town. You dock right across the street from the shops. Very easy, quick and convenient.

 

Ahhh, the reservation thing. lol. Actually we did very well with the reservation thing. We made all of our reservations after breakfast for the following day. But, we had read only 24 hrs in advance but it's actually it's more like 32 hours in advance. One day we thought we'd change to a different restaurant than we had reserved for that evening so after breakfast we tried to get reservations for that night and nope ALL restaurants were full, no reservations to be had. If we had waited until the morning OF to make our reservations we would have been out of luck.

 

I made a point of checking the reservation tv's and most nights when we went in to dinner the speacialty restaurants were showing booked up full to the red line.

 

I know I was behind someone in line and heard them complaining that they couldn't get any reservations any night unless it was at 5:00 or 9:00 pm. They were NOT happy.

 

We did fine as long as we booked as far ahead as they would let us, but it really isn't freestyle in the terms of "eat when you want." You do have to book well ahead so it's not too much different than a traditional seating time, that's what we felt.

 

As for booking the reservations, there is always someone outside of La Cuchina, which is deck 12 aft. It's where you enter the buffet, so we would just have breakfast at the buffet and then book supper for the next night at the same time.

 

Dyea Dave was great. He took us to all the places we asked and some great one added besides. We got some great stamps in our passports. One at Carcross, Yukon, One at Fraser, B.C, and one coming back into Alaska that has the train and says Skagway Alaska. It was a great day

 

Hope this helps.

[azlpn]

Brigette, We missed you! You are going to have a great time!!

 

I wore a turtleneck and a long sleeved t-shirt over that when we were on the ship (I saw some people in t-shirts and shorts while we were on the ship). When we went into town I wore my coat and gloves too. It was sunny everyday we were in Alaska. When it was raining in Victoria I just added another layer.

 

retiredAF, The crew was wonderful to us! We fell in love with our cabin stewards (Harold and Larisa) Everybody was very polite and respectful.

 

We did dock at every port. No problems getting on or off the ship.

 

For reservations I would just call the reservation line on the cabin phone and make reservations for the following night. It requires a little bit of pre-planning but it all worked out really well. I think there is a place to make reservations in person but I never did.

 

The only frustration I had was how busy the Garden Café was. I think because it was chilly outside nobody wanted to eat at the Great Outdoors so you had to stand around and wait for a table to open up. We just decided to eat breakfast in the Summer Palace and that was always good and we did not have to fight the crowds.

 

One thing we did that hardly anybody else did and it was really fun was the Murder Mystery dinner. You sign up the very first night you are on the ship and then it is held on Wednesday. That is the day you are in Skagway so if you have late excursions it won't work but if you are on the ship it is kinda fun!

 

You guys are in for a real treat!

[retiredAF]

Thank you both so much for your replies! We are getting more excited every day and your answers are so helpful! That's great about docking.. sure makes it easier and I appreciate the answers on the reservations, i keep hearing differnt things.. We are flexible about though so it will work out. After reading your responses I know I will probably be overpacked on the heavier clothing but you never know.

Thanks again!!

[tealea]

I am going out on the Pearl to Alaska on 5/18/08. Can't wait!!

 

Teresa:)

[TriviaGeek]

I was on the Pearl this last week and had a wonderful time!

 

The weather was actually really good. It was cold but no rain until Friday night and Saturday night in Victoria. We had lots of layers and kept nice and warm.

 

Alaska is amazing! We saw whales, seals, mountain goats, eagles and even a bear.

 

The food was fabulous! The staff are all excellent! The entertainment was OK.

 

You are going to have a wonderful trip! Let me know if I can answer any specific questions...

 

I'm going in two weeks and was wondering where I should be on the lookout for bears. Where were you when you saw the bear? Were you up-close or from a distance?

[chrisbd1]

I never ran into any staff that seemed unhappy or less than friendly. No, that isn't right, there was one lady in the spa who didn't smile but she was still helpful. 99.9% of every crew person I interacted with, seemed happy to talk or help in any way that they could. As soon as we got on board, I made reservations for La Cucina and Cagney's. Other than making Le Bistro reservations (3 days in advance with the Romance package), we ate in the main dining rooms, Blue Lagoon and the Garden Cafe.

 

I agree, the cold weather didn't make people want to eat in the cold, thus causing many people to go to the Garden Cafe as opposed to The Graet Outdoors or poolside. Since seating was available in La Cucina for lunch, I didn't have a problem finding a place to sit if I got lunch or breakfast from the Garden Cafe.

[retiredAF]

Thank you all again! Azlpn, thanks for the heads up on the Murder Mystery. We had planned to sign up for that but have a full day planned in Skagway so it might not work out for us.

 

Does anyone know if they did an on board pub crawl?

[TexDisneyMom]

Thanks for posting! I have been waiting all week to hear about someones trip! Even my DH asked me last night if anyone has posted a review yet from the 5-4-08 sailing!:)

[azlpn]

I'm going in two weeks and was wondering where I should be on the lookout for bears. Where were you when you saw the bear? Were you up-close or from a distance?

 

We saw the mama bear and baby bear at Mendenhall Glacier. They were a ways away but we took our binoculars so that helped. We had someone in our group that was not able to walk a lot~others were able to get a little closer.

 

From what I hear they are everywhere in Alaska so be on the lookout everywhere you go.

 

You guys are all going to have a great trip!!!

[nderoche]

I know you just got back yesterday and are probably exhausted (and up to your eyes in laundry:D ) but we can't wait to hear about your cruise!

Looks like the weather was not on your side but how was everything else?

Thanks and welcome home!!

\

 

Hey retiredAF we are on the same cruise, hope to run into you. Im glad the reviews are good.

 

See you soon.

 

Nick & Julie

[retiredAF]

We saw the mama bear and baby bear at Mendenhall Glacier. They were a ways away but we took our binoculars so that helped. We had someone in our group that was not able to walk a lot~others were able to get a little closer.

 

From what I hear they are everywhere in Alaska so be on the lookout everywhere you go.

 

You guys are all going to have a great trip!!!

 

Not sure if I want to see a bear or not! I guess far away and through the binoculars would be okay!:D

 

See you on board nderoche..