Pearl Review of 5/11/08-5/18/08 - Alaska -Very very LOOOONG!

[Cali_Mum]

Before I start---I know this question will come up--2.0 is NOT on the Pearl yet...the room service menu was the same limited menu, no champagne upon boarding, usual reservation time frame setup, etc...

 

That being said, we had a good time on the ship, but not an amazing experience. There are some great things about the Pearl and some items that definitely need improvement. Some background...we are a 30-something, 60-something, and a 5 year old. we were on the cruise with a group of 200 to take classes with a mixed media artist-Tim Holtz. My son had broken his leg just two weeks prior to the cruise so he was in a wheelchair for the trip-more on this later.

 

We flew Alaska Airlines to Seattle on Saturday morning and had a limousine pick us up from Sea-Tac. We reserved from Shuttle Express and could not have been happier with the service! Because of the wheelchair, we needed either a large shuttle bus or the limousine and the price difference between the two was just a few dollars. The driver was inside the terminal when we arrived, called us to let us know what he was wearing and exactly where he would be. We enjoyed some champagne and wine on the drive to Seattle...he offered to take us anywhere on the way if we needed a coffee or to pickup any last minute items.

 

We stayed at the Marriott Waterfront for the night. The hotel could NOT have been better! I have never seen a Marriott with the attention to detail that this one possessed! When we drove up to the hotel, we saw the Star docked right across the street in the middle of disembarkment and were thrilled to be that close to the action! We arrived about 9:00 am, left our bags off and went around Seattle. (The hotel told us that they would call when our room was ready and they did). We took a taxi to the Space Needle, then took a monorail ride and walked down to the market. We had brunch at the Space Needle which was lovely! One note--in order to get to the outside observation deck, there are only stairs--UGH! Wheelchair access was not a problem around Seattle except at the market--some very un-even streets, and stone filled streets that were perfect for the wheels to get stuck in time and again. It was terribly crowded, but it was a Saturday and the day before Mother's Day. We completed the tour by going to the first ever Starbucks...the hotel had called to let us know that the room was ready and we walked back to the hotel.

 

Our room looked out over the pier and our balcony was perfect for watching the Star. By this time, the Star was now in the middle of embarkment and it was exciting to see all the provisions being loaded onto the ship! We went downtown via taxi to meet some friends for drinks, then returned to the Marriott. We had room service then got a few hours sleep waiting for our ship to come in...

 

In the morning, the Pearl was already docked and shining brightly in the early morning sun. We had room service again and watched all the action onboard and on the dock. The hotel provides their bellhops in the morning to walk over to the ship and take all your luggage to the check-in area. We were told there could be a fifteen minute wait for this. We were ready to leave the room at 12:00 and called the front desk. We had someone in our room loading our luggage in five minutes. I have to say again how great of a hotel this was...our room service orders were always correct, someone called us after each meal just to check if this was the case. We were constantly offered help to get around or on ideas of things to do...it was a perfect start to the cruise!

 

On the pier--it looked a bit crazy with all the people coming and going--tour buses being un-loaded, baggage carts everywhere, but it was a very smooth operation. Truly, the whole check-in process could not have been smoother. Our bags were transferred onto the cart of a dock worker and we were taken to an NCL rep who checked our passports and travel docs. She gave a nod to the worker who whisked our bags to the ship.

 

We went into the terminal and were handed the "we promise we're not sick" forms. Since my son was in the wheelchair, we went into a special line that also was for suite pax. Even the regular lines were moving quickly though, My son was taken through a special entrance while my mom and I went through the metal detectors. We met back up with my son and got on the elevator to go to check-in. Again since my son was in a wheelchair, we got put into a special line where we had no wait for a clerk. At this point, there were special lines dedicated to balcony and mini-suite pax as well. We took our pictures, handed over passports, the medical form, credit cards, and our travel doc and were on our way. (Note, on the tables were little yellow cards, TAKE ONE! They are folding maps of the ship which we used often during the first few days!)

 

We were on the walkway to the ship within fifteen minutes of entering the building! The other lines were moving quickly as well though, with very minimal wait time for all pax. We had been told by NCL that we would have help embarking and disembarking the ship each time for my son. This was not the case, however. Sometimes we had help and other times, we did not. We did go through the faster lines, but there was no one to help us up the ramps themselves. Particularly in Seattle this was challenging as we had some bags with us and negotiating inclines was difficult. Needless to say, we got good at being able to maneuver a wheelchair with one hand and rolling suitcases with another hand!

 

Finally we were on the ship! We had our cards swiped and started making our way to the photographer...on the way there was an employee with the disinfectant spray. I had read many complaints on cruise critic about the spray, but didn't realize that pax seriously had issues with it. As we were waiting for the spray, the pax ahead of us rudely told the employee they would NOT be using that stuff and just pushed past her. I simply don't understand people not wanting the stuff! On our cruise, there were many people who got sick with noro-like symptoms and had to be quarantined... I would think people would do whatever it took to avoid that from happening to them! (More on the quarantine later). We had our photo snapped and went to enter the ship. Since it was Mother's Day, there was a table full of pink carnations with a Happy Mother's Day Sign. My mother and I were each handed a flower---a very nice touch!

 

We had received notice that the cabins would not be ready until 2:00 p.m., so we made our way to the Garden Cafe. The problems with the Garden Cafe on the first day were the same problems that we'd encounter over and over in the cafe...extremely difficult if not impossible to find a table, very challenging to get the food to the tables, and coffee machines not working/needing emptying constantly.

 

Seating...since many of the tables outside are exposed to the elements, surprise surprise, people don't want to be sitting in the cold or rain while they eat. As this trip started in Seattle and went to Alaska, it was often cold and or rainy out there and half or more of the tables were un-usable. If there were heating lamps or better overhead coverage, these tables could be used, and some of the seating problems eliminated. Since we had a child with us, we thought to try the kids' buffet area. The kids' cafe was completely filled with....adults. This was the case each time we went to the cafe. Now, I understand that people need a place to sit, but I have never and would never take my son into the adult only areas of the ship or shows, or try to get away with him using the adult only pools. Yet every single day, the cafe was over run with adults. On two occasions, we did see families with children using the area, but it was rare to see children in the cafe--and not for lack of trying to sit there and let the kids use their buffet. We finally found some friends in the cafe and they shared their table with us.

 

Getting food to the tables...there are no trays in the cafe for pax to use. This would be challenging enough without a wheelchair, but with one...a balancing act to be sure. Of the 10 plus times in the cafe, only twice did an employee actually help carry our plates to a table for us. The suited employees and head waiters in the cafe NEVER tried to help, asked if we needed help, or offered help. They would stand and watch us and all the other pax go by. When we sailed on HAL, we were without the wheelchair and each and every time in the buffet, waiters helped or offered to carry plates, and take my son around to pick out food.

 

Coffee machines...in the morning, getting any of their coffee machines (let alone the espresso machines to work) was a trial. One morning, I went to SIX different machines to try and get a cup of regular coffee. The machines were needing cleaning, emptying, filling, or just broken. After trying six machines, I asked an employee for help and was told to just have de-caf. This scenario was repeated two other occasions, then changed after the virus scare. (More on that later).

 

While eating in the cafe, the announcement came that they rooms were early ready. We finished eating and made our way to the cabin--11654. Another note on the cafe...I have ready many issues on here about the food on NCL, and have to say that we enjoyed the cafe food itself everytime. While there wasn't much variety from day to day, the food was always hot and tasty. The look of the cafe itself could be improved though...it looked much like a college cafeteria. There were no flowers or decorative items around the stations at all.

 

While opening our cabin, we met our steward Eduardo and he introduced his assistant, Adrian. These two were WONDERFUL...whenever we left the room, it was made up or turned down or just tidied up for us. They both were very friendly, taking time to say hello and asking how our day was. Service from them could not have been better! Our cabin--we had reserved a mini-suite on deck 11. After my son broke his leg, our travel agent was able to get us switched into an aft accessible mini-suite cabin-11654. The cabin was wonderful! When my son first broke his leg, I called and e-mailed NCL, I was told that we would just have to carry him around the cabin, lift him in and out of the bathroom and balcony but that they would put in a request for a shower chair. Had we been left in our original cabin with that scenario, we would have canceled the trip. The accessible cabin was perfect for him. The balcony door opens and closes by pushing a button...there is a ramp going from the inside to the balcony and plenty of room for him to turn around on the balcony. The doorway to the cabin and the bathroom are both very wide and my son could easily fit through both of these doors. The bathroom was totally flat--no threshold to get in! And the shower was a roll in complete with a bench that folded up when not in use. The toilet had railings on either side to hold onto. The cabin itself was large enough for us to wheel the chair around the entire time and even the drawers and some shelves were reachable to my son. There are three different alarms in the cabin where by just pushing a button, someone on the ship calls the room to make sure that you are ok...(we know since we accidentally his an alarm over the bed!)

 

Before leaving home, I had ordered decorations to say congratulations for the cabin (as my mom had just retired). My mom had ordered decorations to say bon voyage. So in the cabin, we had many balloons hanging up, signs on the walls, and paper anchor garlands hanging from the ceiling. Also later in the day, TWO cakes were delivered to the cabin!

We made dinner reservations for Le Bistro, and went to the drill. Our station was in Summer Palace. The drill was very quick then we left to attend the sail away party near the pool. Note on the drill...I had read on here about flatware and glasses being set on the tables before the drill that bored pax would play with during the drill...NCL must have read that as well as the service ware was on the table, but in the center and covered, so as to keep it clean and away from bored drill participants!

 

Sail away party--there was a bbq buffet and the typical over-priced fruity souvenir cup drinks while the band played. We stayed for a little while then left to go to our group's reception in the Spinnaker Lounge. Spinnaker is lovely--comfy curving sofas, over stuffed chairs, and great views of the water! After our reception, we went back to the cabin to change for dinner. Our luggage had already been delivered, but unlike the other cruises that we've been on, the bags were just left in the hallway, not brought inside the cabin. We made our way to Le Bistro for our reservation. The decor and music were both beautiful and dinner itself very relaxing--over two hours. All the window tables were for parties of two...would be nice to see some larger tables by the windows. My son ordered pizza from the regular menu--nice feature as no sur-charge for him this way. My mom and I had the salad with champagne vinaigrette-it was ok, but very little taste to the dressing itself, just very oily. Next, cream of mushroom soup for me and an onion soup for my mother. (not soupe a l'onion Francaise). Both soups were just ok...at this point we were wondering why there was a surcharge when the food seemed worse than at the included garden cafe. For entrees, I had the duc a l'orange and my mom had the filet with short rib. Both of these were FABULOUS! We both had the creme brule for dessert and it was also very good. After dinner, we returned to our cabin to un pack and get some sleep. We had mints on the pillows and everything was turned down...we were to sleep quickly with the rocking of the ship....more later...

[retiredAF]

Great review Cali_Mum.. Can't wait to read more!

[LindySD]

Thanks for the review - can't wait to read more! We're leaving this Sunday. Debating on what jacket to bring. Winter jacket or spring jacket with sweater. Did you think it was very cold on sail days? Thanks again.

[brunolvr]

Thanks for taking the time to write such an extensive review, Michelle. It makes us feel like we're right along with you. We're leaving on Sunday on the Pearl so hope you get more done before then!

[AngandNick]

Thanks for the great information. My husband and myself (both 40ish) will be traveling on the Pearl June 8th along with my son (7). Would love to hear information on how your son liked it. This is our first cruise to Alaska so we need lots of information.

Angelia

[Kerplode]

Angelia - We are traveling on the Pearl on the 8th as well. Make sure to check out our roll call here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=590924&page=4

[Cruz-On]

Nice review can't wait to read more. Thanks for sharing!

[TexDisneyMom]

Great review, thanks for sharing! :) I can't wait for our trip on the Pearl!!!:D

[snorklinbarb]

Thanks for such an interesting review. Managing with a wheelchair sounds like quite a challenge but sounds like your son had a good time!

 

Keep it coming! Did you have a CC Meet & Greet?

[VanillaCruiser]

Love reading your review. We'll be sailing the Pearl to Alaska on the August 31 sailing -- right next door to your cabin -- in 11656!

[striper522]

I'm chomping at the bit for more......