Pearl Review - 9/7 - 9/14

[lambchoplady]

One word ---Fantastic!

 

This was our 2nd cruise - both on NCL. We had a BA cabin, aft on deck 9. Our goals were to relax and to see the glaciers. The cruise was everything that I expected it to be (many thanks to CC members) and actually better in some aspects.

 

Pre-Cruise

We got the NCL package at the Embassy Suites. This included courtesy pick-up at the airport, a spacious suite, full breakfast on Sunday morning, and transportation to the ship on Sunday morning. Although this may not have been the most economical route ($105 pp), it was easy to book and it worked very well for us.

 

Embarkation

Simple and smooth! We arrived at the pier around noon. The pre-cruise package included delivery of your luggage directly to the ship, if you had the appropriate luggage tags. Since we had changed our cabin the day before we left, we didn't have updated luggage tags, so we needed to get new tags at the pier. We were able to get these quickly and to get our bags back on the bus before it left to deliver the bags to the ship. The whole process took less than 30 minutes.

 

Accommodations

I never thought that I would think of an airplane bathroom as roomy. However, after the tiny stall on the Pearl, I have reconsidered. DH is 6' 2" and his knees actually touched the wall when sitting on the john!

 

Having a balcony was great! DH is a smoker, so he was able to smoke outside, keeping the cabin smoke-free. I have to agree that once you have a balcony, you won't want to cruise without one. I'm undecided about the location, however. This probably has more to do with my personality than anything. I prefer to look forward rather than back.

 

Food

Summer Palace: On the first day, I had the chilled banana soup. It was superb! We had many breakfasts and lunches here and enjoyed them all. It was a beautiful setting and the service was excellent. DH particularly enjoyed the Smoked Salmon Benedict. My only criticism is that I found the entree choices at dinner to be rather mundane. I often had additional appetizers/soups/salad instead of an entree.

 

Cagney's: We ate there on the first night. DH had the prime rib and I had the Alaskan king crab. Both were excellent.

 

La Cucina: This was a pleasant surprise. Great value for the $10 surcharge. The veal marsala was high quality veal.

 

Le Bistro: Fine, but not spectacular.

 

Lotus Garden: OK - a nice change from the usual meal.

 

Garden Cafe: Fine, for a buffet. We only ate here for breakfast when we were too late for the Summer Palace.

 

Activities

M&G: it was nice to meet the people on our roll call. Thanks Paula for arranging it.

 

Latitudes party: we got to have our picture taken with the captain, got a free drink, and won a pearl bracelet as a door prize.

 

Bowling: got free bowling for attending the M&G. I'm not a good bowler, but it was a lot of fun!

 

Weather: Seattle was beautiful on both days. The Sail-away was perfect. Unfortunately, the nice weather did not hold up as we neared Juneau, where we had overcast and a bit of rainy weather. Skagway was the same as Juneau, Glacier Bay was overcast, but Ketchikan was fantastic.

 

Excursions: The Helicopter tour to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau was superb. We were flown to a remote part of the glacier, explored it with a Glacier guide, and drank the glacier water. This was so impressive that the rest of the trip was anti-climatic. We also did the White Pass rail trip in Skagway, which would have been better if the weather were nicer.

 

 

All in all, it was a great trip. I would gladly sail on the Pearl again.

[Leosmom]

Thanks for the review, there aren't too many on the Pearl!

We are thinking about booking the Pearl for our next cruise.

Had to laugh re your comment about the bathrooms.....they

sure don't have much leg room!

[sarahvch]

lambchoplady, It was great meeting you on this cruise. I very much enjoyed your company and your husbands also. If you are ever in the area I have a place for him to sing!

I have a personal blog that I write for my friends so I have been working on that. Once I get it posted I will cut the important details and paste them into my own review. Not sure when that will be as I came home to piles of work.

[pj-n-bob]

It was great meeting everyone. We had super time with all of our CC friends. I'm still working on editing my photos down to a reasonable number, but I'll post a link when I get them done.