My husband and I decided that we wanted to go to Alaska for our Honeymoon. Having never been on a cruise before, we consulted many family and friends who had been. We knew for sure we wanted to visit Glacier Bay National Park, which left us with only Princess, Holland America, and NCL. With rave reviews about "freestyle" on NCL, that's who we chose: 7 day, roundtrip, on NCL Pearl, May 20-27, 2012.
We arrived in Seattle the day before. On a tight budget, we opted to stay near the airport (instead of closer to downtown/port areas). We paid $49 on priceline for the Holiday Inn Express Airport. The place was really nice, had prompt shuttle service and we had no wait at check-in. We used a shuttle/van service to get to the port the next morning. $12 per person.
When we got to the port (we thought we were early) the place was busting at the seams. People everywhere! 1st we waited in the luggage drop off line, then the check-in line. We stood in lines for almost 2 hours! But if you're not the first people there, I guess that's pretty typical. Had some annoying people behind us the whole time, and wouldn't you know, they were in the cabin across the hall from us the whole trip! That's my luck.
It was small, but well appointed. Space enough for all of our things, plus some. Large comfortable bed, large wardrobe/closet. Small refridgerator that we put our own drinks in (bought pop ashore). Small, but efficient bathroom.
Only noise complaint was when docking in port. Our level was where the gangway was, so when they were getting that out, we heard some noise. The cabin was midship so easy access to everything. Also located below the Casino, (closed during the day) so that made it pretty quiet too.