Norwegian Pearl Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,401 reviews

Norwegian Pearl - Alaska

Review for Alaska Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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msydpdx
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Sep 2007
Cabin: Aft-Facing Balcony

A little background: Hubs is 60 and lived in Fairbanks and Anchorage, AK, for about 8 years previous to our meeting and I'm 53, from Seattle originally. In our 25 years of marriage we have visited AK frequently, flying into Anchorage and then traveling by car to Seward, the Kenai Peninsula, Fairbanks, Denali and all points in between and then some; we are not new to Alyeska (The Great Land). Our home base is Portland, Oregon, so we drove to Seattle and stayed overnight at the Doubletree Hotel at South Center. Good restaurants nearby as well as family for us to meet with Saturday evening. Sunday morning we awoke to overcast skies that soon cleared to beautiful sunny weather. We drove the 20 minutes to the parking garage (Republic) which is directly across the street from Pier 66 where The Pearl was docked and awaiting our arrival; the time: noon. After leaving the car with the valet we made our way with our carry-ons across the sky bridge (use their free shuttle service if you have too many bags to handle alone or do as we did and just leave the bigger bags with them), down the escalator and through an area that required your photo i.d. and ticket to be shown. We then proceeded to check-in and there was no one in the Latitudes line. We checked in quickly and before we knew it we were headed through x-ray and on board. How exciting to be back aboard one of the beautiful NCL ships! (We previously sailed on The Jewel in April out of Miami.) We were informed that staterooms would not be available until 3:00 p.m. and would we please make ourselves comfortable at either the buffet or any open area of the ship. We went to the back sundeck of the cafe and enjoyed the sunshine, meeting people and having a light bite to eat. Of course that included an adult beverage with a little umbrella in it! The Seahawks were playing a game that started at 1:00 p.m., so we were entertained by the Chinook helicopters that were hovering over Alki Beach and Vashion Island as they waited to do their fly-by for the opening of the game. Ferryboats were active as were sailboats and, in the distance, Holland and Princess were both getting ready to sail. At about 2:15 p.m. the announcement was made that our rooms were ready and off we went to claim our little cabin on deck 9. We had an aft cabin (9674), which was exactly as we'd had before except one deck lower. Our room was very clean and had been decorated for Bon Voyage as we had invited people to come to our cabin for sail away. We dropped everything to run to the sliding glass door and fling ourselves into the fresh air and sunshine! Hubs received his bag shortly thereafter and we got him unpacked in record time. Then it was time for Muster, which was held for the aft area in The Summer Palace. Some folks didn't bring their life jackets, which is a no-no. People! For gosh sakes, this is the time to learn how the things work and how they fit! Sheesh! Muster was over quickly and we headed back to our cabin to find my bag had arrived and I was unpacked quickly too. Minutes later our cabin stewardess, Rose, came by to introduce herself and make sure we had our bags. Our champagne was chilling and a knock at the door brought the steward with chocolate dipped (gigantic) strawberries—yum! And so, with sail away about to commence the cork was popped, as was a strawberry! How delish is this??? It wasn't long before CC members came to our cabin and we all leaned on the deck and watched Seattle slowly fade into the distance.

And now for the trip: The Pearl: Sister ship to The Jewel with the added attraction of a bowling alley that has neon lights everywhere. A group on board held a party there (it's located in Bliss Lounge) and got a little loud, but you didn't notice unless you were directly above or walking by the doorway. She is a beautiful ship, kept ship shape, sparkling clean. We watched floors being cleaned, counters being wiped and even the back of the ship got a good scrubbing while we were in Skagway (now there was something to watch!). You don't see much cleaning going on unless you hang back before going into port; everyone is very discreet. Hand sanitizing is top of the list and we appreciate that we've not gotten sick on either journey.

The Captain and Crew: Wow, what a team! The Captain was not only good at piloting the ship, but he also was a wonderful speaker (we teased that he sounded like the Swedish Chef ala Muppets!). I have to say, he nearly brought me to tears once; he gave a very nice speech to everyone on September 11th—very fitting and very emotional—God bless him for that. Simon, the Cruise Director, seemed to always be 16 different places at once and kept everyone going, even when you were about to drop! Gary Alldredge, the Guest Services Coordinator, was a Godsend for our CC Meet and Greet. We had Le Bistro on Monday morning for an hour (we stayed 1 ½ hours) and club sandwiches, pastries and beverages (juice and coffee) were very graciously provided to us. We loved meeting everyone and are still in touch with some. Many of the dining staff were fabulous, but none more so than Ruth in Le Bistro. She is one charming woman with a wicked sense of humor and a quick smile. Ruth spoiled us rotten and even had our dessert delivered to our cabin (we were just too full!). She even found us the next day in the buffet and stopped to chat for a minute...still with that humor! Our Cabin Stewardess, Rose, was just great! We had such a bad experience with this on The Jewel, that we were glad to have such fabulous service. We explained to Rose early on that we are generally early risers and fairly early to bed. With that in mind, Rose had our room cleaned every morning before we even returned from breakfast, freshened in the late afternoon and turn down before we returned from our dinners. We had towel animals galore! The cutest was an elephant, then a puppy, rabbit, turtle and then one that Hubs said was an alligator and I think a Komodo Dragon (winkey-winkey). One night I filled out the card, used to report any problems in your cabin, to point out that the seal in the patio door was coming out and needed to be repaired for the next sailing (didn't need to be done for us). When we returned after dinner the card was still there, but the door had been repaired! Got to tell you: I was really impressed! Room Service: We ordered coffee for Hubs every morning as I used the little coffee maker for hot water for my tea. Our order was always complete and on time. Delightful! Entertainment: We did not attend any shows as, even with the patch, I start getting seasick in the theatre. One thing we did enjoy was going to the viewing room for the Bridge. What a kick! Like something out of Star Trek! Ports of Call: Juneau: It was foggy in the morning on the way into Juneau and we saw a chunk of ice float by and then the sun came out so hot that I got sunburned on our little deck! Disembarkation went smoothly until you had to wait for buses to take you the mile or so into town, but it beat walking! The wait wasn't long and the drivers were pleasant and the buses clean. We only booked one excursion (Skagway), as we like to get the feel of the town and talk to locals. We went through the various gift stores and then headed up town and into a drugstore where we asked a local for a good place to get fresh seafood. Four blocks later and we were in a big blue building called The Wharf and inside is The Hanger, which is a brewpub type establishment. You can see the blue building from the ship and it is where the floatplanes dock. The clam chowder was absolutely excellent and we shared some very fresh halibut, washed down with some great brew! We left Juneau all too soon; must go back one day and really spend some time.

Cabin Review

Aft-Facing Balcony

Cabin B1
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