I have sailed with Princess, Costa, and on the NCL Norway, but this is my first experience at freestyle cruising. Seattle is only a 5-6 hour drive from our home, so we drove to the port. We had set up parking through the bell street parking garage across the street from pier 66. Had I done my research a little better, we could have avoided dropping our bags at the pier and just parked the car as the garage had luggage service directly to the ship. Would not suggest dropping off baggage at the pier, there is very limited space and felt hurried by the parking police. I do think that the pier is not set up right for this task. Embarkation was reasonably smooth barring a small identity crisis with one of my kids, and was onboard within 45 minutes. First impressions of the pearl were understated elegance, with a nouveau twist. The midship lobby may not be the biggest I have seen but I loved the hues of gold and blue with comfortable lounging areas, very plush. This area leant itself to several of the restaurants, bars and one of my favorite places, the java cafe. Went to the garden cafe and great outdoors buffet. This is the best buffet set up I have seen on the seas. The food selection was excellent and of good quality. Though crowded at embarkation, the food stations were spread out all the way aft to the great outdoors for good crowd control. The decor was great. Don't forget to get a cappuccino located aft, freshly brewed by automated machines with several choices. I wanted to take this machine home with me! After lunch, with our friends joyce and vic, our cabins were ready around 2:00 pm. We had a BA category balcony cabin, with an inside for our children right across the hall.Though the cabins were smaller compared to princess or costa, they had adequate storage space for luggage. The bathroom was unique in that they had divider doors that separated the shower, vanity, and toilet from each other.Nice touch, but did make the toilet area a little cramped. Did like the inside bathroom that leant itself to more counter space with less divider use. The balcony itself was of standard size, did have nice deck furniture, and was a great place to hang out while viewing glacier bay with a hot cup of joe from the inroom coffee maker. Dining: With over 12 restaurants to choose from you will never eat in them all on a 7 day cruise. We chose summer palace (main dining) la bistro (french) mambos (tex-mex) la cucina (italian) teppenyaki, blue lagoon(comfort food) and of course the buffet. All food was good to excellent, do try the chateaubriand in la bistro to die for. With the exception of summer palace, you can reserve dinner times, and did not have any trouble with getting preferred dining times as long as you reserved 24 hours in advance. If you cant, the wait times for walk up appeared minimal. The screens throughout the ship to show capacity levels in the dining rooms were helpful. The only complaint that I would have is at summer palace, where getting seated was slow and the service was slower in a half full dining room. I think they could add a few more staff here! Activities: The usual plethora abounded here.Dance lessons, art auctions, wine, beer, and tequila tastings (at a cost) Bingo, fitness center, thermal spa (well worth the week long pass for use of tile loungers inside hydrotherapy pool, hot tubs , steam rooms, and saunas with a great view at the bow of the ship) you can tell I liked this place, especially in Alaska where using the outdoor pools is tough in cold weather. Perhaps the most unique features on this ship are bliss ultra lounge,a plush night club/bar atmosphere with four bowling alleys, and the huge nintendo wii screen in the atrium midship. Times are set up for guitar hero and other games. throughout the day. This is a hit with kids and adults alike. They did have a good kids program, but since there were few children aboard this cruise, my 13 year olds chose to hang with us more. Thanks to cruise critic power aboard this ship our cc meet and greet was attended by a few officers and crew and were rewarded with free bowling, and a tour of the courtyard villas and owners suites at the end of the cruise. A nice touch by ncl. Yes the villas and suites are absolutely gorgeous and exclusive with private courtyard, pool, cabanas, workout areas and hot tubs amongst many other amenities. The one danger in this area; you wouldn't want to leave! Disembarkation was the best ever. Though you tag your luggage with the usual time specific disembark times you are free to chose when you get off the ship as long as it is before 10:00 am. We had a leisurely breakfast, had our courtyard tour and left the stateroom by 0915. No herding like cattle to wait in areas of the ship before getting off. In retrospect about freestyle cruising; loved the ability to chose, loved the eclectic mix of passengers (no one was "stuffy") The staff were always attentive, and were genuinely dictated to making sure you had the best possible time onboard. The only suggestion I would make to ncl is to install a magrodome over one of the outdoor pools, especially on a cold alaska itinerary. With that said, we have already placed a deposit for a future cruise through their future cruise program and plan to follow the pearl or one her sisters to the Caribbean next year for our sons 21st. Cannot wait!