This was our first cruise/first time to Alaska and our first vacation without our daughter. We were excited and read the CC boards religiously prior to our trip. (Thank you to all for your wonderful tips!) Honestly, we were a bit nervous after reading several poor reviews of the Pearl, but it was clear after the first day, that these folks would likely find something wrong no matter what. In our opinion, this was a fabulous cruise.

Arrival: We flew into Seattle on Saturday & took the Grey Line Airporter downtown to the Seattle Hilton (6th & University). It is within walking distance of Pike Place which is where we headed as soon as we dropped our luggage in our room. We also located a Cost Plus store to purchase wine for our stateroom. We brought along a neoprene wine holder a friend loaned us, and it turned out to be a perfect way to transport the wine. Anyway, back to the hotel. The Hilton was beautiful, especially the view from the Top of the Hilton restaurant. (We could see the Pearl during our breakfast) Our room on the 14th floor was well appointed, however, our neighbors were up 'til all hours of the night, and unfortunately the walls were paper thin so we didn't get much sleep. The excitement of our trip probably contributed as well.

Embarkation: We didn't have anything to compare it to, but it seemed a little disorganized. We arrived at the pier by taxi at around 11:00 am expecting to hand our bags over to a porter. There were none to be found so we checked our bags ourselves. Several lines later, a seat in the waiting area for about 15 minutes, photos, etc. and we were on board with champagne in hand by 11:50 am. We lunched at the Great Outdoors enjoying the sun and lingering to watch the Blue Angels fly by several times. Our stateroom was ready just before 2 pm. Between 2 and 4, we unpacked, took a tour of the ship, made dinner reservations, and participated in the muster drill. Sailaway was quite exciting as we left Seattle harbor. Read more