This was our second cruise to Alaska on the Pearl. Last year we went in May but wanted to see the salmon run so we waited until July this year. Unfortunately for us, the salmon were a bit late this year so we were still a couple of weeks early. Nevertheless, we LOVED both of our cruises to Alaska and love the beautiful scenery. It is simply amazing to wake up in the morning and look out your balcony and see the beautiful snow capped mountains. Which month would I prefer? Well we had gorgeous weather in May and a lot of rain and cool temps in July so you just really can't predict that. I thought the snowy mountains were prettier in May though and the ship had far, far fewer kids in May than in July so that is my opinion, for what it is worth.

We arrived a day early this year after a scare from American Airlines the Saturday before departure last year. We decided to use points and stayed in a Holiday Inn in Kent on Friday night. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone unless you had the free points because it was a bit far from Seattle but was clean and had a great restaurant right next door. We took a taxi to the Silver Cloud Hotel Saturday morning so that we could attend a Mariners baseball game. This hotel is directly across the street from the stadium and was new and very clean and you can see the stadium right outside your hotel window. We had a blast at the game and then had dinner at Jimmy's inside the hotel which was also very good. We then took their free shuttle to the pier on Sunday morning and arrived about 12:30. We did have to wait in line but it moved really quickly and we were on board in about 30 minutes with our free glass of champagne. Our room wasn't ready yet so we ate a light lunch at the Garden Cafe and then walked around the ship. The Pearl was just as clean and pretty as it was last year. I don't understand those who think it is too garish. I love the bright colors and it reminds me of the islands. There are hand sanitizers everywhere and we used them every time we passed by "just in case". We didn't hear of any viruses on either of our cruises.

After the rooms were ready and we had unpacked (there is plenty of closet space in an AF mini suite), we went to the sail away party and listened to the band for awhile and then went up to the sun deck on 14 which we think is a great place to sit and watch the scenery. The glass blocks the wind and it is a great place to whale watch. Last year there were blankets which we used but the blankets weren't there this year. We never found out why. We just wore our coats and enjoyed one of the only afternoons of sunshine that we had on board during this cruise. Read more