Norwegian Pearl Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,401 reviews

Love The Pearl In Alaska

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

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Sail Date: Aug 2008
Cabin: Balcony

This was our fifth cruise and fourth with NCL. Traveling with my wife and I were our respective mothers, two children (son 21 & daughter 19), two aunts, one uncle, and three friends. We arrived three days early so we had time to explore Seattle and take in a Mariners game.Embarkation went very smooth and we were on the ship within 30 minutes. I was particularly impressed with the assistance provided for our two mothers, as they needed wheelchairs to get up the ramps. It was graciously offered by personable young men who made sure the ladies got the requisite champagne as they came aboard.The Pearl is a beautiful ship, spotlessly clean and meticulously maintained. It is less than two years old and really looks brand new. Most of us decided to go for a balcony cabin and were glad we did. The Inside Passage is different than open water cruises because there is always something to see. From our cabin we were able to see whales and sea lions plus the beautiful scenery that Alaska has to offer. Some of our traveling companions had balcony cabins on the other side of the ship so that no matter which side had the best view we had a balcony to see it from. Our cabins were tended to by Victor, and his very capable partner, whose name escapes me.Service was very good in most of the public rooms. The only down side was the sometimes over zealous cocktail servers who were continually asking you if you wanted another drink, after a while it became annoying. MealsGarden Cafe is a buffet, but it is a great buffet with a wide range of different types food. At lunch you had your choice of fried chicken, roast beef, Italian food, Asian food, Indian food, sushi, burgers, hotdogs, salads, cold cuts, and too many deserts to mention.  Summer Palace is the main dining room and has a standard four-course menu for all meals except breakfast, which are two. The food was also very good but the service was at times a little slow.Cagney's was a wonderful up-charge restaurant with fabulous food. I had the lobster tail and it was fantastic! The service was impeccable! My mother-In-Law had an insulin reaction and we needed to get her some orange juice ASAP. Our waiter dropped everything he was doing and had OJ to her before we knew it. He also did it in a very professional manner as to not draw attention her and her predicament.Lotus Garden is an Asian restaurant that also has a modest surcharge to dine there. The food was very good although my daughter's egg drop soup tasted as if it had been burned when brought up to temp. I brought it to our server's attention who summoned the supervisor who disappeared into the kitchen to investigate. We never did hear if they agreed it was burned.My son and I have eaten sushi all around the world and found the sushi on the Pearl to be very good. The tempura shrimp roll and Hokkaido roll were particularly good. I should also mention that the chefs themselves were very good. They took obvious pride in their work and beamed with pride when complimented on the food.Mambos was the Spanish themed restaurant and everyone had fajitas except me who had scallops, all were happy with meals. Shore Excursions Juneau was a little disappointing due to our excursion being canceled. Apparently the wind was too strong for a safe kayak trip in the bay near the Mendenhall Glacier. It didn't seem very windy to my daughter, and me but certainly defer to the side of safety. The town was my least favorite with regards to ambience and character. The highlight in Skagway was the White Pass train ride and bike ride back to Skagway. I really enjoyed it although the weather was rather ugly (very wet and cold coming down from the pass). The views were spectacular.Glacier Bay was the absolute highlight of the trip. Words and photos cannot capture the beauty and splendor of this remarkable place. In Ketchikan we forsook all the tours and spent the day wandering around the city. It was a very quaint and beautiful town with the best shops of all the port calls.Victoria didn't offer me any excursions I was interested in so I looked up micro brew pubs on the Internet and put together my own tour. We had a blast, and visited Spinnakers, Canoe's, and Swans. We traveled by taxi and got more ideas from the very friendly and helpful cabbies. The ladies of our group went to Butchart Gardens, which they enjoyed but were disappointed with the wine and chocolate session afterwards. Everyone thought that the portions of wine and chocolate were embarrassingly small and more of a sales session for the winery.  The only show we went to was Sea Legs, which was very good with an exceptional male singer.On board the ship we went bowling, which was an absolute hoot! We also went to Martini and Margarita tastings, which were also lots of fun.In conclusion, we had a wonderful time and love Freestyle cruising. A testament to the great food was the ten pounds I gained during the one-week cruise! We would sail with NCL in a heartbeat!

Cabin Review

Balcony

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