Norwegian Pearl Review

Wish I Could Give a Higher Rating

Review for Alaska Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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deedee0814
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Aug 2015
Cabin: Inside

This was my 4th cruise, my 2nd Norweigan cruise but my 1st to Alaska. The Pearl was sold out and packed with people. Alaska was wonderful...should be on everyone's bucket list! Getting on the ship could not have been easier, very well organized and everyone was friendly. Please note that they will confiscate any electric device they deem as potentially unsafe. I like to sleep with a fan and there are no fans available on the ship; at least not on an inside cabin. More later... The room steward was wonderful and he kept our room clean. The staff in general was wonderful.

The food was another story. We ate at Summer Palace and it was pretty good. Most of the time we ate at the buffets (average) or during an excursion. We were able to dine at 3 specialty restaurants: Le Bistro was outstanding, La Cucina was average but the Moderno Churrascaria should be avoided. The meat served was extremely poor quality and the beef was served almost raw. I do not eat pork or lamb so my options were limited to garlic beef "ribs", "filet Minon" or a chicken wing. The servers randomly come to your table with very small amounts of meat, serve a small portion (1/2 - 1 ounce) and then are gone until they can make it back. For a table of 4 they provided about 1 cup of mashed potatoes and 3 other sides in the same portion. I realize you can order more but they appeared to be understaffed and it took a while before someone came to fill your glass or ask if there is anything else you need. I will say that the Maitre D noted that we were a frustrated with the service and the food. He tried to correct the issues but we finally left after 1 1/2 hours of waiting for really bad food. The salad bar was ok but nothing to write home about. I actually did order more potatoes but never got them.

Let me move on and not get stuck on the food because it made the review go from excellent to average. We sent laundry to be cleaned on the 3rd or 4th day of the cruise and glad we did. They did a nice job and not a single item was missing. The ship has very little outside areas to enjoy Alaska. The places inside the boat set up to view the coast was packed with families who camped out from morning til night. For middle age adults like myself who are looking for more adult time, please make sure you research cruises that cater more to adults than families. We had an inside cabin which was fine for us except that it had 1 receptacle to plug in 1 device at a time.

Cabin Review

Inside

Cabin IX

Nice cabin, comfortable bed, the TV remote was hard to press so when you're changing channels just push the down button.

Port Reviews

Seattle

Took the light rail into Seattle. It's really easy to get around town. Enjoyed walking, shopping and going to Pike's Market.

Glacier Bay

Beautiful glacier but wish we didn't stay there all day.

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