Our cruise was during the week of May 16-23, 2010. A little about ourselves, I'm 48 and DH is 51. This was our 6th cruise. We have been to the Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, "Exotic "Caribbean (Costa Rica, Panama) and Hawaii, and I must admit this has been our favorite cruise, as far as scenery goes. (And Hawaii was hard to beat). It was like you never wanted to leave your balcony throughout the whole cruise. If you can afford to get a balcony, this would be the cruise to get one. If not, there are plenty of places on the ship you can enjoy the view, like the Spinnaker Lounge, the window seats throughout the ship, and most of the lounge areas have windows nearby and of course out on any deck.

The Marriot Waterfront We used APlus Towncar to get us to Marriot Waterfront. It cost $35. Great Service! We arrived at the Marriot appox. 6:00pm. Quick check in. It's a very nice hotel. We got to our room and looked out the window....to the left we can see some of the waterfront....looked right and there's train tracks. (Luckily, we didn't really hear it during the night). After checking out our room, we ventured out to Anthony's Pier 66, for dinner, directly across the street. Luckily it wasn't raining, but it was just a bit chilly, maybe in the lower to mid 50's. After dinner we headed toward Pike Market. I'm not sure what time it closes but it was closed by the time we arrived there around 7:15-7:30. We then headed over to the Space Needle's monorail. It cost $8/per person roundtrip. It was a very short 3 min. ride directly to the Space Needle. The Space Needle cost $17 ($15 military discount). It was a great view from the top. We were only up there for about 15-20 minutes....as I said earlier, it was a chilly evening. Got back into the downtown area around 9:00pm. On our way back to the hotel, we were trying to find a store that sells a bottle of wine so we can drink in our hotel and maybe take on the ship...but surprisingly its "Sleeping" in Seattle after 7:00pm.....the locals told us most of the stores that sell bottles of wine close around 7:00pm. Don't get me wrong, the city is bustling and the bars are open and some stores are open, but the mini marts or whatever you call them are all closed by 7:00pm, so for those of you who want to pick up a bottle or 2 of wine for the cruise, you better do it before 7:00. Got back to our hotel room around 10:00pm. (1:00am, our body time). Exhausted we went straight to bed. During the night I heard the train, a few times, but I don't think it woke me, I think I was up anyway. I woke up at 6:00am, just for the mere excitement of it being cruise day! I looked out my window and there she was, The Pearl!! We went to breakfast downstairs at Starbucks and walked around. Then we checked out and headed out the doors by 10:15. Got to the Baggage area by 10:20am. After dropping them off they direct you to the terminal building, next door. Went through security and checked in....very organized and easy! In the waiting area they had some coffee and OJ. We were given #1 to board. We were allowed to board around 11:15am. We went to the Buffet and the grazing begins!! We walked around the ship and waited for the 2:00 announcement that we were allowed to go to our room.

The Pearl One thing about us is that we are early risers and barely venture out after 11:00pm, so I will not be able to give you any information about the night life as far as dancing, etc. goes. Also we did not go to any of the Specialty restaurants with the exception of Blue Lagoon. We mostly ate in MDR and the Buffet. Although, I will admit, the selection in the MDR was not the greatest, but we always managed to find something, when we did go. We had room 10168, an aft cabin. We had read that the Deck 10 aft balconies, were bigger than the other the other BA balconies, aft, on the other decks. I know it was definitely bigger than the 11th deck...but we couldn't make out what the 9th deck looked like. On our balcony we had 2 loungers and 2 chairs. It was approx. 9x12. The room itself was small, but livable. FYI, the ship does provide body wash and shampoo dispensers in the shower. It also had 2 robes and a coffee maker. (Although, I believe the robes and coffee makers are only for balcony rooms and suites, but I'm not too sure about that.) Our first luggage arrived around 3:30pm. About 15 minutes later, the other bag arrived. We put all our clothes away....which barely held our stuff, seeing they were a lot bulkier then we are use to packing, but we managed to get it all hung or tucked in the drawers and shelves. Speaking of clothes....this was the hardest cruise I have ever packed for. Didn't want to over pack, but wanted to make sure you had enough warm clothing, and cool clothing in case we get lucky with a warm day here and there. But the good thing was we didn't pack any "nice" clothes for dinner. They did allow jeans in Summer Palace and Indigo for dinner. I asked before going. They said that its fine, just no shorts are allowed. The food on the Pearl was very good....not excellent, but we never had any complaints. Entertainment on the ship was pretty good, not fantastic. Of course it's just a matter of opinion, as others may have thought it was excellent, which goes for the food as well. Just some of the shows were not our cup of tea. We didn't go to all the shows. We loved all the comedian acts. The staff on the Pearl were all very friendly and the ship was pretty easy to get around...for the most part, I always seem to get turned around though. We did a few tastings, Martini, Margarita and Beer. All tastings were 5 tastes for $15 and a lot of fun. Read more