We were on the Norwegian Pearl from June 1-8, 2008. The 'WE' is my husband and I, our 10 year old daughter, 7 year old son, 81 year old mother-in law, 77 year old father, 71 year old mother, and 55'ish sister-in law. This was my 6th cruise, and I have been on NCL, Carnival, and RCL. It was the first cruise for my mother-in law and sister-in law.

PRE-EMBARKATION: We arrived in Seattle the day before, to see the city, and just provide less stress. We took the Grayline Airporter ($11 each, we didn't know about the senior or child discount), and it dropped us off at the Sheraton. I picked the Sheraton, as I wanted a great location, and a great nights sleep, and it didn't disappoint. The monorail was a walkable distance from the Sheraton. That night we took the monorail ($4 each) to the Space Needle, only to find out that it was closed, due to a special event, which we suspect was prom. We were very disappointed! The next day we got up and walked to the Pike Street Market. Wow! It was very cool, and we never even got to the part where they throw the fish around. Everyone in our party enjoyed the market. The doorman at the Sheraton got us a van, which could accommodate all 8 of us and our luggage, and we arrived at Pier 66 at about 12:30. I don't think we could have chosen a worse time. The line was extremely disorganized, and we waited for quite awhile. My mother-in-law uses a cane, and this was not the best start to our week of vacation. From the look of the embarkation photos, the best time to come appeared to be between 2 and 3 PM.

STATEROOM:I had planned this cruise (using Cruise Critic) months in advance, and chose inside rooms on the 10 floor that were midship. We don't like to spend a lot for the room because we only use the room to sleep in. The three rooms were in close proximity to each other. I also think midship is best, because there is less motion, and you can get to most locations quicker. Upon arriving in our room, I noticed that there was only one bunk bed suspended from the ceiling. With there being 4 of us, I was perplexed, as we have been on many other cruises, and there have always been two bunk beds. The front desk informed me that the steward would provide the additional bed. Hmmm. Well, the other bed was a trundle bed, and it was crammed next to the other bed, so the whole room was wall-to wall bed. Never again! I expected that since the Pearl was a new ship, the accommodations would have gotten better, but no. What this meant was that since there was a trundle under the bed, we were unable to stick our suitcases under the bed. So the already crowded room got more crowded. Fortunately, we asked our family members to stash some suitcases in their room. The wall-to wall bed didn't really work for our family. Read more