Norwegian Pearl Review
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For months we looked at reviews and wondered what our experience with NCL would be. There is something I saw a while back that summed it all up: There is no such thing as a bad cruise. Catastrophes aside, this is true. No matter the weather, or misfortune, you’re not at work. You’re one of the relatively too few privileged enough people to afford a vacation, and a cruise at that.
I’ll also note that I’m not ignorant of the ridiculous hours and months long shifts the hard working folks on these ships endure, I don’t want to sound arrogant or ungrateful when I point out the flaws. Having seen some of the attitudes and requests of some other cruisers I would hate life too at this point in the season lol
That said, here are my afterthoughts on our Alaskan NCL cruise aboard the Pearl. Forgive any repetitiveness, our only other cruise was on Disney so that’s the only thing we can compare it to.
Cabin Review
Mid-Ship Oceanview Picture Window
We booked a guaranteed ocean view and were given room 8600, a family room that was handicap accessible. This was a good thing. After seeing a couple other regular rooms I realized how much wider our bathroom and doorway were due to the accessibility component. Our daughter loved the pull down bed on the wall, and the view was unobstructed. We lucked out. There was more than enough storage space, which we were worried about heading into this cruise. My wife over packs and I am a raging metrosexual that brought more outfits than you would think could fit in our luggage. But suits, peacoats, too many pants and everything plus our daughter’s clothes all fit perfectly. I was very pleasantly surprised. We tried to keep the room tidy ourselves and left the do not disturb sign 3 of the 7 nights. Those guys work crazy hard and I kind of felt better giving him one less room to clean a few nights than I would have about coming back to a perfectly made up room.
Port Reviews
Seattle
I have visited Seattle a number of times prior but this was the first visit for my daughter and wife. We spent a few days there pre-cruise and it was awesome. Great city with a lot to do. Check out West Seattle and do some kayaking, ate at Marinate, of course Pike Place and if you have time check out Cinerama and Chinatown.
Glacier Bay
You see them in photos and on youtube but it is something else to see them up close. Amazing experience.