Norwegian Pearl Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Layout is terrible - you're supposed to follow the fish to find the front of the boat. The only place I saw fish carpeting was in the hallway to the rooms. Movie night was located in the 2 story atrium. The first floor has a very limited number of seats so we sat in O'Sheehan's, where the employees began to close up for the night. They gathered all the bottles of liquor and placed them in a locked cabinet. The sound of glass hitting glass...lets just say it is impossible to hear the movie. We could not get seats for breakfast on most days and were happy to find 'quiet dining' at La Cucina (for buffet eaters overflow). We thought we were getting thunder and lightning because of the LOUD noises above us. Waiter told us the basketball court is located above us. It was so loud a few people jumped at one point.
Shows are terribly overpacked - the Spinnaker has a very low number of seats. Get there 15-20 minutes before event. The Stardust has many seats, but not enough. We stood in the back for shows ( after arriving 20 minutes early). Your view will be blocked by people searching for seats. We arrived 1 hour before Legends in Concert (I was not going to miss it, no way!) there were already 50 or so people seated. It filled almost to capacity at 25-30 minutes before the show.
Disembarkation - we went to deck 7 to disembark (that's where we embarked). We noticed monitors next to elevator directing us to deck 4. Just before boarding elevator, an employee walked by so we asked him to confirm deck 4. He said monitors were incorrect, we need to go to deck 7 atrium. That's where we waited 15 minutes (along with 20 others) before we looked outside and realized the line had already formed there. Frustrating!!
Cabin Review
Mid-Ship Inside
The carpet is dirty, bring slippers to protect your feet. Our shower door was incredibly difficult to open. You need to use muscle to inch it closed. We showered with the door open when we got tired of fighting with it. This would be a problem for children/elderly. Our toilet started flushing nonstop one day. It was LOUD, and could be heard from 4 rooms away. We didn't mind them fixing it, we were going to port. Had it happened in the middle of the night it would have been a hassle. It was fixed by the time we got back at the end of the day.
Port Reviews
Seattle
Embarkation was quick and simple.
Glacier Bay
No excursion here. The scenery was beautiful and Rangers were available to answer questions and make speeches about the glaciers. I believe one full day here is too much. After a few hours everyone left the platform decks and found something else to do.
Ketchikan
No excursion here. We walked the town, enjoying it very much. There are some good, unique shops. we found a couple of great bars and many picture-taking opportunities. We didn't go far from the ship so if you're short on time it's still worth the trip.