Just returned from the Pearl roundtrip from Seattle to Alaska from July 19 to 26. Many great moments can be attributed to things I learned here on Cruise Critic. I wondered if I would continue to visit CC after my cruise, but I already know that I will...I love being able to answer questions for others now that I have first hand experience. This was my second cruise...first was several years ago on Carnival out of Galveston to Cozumel. It wasn't a great experience, so my DH and I decided cruising was not for us...we'd rather stay on land in resorts/hotels. But when my MIL and FIL decided they wanted to celebrate their 50th anniversary by taking their family on this cruise, we couldn't say no. So off we went, along with my SIL and her husband and their 4 kids, age 7, 9, 10 and 13.We went a day early to Seattle. Used the NCL transfer from the airport to the hotel. This was very organized and took all the stress off of us to get downtown. Stayed at the Renaissance. Took cab to Seattle Center where we went up the Space Needle. Back to hotel for an early bedtime since we'd gotten up at 2 am central time for our early, early flight (booked through NCL...never again). On Sunday, the NCL transfer from hotel to the pier was again stress free. We had our luggage ready in our room by 8 am, bus picked us up about 10:45. Embarkation was so fast and easy I think I would have missed it all if I had blinked. We were on the ship before I knew it (well before noon). We immediately went to the Atrium to purchase the Soda Card Program for the kids and the Wine Package for us (bought 8 bottles for a 20% discount). The kids all went to the pool (water was cold), while DH and I walked around the ship. Went to our rooms about 3:00, lifeboat drill at 3:30, luggage was being delivered when we got back.AF mini suite 11120 was in a great location near the stairs for a quick run up to the buffet.  Plenty of storage space and bathroom space.  As suggested by CC, I used an over the door shoe organizer that kept everything off the vanity and organized.  Very useful.  We took a tour of the spa and bought the weekly pass. Best money we spent on board. We went every day except for Skagway day. I had a hot stone massage with Vangie (good, but not as great as the ones I get at the spa back home) and I also had a facial with Lucy (best scalp massage I've ever had). Both ladies suggested products, but I didn't feel pushed into any of the purchases. DH and I both spent time in the coed area in the therapy pool, hot tub and relaxing on the lounge chairs looking out the front of the ship. DH loved the dry sauna in the men's area...surrounded by windows looking out at the view. Most days we started here when they opened and it was pretty quiet. Sometimes it got pretty busy and noisy. My main complaint with the spa...they didn't provide any kind of shoes and there wasn't any private area to change clothes in the locker rooms. But still a great way to spend some time on the ship. Restaurants The food at the buffet was pretty good. No major complaints. Except for the iced tea...it was terrible, the worst iced tea I've ever had. So I mostly drank water (it was indeed great tasting as mentioned on CC) and the Diet Dr Pepper that we took aboard (thanks again CC). Oh and all that wine that we purchased! The ice machine also broke the first night and they had to bring out buckets of ice for people to spoon ice out of. It was annoying, but it was fixed by the next morning. One other complaint...it was very hard to find a table at the buffet area, especially on embarkation day. There was nobody cleaning tables in one of the rooms. On some days we went over to the La Cucina area to find a table for breakfast (thanks again CC). Breakfast was typical breakfast buffet food. Nothing great, but not bad. The pizza and the french fries were my favorites on the buffet. Had lunch once and dinner twice at the Summer Palace MDR. Great food and great service. Even our picky nieces and nephews liked it. They ate there more than we did. Salmon was awesome one night, just OK another night. Cheese tortellini was yummy. Others in our party liked the chicken breast, pork chops, and the surf and more surf. Caesar salads were also a fav at our table. Lunch at Asian/Sushi place twice (on sea days). I ate off Lotus Garden menu, DH ate from Sushi menu. Lettuce wraps were spicy but good. Egg drop soup kinda weird and salty. Main dishes tried and liked...orange peel beef, lemon pepper shrimp, kung pao chicken, and some other beef. DH loved the sushi/sashimi. All 10 of us went to Teppanyaki to celebrate MIL and FIL's 50th anniversary. Appetizer and salads were too weird for me. Most of us had steaks and lobster or shrimp. All was great. Service was exceptional and chef was entertaining. One downside, it was annoying to have another party going on at the other table...their chef was pounding their knifes away while we were trying to place our order, quite noisy. We told waiter about anniversary, so they sang Let Me Call you Sweetheart and made a flower out of napkin. Waiter (can't remember his name) also used rubber bands to fix chopsticks for the kids to use more easily. Very enjoyable time. DH and I went to Cagney's one night. Food was good, but not exceptional. Had filet and T-bone. Crab cakes were best part of meal. Gratin potatoes were terrible. Service not so good, very slow and took forever for them to clear our plates when we finished and bring us the bill. And, no, we didn't complain. Should have, but we didn't. Other Ship Activities Watched "Bazillionaire" gameshow in Spinnaker lounge. Host was kind of annoying and had trouble running the computer. Player was an 11 year old New York kid. He was hilarious, and the scenery was nice, so it wasn't a wasted evening. Bowled several times ($5 a game, never had to wait). There were some problems with the bumpers not going up and down depending on the player. But the staff was always nice. Aretha was normally the bartender in Bliss, and she got to know us very well. Kids liked the Arcade, but there wasn't much there. They didn't participate in the Kids Program at all. Family portraits...we were first in line at 4:45 for photo session that started at 5. They had an assembly line going and got us through 4 different backgrounds and poses in about 15 minutes. Very efficient and most pictures were good, only one great enough for me to buy. Photos taken at each port disembark were so rushed that few of them were any good at all. And prices were crazy high. I might have bought more of the family group shots if prices had been lower. But nobody ever pushed any purchases. I think my MIL bought enough pics to cover all of us for the week. Entertainment Don Alexander on the piano was great whatever he was playing. Always enjoyed him. Family liked the juggler act, but me and DH missed it. Saw about 20 minutes of Second City comedy, it was OK, but not good enough for us to stick around for all of it. Gardens of Geisha show was all right. Acrobatics was the best part, dancing by ninjas and geishas was laughable in my opinion. Crew Talent Show was OK...one band was great, saw our room steward dance hip hop and enjoyed the Fountains show. I think they need to look harder for some more talent. Excursions Juneau Mendenhall Glacier & Wildlife Quest through NCL Loved this excursion. They were so organized when we got off the boat, we were directed to our bus and everyone got loaded and we left the dock early. Spent an hour and 15 minutes at Mendenhall which was more than enough in my opinion. We first stopped to see the salmon swimming by, then walked along the boardwalk towards the Visitor Center. Ran into a wall of people who were watching a mama bear and her two cubs up in a tree. Mama came down and waded around in the river right in front of us. The cubs joined her for a bit, but then they went back up the tree. Mama eventually caught a salmon and took it up the tree. It was incredible to watch this. We then ventured along the Photo Point Trail towards the glacier. Took some pictures and enjoyed the view then walked back to the Visitor Center, looked at a few exhibits and walked back to meet the bus. We were then taken to Allen Marina where we boarded a jet powered catamaran for our wildlife viewing. We saw some individual humpback whales, some bald eagles, and sea lions. But the highlight was most definitely the group of about 10 humpback whales bubble net feeding. Seeing all these whales come up out of the water at once was amazing. The tour guides were in awe, saying it was a very rare sighting. So we got REALLY lucky with this excursion. Loved it!! Back in Juneau, we made a very quick trip to the Red Dog Saloon and giftshop. Raced back to catch the free shuttle to the boat. Skagway Chilkoot Charters Yukon Rail & Bus Trip (7.5 hours) Booked this independent excursion after reading rave reviews on CC. We were met by our driver, Sean, in a small van that carried 22 passengers. He dropped us off at the WPYR. We sat on the left side as instructed here on CC and that was most definitely the right decision (thanks!). Saw some beautiful scenery, but we couldn't hear any of the announcments/guide info. At Fraser, we got off the train and Sean and the van rejoined us and took us on into the Yukon, making several stops along the way for photo ops. At Caribou Crossing (a tourist spot), we had our BBQ chicken lunch (it was OK), played with the husky puppies and watched the kids in our group take a dogsled ride (they enjoyed it, but it was really bumpy and dusty). We also stopped in Carcross (the actual town that used to be called Caribou Crossing) for ice cream and passport stamps. Sean dropped us off anywhere we wanted in Skagway. We shopped around in Skagway for a bit, and then went to the Red Onion Saloon for some drinks and appetizers. Service was great. DH loved the Alaskan Amber. My margarita was so-so. We walked back to the boat after that. Ketchikan Nature Sanctuary, Eagles and Totems (through NCL) They weren't nearly as organized here as they were in Juneau, but we eventually got on a bus (a very old bus) and made our way to the Nature Sanctuary. We were led on a nature walk through the rainforest (we made use of the provided rain ponchos). The highlight was seeing a black bear wading through the river. We also strolled through an Eagle Sanctuary and saw several young bald eagles. We then fed some Alaskan reindeer (huge antlers they had). Had a quick tour of an old lumber mill and watched a guy working on a totem pole. Bus took us back to the cruise terminal. My DH and I walked over to Creek Street where we did some shopping before going back to the boat. Victoria We didn't book any excursion here. There just wasn't anything that we thought the kids would want to do. We checked out the Bug Zoo, but it was closed. The kids had no interest in Miniature World. So we ended up just walking along the harbour area and watched a street performer. When we got to the other side, the Undersea Gardens were also closed. Almost went into the Wax Museum but decided to just go back to the ship. Inner Harbour area was beautiful, but not entertaining for the kids. Should have stayed on board. Glacier Bay viewing I was disappointed in how little we saw here. We got to the Marjorie Glacier around 9 and stayed an hour. We stood on deck 7 the whole time. Foggy at first, but just as we were about to leave, the sun peaked out. It was beautiful, but saw no calving. They mentioned Grand Pacific Glacier as well, but I never saw it, don't know what they were talking about. A bit later we went by Lampaugh Glacier, which was much smaller. The only spectacular thing about it was the waterfall that was roaring out the middle of it. Sailed on to Jaw Point and a view of John Hopkins Glacier. Beautiful scenery but we couldn't get close due to sea lions in the area. We sailed back by Lampaugh Glacier and that was it. We were soon out of Glacier Bay. I was expecting so much more. Overall, we had a very positive experience on this cruise. DH and I won't be turning into cruise fanatics any time soon, but we would do it again with another group of friends and family (perhaps no children the next time). I would definitely recommend NCL and Alaska to anyone who asks.