We sailed on the Pearl from Seattle to Alaska. There were several mishaps, some disappointments, some shining moments, and overall a grade of "C." Having cruised on three other lines, I feel I have a means of comparison. Four weeks ahead of cruising, I purchased decorations and a cake to celebrate my son's graduation. The room was decorated nicely - but nothing special. Our cabin steward (female) was truly wonderful! She called us by name every day, and personally congratulated my son on his graduating. Our room was always clean, towels always fresh, and very sound-proof. Here was the mishap; some friends sent a fruit basket and bottle of wine as gifts. They were delivered, but without a card. We had no idea who had sent them! I even went to the service desk to inquire, but was told they couldn't find out who had sent these gifts. (our friends had indeed requested a note that never did arrive)After a few days, I can report that the food in the buffet became very dry and disappointing. Breakfast and lunch items never varied. Food did not stay warm - only tepid. And the tables near the buffet lines were so crowded, that we had to take our trays to another deck to eat! By then, of course our food was cold. There is NOT enough table space to accomodate the "free-style" cruising. At the "service" restaurants, the table service was extremely slow. I blame the gratuity system of automatically adding 20% to the bill. There was no insentive for the servers to deliver good service. The food in the "extra fee" restaurants was marginally better ---but only marginally. On our night at the steakhouse, our steaks took over an hour (yes, really!) to prepare, and they arrived over-cooked and dry. The servers all over the ship seemed ill-prepared and inexperienced. On three occasions we saw huge trays dropped en route to the kitchen. This just didn't happen on any of our other cruises! The final comment I have to make is that we felt pestered and interrupted constantly by drink waiters. The desire to "push the booze" was very, very evident. And the drinks were very expensive. But as soon as I would decline a drink from one waiter, another one or two would be asking if I wanted a drink! It became truly tiresome and irritating.Having said all this, I must say that Alaska was spectacular. The scenery, the weather, the ports and the people were wonderful and memorable. We would cruise to Alaska again, but not with NCL.