First of all, I'm going to start by saying that I've been a travel agent for over 23 years. I'm no cruise expert as I've only taken three cruises in my life, but I have traveled a lot and as a person with a family and a middle class bank account, I feel like I can give some pretty reasonable travel reviews and advice. I also a frequently contribute to Trip Advisor.com.

As I type this, I'm literally on the pool deck of the Pearl eating some roasted chicken and watching the activity around me. When I first booked this cruise, I got on Cruise Critic.com as well as Trip Advisor and any other site I could find that may have helpful information about Alaska and the NCL Pearl. Well, I have to say that while I did find some useful information, the amount of negativity posted about this cruise/ship was very disheartening. Half of the people posting, liked the ship/cruise, and the other half didn't. So, I gave up on reading the reviews and decided that I would plan for the worst and if I got the "better" then I wouldn't be disappointed.

I will divide this review up into different experiences starting with embarkation. I hope this review is helpful for someone sitting "on the fence" about booking this cruise. My husband and I cruised together on this one and it was a wonderful vacation. Read more