cruisecraze96

If you happen to walk by any of the kid programs looking for pictures of the activity sheets they might have for the teens and the younger kids (8 & 5).

Looks like you guys are having fun, we sail July 22nd and can't wait :) Thanks for posting the daily's, that just made my day and it looks like there is a lot to do for everyone.

My mom really wanted this cabin for our July cruise but my dad has a scooter and stairs would be a bit hard for him. They are in the deluxe owner suite instead on 9, where all the rest of us are located in our measly balcony rooms :)

Anyone have the name of the company that rents power scooters for cruises, knee scooter is not going well, I have one bad/weak leg, and broke the good one. If we can go Im going need the power scooter

We use SpecialNeedsatSea to rent power scooters for my dad and have had only good experiences with them. Make sure to call NCL too, most scooters will fit through the door but you might want to see if there are any accessible rooms that you can change to. My parents usually get suites so space is not an issue with them :)

I decided to break my ankle years ago, it did require 2 surgeries but I was able to go without a cast. Hopefully no surgeries for you as well as no cast :) I just had the boot which made it easier to get around and in and out of tubs.

I just got off the Norwegian Breakaway. It smelled like an ashtray over many different decks INSIDE of the ship due to the casino being connected to an atrium area. As mentioned, you have to walk through the casino also to conveniently get to a theatre and main dining room.

 

I will not sail with Norwegian again because of the smokers. Why should we get lung cancer during my vacation due to second hand smoke? Smokers and NCL should be ashamed of themselves for promoting cancer.

Sorry have not been on yet, but looking at the deck plans could you not just go up to deck 7 and then across and down again? I bet it is still bad, since it is the same on CCL but I have found that there is a way either above or below the casino to get most anywhere? Again, have not been on the Pearl and will be in July and will then find out first hand. I am just looking at deck plans and that was my course of action since I don't normally bring the kids through the casino.

I think we are going to pack light rain jackets just in case, going late July but have never been and just want to be prepared for anything :) Fun part will be making sure we don't overpack, have gotten pretty good with Caribbean cruises but this is our first Alaskan trip.

Maybe if you quit smoking you wouldn't find the walk so far.

I think the question was not around how far they were but more of a question regarding are All NCL ships like this with the amount of smoking areas available.? If you actually read the question, which from your post you did not, you would see they were complaining about the smoking areas not the distance to get them.

To OP, sadly one of the reasons we chose the Pearl was because of the smoking areas available. I personally do not smoke but both my mom and sister do so I try to find ships that allow smoking in the Casino at both game tables and slots as well as an outdoor area.

We are going to Alaska this July, the first thing I did was figure out what type of cruise and ship we wanted to go out on and dates. We decided to do round trip from Seattle to make it a bit easier on those traveling in and then decided on the Pearl because we wanted to see Glacier Bay. We chose July because there will be several kids so had to go prior to school starting and after all the different retreats or camps.

We have 6 cabins, 1 inside, 3 balconies next to each other, and then at the end of the hall the Owners Haven Suite for my parents. Depending on the size of the group when I was checking for additional balconies for this July they only had 1 left for a group of 4 so it can be better to book earlier, and the prices are higher now too than when we booked last June.

It just depends on your budget, travel needs, etc. We just decided to do a round trip vs a one way but if it was just us we would have done one of the land and sea packages, so that is a trip for another year ;)

We would also just get an extra card for the stateroom and on paper put the two that drink together and the 2 that don't together. I have never had them come around and do a bed check to make sure people are in the room correctly.

Going to Alaska in July this year with a group of 15. All but my younger brother did the UBP. My younger brother and his wife rarely drink and they got an inside so they did dining because they want to do the specialty restaurants. For us I enjoy the idea of not having to worry about costs of drinks, I usually have around a $200-$250 bar bill on other cruises when it is just me so for me it is worth it.

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Sorry agree with the other posters, we are going on the Pearl this July and we booked 2 balcony connecting rooms. Plan is to have the 3 teens (18,15,16) in one room and then DH, me and our 8 year old in the other. Also, they don't do head counts but if you get complaints, or someone says that there is not an adult staying in the room you could get in trouble since teens have to be within so many doors of the parents.

I would either move everyone to one room or look to upgrade to something larger that you all can get into. We went with the Pearl over the Bliss because we wanted to see Glacier Bay and Bliss had more sea days than we wanted for Alaska :) love Sea Days in the Caribbean though.

Thanks for the review. Did you try any other restaurants on the ship?

 

 

 

Doug

We were on the same cruise and did all the specialty restaurants

Steak house - amazing food and service, still the best food and a great value. Plan for a long night though.

Italian - Very good, not as good as on the breeze but it still was a good value for what you paid

Asian - EXCELLENT! The appetizers were amazing but we were not a fan of the deserts. Again we had great service.

Sushi - we did a boat and it was extremely good, they did forget about us since we were the first ones to order and it was over an hour to get the food. Shut they were very apologetic about it and we were outside so not in the main area.

Seafood - did the basket and it was prepared very well and tons of food it could have fed to people. My sister did the lobster roll and she also really enjoyed it.

I will say that this is the first ship everything seems to sell out on. You have to book early to get a table, especially if you have a larger party. We did the steak house in Thursday and heard them telling many people that they were fully booked the entire cruise.

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Hate to disappoint you. The Bliss does NOT go to Glacier Bay. It goes to the Sawyer Glacier for an hour.

This is why we decided on the Pearl instead. Wanted to try the Bliss but decided we really preferred the itinerary on the Pearl for Alaska.

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Wow! Thanks so much, we aren't going until next July but this gives me an idea of what to expect.

Thanks everyone, we just booked the Pearl for next July and as soon as they come available I am booking myself one and maybe DH one for the week.

I want to get the "anniversary" decorations that include the cake, but it says that it is prepared in an area that processes shellfish. I have a severe allergy to shellfish. Should I just not risk it, or do you think it's going to be ok?

You need to contact the ship and maybe even special needs. It is not just the cake but you need to make sure they understand your allergy needs to ensure any meal you have would not be cross contaminated with shell fish.

We have a colleague who has an extreme allergy and keeps an Epi Pen with her. When we travel we always make sure the restaurant knows, you would be surprised at how many high end steak houses had to cook her steak on a pan because they don't separate the shrimp on the grill.

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We have cruised several times over the summer and spring break and was on the Conquest last June. My ow 7 year old loves the camp on Carnival and last June they did not combine the groups during the day because there were many kids on the ship. It normally depends on the number of kids. For the night program she loves to go to the parties that are late and sometimes she is wiped out asleep and other times she is up and not wanting to leave.

My oldest is now in Circle C and is 14 and prefers Carnival over RCCL for the teen program. She knows to go that first night because the kids get into groups then and it is harder to join one after then.

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Be sure to bring your email or note saying you qualified. Last cruise my mom was told she qualified but when she went they told her no. I had to show them the email from the casino showing they said she did. She only drinks soda with a mixed drink maybe once a day so she wasn't that worried but it was more the principal.

But my sister and mom have found that those were only good in the casino area :)

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I have been on both too and the ports for the conquest would win for me. We did a 5 night last June on Conquest with HMC, Nassau, and Grand Turk and the ports were all great. Ship was not that bad, but I like the larger ships

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We use insuremytrip website to compare the plans and pick the one we want for the trip. Usually you have to purchase insurance within 2 weeks of first payment to get cancel for any reason or pre existing. Usually we find it less expensive than booking direct

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This can still be done, resort for a day and some other sites are good to look for savings. We did not have much luck finding them less than booking direct through Atlantis on our last trip and just ended up going to Blue Lagoon on our last cruise. Just watch for the fees that Comfort is starting to add to make sure that you don't end up paying more.

We just spent a week at Atlantis and had a blast, the girls (7&14) really enjoyed the waterpark and the beaches plus we did some of the animal interactions at Dolphin Cay.

I actually like this new process because the one time I got my DH to go on a cruise with me it was a comedy of errors, one being that it took an extra hour to get checked in because they could not find out S&S cards and then instead of printing new ones she kept going around to all the areas looking for them, finally printed new ones and then bam they donged instead of dinged when trying to get onboard. So again we got pulled aside had to fill out some forms, and then once on I had to go to GS and get new cards...well had to go to GS twice because they were not ready the first time. Sad thing was we could not buy drinks because our cards would not work :)

Needless to say, he has not gone on another cruise with me :) this was just one of many things that drove him crazy... it was one of those I don't want to be here, and this just confirmed why.

My husband hates cruises but I have taken the girls on 4. We have always just had a notarized letter that I created saying the dates of trip, location, etc but never have been asked to show it. Took my BIL and his daughter last June and they also did not require anything. I just have one, just in case. I get mine notarized at the local bank.

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I gave my family options for our cruise next year, Vista, Allure, Harmony, NCL but they all choose Carnival Vista for various reasons. My mom and sister like the food and casino better on Carnival and my daughter likes the teen program better based on past experience. I would have liked Harmony but went with the majority, which was all 12 minus me, who wanted an 8 night cruise vs a 7. I like Carnival because of the price, ports, and many things to me seemed less hassle free (like gift cards, billing).

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