NCL Pearl Review - Rocky Start, Awesome Finish!

[wibeachbum]

Thank so much for the detailed review and pictures

 

We all worry about weather cancelling our flights in the winter but it would be shocking in May. :eek: I saw the posts recommending Southwest but I had them cancel a flight on me last winter because our plane was stuck in weather out east. Our flight was Milwaukee to Phoenix. There's not much anyone can do about the weather.

 

We sailed in cabin 10168 on the Jewel twice to the Caribbean. We are booked on the Pearl to Alaska May 2011 but 10168 was not available. They are also charging more for those aft facing balconies now. I hope the side is not too windy!

[thecatsmeow]

Great reviiew! Thank you for taking the time to put so much detail into it. We will be sailing almost the same week as you in but in 2011. Hope we have your weather. :)

 

Joyce

[MissRabbit]

Did you ever see anyone using the rock climbing wall or the waterslide?

[stevenikkij]

Thanks so much for the great review and pics- we are planning a family reunion cruise to Alaska next summer on the Pearl- so I really enjoyed it. :)

[coka]

Elsplace2, WOW! A great review and fabulous pictures too! I felt as though I went to Alaska a second time with you. Thank you for taking the time to do it. When you miss Alaska you can pull up this thread and re-live it all over again!

 

coka

[elsplace2]

Did you ever see anyone using the rock climbing wall or the waterslide?

 

 

Yes believe it or not, there was a child going down the water slide, it was one of our warmer days, but still way to chilly to go down the slide. My husband and I were shocked and thought how kids are so resiliant to the cold. We rarely saw anyone in the pool. Needless to say, the hot tubs were always busy.

We did see some people getting ready to go up the rock wall, once, but didn't see them actually going up it.

[elsplace2]

Elsplace2, WOW! A great review and fabulous pictures too! I felt as though I went to Alaska a second time with you. Thank you for taking the time to do it. When you miss Alaska you can pull up this thread and re-live it all over again!

 

coka

 

Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[elsplace2]

Thanks so much for the great review and pics- we are planning a family reunion cruise to Alaska next summer on the Pearl- so I really enjoyed it. :)

 

I hope this review helps you with your planning. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have!

[elsplace2]

Great reviiew! Thank you for taking the time to put so much detail into it. We will be sailing almost the same week as you in but in 2011. Hope we have your weather. :)

 

Joyce

 

I hope your weather is as nice as ours was, as well...we got really lucky! Although it sure looked like it was going to rain just about every day, but we were prepared for it. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!

[elsplace2]

Thank so much for the detailed review and pictures

 

We all worry about weather cancelling our flights in the winter but it would be shocking in May. :eek: I saw the posts recommending Southwest but I had them cancel a flight on me last winter because our plane was stuck in weather out east. Our flight was Milwaukee to Phoenix. There's not much anyone can do about the weather.

 

We sailed in cabin 10168 on the Jewel twice to the Caribbean. We are booked on the Pearl to Alaska May 2011 but 10168 was not available. They are also charging more for those aft facing balconies now. I hope the side is not too windy!

 

 

I agree about the flights, you can't blame the airline, anything could happen to any one of them, but they could have been more sympathetic when I first called....winter you would expect cancellations, spring you would expect delays, not cancellations! That's why we always fly in the day before.

Anyway, we were booked for the week of the 23rd originally...but when I saw that cabin 10168 was available for the week before...I re-booked. Crazy huh? Changing your vacation over a cabin!! Although I think it was worth it, especially having room enough for loungers and chairs....we utilized both!!

[stuvan]

Anyway, we were booked for the week of the 23rd originally...but when I saw that cabin 10168 was available for the week before...I re-booked. Crazy huh? Changing your vacation over a cabin!! Although I think it was worth it, especially having room enough for loungers and chairs....we utilized both!!

 

Cabin 10168 availabiity was our main reason for booking over 1 year in advance and our friends booked the adjacent 10668 for the cruise as well.

 

WOW. Thanks you so much for your detailed review, the many wonderful photos and all of your tips and suggestions. I don't usually post, as you can see, but after reading your posting I could not remain silent. Good to know that the aft balcony has enough room for both chairs and longes. Is there a door between the two adjacent cabins that can be locked open by the stewards?

 

We also have a Saturday night reservation @ the Marriott Waterfront hotel. Probably will have to fly in from Minneapolis on Delta, but we'll see.

[elsplace2]

Cabin 10168 availabiity was our main reason for booking over 1 year in advance and our friends booked the adjacent 10668 for the cruise as well.

 

WOW. Thanks you so much for your detailed review, the many wonderful photos and all of your tips and suggestions. I don't usually post, as you can see, but after reading your posting I could not remain silent. Good to know that the aft balcony has enough room for both chairs and longes. Is there a door between the two adjacent cabins that can be locked open by the stewards?

 

We also have a Saturday night reservation @ the Marriott Waterfront hotel. Probably will have to fly in from Minneapolis on Delta, but we'll see.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to post!! Anyway, I didn't really notice if the balcony divider can be opened between the 2 staterooms. Sorry! I'm sure they can. I'll try to remember to ask my husband when he gets home from work, to see if if he noticed if they could.

[elsplace2]

I asked my husband if he noticed if the dividers are removable between balconies...and he said he didn't notice either.....but we both assume that they are. Sorry, I didn't have the answer for you.

[newcruise12]

Thanks so much for sharing your photos and detailed review with everyone! We'll be in an AFT cabin on the Pearl later this month on our first cruise :D, and I felt like I was already there when I saw the beautiful pictures you'd taken!! Yahoooooo!!

 

I'm looking forward to walking that lakeside trail in Skagway now. Your pictures were great. We don't have any special plans in Ketchikan yet; do the stores open really early?

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how early are we due back on board when the ship is in port? One hour before the ship leaves, or more than that?

 

Did you feel much of the ship's motion, being in an AFT cabin?

 

I'm glad that you had such an enjoyable trip, especially after the awful start with the airlines! :eek: Thank you again for giving us a sneak peek of the Pearl and Alaska!!! (Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited??????) :D:D:D

[elsplace2]

Thanks so much for sharing your photos and detailed review with everyone! We'll be in an AFT cabin on the Pearl later this month on our first cruise :D, and I felt like I was already there when I saw the beautiful pictures you'd taken!! Yahoooooo!!

 

I'm looking forward to walking that lakeside trail in Skagway now. Your pictures were great. We don't have any special plans in Ketchikan yet; do the stores open really early?

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how early are we due back on board when the ship is in port? One hour before the ship leaves, or more than that?

 

Did you feel much of the ship's motion, being in an AFT cabin?

 

I'm glad that you had such an enjoyable trip, especially after the awful start with the airlines! :eek: Thank you again for giving us a sneak peek of the Pearl and Alaska!!! (Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited??????) :D:D:D

 

You SHOULD BE excited!! It's a fantastic cruise! I never saw so much beautiful scenary!! You will LOVE the aft, especially being able to see on both sides.....sometimes there was only scenary on one side and no I did not feel as though the ship was rocking anymore then any other part of the ship, and that was not much at all....it gently rocked me to sleep every night!!

 

That lakeside trail in Skagway, was a nice surprise....I had never read about anyone doing it (and believe me, I did ALOT of research, although I could have totally missed it, if someone did mention it)...I'm so glad the local in the visitor center told us about it.

 

Yes the stores open early in most ports, not only Ketchikan. We were off the ship at around 7:30am and I believe most of them were open...but I'm not 100% sure because we did the walking tour first, but we were back in the shopping area by 8:30am and they were all open.

 

As far as getting back on the ship, you had to be on a half hour before it was due to leave port. We were always on well before the expected time. They will post the boarding time on the Freestyle daily on the upper right.

 

If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to answer them if I can.

[stuvan]

I asked my husband if he noticed if the dividers are removable between balconies...and he said he didn't notice either.....but we both assume that they are. Sorry, I didn't have the answer for you.

 

No problem, I was just curious. It looks like you went topside during the Glacier Bay day. Was that because of better viewing or to hear the Rangers over the PA system or something else?

 

Sounds like you did a lot of research prior to your cruise. I'll probably have some more questions after I reread your post. Hope you don't mind.

 

Thanks again for all the wonderful info.

 

Stu

[newcruise12]

We were done around 7:00 and we had decided that because it seemed to take so long, we will not order dessert anymore, and just get dessert from the buffet from then on, unless they had something really good on the menu. (Which they never really did. I was hoping to see Crème Brulee, on the menu at least once.) Anyway, this turned out to be a great idea, because they had so much more to choose from in the buffet, anyway.

 

Your tip about getting a quick dessert from the buffet sounds great! If I had to wait too long, I might start talking myself out of eating dessert! :(:eek:

 

Thanks for answering all of our questions! I've learned a lot from your review that I hadn't noticed elsewhere. (And even mentioning which days had the time change to/from Alaska Time.)

 

In another thread they were talking about being able to smell cookies baking! Another good reason for an AFT cabin.

 

 

Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.

[elsplace2]

No problem, I was just curious. It looks like you went topside during the Glacier Bay day. Was that because of better viewing or to hear the Rangers over the PA system or something else?

 

Sounds like you did a lot of research prior to your cruise. I'll probably have some more questions after I reread your post. Hope you don't mind.

 

Thanks again for all the wonderful info.

 

Stu

 

We went topside, because we wanted to see the approach into Glacier Bay. If you can get a good spot, it is well worth it. (be sure to dress warm, it gets windy up there)....It's beautiful! And yes, it also helps to be able to hear the Rangers as well. (You can hear them in your room from your TV on channel 21, I believe, but you would have to have the TV really loud to hear it on the balcony, and I wanted to be respectful to our neighbors,in case they could hear the TV from our room if it was that loud).

 

And I do not mind at all, answering more questions! It helps me re-live the experience!

[elsplace2]

Your tip about getting a quick dessert from the buffet sounds great! If I had to wait too long, I might start talking myself out of eating dessert! :(:eek:

 

Thanks for answering all of our questions! I've learned a lot from your review that I hadn't noticed elsewhere. (And even mentioning which days had the time change to/from Alaska Time.)

 

In another thread they were talking about being able to smell cookies baking! Another good reason for an AFT cabin.

 

 

Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.

 

I'm glad you have learned a lot from my review....that's why I feel it's worth every minute writing one, especially with pics.

We never smelled cookies from our balcony...good thing, because we would probably be making a be-line to get some.

As far as the dessert, goes, I tell you it worked out great, just being able to get up, after you finished dinner and not have to wait an additional 10 or 15 minutes for coffee and dessert. It's not so bad if you had no where to be....but usually we had someplace we wanted to be, like getting a seat at a show.

But talking yourself out dessert! :eek: That's unheard of, on a cruise!! LOL

[elsplace2]

 

Thanks for answering all of our questions! I've learned a lot from your review that I hadn't noticed elsewhere. (And even mentioning which days had the time change to/from Alaska Time.)

 

 

Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.

 

I just wanted to reiterate the time change....as I said in my review, the cell phones changed and time on the ship remained on Alaska time until the next day...we didn't really notice how often that happened so if you use your cell phone as an alarm, be sure to look at the time!!

[InternetAgeTraveler]

I asked my husband if he noticed if the dividers are removable between balconies...and he said he didn't notice either.....but we both assume that they are. Sorry, I didn't have the answer for you.

 

I did some research on this awhile back when we were trying to decide between 2 balconies or a balcony and an inside. They can be opened by the staff, but from what I read, they only open them when in port, which seemed a bit useless to me.

[Planmaam]

OMG, what a great review and photos! I have taken that cruise on the Pearl twice, and was almost back there again with your pics. It was interesting to see how far back Mendenhall Glacier has receeded.

 

You've done some things I haven't, so I guess it's time to start thinking about another cruise to Alaska; been there 3 times and I can't get enough of it

 

Thanks again, and can't wait to hear about your Epic cruise.

[Billym1507]

Brilliamt review and photo,s. You have really put me in the mood. I have a long wait though. Feb 2011. Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us.

Billy.

[elsplace2]

I did some research on this awhile back when we were trying to decide between 2 balconies or a balcony and an inside. They can be opened by the staff, but from what I read, they only open them when in port, which seemed a bit useless to me.

 

 

Wow, if that's true, that is useless! I don't know about NCL, but I could have sworn on Carnival, that I have read that they opened the dividers on the first day and left them open all week, upon request.

[yukongold]

great pictures:)