Our Fabulous Pearl to Alaska cruise in an A3 villa with small kids!!

[rjm11]

Just wanted to write a little review of our incredible trip on the Pearl this past week. We were a family of 5, and this was our first cruise with the kids, second cruise on NCL (first was a 3 night on the Sky). It was DH, myself, DD(4) and DS(3), as well as my husband's adult cousin Ali who babysits our kids and came along as a sort of nanny.

 

We flew into Seattle on Saturday, and took a cab to the Residence Inn Lake Union where we had a two bedroom suite. It worked really well for all 5 of us, and it was right on the street car line. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we took the street car to Westlake Center and then took the monorail to the space needle. It was a long line for the space needle because it was a perfectly clear day, but worth the wait. The clear weather was a nice foreshadow of things to come, as we had great weather for the whole week. We then went back to the hotel, and had dinner at Duke's Chowder house... great happy hour (which worked well for us as we were on East Coast time!) with $4 appetizers, sandwiches, and well drinks.

 

The next morning, we enjoyed the great free breakfast (with tons of hot items), and then took a cab with all our stuff to the pier around 9:30. We dropped DH off at the dock with all the bags, and the 4 of us walked to the aquarium (about a 5 min. easy walk) where the kids enjoyed the touch tanks, sea otters, and sea lions especially. It was a really nice aquarium, and totally doable in an hour or so. Around 11:00 we walked back down to the pier, and through the wonders of VIP embarkation were onboard within 20 minutes, all of them spent in the VIP lounge. It was wonderful to avoid all the crowds and hassle.

 

Once onboard, we were shown our room and the courtyard, then escorted to Cagneys for lunch. I actually got a little teary eyed seeing it all after the months of planning (I booked this cruise in March 2009!). The suite and courtyard were spectacular... the pictures and descriptions don't do it justice. It's really an amazing experience.

 

I was worried about how well the kids would sleep in the small room together... but I had the steward make up the bed so they were sleeping across the width since they are so small... this way they had more space between them, and couldn't roll off since the bed touches the wall on three sides. They were really into it... called it their nest, and set it all up with the toys they brought. Ali slept on the sofa bed in the living area. That night we all ate at LaCucina where the wait staff was absolutely wonderful... bringing my kids extra fruit and things that they noticed they liked.

 

The first day at sea they were up pretty early and we entertained them in the shower/bathtub for a while... they treated that area like a water park; enjoying the windows, and the handheld sprayers, and water jets. Then they went out to the courtyard pool/ hot tub and that became a staple of the week. We had Cagney's breakfast, and tried the buffet for lunch for some reason. The buffet was a madhouse, and we didn't try that again. It would have been fine for us without the kids... but with the kids, it was hard to balance all the plates, and keep running back for different things. There were tons of choices though, and the food was pretty good... no complaints there. It was rainy that afternoon, so we all five took naps, and got reset to better schedule.

 

That night we had dinner delivered from the main dining room for Ali and the kids, and DH and I went to Lotus Garden for dinner. It was lovely.... Pearl the concierge stopped by to make sure everything was fine, and we had a nice table by the window. I took DD to the showgirls show that evening for a little while, but she was pretty tired in spite of the nap, so we went back to the room. We also tried the kids club... DD was really into it, and asked to go back throughout the week, but DS only tolerated it and preferred to color or play trains with us in the room. That's typical of my kids' personalities, but also I think it was the difference between 4 years old, and 3 years old (he had actually just turned 3 the week before we left).

 

Next up, Juneau and Skagway.

[DMH15]

Enjoying your report. Thanks, looking forward to the next installment.

[rjm11]

On Tuesday we woke to a great deal of fog and rain, and I was panicked that the day would be yucky for our whale watch. Actually I was pretty panicked for most of the forecast... the forecast for every port was cold and rain. That day in Juneau called for a 70% chance of rain, so I brought out all the rain pants and shoes I'd brought, and parked myself on the balcony. By 8am we were seeing whales pretty consistently, and knew we were in some sort of channel because we could see land in the fog. We saw several humpback whales (probably 15?) over the course of the morning, and several groups of dolphins. The kids could see them too... they were out on the balcony looking for the puffs of water, and got to see a number of tails as they dove.

 

Around 11:00am DH and I headed to the fitness center, and stopped by the spa to book a massage (the next day was DH's 35th birthday!). At the spa, DH was noticing the flyers for the spa pass, and wanted to get the tour and hear more about it. Of course I already knew about it from this board, and thought he wouldn't be into it. Well I was wrong, he was REALLY interested. But by then it was noon on Tuesday, and I asked the spa attendant lady if we could get it pro-rated since a day and a half had gone by already. She said no. Well the spa manager overheard this, and quietly took a piece of paper out and wrote "$75" on it and passed it to me. We accepted! So we got the spa pass for $75 each and were very happy with it in the end... it was heavenly.

 

We pulled into Juneau at 2:00, and it was like divine intervention because the clouds parted, and the SUN came out! We were so excited... we took advantage of Pearl's services, and got priority debarkation, and met Steve from Harv and Marv right on the dock.

 

I had arranged a private whale watch tour because of the small kids... we were a party of 5 so it was roughly the same cost as doing the ship sponsored whale watch (about $700 total). We could not have been more pleased with this excursion. They had car seats in place for the kids, and the transfer to Auke bay was very easy. We got on the boat, and headed out into the beautifully calm bay and immediately stopped to photograph some eagles that were on low branches over the water. Then we headed out to the area where the whales had been all morning, and sure enough they were still there (no surprise to anyone).... but what was surprising (at least to Steve) was the number of them... we saw over a dozen different humpbacks all told, and even though Steve stopped his boat well outside of the 100 yard limit, the whales continued to approach us- we even had to back up a little because they were getting so close. The kids could see everything, and we got amazing tail pics. We were close enough to hear both the exhale and subsequent inhale. My four year old DD was very interested in the whole thing (she's really into whales, and all sea life right now), but my three year old DS watched for a little while then occupied himself with his father's iPhone. I didn't care as at least he was quiet and well behaved, and we were all having the time of our life!

 

After our alotted time viewing the whales (you are only supposed to watch for about 30 minutes) we motored out to an island covered with about 150 sea lions... and enroute we encountered one with a salmon who was fighting off the sea gulls trying to get a piece. That particular sea lion was very big and swam right up to the side of our boat to get a closer look at us, baring his teeth and everything. Quite a sight! The island of sea lions was really cool too- we could hear them barking (if that's the right term), and see a lot more splashing in the water. Then we motored around the other side of the island where we were seeing the whales, and saw about 3 more humpbacks on the return trip, and the sea lions hauled out on the buoy. All in all just a fabulous whale watch experience- Steve was great with our kids, and luck was on our side with both the weather and activity of the whales.

 

We stopped briefly at Mendenhall on the return trip, then Steve dropped us off right at the dock, and we got back on the Pearl. We had arranged with Andrew our butler to have dinner ready in our suite for the kids because I knew it would be late and they would be hungry. So they ate, and we put them to bed, and then we ordered dinner from the main dining room for ourselves. We realllllyyyy utilized the butler on this trip, and he was incredible. After dinner DH and I went to the spa for an hour or so (it closed at 10, which was kind of a bummer), and then back to the suite to that wonderfully comfortable bed.... have I mentioned yet how much we enjoyed that bed???

[marelind]

Love hearing about your adventures. You have a lovely way of describing them!

[rjm11]

We woke up early on the day we went to Skagway and headed for our typical breakfast in Cagney's... plain pancakes for the kids, french toast for DH, and something with eggs for myself. And lots of bacon all around. They caught on early that DD liked hot chocolate, and kept it coming.

 

I had arranged that the kids and DH would take the White Pass Yukon Railway one way to Fraser and I would rent a car from Avis and drive the South Klondike Highway to meet them in Fraser... then we would all continue on the Emerald Lake. This worked really well...

 

They were on the 8am train, and after getting them all settled in their train car (which was quite easy given the number of WPYR staff they had helping everyone find his/her way), I walked across the parking lot to the Avis rental place..... was second in line, and had my car by 8:15. Ali had decided to take a day to herself and booked the Eagle Preserve Float trip from Haines, which she reported was excellent- they saw 30 some eagles!

 

But back in Skagway I set out with the car, the backpack, two car seats, and camera bag to drive to Fraser. I got as far as the Dyea road when I noticed that the car wouldn't go above 40 miles per hour, and the engine sounded really loud. So I pulled over and rooted around for the Avis receipt I'd dropped on the floor, and my cell phone, and called them to say I was coming back. They asked if it was possible that the car could be in "sport mode" and I answered that of course that was entirely possible as I had no idea what it meant. So back I went.... they met me outside and sure enough I had it locked in first gear in "sport mode" which was completely unmarked with no indication on the dash board or anywhere else. But once set in "regular unsporty 39 year old Mom mode" the car worked great.

 

So off I went, stopping to take pictures of the train across the valley that contained my family, and driving into the mist. Here's one thing I didn't really think about..... the train left at 8am... and was due to arrive in Fraser around 10:30. But the trip was only supposed to be an hour and a half..... this didn't register with me until I was on the drive wondering exactly how much time I had.... the catch is that when driving Northeast on the Klondike highway, you cross a time zone, so the train actually came in around 9:30. This is of no consequence to those who are doing the train roundtrip, but makes a difference if you are trying to connect one way.

 

Alas, I arrived about 3 minutes before the train, and got my family safely loaded into the now-functioning rental car. The views up to this point were fairly non-existent as there was a thick fog, but everyone seemed to enjoy the train anyways. We headed to Emerald Lake and the fog lifted, and it became a nice 60-something degrees out with sunshine.

 

We turned around at the lake (after stopping for photos), and headed to the Spirit Lake Lodge for lunch.... we walked down to the lake beforehand and got some great pictures of the fall colors which were really starting to turn. The undergrowth is gorgeous reds and golds, and the sunlight on it was beautiful. The lunch was just OK- turkey and ham sandwiches were good, soup was great, salmon sandwich was not good.

 

Then we headed to Caribou Crossing, but were a little too early to beat the crowd of tour buses. Fortunately most were on their way to rounding everyone up, so that helped...

DD was very excited to see the puppies, and they were out frolicking around, rolling all over each other and my kids. Everyone was happy!

 

We took a spin through the museum, and told each kid they could pick out a stuffed animal for their "nest" back on the boat. There was a huge array of stuffed animals found in the general area: bears, wolves, raccoons, otters, etc. But my daughter picked out a stuffed kitty, and my son picked out a stuffed bejeweled green teddy bear with a tag that read "Glitzy Gal". Oh well what are you going to do. We stopped for ice cream, then me, DH, DD, DS, Kitty, and Glitzy Gal headed back into the car.

 

The children promptly fell asleep, and we had a very lovely return trip with the sun shining on all the scenery we missed on the way in. When we got back to Skagway, it was starting to cloud up, and we stopped to refill the rental car, then I dropped DH and kids off at the dock and went to return the car. As I was walking back onto the ship, the rain started.... perfect timing and it was really nice and cozy to watch the cool fall-like rain as the sun went down. When Ali got back, we hit the spa while she and the kids ordered dinner to the room.... then we went to Cagney's for DH's birthday celebration. He got the surf and turf and I got the crab legs. Both were excellent... we ordered very little else, but the waiter found that upsetting and kept bringing us more and more... including a very good cake for his birthday.

 

When we got back to the room, all three passengers were sound asleep, the dinner dishes had been cleared, and we watched the sailaway from the balcony......

happily anticipating Glacier Bay and thankful once again for the great weather that hadn't been predicted....

[Cruise_More_Often]

More, more!! What a wonderful review of what must have been one of those "once in a lifetime" trips for you and your family. I'm sure looking forward to more of it.

 

And I agree with you. Those A3 beds are fantastic!

[reefgirl]

I'm really enjoying your review, especially since my family will be in that suite next july!

[Susie51]

Your review is great. I'm excited to hear about your experience in Glacier Bay. Sept. 6, 2009 I was cruising in Alaska. Your report brings back happy memories.

[rjm11]

The morning we sailed into Glacier Bay I was up at 6am because I'd heard "rumors" that you could sometimes spot whales while sailing into/out of Glacier Bay. Well they basically would have had to have breached onto my balcony, because it was pretty darn foggy. I started wondering if I should have posted a question on the Alaska boards about whether it was possible to completely miss the glaciers because of fog. But dutifully (and warmly dressed) I sat out there waiting....

 

My family awoke when I tried to use the fancy coffee machine. I'll suggest it was coincidence, but deep down I know the truth... those suckers are loud! We all trodded down to Cagney's around 8am, which proved to be in error.... Right after ordering (pancakes, french toast, eggs of some sort) the Glacier Bay National Park Ranger came over the loud speaker to introduce herself and announce that there were MOUNTAIN GOATS visible on the starboard side!!! I ran to get the camera..... DH ran for the binoculars..... DD just ran..... DS..... well, he sat in Cagneys and played with the iPad. Just as I had the mountain goats in my sights, BING BONG... it's The Ranger announcing that there were GRIZZLY BEARS feeding on the whale carcass on the port side!!! Everyone ran to the port side (by now the food had come, but we weren't at the table. They politely left it anyhow).... even DS put down the iPad for GRIZZLY BEARS (remember he was barely three years old, so it takes a lot). And just as we had the GRIZZLY BEARS all counted (there were four) and photographed, BING BONG, here comes another announcement from The Ranger...... there is A PACK OF WOLVES behind the GRIZZLY BEARS!!! It was all too much.... we all four sat out there parked on the port side until they were no longer visible. Phew! What a breakfast hour!

 

Well by this point the fog and clouds were lifting nicely.... and what is that I see over there up ahead? Is it.... could it be.... are we THIS LUCKY.... YES!!! It's BLUE SKY!! Unbelievably, the clouds all lifted into nice fluffy balls spaced out in the blue sky. The water was perfectly calm, and it was absolutely lovely!

 

We got ourselves camped out on our port side balcony... the kids even came out there and watched the first glacier or so... but it turns out kids don't have much patience for staring at ice. So Ali packed them up and took them down to the kids club (thank you Ali).

 

I was surprised at how close we were to the glaciers. I guess with the vastness of the space, it's deceiving, but it seemed like we were really close. We pulled up to Marjerie Glacier, and it was quiet.... and we sat there with the boat silent, snapping pictures with the gorgeous mountains all around and blue sky up above.....

 

....and what is that I hear?? Was that some sort of cracking noise??? All of a sudden small pieces started to fall off the glacier into the water.... SPLASH (they LOOKED like small pieces, but boy did they splash...) Then there was DEFINITE cracking.... and then some sort of shotgun blast sound (for a second my mind went to skeet shooting off the aft deck...) and BAMMMM an ENORMOUS piece of glacier slowly slid off into the water! And again.... and again.... It was amazing. We even got video of it because it became a little predictable due to the preceeding cracking/popping noises we heard. We were all just totally blown away, and felt really lucky ONCE AGAIN about the weather, and about getting to see all these amazing things.

 

After about a half hour or so, the boat slowly started to turn so that the starboard side could get a view, and then we sailed on to John Hopkins glacier, I believe.... we picked up the kids and went swimming in the courtyard pool for a while (had lunch delivered there from Cagneys), then the kids took a nap (with Ali stationed in the room out on the balcony) and DH and I went to the spa to watch the rest of the gorgeous day from that lovely vantage point. It's really amazing up there because you have a 180 degree view off the front of the ship... probably the best view in the house.

 

Dinner was in Indigo that night for all 5 of us... it was fine, but I do agree that there is a distinct difference in the food quality in the specialty restaurants compared to the MDRs. But we had a nice window seat, and in the middle of dinner.... DD (who remember is only 4) jumped up and yelled WHALES... and sure enough there were about 5 humpback whales spouting away next to the boat. The whole restaurant ran to the port side to see them.... it was around 6:00 and we were out of Glacier Bay, but I think basically sailing past Douglas Island where we had been whale watching while in Juneau (but don't quote me on that!).

 

After dinner we headed to the 7:00 Sharkbait show... the priority seating for suites is the front section of the balcony all the way on the port side. The seats were pretty good (though a somewhat side view) but the nice thing was not having to get there early or worry about not having a seat for popular shows. DD and DS seemed pretty interested... it was a good show for them because it was so entertaining and fast paced. Pretty family-friendly too... only a few slightly suggestive comments that of course went right past my kids.

 

Then the cruise director came out and talked for a few minutes reminding us of the early docking in Ketchikan (6am, I think)... and commented about how lucky we had gotten with the weather so far this week, and what a gorgeous day it had been... then he said they had called down to Ketchikan for the forecast and it WASN'T 100% chance of rain.... we all collectively perked up... then he said it was 150% chance of rain. Oh well.... we'd get to experience "real Alaskan" weather as he reminded us... and I DID bring all that rain gear....

 

so back to the room to get all the rain geared sorted out for our morning excursion to the Rainforest Sanctuary...

 

and off to that wonderful bed.....

[Susie51]

Your descriptions of sights and sounds bring back lots of wonderful memories. Thank you for posting your fascinating story.