Another great Alaska cruise on the Pearl

[Jojo27]

We live in Oregon so we drove up to Seattle in the morning and arrived at the pier at around 11am, parked at the Bell Street parking across the street which was very easy to find and convenient to the pier. They have shuttle service to the pier and/or you can roll your bags across the sky bridge which is what we did.

 

Lines to board were non-existent, and we had our room keys in about 10 min., and only waited another 10-15 until they began boarding the ship. State rooms were ready when we boarded which was great as we had also brought wine on board, which by the way is a great perk of NCL as even with the cork fee it was still a better deal (IMO).

 

We had ate breakfast when we arrived in Seattle so we just went to our rooms and put the few things away and proceeded to show some family around the ship since we had sailed the Pearl in the past. Enjoyed the sun, great views with some drinks while watching Seattle fade away.

 

Overall we had great weather, most of the sea days were very foggy, until we got closer to land.

 

Juneau

Thanks to all the CC members who recommended Harv and Marv’s for Whale watching, it was wonderful. We had done a whale watching/ship excursion last time we sailed to Alaska but really enjoyed the smaller boat with only our part of 6 on board. We were lucky in the weather department and didn’t even need a jacket while on board. Also lucky in that we saw both Orca’s and Humpback’s, with an added bonus of the Humpbacks bubble feeding, which is absolutely amazing. Due to some traffic issues on way to the bay we were not able to spend as much time as Mendenhall Glacier as we hoped, but still enough to time to enjoy the beauty of this amazing site.

 

Skagway

It was also another gorgeous day in Skagway and we enjoyed the White Pass train in the morning and then spent the afternoon in town. Great halibut fish sandwich and beer and at Skagway brewing, not much into shopping for some reason this cruise. I really wish they did not have so many jewelry stores, really takes away from the character of the town.

 

Ketchikan

We took the Misty Fjords boat excursion via NCL, which I thought was going to be a complete bust as we were in a major fog bank for the first 45 min of the trip. We finally broke through the fog and what a beautiful site. I was glad we spent the money to take this excursion as this is not something you can see every day.

 

Glacier Bay

By far one of the best highlights of the trip. The beauty and peace of this area of Alaska is breathtaking. In addition to seeing the glacier up close and personal, we also saw a family of brown bear on the shore, great site to see.

 

Ship-

This was our 3rd time on the Pearl and she is still looking pretty good, I believe she is in for a rehab of carpet, bedding etc in the Fall. We had a balcony stateroom on deck 10 which was fine for 2. We have had both a mini suite and ocean view on the Pearl and while the mini suites are much roomier, we did not like being on deck 11 due to noise from the pool and buffet deck above (just our opinion).

Food-very subjective so won’t go there. We ate at 3 of the specialty restaurants and besides great meals, I really like the fact that they are much quieter than the main dining rooms. We also ate at both the main dining rooms, personally I liked Indigo better than the Summer Palace as it seems a little more intimate.

 

Casino

Spent a fair amount of time in evenings donating some money to NCL, but also won enough here and there to keep me coming back. I never go to a casino thinking I will get rich, I take only so much gambling money and when its gone it gone, just enjoy gambling/cards for the entertainment factor. Now if they could only solve or improve the ventalation system as the cigarette smoke was quite overwhelming at times. I did not however let this ruin my vacation and had many a polite smoker ask if it would bother me if they smoked.

 

Entertainment-

Not sure why but we only went to 2 shows, Oh What a Night and Second City, both were good but think it is time for NCL to change some things up a bit as we have seen both before. We were on the Dawn last December and they had much better variety and quality of entertainment (IMO). We love to listen to music but wasn’t too impressed this time around with who was playing in the bars. They had one women who played guitar/sang in the atrium that was great, very talented but for the life of me I cannot remember her name.

 

Goodbye

 

Ended our last day on the ship with breakfast in the Summer Palace in an effort to avoid the madness in the buffet, which was a great decision. Departed the ship about 8:30am and we were off and through customs in less than 10 min.

 

All in all another great cruise on the Pearl. While there are always things that could be better, never anything bad enough to spoil my vacation and "true" Freestyle cruising will keep me coming back to NCL.

[Hikini]

Glad to hear! We've been on the Pearl once and will be going on the Jewel in just 11 days.

[sdmike]

... will be going on the Jewel in just 11 days.

 

Not that you're counting or anything! :)

[sdmike]

Glad you had a great trip!

[bonvoyagie]

The folk singer is Jana Seale and I agree she is good.

[reefgirl]

Glad you had a great trip! We went to Alaska on the Pearl last year and will be back on her next month from Vancouver to LA