Norwegian Pearl Review (6/15 Alaska) -- Tips for those travelling with 2 kids

[lasnev]

the pools are heated :)

 

Thanks, good to know! I would have never thought that it would be feasible to heat the pools.

[kitkat343]

I think you answered this in your original post, but I just want to be sure since I am trying to decide whether or not to book a cruise to the Baltics.

 

The NCL website states that the kids club is open on sea days from "Arrival into Port to 10:30pm". There are some days on the Baltic cruise in which the boat departs early, such as 4 pm in Stockholm. I was thinking that we would be pretty tired after getting back from touring all day, and it would be very nice to have the option to use the kids club. But from your initial post, it seems like the kids club reverts to sea day schedule after the boat departs. Is that correct? It's pretty bad news for us since the Baltic cruise seems very intense, and we might really need the kids club. I just wanted to figure this out prior to booking, and I was told by the telephone agent at NCL that the kids club is open on port days always until 10:30, but I didn't trust her since she also told me the kids club is always open from 9 am - 10:30 pm on sea days, and from their website it is pretty clear that isn't the schedule on sea days. Also, I tried emailing NCL for a response to my question and haven't heard back from them.

Edited July 1, 2014 by kitkat343

[Sundodger]

the pools are heated :)

 

At least in those pools, "heated" needs to be in quotes :) It was quite chilly. Like shivering a bit chilly even after you've adjusted. I get those in the Caribbean, you get some warm sun to help. In Alaska, no help from Mother Nature :)

[Sundodger]

Oh, and I see you booked last minute, so you already got what was likely a cheap cruise.

 

I'm wondering if you looked into the price of getting a second cabin (even the cheapest category) and how that compared to adding the two kids to your room.

 

We did, but there was a tremendous price break in doing the guarantee -- like $800 over choosing our cabin. Figured there were some last minute spots to go. We just kept watching the web site in May and early June and saw the cruise just kept dropping and dropping for the Oceanview Guarantees in early June. Originally we didn't want to pull our daughters out of last week of school but then lo and behold, the June 15 cruise then had a similar price drop (was there about 2 days then sold out). We almost always go with balcony at minimum but the Oceanview Obstructed was about half the price of the balcony and of course with the guarantee, you can't "Guarantee" an adjoining room :) We also did see if we could pick 2 adjoining rooms in the regular oceanview categories but cabin selection was limited and we couldn't find any with the adjoining rooms. Ironically, the cabin we got was an adjoiner :) But I will look more into that in the future -- hadn't really thought about it until we we were poking around and saw the OX categories are 160 sq ft :)

[Sundodger]

Edit add: Just read your earlier post on the 2 cabins -- awesome idea! I don't think we were going to be comfortable yet having not-adjoining cabins if we were going to do 2 cabins. Our kids are pretty little still and would not have liked sleeping alone or apart. If it was adjoining to where we left the connecting door open -- perfect! But if required to go outside the cabin to go into the second cabin, it wasn't going to work for us. But going to put that little tidbit in the hopper for next time. I didn't think persons No. 3 and 4 combined on an original itenerary would be more expensive than 2 in a single cabin -- usually it seems 3/4 are about 50% of 1 and 2? But something I will monitor.

 

Our next adventure is (hopefully) the DCL Transatlantic next May on the Magic. Wonder if this trick would work then too :)

[pokerpro5]

FYI the guarantee rooms will usually assign you a room well before the cruise date. You just need to log into My NCL and take a look. They technically can change it any time before sailing, but they usually don't.

 

That's how I selected our second cabin so close to our first.

 

Besides, a second room is always valuable for storage, napping, quiet time, whatever. To me it is a world of difference to have the second room. I couldn't stand 3-4 people in that tiny space for a week.

[MoyCoy]

Thank You or your informative review. We will be in a Ocean view with 2 adults and 2 toddlers. Wow! That is a tight set up. We currently have 2 connected rooms expecting to sail with extra family, but indeed they may not be able to join us. We are taking advantage of the KSF BUT WOW what a set up! How was it in general.. meaning were you really bothered by the set up? and during the day, was it tight?

[aquarianne11]

I am surprise to see that the Pearl doesn't have a slide anymore. :eek:

 

Thank you for taking the time to write and share your review and photos! :)

[3onOurWay]

Thank you for the report. We will be sailing July 6 and can't wait. Getting nervous about the food though. Everyone is complaining about the Summer Palace and the crowds at breakfast.

 

But I am sure that seeing the glaciers and visiting Skagway and Ketchikan will be worth it.

 

Thanks for your review. We seem to be hearing and agreeing with RHN here, but we know we will enjoy ourselves Does anyone know about rock climbing wall use, hours, and ages DD was refused due to age on RCCL.

 

THANKS