Heather1972 Posted September 3, 2016 #1 Share Posted September 3, 2016 Hi all - I'm not going to post a review with pictures, but I do have the link to the video my husband made of our cruise and trip to Seattle. Overall, we had a great trip. We had some major issues at the hotel we stayed at for four nights in Seattle... Hotel 1000. So, I can't recommend the hotel. We ate too many piroshkys at Pike's Market. We toured the city using the city pass which is a great value. My big toe took a beating from walking down the steep hills! :eek: On the the ship, when we did the buffet, we ate at the Great Outdoors 99% of the time. It's the place to be! We ate at Cagney's for the first time. It was wonderful. We had great food at O'Sheehans, Lotus Garden and Summer Palace (I think that's the name). Indigo Restaurant was a big let down. We were ignored for 15 minutes, until we decided to tell the hostess we were leaving and why. The assistant maitre d stepped in and then we had people at our table every minute or two. :( We paid for an outside view cabin and upgraded to a balcony using NCL credit card rewards points. We went from an OA to BA level cabin. Anyway, I wish I had known when the bed was made for my son, that the room was wall to wall beds in every direction. It made it impossible to get to the balcony without climbing over his bed. Our room steward well... to put it mildly was not friendly and wasn't good at her job. I have never had an issue before with the people cleaning my room. She never introduced herself or asked if we needed anything. Our first encounter with her was us wanting to drop our stuff off in the cabin after our Juneau excursion. My son ran ahead to the room. She was in there making the bed. He said she yelled at him "10 more minutes!" She never said hello to us in the halls. To make matters worse, she kept giving us 2 wash cloths for 3 people. Did she expect us to share? The ship itself on the inside looked new, except for the carpet in the cabin. Outside shows some wear and tear, but that's ok! Entertainment was great. I got pulled up on stage by the comedian. So did hubby in retaliation. I hope that on my next NCL cruise I'm not asked to come up on stage. So far I'm 2 out of 4 NCL cruises for being on stage. I think I'll hide way in the back on the Breakaway. Food was good, except the chocolate crepes. Apparently they don't use the same chocolate as on NCL Star, so it was pretty disgusting as it was just chocolate syrup. Yuck! JUNEAU - We did the whales and trails tour through NCL. I wanted to book with an outside vendor, but none would take children. My kid is 11. So, NCL it was. We were on a boat with a lot of kids. We did see whales though and even an orca. However, we saw more whales while on the Pearl. Just listen out for the captain's announcement. He'll tell you where they are at. If I had to do it over again, I'd pick getting to be ON a glacier as my excursion in Juneau. We did not have time to see the town after the excursion. SKAGWAY - We did the bus ride and then train ride through Chilkoot Tours. This I highly recommend. I thought the most scenic thing was Emerald Lake. Hubby and son loved being outside on the train. GLACIER BAY - We spun around in front of Marjorie Glacier for about an hour. We didn't get to get too close to John Hopkins because of ice. On the way out of Glacier Bay I did see 2 sea otters, a couple of puffins and smelled the sea lions! Some people said they saw a bear. Ketchikan - Bring rain gear! I don't care if the weather report says no rain... BRING RAIN GEAR! It rained for about 30 minutes while we were out. We did the walking tour here. Let's just say a creek with lots of salmon running through it smells. Smells really bad. The shops next to berth 3 have good deals on coats and sweatshirts. VICTORIA - I had mapped out a route circling the city for us to walk. However, once I stepped off the ship and felt how cold and windy it was... no deal! We had toyed with a horse carriage ride when we were planning out Victoria, but seemed too complicated logistics wise. Then I saw the pedicabs at the pier. That's what we did and I don't regret it one bit. It kind of became the highlight of the trip. Scott with Victoria Pedicab Company was GREAT! I can't say enough good things about him. We got to see more of Victoria and had a great tour guide. He was great about stopping and taking pictures. He even gave food to my son so he could feed the peacocks. Cost wise it was about the same as a horse carriage ride, but twice as long time wise. Plus we were picked up at the ship and returned to the ship. That's much extra for the horse carriage ride. There were a couple of questions I had about my cruise that I got bad info on, so I'll pass this on. The drinks that are available ONLY during Glacier Bay are not part of the beverage package. They are extra. I did not see any forms to preorder them. You could get them at Java Cafe or up at the bar on deck 13. I had asked about the laundry special for $20. It is on Tuesday with return on Wednesday. That doesn't give a lot of time to get clothes dirty on the cruise, but we had been on vacation since Wednesday, so it helped out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatEnz Posted September 3, 2016 #2 Share Posted September 3, 2016 Thanks for the review! We are looking at a family trip to Alaska on the Pearl next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steff79 Posted September 3, 2016 #3 Share Posted September 3, 2016 great video and review, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger719 Posted September 3, 2016 #4 Share Posted September 3, 2016 Well done video ...good editing and audio selection Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AryMay Posted September 4, 2016 #5 Share Posted September 4, 2016 An excellent video...someone is very talented at video editing! Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather1972 Posted September 4, 2016 Author #6 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Hubby likes the compliments on the video. If only he wasn't up until 3 am last night working on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonsmom Posted September 4, 2016 #7 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Awesome video!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momoftwinteens Posted September 4, 2016 #8 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Awesome video and review. I am on this same cruise next year. Do you recommend flying in one or two days before the cruise? We are coming from Vermont. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonsmom Posted September 4, 2016 #9 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Awesome video and review. I am on this same cruise next year. Do you recommend flying in one or two days before the cruise? We are coming from Vermont. Thank you. We are sailing on this cruise next year too and are from Massachusetts. We are planning to arrive on the Friday before our trip. Staying near hotel and spending Saturday touring the city. Prices of hotels downtown are outrageous. It's $3 p/p to take light rail to downtown area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyL2 Posted September 4, 2016 #10 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Nice review and very nice video. "The Binder"....puts my two pocket folder to shame. :D I really hope Tim K. will be on the Pearl the last week in September when I'm on the Pearl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted September 4, 2016 #11 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Thanks for the review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalLuvsCrusingToo Posted September 4, 2016 #12 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Did they bring aboard Ranger Elmer Fudd to TALK over the ships Loud speakers for hour & hours while in Glacier Bay?:mad: We enjoyed the Bowling lanes on Pearl, and would love to do Alaska again on that ship. But the nonstop LOUD blather of the Ranger, ruined the Tranquility of it for us. Hoping you Didn't have that experience since you didn't mention in Review? I wrote email to NCL, and personally told the Officers at the M&G, how disruptive it was. Elmer Fudd could have easily spoken in the Lounge, where people wanted to hear it. It DIDN'T need to be broadcast over the entire ship for HOURS. But it was obvious "the Ranger" wasn't going anywhere, from the sounds of the Hotel Mgr. So we are booked on a different Alaska line next year.:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbtravel1 Posted September 4, 2016 #13 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Great review and video! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted September 4, 2016 #14 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Thanks for the report and enjoyed the video.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather1972 Posted September 4, 2016 Author #15 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Awesome video and review. I am on this same cruise next year. Do you recommend flying in one or two days before the cruise? We are coming from Vermont. Thank you. Well, how much do you want to spend? Yes, Seattle is very expensive, more so in August. Since you have about a 6 hour flight to Seattle, I'd write off the first day. Otherwise you have a very LONG day. It depends on how much you want to see. If you don't care, come the day before. If you just want to see the downtown area, come 2 days before and get to Pike's Market between 8 and 9 am to beat the rush. We arrived around 11 am Wednesday and cruised Sunday. We did Pike's Market several times, zoo, aquarium, science center, EMP, Chihuly, Space Needle (day and night), and harbor cruise. If I had to go to Seattle again, I'd stay more North of Pike's Market. I noticed the hills were more non existent in that area. We used Link to get to the hotel from the airport. We used the bus to go to the zoo. The short metro rail to get to the space needle area. On the way back to the airport after the cruise, we were going to take a taxi to westlake station and then catch link. We found a large bus to take all of us straight to the airport for $45 for the 3 of us. Way easier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather1972 Posted September 4, 2016 Author #16 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Nice review and very nice video. "The Binder"....puts my two pocket folder to shame. :DI really hope Tim K. will be on the Pearl the last week in September when I'm on the Pearl. LOL! I normally carry just a thin folder for our cruises. But for this 7 day cruise and 4 days in Seattle, I had to go hard core and get a proper binder. Between all the maps, receipts, vouchers, etc, it was heavy. So much so, I had to buy a wheeled suitcase to tote it onto the plane as I hate carrying a heavy back pack! The binder never leaves my sight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather1972 Posted September 4, 2016 Author #17 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Did they bring aboard Ranger Elmer Fudd to TALK over the ships Loud speakers for hour & hours while in Glacier Bay?:mad: We enjoyed the Bowling lanes on Pearl, and would love to do Alaska again on that ship. But the nonstop LOUD blather of the Ranger, ruined the Tranquility of it for us. Hoping you Didn't have that experience since you didn't mention in Review? I wrote email to NCL, and personally told the Officers at the M&G, how disruptive it was. Elmer Fudd could have easily spoken in the Lounge, where people wanted to hear it. It DIDN'T need to be broadcast over the entire ship for HOURS. But it was obvious "the Ranger" wasn't going anywhere, from the sounds of the Hotel Mgr. So we are booked on a different Alaska line next year.:cool: We had I think an all female crew of rangers for our time in Glacier Bay. So, definitely not Elmer Fudd. Hubby said her voice bothered him. She was way too happy. However, I don't think she talked enough, so her voice didn't bother me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freespir8 Posted September 4, 2016 #18 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Great video! Thanks so much for all of your hard work! I thought I was organized with my excel spreadsheet and print outs! I think I need to step up my game. :) Thanks again for your review. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newdestination Posted September 4, 2016 #19 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Thanks for the review and the very well done video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sestar Posted September 4, 2016 #20 Share Posted September 4, 2016 VICTORIA - I had mapped out a route circling the city for us to walk. However, once I stepped off the ship and felt how cold and windy it was... no deal! We had toyed with a horse carriage ride when we were planning out Victoria, but seemed too complicated logistics wise. Then I saw the pedicabs at the pier. That's what we did and I don't regret it one bit. It kind of became the highlight of the trip. Scott with Victoria Pedicab Company was GREAT! I can't say enough good things about him. We got to see more of Victoria and had a great tour guide. He was great about stopping and taking pictures. He even gave food to my son so he could feed the peacocks. Cost wise it was about the same as a horse carriage ride, but twice as long time wise. Plus we were picked up at the ship and returned to the ship. That's much extra for the horse carriage ride. First, thank you for the great review and video. Love it. How much was the pedicab ride to city center from pier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hihilo Posted September 4, 2016 #21 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Our family did the Victoria >> Seward ~~ Alaska cruise this past July 29 >> Aug 5th on the RADIANCE OF THE SEAS, and your video brought back lovely memories. Thks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonvoyagie Posted September 4, 2016 #22 Share Posted September 4, 2016 Did you write a review of the hotel on Trip Advisor? If so then you had every right to complain. Glad you enjoyed your AK cruise on the Pearl - we have done AK three times now - most recently on the Pearl back in 12. We did not have the UBP then but gladly paid for the Glacier bay drinks - we had a flyer in our cabin the day before allowing us to pre- order and have them delivered - we were also in a suite so perhaps that made a difference - but our butler did not deliver them - someone from the bar did. Less than 20 days to go till we leave for 14 days on the Dawn - can't wait:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonvoyagie Posted September 4, 2016 #23 Share Posted September 4, 2016 We are sailing on this cruise next year too and are from Massachusetts. We are planning to arrive on the Friday before our trip. Staying near hotel and spending Saturday touring the city. Prices of hotels downtown are outrageous. It's $3 p/p to take light rail to downtown area. Hotels in Boston are outrageous - $600.00/night and no king or queen beds:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonsmom Posted September 5, 2016 #24 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Hotels in Boston are outrageous - $600.00/night and no king or queen beds:eek: Very true - never stay in Boston. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riclop Posted September 5, 2016 #25 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Thanks for the video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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