Dungeons, gardens, and feeling foolish. Pearl PC 9/26!

[Starflyr3]

Hello, everyone!

 

DH and I are sitting at LAX, having just disembarked the NCl Pearl repo cruise from Vancouver to LA.

 

I will do a day to day, with pictures and videos, it may take a bit to complete, but hopefully it will be helpful!

 

A bit about us, DH and I are in our 30s/40s, with 3 kids ages 23 (his daughter, my step), 5, and 8. DH is the stay at home parent, I am a pediatrician. No kids came on this trip, however, as they had school, and his parents graciously agreed to stay with the littles while we were gone. This is our first alone cruise since a 3 day Monarch OTS, and before that, it was our honeymoon on the Norway.

 

I originally booked an IX, then cancelled, as our oldest informed us we were going to be grandparents and moved back home, and we were afraid she would need us. Her due date is in December, and once we found that out, we contemplated rebooking. After a couple of months, she decided we are too strict and moved out, and the we did rebook. I booked OX, then read on here about the perks not being available to guarantees, so I called my PCC and upgraded to an SE (9000) forward penthouse suite. Time passed, and DH was getting very stressed out with the little's being home all summer and his hormonal pregnant angry 22 year old being hormonal, pregnant, and angry. So, I called Upsell a bit less than a month out to see if we could upgrade. They offered a $600 upgrade to the OS, and I grabbed it! I even managed to keep it secret until we got to the terminal!

 

A couple of days before we left, I was double checking everything and discovered that our hotel was on the wrong side of the bay in Vancouver! Whoops! I managed to change the booking to the Pan Pacific hotel at Canada Place. Sometimes being the nit picky travel planner is a good thing!

[Starflyr3]

9/25: Travel to Vancouver

 

My inlaws came over Saturday afternoon to stay for the week, so they were already there by this time. Our flight was at 9:10, so we woke up early, to be at airport between 6:10 and 7:10. Security was fast, though I did get patted down (more like felt up) due to wearing a shirt with "bling".

 

There was a computer glitch where both DH and I were assigned the same passenger number (not ticket, we did have separate tickets), so whoever went first got through, but the second did not. It wasn't just us, though, it was everyone with >1 person on the reservation. Needless to say, we were delayed an hour due to that mess. Add to that that there was a thunderstorm, it was an interesting morning. Luckily, we were in 1st class, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

 

 

We were in an upgraded plane, and so had movies on demand on personal monitors. I watched Xmen Apocalypse and part of another movie. It was a breakfast flight, and I do not recommend breakfast on AA. The choices were oatmeal with dried fruit and brown sugar (served on a PLATE?!?!?), or some type of quiche (with meat). Plus fruit, milk, and a biscuit.

 

We got to YVR around 12:30 pacific, and had to walk quite a ways to get through customs. The YVR airport actually has a skyway with a water feature!

 

 

We finally got through that and got our luggage, and took the Skytrain to Waterfront for 15.50 for both of us (taxi is $35 set fare). It was about a 5 minute walk to the Pan Pacific from the station, where we were checked in on the 23rd floor. Our room had a view of the train tracks, part of the port, and downtown. Small, but comfortable.

 

 

 

We went to a food court across the street for lunch. I had lamb souvlaki from a pita place, which was amazing.

 

 

We retired to the room and had a bit of a nap and a shower (hands down, the best hotel shower I have ever had!) then went to the lounge for canapés, and watched a little football (go Cowboys!)

 

[cbtravel1]

I look forward to hearing more of your review.

[G-DawgMN]

Hello neighbor :) it was a great cruise (never long enough though) and I look forward to reading your review of it!

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Forums mobile app

[cincicruisers]

Great start..More please...

[Starflyr3]

Great start..More please...

 

Heh, no worries! I'm in line a chick fil a right now, getting DH some chicken on our way home from the airport. I'll do more when I get home after the kids are in bed.

[Freespir8]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Starflyr3]

We took a long walk down the sea wall/ harbor area towards Stanley Park. There is very nice walking/biking, even some bikes to rent, if needed. There was a lovely dog park, and lots of little water features like this one (a child's play area in front of a pub):

 

 

We walked for about 45 minutes, and as we were coming back, we were treated to this sight:

 

 

That is Canada Place, the only cruise terminal in Vancouver (the old one closed a year ago, I think), and that restaurant is the Five Sails restaurant, which is apparently a fine dining type place. We did not pack dress clothes (it's NCL, why bring a jacket or tie or gown???), so we did not go.

 

Instead, we had dinner at Bellagio, a little cafe/gelateria that is just across a little park area from the Pan Pacific. It was delicious, and had a very interesting children's play area:

 

 

 

 

 

DH had salmon and I had fish and chips, both of which were good (except when DH thought capers were peas and ate a mouthful of them...his face was priceless!), followed by a chocolate waffle cone that we shared.

 

We also stopped at a little souvenirs place and got his Mom a spoon (she collects them), and got each if the kids a canned Canadian black bear. It looks like a can of soup but when you open it, it has a little stuffed bear inside. We were pretty tired by this point, so upon returning to the hotel, we turned for the night.

 

 

Next up: morning adventures and boarding the Pearl!

Edited October 2, 2016 by Starflyr3

[Starflyr3]

Hello neighbor :) it was a great cruise (never long enough though) and I look forward to reading your review of it!

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Forums mobile app

 

No, it never is long enough! It was fun meeting you!

[Starflyr3]

Day 1: Embarkation!

 

Due to living in Central time, of course I woke up at 4 am (6 central), because that is when we normally get up on weekdays. I actually got up around 7 and went to Starbucks across the street (the same food court as the pita place), and stopped and got DH a Dr Pepper at a little newsstand shop next to the Starbucks.

 

DH was still asleep when I came back, so i drank my chai in the lounge. I went back to the room at 8:30 to roust him out of bed, and pack, and I discovered that I could actually see the Pearl from our room! Not the best/easiest view, but...

 

 

While I was at the window, I also took a picture of a curious phenomenon. I dont know how it goes in other places, but in Texas, we dont grow trees and grass on the roofs of buildings. This seemed to be a commonplace occurance in Vancouver:

 

 

After the picture taking, we had breakfast in the lounge. Nice variety, mostly continental, but DH did get fooled by the eggs. The looked like his favorite hard boiled eggs, but they were soft boiled. Whoops! His expression was priceless! After breakfast, we checked out and headed down the elevator to the cruise terminal.

 

We had hoped to walk on with our bags, but were told they were too big, so we checked them. Had we realized that before hauling them downstairs ourselves, the Pan Pacific does offer a service where the bellmen take your tagged luggage from your room and deliver it to the ship FOR you, so you dont have to bother hauling it about. Live and learn, I suppose!

 

We did notice, also, that Canadians appear to be rather organized when it comes to recycling. It was a smidge confusing, at least for me, since I wasnt sure if I was supposed to scrape leftovers into the organic bin and put the styrofoam plate in the trash bin, or put the whole schebang in the trash or what. I hope I did it right.

 

 

Check in and security in Vancouver was something of a joke. First off, it was backwards. FIRST you check in, THEN you go through security. The check in people didn't have the Suite/Haven cards and had to send someone to get them. Then, we went through security and were funneled to a waiting area.

 

There were 2 other ships boarding at the same time - the NCL Sun and HAL Nieuw Amsterdaam (I think). This caused some interesting issues.

 

We did not go through customs in Vancouver, because our 2nd port was Victoria. Unfortunately, it also meant that we were in a holding area with no restroom access for over an hour. I had chugged a bottle of water at the water drop-off point. Pro tip: dont do that.

 

We did get to meet several CC members while waiting, including Joyfully Sailing Away, Lydia, and Tyr, as well as NancyL and her daughter Jennifer.

 

Once we were finally being escorted on, the butler doing the escort wanted to wait for everyone to get pictures taken, then to cross the bridge, which I understand, but I did end up having to beg to go on more quickly due to a severely urgent need for a washroom. So if people saw me go on first, that is why. Sorry.

 

Of course, when security scanned my card, we found out that the port agent at check in had taken a picture of a wall instead of a picture of my face. Great. I had to assure Security and the butler that 1) I knew where Cagneys was and 2) that I would go to Guest Services ASAP go get a new picture taken.

 

I managed to do that and still beat the group to Cagneys. Heh. Now, the suite restaurant on the Pearl is Moderno, but that first day, we were in Cagneys.

 

DH was glad we made it:

 

 

I was also glad we made it, and ordered my first drink. Mango Meltodown anyone?

 

Of course, when I asked for that, the waiter gave me a *look* and had me repeat it several times, then asked me if I was sure that it was a real drink on NCL. Really? Pretty sure it's been the drink of the day on every cruise Ive been on with NCL (except the Norway, maybe). Well, it took awhile, but I finally got one. YAY!

 

 

They were still using the old suite menu. I had my usual boarding lunch - shrimp cocktail and French dip. It was a bit odd this time, as the beef on the French dip was literally ice cold. I heard the waiter tell another guest that it was supposed to be that way. Maybe I go to strange places, but Ive never had a french dip with ice cold beef. DH made the wise choice and got the NY stip.

 

 

Cabins were ready as soon as we boarded, so after lunch we headed to our home for the next 5 days.

[NancyL2]

Laurie....Great review and love your pics!

Didn't realize you and John were at American in LAX. We might have taken a walk and visited for a bit....we were there for a good 7 hours after leaving the ship. Uggg lol

Home and trying to get up the energy to do some laundry. I need a vacation from my vacation. lol

It was really great meeting you both! :)

 

You had a concierge right? I wasn't impress by her at all! Didn't stop by till Friday afternoon to introduce herself and only saw her in the Stardust the very last night. Bad move on her part.

Both William (butler) and Arbee (room steward) were there greeting us within the first 30 minutes. :)

Edited October 2, 2016 by NancyL2

[Starflyr3]

Laurie....Great review and love your pics!

Didn't realize you and John were at American in LAX. We might have taken a walk and visited for a bit....we were there for a good 7 hours after leaving the ship. Uggg lol

Home and trying to get up the energy to do some laundry. I need a vacation from my vacation. lol

It was really great meeting you both! :)

 

You had a concierge right? I wasn't impress by her at all! Didn't stop by till Friday afternoon to introduce herself and only saw her in the Stardust the very last night. Bad move on her part.

Both William (butler) and Arbee (room steward) were there greeting us within the first 30 minutes. :)

 

Aw, man! We were there for 3 hours. It would have been great to hang out with you!

 

no, I agree that Yadhira was not a good concierge. Nowhere near Omar or Leo. She did introduce herself to us on the 4th day of the cruise - came by our cabin, etc - but was really not very helpful with anything.

 

She was never near the suite seating in the Stardust - and we never ever got drink service at the shows (even after talking to people about it, it still never happened). That was VERY odd. Heck, we wanted to do priority walk off, and when we got to the Stardust (the meeting point, I thought?) we were shooed off to Bliss to join the regular line. Not that it was a HUGE deal, but it was certainly off putting.

 

I did not write her a vacation hero card. I did write our steward (Marvin) and our butler (Lazaro), who were WONDERFUL.

[NancyL2]

Aw, man! We were there for 3 hours. It would have been great to hang out with you!

 

no, I agree that Yadhira was not a good concierge. Nowhere near Omar or Leo. She did introduce herself to us on the 4th day of the cruise - came by our cabin, etc - but was really not very helpful with anything.

 

She was never near the suite seating in the Stardust - and we never ever got drink service at the shows (even after talking to people about it, it still never happened). That was VERY odd. Heck, we wanted to do priority walk off, and when we got to the Stardust (the meeting point, I thought?) we were shooed off to Bliss to join the regular line. Not that it was a HUGE deal, but it was certainly off putting.

 

I did not write her a vacation hero card. I did write our steward (Marvin) and our butler (Lazaro), who were WONDERFUL.

 

Yeah, it would have been great to hang out with you both for a bit...next time. :)

Well I'm glad it wasn't just me that didn't think she was good. Think she only showed up the last day was for a tip. Agravating.

We did the early priority walk off about 8:30 and she did show up after they called her. It was nice not to have to wait in the line like other cruises.

I don't know what the deal was with no waiters coming up top to do drinks....but not a one. :confused:

Definitely not going to stop me from booking another cruise. :)

[G-DawgMN]

Aw, man! We were there for 3 hours. It would have been great to hang out with you!

 

no, I agree that Yadhira was not a good concierge. Nowhere near Omar or Leo. She did introduce herself to us on the 4th day of the cruise - came by our cabin, etc - but was really not very helpful with anything.

 

She was never near the suite seating in the Stardust - and we never ever got drink service at the shows (even after talking to people about it, it still never happened). That was VERY odd. Heck, we wanted to do priority walk off, and when we got to the Stardust (the meeting point, I thought?) we were shooed off to Bliss to join the regular line. Not that it was a HUGE deal, but it was certainly off putting.

 

I did not write her a vacation hero card. I did write our steward (Marvin) and our butler (Lazaro), who were WONDERFUL.

 

That's weird, we saw her all the time, she even walked us into Indigo one night and sat us at a table. But honestly, we never used her for anything at all, we had all our reservations done before coming onboard and we always sat ourselves at the show.

I totally agree that Marvin and Lazaro were great, Lazaro was always asking to do more for us...we only used him for breakfast one morning and that was really it.

[JillL]

Great start... following

[Starflyr3]

9/26 continued!

 

We headed for our room. Now, Ive done an OS on Sky, but this was WAY better. Honestly, I dont really see the need for Haven access with this + a spa pass for the week.

 

I could not find a video tour of the 9th floor OS on any Jewel class ship prior, so I took one and uploaded it to Youtube

 

 

We met Lazaro, our butler for the week before muster drill - he came to show us how to use the Lavazza machine, etc. Our 3 liters of alcohol were in the room, also. We had 2 of rum, and 1 of vodka. We had requested Captain Morgan instead of Bacardi White Rum (the rum on the list - we had this on the Sky, it was AWFUL), and they did the sub, no charge, through the pre cruise concierge desk.

 

Muster was in the Stardust theater, and was just like every other muster on NCL. We had a 1 year old having a fit behind us, so that at least made it more interesting!

 

after muster, we went to the Great Outdoors for an informal meet and greet - but it seemed like only one other person showed up (Emi)!

 

 

However, some of Vancouver's moster seagulls showed up. I mean, usually everything is bigger and better in Texas, but it would take at LEAST 3 Texas seagulls to make ONE Vancouver seagull. I mean, look at this thing!

 

 

It started raining, so we retreated to our room. Of course, by the time we got THERE, the rain had stopped.

 

Here is a picture of the Pan Pacific from our front balcony. you can see it is literally ON Canada Place cruise terminal.

 

 

We were the first of 3 ships out. The Sun was on the other side of the pier from us, and those of us with front balconies had a yelling match with people with a front balcony on the Sun. It was pretty funny, actually.

 

 

I dont know if you can see the HAL ship leaving. It left 2nd for some odd reason. Seems like it would be logical to move the Sun out first, but what do I know about logistics of moving around huge ships?

 

 

Our luggage arrived directly after this, so we unpacked, and crashed on the bed for about an hour before dinner.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Starflyr3

[Cruisermom2nick]

9/26 continued!

 

We headed for our room. Now, Ive done an OS on Sky, but this was WAY better. Honestly, I dont really see the need for Haven access with this + a spa pass for the week.

 

I could not find a video tour of the 9th floor OS on any Jewel class ship prior, so I took one and uploaded it to Youtube

 

 

We met Lazaro, our butler for the week before muster drill - he came to show us how to use the Lavazza machine, etc. Our 3 liters of alcohol were in the room, also. We had 2 of rum, and 1 of vodka. We had requested Captain Morgan instead of Bacardi White Rum (the rum on the list - we had this on the Sky, it was AWFUL), and they did the sub, no charge, through the pre cruise concierge desk.

 

Muster was in the Stardust theater, and was just like every other muster on NCL. We had a 1 year old having a fit behind us, so that at least made it more interesting!

 

after muster, we went to the Great Outdoors for an informal meet and greet - but it seemed like only one other person showed up (Emi)!

 

 

However, some of Vancouver's moster seagulls showed up. I mean, usually everything is bigger and better in Texas, but it would take at LEAST 3 Texas seagulls to make ONE Vancouver seagull. I mean, look at this thing!

 

 

It started raining, so we retreated to our room. Of course, by the time we got THERE, the rain had stopped.

 

Here is a picture of the Pan Pacific from our front balcony. you can see it is literally ON Canada Place cruise terminal.

 

 

We were the first of 3 ships out. The Sun was on the other side of the pier from us, and those of us with front balconies had a yelling match with people with a front balcony on the Sun. It was pretty funny, actually.

 

 

I dont know if you can see the HAL ship leaving. It left 2nd for some odd reason. Seems like it would be logical to move the Sun out first, but what do I know about logistics of moving around huge ships?

 

 

Our luggage arrived directly after this, so we unpacked, and crashed on the bed for about an hour before dinner.

 

I am excited to hear the rest of your review- and how you liked the dining and shows! :)

Save

[Starflyr3]

ugh. duplicate post. Sorry. moving on.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Starflyr3

[Starflyr3]

Several of us on the roll call had reservations at Teppanyaki for dinner. However, we failed to get someone to link our reservations together, so DH and I ended up at a table across from most of the other CCers, including QuiltingCruiser, Emi, NancyL and Jennifer.

 

 

Luckily, we were at a table of lively and convivial people, including one older Spanish speaking couple. Luckily, I speak Spanish at least passably (Im much better with medical spanish then Telemundo Spanish, though)

 

We began with the edamame and miso soup. Maybe its just me, but this really isnt much edamame, is it?

 

 

DH and I both ordered the filet and shrimp. There was no lobster on the menu this time around. I always like to see how creative the chefs on the ship are, since most land-based Hibachi chefs seem to rely quite a bit on fire, which is obviously a no-no at sea. This time, we got a flower made of egg white:

 

 

For dessert, I had the green tea cake and ice cream (Wasnt in the mood for sliced fruit), and it was pretty good, actually. After the meal, our chef came back out and brought each of us an origami dragon that he had made. It is so cute!

 

 

My son keeps wanting to take it apart, but I wont let him (he and I both do origami).

 

On the way back to the room, we noticed that the forward stairway wall murals were amazing animal pictures - like National Geographic type. This was our favorite, the swimming elephant:

 

 

We were pretty tired after dinner, so we headed to our room instead of the show, and were greeted by this cute puppy:

 

 

We were quite tired and crashed pretty quickly.

 

Next up: Victoria!

[mjkacmom]

Day 1: Embarkation!

 

Due to living in Central time, of course I woke up at 4 am (6 central), because that is when we normally get up on weekdays. I actually got up around 7 and went to Starbucks across the street (the same food court as the pita place), and stopped and got DH a Dr Pepper at a little newsstand shop next to the Starbucks.

 

DH was still asleep when I came back, so i drank my chai in the lounge. I went back to the room at 8:30 to roust him out of bed, and pack, and I discovered that I could actually see the Pearl from our room! Not the best/easiest view, but...

 

 

While I was at the window, I also took a picture of a curious phenomenon. I dont know how it goes in other places, but in Texas, we dont grow trees and grass on the roofs of buildings. This seemed to be a commonplace occurance in Vancouver:

 

 

After the picture taking, we had breakfast in the lounge. Nice variety, mostly continental, but DH did get fooled by the eggs. The looked like his favorite hard boiled eggs, but they were soft boiled. Whoops! His expression was priceless! After breakfast, we checked out and headed down the elevator to the cruise terminal.

 

We had hoped to walk on with our bags, but were told they were too big, so we checked them. Had we realized that before hauling them downstairs ourselves, the Pan Pacific does offer a service where the bellmen take your tagged luggage from your room and deliver it to the ship FOR you, so you dont have to bother hauling it about. Live and learn, I suppose!

 

We did notice, also, that Canadians appear to be rather organized when it comes to recycling. It was a smidge confusing, at least for me, since I wasnt sure if I was supposed to scrape leftovers into the organic bin and put the styrofoam plate in the trash bin, or put the whole schebang in the trash or what. I hope I did it right.

 

 

Check in and security in Vancouver was something of a joke. First off, it was backwards. FIRST you check in, THEN you go through security. The check in people didn't have the Suite/Haven cards and had to send someone to get them. Then, we went through security and were funneled to a waiting area.

 

There were 2 other ships boarding at the same time - the NCL Sun and HAL Nieuw Amsterdaam (I think). This caused some interesting issues.

 

We did not go through customs in Vancouver, because our 2nd port was Victoria. Unfortunately, it also meant that we were in a holding area with no restroom access for over an hour. I had chugged a bottle of water at the water drop-off point. Pro tip: dont do that.

 

We did get to meet several CC members while waiting, including Joyfully Sailing Away, Lydia, and Tyr, as well as NancyL and her daughter Jennifer.

 

Once we were finally being escorted on, the butler doing the escort wanted to wait for everyone to get pictures taken, then to cross the bridge, which I understand, but I did end up having to beg to go on more quickly due to a severely urgent need for a washroom. So if people saw me go on first, that is why. Sorry.

 

Of course, when security scanned my card, we found out that the port agent at check in had taken a picture of a wall instead of a picture of my face. Great. I had to assure Security and the butler that 1) I knew where Cagneys was and 2) that I would go to Guest Services ASAP go get a new picture taken.

 

I managed to do that and still beat the group to Cagneys. Heh. Now, the suite restaurant on the Pearl is Moderno, but that first day, we were in Cagneys.

 

DH was glad we made it:

 

 

I was also glad we made it, and ordered my first drink. Mango Meltodown anyone?

 

Of course, when I asked for that, the waiter gave me a *look* and had me repeat it several times, then asked me if I was sure that it was a real drink on NCL. Really? Pretty sure it's been the drink of the day on every cruise Ive been on with NCL (except the Norway, maybe). Well, it took awhile, but I finally got one. YAY!

 

 

They were still using the old suite menu. I had my usual boarding lunch - shrimp cocktail and French dip. It was a bit odd this time, as the beef on the French dip was literally ice cold. I heard the waiter tell another guest that it was supposed to be that way. Maybe I go to strange places, but Ive never had a french dip with ice cold beef. DH made the wise choice and got the NY stip.

 

 

Cabins were ready as soon as we boarded, so after lunch we headed to our home for the next 5 days.

 

I just saw a segment on the Today show, and the chef was saying a trick to a French dip sandwich, which he picked up in Philadelphia, is to serve the beef cold, because it absorbs more liquid that way.

[wajowander2011]

Enjoying the review! Looking forward to the next part.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Thank you for taking the time to do a review.

[QuattroRomeo]

Very nice descriptions so far, thanks for taking the time to write a review!

[Starflyr3]

Thanks, y'all! Sorry I didn't do more yesterday; it was a crazy day at work. I will try to do Vicroria tonight

[dexddd]

Day 1: Embarkation!

 

Due to living in Central time, of course I woke up at 4 am (6 central), because that is when we normally get up on weekdays. I actually got up around 7 and went to Starbucks across the street (the same food court as the pita place), and stopped and got DH a Dr Pepper at a little newsstand shop next to the Starbucks.

 

DH was still asleep when I came back, so i drank my chai in the lounge. I went back to the room at 8:30 to roust him out of bed, and pack, and I discovered that I could actually see the Pearl from our room! Not the best/easiest view, but...

 

 

While I was at the window, I also took a picture of a curious phenomenon. I dont know how it goes in other places, but in Texas, we dont grow trees and grass on the roofs of buildings. This seemed to be a commonplace occurance in Vancouver:

 

 

After the picture taking, we had breakfast in the lounge. Nice variety, mostly continental, but DH did get fooled by the eggs. The looked like his favorite hard boiled eggs, but they were soft boiled. Whoops! His expression was priceless! After breakfast, we checked out and headed down the elevator to the cruise terminal.

 

We had hoped to walk on with our bags, but were told they were too big, so we checked them. Had we realized that before hauling them downstairs ourselves, the Pan Pacific does offer a service where the bellmen take your tagged luggage from your room and deliver it to the ship FOR you, so you dont have to bother hauling it about. Live and learn, I suppose!

 

We did notice, also, that Canadians appear to be rather organized when it comes to recycling. It was a smidge confusing, at least for me, since I wasnt sure if I was supposed to scrape leftovers into the organic bin and put the styrofoam plate in the trash bin, or put the whole schebang in the trash or what. I hope I did it right.

 

 

Check in and security in Vancouver was something of a joke. First off, it was backwards. FIRST you check in, THEN you go through security. The check in people didn't have the Suite/Haven cards and had to send someone to get them. Then, we went through security and were funneled to a waiting area.

 

There were 2 other ships boarding at the same time - the NCL Sun and HAL Nieuw Amsterdaam (I think). This caused some interesting issues.

 

We did not go through customs in Vancouver, because our 2nd port was Victoria. Unfortunately, it also meant that we were in a holding area with no restroom access for over an hour. I had chugged a bottle of water at the water drop-off point. Pro tip: dont do that.

 

We did get to meet several CC members while waiting, including Joyfully Sailing Away, Lydia, and Tyr, as well as NancyL and her daughter Jennifer.

 

Once we were finally being escorted on, the butler doing the escort wanted to wait for everyone to get pictures taken, then to cross the bridge, which I understand, but I did end up having to beg to go on more quickly due to a severely urgent need for a washroom. So if people saw me go on first, that is why. Sorry.

 

Of course, when security scanned my card, we found out that the port agent at check in had taken a picture of a wall instead of a picture of my face. Great. I had to assure Security and the butler that 1) I knew where Cagneys was and 2) that I would go to Guest Services ASAP go get a new picture taken.

 

I managed to do that and still beat the group to Cagneys. Heh. Now, the suite restaurant on the Pearl is Moderno, but that first day, we were in Cagneys.

 

DH was glad we made it:

 

 

I was also glad we made it, and ordered my first drink. Mango Meltodown anyone?

 

Of course, when I asked for that, the waiter gave me a *look* and had me repeat it several times, then asked me if I was sure that it was a real drink on NCL. Really? Pretty sure it's been the drink of the day on every cruise Ive been on with NCL (except the Norway, maybe). Well, it took awhile, but I finally got one. YAY!

 

 

They were still using the old suite menu. I had my usual boarding lunch - shrimp cocktail and French dip. It was a bit odd this time, as the beef on the French dip was literally ice cold. I heard the waiter tell another guest that it was supposed to be that way. Maybe I go to strange places, but Ive never had a french dip with ice cold beef. DH made the wise choice and got the NY stip.

 

 

Cabins were ready as soon as we boarded, so after lunch we headed to our home for the next 5 days.

 

I see mention using the old suite menu and your DH was able to get a steak it looks like. They got rid of that on the new menu. Added a double cut pork chop which our DS got quite a few times - he usually got the steak.

 

They did get rid of the old french dip sandwich and you got the new version with a nice bun vs. the old one that was always dried out. When we had it in March it was usually luke warm but once we got it pretty hot which is my preference. I've seen others mention about getting it served cold as well so maybe the later post about it supposed to be served cold is onto something but I'd still rather have it hot.