My first NCL cruise

This was my first NCL cruise and I still have mixed feelings about Free Style Cruising. Since dining times are not assigned I experienced 30-45 minute waits at the various "restaurants". Of course the Cafe buffet was always a walk in choice but it was usually very congested. The buffet food was just OK and if you want quantity over quality it is the place for you.I would rate the food in the other dining rooms acceptable but nothing special. However, the service in all of them was excellent. My favorite was the Summer Palace. I also dined in all but one of the speciality restaurants (at an extra charge) and found the food and service to be excellent. These restaurants require a reservation. 

The Pearl itself I found to be a little "worn" in some areas. Very noticeably so in the theater where the seats really need replacing and many of the lights around the stage were out. The ship was refurbished in March but it couldn't have been a very extensive one. My state room was very good. The bed was comfortable, AC worked great and the bathroom met all my needs. My cabin steward was great!

All of the many crew members I had contact with were great with only one or two exceptions.

The quality of the entertainment was subpar. This was a huge disappointment!

Excursions were OK except for the disembarking. It was time consuming with long lines stretching far down the narrow hallways.

I would have probably given this cruise an overall rating of four stars except for the disastrous final disembarkation process in Seattle. It was totally unorganized! Since I had an early flight out of SeaTac, I had originally planned to walk off and get a taxi but was convinced to let the crew collect my (heavy) bags and deliver them to the dock so that I could quickly collect them, go through Customs and take an NCL chartered bus to the airport. I paid an extra $29 for this service. However when I reached the dock after waiting in a long line, my bags had not arrived. i had to wait (along with all the other passengers that were promised early bag delivery) another 45 minutes for my bags to reach the dock. There were a lot of very unhappy folks loudly complaining!  Basically, I paid for a service I didn't get. Then it got even worse when I reached the airport because the bus dropped us at a remote location and we had to carry all of our luggage through a parking garage then up an elevator to walk even farther to reach the airline check in areas. After all of this I was totally exhausted by the time I reached my departure gate. A taxi would have dropped me off at the curb only a few steps to the check in areas. My advice - walk off and take a taxi. Don't waste your money by purchasing an NCL transfer. I think that I should get a refund from NCL.