Our Second NCL Cruise and Second Alaskan Cruise

This was our second cruise to Alaska. Our first was with Royal Caribbean in 2010 (north to south). We picked NCL this time because we wanted a roundtrip cruise out of Seattle that went to Glacier Bay National Park. We also picked NCL because we had the most wonderful time sailing the western Caribbean on the NCL Dawn in January 2016.

Embarkation - The embarkation process at the Seattle Bell Street Pier 66 was the best we've experienced in our five cruises. From the time we arrived on the street at Pier 66 to the time we stepped onto the ship, it took only 30 minutes to drop off baggage, complete security screening, check in with NCL, and start walking towards the ship. Best pier organization we've seen yet!

The Pearl - The Pearl came out of drydock/updating within the past two months before our cruise date. The Pearl is a beautiful ship and we loved everything about her. The layout is different than the Dawn with the Spinnaker Lounge up forward on Deck 13. The retractable curtains are really cool to have them opened at sunset in the evening. Once we found our way around, we found entertainment centered at the Atrium (Deck 7) with a jumbo screen for viewing. The piano man had a huge following on Deck 6. The Bliss Lounge at the back of Deck 7 was rather unconventional but comfortable. Needed to get used to having bowling balls dropping on either side of the Lounge (two bowling lanes in use on both sides of the Bliss Lounge.

Dining - We ate at the Garden Cafe for several breakfasts and most lunches. We found tasty food with a variety of options daily. NO Complaints here. We ate in both main dining rooms. Food choices and favor were Excellent. No Complaints here. We enjoyed eating breakfast in the Main Dining room. Menu choices were such that anyone would be pleased with their options. Excellent with No Complaints here. We took in three of the Specialty Dining venues - Moderno, Teppanyaki and Cagney's. These were "experiences in dining." Moderno was the Brazilian style Churrascaria. Loved the salad bar offerings (could have done seconds here and been really happy). Eleven options of meat/fish for the main entree was more than we needed. Teppanyaki was the Japanese steak house venue. Four grills contained in one small area made for a noisy meal, but a great time and yummy food. Our chef William, from south Philly (the Phillippeans), was by far the star of the chefs. He was very entertaining, a cheerful singer while he cooked our meal, and a great cook too. The food was excellent. Take the orange/yellow sakee mixed drink if you drink - very smooth. We don't suggest the green cashew cake for desert. Take the other desert option with the fresh fruit. Cagney's was what we expected for a up scale steakhouse. Great service, great food, great desert. We had these three dinners as one of our NCL package choices and would suggest others take advantage of it. All three were no cost to us. However, we did leave Tips at each venue for the exceptional service they provied. We plan on dining at these three venues on our next NCL cruise.

Entertainment - NCL does an exceptional job providing no-stop entertainment. We moved through the ship to find the group or solo performer we enjoyed listening to all week long. The pianoman Jim Badger was a hoot with a big following (hard to find a seat). A guitarist billed as Lace was really good if you like easy listening music. The evening shows in the Stardust theater were worth seeing each night. The Pearl singers and dancers were enjoyable the few times they were on stage. However, they will knock your socks off when they do their Legends in Concert peformance. We had two comedians on board our week. They were Dan Bennett (a comedian/juggler) and Tim Kaminski (comedian). Both of these guys got us laughing so hard we had tears flowing. The final show Saturday afternoon topped off an enjoyable week. Well done NCL Pearl on the entertainment.

Service - We never encountered a bad attitude from an NCL employee. From the pier walking on to the pier walking off a week later, we had nothing but exceptional service. This may be the NCL model as this was a repeat from our experience on the NCL Dawn. We did have the UDP and found the servers were most pleased when we tipped them each time they brought our drinks. A couple of bucks brought smiles and return visits for moire drinks without waiting in long lines ourselves. Dining service was wonderful too at all locations. We should note that the Washy-Washy guys were on the job as you enter the Garden Cafe. Everyone gets their hands sprayed with sanitizer by a Washy-Washy guys when you enter the buffet. Other NCL employees provided the same santizing experience at the other buffet entry points.

Ports and Excursions - As this was our second Alaskan cruise, we did not partake in any excurions (did that the first time). However, we throughly enjoyed walking the ports ourselves and found plenty to look at in each.

Cruising Glacier Bay - This was a highlight for us and the reason for picking this sailing. Most magnificent scenery this day of the cruise. We want to thank the U.S. Park Service Rangers that boarded the Pearl and provided a running comentary about the park and glaciers during the time we were there. Exceptional information shared which made the moment special.

Negatives - Only one which can be found on all cruise ships. The smoke coming from the Casino on Deck Six was nasty/gross smelling (yes we're none smokers). We avoided that part of the Pearl except for when we went to find a seat at the Stardust theater each night. The smoke smell carried into the lower portion of the theater seating area. 

Next Cruise - We had fantastic cruise. We'd do it again. In fact, we booked another NCL cruise before we left the Pearl.