Norwegian Pearl Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I think my favorite part of the cruise was all the on board entertainment options.  From the comedians to the games shows to even just the casino there always was something to do while at sea.  And the food!!!  Oh my gosh!  We ate at the buffet just about every night and it was like eating at a 4 star restaurant!  Also the staff ,  I cant say enough about how good the staff was!  This is a fantastic cruise line, with a fantastic staff and we will be visiting their ships again!

 This was at the buffet!

Glacier bay was my favorite part of the cruis, entertainment and food was great, not enough time in Victoria though. Stateroom stewards are amazing. Children program is just great.

Seeing the beautiful glaciers was amazing, I wish the weather would have cooperated, (rain and fog). The ships entertainment was excellant. The most fun was the Deadlest Catch Tour! Well worth the money. The freestyle dining was good as you can go to eat when you want, the most difficult part was knowing what clothes to pack, layers is the best option.

 This was our THIRD TRIP to ALASKA; and SECOND to Glacier Bay. We had a Balconey Staeroom this time and NOT a INSIDE CABIN and wrongly stated; that allowed us the comfort and warmth to view the Glacier from Our Room.  We got a really Great price on it; and paid for it in March 2016.  My Partner and EX -WIFE is fighting Breast & Bone Cancer; and is NO LONGER as Mobile as Before; therfore she requested the Balconey Stateroom to Alaska,  

We also Styaed on the Ship and bought a Pass to the Thermal Spa; which was a first for us.  SHE LOVED IT! and so did I; we went twice a day; and spent a few hours.  The Last Day we saw a School Of 30+ Killer Whales Jumping out of the water.  

She stated this was the BEST CRUISE!

Very organized cruise. Our regular waiter, whom we requested, Nelson Nathan, was excellent. The entertainment was excellent also. Food very good in Summer Palace dining room. My only complaint was the very musty odor in Spinnaker Lounge. Seats in Spinnaker Lounge and Garden Cafe were very badly worn and stained on many. 

This is a wonderful cruise.  I was not that crazy about making this trip, expecting it to cold and stormy.   However, I was wrong, and we only had 2 days of foul weather, just as we departed Seattle, then the weather turned sunny and warm, with postcard views of glaciers, mountains, whales, and wildlife.  I especially enjoyed Glacier Bay, and the majestic views.  Norwegian manages the cruise well, and the best part is that the staff is very accomidating, and the crowd is very civilized.  Only nits to pick is that food quality could be better, and the casino is very smoky.  Overall, their are too many smokers in the public areas, and mar the fresh Alaskan air.  I wish the ship was totally non-smoking.  

 Every single component of this cruise exceeded my expectations. The freestyle dining was wonderful, the shore excursions where fun, and the day in glacier bay was awe inspiring. 

Ship was an overall grteat experience, with very Little to improve. THe servi ce onboard was great and the áreas visited are amaizing, it will be good to have a Little more time on some of the locations, specially in Victoria to enjoy it more.

Food was also great and very convenient to have the freestyle!!!!

This is the second Norwegian cruise we have taken and we love this cruise line. Very nice rooms and great staff. Booking with was very simple and straight forward. 

Embarkation was from Seattle. The port was not prepared for processing the number of people arriving after Noon. We landed at SeaTac at Noon and it took till 4PM to get to our cabin when the ship was to have set sail. Ship muster drills were occurring which we missed. On every cruise I've been on (10+), a make up drill occurred the immediate next day but that never occurred and we were never contacted about our absence at the original drill.

There were 4 of us girls with adjoining rooms. We had the BEST time ever! I cannot say enough about The Pearl, her amenities, food and the staff. This is a trip of a lifetime that no one should miss. AK is stunning and we loved every excursion we did. 

No complaints whatsoever! 

Great ship and hospitality overall! We really enjoyed our trip. Two things that we were not incredibly happy about - 1. some of the sales staff came off as very sales-y and often made you feel pressured to make bookings or buy something 2. We weren't clearly informed of a $13.50 per person per day service charge on the ship, which added up to $200 in service charge for the two of us. We had already paid $200 for gratuities in advance for the ultimate beverage package, so we ended up paying $400 in gratuities/service charge which seemed excessive. 

Other than that, the ship had great shows, great views, great service. We definitely had a very memorable trip. 

Skagway AK to Carcross YT bus tour and back on the train. magnificent scenery. Whale watching in Juneau was also very costly but worth the trip. On board the ship is clean, very friendly staff/crew. 

I am giving this a 4 star reason because of two things:

1.  The last stop is British Columbia, Canada.  We arrived at 6pm and only had limited time there.  However, I honestly felt like the visit here could have been eliminated to give more time in Alaska.  BC has a terrible homeless population and 3/4 of the stores were closed by the time we got there.

2.  The gym had out-dated equipment!  The staff at the gym was awesome and one of the classes that i was looking foward to was the spinning.  There was one bike in the class that was so loud that the music which was turned up very loudly barely drowned it out.  The bikes were old and the classes were only 30 minutes.

Other than those two things this cruise was AMAZING.  Alaska was beautiful!  Food was top notch.  Check out O'Sheegans Pub (sp) when the buffet gets to crowded!

the scenery was the best part, and I cannot say enough about the wonderful staff. One thing that would have really been nice was more information about the area we were passing through.  The captains log on TV was helpful but the map very poor.  A big map for folks to look at in the lobby would have been wonderful. The "captains log" report on the TV stopped a day before the end of the cruise.

If announcements were made about things like "now we are passing - - - Island."

One time we passed by an immense pod of whales. At least a couple hundred.  Although in the distance one could still see spouts, tails and occasional breaching without binoculars for at least 20 minutes.   That spectacular show should have been announced on the intercom.  Not everyone is on the ship to party, It was the scenery and opportunity to see different things that entered into my decision to take a cruise.   

buffet food was the best. specialty restaurants did not even tried them.

.too many kids playing without control was a terrible experience

-retired school teacher expecting quiet environment

-no LATIN music group made the vacation boring

(first trip without any LATIN music).  salsa dance class was offered at inappropriate time- 10x cruse traveler with many companies always a LATIN group

i have cruised plenty but this was a first on Norwegian...we loved a lot about it...but also found a few things lacking...overall it was great! One big thing that was different and we didn't see anywhere on their site beforehand was about the cash accounts...we always do cash accounts and if we need a few dollars to go into port we get some off the sign and sail...also use cash off it for the casino...well on Norwegian you cannot do either...so needless to say...we were upset...and Norwegian lost out! We didn't gamble....we came home with the money we probably would have lost! They require a credit card...well heck no!

Also...found the restaurant service to be abit lacking....carnival has them beat on that....and for sure carnival steakhouse it way better....but that is not enough to keep me from booking another! Just won't eat at the steakhouse...and won't back with cash!

The adventures in port! The beautiful views of the inside passage! The food on board was excellent. Service was superb. There were very high standards for cleanliness. The staff were consistently friendly. 

The quality of service, foods and entertainment was mediocre 

the main buffet was crowded and noisy.  I was really disappointed in the desserts. Most were pretty tasteless . 

It was a cruise of a lifetime.  The room was spacious for two people, staff and service was good, however, the food was fair.  Same choice daily.  

All the specialty dinning was booked by the time we boarded the ship.  We did not realize to make reservations before hand.

The excursions are very expensive and should have a group rate for families we were 8 people.  It was difficult to book 8 on one excursion.

But we still had a very good time and the weather was great for us.