Norwegian Pearl Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Alaska was beautiful. We had adventure after adventure on our shore excursions! We met lots of lovely people on the cruise..! A great time was had by all!

For anyone thinking about where to go on their next vacation. consider an Alaskan cruise aboard the Norwegian cruise line.  Never having taken a cruise before, I had no idea of what to expect, but I can't imagine receiving better service anywhere else.  From the moment we boarded to the moment we exited the ship, every staff member was exceptionally friendly, courteous and professional.  Given the huge number of passengers, the ship is kept remarkably clean.  Wonderful entertainment, there is always something to do for everyone, of any age.Also had a spectacular time on each of the shore excursions.  Every port featured a wide variety of tours, that catered to the most adventurous, and also to those who favored a less strenuous option.  Breathtaking scenery, snow-capped mountains, pristine, un-polluted water and air.  Saw whales, bald eagles, sea otters.  Weather was chilly and damp, was glad to have packed a warm jacket.   Could not have asked for a better experience.  To all the crew of Alaskan Pearl, I say thank-you for a marvelous experience.  Will highly recommend this trip, as well as this cruise line.

Having been on cruises before, our experience on the Norwegian Pearl left a bad taste in our mouths.  This was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. The boarding process went very smoothly.   If I would have known the ship was going to be overrun with bratty, unsupervised kids, we would never have gone.  There were older people on board with walkers, canes, and scooters who were litterally  being pushed to the side. Kids running up and down stairs and hallways.  Where in the heck were the parents or for that matter any of the staff? Than again there were parents who took their kids to the adults only (over 18) show. Go figure.  Again kids took over the hot tubs.  After 2 days of trying to use them, we finally gave up.  Only relaxing time we had was around 5 am out on the deck when everyone else was sleeping.  Prepaid for umlimited soda, seems like the bartenders ignored you and took care of the paying customers.  Food was of a poor quality.  An Alaskan cruise and no lobster or baked alaska.  The buffet was just that, food was blah.  No taste and not hot.  It may have been when you started but you could search for 10 to 15 minutes to find a place to sit.  Food at Summer Place and Indigo Restaurants was also of a poor quality.  More often than not, we ate at the Ports we stopped at.  Shore excursions were excellent but a little pricey.  The food at the Salmon Bake in Juneau was probably the best I have ever tasted. Also don't expect to find much in the way of food after midnight.  The Java Cafe was the only thing open,  We waited over a half an hour for our food.  My husband asked for a glass of milk and was told they did not have any.  What the heck?  Entertainment for days at sea was almost nonexistent.  We don't play Bingo, which was very overpriced or Deal or no deal,and aren't interested in art auctions.  The casino was so so. The night entertainment of Oh what a Night was excellent and so was the Bud Anderson Show. Our cabin steward was very helpful and courteous.  Only thing I noticed was floor was not cleaned daily and we had the same water glasses all week.  Glacier Bay was the highlight of our trip.  The captain turned the ship around a couple of times so we could enjoy the view. We booked on Norwegian because it was one of the two cruise lines allowed into Glacier Bay on a given day.   When we cruise, we go to relax, enjoy the fine dining. the entertainment and the scenery.  The scenery could not be beat,  As a student going to travel  school, who is going to set up an in home travel agency I would not recommend Norwegian Cruise Lines to my clients..

- Embarkation was smooth as silk. It was almost disorienting how quickly we went from standing outside the pier to starting our vacation aboard the Pearl. Once on board, your trip has started! We spent some time wandering around the ship, trying to get our bearings on where things were located. If your kids have an interest in doing the rock-climbing wall, Seattle is a good place to do it. Windy conditions often shut down any available windows at sea, although my DS did get to climb the wall on the day we were sailing into Victoria.  - The food was very good. The few times I had something at the Garden Cafe that I didn't like, I just went back and got something that I DID like. It's also worth mentioning that if you are a fan of Indian food (I am), some of the Indian selections in the buffet were pretty good, especially the huge pan of chicken biryani they had out one night. The Indigo Main Dining room was great for the two dinners we had there. Service there was slow, but we were never in a hurry anyway. It seems like every time I had soup onboard, it was delicious. So soup fans, rejoice. Cagney's was a treat we all did together on my wife's birthday. Great steak, great service. The two lunches we had at Summer Palace were so-so and that space itself is a bit cheesy, but overall I thought the food was good. I definitely gained weight on this cruise! Take the time to take the stairs, everyone! - Plenty of fun things to do for kids while aboard. The kids were never bored, although the Splash Academy proved to be too "kiddie" for our 12yo, who went once and never went back again. Our DS(7) really enjoyed his 6-9 age group though, especially the session in Glacier Bay when the rangers went there. Entourage was so-so for our teen, but she had so much fun doing everything else, there were no complaints. All the kids enjoyed the comedian Bud Anderson and Second City's improv show in Spinnaker Lounge. The wife and I also had a good time at their adults-only shows. The "Best of Broadway" show was highly enjoyable for the entire family, too. We went to Deal or No Deal twice. The kids really liked that one. And hey, we won an 8x10 photo, too. I definitely recommend the Glacier/port talk they do during the Sea Day. You learn a lot about how glaciers are formed and about the towns you will be visiting on the trip.  - Speaking of Spinnaker, it is by far my favorite public space on the ship. Spectacular floor-to-ceiling windows and a great space to relax when there is not something loud (e.g., bingo) going on in the room.  - Staff was excellent. Always willing to go the extra mile. Is the service in the restaurants a bit slow? Sure. But we were having too much fun to rush through a meal anyway. The longest we ever had to wait for a table was ~10 minutes for Indigo one night. I think we waited for < 5 minutes for Summer Palace for lunch one day, too.  - In Juneau, we did the Mendenhall Glacier & Hatchery tour. Our tour guide was very entertaining and informative (seriously, a 24 foot difference from low tide to high tide? WOW). The Glacier is absolutely breathtaking. You definitely need to take the time to walk 20 minutes down the path that leads to Nugget Falls. The views there are amazing. I wish we could have had more time to enjoy it (we were there a total of 75 minutes and 40 of those were the roundtrip walk down to the Falls). The Hatchery was great. With the salmon running, the kids really got to see a LOT of fish. We also saw a bald eagle swoop down and grab one, which was cool. The tour culminated with a salmon bake. DELICIOUS. There's a waterfall there too, which is a couple minutes' walk and is definitely worth it. - Skagway was probably my favorite port of all. We did the Klondike Family Experience. Plenty of stuff on this excursion: 40 Below (brr), gold-panning, sled dogs (and puppies we got to hold!), more food (yum, just wish we realized it was going to be the first thing we did), a brewery tour (and tasting beer and root beer).  - The absolute highlight of this cruise is Glacier Bay. Don't feel the need to be rude when trying to get pictures, folks! The ship took 4-5 (maybe more?) sloooooooow rotations in front of Margerie and you WILL get the shot you are wanting. My suggestion (assuming you don't have a balcony): Be Outside on either Deck 12 or 13, NOT behind the glass of Spinnaker. Feel (and HEAR) the sound of the glaciers from deck. The rangers did a great job narrating over the loudspeakers. They are located in Spinnaker and had some cool wares, so take time at some point to swing through there and check out some great books/DVDs/etc. This is the day we took the most pictures (at least 200 on my iPhone alone). - Ketchikan was cold and rainy....but we still enjoyed it a lot. It was really the only rain we saw the whole trip, so no complaints there. Scenic town, so definitely take the time to walk around, especially over to the original red light district, which has a lot of charm. We did the Lumberjack show, which was cheesy but a lot of fun.  - Victoria was beautiful. The port time (6pm-Midnight) was too late and too short, which was too bad. The excursion we did here was the Victoria Highlights tour: DO NOT DO THIS TOUR. Despite it purportedly being good for kids, it is essentially two hours trapped on a bus, whizzing by things you wish you could get out and see. We happily got off the tour downtown and enjoyed seeing a bit of Victoria ourselves before making the 30-minute walk back to the ship (yes, there are shuttles, but it was a lovely evening). - You WILL be cold at some point during this cruise. But who cares? A good windbreaker will be your best friend. Also, BRING BINOCULARS. They were great to have everywhere, not just Glacier Bay. These first-time cruisers will be second-time cruisers in the (hopefully not-too-distant) future and it WILL be on NCL.

Overall - we love going on Norwegian cruises, and almost use them exclusively because of the "freestyle" experience and consistent quality.

Positives - 

1. again, the freedom of being able to eat whenever you want and participate in activities or tours at your own freedom. I can't image going back to the typical structured & regimented  cruise environment of other cruise lines.

2. overall high quality of the restaurants (a great alternative to the buffet lines).  

3. Interesting/and high quality and variety of entertainment events while on board.  From authentic "Second City" casts, the blueman group to some up and coming comics and musicians -  they are all worth seeing.  Then there's the quality fitness center, spas, nightclubs ...  honestly if they never docked, it would still be a fun-filled trip.

4, The staff.  Amazing.  Helpful, knowledgeable, friendly.  The waiters etc - equally amazing.

5. The rooms.  Most cruiseline rooms are small and cramped - but Norwegian makes it work comfortably.

Negatives (though these are almost all shared with other cruise lines))

1. dealing with clueless and selfish people. I understand that we're often going to get "The Constanza's" (George's parents from Seinfeld) or the entire customer list from Walmart.  Sometimes I think the staff can do a better job of making sure their boorish behavior doesn't infringe on the rest of us.

2. The coffee.  The regular free-flowing coffee was pretty bad in my opinion.  But hey. It's free.

3. Speed at the expense of comfort.  They have to keep on schedule, but sometimes they keep the ship running fast during choppy waters which makes the boat ride a queasy experience.  It doesn't happen often though.

4. No way for customers to do any kind of laundry.  I wish all cruises would come up with a way. Since the rooms are small, and you also have to be prepared for all kinds of climate - it makes packing tricky.  The only time passengers can do laundry is on the 2nd to last day when they have a "one bag laundry special" ... does us no good during the trip. It gets tiring having to do laundry in the sink or tub.

5. Internet.  We had to take a second mortgage out on our house just to afford a few minutes of internet access.  How cow,  And it's sloooow.   For many of us, it is a necessity - and there's no reason any more to charge so much for internet  (and yes, we understand how it works on a ship).

6. Quiet areas.  Sometimes it would be nice to have a few quiet areas (that are enforced by the staff).  Even the library is not immune from the inconsiderate percentage.

Overall - I'd give this cruise a 9/10  ....  highly recommended.

Alaska was beautiful.

The captain gave us an incredible view of the glaciers in glacier bay - it was amazing to have him pivot the board 360 degrees like a lazy-susan so we could all get photos.   And mercifully, he kept his announcements and color comments to a minimum during the trip.

Our Alaska trip of a lifetime was awesome on the Norwegian Pearl with a pleasant, helpful crew.

We enjoyed the scenery (snow covered mountains, glaciers, Skagway railroad) and wildlife (whales, sea lions, eagles) from our ship balcony and city excursions.

  Ship was great, crew was very good, messauge was very good (but the prices are out of line; $1.50/min is a realistic - your charge was twice that).

  the best part was the itinary which sees most everything important but does not require flying one way which we have done twice. also the time off ship is perfect and the fast run outside the passage eliminates the disappointment with low clouds and fog which are sometimes even near shore. we did have good weather with no rain which was unusual but that is why we picked the week we went.

  it seemed that the RR at Skagway was really expensive but still had 3 or 4 full trains so guess it is worth it since probably not much going on off season. i remember taking the train to/from Skagway to Whitehorse when i flew my plane there a couple of times passing through to Fairbanks, Nome & Prudoe Bay.

  overall the trip was affordable and a very special way to see family and get to revitalize conections.

  thanks george loegering

Overall the cruise and excursions were great.  There were two exceptions to that.  Getting a drink or glass of wine at dinner was next to impossible.  the first time we were even asked was on the 5th night of the cruise.  The second problem was my room.  It was a mini suite which on first impression was nice.  The problem was it  was right below a prep area in the kitchen where they draged laundy carts back and forth all night long.  I came home exausted from lack of sleep.  The ship gave me a $100 credit on my bill due to the noise.  Be careful what is above your room.

NCL gets you within a quarter mile of calving glaciers in Glacier Bay.  The staff is friendly, smiling, and positive.  Entertainment's highlight is Oh What a Night, a tribute to the Four Seasons. Alot of good shore excursions to choose from.  Great trip.

The cruise overall was good.  We would have rather had a specific time for a sit down meal every night rather than wait at a restaurant or feel like cattle at the buffet and then waiting to sit when no one is moving from their table any time soon.  Don't understand how people have been on this cruise for 2nd or 3rd time.  The entertainment was very good.  Would have rather seen more of the "real" Alaska rather that the ports of call where the native's live off the cruise ship's coming into town.

My friend and I took our first cruise together. We chose the NCL because of the price and discription of the cruise on . Buying our cruise was very easy. I was told that I could board the ship with my birth certificate, because I had lost my passport. I was born in England and my birth certificate looks very different. It took us almost an hour to be able to board the ship because of that. There was 1 woman who observed what was going on, I think her name was Karen, once they took care of the issue with my birth certificate, she took us to the front of the line. That was so thoughtful. The ship was beautiful. We enjoyed our room. The food was fine, not over the top. The views off the decks was amazing. We found most of the entertainment to be really good. I'm not partial to the variety type shows, but everything else was worth every penny. Our shore excersions where very well planned and very enjoyable. If I decided to do another cruise I will certainly consider using NCL again. Thanks for the memories.

Gillian

Cabin with balcony was great, well appointed, plenty of storage options and most of all very clean. The food in the dining room was good, never really arrived hot though. Waiters were friendly, but never once offered us any type of drink before dinner....not even iced tea! The ship looked really nice. The entertainment was poor, very poor, except for the four seasons group called "Oh What A Night", they were fabulous! I like NCL and I plan on going on one of their new ships soon....Breakaway, Getaway, or the Escape ! I have been on the NCL Epic, was nice, but rooms are a bit crazy, sink at the foot of the round bed was annoying and splashed everywhere!

The 17 people of my family that went on this cruise had a wonderful time.  We were 6 to 67 years of age and all had a great time.  Most of the staff were nice with a few that were rather rude, but that is expected when there are so many employees.  As a whole, most were very pleasant and helpful if asked a question or someone needed help.  Our stateroom steward was very nice and made sure we had anything we needed, even though we did have to ask for extra towels and wash cloths a few times.  He made towel animals for my 2 grandchildren that were in my cabin everyday which they saved until we left the NCL Pearl.  The food was good and a person could find something to eat wherever you would go.  We basically used the Garden Cafe because it was quick and everyone could find the type of foods they liked.  The only problem with the Garden Cafe is that there is just not enough seating, at least on the cruise we took, to seat everyone.  Our 17 people went at different times to eat, but we all had a hard time finding a place to eat when the time came.  3 of us went by ourselves at different times and still had a hard time finding a seat that was available.  The speciality cafe that 6 of us used once was La Cacina.  The food and service was excellent but we felt was rather pricey for what was received.  All shows and presentations that we went to were very good and informative, respectively.  The games and instructions that were given were fun, even if a person only watched.  The duty free store was very nice, but rather pricey.  As for the Ocean View state rooms we had, they were okay but had been lead to believe that there were 4 twin sized beds (2 of them could be put together) with 2 beds on the floor and 2 beds that could be pulled down from the walls.  This was not true.  There was only 1 bed that would come down from the wall with the 4th bed being pushed up under one of the beds on the floor, like a trundle bed.  This made it very hard to walk around in the cabin when all 4 beds were made up.  Next time, if I should decide to cruise again, there will be no more than 3 people in a room even though we, my daughter and 2 grandchildren and myself, were in a room together.  We made the trip fine, but was rather inconvienent and very crowded for us.  As a whole, this was a very great cruise!

Over all of the 4 previous cruises I have taken this was the worst. They charged for everything, I don't like paying for water, and then being told I can"t fill my water bottle was an insult. Our cabin was fine and always clean, our steward did a good job. I was not impressed with the food, it was OK, The morning meal was always good, lunch was usually the same as was dinner in the Garden Cafe. I did not like the fact that to eat in their best dinning room you had to pay an additional $119.00. They pushed the shopping for every port, especially the jewlery stores. I'm not on atour to buy jewlery. Their tours were to costly and I was disappointed with Dogsled tour, it cost $149.00 and was no where near worth that. Overall, I did not like this cruise as much as I thought I would.

The cruise is one experience my family of 17 and  I will not soon forget.   We appreciated the Freestyle dining, however we did find that some staff were less than congenial - almost as if we as guests in the restaurant were an imposition.  "Blue Lagoon" - staff were basically friendly without creating an air of akward dining experience.  "Summer Palace" - the best food choices were found here, staff were very friendly and provided excellent service.     "Garden Cafe" - decent food, however it was very disappointing to not see more seafood as the food available is food that we could get just about anywhere - nothing special.

"Indigo" - again, great food choices were found here, however, staff were very rude and provided poor service.  One asia male service person in particular absolutely took the cake; permantly making us avoid Indigo due to his extreme rudeness and the poor service!!  What we encounted was a person that clearly felt we were an absolute imposition for being there in the first place, he did not like answering any questions, refused to let us order in the manner we preferred (sharing appetizers), he removed things from our table without so much as one word to us - including the removal of one of our plates when she was not done with her meal, refused to let us share an entree`, refused to allow us to order several deserts to share among us - I am not sure what his culture teaches him or his expectations, as an American I do not expect to be treated as an imposition, not have choices in how we want to eat or share food - this was not a "Freestyle" dining experience in any way shape or form, we needed to eat and that meal was more torture and abuse than anything else. 

Our early purchase provided a special dinner for two per cabin.  We were given LaCucina as our one and only choice, which I guess is fine as we like Italian, however a choice would have been nice.  A bottle of wine was included with dinner, which we choose from the list provided.  The service was good as was the food.  We unfortunately were told after our meal that we were responsible for the cost of the bottle of wine as a bottle was provided in our room.    It was our understanding that wine was provided with the meal, which was redundant as we all had the "Ultimate Beverage" drink package, we would have ordered wine under this - yet we were still charged.  I can understand that the cruise line needs to be accountable for overhead, cost of running the ship, etc., however, I cannot understand being charged for something that should have fallen under our UB package - this is double charging and felt very underhanded.

"Ultimate Beverage" drink package was a nice option, however we would have liked to have the option to not have this daily.  In addition, the literature that we reviewed prior to our cruise indicated that we would also receive a 'souveiner cup' which we were then told on the ship at the time we were purchasing our package that this is not correct.  When we showed the staff the literature from the internet, they completely disregarded it and said they were sorry.  It ended there and they did not attempt to speak with anyone in authority to remedy this situation.  Also, sadly this did not include wine coolers or drinks such as this as they were not available on the ship at all.

The entertainment was so-so and nothing really impressed us or wowed us as we expected that it would.  The live entertainment not very entertaining and some of the 'game shows' were ran in a way that participants were not picked in a fair manner.  The magician was great for a school program but a very disappointing waste of time for anyone other than younger school age children.  Bud Anderson was fantastic and we would have gladly attended several more of his shows.  Overall, a large majority of the entertainment did not seem geared for adults and was rather geared for families with younger children.  We will definitely consider if there will be children as part of the cruise in the future as it clearly has an impact on the entertainment.        

To have an option to allow announcements in your room would have been very helpful, perhaps throught the phone system or something!!  There was not clear information about room service, not learning that we had this as a dining option until the last few days as we did not have the little folder that should have been in our room.  We felt that as first time cruisers, we were somewhat floundering for a few days as options and information was not truly disseminated very well.

Alaska was beautiful, however the first and only cruise experience has left us a little undecided as well as wondering if our experience would have been better on a different cruise line.

We enjoyed our last-minute cruise and on-shore trips. The entertainment in the large theater was good. Our steward was great and had a fun personality. The captain did a great job in getting the ship into the ports and up around Glacier Bay. The food was okay, but not excellent. A previous trip on the Diamond Princess spoiled us--the food and restaurants (didn't have to pay extra, as well) were excellent. We tried the restaurants on the Pearl, but waiting 1 1/2 hours both at breakfast and dinner was a little much.

Overall, we enjoyed our trip on the Norwegian Pearl.  It was relaxing and the ship was clean and well taken care of.  More shopping for normal everyday items would be appreciated.

We were very impressed with the ship and entertainment.  We got to see comedian Bud Anderson, the Frankie Valli and the 4 seasons tribute group "Oh What a Night"  and Charles Peachock the juggler/commedian.  All were top notch.  Our only complaint was the buffet.  There was never enough seating available and people would go through and eat while standing in the serving line, lick their fingers and then pick up more utensils that we then had to use.  After a while we just starting eating all of our meals in the Summer Palace.  It took a little longer, but it was nice sitting in a quiet setting and having nice service.

The overall service was fairly good except that free style restaurants took too long to serve guests. Buffet foods were okay, and they didn't serve variety of seafoods. Shrimp cocktails were served only one night and chopped up in cups rather than whole shrimp. I was on 2 Carnival and 1 Disney ships before, and I wouldn't try another NCL unless they have a really sale. Carnival and Disney have better food and entertainment.

If you think about how great the food is on cruises don't even think about Norwegian. Food tasted old and even in specialty restarants food was not special! Nothing but a dissapointment at every meal! Great way to LOSE weight!!

 Staff was great but hard to be accomidating when we went to "CODE RED" because too many people getting ill on only the second day of cruise.

 Take Princess, you will be much happier!

Had a great time, the evening entertainment was fantastic, and the food was great.  Alaska was amazing and I love it there.  There seemed to be plenty to do on the ship and lots of places to relax.  We went as a family and our girls loved it.