Love Alaska. This was our third time to visit. Second time with NCL. And likely our last NCL cruise. The port times were too short and we were docked so far away from the towns. Glad this was not our first cruise, or I might not be able to get my husband to cruise again. Have already booked our next one, with another cruise line.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Specialty restaurants were amazing!
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Participated in many of the onboard activities. Very disappointed in the art auctions. Each one said there would be a raffle, bring this paper for extra tickets, and even identified the ‘prize’. Tickets were collected each time, but there was never a raffle. Do not advertise it if there is not going to bebb by one. Also felt like they were trying to trick you into buying artwork that there were numerous prints of, by making you think it was an original. Just be honest. Based on this experience, I will never work with Park West.
The other games were quite different from my previous cruises. (Bingo, Deal or No Deal). Very expensive.
I did enjoy the origami, information/lectures, music, and the shows.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The music was really good! The Whitney performance was amazing!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Loo, our steward was great! Always greeted us by name.
Annie, at Starbucks, remembered my morning drink! Very personable.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Could have Ben better signage. Finally figured out which end of he ship things were in towards the end of the cruise.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Cabin was great. Slightly larger shower would hav been appreciated.
Ship tip
Before you go on this itinerary, make sure you understand the limited amount of time you are going to have at each port and the huge amount of time you are going to have onboard.
We previously took an NCL cruise to Glacier Bay. Thought we would try something different. Glacier Bay is 10 times better than Hubbard. We were so far away from Hubbard Glacier, could barely see it.
We docked so far from the town and had such an early departure time, we had to go straight back to the ship after our excursion. The last time we cruised and stopped at Ketchikan, we docked by the town, were all the other cruise shops were docked. The excursion was very u organized. While we really enjoyed the raptor center and the walk through the forest, we waited almost an hour for everyone to get on the bus, because our tour guid told us someone would call us to the bus on10 minutes and the bus driver, who was in a different section , thought we were going to come straight to the bus. No communication with the tour group or between the driver and guide.
We were only here for 3 hours! Everything was closed. Glad we did not get off the ship. Those who did said everything was too far away. Many turned around and came back before getting to the town. Not sure why we even stopped here. Could have cut a day off the trip with no problem. A wasted stop.
Loved the port valet option! Would have appreciated having a better idea of what we were supposed to do. Received same communication as everyone else with a note at the bottom to disregard if you are participating in the port valet. Received port valet tags in another envelope with no instructions. In reality, much of the general communication did apply. More clarity would have been nice.
NCL has been showcasing Park West for years, the vast majority of the art is pretty awful, boardwalk worthy, really. I wish they’d get some more tasteful offerings or just drop the onboard gallery altogether. My opinion, of course!
Thanks for the review. Most of the round-trip itineraries from Seattle have relatively short port times. A one-way itinerary between Vancouver and Alaska is almost always better.
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