2009 Alaska Cruise --- 7 nt. NCL Pearl; Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, Victoria B.C.,
August 16-23, 2009----to Alaska on board NCL's Pearl.
I chose this cruise as Ken's first cruise (my 7th)to try and impress him enough that he would want to go on more cruises. With the beauty of Alaska and the ports being mostly American towns (he has an aversion to leaving the states), I figured this might do the trick. It started out as a cruise for just him and myself. As the months went by, my brother and sister-in-law, Aunt and Uncle, and at the last minute my sister also joined us. Although I was looking forward to all my family joining us, I had never cruised with more then 1 other person in my party and was a little apprehensive about how it would all turn out. In the end, I think it went well, although we all did spend lots of time hunting each other out. It also meant wait times at the restaurants and a little more work finding tables for all of us at the buffet restaurant, but it all worked out. It was also nice knowing that we didn't have to do everything together, but that we could probably find someone to do "whatever" with (NCL's motto---You're free to do whatever.) Ken and I usually found Uncle Joe and Aunt Carol in the buffet for breakfast about 8ish. The inside cruisers would usually make their appearance around 10 or later. I even had to call and wake them one day after noon to see if they were joining us in Ketchikan. Ken and I also joined the spa which in hindesite was a waste of money. The spa was nice (love the therapy pool and heated loungers), but we were in port so much and had high waves that caused them to drain the pools the last couple days so we hardly had time to use it. Plus I really enjoyed the outdoor pool and jacuzzis with the gals.
I had read poor reviews of NCL from different travel agencies, but they had the itinerary I was looking for. The poor reviews were for naught, we had no problems with NCL. The Pearl was a beautiful ship. Not any more beautiful then the others I've been on, but just as nice. It's a rather large ship at 93,500 tons and 2,394 passengers, 15 decks, and was only 2 years old.
The NCL Pearl
2009-8-18 Juneau
2009-8-19 Skagway
2009-8-20 Glacier Bay
2009-8-21 Ketchikan
2009-8-22 Victoria,BC
The next morning was debarkation day and the end to another wonderful cruise.
Why did I pick this cruise? There were a few reasons. First we wanted to round trip out of Seattle. Then I wanted a cruise that went to Skagway so we could do the ride into the Yukon like I did with Dad. I thought that was a really beautiful excursion and thought Ken would enjoy seeing the Yukon. Also I didn't want the Canadian port to be Prince Rupert and this ship went to Victoria, which I love. Lastly, I had already cruised through Tracy Arm Fjord on the last cruise and although I liked it, I'd heard Glacier Bay was a lot better. With all those criteria, this was the only cruise left. In addition to all that, we also got ports in Juneau and Ketchikan. I was not disappointed!
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