Background: 1. Been on Caribbean and Mexican cruises 6 total, but they were many years ago therefore I expected some changes. 2. Live near Seattle so no flight or hotel just drop off at the pier.

Ship and room: The Pearl looked fantastic to us and turned out to be fantastic! We booked a "Penthouse Suite" #10002" that came with a butler. (as time permits I will try to put a "September 2017 Cabin 1002" video on YouTube) The room was exactly as I expected because I had looked at several YouTube videos. It was clean and nice with fresh flowers on arrival. Very nice. This room has one of the biggest balcony areas on the ship because of location in the front. We (my wife and I) thought we might have all rainy weather and would not use the balcony much however there was sun in Seattle and Victoria. Juneau was rainy at times and clear other times, not too cold at all. The balcony was wonderful, even on rainy days when we stood outside and marveled at the fog nestled between tree filled cliffs as we cruised out of Juneau....great photos, hand holding with a romantic hug (with wife of course!) I was told the cruise was fully booked and I found that this size ship seems to give you plenty of room wherever you go, I only experienced one "crowd" on the first night when one dining room was full up and we were sent to the other one which was no problem. Fast service and good food. I will admit that my "activities" revolved around giving up my diet for a few days, ordering lots of room service, heading out of the room (which was so great one could spend the entire cruise there! ....bathtub...movies...great views out the window while "lounging" on the very comfortable bed...) uh, where was I ....oh yeah ...I often scampered out of the room (my exercise) up to "O'Sheehan's" for some of their great food (IMHO). It is "complimentary" food (we purchased the soda package for drinks) and the service was always fast, efficient, with everyone wanting to fulfill my needs even when I ordered one of their meals "differently" (please hold the veggies and mashed potatoes on the open faced hot roast beef sandwich...just the beef on the bread with extra gravy). My orders would come fast and the servers checked on me often.

Activities: Okay, I got a bit ahead of myself but I was getting saliva on the keyboard just thinking of my on board "activities" (for the record I only gained 2 pounds on this cruise even with the "food festival" I designed) . Activities: I had bought the "Thermal Spa Package" for my wife and she used it a lot. She would get up early and walk on the track, have a light buffet or Moderno's breakfast (included with our room -complimentary), then off to the Thermal Spa. She liked the features very much. Her only complaint (here comes one of those "hiccups") was there were 12 attendants/ Norwegian employees there however only one would give any assistance. The rest were busy selling. My wife does not require much attention but just getting minor questions answered was tough. (the lockers were not working as an example and the one person who would help could not figure out how to fix them) A "hiccup" that did not ruin a great cruise but it becomes a bit weird when so many Norwegian folks are anxious to help in so many other areas. To continue...we did not do a lot of the many activities in the common areas as we were busy with our "plans" running around the ship! We went to three of the shows and enjoyed them all. The performers work very hard and my review (being someone who does not normally go to shows...even on my many Vegas Trips) is that it was worth the time set aside to see them. Great dancers, OK impersonators, a featured singer who - in his show sang several semitones off key but gave his performance all he could to please us. Read more