Sunday, September 24, 2017- Day 1 Embarkation Seattle

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Embarkation, Seattle

Our journey began with the Whidbey Sea-Tac shuttle from Oak Harbor.  It is nice to be able to sit back and let someone else do the driving to Seattle.  Unfortunately, the Whidbey Sea-Tac shuttle only runs to the airport, but there are many alternatives to get to the downtown cruise ship terminals from the airport than from Oak Harbor.  We took the shuttle that left Oak Harbor at 8:15am, and arrived at Sea-Tac at 10:30am.  We then followed the signs to the pick up area for Ap based ride sharing, which includes Lyft and Uber.  We decided to try Lyft because Ben had not used the Lyft ap before, and was able to get coupons good for $5.00 off his first 3 rides within 21 days.  It looked like all of the ride share vehicles at Sea-Tac were Priuses.  It took less than 5 minutes from launching the Lyft ap for the driver to show up in the pick up lanes.  The trip to the cruise port was pretty straightforward and ended up costing $35 including a $5 tip.  A conventional cab from Sea-Tac to downtown would have been $45. 

The Norwegian Pearl was docked at the Pier 66 cruise terminal, right in the heart of the Seattle waterfront.  Off to the north, closer to Magnolia, we could see the Emerald Princess and Oosterdam docked at a separate cruise terminal.  

Weather in Seattle was ideal- sunny with beautiful blue skies punctuated by a few fluffy clouds.  The temperature was in the 60's and very comfortable.  Mt Rainier was visible beyond the Seattle skyline.  

The check in and boarding process was much improved over our prior experience 4 years ago.  There was a bit of a cue to get through the security screening, but there was no extended sitting around and waiting to get processed at any point in the process.  We had arrived at 11:30, and the ship was scheduled to begin boarding at noon.  It turns out, they were able to begin boarding passengers earlier.  Franklin and Betty were in boarding group 1 when they checked in at 10:30.  

We were aboard the ship by noon ran into Franklin and Betty in the Garden Cafe, the main buffet, which was open for lunch.  All of the ship's passengers seemed to be crammed into this space because the passenger cabins were not ready for occupancy until closer to 2pm.  

The buffet was very crowded, and it was difficult to get around to find a place to sit.  It reminded us of our prior cruise on this same ship, and it was not one of the better aspects of the prior experience.  We've not encountered similar crowding on our Princess Cruises.  The dining rooms seem to have better traffic flow, and seem a whole lot less crowded.  The food was pretty much of the same caliber as we have seen on all our prior cruises, and there was a decent selection in the buffet.  They had hand scooped ice cream and frozen yogurt in 6 different flavors- a step up from soft serve in vanilla, chocolate or swirl.

Part of our cruise package included what Norwegian calls their "Ultimate Beverage Package".  This includes wine, beer, cocktails, soft drinks and spirits up to $15 value in the dining rooms, bars and theaters.  It does not include espresso coffee drinks, or coffee outside the main dining room, so Ben's decision to leave his coffee travel thermos at home ended up premature.  Norwegian also seems to nickel and dime passengers where-ever possible.  Although the drinks are inclusive, you have to pay a mandatory 18% service and gratuity charge for the drink package.  That 18% is based on the full retail package price of $75/day per person.  That's $13.50 per person per day, even if you don't drink anything in actuality.  On top of that, when the ship is in a port of call, there is an additional port tax that is also tacked on.  That amounted to less than a dollar per drink, but it is irritating to have to sign for that charge on top of the drink and gratuity tab.  Ben had a beer at lunch and we also had several soft drinks, which were excluded from the port taxes.  

Our room was ready shortly after we had finished lunch, so we headed down to our stateroom.  The Norwegian Pearl's balcony rooms are nicely decorated with modern and functional fixtures, but the room is noticeably smaller than the Princess standard balcony rooms.  The closet has only 4' of hanging space (vs 8' on Princess) and there are only 3 drawers in the entire room for organizing clothes.  There are only a half dozen open shelves that we crammed our clothes into, but we will have to do some digging around to find what we need.  

There is a sofa, which can fold out into a bed, but it is uncomfortable, and eliminates a nightstand.  The mini bar fridge is locked and stocked so you can't put anything in it.  Princess gives you a dorm sized mini fridge that you can do what you please with.  The Princess balcony room has a desk with drawers and a comfortable chair where you can sit and type. Aside from the uncomfortable sofa, the only other seating in the room is an even more uncomfortable stool that looks like a trash bin with a padded lid.  

The balcony is serviceable, but noticeably smaller than the Princess standard balconies, just big enough to accomodate two chairs and a tiny coffee table.  You would not be able to lay out on a lounge chair on this balcony.  Still, it was very pleasant to sit on the balcony and watch the sail away from Pier 66 and out of Puget Sound.  In the distance, we could see the Emerald Princess pull out of her slip and follow us in pursuit.

The bathroom is serviceable, but the toilet is in its own compartment with the wall 16" in front of the toilet bowl, so if you have long thighs, your knees will be up against the wall in front of you, and if you lean forward at all, your head will be banging on the wall as well.  The toilets in the Princess Cruiseship bathrooms are angled into the bathroom area so that while you can't isolate them from the sink with a sliding door as on the Norwegian ship, you also have much more room to do what you want on the throne without running into any walls.  

We took a walk-about to tour the ship and found that while the ship had been renovated in 2016, it was still pretty much the same ship we sailed on in 2013.  The Blue Lagoon has been changed to O'Sheehan's pub, still open 24/7 in the atrium at mid-ship for midnight munchies.

The carpets were new, but retain the extremely useful feature of having fish embedded in the carpet pattern that are swimming towards the front of the ship.  It is so easy to get disoriented in the corridors, so knowing which way is towards the front of the ship at all times is great.

We met Betty and Franklin for dinner in the Summer Palace main dining room at the aft of the ship.  We were sailing past Whidbey Island as we dined, and when the waiter Alvin asked us where we were from, we could just point out the window and say "That's our island right there".  Prime rib was the main feature, but there were many other choices available, including New Zealand Hake Fillet, which Betty ordered.  The desserts included a pistachio creme Brûlée and lava cake, both of which were good.  We had wine by the glass with our dinners, despite the port tax charge.  We were informed that the port taxes would disappear once we got into international waters after 9:30pm.  

We attended the 7:30 stage show, which was a potpourri of acts that will be featured during the cruise, including the production show team, a pair of dancing acrobats, a male singer, and a comedian.  Some of the hotel and ship's staff were also introduced.  We'll have to see how their full length shows turn out, by the previews looked promising.  

After the show, we made a final tour of the buffet dessert offerings, and visited Franklin and Betty, who were checking out O'Sheehan's, and having a plate of nachos.  Franklin was going to help get Betty to bed, and then participate in the 10pm Karaoke in one of the lounges.  We were pretty exhausted by then, and retired to our stateroom for showers and bed.