We decided this year that we wanted to spend thanksgiving on a cruise ship. We selected the Pearl as we liked the 9 night option and the Southern Caribbean ports looked interesting. Traveling on this trip were myself (51), my wife (52) and our daughter (18). Also on the same trip with us were a couple of very good friends of mine who happened to book the same trip. We had previously sailed on the NCL Star to Alaska in 2006, as well as sailing on the Star in 2005 for a Pacific NW relocation cruise. After sailing 2 years in a row on the Star we were very familiar with Freestyle Cruising. We were also very familiar with the layout of the Pearl as it is very similar to the Star. In previous years we had also sailed on Carnival twice, Princess once and Celebrity once. Overall we had a great time on the cruise. Freestyle is a great concept but in my opinion still has bugs to work out. Although we had a good time on this cruise, it was very obvious that NCL as many other cruise companies are doing now has cut corners in many areas. Budget cuts were very obvious as the staff was overworked. I will try and cover these observations as I write this review.
Embarkation:
Since we live in Ft. Lauderdale, no hotel or air was needed. I had a local car service pick us up at my house and take us to the Port of Miami. The car picked us up at 10:30 AM and we arrived at the port around 11:30. There were no lines and it was by far the most efficient process of getting on a ship I have every experienced. The longest line we had to wait on was with the woman that was taking care of the corkage fees. We brought a couple of bottles of wine with us and needed to check them in. Unfortunately the woman spoke very little English and she did not understand a word I said to her. I did not want to have to carry the wine on board with me. I wanted NCL to store it for me so that I could request it when ready to have it served. She did not understand this and I ended up having to carry the wine on board with me and keep them in the room with me for 2 days until I was able to bring them to the dining room and explain that I wanted them stored and did not want to drink them in my room. It was very frustrating trying to explain this to the woman who checked the wine in. We were on board by 11:50 AM. We were able to place our carry on bags in the room although it was not ready. We then headed to the Indigo for lunch. Many people do not know that the buffet is not the only option for lunch after boarding.