Norwegian Pearl Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,402 reviews

Would not cruise again with NCL - sorry!

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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dathy
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Dec 2007
Traveled with children

I would like to first of all apologize to everyone who enjoys NCL. I really believe there is a cruise line for everyone. I do want to add that If NCL did make a few simple changes, I would return. Our sailing was during new years. The ship was completely sold out. As a bit of background, I've cruised four other major cruise lines more than once at least - (Disney, Princess, Carnival and RCCL), some with our daughter and some without. We just returned from our trip. I wanted to post this as quickly as possible so that all of the details were fresh in my mind. Here's the positives: 1. Debarkation - Without a doubt, the easiest debarkation I've ever experienced. Other cruise lines should take a hint on this one. The night before, you simply walk up to a board at reception and figure out what time YOU want to get off of the ship. Pick your color. That's it, plain and simple. The ship is also part of the Bags program. If you are flying on one of the numerous airlines listed on the paper, for just $15 per person, your bags will be delivered directly to the airline. As a result, you can tour, walk or whatever the Miami area and not worry about your luggage. We did not take advantage of this program, but thought it was a great feature. 2. Room service - Offered on debarkation morning until 9 am. The other cruise lines we've been on stop room service around 1 am debarkation morning. In other words, no room service that last morning. This also means that NCL isn't coming around to kick you out of your cabin by 8 am ish. We opted for the 9:40 departure, which was running about 20 mins late. We actually stayed in our stateroom until well after 9 which was great. 3. Staff - Absolutely every person (except 1 in 9 days) was friendly and polite. We continually saw our room stewards who kept our mini suite absolutely spotless. Restaurant service (and we tried all of them except Le Bistro and Summer Palace) was fantastic. In the buffet, if you got up for one second, there was a staff member there to take your empty plate away. Very, very efficient. Even the staff that we encountered in the port terminal were also helpful and nice. 4. Food taste, quality and selection - Except for a few items from the buffet, we never had an entree or dessert that was not absolutely delicious. In addition, I have absolutely no idea what it must take to offer the quality and selection that this ship does on a nightly basis. 5. Bathroom - The only other one I liked was Disney's. The mini suite has a glass door that separates the toilet from the sink. It is a clear, glass door with white etching on it. It is not completely covered, but good enough. Also, the water pressure was very strong in the shower. 6. Problems - Any time we had an issue with anything, it was handled quickly and efficiently. Our toilet clogged a couple of times on bad sea days and the plumber was there within minutes. We had an issue with our bill and it was quickly taken care of. We really felt like the cruise line cared about us and our problems. 7. Sanitation - Each and every time we entered a restaurant or the buffet, there was a worker literally standing right at the sanitizing machine, politely asking us to sanitize our hands. In fact, when we came back from a day at port, workers were right there before we were even allowed back on the ship, spraying our hands from large spray bottles. 8. Complimentary cappuccino, latte and espresso - Machine at rear of buffet also offers decaf. Nice touch. 9. Washers and dryers complimentary - Soap $1/box, no dryer sheets available. Luckily got info ahead of time from cc boards or would never have found these on the ship. Very hidden. 10. Bliss - The most amazing nightclub I've seen on a cruise ship. 11. Waterslide and pools - Chlorinated water. Waterslide a little slow, but large and fun. Did find it strange that kids were allowed to go down HEAD FIRST. 12. Internet connection - Pretty fast with our laptop. We also tried it with their desktop and noticed the connection speed to be slower. You can also use your laptop in your stateroom with a cord from the internet cafe. You can only go wireless in the lounges. We hung out on the 7th floor atrium and had very good speeds. Only some times would it hang. Unfortunately, here's why we wouldn't sail with NCL again: 1. General entertainment - Oh my gosh. Here's where this cruise line completely blows it. It's of absolutely no comparison to the other cruise lines I've been on. Boring, dull, yikes! Let's talk about night 1. The only show is offered at 8 pm. This means that if you've made a dinner reservation when you got onto the ship for 7:30, you miss the one welcome aboard show of the entire cruise. Bad, bad planning, NCL. We missed the show, but saw it on tv. Glad we couldn't make it. Dull and boring. Night number 2 there were two shows offered. One at 7:30 and one at 9:30. Unfortunately, they were both rated PG-13? Couldn't figure that one out. NCL, your advertisement appeals to families and couples. Let's keep the PG-13 stuff for later in the evening. And what didn't make any sense at all, for a 9-day cruise, there was only one late night comedy adult show. The other shows with the NCL dancers were beyond bad. Sharkbait and the magician Richard Burr were the only "entertainment" that was offered in your main showroom. As far as the entertainment on the rest of the ship, we also definitely did not like the Trio Hernandez. We did feel that poolside the Caribbean guys and the solo guy on the first couple of days, were entertaining. We did find it odd that during one of the sailaways, the actual ship leaving the dock, that the caribbean singer guys decided that this was the right time to take a break. We were entertained during this time by the loudspeaker of assorted music. 2. Things to do on board, esp for families - There were three full sea days. One of the days we had an awful storm, 60 mph and more winds and very high seas. Two decks had to shut down as well as the pools because of the storm. As a result, the ship should have had some kind of alternate plan for inside things to do. But unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing additionally planned. This is the first cruise that my daughter finished all of her homework and used every coloring book that she brought. She was miserably bored. We were also bored. 3. Bowling - Closes at 9pm for under 21. Absolutely horrible. Not even teenagers are allowed to bowl after 9pm. Ridiculous! Ship should block off part of the bowling so that kids could use it after 9pm. After all, there are two lanes on one side of the nightclub and two on the other. Also, we found one 10-pound ball for the entire ship. We also found one smaller ball. There were a lot of 14 and 15 lb balls. This makes it slow for more than one kid to bowl at any one time, esp if you have two lanes of kids. We also noted that it specifically indicated in the Freestyle that you had to be 6 yrs old to bowl. We saw toddlers bowling. 4. Kids club - On port days, the ship CHARGES $5/hr for you to leave your kids at the club. I have never experienced this on any other cruise line. 5. Arcade - Miserably small. I believe there were 8 video-style machines. 6. Nintendo Wii - In the atrium there is a very large screen, about the size of a movie theatre. Wii play is offered for one and a half hours per day. That's it, once per day. Just not enough time for all of the kids who want to use it. 7. The large underused atrium movie-theatre screen - On our bad sea day, we were sitting in the atrium with a lot of other people. There was soft music playing. On the beautiful movie-theatre screen what was showing? Slides of sculptures, about 5 slides. And the slides kept repeating. When the slides were over, the ship then had their promos, i.e., tv commercials playing over and over and over. Then it was time to advertise all of the other NCL ships. Of course this seemed too coincidental that the cruise was almost over... This slow sea day was the perfect opportunity for the ship to show a movie or something else on that definitely underused screen. 8. Concierge service - We started with a mini suite that we were told had concierge service. On Jan 2 when we returned to our room in the evening, we decided to call the concierge to make a reservation for the next night. All of a sudden, the word "concierge" was removed from our telephone and in its place was a blank button. We had absolutely no idea what was going on. We called reception and were told that as of Jan 1 the mini suites lost the concierge privilege, but the ship was extending as a courtesy, our privilege until the end of the cruise. Thanks for letting us know. 9. Freestyle dining - Great concept, bad system. If your stateroom category does not have concierge, this is the way it works. You go to the front of Mambo's at 7 am or you can make a phone call and book for the night of and the next night for any restaurant on the ship. Well, there was this man who decided to sit outside of Mambo's at 6 am, figuring that when reservations opened, he would be able to get the restaurant of his choice. He unfortunately was told after waiting for one full hour, that all of the restaurants were full for the evening. His only options for the evening were to "stake out" as we heard another family refer to it as, restaurants on the ship. Go from restaurant to restaurant and see if anything is available. If not then its buffet dining. What would be fairer is that if each and every cabin would be able to eat in every restaurant at least once, or each and every cabin would be able to select any restaurant, including the time, at least once or twice during the cruise from the very beginning. When I'm on a cruise, I like being waited on for dinner. It's just not the same having dinner in the buffet. This is one of the biggest reasons why I would not cruise again with NCL. I'm not going to pay the ultra exorbitant rate to get a suite just so that I can guarantee my dinner. Getting a restaurant reservation between 5:45 and 7:30 is next to impossible on full ships. Who needs and/or wants the hassle of making all of these plans? There are these big flat screen tvs indicating restaurant availability, but we noticed on several occasions that these screens were incorrect. 10. $11 bottles of water - That's right. When you get off the ship, you are offered water for purchase at $11, but it includes a shoulder strap holder. This is the only water available when you leave the ship so plan accordingly. 11. Mini suite - Full curtain separating bed from sofa. Sofa opens to full bed, not twin. Closet opens up into the bed, not in the hallway. Felt room size small for mini suite compared to what we've had on other cruiselines. Ports 1. Samana - Do not go into town. We heard from several people that the town was nothing more than a flea market with flies. Luckily we decided to go to Cayo Levantado. There is an opportunity there to have your pic taken with a trained sea lion. Really cute! You are taken there by a high speed boat. If you like to snorkel you have to go out pretty far to see anything and the waves were high when we were there. Also very sandy, not clear water. We were told that food was available for purchase on the island, so we brought nothing but our $11 bottle of water. When we got off the boat and asked where the food was, we were told that there was none and the cruise line did not recommend that we eat any of the food available. While on the island we met a family from Oceania cruise who told us their excursion included a buffet lunch. We followed them, were able to pay for a lunch, which I believe was $15/person, ate our food and had no problems. We did stay away from any dairy products just to be sure. We also were able to purchase bottled water $1/bottle and soda, but made sure not to use any ice. No desire to return to this port. 2. Tortola - Ship docks in Tortola. Small amt of shopping outside of port area. We did the Virgin Gorda highlights. Bought water at the dock before we got on the ferry. Had absolutely no idea that water, soda, chips, etc available for sale downstairs on the ferry. Went to top deck to sit to enjoy the view from outside. Long, abt 30 mins. Were then taken by open air taxi to the baths. Walked down about 100 something steps, small pathway, uneven steps. We wore crocs and water shoes. Snorkeled very close to shore and found tons of fish. Water clear and beautiful. Guide was also offering to take people to the caves. We think addtl money, not sure. We didn't do this. Water shoes or crocs only. If not, she said you had to go barefoot. Lots of people said it was very nice. Small tour on way back to ferry. Good restaurant at the Baths. Not interested in returning here either from what we saw. 3. Antigua - Went to Jolly Beach on our own. Abt 20 mins. Shared a cab for $6/person. Beautiful water. Rented chairs and umbrellas. Public beach, very small amt of vendors. Restaurant with good food, but somewhat slow and disorganized. 4. Barbados - loved this port. Went to the Boatyard on our own, which is one of the most organized beach clubs in the caribbean I've ever been to. Heavy security. Highly recommend. $16/person, but includes one drink, even alcoholic. Lots of crew members go there. People from Carnival, Celebrity were also there. Crowded, but nice. Water trampoline, water slide in ocean, rope swing. Beautiful long stretch of beach. Sand like powder. No rocks. Chairs and umbrellas for rent. Good fast bar restaurant. Would return tomorrow. 5. St. Lucia - loved this port. Went to Pigeon Island on our own. Abt 25 mins. Highly recommend. Not very crowded. Very few people. Restaurant with good food and service. One side of the island is the atlantic ocean and the other side is the caribbean sea. Historic national park. Caribbean side of beach is in a protected cove. Little to no waves. Sandy water and somewhat rocky. Would return, but go to another beach.

We had a good cruise, but would not use NCL in the future unless overhaul of on-board entertainment and freestyle dining system. We selected this ship based on its ports as did several other people we spoke with. In the end we all agreed that while port selection is important, the ship itself should be the number one consideration.

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