Norwegian Pearl Review
Rating by category
Additional details
I'm writing this as someone who had been on only one previous cruise (11 years prior) before taking this seven-night Alaska cruise on the Pearl. My experience, being that I'm not a veteran and seeing as my wife and I had two small children (5 and 8), will hopefully be a bit of a different perspective.
The good: we thought all of the staff was terrific -- the room stewards, cooks, waiters & waitresses, bartenders, etc., were all friendly and helpful. The Splash Academy kids program is worth additional praise. The staff there (10 or 12 twenty-somethings who were the "counselors") were just terrific. They had specific, themed programs for each day, and at the end of the week, all of the kids put on a show on the main stage at the Stardust Theater. Of course, the vast majority of the attendees were parents, but it was great for the kids (and parents!).
We also enjoyed most of the dining experiences. We did NOT eat at any restaurants that required additional fees, but ate breakfast and lunch each day in the buffet (the "Garden Cafe" and "Great Outdoors" are essentially the same thing) and were quite pleased with the quality and variety of the food. They had plenty of options for both kids and adults and different varieties of Indian and Asian entrees each day. We ate once at the Indigo dining room and three times at the Summer Palace (I was disappointed to discover that they both had the EXACT same menu on a given night). It was good and the service was friendly, but to be honest, not quite up to the snuff of any "fancy" restaurant. For instance, I ordered iced tea every night and only got it once. Water was slow to be filled, etc. Good, not great, in my opinion. We very much enjoyed the Lotus Garden (a complimentary Asian (mostly Chinese) restaurant), and ate there twice. We also at once at O'Sheehan's, the "Irish" pub, which was okay.
Cabin Review
Inside
We put in for "inside guaranteed," which meant that our cabin would be assigned by NCL at a time of its choosing, but that we might luck into an upgrade. As it happened, we were assigned (we did NOT ask for it ... I've noted on the message boards that some folks take offense to non-handicapped travelers using an ADA room) an ADA-accessible room, which was close to double the size of a regular inside cabin.
For our purposes (four people in one cabin), that was a fantastic stroke of luck. In terms of the room itself and given that we'd only paid for (and expected) an inside cabin, we couldn't have been more pleased. It included a couch that pulled out into a double bed for our two kids, and there was still enough space that both we left it as a bed (folded out) the entire cruise.
The bathroom was much larger than others and there was a LOT of storage via the closet and cubbies. Bathroom was fine in terms of water temperature, pressure, etc.
The only downside (partly due to the location all the way in the aft of the ship) is that it was rather loud -- not due to other guests or staff, but due to the vibration and creaking of the ship. A couple of nights, we were woken by rattling noises that we were able to correct simply by pushing on the wood of the built-in desk/cabinets, which proved effective (though, obviously, I'd have preferred to remain asleep).
One minor snafu was that we inadvertently pressed the emergency call button (installed for mobility-impaired guests at the head of the bed four or five times simply by pressing a pillow up against it unknowingly. Guest services called each time and we had to tell them "sorry" and reset the button. Something to watch out for, I guess.