This was our first time on NCL, so we had to get used to that style of Cruising. But the Pearl was fun overall.

Embarkation We had a friend drop us off at the cruise terminal. I guess I was confused about how much to tip the porters there. I gave the guy $3 for lifting 3 bags. I heard him grumble under his breath, so I went back and gave him some more money. (I thought it was a buck per bag??) Anyway, the first thing we did was fill out a health form saying we weren't sick. Then we stood in line to have our carry-on luggage scanned. We got in line to check in. The line was long, but went pretty quickly. Then we walked down to another area to get our sea pass cards. It took about 40 min total. Once onboard, we got champagne. The elevators took us directly to the Garden Cafe buffet on deck 12. The elevators only went to 12. Then we explored a little. Our room was ready by 1:40, I think.

At sea-the first night and morning was pretty bad with the ship rocking. I heard there were 12 foot waves the first night. That morning my husband tried to run on the treadmill in the fitness center and kept sliding off. I went to eat in the cafe but smelled the food and turned around because I was so seasick. But we did eat lunch and found chairs on the second pool deck. By 1pm, the sea was calm. Read more