It was our first cruise. we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. Arrived in Miami 12PM Friday night. Marriott Biscayne hotel was nice ,transfer to ship was ok. Watch out for the luggage sharks loading your luggage for transfer to the boat, they ALL want a tip even the do nothing! They are very demanding about it, and dock workers are already overpaid. Transition on to the ship is smooth and organized. The NCL Pearl is a beautiful,and a CLEAN ship. We booked a room with a balcony forward on deck 10.The extra room on the deck and windows seemed to give us more room. Our room was always clean and pleasant. The cabin staff were always there to accommodate you. FOOD, freestyle cruise meals are good as long as you watch what and where you eat. The main buffet rooms are crowded and noisy. The selection of food is varied by meal and time of day. I found the quality to be on the low end of the scale. Nothing seemed to be hot of the grill, making the food luke warm by the time you got to your table. Not a good selections of fruits. Most of the people here were just to see how much they could eat. Watch hours of operation or you could not eat. The Summer Palace and Indigo were a sit down, take your order from a fixed menu with a daily list. The quality of this food was far better. Service here was more of an upscale restaurant. The specialty restaurants offered a variety of choices of good quality. Watch the up-charge, not all were worth it. The blue Lagoon was a great place to order off a limited but good menu. Just remember "washy, washy" If you like to drink you will have no problem. Quality of liquor is good plenty of places to relax from dance floors to piano bars to front deck lounges. They even had the Corona Cigar Club. Drinks specials 2-1 was a great way to meet all kinds of people. The cruisers were all friendly you could meet people from all over the world. Watch out for the buckets of beer a great deal, get six beers for the price of five. They charge $5.00 for the bucket. You are suppose to be able to turn it in for credit, yet I could never get one! All drink orders come with a fixed tip so be careful. Plus be aware they have a $12.00 per person per day surcharge added to your bill at the end of the cruise. That cruise card makes it easy to spend money without knowing it. They put on a lot of activities for all types, with great choices just read your daily cruise paper to keep up. The entertainment at the Star Dust was great we had several great choices and loved them all. If you want a quiet place the thermal suites offered saunas, heated mosaic lounges, and hot tubs. We did not use the spa but did not hear anything great about it though. The pools are was a great place to see and be seen. Music food and drinks. Several decks were available to sun bath in a less active zone. Great views and plenty of chairs. If you were going a shore make sure you get booked at least the day before, or you will not get to go. The excursion desk has limited hours, do not wait to see what the weather will be like first. We took a shuttle boat to a small island in Samana DR. Expensive boat trip as short as it was. Beach was nice not very busy. In Tortola BVI we were only to take the tender to shore visit, (missed the tour schedule). We made sure when we hit St.Thomas V.I. we booked a catamaran and snorkel tour this was worth the trip here. Luckily the ship docked this time so you could still see the island and shop if you wanted to. They really push the duty free shopping here. Last stop was the private island, transfer was a short trip. Not much to do but that was ok. We just walked around and then sat on the beach and relaxed the rest of the day. Just be sure you are back to the ship on time, we left three people in St. Thomas! Although this ship had over 2,000+ cruisers on board you could always find a quiet place to walk or just sit back and relax. Every one on board was there for the same reason to have fun. After a while you would recognize people and they would always ask you how you were, or sit down and join you for dinner and a drink. Arrival in Miami. You have several options when departing ship based on your travel needs, As we were not flying out until the next day were some of the last of the ship. Gave us plenty of time to kick back and wait without a rush. Our last night was booked at the JW Marriott (by the cruise line) a great suit and tie hotel but not very friendly to cruiser. We ended up at the hotel around 10AM and of course they could not get you a room until 4PM. They seemed a little put out. Just watch out where you walk and what time of day.