Embarkation - This was so easy! We caught a shuttle from our hotel, the Hyatt Place Miami Airport West/Doral at about 12:00 and we were on the ship by about 1:15! Not bad for driving time to the port, check in and security!

First Impression - Upon walking onboard the ship, we were impressed with the look of the Pearl. We loved the outside painting on the ship. Nothing spectacular as soon as we entered the inside however. No one even really greeted us and the only employee around was the one trying to shuffle people onto the elevators.

Stateroom - We splurged once again (this is our first Norwegian but my 6th cruise altogether) on a balcony stateroom for the extra space AND of course the balcony. Which I might say was very small. I think our balcony was what was considered a Navigator's veranda which means it is enclosed more than most balconies. This fact turned out be very nice for us as it seemed to shelter us from a lot of colder wind during some of the days at sea. The room itself, I thought, was lacking in storage as there were three of us. My husband and I in the King bed (which was very comfortable) and our 14 year old daughter got the pull out couch. She said it was quite comfortable but the main problem was that once it was pulled out, there was no way to get to the balcony but to literally climb over her and struggle with the slider from her bed. It would have been nice to have at least a foot at the end of the pull out and another foot between the bed and slider. The bathroom was small but the enclosed shower was very nice! Always hated the way the clingy shower curtains on other ships seemed to always be in the way. Read more