Norwegian Pearl Review
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This was my second cruise on Norwegian since the Wind in 2003. I enjoyed my cruise on the Wind a lot because the freestyle dining really stood out in my mind as being one of the most carefree cruise experiences I ever had. I like the formality of other cruise line's dining, but it's also nice to be able to amble on down to a dining room or a pay-for restaurant whenever you feel like it.
We've been looking at this itinerary since early 2009. We booked our cruise for 2009 in May on the Carnival Valor and were disappointed a few months later when this itinerary on the Pearl had been dropped to $299 a person. So this year we checked out a few cruise deals early in the year but basically held out booking because we were hoping that the Pearl's sailing prices would drop, and they did so we grabbed it up! We got $100 OBC and a free bottle of wine for booking with the travel agency I use for cruising, not a bad perk at all!
We drove to Miami the day before the cruise and stayed at the La Quinta Inn Miami Airport East. This is the second year in a row we've stayed at this hotel and left our car there for a week and again we were extremely satisfied with this hotel. Wonderful room, great service, and a nice quiet atmosphere added to the free parking and free bus to the port make this hotel our choice for staying at in Miami before we cruise. The price of the hotel is very reasonable, we only paid $75 for our room. If you think about the $20 a day you'll spend to park at the port and the aggravation of being from a small town and trying to navigate the downtown Miami streets, it's an excellent deal. We swam in the pool, ordered a pizza to our room from a local restaurant, and relaxed, a great start to our vacation! We were on the 10:30 bus to the port, and upon arrival we gave our two suitcases to the porters and then headed to the terminal for embarkation.
Cabin Review
Mid-Ship Oceanview Porthole Window
Cabin 4588 was in a very quiet location other than the times when the boat was moving slowly, and then the slosh of the water against the side of the ship was so loud we thought there was a leak either in the cabins beside us or on the floor above us. I never heard anyone in the hallways after a certain time of night, and even in the daytime it was very quiet.
We had a port hole, but it was recessed back in the wall of the ship about a foot and it made it hard to see anything to the right and left or up and down, basically you could only see out the window what was right in front of the port hole window. The window itself was a lot smaller than I had imagined it would be, I was disappointed that it wasn't larger.
Our cabin was mid-ship and on the bottom floor (for passengers) and was perfect for those who might experience motion sickness as I tend to do from time to time. The cabin itself was the smallest I've ever been in, but the bathroom was the biggest. In fact, we felt the bathroom took up too much space that could have been better used in the open area of the cabin. The closet space was sufficient, and the safe was very easy to use.