We sailed on the Norwegian Pearl's January 9th sailing. It was my wife and our two daughters, 6 and 9. We boarded the ship at about 12:30pm without difficulty. We had to wait in a holding area for about 30 minutes prior, but it was comfortable and nicely air conditioned. The staff was very friendly.
Upon boarding the ship, we went to the buffet on the 12th deck for lunch. Unfortunately, so did everyone else so there really was no seating at all. We managed to find seats in the kids area (thankfully we were with our kids). Thankfully, that was the last time we couldn't find adequate seating in the buffet area. The buffet itself was beautiful with many tasty choices, including healthy ones, which is unusual in my experience with cruising.
The room, an AF class, was large and very nicely apportioned. In fact I would stay in the same exact room again. It was located on deck 11, near the buffet and aqua kids club on 12 (but not too near that we heard any noise).
Great mini-suite. Larger than the family suite on Disney. Nice layout, huge closet, lots of drawers. Lots of space under bed to store luggage. Bathroom was nice with actual full pressure faucets. Nice touch. It was the perfect location, between mid and aft. No excess noise.