Norwegian Pearl Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,402 reviews

Not a Cruiser

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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Xenabird
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Feb 2011
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside

My husband (35) and I (34) went on the Norwegian Pearl from Feb 20-27, 2011. What we didn't know at the time of booking, was that this was Presidents Week in the US and a bunch of families would be on the cruise.Our room was great, actually bigger than we had expected (inside stateroom) and had amazing room stewards.The restaurants (we did not go to any of the specialty $ ones) were good, and service was OK or great. Most nights we had to wait for a table, but with the restaurant pagers, and being able to head to a bar to get a cocktail, it wasn't an issue for us.The entertainment was great! We had Second City troupe, a celebrity hyponotist, a tribute to Jersey Boys, and a comedian (Daniel Nestor). They were all great, and definitely the highlight of the cruise.The islands were OK, nothing really exciting to report. Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegian's private island in Bahamas) was just littered with fellow shipmates. And I do mean littered. Tendering to get to the island, we were lucky lucky lucky to get a chair on the island at all. I think the entire cruise was on that small island, not really made to handle the masses.My husband and I had not been on a cruise before, and had only vacationed at all inclusive resorts before. It was painful to spend $8 on a pina colada, etc. and therefore, I had maybe 4-5 drinks the entire cruise (unlike 4-5 per day, and per night, at an all inclusive). We only did one shore excursion, and our bill at the end was around $550.We did not find cruising a good value for money. It cost us about $1,100 to fly to Miami, $1,300 for the cruise, and $550 for the bill at the end. The airport in Miami was horrible (horrible is too weak a word for the return trip) and we had a stopover (delayed) in Chicago... not the cruise's fault of course, just saying.The two biggest issues we found were:1) the layout of the ship -- specifically the pool situation. We had two at sea days and with only having one pool area (children and adult in the same location), the area was once again littered with people, and chairs were a major issue. If the adult pool was in a different area, that would have been heaven. With people taking up 8 chairs, but only ever having 2 people there at any given time, it was challenging for a couple to find 2 measly chairs anywhere near the action. On our last at sea day my husband got up early to reserve our chairs. Which is apparently against the rules, but there wasn't any enforcing any rules. But speaking of rules, it was good to see that children stayed out of the adult pool.2) They wanted money for everything. Starting with the $50+ for unlimited pop for one person for the week, the alcoholic drinks, the pictures, the shore excursions, the duty free shops, the spa, etc. etc. Can't I just come on vacation and relax?!?!Everyone we spoke to said that cruising is not normally like this, and that they all highly recommended going with Royal Caribbean -- a little more $, but definitely worth it.However, for us, we will return to the all inclusive. We like being able to tip based on service (rather than mandatory for all levels of service or lack thereof), to not have to keep track of all receipts, and not have to get up super early to get off the boat and rush with the masses to go to the same place. What we didn't realize all of these times when we were at all inclusives, is that one of the great things is that the guests are spread out. Not EVERYONE at the pool at the same time. We can spread out at the beach, on an excursion, at the pool, in our room, at one of the many restaurants, etc.For us, we are not cruisers. We are all inclusivers. :-)

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Inside

We were on deck 11 and must have been right under the pool area. Around 4pm when the party was going on, we could hear the thumping but not actually the songs. We were across the halls from balcony suites that must have had families in them (strollers outside the halls, kids running town the halls). The room itself was great, the bed was comfy.

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