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Average

Norwegian Star

Norwegian Sun

Norwegian Pearl

Hong Kong

This was our first NCL cruise- We had been on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival previously.

Embarkation:
This was by far the fastest we have ever gotten on board. I don't know if it was 15 minute and we arrived at about 12:30. The glass of champagne was very nice and we were very pleased.

The Ship:
The ship is beautiful, Large and modern, and fairly easy to navigate. I found all the public spaces clean and in great shape! We had a balcony cabin for the first time. It was wonderful. It was not as large as I thought it would be and would have been tight for more than two people. The bathroom layout is fabulous. I love not having a shower curtain that never keeps the water in. The Casino is the only odd spot on the boat. It is circus themed and seems a little out of place with the ship (did not stop us from visiting of course!) 

The Food:
This is where things were not so hot. We ate in the Main Dining Room (MDR), Le Bistro, La Cucina, Lotus Garden, and the buffet. The MDR was fair to lousy with only a few dishes really tasty. The cold soups are good, and I had a few appetizers that were yummy, but the entrees were awful. DH had the steak one evening that looked awful and tasted worse. The desserts were OK, but nothing memorable. Le Bistro was good though our meat was overcooked. I thought it was worth the $15 cover charge. La Cucina was OK. Olive Garden and Buca di Beppo's are better. But it was worth $10 cover charge. Lotus Garden was our best meal on board. They had a BOGO for the cover charge but it would have been worth it anyway. We also had our best service on board there as well. Lastly, the buffet: It is the best laid out buffet I have ever seen at sea. Unfortunately the food was awful. It was always very crowded and there was always issues finding a table without bumping into people. The hard ice cream was good but that was the only thing that made an impression. Also the boat had just recently changed to Pepsi from Coke which killed me and saved me money since I am a diet coke addict. 

The Service:
Our cabin steward, Rick, did a good job. We really did not see him all that much but that is fine. I like that they have the little wheel sign at the door that says what you want to have done with the cabin. 
Bar service was fine what little we had of it. We did do the beer tasting and that was very stupid. I was hoping it would be a little about the beer making process and tasting beers from around the world. Not Really. But they did give you a bottle at the end so if you were looking at this a purely alcohol thing, than it was a good value at $15. The service in the MDR was just bad. I don't think I am a needy person but I hate always having to ask for water over and over again. We had several things forgotten and one time they brought us someone else's meals. I think that the fact that they know they are getting their tips no matter what, brings down the level of service. People usually had smiles, but no one seemed to go out of their way for us. 

Freestyle:
My DH liked the idea of not getting dressed up at all and being more comfortable but really missed the MDR experience that we have had on other ships. He did not like having to wait with the pager for a table for dinner. I did not care all that much about it. Other than the meal situation, I did not see a whole lot of difference than other cruise lines as far as activities etc.

I am not going to get into the ports too much as one was San Francisco and the other was Astoria Oregon. Astoria is a cute place but there is really not that much to do. This would have been the one time we should have taken one of the ships tours, or rented a car. 

Disembarkation:

We chose that last color to get off the boat. We were in no rush so it seemed OK well, there were 3 boats in at the same time as us and customs was overwhelmed. The kept closing it down, so we did not get off ship until nearly 11:00 AM. People were already lining up to get on the ship! We spent the night in Vancouver and then took the Amtrak down to Seattle and flew out of there. This was the way to go! It was a lovely ride (4 hrs) along the coast most of the way and saved us hundreds as opposed to flying out of Vancouver. 

Would I cruise NCL again? Of course! It was still a great deal even with the issues we had, but if we were looking at similar cruises with another line, at the same price we would probably go on another line.


Good not Great Time on the NCL Pearl

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