Long time cruiser (20+) my wife and I decided to jump on a M-F cruise offered out of Miami as the price was quite attractive. The cruise only went to key West & Cozumel which was fine with us for a getaway and we always love the pub crawl in Key West. The ship itself was very clean and well kept and we enjoyed the Japanese Hibachi restaurant as well as the steak house which was very good. Other than that and two $219 massages the ship left nothing much to do. We have cruised NCL in the past with our last on the Epic which we enjoyed a lot and loved the casino where we spend quite a bit of time. In all my years of cruising I have never been on a ship that closes down after 11pm. I was shocked that I could walk the entire ship at midnight and not find a soul anywhere. Forget food as all venues are closed tight and you can only order pizza from room service with an additional fee. I did find an outside small late night buffet on the third day that had some old nasty beef and a few taco shells left for pickin if you dare. The entertainment was little to none with no Bingo or any events worth even going to in the daily program. I get it was a discount price cruise but never imagined this would be the first time cruising that we wanted to just get back home so we could enjoy the last few days of my vacation and have some fun.

The casino was a joke and had only two Black Jack tables. You think they would be full most of the time but never once had to wait for a seat. It seemed they took some face cards out of the six decks as well because no one ever won. (very odd) No wonder the tables were all completely empty after midnight every day. The Epic was a totally different experience and it had a great Casino vibe and action. I played a lot of money and never even got a free drink on the Pearl where I was drinking free the whole cruise on the Epic after day 1. I hope it was just the Pearl that stinks and not NCL going down the tubes. I may go NCL some time in the future as we have liked them in the past but for now we are going to spend a little more and go RCL so we have something to do.