We booked this Easter cruise on the new Pearl and were very excited. We cruised 5 times before all with Carnival. We really wanted to try another line for comparison.

We flew down Easter morning and arrived in the embarkation area around 3pm. It was a ZOO!! loud music, huge lines spilling out of the zig-zag line coral and a LOT of people. This was a poor first impression. The lines moved somewhat fast - I think we waited about 25 minutes. Once through the line we were luckily on the ship within 10 minutes and no more lines. We were very impressed with the ship, it was not gaudy, over the top or loud like Carnival can be. It was just extremely nice! We decided to check our rooms. We always book the cheapest rooms which are inside rooms. Our room was smaller than expected but nice. Our kids room was next door and they agreed it was smaller than Carnivals cheapest rooms. We were right under the casino and I was really worried about noise coming through and thankfully it did not. It was really quiet. Our room steward was very responsive, polite, pleasant and good.

All breakfasts were at the garden cafe or outdoor cafe. Outdoor cafe had same food and MUCH shorter lines. Very, very good omelets and fruit - but little variety of fruit. Read more