We LOVE cruises! This was our 7th cruise, and it was mostly wonderful. We were travelling with a party of 8 family and friends -- and it's always the people that make the cruise for us. This was our first NCL cruise and there were some disappointments, but overall we still loved it, though we're not sure we'd cruise with NCL again. Hubby is in a wheelchair, so there are comments about accessibility here.

Ship: The Norwegian Pearl is Norwegian's newest ship (inaugural cruise was in December). Although I think I heard they are getting ready to launch another one - Norwegian Gem. The ship was absolutely beautiful. A lot of the different cruise ships are decorated a little gaudily for my taste - the Pearl was not one of those. Beautiful; Clean; Brightly decorated; Loved it!!

Staterooms: Hubby and I had a handicapped accessible room, and it was wonderful. Very roomy; a lot of nice touches - like a mirror in the bathroom that could be rolled down so hubby could look in it, a bar on the clothes rack that he could use to pull the clothes down to his level, an automated balcony door (which he doesn't need, but would really be great for people with less upper-body mobility), a ramp out to the balcony and plenty of room for him to be comfortable in the stateroom. The other staterooms (2 balcony and one oceanview) were as small or maybe a bit smaller than staterooms we've had on other cruises. The balconies on all three cabins were deeper than any others we've had -- deep enough for hubby to sit out there and maneuver in the wheelchair without having to take the feet off the chair. One thing we were very disappointed in -- the doors between the balconies could be opened, but they didn't have anything to secure them ... so they would only open them while we were in port. Seriously!? What good is that?? When we're in Port, we're IN PORT ... Not on the ship. They didn't have the foresight to install hardware to secure the doors open, and I guess they were in rough waters at one time and the doors swung back and forth and broke cabin windows. Carnival has the doors between the balconies on some of their ships, and they have heavy-duty hardware to secure the door when open. And, they leave it open for the entire cruise if that's how you want it. This was one of several reasons we paid the extra for the balcony cabins ... so it was a disappointment. Two of our party were right next door -- it would have been lots more fun to have that door open while at sea. Read more