We kept an open mind after reading both good and bad reviews about thePearl and NCL in general. So here what we encountered. Embarkation: Fromthe time we pulled into the P.O.M. parking garage until we walked aboardthe Pearl, took about 1 hour and 20 minutes. BE PREPARED to get dousedwith hand sanitizer's wherever you go. And it starts with a vengeancewith proof of documentation. This IS a good thing, because both the Dawnand the Pearl have had a much higher incidence of NOROVIRUS(infamouslynamed after NORWEGIAN cruise lines!) than other ships. In fact I checkedon the C.D.C. web site and found several sailings of NCL ships which hada higher rate of NOROVIRUS including crew members than other lines. Onecouple who joined the Pearl after getting off the Dawn to finish hisvoyage, told us that at least 300 passengers had gotten extremely ill.We did too and well discuss later. And I'm an R.N. and took extremecaution and prevention ... to no avail.

The ship is new, clean and well appointed. The passage ways areannoyingly designed to MAKE YOU pass thru either gift shops, bars or thecasino before you can negotiate your way to your room. Highly annoying!I will say our stateroom with balcony on deck 10 was a pleasantsurprise. Nice wood accents, flat screen T.V. etc. comfy bed andpillows. But only 163 sq.ft. Barely big enough. We emptied therefrigerator of all the booze and put it in bottom drawer. Tell yoursteward first and take an inventory before you do. The cruise line willsearch your bags for liquor and hold them until the end. However, I puta 12-pack of Fresca in a small duffel bad and they didn't mind alongwith several bottles of water. A soda on ship costs $1.75 plus addedgratuity = $2.00 per. Norwegian Cruise Line's motto should be ... "WhereASTERISK is our middle name!" They charge for everything. Leaving for anexcursion, a crew asked if wanted a towel and cold water bottle. "Surewe said". He quickly wrote down our cabin # put down a charge of $4.50each. Thanks but no thanks we told them. You need to ask anytimeanything is offered.

THE CREW: Lot's of people complained, but we found that if you took thetime to look them in the eye and treat them as humans instead of thirdworld Sherpas' they were delightful!! Saw many rude people treat themwith calloused rudeness. The ugly Americans in force. These folks sign10 month contracts and don't have days off, but rather HOURS off. Ifthey treat you well, please, TIP THEM! They were one of the highlightsto our cruise, in spite of many low points. Read more