I have never in my life bothered to take the time to write an online review, but after reading part way through an extremely negative review of a fellow passenger, I found I was shaking my head and truly wondered if we had been on the same ship! I simply HAD to share our own experience with the Pearl to illustrate a different opinion.

Firstly, although I'm in my mid 30's, I've been cruising since I was a kid. My parents used to take Transatlantic trips back and forth to Europe from the time I was born, so I've practically grown up on ship-based vacations. As an adult paying my own tab I've cruised with Princess twice, Holland America three times, Royal Caribbean about 6 or 7 times, Celebrity twice, and NCL twice. In other words, pretty much most of the mainstream, mid-range cruise lines. Have never cruised with Carnival as it has just never appealed to me. Their ships just look so cheap to me that I've never even been tempted.

Anyhow, there was a group of four of us, two couples. Our travel partners had never been on a cruise, so we were an interesting combination of passengers. We were also booked into two different cabin categories, which it turns out, makes a BIG difference to the cruise experience on the Pearl. We had booked a penthouse suite at the very aft of the ship, which afforded us VIP status on the ship. We paid not a lot more than our friends who had a regular outside balcony suite, I think a total of a few hundred dollars each, and we realize now that it was worth every penny. Read more