4 people traveling... My husband and I are 50 and 2 boys 16 yrs old. This was our 24th cruise. Like all cruises, it had its pros and cons. But, we have never had a bad time on a cruise. The Pearl is a beautiful, clean, well designed ship. The staff is friendly and helpful. THE PROS: We loved our stateroom, it was a bit small but had ample storage, a great shower (the best yet) and wonderful bedding. The Garden cafe had a great buffet for breakfast and lunch with a great selection of food. The hand sanitizers were everywhere which made you feel safer as far as spreading illness goes. Free icecream everyday. The ship was easy to get around. Great itinerary. THE CONS: Restaurant reservations... there was always a line and by the time you got your turn, they were booked for the time you wanted. This happened many times! It was stressful. The Main dining room no longer offers things like shrimp cocktail and lobster and filet for formal nights. You must pay extra for those in the specialty dining rooms. The crowds were sometimes bothersome. We were not able to get near the chocoholic buffet until it was gone!

Our 16 yr olds had a great time and rated the cruise a 9.8 out of 10 overall. There were a lot of teens on board because of spring break. They would start their night around 11:30 and usually stayed out till 3 or 4 a.m. They said the room service food was really good especially the chicken ceasar salad and the ham and cheese sandwich. The ports of call were all great except for Samana. We went to a beach for $25 p.p. the beach was full of seaweed and it took forever to get there. It was not a pleasant experience. I would recommend doing the ships beach excursion. We heard it was nicer. The cruise director Simon was very good, he had a great sense of humor. We enjoyed the shows. The only one that was disappointing was the magician and he left the ship when we did, so you shouldn't have to worry about that! They could use a couple more comedians on board. As far as the food goes... Cagney's and Teppanyaki were great, LaCrucia was good, but the service was slow. Mambos was pretty good and Summer Place was hit or miss on the menu selection. The desserts were nothing to get excited about. Although my husband seemed to enjoy the cookies at the buffet every evening. They also made crepes every night at the buffet,they were pretty good too. We met some really nice people on this cruise and overall had a great time. We loved the 9 night itinerary. We were so not ready to get off after 7 days so that was nice. We would consider doing this cruise again next spring break if it was offered, unfortunately its not!