THE SHIP'S APPEARANCE: A beautiful ship, the Norwegian Pearl is vibrant, like her sister ships. Immaculately clean, she sparkles and glows like a new ship should. At times there was little foot traffic, I noticed personnel cleaning the carpet at the elevator. Another time, I spotted a paint crew touching up the outside of the ship. Just beyond our cabin entry, our steward was cleaning the wall with a mixture that smelled very faintly of bleach and water. Imagine walls being sanitized!

Hand sanitizers are placed EVERYWHERE. At first, it may seem like overkill. And if you skip a gel station upon entering a restaurant, the staff redirects you. (I know firsthand.) So despite, just using a hand sanitizer elsewhere, you are going to have to use it AGAIN. I understand the policy. A little change is going to make a big difference among all the passengers. Due to the outbreak of the Norovirus weeks before, NCL has taken such necessary steps to avoid future contamination. Actually, you get used to it and within no time, it is a habit.

THE CABINS: #11147, my assigned inside cabin, significantly larger than most, is actually considered a handicap equipped cabin if needed for a disabled passenger. I find all the cabins basically have similar amenities among NCL ships. The Freestyle 2.0 upgrades all seem great. To me, the room was comfortable. I love the look of the wood, and the bathroom is neat and spacious considering it IS a ship. I actually do use all the drawers and cabin space. The cabin is equipped with a hairdryer and a refrigerator. I used the safe, always double-checking to see that it was locked. A tip is to leave the safe wide-open when getting into it and leaving the drawer underneath it open as well. This way, you will remember to secure it with a keycode upon leaving the cabin. Read more