My wife and I are early 50;s and I might say we have travelled quite extensively, always by air. We have always laughed at Cruises, believing them to be for old and frail, the unadventurous. Were we ever wrong, yes, we stopped at routine ports, followed a well trodden cruise path, but we discovered that a cruise was what we made of it, the islands, the locals, the crew, the entertainers, our fellow passengers, were what we made of them. And we were not disappointed, in any way.

The Pearl is well staffed with a wonderful crew, professional entertainers, quiet decks, busy decks, so many and varied bars, Kids entertainment, deck chair areas galore, day shows, night shows, even an open air cinema. The food, "Plantation" a buffet restaurant for quick meals, The "Waterfront" 4 star dining, these restaurants were included in our cruise fare. Luke Mangan's "Salt" was $49 extra pp but 5 star. Drinks: Beer and wine was about $7-$8 glass, cocktails generally about $11-$12, some in the high end bars were up to $19. Many passengers purchased "alcohol" packages at $790pp (drinks up to $12), I thought this was steep, but some people got though it. We purchased the "Soft Drink" package @ $70pp and we very happy to buy our alcoholic drinks separate.

The islands were beautiful, not necessarily where the ships dock, but always not very far, tours were easy to obtain, we never purchased from the ship, to expensive. Li Fou, Port Vila, Mystery Is and Isle of Pines being just beautiful. Au$ were accepted pretty well everywhere, the boat was cashless, very convenient. Read more