First of all, I cannot overemphasize how fantastic the crew of the Pearl was. I wish I could have given a “Hero Card” to every one of them. Special praise goes to our cabin attendant "Elme" … she was a joy every time we saw her. The very first day she called me “Sir Gary” … I said please don’t call me sir … her reply was “Yes sir, Sir Gary”. The itinerary was amazing too. Every port was thoroughly enjoyable.

I will try to be as fair as possible with this review as our preferred cruise line is RCI. Any comparison will be to RCI’s Radiance class because they are very close in size and passenger capacity. We chose NCL because the Panama Canal has always been on our bucket list and RCI no longer cruises there. When we saw the 11-night itinerary and perks NCL offered, we jumped on it. We chose the UBP and Pre-paid gratuities. We also bought the 6-meal dining package.

Let me start with our cabin. We stayed in an aft facing balcony cabin on deck 10 (10168). This was picked for the unobstructed view of the canal. I had originally booked one on deck 9 but after reading some posts here on CC about the larger balconies on deck 10, I called and switched. Thank you CC! I also read that the balcony cabins on NCL were smaller than those on RCI and when we first walked in it appeared to be true. But after looking closely, they are shorter but wider. My opinion is that the space is the same and I prefer NCL’s wider stateroom. We had ample storage space which is a good thing because DW tends to overpack. The layout of the bathroom was great and no clingy shower curtain. I thought the coffee maker was a great feature that NCL provides. NCL wins here hands down! Elme made towel animals every night and DW loves them. Oh … did I mention the crew was great? Read more