We recently returned from a cruise on Norwegian Pearl, May 11 - 25, 2019 from Amsterdam to Scotland, Norway, Northern Ireland, Le Havre France, Tilbury England and Zeebrugge and returning to Amsterdam.This was our 7th cruise on NCL. We choose it for the itinerary.
I had been wondering why Norwegian has been slipping so much in cruise line reviews and was curious to see if there have been changes. The two I found were in the food quality, particularly meat, poor entertainment and price gouging.
The cruise started with us being held back in the port and again onboard from our cabins while our ship underwent deep cleaning due to an outbreak of norovirus on the previous cruise and a decontamination being required. The library and games room were closed for much of the cruise. We were not aware on any illness while on our cruise, so the efforts seem to have paid off.
Toured Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood House on our own.
We rented a car from Ken's Garage through morag.bremner@peugeotmail.co., a local provider. They delivered an almost brand new car to a location near the port. The cost for a standard shift car was $123 CAD. We toured the countryside including Dornoch and amazing Dunrobin castle on our own.
Bergen: easily toured on our own, can walk to the funicular for the trip up the mountain to enjoy the view.
Flam: we prebooked the Flam Railway trip which does sell out. Two minutes walk from the pier. There's not much else to do there, so best to prebbok the rail trip.
We took a taxi from the ship to Dublin Castle and Trinity College. Lots of taxis as you step off the ship.
We booked a bus to Bruges and walked the city on our own. Viatours provide buses from the dock.