Norwegian Pearl Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,402 reviews

Great ship, Great crew

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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juno39dog
6-10 Cruises • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Oct 2019
Cabin: Mid-Ship Oceanview Porthole Window

Itinerary went to several ports we had visited before and would enjoy again and three that we had never visited and wished to. Everything about the ship is "first class." Clean everywhere; good food in all public restaurants; good entertainment; very friendly and helpful personnel. I got it in my mind that NCL does a superb job of hiring the perfect personality types to be constantly engaged with the public and trains them well. Our second trip on the Pearl and same experience both times. What I did not like and found to be negative was ten dollars (with mandatory 20% gratuity) for a glass of good but ordinary wine and eight bucks for a bottle of BUD or similar. They've got you captive and use the advantage. Prices in shops not so hot. My wife bought a bottle of Dolce &Gabana cologne for 85 euros. Found the same in Rome Airport "duty free" (notorious for hyping "duty free" and "tax free" in order to imply low prices, for 77 euros. Again, when one is captive, the benefits of competition go out the window (or porthole, if you will). This is our second cruise on the Pearl and both times we selected a "window stateroom" and would up with a fifteen inch diameter porthole. The room was roomy enough with the beds separated and each against opposing walls. Ship renovated since our first cruise in 2015. TV had been upgraded to a 32 inch Samsung and we had several watchable channels including Fox News US version. Big improvement from our SF-Miami cruise in fall of 2015.

Excursions were problematic. We purchased five through NCL. In general the destinations were heavily overcrowded and the various tours did not allow for enough time at destinations to really shop and sightsee. Overcrowding was a surprise because this was an end of season Med cruise for the Pearl which went on to the Caribbean after we got off in Rome.

Choice of slot machines in casino was unimaginative and we found very few that we found familiar based on our experiences in several California "Indian casinos."

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Oceanview Porthole Window

Very nice and more than adequate except for a porthole instead of a window. Might as well have had an inside cabin and spent a bit less. Positioning beds separate against opposite walls gave a nice feeling of roominess. With beds together there is only six or eight square feet of usable floor space. Our room had NO chairs, only a hassock type stool at the makeup table. Big negative that was overcome by our cabin maid who scared up two folding chairs for us so we could sit and not have to lie on the bed to watch TV or read.

Port Reviews

Corfu

Very nice "shoppable" Old Town that we enjoyed very much.

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