Ports were Great, Ship was decent.

Norwegian Pearl Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 59

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Pearl

7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 10, 2013

Ship: Norwegian Pearl

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9140

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 11 years ago

Review summary

Ship turned out not to be as big as appeared by description, thus there were not necessarily as many different or interesting activities on board.  The lounge areas need cleaned and/or updated furniture.  The freestyle dining is a nice option because it frees your schedule, however the buffet food is mediocre, nothing fabulous.  In addition, the specialty dining fees are not worth it.  The food is not superior in those restaurants by any stretch of the imagination and therefore, you've simply paid more money for food that day outside of the per diem built into the cost of the cruise.  For example, I ordered shrimp fried rice in which the shrimp (likely size 50-60) were sliced into discs and there couldn't have been more than three in the entire dish.  I've never had sliced discs of shrimp in any asian restaurant, but there was a $15 premium to dine there.  

 

Our excursion in the Cayman Islands was contracted with a tour company that had buses with 1970s or earlier upholstery - cigarette holes, spider webs and all.  The driver rushed us through the experience because the other tours were arriving during our scheduled time.  NCL should do more research in relationship to the quality of the experience for the cruisers. 

 

The staff were very helpful and cordial overall.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Buffet was not outstanding in any way. Edible, not fabulous.

Onboard Activities

Need to increase variety of events

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Need more variety of activities

Children's Programs

N/A

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Rooms are very tight.

Ship tip

Unless you plan to get drunk every night or traveling in a group, the wine packages and alcohol packages are not worth the cost. Duty Free items including alcohol are definitely cheaper in ports AND MORE VARIETY!

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

1 out of 5
Need a better system for embarkation. It was very random and time consuming.

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas Did not visit port

Couldn't access island due to water conditions

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

5 out of 5
Excellent experience

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5
Was nice, but not what I expected.

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5
Beautiful place to explore.
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