First Time Cruiser with NCL
Norwegian Pearl Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
10 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 06, 2015
Ship: Norwegian Pearl
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: Cabin no.
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
My husband and I have cruised several times before with RCCL and Carnival, but this was the first time with NCL, and the first time on a 10-day cruise. The longest we've cruised is 7 days. We liked the free-style aspect of NCL where we could eat dinner at whatever time we wanted and was never assigned a specific table, although the service was a bit slower than we're accustomed to on other cruise lines, and the waiters were not as friendly. They were not interested in who we were, where we were from, how we enjoyed the ports we visited that day, etc. They were just there to take our orders and serve our dinners. The Pearl has only one pool (outdoors), and it was extremely crowded, and to find a chair past 9 o'clock was next to impossible, anywhere on the decks, even away from the pool. We enjoyed all the ports except Martinique. The language barrier and their currency was a hindrance. We had an inside cabin, and it was smaller than inside cabins we've had on other cruise lines. The shower though, was bigger than past cruise lines. We missed the outdoor theater that we're accustomed to, and they do not have the any oversized, cushion outdoor deck chairs/couches to sit on in the evenings to enjoy the night air, which we missed. We spent a lot of evenings in the casino, which was on the smaller size, and we didn't like that they continuously add every hand back to the deck shuffler, which continuously shuffles 6 decks of cards, and the fact that the deal hits on 'soft 17', which is a big disadvantage on all counts to the gambler. We had wonderful weather on our cruise; 80's every day, so that was a plus. Overall, we would try NCL again.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
the chocolate volcano dessert in the 2 main dining rooms is AMAZING.
Ports of call
Miami, Florida Did not visit port
Tortola, British Virgin Islands