Great cruise to lose weight on.

I used to cruise on NCL L but several things discouraged me from returning.  One was being pressured to sit at large tables at lunchtime and being set aside when our party of four wanted a table for four.  Also although they pioneered Freestyle, there were too long lines for evening reservations.  Also the servings were too small.  We often ordered two appetizers to get enough of a taste.  Finally, we decided it just wasn't worth it.  

The food on this trip was not up to expectations.  It was the same food over and over in the dining area.  By the time you got your food and found a table that was available to sit at your food was cold.  It was not a good experience.  The food is a major portion of the cruise experience.  Even the specialty restaurants were a disappointment except for the steak place. Also it is advertised as free style, eat on your time, and that is not true.  Everything shut down except one place, the Sheehan's restaurant.  We went there one evening, as they were the only one open and they were very rude.  It was obvious that they did not want to serve us.  We left.  They also have the Indigo that is advertised as a free dining area.  It was closed most of the time for a "private party". 

For your info MrChocoholic...It is not just this negative review but a series of negative reviews that encompass on a certain area (in this post, the poor food quality in the dining room) that HELPS people to make decisions about future cruises with the line or ship. I have read more negative reviews lately about the poor quality of food present on NCL lines so that has me removed from my booking with them until I read more positive reviews about their food. If you knew ANYTHING about cruising, you would know that most people have learned to read reviews about a line or ship before booking! It has nothing to do with the insults you gave as the info given in this post has necessary information for those that may be planning a cruise with NCL or the ship. It is not the responsibility of the passengers to inform the crew of poor service. Especially when it is nothing new in the category they are complaining about .

Food is a large part of a cruise for lots of people.   You should not have to complain that the food is bad,  it should be good food.   I myself do not like to complain about food and have the server or chef put anything into my replacement food.  

I can understand OaksJ's feelings and I would also cancel an upcoming cruise if I got that bad of of food on a cruise line.    I had bad food on Princess 20 years ago.    It was my first and last cruise on Princes just because of the food.

I think they did a balanced review and they gave good rating to the good parts and bad ratings to the bad parts of the cruise.  

Like all Cruises food is subjective and everybody has an opinion and has the right to post their opinion with out being called names.  This review did do service for people thinking of this ship.   It stated the Pearl has a friendly crew, decent buffet but the MDR was bad,  so bad that they lost weight and canceled an upcoming cruise with NCL.

This is a friendly cruse information site and no need to call names and insult people.   There are plenty of other cruise sites that get catty and nasty.   Lets keep this the fun, relaxed site that it is

Thank you for the review. I find this information sad. I am Platinum in NCL and always had a great time and received great service. I will find out in 10 days. Hope you next cruise is better. But it won't hurt me to lose weight :-)

For good diners on NCL you have to go to the extra pay restaurants.  The MDR on NCL tend to have bad service and not to good of food.   On my last NCL cruise the dining rooms messed up  1 or 2 peoples orders almost every night when we were a party of 8 to 12.  Even the extra pay restaurants messed up orders or did not bring everyone's dinner at the same time.

I'm figuring that the 21 day Med cruise was on NCL as well. I would call them and tell them you cancelled...and WHY you cancelled. If more people did that, it "may" send a message to that cruise line about getting their act together. I have been reading a LOT of negative reviews about NCL for the last year plus. NCL used to be a top shelf cruise line.  They need to remember that it's not how nice the ship looks from the outside...its what is on the inside that matters!!