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Norwegian Pearl Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

anamurray77

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 65

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

12 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 23, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Pearl

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 8512

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

My favorite part was the Panama Canal crossing. It was an amazing experience,

I loved the landscape of the place and in the tech side, the complexity of the engineering was mind bugling.

Loved the history of Cartagena also, the old city with it's walls and the fort was reminiscence of my Old San Juan with it's old Spaniard culture.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Tasty food. was looking for some hot spice, could not find, not even when I tried the indian food. However quite a diversity made it always an adventure.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Did not get to too many of these. So I wasted money on the Casino, exactly what the cruise line likes. Found out that no one was winning. Everything is rigged in their favor, was told by staff, big money making, don't they get enough from us everywhere else. Ok so this is our choice so they know we are a bit more liberal during vacation time and they take advantage of us!

Entertainment

5 out of 5

It was good but our favorite latin band was at The Atrium the majority of the time, not a dancing place, had to dance on carpet, harmful to the knees and ankles.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Service staff was as expected, super nice, cordial, friendly, efficient, lovely, friendly, willing to serve, polite and some of them were fun to talk to, specially Natii in the crystal lounge bar, he knew I love to dance and every time he saw me will have a shimi move, fun, fun.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

I did not feel this was a nicely designed ship compared to Holland and princess, it was not even as nice as Carnival.

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

The ugliest, plain, poorly designed, most unpleasant, not cozy cabin I have had on my five cruises!

Ship tip

I like the summer place with a good diversity of dishes. I did try the Lotus Garden and that was ok. Too much sugar on their food, I did mentioned this to them. The 2nd time there I paid for a sea bass dish which was ok.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Santa Marta, Colombia

1 out of 5

This was our unpleasant experience with the taxis, after 3 tries, decided we had had it with the locals, too hot to keep on waiting, vendors were on our face every 10 seconds, we did understand there is a need and I did acquiesced and made a purchase to contribute to local economy.

Thumbs Up 0

Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal)

5 out of 5

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5

My favorite, with it's green landscape and amazing engineering!

Thumbs Up 2

Colon, Panama

3 out of 5

Very poor city, nothing to see, sad, my experience with a lot of these places. However my daughter who flew from Costa Rica to Panama City and who I have not see all year, met us here, best 2 hours of my cruise. There is always a rainbow in every place visited.

Thumbs Up 1

4 Comments

glomarrone 7 years ago

anamurray77, I have been through full transits of the Panama Canal three times & in both directions east to west and west to east. Each one was as exciting as the last. I will probably sail again with another full transit next year. Looking forward to yet another transit. It is always exciting and educational. I learn new information each time.

Thumbs Up 0

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glomarrone 7 years ago

Can't add much to this conversation since I have never sailed on this ship. However, people do have different experiences on the same ship. My sister and I had cabin right next to each other. My steward was absolutely wonderful. Hers was new to the ship, forgot to give her the activity sheet each day, disembarkation and luggage tags never arrived in her stateroom nor was ice delivered. Her cabin was the last one to be made up each morning and her bathroom amenities were not restocked unless she left reminders. She also didn't received half of the invitations that she should have received. She was not a happy camper. I loved the very same cruise.

Thumbs Up 0

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ctav 7 years ago

Originally posted by: MrChocoholic

You know, I hate reviews like this one that provides NO illustrations or examples of reasons to complain. How you can compare the interior design of cabins on Pearl to say...Carnival Elation or Sensation or ANY other "old" ship dating from the 90s? Just because you don't "like" it? Got a problem with wood laminate? As for the pricing of shore excursions, NCL's are priced according the maxim: get the most you can out of the tourist. JUST LIKE EVERY CRUISE LINE! Wow, I'm surprised at your review, and wonder if I was on the same ship as you.

I read some other reviews for the same ship for same cruise and they were all positive. IDK!!

Thumbs Up 0

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MrChocoholic 7 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6D7uj1nR3c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO9NrFlItA0&t=59s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcnEhzY52oE&t=265s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rHlexxSUMM&t=25s

Thumbs Up 0

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