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Norwegian Pearl Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 96
14 Night Panama Canal Eastbound (Los Angeles To New Orleans)
Sail date: October 07, 2017
Ship: Norwegian Pearl
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 9615
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
Norwegian treated us like royalty. I don't know how the staff deals with rude people. I couldn't do it without a tazer. The staff deserves accolades for being so cheerful and congenial. They work 8 straight months without a day off, 2 shifts a day. Yes, you read that right. 8 months, 7 days a week. Two shifts a day. I dont know how they can be so constantly "UP". Norwegian must put Xanax or antidepressants in the crew's water supply, that's all I can think of. We always enjoy our cruises on Norwegian.Embarkation
Will never buy the Norwegian transfer package again. Major fiasco in both cities, particularly New Orleans. My husband and two other men had to load all the other passengers bags on the bus in Los Angeles because there was no one but the driver and he couldn't load 200 bags by himself. As a lifelong dues paying union member even I thought the lecture by the union representative at the pier was threatening and uncalled for. Reflects negatively on all Unions, including mine.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Not enough space to say how good Norwegian does food and drink. Superb clarity of vision from planning to execution. Lotus Garden best Hot & Sour soup my husband ever tasted. O'Sheahan's was great pub food and the buffet was so good that by the second week you couldn't find a seat because so many people had abandoned the two main dining rooms which were mediocre at best. Whoever is in charge of the buffet needs a gold star because it was routinely excellent - and I don't even like buffets, but this one was outstanding.
Onboard Activities
Bingo. Shuffleboard. Trivia. Early morning group exercises. Kareoke. Rock climbing wall. Lots more. Excellent fitness center although the trainer, Ruslan wasn't very approachable. Always on his cell. I could understand that when the gym is empty, but not when people are in it. I saw one man, Peter, from Scandinavia almost get hurt because he was unclear about how a particular piece of equipment worked and another passenger was trying to help him and it got away from both of them. Isn't that why you have a "trainer" to begin with - to train you how to safely use equipment you may not be familiar with? Maybe a talk about liability with the department head can improve that situation.
Entertainment
Jim the pianist and George Soloman were the highlights. The other shows were great and the Legends was like a Las Vegas production. The other bands and guitarist were good, but Jim and George were the most popular based on attendance.
Children's Programs
We didn't have our adult children with us.
Service and Staff
Jackie Liu, our room steward was the best we've ever had. The waiters, waitresses and bartenders were exceptional. Ives at O'Sheahan's was great. But many of the bartenders learned what you liked after a few days.
Ship Quality
If this was two categories we'd give cleanliness a 5 and ship design a 3 or 4. We missed the buffet on both sides of deck 12 like what we had on the Norwegian Star. The lights in the stateroom flicker enough to make you foam at the mouth and have very sharp corners and are very hot to the touch. Future designs should look at returning to CFLs instead of LEDs because of the Hertz\frequency difference. Most importantly UV light sanitation should be incorporated throughout the ship, particularly in air circulation systems to sterilize airborne pathogens to prevent them from reproducing. Any major American HVAC manufacturer can adapt current commercial UV sterilization equipment to a shipboard system.
Cabin / Stateroom
The bed on the wall was problematic. I hit my head twice leaving a bump and my husband hurt his back trying to slide by it to get the phone. The rooms on deck 4 and 5 are better designed. Also this room is over the atrium so the band's noise and reverb comes right through the floor, which is ok if you're newlyweds because the bouncing of the bed will do most of the work for you, but does making sleeping a bit of a chore. Bring earplugs if you're midship to slightly aft on Deck 9.
Ship tip
If the food in Indigo or Summer Palace isn't good the first time, don't expect it to get better. Try the buffet, Lotus Garden & O'Sheahan's, all of which are excellent.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
San Pedro (Los Angeles), California
The Union representative who boarded the bus needs a laxative or a diet higher in fiber. I am a lifelong dues-paying Union member and his threatening attitude gives all unions a bad reputation, including mine. The terminal needs A/C and more seats for the long wait.
Beautiful beaches. Loved my camel ride excursion. Worth every penny. Highly recommend. Best excursion of the trip.
Town was beautiful. Divers fantastic. Bus driver had nerves of steel to drive in that traffic.
Most beautiful port and town we visited. Mountains come right down to the gorgeous beaches. Bought a ring at a delightful shop. People were friendly and we weren't overwhelmed by merchants trying to sell us stuff.
Low rating only because we couldn't see much due to a hurricane 4 days earlier. If Nate hadn't done so much damage i'm sure it would be a lovely place and our tour wouldn't have been canceled. Feel sorry for the residents like those in Houston, Puerto Rico and Florida also recovering from hurricanes.
Too many shopping stops. Wish i'd taken the party bus or city tour. They said they weren't dropped off in the middle of hoards of merchants trying to sell you hats, cigars, purses, tablecloths, bracelets, keychains, trinkets of every shape and size. I know they have to make a living, but I think people would pay a premium for the opportunity to just learn about the history and see the actual city. We don't have people swarm you when you visit Gettysburg or Spokane or Grand Rapids. We go to learn about what happened there historically, why it's important and why people live there. It would be nice if excursions could teach us about other cultures without our having to spend our limited shore leave shopping at every stop.
It's unfortunate that visitors to this lovely city have to be introduced to it the way we were. 4 1/2 HOURS to get through customs and wait for the transfer bus made me comment to some military veterans that this was FUBAR, a term I knew they would understand. ONE replied, "Oh no, FUBAR is much more organized than this." New Orleans is a lovely city filled with generous and delightful people. Surely the port authority, customs and the transportation system can come up with something better than what those disembarking experience. Maybe if you made the mayor, the head of the Port Authority and the other government department heads go through a disembarkation process they might understand the frustration, particularly for the invalid in wheelchairs waiting in the humidity on the street. Can you imagine 4-5 hours in a wheelchair without being able to go to the restroom because you don't want to lose your place in line and then another 45 minutes to the airport, wait for bags to be unloaded, before you can relieve yourself. It almost borders on criminal neglect on the city's part. But good luck getting a government official or council member to put him or herself out to experience the chaos they've created - and they'll never believe how much it costs the city in future revenue when people arrive to what is essentially a situation that is incomprehensible to the average traveler in this day and age. It was the worst of all the ports we visited, which is so unfortunate given how lovely the city itself is. Shame, shame shame on you bureaucrats for allowing such a Southern Gem as New Orleans to be so tarnished.
Disembarkation
FUBAR. (See above)