marvasteed Cruise Review on Norwegian Pearl on Nov 19, 2017

Norwegian Pearl Cruise Review

marvasteed

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 3

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Sail date: November 19, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Pearl

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

This was our first cruise on NCL, so we couldn’t help but compare our experience to others we’ve been on previously. The embarkation process was a complete CLUSTER. We arrived at the port for our scheduled 11:30am boarding time but didn’t actually board the ship until 2:45pm! Initially, we were told the massive lines all the way out the exterior doors and down the ramp were due to extra screening, but this proved to be false. Once we made it through the 2 hour wait in winding lines, we were split into 2 final zigzag lines - you know the kind... looks something like a maze. We couldn’t figure out why the other side was moving so quickly - only to realize after for standing still for nearly an hour - the “spotter” who‘s job was to send the next in line to the next available agent was apparently only manning the other side and every time an agent became free - even on our end - she sent the next in the other line to the open agent. URGH! Once we figured that out and everyone on our end began to let her know the error of her ways, we finally began moving again (no telling how much time that wasted of our vacation - thanks lady!) - but still she would send 2 on their end to 1 on our end. Once we arrived at the counter, my parents went to the one just next to ours. The guy that checked us in seemed to have it together and only took about 5 mins to check us in and provide our cards. My parents weren’t so lucky. They ended up with an agent “in training” and 30 more minutes later (not kidding!), they finally checked in! Forget the boarding pics at this point - all we wanted was a stiff drink! Once onboard, we were able to go straight to our rooms (it was 3:15pm afterall!) and drop our things just in time to be summoned out to muster drills. These went relatively well except as soon as they ended, we were on the 6th floor, there was no way to make the sail away party that was happening only moments later. Oh well! We were so exhausted and hungry by this point, we didn’t mind. We headed straight for the buffet. The buffet was pretty good most days, but I expected this to be better than other lines, or at least that’s what we were lead to believe. The burgers were good, but for me and my family, we will have to say the buffet was our least favorite of all ships and lines that we’ve sailed so far. NCL does not ration beach towels and seems to trust their passengers to get and return as many as they choose. This was definitely a nice plus. Having to keep up with towels on Carnival is no fun. RC and NCL definitely get points for this one. Nothing like having your beach towel snagged while you’re in the pool and then having to snag someone else’s so you don’t get charged for it. Not cool. The hot tubs were a joke. They only have 4 around the only 2 pools onboard and all 4 were continually packed full of 5-9 year olds. I mean jam packed too. The pool was apparently a little chilly so the kids made the hot tubs their pool. There was no adult-only area on this ship and we were never able to step foot in a hot tub (not that we wanted to after the kids were done with it). Late one night, we thought we’d get lucky and the kids would be gone to bed, so we ran out there only to find 2 of them closed and the other 2 were this time packed with teenagers (one of them our 16 year old!) We gave up on the hot tubs and went to join the thermal spa, which we were told was the only way to get an adult-only hot tub. This was pretty nice, but at $114/day for the two of us, didn’t prove to be worth it ultimately. Oh well, lesson learned. We will be sure to check for adult-only offerings on future cruises. O’Sheehan’s Pub was, by far, the best place to hang out on the ship for us and our teen daughter. We got to know the servers and bartenders and they took very good care of us. We could go to the pub almost any time of day and have an appetizer and drinks or have dinner if we wanted and it was a fun atmosphere with great views. The freestyle dining was a really cool option and we really enjoyed not having to dress up or be anywhere at any certain time except for the Specialty Dining options we chose. Pre-boarding reservations are strongly recommended for these, though. We saw quite a few disappointments due to booked specialty restaurants. Our favorite things about the UBP were 1) not being asked to sign a ticket and write in a tip every time we ordered a beverage; 2) not being limited to 15 drinks/day like Carnival; and 3) being able to order 2 drinks at one time using the same card. Least favorite were: The drinks the bartenders know are very limited and often only the handful they have in their printed beverage menus; and 2) the bartenders look at you crazy when you order something they don’t know how to make or they act like they don’t understand what you’ve said. There is a long list of favorite ship drinks we found online - but don’t bother. Not a single bartender knew how to make any drink we called from the list. We just stuck with what they knew how to make - Miami Vice, Mudslide, pina colodas, margaritas, etc. Our room steward, Rashon, was awesome. We never came back to our room after requesting service to find that it didn’t happen. She was amazing and we tipped her in cash every day to show our appreciation. She even set up the pull out sofa our 16 year old slept on during turn-down service at night and put it away in the mornings so we could access our balcony easier. She was very attentive and did an excellent job. The ship itself did move quite a bit more than other ships. We were told it’s due to the size of the ship. Not sure if that’s true or not but you will want to wear the Scop patches if this bothers you. The last night seemed to be the worst when even the patch didn’t quite do it for me, but it didn’t last very long and I survived without getting full blown MOTSK and having to turn in early. The debarkation was uneventful and quite smooth. NCL seemed to encourage self-carry debarking and even mentioned their union contracts do not permit staff to provide assistance with bags unless they’re left outside the evening prior for the traditional debarkation and luggage removal. We elected self-carry and were off the ship in a matter of minutes. The transportation is a bit of a debacle from NOLA, however and A+ Transportation is not recommended. Select another transport company and pay a few dollars more. A+ Transport is $5 per passenger but you get what you pay for and you will be waiting a long time. They are backed up for hours and will promise you the next car is coming for you to keep you waiting, but it never seems to come. We took a different service back afterwards and it was much better. We simply enjoyed the service and food options on other ships. Not sure we will cruise again on NCL. But now we know.

marvasteed Cruise Review on Norwegian Pearl on Nov 19, 2017

Overall rating:

Review summary

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