Poor Quality and Experience at a Premium Price!

Item: Norwegian Pearl
Rating: 2.6
Author: wsmoth

Norwegian Pearl Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

wsmoth

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 58

Overall rating:

2.6 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 18, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Pearl

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11052

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Worst cruise line I have ever used. All my complaints have to do with the staff, the organization, and the lack of refinements that I expect for what we paid.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

I have cruised multiple times and several times from the Port of NOLA but I have NEVER experienced anything like this! There were no signs, no directions, we were moved from queue to queue with no explanations. They required everyone to fill out a health questionnaire but did not tell anyone to fill them out! On top of this, we waited in the actual check-in queue for over two-and-a-half hour with no explanation! When we finally made it to the check-in agent (an actual Port of NOLA employee), their were complaining about how much the Norwegian system (the software, and laptops provided by Norwegian) was crashing! We waited while a Norwegian IT Officer ran from station to station trying to figure out what was going on. He finally rebooted the entire system after about 20 minutes of us standing there. I had no confidence that we were checked in, and this fear was confirmed at the muster drill when we were not listed as guests! This was the worst embarkation experience I have every experienced!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

We have four guests (myself, my wife, and my two teenage daughters) and it regularly took us 1.5+ hours to get our food ordered, delivered, and eaten. The food was consistently cold, bland, and equivocally unspectacular! It was as if there either was not enough galley staff or wait staff. This carried over to the bars as well. We had the unlimited drink package but every time we went to a bar, it took 15+ minutes to get drinks. There were always more guests waiting on drinks than bar staff. It was a total waste of my money.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

The onboard activities were just okay. For what we paid, I would have expected much higher quality activities. All of them were totally forgettable experiences.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

We attended a couple of shows but it was like watching a high school production. The musical numbers were forced and the dancers were never in synch with each other. It was just meh...

Children's Programs

None of my kids were young enough for this.

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

We were out of our cabin early each day and came back in our cabin early each evening (because the entertainment was so poor) and our steward actually made the comment that because our cabin was one of the last in his rotation, he never had time to clean it because we were always in it too early! How about just change your cleaning routine? You know that we turn in early, clean our cabin first! We had to ask on multiple occasions for clean towels, the daily newsletter, and for him to clean our cabin.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

The ship is a fine design. We did not have any issues with that (all though because the Norwegian design is tall and thin, the rocking of the ocean was much more noticeable). The common areas were clean but I would say it is a little dated.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

The layout of the cabin was actually very nice. The bathroom had better layout than other cruise lines we have used. There was plenty of room in our cabin and the use of the space was well thought out. My only complaint was that even though there were USB ports on each side of the bed, there were no power outlets.

Ship tip

Be prepared to understand that “freestyle cruising” really means totally unorganized with little to no direction or instruction on any activity they are conducting.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

New Orleans, Louisiana

4 out of 5

NOLA is wonderful! The temperatures were nice, and even if you are not into all the debauchery of the French Quarter, there is plenty to do! From the WWII muesum to the Garden District to the Audubon Zoo, NOLA is very family friendly.

Thumbs Up 15

Cozumel, Mexico

4 out of 5

We booked our own excursion to the Iberostar and it was wonderful! I would recommend this venue to anyone.

Thumbs Up 6

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

4 out of 5

Again, we booked out won excursion to Little French Key (our third time there) and it was GREAT as always!

Thumbs Up 2

Harvest Caye, Belize

1 out of 5

This was like being on the ship in beach form. It was super hot, not a lot of shade, and people everywhere. The shops are the same shops as at all the other ports (the ones that are affiliated with the cruise lines). The only unique thing on the island was the Jimmy Buffet’s restaurant / bar / store but it was PACKED the entire time because it was air conditioned!

Thumbs Up 0

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

4 out of 5

Again, we did our own thing and it was wonderful.

Thumbs Up 3

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

It was terrible. There was no instruction until after we had figured it our for our selves. This was not a great experience at all. I could not wait to get off the ship!

Traveler Photos

2 Comments

Britain22 6 years ago

We had the same kinds of issues at NOLA getting on the ship and it was another cruise line so this must be a NOLA thing, not NCL's

Thumbs Up 0

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ChefFyF 6 years ago

We had a broken bed on NCL Dawn we told our steward and he put towels under to keep it from falling, the security also told a group of us we were to loud in the smoking are and when we visited our friends room to see the layout because he had a balcony we were told we couldnt be in the room by security because we had our own! They suck! Have alot to fix about their staff

Thumbs Up 0

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Other reviews of this sailing

Pretty good ok

Disappointing cruise

Great vacation overall