We Almost Made It To Rome

Item: Norwegian Pearl
Rating: 4.4
Author: jay63847594

Norwegian Pearl Cruise Review to Europe - Western Europe

jay63847594

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 18

Overall rating:

4.4 out of 5

Verified Review

13 Night The Rivieras (Amsterdam To Rome)

Sail date: June 22, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Pearl

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9144

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Norwegian advertises its atmosphere as "Freestyle Cruising" and that is truly a good description. The old days of dress nights and assigned seating are long gone and with them some of what made cruising different from any other vacation place. That said, Norwegian does an excellent job of offering a wide variety of activities for all passengers and a wide range of entertainment. The food is good but it is the volume of it which is most remarkable. The crew is uniformly polite, attentive, and helpful. The Pearl is a fine ship and seemed enormous to us, although its 3,000 passengers would no longer count among the larger vessels at sea. We enjoyed wandering around to the various places on the ship for entertainment, food, and (frankly) the chance to move about. Unfortunately, our ship encountered engine trouble which forced us to miss two ports along the way and then end the cruise in Barcelona rather than continuing to Livorno and Rome. Norwegian more than made it up to us by promising to refund half the cost of the cruise and provide a 50% discount on a future journey. In contrast, a ship from another line encountering mechanical troubles in a prior port had their passengers in a smaller city for four straight days with no promise of return or any offer of relief or reimbursement. Norwegian's decision to provide information to the passengers along the way, proactively offer to compensate us for the changes, and then facilitate a fairly pleasant disembarkation is laudable, especially in comparison to peer companies. We will definitely be returning for another Norwegian cruise in the near future.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Easy, thanks to both Norwegian's pleasant and simple process and the 5 star assistance of our travel expert, Daniel Hammers.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Not the best we have enjoyed but good overall. Sometimes quality suffers at the pursuit of quantity and it appears that quantity is what most passengers desire. The service was uniformly excellent and attentive.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Fun and varied if a little crowded. We would have liked some more (non-sales related) content on the ports of call.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

The shows have been better in the past but we enjoyed them, especially Norwegian's own performing company.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Very good, attentive, friendly, and warm service from the entire crew.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

A good, standard balcony cabin. It offered everything we needed wanted and we especially enjoyed the view. The only complaint is the size of the toilet area. We are tall but not large people and we found that area very tight to navigate.

Ports of call

Amsterdam, Netherlands

5 out of 5

Tilbury (London), England

5 out of 5

While most visitors travel to nearby London, for those who want something a little different go over by the five minute ferry to Gravesend, the resting place of Pocahontas.

Thumbs Up 0

Zeebrugge (Bruges), Belgium

3 out of 5

So pretty. So overrun by tourists.

Thumbs Up 3

Le Havre (Paris), France

4 out of 5

Lisbon, Portugal

5 out of 5

One of the most beautiful places anywhere.

Thumbs Up 7

Cadiz (Seville), Spain