Norwegian Pearl Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We had a marvelous cruise. We were given great care aboard the ship, we ate anytime and the food was delicious. The crew was visible and very friendly. The disembarkation was hours long for customs. I have essential tremors and two hours into waiting in line I had to  ask to be pulled because I was shaking so bad. this did happen, but I felt bad because this was a cruise with older individuals. The customs process was located in a warehouse were you picked up your luggage. This was a very big disappointment to end our cruise on, I can only hope this was a fluke and does not always happen.

On top of my wife's must do list was a trip to the Panama Canal, so we booked this trip 11 months out.     We had a fantastic time with a sensational crew.   Great ports of call, super food, great cabin and so many great things to do.   We met so many super people on board, we left with so many new friends from around the USA.   Had so many great meals, especially the specialty eateries - loved the steakhouse and the Brazilian one.   Having been stationed in Panama, I was eager to visit it - so we took the former Canal Zone and former US military installations - so many memories......there were five of us who use to be stationed in Panama - we had fun identifying our old offices, homes, and barracks.   Amazing to see four lane freeway has replaced the old two lane jungle growing right up to the pavement road.   Costa Rican tour was super too, it was a holiday there, so little traffic, but took bus, train, and boat. 

The Staff Was Amazing Food Ports Were Right On Point Had The Best Time Ever !!!!

Cant Wait To My Next Trip !!!!  The Rooms Were Clean The Food Had So Many choices To Pick From I Just Love The Freedom Of Eating  When I Wanted To The Shows Were Amazing And Cant Say Enough About The Staff  They Were Friendly Service Was Quick And The Slots At The Casio Were Not Hitting That Much But When They Warmed Up Money Was Flowing I Was one Of Those  Winners !!!

I have no complaints as the service was excellent. The food was fantastic. One problem. No whole lobster in the dining room and you have to order surf and turf if you want lobster and have to throw away the beef if you don't eat beef. They do not offer just the turf. I have no problem with paying for it and would have had it 4 or 5 nights during the cruise. Your loss.

My cabin was so noisy during the entire cruise. I went to the service desk and was given ear-plugs, which was absolutely of no use. My pressure was always very high, from not getting enough sleep. There was a sign, that the cruise is full, so do not request cabin change.  

I felt that NCL were constantly wanting clients to spend, spend, spend.  Even the bowling alley had a cost.  The port shopping advice was similar to an Amway sign up.....not nearly enough daytime activities....trivia session lasted 30 minutes....line dance class, 30 minutes.  Dancing seemed on,y available late night except for two sessions.   NCL sell their cruises dirt cheap to the gamblers in the casino...those of us who choose not to gamble pay at least 3 times the price.  A bit more variety I the menus would be appreciated.  The excursions were extortionately priced....we each port on our own negotiating with the touters on the pier or near by....had excellent drivers and tour guides and saved a fortune.  We enjoyed ghe Panama Canal and ports but days at sea quite boring.  Two small wines cost us $30 Australian ...again extortionate.

Ship facilities and dining were good. At times the excursion staff appeared to be short handed and were not available when needed. Internet was very slow, fortunately we purchased the unlimited plan. Smoking guests dominated the pool area and made it difficult to enjoy that area. Disembarkation was unsatisfactory. The guidelines for leaving the ship were not followed by the staff as they hurried to get all guests off the ship. 

Pearl was very nice.....good state room.....good shows.....good cruise director....

not so good food in main dinning room.....staff not the same each night at your table...shows were very good each night....very good jazz group....cabin staff was very attentive and nice

the food and service was great. entertainment was not too good. too many "seminars" for the ship to sell things, and make more money for them.

wanted more things to do while on sea days.  

I am curious about some billing after I received statement to room. Other than that cruise was very good. Enjoyed the bars, dining rooms etc. only made one show that was good.

I have cruised many times on different ships. This is not my first time on ncl either. The quality of food and service have charged for the worst. I believe that taking the tips out automatic was a mistake I believe tipping according to service and I have tipped over and above in the past. The main dinning room service was slow.We had a standing reservation every night at the same time. The average dinner time was an hour and a half sometimes longer  which ment we missed the first show. Food quality was not good. I think they are pushing speciality dinning package. That was superb! Bands never started on time. The cream on the cake was I think the ship had noro virus  17 of 22 got off the ship extremely ill.

We had very rocky seas during the first two days, after which it was smooth sailing.  Cartegena and Panama were oppressively hot and humid.  In Cartegena there were pitiful beggars who would not leave us alone.  At Cristobal it was difficult to get a good perspective at 6 AM or so as we entered the locks, but many people were on deck observing.  The visit to the locks by bus didn't have accommodations for people with mobility issues.  The Two Oceans by Railroad was an excellent excursion, as was the Puerto Limon Train, Boat, Bus Adventure.  We enjoyed the great beach day at Maya Key Roatan and seeing the animals & Mayan ruin replicas.  Starfish Island was very nice at the Belize Port of Call, and the Beach Club at Costa Maya wasn't as nice as one we had visited before, but still fine.  Norwegian did a good job getting people on & off the ship, the buffet offered a good variety, our cabin steward Victor was excellent, and the entertainment was pretty good overall.  We would like a place for "older couples dancing" which isn't available, but we could dance to Avalon, a terrific Latin Music band, if we went early before the younger crowd got there.

Overall, the cruise was great & very relaxing.  Enjoyed the unlimited beverage package & having prepaid the gratuities for drinks & all other services.  The food was pretty good.  I was disappointed that on the seafood buffet night in the cafe, they did not have any peel & eat shrimp or any crab legs offered, just seafood mixed into other dishes.  We attended the 2 specialty restaurants on board & they were OK, but not sure they were worth the additional $35 per person charge (with tip)  to attend.

The entertainment on the ship...some shows were good, others not so good.  The man from the 4 Seasons group that did the show by himself, George, could not carry a show by himself very good (all 6 adults in my group agreed).  The main problem with most of the shows on the cruise is that the music overpowered the singers at every show, the music should accompany the singers, not overpower them! (we attended the offered show each night).  The comedy magician, Chip, was just OK...he did tricks you see every magician do (rope tricks, magic silver locking rings, 3 card monty card trick. tear the newspaper & put it back together again)...nothing that made me think, "Wow!"  The "Variety Show" night, did not have any variety...it was all singing & dancing...I was expecting a variety of different types of acts.  I would like to see acts that featured more than 1 person for the show, offering different types of talent...not just one night all singing, one night dancing, 1 night magic.  We did enjoy Nadeen's hypnotist shows & Bud Anderson's comedy act.  We really enjoyed listening to Jim Badger, the piano man...we listened to him most nights he performed.  We also enjoyed the Legends in Concert night, as again, it featured more than just 1 person.  The Michael Jackson impersonator was the best of the 3.

Also, the one bad thing about cruising, is that you only get to spend part of one day at each port.  After traveling such distances, I would like to see more of each country than just one excursion per day.  My favorite excursion we attended was the Jolly Roger Catamaran Sailing & Snorkeling in Honduras.

Wonderful cruise, staff was very courteous and friendly, food was excellent and evening shows were top notch.  Only one day at sea with high waves, rest of days were quiet. 

One issue is that they had equal number of restaurants that required an additional fee for reservation. Paying for a cruise should include vast majority of restaurants. Also depending of time in the morning it was difficult to find a table for breakfast.

There were also too few chairs poolside, often had to go up one or more decks to sit in the sun.

The food on the cruise is not good no seafood whatsoever in the cruise and  the service horrible I will not recommend this cruise to anybody....

I had a message at the customer service which I was never heard of it until I got to Miami really disappointed because it was an emergency and I never find out about it I'll try to get my money back for the phone calls and the cruise would not give it to me.. really bad customer service for this cruise line

We love Norwegian but this cruise had a few issues. First the boarding process was ridiculously slow the lines were out the door, I have never experienced this on any other cruise. I think maybe because they launch two boats on the same day and place?

The ship seemed to get to every port late except for the last day.

The excursion in Columbia was horrible. It was the city walking tour, All they did was take us from one crappy store to another we hardly saw any of the city and when we finally found what looked like a good place to shop at the end they would not let us, they rushed everyone on the bus.

The staff on this ship did not seem very happy, there were some that stood out that were very nice but the majority of the crew seemed pretty grumpy.

Our balcony stateroom had plumbing issues. The toilet stopped working two times, We called and the front desk said they would send someone but no one came then called again and they said they always have problems in that area of the ship. So we had to get up get dressed and go use one of the public bathrooms. needless to say it always smelled in that area deck 8

We did have a great dining experience in the Indigo restaurant section 4 cant remember the names but the waitress her helper and the bar woman were great. 

Loved the trip as it provided time to relax on the beach and time for adventure with great excursions.  The Pearl staff was great taking care of us with good food, good customer service and GREAT entertainment.  Had a lot of fun with many activities to keep you busy.

We liked the cruise as it was something different in spite of 14 early cruises in my life.  The service and food was excellent.  My only complain was that most of the guests went out and put towels on the deck chairs and half of the time some guests used the chairs for a short time, but blocked it for the rest.  The same applied on the day of excursions.  I saw several children around 8 AM covered a dozen chairs.  The staff didn't do nothing.  On some ships when a chair has a towel for more than an hour they removed the towels to give access to other passengers.Almost all the staff were very friendly. The nighty entertainment was good except the first night New Year's eve was a disaster,  In between 2 other shows were bad and my wife and I skipped.  In spite of this I would recommend this cruise to anybody who want to experience something different.  We also toke advantage of paying $500 down for next 2 cruises as we received credit of $250 for our current charges,

Had a great time on this cruise.  The only issue we had was the embarkation process.  After we finally got through security we then had almost a hour wait just to check in. 

The food was great, all our evening dining was done in Indago, the crew was great from the cabin steward to the senior staff.  Not a big fan of the anytime dining, miss sitting with the same bunch at night.  We also miss the welcome back parties for returning guests like we have on other lines.

We wish we would have known not to book our cruise during the Holiday Season.  The ship was totally booked - mostly with families.  There were many incidents of out-of-control children and lack of supervision.  On our particular deck, children would run up and down the hall noisy and screaming!  Our friends who went on a Disney cruise with their grandchildren said that even Disney had separate swimming pools and restaurants for families with children.  This was not our experience on this cruise!