Norwegian Pearl Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Overall it was OK experience except.

I found out that without any warning my credit card account got charged $300 so-called pending transaction in the first day of the cruise. When I got on the ship first I told them that I will pay cash in the end so please do not charge anything to my credit card until the end of cruise. They still charged my account and because I only had $250 on my account that put me immediately in negative balance that could be resulting in penalties from my bank if I would not solve and that took 3-4 hours from my time to call my bank, my daughter to put money on my account etc.

Most upsetting was entertainment that compare to Princess Cruise line that my wife and I took about 4-5 times was VERY average so don't expect to see something special at all. 

Food was good overall except if you like seafood - you won't get it in regular all you can it cafe. You will see the most one fish during the day and forget about prawns, shrimps etc - does not exist in regular all-you-can eat buffet.

Coffee was very average and I guess the cheapest you can find  :)

Cruise was fantastic, staff, (especially our cabin steward, Mariel) from Indonesia, and if it is in your power to give him reviews on behalf of us, please forward to NCL for him to receive his just recompense of reward for a job well done. My wife and I truly enjoyed the cruise and will cruise again with NCL. The restaurants on board were all great, and staff made a conscience effort to practice good hygiene which can be really appreciated (we are both certified first responders).

This was a once in a life time experience for me.  It has been a dream for many years.  I have never been on a cruise ship to anywhere, so I decided if I were going to cruise anywhere, it should be Alaska.  I was not disappointed in my choice.  Alaska is beyond verbal description.  Awesome does not do it justice.  It was just magnificent and even that is not a big enough description.  The cruise ship itself was OK I guess.  I don't have anything to compare it to, since this was my first cruise, but all in all it was a good experience.  My biggest complaint if there is one, is there is not enough time in each port.  I was fortunate enough to be able to do several excursions that were available at each port...however, if you went on any of the excursions, then you did not have time to do any shopping or see any of the town.  If I had a chance to do it over again, and knowing what I know now, I would probably book my own trip using another mode of transportation.  Not have to be so structured and not have to deal with such a mass of people congregated in one space.  Getting on and off the ship required standing in long lines and a lot of waiting.  But, that is to be expected on cruises, as I understand it.

I have been on plenty of cruises but this was my first with Norweigan. I would highly recommend everyone visit Alaska I would just tell me to pick a different cruise line. The service was terrible, the boat was dirty, the food was cafeteria taste equivalent, and the entertainment was definitely lacking.

It seemed everything worth anything on the boat cost extra. The restaurants had very inconvenient and varying hours which made you end up at the buffet for every meal.  Their has been a virus outbreak on cruise lines lately so they make you use antibacterial soap every time you enter the food areas and wont let you get your own food.

Most of the decent activities on the boat you had to pay additionally for and there were only two shows a day(the same show played after two different times) and they were evening and night.  They were ok but nothing to write home about. Other than the shows the musical entertainment was ok, but pretty much the same people playing the same songs at the same places each night.

I am highly disappointed on the service of NCL, I had heard great things and I normally cruise Carnival so I was expecting better than I was used to and it seemed worse. I will definitely never cruise with them again.

There was a stomach virus on previous week cruise which affected 40 plus people and required Health officials release which caused departure delay and caused an overkill on service.  We were told that things would return to normal in a few days if no recurrence showed up, but this never happened with the following reprocussions:

1.  Cocktail Party with Captain and Officers for Gold and Platinum Latitude members was first postponed and then without any notification was cancelled without explanation.

2. The Buffet was restricted to being served by crew members only which normally we would serve ourselves. Each station had about 4 Entrees and 1 individual had to go through each with those in line causing long delays and people cutting in to be served.  It was not properly organized nor were there adequate staff to handle.  This also included all drinks being served by normally 2 people also causing further delays. There were no condements on the tables, so salt and pepper were served in small paper packets when requested as with Ketchup and Mustard which were in bowls when requested.

3.  Suite was not set up with coffee pots or ice containers and had to be requested and glasses were replaced by paper cups. I also noted and not sure if this is something new since our last cruise on the Pearl, but there is now a $7.95 Room Service charge for any meal served to your cabin.  It should also be noted that even if we paid they would not allow any take out service for snacks, etc!

NCL is Free Style cruising which was not demonstrated and many people that we talked to, which included new and previous travelers with NCL, all expressed how poorly things were handled on this cruise and never any explanation was given.  

We paid a lot of money for this return trip to Alaska with NCL and was  not at all up to our expectations as compared to previous travels and even though we will be eligible for Platinum status in the near future, I will be very leary of recommending or using NCL for any additional trips.  

Weather, the seas, the people, the ship, the shows all great!!!

Some of the crew needed a attitude adjustment and the bars were way understaffed can't tell you how many times I was sitting at the bar and waited 20 min for service... that is sad

The cruise lines needs a secret shopper program

the ship was very nice.  a plus was the Alaska weather, mid 70 degrees and sunshine the whole trip.  food was good but missed the special stuff like no lobster, no chocolate night, no shrimp coctails, no baked Alaska, same baked goods every day, no lattitudes function or recognition.  buffet was as good as the main dining room and much faster.  kids program was excellent.  our 4 year old granddaughter loved it.  overall a good cruise but not a special one.

The trip itself was great and a trip to Alaska is what everyone should do. Just not on the Norwegian Pearl. The ship seemed very old and run down. The glass and windows were very dirty and has water spots all over them. You couldn't take pictures through them. The paint was peeling all over our balcony. The bed was very lumpy. Throughout the entire cruise they are selling something, makes it feel like a hustle rather than a vacation. The communication was very poor. We never knew what level to get off on at the ports and it seemed to take forever to arrange.  But there was some up sides too. The staff is great and they work very hard. Our room steward was fantastic. Food was average , but not very hot. There was some GI illness and I got it, but the medical staff was great and really took quick action. Overall the cruise was great and the location was perfect, just wished we could have been on a different ship.

We enjoyed our cruise very much.  Alaska was beautiful and awe inspiring.  The cabin was comfortable, if small, and the shows were pretty good. The staff were professional, helpful and friendly - really great.  There were several onboard activities to choose from to keep busy most of the time. 

I had two complaints.  First, the buffet; the food was mediocre at best, and it was so hard to find a seat that the food was cold by the time you could sit down to eat.  Dinners were better because we purchased the upgraded dinner package and most of those restaurants were pretty good, though they were very slow.  If you want to spend less than an hour and a half eating dinner then you're stuck with the buffet. 

Second; I expected to pay for alcohol, but if I wanted a coke with my meal there was an extra $2.65 charge.  All sodas and bottled water were extra and prices were pretty much double what they should have been.  On other cruises I've never been charged extra for a soda with my meal.

Your account is charged daily for an 18% gratuity, supposedly for the staff, which would be fine, but there is a line on all the register slips for an "extra tip."  That makes me feel like they expect more.  For good service I tip 20%.  Adding 2% seems cheap and insulting, but I'm not going to start tipping 36% to 40%. That's ridiculous!  So I felt guilty most of the time for not leaving extra tips.

Excursions were really good, but basically a license to steal.  At some ports you can get the same excursions independently and save a bundle.  In Victoria, the price for a tour to Buchart Gardens bought through Norwegian was $89.  I took the city bus for $2.50 each way, and admission to the gardens was about $26 (US) which saved me $58.  It also gave me the advantage of being on my own timetable.  I could stay as long as I wanted.  It pays to shop around.

The only hang-up was the long line to board the ship and disembark, other than that everything about this cruise was as stated in my title.

In comparison to the Carnival cruise line the food in the "included" dining rooms was definitely a 5 forker, and the service was also very good. 

The mini suite spoiled us, we normally do inside or ocean view as we are not the richest cruisers but for Alaska we decided to splurge. The room was amazing, very clean and spacious, and the room steward, Fredrico, was outstanding.

clean ship, good family friendly entertainment, food in main dining was good though the buffet selections remained the same throughout cruise; needed some variety. Staff was very friendly and genuine in their interest in serving guests. Met some other Christians on board and the ship announced bible study in their daily schedules which were held in the ship's chapel. Bring the Word and plan on some good fellowship.

I found signage around the ship to be confusing or lacking. Some restaurants were difficult to find. Service and food in the restaurants I tried was generally very good but there were limited choices for the light eater who didn't want to eat every meal in the buffet. 

I questioned a mini-bar charge on my bill and was told it was for the bottles of water sitting on my counter "because they don't fit in the bar." I've generally found anything set out like that is complimentary.

This was a re-positioning cruise so I understand things may not be running as smoothly as usual and will most likely sail with Norwegian again next year.

My husband and I have cruised several times before with RCCL and Carnival, but this was the first time with NCL, and the first time on a 10-day cruise.  The longest we've cruised is 7 days.  We liked the free-style aspect of NCL where we could eat dinner at whatever time we wanted and was never assigned a specific table, although the service was a bit slower than we're accustomed to on other cruise lines, and the waiters were not as friendly.  They were not interested in who we were, where we were from, how we enjoyed the ports we visited that day, etc.  They were just there to take our orders and serve our dinners.  The Pearl has only one pool (outdoors), and it was extremely crowded, and to find a chair past 9 o'clock was next to impossible, anywhere on the decks, even away from the pool. We enjoyed all the ports except Martinique.  The language barrier and their currency was a hindrance.  We had an inside cabin, and it was smaller than inside cabins we've had on other cruise lines.  The shower though, was bigger than past cruise lines. We missed the outdoor theater that we're accustomed to, and they do not have the any oversized, cushion outdoor deck chairs/couches to sit on in the evenings to enjoy the night air, which we missed.  We spent a lot of evenings in the casino, which was on the smaller size, and we didn't like that they continuously add every hand back to the deck shuffler, which continuously shuffles 6 decks of cards, and the fact that the deal hits on 'soft 17', which is a big disadvantage on all counts to the gambler.  We had wonderful weather on our cruise; 80's every day, so that was a plus.  Overall, we would try NCL again.

Very polite crew and an excelent Cruise Director (The best I've met after 25 ), The only negative point was the casino payout - remembered me what is called "Indian Casino"...

The Norwegian cruise we just completed was so-so. We did this as our 40th wedding anniversary cruise. I was expecting it to be exceptional and it was 

pretty basic. The food was below standards. The dinner selections were a rotation of the same items. My wife is vegetarian and there was nothing. If she wanted to each fish each day that was it. At the buffet they had 2 vegitarian dishes each day, both made with the same curry flavoring. Once is ok but for 10 days? 

The staff serving the meals were a mix of very good to totally untrained. Far more uitrained. Nice enough but didn't have a clue.

The entertainment was very good, comedians and jugglers were uninteresting and not good at all.

Theor wifi should not be offered. We paid $75 for 100 miuntes and spent 8 - 10 minutes trying to log on each time. Not got to really use it. they refuese to give a fefund but kept saying they would take care of it. they did not. A supervisor made up stores and never gave a refiund. very poorly managed ship. Will never, ever return to this cruise line.

Great port excursions, service, entertainment, spa services. Free style dining. Food very good. Embarking and disembarkment easy and quick. Extras are expensive but not any worse than other lines.

A truly beautifully appointed cruise ship with a crew whose total focus was on their passengers.  In spite of an outbreak of Gastro Enteritis which the Captain quickly addressed and quarantined the voyage was an outstanding success.  The dining rooms are beautifully decorated, in particular the Summer Palace and the food was an epicurean delight.  The entertainment was in the mail first class, in particular the Pearl singers, dancers and band.  The ports of call were excellent and the ship maintained a very tight schedule ensuring plenty of time ashore to enjoy each of the islands. 

We have cruised on NCL and this ship several times. It is not a mega ship but still offers good entertainment. We only had 2 of the nightly featured acts, that  performed twice. The comedian had two very different acts that were fabulous. There was a oldies singing group that we did not go back for the second performance.

The crowd was an older crowd (lots of wheelchairs and walkers) this might have been due to the fact that it was an 11 day cruise. I would say that over 50% of the patrons were foreigners (not U.S)

There was a gastro-intestinal virus outbreak on the ship which required  buffet and dining options to change. The captain and crew were quick to put up additional hand sanitizer stations in the elevators and at all room entry and exit points. They did a good job of limiting the patrons from touching anything. However the ship is not equipped to serve everyone at the buffet. They had limited staff behind the counters and you had to gain their attention to get served.Overall they did a very good job containing the outbreak.

My only recommendation to NCL would have been to add an additional stop at their private island on the way back. There was plenty of time to make this happen. The private islands are one of our family's favorite stops and you can't do them on the mega ships.They also need to go through their beach towels and get rid of the yellow stained ones. They were very  tired looking.

The staff was extremely personable and we love the "washy, washy singers and staff by the entrances to the buffet. There was also an associate that did a chaise check by the pools. They allowed you to save chairs for an hour (they used stickers). The attendant put stickers on the chair next to you, without saying anything, and your family member could have been in the pool etc. He could have said something (he was kinda sneaky)

Overall all it was a very good experience and we will cruise with NCl in the future.

Having been on 13 cruises and this our second on The Pearl I have never given any negative reviews. Cruising is a wonderful way to travel and we will continue to do so. Our cabin was a nightmare  though. It was located above the Bliss Bar and the noise was often and frustrating. It was constant pounding from the band. The floor vibrated and also the walls. This went on till 3:00 am. I was told by our friends that were on our cruise that they were at the Bliss a couple of nights and left because it was empty but the noise continued often. Calling the front desk was not any help. I suppose there was not much they could do. We also had smokers by our cabin. Enjoying our balcony and the ocean sounds were few and far between. I have asthma so the smoke was something I can't be around. A few times when we returned to our room it smelled of smoke even with the balcony doors shut. I wish I would of known how bad this room was going to be. Do your research on what is above and below your room.I wish when we were booking this that we would of been informed that this room is great if you don't plan on sleeping. Having booked this cruise last September and working to pay it off leaves us pretty disappointed. We were so excited and looking so forward to this vacation. The staff was great and the islands beautiful. The ship was clean. Even when norovirus hit it was handled quickly. Looking forward to our next cruise in the future but may rethink NCL.

Really enjoyed Curacao, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Thomas. Went snorkeling with the sea turtles there! Landed on Aruba on Good Friday and mostly everything was closed. Was very surprised.