Norwegian Pearl Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Wonderful cruise!!!  Friendly crew!! The shows were amazing!!  Our housekeeper was awesome!  He knew our names and always said hello. The cruisenext program is wonderful.  Getting on and off the ship was easy.  

All in all a very nice cruise. Went with family and everyone had a great time. Food and service was really good. The only negative was the questionable layout of the decks and venues. Would definitely do NCL again.

Ship was nice although there were some things in need of repair. Food was very good. Deserts were better in the dining room than in the buffet. Service was lacking most of the time. We had several issues. We complained to management and he apologized profusely. He also sent some strawberries to our room. The service was better in that restaurant the rest of the trip, but lacked in others. One had one fantastic server our first night named Red. Our room steward, Wilson, was fantastic. We did a lot of the activities onboard. There was plenty to do. Entertainment was ok. Matt Marcy was really good. The ports were lots of fun. We didn't do any excursions because of the cost. We had 9 in our party. We did rent a van in Skagway and took taxis in the other ports. We did some shopping and found the prices in the souvenir shops in Alaska to be very reasonable. Be sure to pick up the coupon books outside some of the shops. Their is some great deals in them.  Would of liked more time in Ketchikan and Victoria. We felt like we were bombarded with sales pitches on the ship. We didn't get drink packages because when we read the fine print, it would of required everyone in the room to get one. Drink packages were just too expensive!  Bottled water charge to preorder was ridiculous!!  All in all, we really enjoyed our vacation and would recommend this cruise to others. 

We love Norwegian especially Haven Suites, but the food is lacking every ship. The Haven doesn't change the menu the dining rooms are mediocre, the specialty menus are the same on all the ships. They really need to fix the food and possibly better entertainment as well.

The ship was clean and 90% of the crew was amazing! My daughter liked the kids club, but eventually burnt out on it as they didn't follow their schedule of crafts and activities so she was disappointed at times. The buffet was nice, lots of fresh fruit and salad choices, but the breakfast got a little old after a few days and the "Chinese food night" was not good. Finding seating was a bit of challenge at times, but everything was clean and well served. DO NOT try to be the first one's off the boat at stops, it's crowded and difficult to maneuver all the stairs in a crowd. All in all an amazing trip, only thing I'd truly change is more time at ports. When it takes over half an hour to get off the boat and you need to be back on half an hour before departure it was like a run for your life to try to see the things you want and get back on time.

This was an awesome trip, only gave 4 stars because of the food. The pay extra specialty restaurants were amazing but the food at the buffets left a little to be desired for us. Edible but we expected better.

The ship and the crew were amazing, couldn't ask for better. Alaska was beautiful. Would go again in a heartbeat!

The trip was amazing.  The only fault I found was that the crew was never informed of dining times or what was going on around the ship.  We were also never informed prior to mass chaos of what floor the gangway was on or what side of the ship it would be on.  During disembarking the crew was never informed, no announcements were ever made until the second and people were wandering and blocking areas.   Also Norwegian could do better with the TV movie selection.

We started our vacation with a few days in Miami so we could take in the sights, Ocean Drive, Everglades etc. If you don’t have that much time, but are in town the day prior to your cruise departure, why not take the opportunity for a visit down to ‘South Pointe Park Pier’ on SoBe. Late afternoons, from around 4pm onwards, there are usually a few cruises departing, and all of the ships cruise slowly past, several websites show scheduled departures. It’s a great vantage point to see some impressive vessels up close and of course, lots of waving from ship to shore. You’ll then be anticipating standing on board waving back again on your cruise the next day. We’ve cruised on two of NCL’s other ‘Jewel’ class ships before (Gem & Jade) so we already had a good feel for what the Norwegian Pearl was to offer. The most notable difference was that the children’s slide in the main pool area (a feature on Gem & Jade) has been removed on Pearl giving way to more deck space around the pools. Given that this was a 17 nights cruise (through Panama Canal and through to Seattle), there were hardly any children on board. As well as the Panama Canal Transit, our 17 night itinerary took in stops in Cartagena, Columbia; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Acapulco, Mexico; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Los Angeles, California and eventually ending in Seattle, Washington. This provided plenty of variation and new sights and sounds and places to explore. In the few days prior to the transit, there were several Panama Canal lectures that provided some additional history and facts and figures for those interested. We arrived at the Pacific Gatun Locks just after dawn. For Panama Canal transits, they open up the bow deck for additional viewing. This gets packed really quickly, and some people stake their place for long periods so plan on getting there really early! There’s a small pop-up refreshment booth there for juices/water if it gets hot. As the ship passes through Gatun Locks the crowd on the bow deck dissipates away somewhat as the ship then cruises through the more open inland lake areas. There are of course loads of vantage points across the whole ship, from your balconies, on the upper decks, all along the promenade decks on level 7 & at the rear Garden Café etc. Of course, in the morning as the ship first approaches the Gatun Locks and as it transits these, the most popular areas are forward.  As ship enters into any of the locks, some of the best places to observe the complex operation of the tug locomotive trains is from the forward areas of the promenade deck level 7. From here you can stroll along the whole length of the ship and get a real ‘up-close and personal’ view. Once through the Gatun Locks area is a great time (if you’ve been up early) to relax, have brunch etc. After a few hours cruising slowly in the inland lake area the ship entered the Culebra Cut. This provided plenty of sights and variation of scenery and was easily viewed from almost any outside spaces on the ship. Eventually, as dusk approached, we transit through the Miraflores Locks, under the Bridge Of The Americas, passing Panama City and out into the Pacific. Our favourite stop was Guatemala, we opted for the tour to Antigua. As we had no real prior expectations, we were really pleased & surprised to discover a delightful colonial city. Plenty of little streets and interesting architecture, beautiful churches. Almost every house of size seems to have an inner courtyard. Check out Casa Santo Domingo, you can stroll through their public grounds and gardens. They’ve a McDonalds (free Wi-Fi & restrooms) with a beautiful courtyard al-fresco eating area resplendent with gardens, fountain completed with a vista of the Agua Volcano!

The two main dining rooms had the poorest quality of food I have had on the 16 cruises I have taken. The service was not any better. There were not enough servers and they were all trainees..I will never go on a ship that has free style dining.

This was my first NCL cruise and I still have mixed feelings about Free Style Cruising. Since dining times are not assigned I experienced 30-45 minute waits at the various "restaurants". Of course the Cafe buffet was always a walk in choice but it was usually very congested. The buffet food was just OK and if you want quantity over quality it is the place for you.I would rate the food in the other dining rooms acceptable but nothing special. However, the service in all of them was excellent. My favorite was the Summer Palace. I also dined in all but one of the speciality restaurants (at an extra charge) and found the food and service to be excellent. These restaurants require a reservation. 

The Pearl itself I found to be a little "worn" in some areas. Very noticeably so in the theater where the seats really need replacing and many of the lights around the stage were out. The ship was refurbished in March but it couldn't have been a very extensive one. My state room was very good. The bed was comfortable, AC worked great and the bathroom met all my needs. My cabin steward was great!

All of the many crew members I had contact with were great with only one or two exceptions.

The quality of the entertainment was subpar. This was a huge disappointment!

Excursions were OK except for the disembarking. It was time consuming with long lines stretching far down the narrow hallways.

I would have probably given this cruise an overall rating of four stars except for the disastrous final disembarkation process in Seattle. It was totally unorganized! Since I had an early flight out of SeaTac, I had originally planned to walk off and get a taxi but was convinced to let the crew collect my (heavy) bags and deliver them to the dock so that I could quickly collect them, go through Customs and take an NCL chartered bus to the airport. I paid an extra $29 for this service. However when I reached the dock after waiting in a long line, my bags had not arrived. i had to wait (along with all the other passengers that were promised early bag delivery) another 45 minutes for my bags to reach the dock. There were a lot of very unhappy folks loudly complaining!  Basically, I paid for a service I didn't get. Then it got even worse when I reached the airport because the bus dropped us at a remote location and we had to carry all of our luggage through a parking garage then up an elevator to walk even farther to reach the airline check in areas. After all of this I was totally exhausted by the time I reached my departure gate. A taxi would have dropped me off at the curb only a few steps to the check in areas. My advice - walk off and take a taxi. Don't waste your money by purchasing an NCL transfer. I think that I should get a refund from NCL.

Loved the whole Cruise. Met some great cruisers, the Pearl is a great ship and enjoyed the on board activities and the ports of call. We had a great Mini Suite on Deck 11. Always wanted to experience the Panama Canal and now we have.

we loved it so much frist time on Norwegian will go back for sure the crew was so awesome shows was great food was better then carnival all I really can say everything was great 

My husband booked a fabulous trip from start to finish. Truly enjoyed Norwegian Pearl and the 'Freespirit" way of doing things. No assigned seating times and tables, very casual, although you could dress a little bit if you chose but not required. We had four solid days of being at sea - this may be something that you really like or may think you want to do more islands instead - you would have to do your homework to see what ship has what to offer. I loved our choice. I was going to give this a four-star rating because I keep thinking that something may be better down the line but not this time. My cruise and the amenities afforded to me were five-star... Absolutely loved it. 

The ship is ok, a little small for my liking. But traveling to Panama was an amazing experience. Dining and staff were great as always. We would give it another shot. Will compare to the Dawn in early 2019.

Plenty to do on ship as well as on excursions. Ship was well run and organized.   Pool area was a little crowded on sea days.  The interaction with other guest was refreshing. Room service was great.  Weather was perfect.  Dinning was delicious. 

We had such a great time on this cruise. We went to the show at the Stardust every night and enjoyed most of the shows. We loved going to see Jim Badger at Magnums. And we really enjoyed the Strings Music. The girls were awesome. We took part in a lot of the trivia games. Went bowling in the Bliss, played shuffle board and enjoyed the pools and hot tubs. We had a room on level 4 and I have to say we loved it. They are small but the space is set up so well that there is plenty of room for everything. They use every nook and cranny  for storage. The staff was amazing. Loved the guys singing at the door of the lotus garden. Starts every morning off on a happy note. I would recommend this trip to everyone. 

Loved the ports of call. The staff were excellent. Our biggest problem was the air conditioning. I know they keep it colder so viruses can't breed, but, we came home with horrible colds because of the temperature changes in the venues and dining rooms. We want to take the Alaska cruise next but will have to only take ultra warm clothing.

I need advice... how is this ship, compared to the service and cleanliness of a, same size, Royal Caribbean ship? I've only sailed on RC. I need to book my room for Christmas soon and I'm debating going on this ship?! Any advice would be appreciated!

Ship cleanliness and excellent food!  Bar service was great!  Cabins a bit on the small size.  Entertainment Director was great!  Internet service not the best.  Onboard TV service not the best.  For the most part only had 2 of the 4 hot tubs open which were tototally over crowded. Some days only had 1 of the 2 pools opened!  Shore excursion process was real good! 

Great ship! Spent the first night in South Beach followed by a cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Key West. The balcony suite was wonderful and we especially enjoyed Le Bistro French.