SRQ Guy
Nov 2, 09, 9:56 am
We had a fantastic trip on Norwegian Pearl last week. We departed Miami on Saturday October 24 for Samaná, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay, returning on October 31. The Pearl is gorgeous. Everything we saw on the ship was sparkling clean and looked brand new, and the crew was attentive and friendly. They always had a smile and a greeting for our 3-year-old daughter.
This was our 6th cruise, and the other 5 were all on Carnival. I'll do some comparing and contrasting in this review, but know that we feel that overall the two cruise lines are very comparable in terms of quality.
Embarkation:
Embarkation was a breeze for us. We drove down to Miami the night before and stayed at the Homewood Suites at the Miami airport. We showed up to the Port of Miami about 10:30 on the 24th. After dropping off our bags we parked, and actually entered the terminal about 10:45, and were on-board before 11:30. We made a reservation for Teppanyaki for that evening, and we were lunching at Summer Palace main dining room before noon. No complaints.
Staff:
I had read a lot of reviews stating that Norwegian staff are rude and inefficient thanks to pooled tips and Freestyle dining. On this cruise, at least, the reality was very different. Staff always had smiles and greetings, and doted on our little one. The room stewards did seem a bit stretched with a few too many cabins, but ours did an excellent job keeping up.
Cabin:
All I can say is SMALL. We were in an AF mini-suite (really just a deluxe balcony, no suite perks) and it felt tiny and cramped. It wasn't a big deal to us, especially since the balcony was nice and roomy and the bathroom was fantastic, but there really wasn't enough space to move around or store everything in the cabin. It felt very cluttered the whole trip. It was nicely appointed, though. It would have been much worse if our third passenger was another adult. As it was it was adequate, but I wish it had been a bit larger. I liked the very refreshing spearmint-scented Elemis body wash (is it okay for a guy to say that? :D).
Dining:
We loved the whole Freestyle concept on NCL. The sailing was not particularly crowded, so we only made reservations one night, for Teppanyaki. We never had a wait to dine. Food quality is subjective, but to us the quality of food in the main dining room seems to be slightly better on Carnival, and I emphasize slightly. NCL's variety of specialty restaurants was great, and the quality of food was fantastic. We ate in Teppanyaki, Le Bistro, and Shabu Shabu (Mongolian hot pots). We enjoyed every one of these. We also did the Murder Mystery Dinner, which was entertaining but very disorganized on our sailing. We ate dinner twice at Summer Palace, once at Indigo, and one night we just ate at the Blue Lagoon 24 hour restaurant. The buffet is another place NCL really shines. The Garden Cafe is simply the nicest buffet I've ever dined at. We had breakfast and lunch there every day. Choices were plentiful, food was the appropriate temperature. The fruits, vegetables, and salads were very fresh.
Entertainment:
We went to two of the big Jean Ann Ryan dance shows. We didn't really like South Beach Rave at all, but Garden of the Geisha was pretty good. The comedian David Naster I thought was very funny, but my wife thought he was just okay. Sharkbait was hilarious, and had the two best shows of the cruise. I loved all of the live music around the ship. One polace Carnival has cut back is on live music. It's available less than it used to be, and when it is available it's usually two-man bands with recorded backup. I was glad to see NCL had multiple full bands.
Ports:
Of the ports, Samaná was hands down our favorite. We spent the day at Playa Rincón with an excursion through Casa Dorado. I highly recommend this. It is the most picturesque beach we've ever seen. It's also very quiet, with maybe 50 people there on a 3 km beach, most clustered by the vendors and restaurants at one end. There were several vendors set up selling Presidente beer and rum drinks. We ate at Rubi's restaurant, at the recommendation of our guide from Casa Dorado. He helped us get our food ordered, and set it up so we could leave and come back when it was ready. We each ordered a grilled red snapper which was delicious. Our daughter ate Cheetos from a vendor (all the way to the DR to eat Cheetos! Kids... :D). Otherwise it was just 4 hours of paradise. The NCL tour to Playa Rincón showed up and they only got about an hour there, and they were complaining about the rough ride on the all-terrain trucks. Our excursion was by van and boat, with no really rough roads. Save money and get a better experience by gathering 10 people and use the Casa Dorado excursion. The people at Casa Dorado were great.
We had a quiet day in St. Thomas. We rented a car and went sightseeing.
In Tortola we used Speedy's Ferries to go over to the Baths on Virgin Gorda. This was a lot of fun, climbing through the rocks. Our 3-year-old didn't have much trouble keeping up. We finished with enough time to enjoy a Carib and a Cuba Libre at the Top of the Baths before returning for the ferry back to Tortola.
Great Stirrup Cay was of course just a fun beach day. We got on the first tender and got a seat with an umbrella. Don't expect and umbrella if you're not on the first tender. The food was good and the crowds weren't unmanageable (except the aforementioned lack o fumbrellas), despite many of the bad reviews we've read here.
Sea Days:
The two sea days were fun and relaxing. One difference we noted between Carnival and NCl was that there were many fewer organized activities at sea on NCL. We did enjoy bowling and rock-climbing, which are not available on Carnival. The pools are much larger on the Pearl than on any Carnival ship we've sailed, but Carnival's water slides are much better than the one on the Pearl. NCL reserves one of the two main pools and two of the four hot tubs for adults only and they actually enforced this rule. This was a big plus. Our daughter enjoyed splashing around in the large shallow areas on the sides of the pool and playing with other little kids there.
Kids Club:
This was our biggest disappointment on the Pearl, but it still wasn't major. The Aqua Kids' Club on the Pearl was good, but not nearly as good as either of the two Camp Carnival facilities we've used (Carnival Glory and Carnival Inspiration). Where Camp carnival is chock full of toys, Aqua Kids' Club has a big jungle gym and little else. Of the three kids' club staff that we interacted with, two were very friendly and accommodating, and the third was very unfriendly and oddly enough seemed to dislike children. On Carnival, we've never experienced anything but friendly Camp Carnival staff. Overall she still had a lot of fun in the club, but we didn't leave her in the kids' club as much as we would leave her in Camp Carnival because we just didn't think it was as much fun for her as Camp carnival was.
Disembarkation:
NCL's end of the disembarkation was smooth and efficient, better than any we've experienced with Carnival. We were allowed to remain in our cabins up until last call if we'd wanted to (whereas Carnival pretty much boots you out of your cabin around 8ish). We dined at the Garden Cafe, and our group (which we selected ourselves, thank you Freestyle!) was called at about 8:45, and we were back in the terminal around 9. That's where the mess started. The bags were basically just thrown around in some fairly small baggage claim rooms. There weren't nearly enough porters. The lines for customs and immigration were long and slow, and the agent who "interviewed" us was rude and condescending, and I think was trying (unsuccessfully) intimidate me. After that, we were through and our porter took us with our bags all the way to the parking garage. I tipped him nicely. I of course do not blame NCL at all for the customs hassles. The customs personnel at the Port of Miami, though, simply reeked of self-importance and incompetence.
Overall, I would definitely sail NCL again if the right deal comes along. We are considering a Mediterranean cruise on Norwegian Jade or Norwegian Gem in the next year or two. We'll probably still stick with Carnival most of the time, though, for Camp Carnival and for the much wider selection of cruises from nearby home ports. It will be interesting to compare Carnival's new "Your Time Dining" to NCL's "Freestyle". Freestyle is very well implemented and is almost certainly the biggest thing we will miss about NCL.
I will post a few pictures later.
This was our 6th cruise, and the other 5 were all on Carnival. I'll do some comparing and contrasting in this review, but know that we feel that overall the two cruise lines are very comparable in terms of quality.
Embarkation:
Embarkation was a breeze for us. We drove down to Miami the night before and stayed at the Homewood Suites at the Miami airport. We showed up to the Port of Miami about 10:30 on the 24th. After dropping off our bags we parked, and actually entered the terminal about 10:45, and were on-board before 11:30. We made a reservation for Teppanyaki for that evening, and we were lunching at Summer Palace main dining room before noon. No complaints.
Staff:
I had read a lot of reviews stating that Norwegian staff are rude and inefficient thanks to pooled tips and Freestyle dining. On this cruise, at least, the reality was very different. Staff always had smiles and greetings, and doted on our little one. The room stewards did seem a bit stretched with a few too many cabins, but ours did an excellent job keeping up.
Cabin:
All I can say is SMALL. We were in an AF mini-suite (really just a deluxe balcony, no suite perks) and it felt tiny and cramped. It wasn't a big deal to us, especially since the balcony was nice and roomy and the bathroom was fantastic, but there really wasn't enough space to move around or store everything in the cabin. It felt very cluttered the whole trip. It was nicely appointed, though. It would have been much worse if our third passenger was another adult. As it was it was adequate, but I wish it had been a bit larger. I liked the very refreshing spearmint-scented Elemis body wash (is it okay for a guy to say that? :D).
Dining:
We loved the whole Freestyle concept on NCL. The sailing was not particularly crowded, so we only made reservations one night, for Teppanyaki. We never had a wait to dine. Food quality is subjective, but to us the quality of food in the main dining room seems to be slightly better on Carnival, and I emphasize slightly. NCL's variety of specialty restaurants was great, and the quality of food was fantastic. We ate in Teppanyaki, Le Bistro, and Shabu Shabu (Mongolian hot pots). We enjoyed every one of these. We also did the Murder Mystery Dinner, which was entertaining but very disorganized on our sailing. We ate dinner twice at Summer Palace, once at Indigo, and one night we just ate at the Blue Lagoon 24 hour restaurant. The buffet is another place NCL really shines. The Garden Cafe is simply the nicest buffet I've ever dined at. We had breakfast and lunch there every day. Choices were plentiful, food was the appropriate temperature. The fruits, vegetables, and salads were very fresh.
Entertainment:
We went to two of the big Jean Ann Ryan dance shows. We didn't really like South Beach Rave at all, but Garden of the Geisha was pretty good. The comedian David Naster I thought was very funny, but my wife thought he was just okay. Sharkbait was hilarious, and had the two best shows of the cruise. I loved all of the live music around the ship. One polace Carnival has cut back is on live music. It's available less than it used to be, and when it is available it's usually two-man bands with recorded backup. I was glad to see NCL had multiple full bands.
Ports:
Of the ports, Samaná was hands down our favorite. We spent the day at Playa Rincón with an excursion through Casa Dorado. I highly recommend this. It is the most picturesque beach we've ever seen. It's also very quiet, with maybe 50 people there on a 3 km beach, most clustered by the vendors and restaurants at one end. There were several vendors set up selling Presidente beer and rum drinks. We ate at Rubi's restaurant, at the recommendation of our guide from Casa Dorado. He helped us get our food ordered, and set it up so we could leave and come back when it was ready. We each ordered a grilled red snapper which was delicious. Our daughter ate Cheetos from a vendor (all the way to the DR to eat Cheetos! Kids... :D). Otherwise it was just 4 hours of paradise. The NCL tour to Playa Rincón showed up and they only got about an hour there, and they were complaining about the rough ride on the all-terrain trucks. Our excursion was by van and boat, with no really rough roads. Save money and get a better experience by gathering 10 people and use the Casa Dorado excursion. The people at Casa Dorado were great.
We had a quiet day in St. Thomas. We rented a car and went sightseeing.
In Tortola we used Speedy's Ferries to go over to the Baths on Virgin Gorda. This was a lot of fun, climbing through the rocks. Our 3-year-old didn't have much trouble keeping up. We finished with enough time to enjoy a Carib and a Cuba Libre at the Top of the Baths before returning for the ferry back to Tortola.
Great Stirrup Cay was of course just a fun beach day. We got on the first tender and got a seat with an umbrella. Don't expect and umbrella if you're not on the first tender. The food was good and the crowds weren't unmanageable (except the aforementioned lack o fumbrellas), despite many of the bad reviews we've read here.
Sea Days:
The two sea days were fun and relaxing. One difference we noted between Carnival and NCl was that there were many fewer organized activities at sea on NCL. We did enjoy bowling and rock-climbing, which are not available on Carnival. The pools are much larger on the Pearl than on any Carnival ship we've sailed, but Carnival's water slides are much better than the one on the Pearl. NCL reserves one of the two main pools and two of the four hot tubs for adults only and they actually enforced this rule. This was a big plus. Our daughter enjoyed splashing around in the large shallow areas on the sides of the pool and playing with other little kids there.
Kids Club:
This was our biggest disappointment on the Pearl, but it still wasn't major. The Aqua Kids' Club on the Pearl was good, but not nearly as good as either of the two Camp Carnival facilities we've used (Carnival Glory and Carnival Inspiration). Where Camp carnival is chock full of toys, Aqua Kids' Club has a big jungle gym and little else. Of the three kids' club staff that we interacted with, two were very friendly and accommodating, and the third was very unfriendly and oddly enough seemed to dislike children. On Carnival, we've never experienced anything but friendly Camp Carnival staff. Overall she still had a lot of fun in the club, but we didn't leave her in the kids' club as much as we would leave her in Camp Carnival because we just didn't think it was as much fun for her as Camp carnival was.
Disembarkation:
NCL's end of the disembarkation was smooth and efficient, better than any we've experienced with Carnival. We were allowed to remain in our cabins up until last call if we'd wanted to (whereas Carnival pretty much boots you out of your cabin around 8ish). We dined at the Garden Cafe, and our group (which we selected ourselves, thank you Freestyle!) was called at about 8:45, and we were back in the terminal around 9. That's where the mess started. The bags were basically just thrown around in some fairly small baggage claim rooms. There weren't nearly enough porters. The lines for customs and immigration were long and slow, and the agent who "interviewed" us was rude and condescending, and I think was trying (unsuccessfully) intimidate me. After that, we were through and our porter took us with our bags all the way to the parking garage. I tipped him nicely. I of course do not blame NCL at all for the customs hassles. The customs personnel at the Port of Miami, though, simply reeked of self-importance and incompetence.
Overall, I would definitely sail NCL again if the right deal comes along. We are considering a Mediterranean cruise on Norwegian Jade or Norwegian Gem in the next year or two. We'll probably still stick with Carnival most of the time, though, for Camp Carnival and for the much wider selection of cruises from nearby home ports. It will be interesting to compare Carnival's new "Your Time Dining" to NCL's "Freestyle". Freestyle is very well implemented and is almost certainly the biggest thing we will miss about NCL.
I will post a few pictures later.