Consumer Review:Disembarkation at ports of call was very disorganized and slow. Elevators and hallways were jammed with people and it took away some of our tour time. Part of the problem was having to have pictures taken at every port as we disembarked, which took up more time. This could have been done after the disembarkation (off the ship) instead of before getting off.
|
Consumer Review:I am a gold member of NCL cruises. This cruise the dining experience was below expectations. The food was made with alot of salt and too much grease. The service was very slow in some areas of the dining rooms. The Lotus Garden food was rather tastless and unappealing.
|
Consumer Review:I don't think I will Cruise with Norweigen again. The food was okay - nothing special. The ship has like 10 restaurants...wont they dont tell you is that of those 3 are free, the others you pay more for. Of the free ones, they serve the same food! We thought that was so lame. After spending $6 or 7K, I refuse to have to pay more to eat. And they serve the same food every day with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 things. The chefs did not make special meals on request (even once) and the ship did not even have peanut butter... Alot of the staff was rude - one of the Entertainment people even told a group of people trying to learn some dance, to 'shut up'. The shore excursion to Butchert Gardens and City Tour was lame. The gardens was nice, but you can enjoy it more and spend less f yu go to shore, rent a strech limo, and pay the admission when you get there. Our 'city tour' was more like a real estate tour (i.e. 'here is the neighborhood where steve nash lived'...'that house costs $15M', etc.). Was so lame...
|
Consumer Review:I would like to see more thing for golfers, the onboard putting contest and the driving nets leave a lot to be desired??????????Only offered one course to play at st tomas, played there before and the price is just too much??????Would like to see the pub craw back in service?????With the beds together in the room the is not enought room to get in and out unless you chaw over the end ,little too tight????????
|
Consumer Review:My husband and I were the only ones who went for this cruise.It is because ,of my class reunion.Then on board, Inoticed how the kids and whole families were all having fun!That is when I wished my children and grand kids were with me too.
|
Consumer Review:NCL offers free style cruising, which means you can eat wherever and whenever you want. We love that feature. Having said that, their main dining room the Summer Palace is lacking in quality of food and the service is poor. The free restaurants and the ones with a charge should all have good food and good service, just like other ships where you eat in the same restaurant daily and get gourmet quality food. You expect that on a cruise ship. NCL is lacking in that area. The upstairs Garden Cafe has a wonderful buffet and great choices for breakfast and lunch. We never tried Indigo's. The $12 tip per day, per person, should be changed immediately. It gives no incentive to the wait staff in the "free" dining rooms to perform. It seems that NCL is providing less service, with wait staff that is lacking in friendliness, manners and overall sub par service to encourage you to use their pay for restaurants. We do not mind paying for these restaurants if they are good, but many people on the cruise were not even aware that all of the restaurants were included. They should be made aware of that beforehand. Cagney's and LeBistro were wonderful and worth every penny! They obviously put the highest quality of wait staff in these restaurants. Mambo's had a lesser charge, and the food and service were lacking. We've had better wait staff at Applebee's and the fajitas are sizzling at Applebee's, not served lukewarm on a cold china plate. When we told the Maitre'd this (he asked) he became flustered and just left. They don't know how to handle complaints and should be educated in this area. Our main observation is that food quality and service should be good in all of the restaurants, and the tipping should be changed to reward good service, and let the tips reflect bad service. This would give wait staff lacking in customer service skills an incentive to try harder. Also, their Private Island is not somewhere we want to stop. It is some sand, where they charge for chairs, floats, the water slide, etc. I would much rather stop at one of the islands in the Bahamas. They use thier island to save money. I can go to the beach at home. Samana - they should warn people of the dangers of exploring Samana alone. Many websites tell of people being held up and having property stolen. The people are very poor there and there is not a lot to see. Sea Lions in Samana - We went to a small island off of the island and did the Sea Lion excursion and that was well done and worth the charge. The sea lions are very gentle and well trained and it was one of the highlights of the trip. It is geared to the young and old and they make a wonderful DVD available for $30 to take with you. Their spa and gym have beautiful ocean views and are well run. We enjoyed both. The ship is beautiful and clean and our mini-suite was a great way to travel. It is worth the additonal money. Our room steward, David, was a great asset and could almost read our minds. We loved him! He made me beautiful towel animals and is one of NCL's best assets!! The entertainment in the theatre was really good and the music at night was available in several area, and there was something for the young and older crowd. They really exceed in this area and we were please with the choices. Overall, we would cruise with NCL again, just not that particular itinerary. St. Thomas and Tortola were great stops on our 7 day cruise, but I would not stop at Samana again and their private island holds no interest to us. I would book something that stopped at four or five islands with things to do and see.
|
Consumer Review:Ports of call were very limited to beach tours, we will look at the excursions next time before booking.
|
Consumer Review:Room stewards Harold and Jean were excellent!!!
|
Consumer Review:Ship NCL Pearl is a nice ship.Not much happening on ship shows where ok have seen better.Dining that you did not pay for ok but much better on cruises where we had set dinner times and same waitor.Best meals and service where when we paid for specialty resturants and we feel it should not be that way.We have done 2 freestyle cruises one 7 and one 14 on this same ship, but now we are going to go back to other Cruise Lines.
|
Consumer Review:The children's activities for the younger (2 - 5) and older (teens) were very good. The 6 - 9 year old program was "too baby-ish" in my son's own words, and the 10 - 12 year old program was completely unacceptable (activities were much, much too young for that age group and choices were very limited). The fact that the teens were allowed in the adult White Hot party in the Spinnaker lounge was completely unacceptable. I even asked if they were supposed to be there and was told that it was ok as long as they weren't drinking. Are you kidding me? As if someone else couldn't buy them a drink or slip something into their drink - or any number of other bad things happen as a result of having a 13 year old in a group of adults that are drinking and dancing. This was a lowlight for me. The process for getting drinks from the bar (vs. ordering wine with dinner) was awkward and annoying at Blue Indigo where you couldn't simply continue to order drinks or beer without having to give the waiter your card and sign for the drink each time. I felt like I was not trusted to close out the bar bill and it was disruptive to our dinner. The disembarkation process at the ports of call was awful - particularly for the first one (Juneau). People waited in line for over 30 mins and it was hot and crowded. I heard many people comment that this would never happen on other cruise lines (Princess or Royal Caribbean). The "freestyle dining" was very good. The ports of call were either too short or too long. Juneau was too short. Skagway and Ketichikan were too long as you felt you were only there to buy souvenirs and kitsch. Ketichikan was particularly bad - paying $70 an adult for the Saxman Village excursion was outrageous! I felt very nickel & dimed with having to pay $2 for cranberry juice for the kids at meals. I also didn't like having to pay the cover charges for most of the restaurants. They were good - much better than the main dining room, but for as much money as we paid for this cruise, it should have been included.
|
Consumer Review:The most notable thing, and it is negative, is the fact that NCL is making every effort to make extra money through selling raffel tickets, pushing drinks at sub-standard shows and presenting sub-standard shows in the first place.
|
Consumer Review:The Pearl does not compare to other NCL ships (Dawn, Wind, Jewel). Everything seemed smaller. Crew was not as friendly or effiecient as on other ships. The one exception was the duo of Charlene/Charlene in the Indigo restuarant. These two girls were exceptional. Very personable and friendly and eager to serve.
|
Consumer Review:The ship and staff were excellent. The tours were boring, the hot tub was hot one day, out of service for a day and lukewarm the rest of the time. The menus in all the restaurants were the same. The outside eateries were always the same with no changes at all. The entertainment wasn't all the good either. We have cruised on NCL before and this has to be the worse cruising experience. Please keep in mind that we were aboard ship for 10 days.
|
Consumer Review:The ship was beautiful and the service was great. The food in the buffet was good. Lobster was not provided in daily dishes and was advertised as such. The free dining area menu's were disappointing. The specialty restaurants were expensive. I can eat Japanese locally for cheaper than what the ship charged. I don't think we should have been charged the same service charge for kids as we are for adults. No other cruise line I have been on does that. The ports of call could have been improved. Samana didn't offer much to do. St. Thomas was the best port. The shore excursions were pricey, we were able to get the same trip cheaper by getting our own taxi. The Great Stirrup Cay port was cancelled and that was the one port we really wanted to go to. The only compensation we got for the cancellation was the refund of our taxes. The onboard entertainment could have been improved. Of course, I'm comparing it to the shows on Disney cruise which were phenomenol. Overall, I don't think we would go on that cruise again.
|
Consumer Review:This was our seventh cruise and the fourth cruise line. We were satisfied with most aspects of the cruise and only have a few minor complaints,firstly, the lack of deck chairs on the promenade deck,it was like a lottery to get one.There were plenty on the upper decks poolside ,but htat is not everyone's scene.The bathrooms in BA balcony cabins were designed for midgets,and service was lacking in some areas,some staff appeared to have a poor work ethic,but thankfully they were the minority.
|
Consumer Review:Totally fabulous - every aspect of the cruise!
|
Consumer Review:We could only pay to have laundry done. Washers and dryers for passenger use have been removed. Choices for dining in the restaurant are fewer, and items like vegetable tofu streudel and "hearty" beef broth were listed. Lobster was offered once, and in a smaller portion. We did not feel the entertainment was very good, as the main show of the evening included a hypnotist, a juggler, second city improv which we walked out on, and of the three production shows we attended, they were fair, we found the type of music overly loud. Shore excursions were over priced, we took tours on our own. A smoothie was the same price as the drink of the day, and they stopped putting chocolate on our pillow.
|
Fast Facts: Norwegian Pearl
Overview
For guests who prefer more traditional (“upright”) night-life, the Norwegian Pearl also features “Magnum Champagne and Wine Bar”, “Maltings Beer and Whiskey Bar”, “Pearl Club Casino Bar”, “Shakers Martini and Cocktail Bar”, the “Sky High Bar and Grill” and “Spinnaker Lounge” which offers some of the best live dance music at sea. Combine this with 13 great restaurants to choose from (some with a cover charge) and a wide variety of onboard activities, including many activities and specially designated areas for children…plus some pretty fabulous destinations…and you’ll see why the NCL Pearl may be the ship of choice for you.
_392x282.jpg "JEWELOceanview(Picture)_392x282")
.jpg "pearl_rest_Indigo_web (1)")
