snoopysnake

I sailed on the Pearl last year (2022) and LOVED LOVED LOVED the Karaoke. It was not crowded and I got to sing several songs each night. They had two big notebooks full of songs, not everything I wanted but I found plenty. My tone-deaf husband even sang each time - and he loved it too. I just finished another Pearl cruise (2023) and for me, Karaoke has been ruined. The song binders are now replaced with a giant touch screen. Now I am 67, and I am not good with a smartphone. The host of the karaoke just kept insisting to me that the touch screen was a lot better because it had more songs. Some passenger I didn't even know came over to "help" me and asked we what song I wanted to sing and she couldn't spell the song I asked for (which was Minnie the Moocher, by Cab Calloway.) I had no clue how to browse on the bloody thing. What I really wanted was something that I could browse to find artists that I can sing (The Beatles, Sting, Rod Stewart, 50's-60's-70's hits) but I could not get anything that didn't seem like a randomly sorted one screen of songs. It was so EASY for me to find songs to sing when they had the binders! The NCL guy in the booth just kept redirecting me to the touch screen machine (and why is there only ONE of them in the lounge, while we're at it?) which I could not get to operate? (Whatever I typed in the search box produced NOTHING.) I know I am being a crybaby, but I had so much fun singing last year. DH and I chose this cruise to decompress after a very difficult experience at home this spring. I was prepared to sing my heart out at Karaoke. This year - first night on board I felt like an old dinosaur kicked to the curb. Thanks a lot, NCL.

DH and I leave two weeks from today! Will enjoy your reports. Thanks!

Thanks for the info. I hope the Cigar bar is walled or windowed off somehow.

Can you please answer a question for me? I am doing Bermuda and Bar Harbor out of Boston in June. Last year I did Quebec City to Boston (which included Bar Harbor.) There was a day when there was a customs check line which every passenger had to go through. It required going to the French restaurant and the NCL staff had roped off a very specific route that we had to take to get there. The problem for me was that such route went through the casino and I am very allergic to cigarette smoke. (I know some smokers will be reading this and deny that I could have such a problem, but I do, including being in a smoking room that may temporarily have no one smoking in it.) So, my question is, on the Pearl cruise you just took, did you have to walk through a barrier path and did it force you through the casino?

Just had my first cruise on Norwegian (on the Pearl) and as someone with half-Norwegian ancestry, I was disappointed not to find ANYTHING on the ship connecting it to Norway. I didn't really expect to, I just wanted to. Imagine going to a bar called "O'Leary's Irish Pub" and not finding any Irish things in it? Uff da! Couldn't they have at least have some Norway decor somewhere on the ship? Something Norwegian on the menus or in the gift shops? If the line wants to have "separation of ship and Norway" then why do they keep the name? Those of you who are veteran NCL cruisers, has this always been the case? Was there ever any thing Norwegian to enjoy on board? BTW, I have been on a cruise to Norway (2012, Vision of the Seas) and hope to return before I am too old! (My Norwegian grandma lived to be 98, but still...)

Thank you all for your responses - we wound up getting tested in the Quebec City terminal right as we disembarked. We had to wait about an hour for the test area to open (about 10 am - it seems to be a little informal) but got our tests, which were NEGATIVE! They also didn't charge us. (I suppose it will end up on our medical insurance bills, though.)

Okay, I can give you some advice on avoiding second-hand smoke on the Pearl. Finished a cruise on it just 9 days ago. I too am very allergic to cigarette smoke. My trick to avoid the casino to get to the theater shows: use a forward elevator from any floor except deck 6 (where the casino is) and go to deck 7. Enter and exit the theater from the top on deck 7. Avoid deck 13 above the pool area. There is a bar on 13 that overlooks the pools on deck 12. I didn't find any mention on NCL's website of this bar being a smoking area, but it was. I try very hard to completely avoid the smoking areas. The line, indeed all cruise lines, should have a page with more specific info on this matter. Now, here is my real beef re: the cruise I just took and the casino. One morning all passengers had to report to a particular restaurant for a customs check. The crew ordered us only to use a particular route to get to it and chained off or otherwise barricaded numerous corridors, forcing everyone to go in one long, snaking line. Guess what place it passed through? You guessed right, C-A-S-I-N-O. Thank God I wore a mask! Now, the casino was closed that morning and no one was smoking in it, but still, a casino that allows smoking every night is going to have second-hand smoke residue. Okay, I understand why they have smoking in their casinos. I just choose to stay out of them. But, NCL, you should not be FORCING people to pass through them to get to other places on the ship..

Praying for the wonderful people, homes, businesses and natural wonders of the Sydney area. We got back to Boston on the Pearl nine days ago and had a very good time in Sydney. -

DH and I just disembarked from Pearl yesterday. On board we enjoyed Ariel white alcohol-removed wine and Fre brand white zinfandel (rose) with our meals in the main dining room (Summer Palace) I don't think they are listed on the wine list. Huge markup but we decided not to deprive ourselves. P.S. We are on prescription drugs .and cannot drink alcohol, so we do enjoy the alcohol-free wines I know some folks look down on those who don't booze it up, but there are lots of legitimate reasons why some passengers don't drink.

We are cruising from Boston to Quebec City (one way) and boarding a different cruise line (NCL) on Sep.9 to return to Boston less than 72 hours later. There seems to be a lot of conflicitng info about whether NCL will require us to get a COVID test to sail from QC to Boston. Someone from NCL told us that the test is required and that the other sources are not correct. Anyway - we want to be prepared, so where can we get a COVID test in Quebec City so we can travel back to Boston again?. We are getting our test for departing from Boston but that won't be good anymore for returning. Please advise us! Thanks in advance.