Pearl - Sept 21st - medium length review

This was a 5-day Pacific Coast repositioning cruise, from Vancouver to Los Angeles, aboard the Norwegian Pearl. This was my 4th cruise on NCL, the 3rd under the command of (the very cool!) Captain Lars, and the 2nd aboard the Pearl. I'm not going to write a full review, but will simply comment on a few of the "hot button" issues that are frequently discussed around here. :-)

MENU: The MDR menus on this cruise were of the same type I've seen in the past: Daily rotating menus with 5 entrees plus 4 "always available" items. I believe the same menu was used on each day in both MDRs. No big changes in this area. As usual, the food was "good" - not great, but good.

SMOKING: This cruise was a non-smoker's dream come true! As has always been my experience on NCL, there were no traces of smoke in my cabin. But, unlike prior cruises, I never encountered smoke (or residual smell) in the hallways or (with very minor exception) on my balcony! Were I not deliberately looking for it, it would have been completely unnoticeable. Indeed, the only place where I encountered smoke at objectionable levels was on the promenade deck which, for better or worse, is a designated smoking area. I never went into the casino, so I don't know what conditions were like in there.

DRESS CODE: The stated code per the Daily was, "Resort casual, including jeans, is welcome in any of our restaurants, except the Summer Palace, our designated "dress up" restaurant. No shorts are permitted in any of our restaurants (except [the buffet]) after 5:00 PM." This is what I've seen before. But, unlike my trip on the Pearl last year, all dress code signs had been removed from the restaurants themselves.

When I dined in the Summer Palace "designated" restaurant on the "dress up or not" night, I observed the following worn by adult males: 2 wearing jeans, 2 wearing ball caps, 1 wearing striped warm-up pants, and 1 wearing a t-shirt. And this does not include a number of "judgment call" situations such as a guy in overly worn cargo pants.

On another evening, again in the "designated" MDR, but with a different hostess, I was in line behind a women wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She was admitted without question. At that point I gave up monitoring this because it had become clear that the dress code was simply not being enforced.

I didn't see anyone attempting to enter the dining room wearing shorts. The weather on this Pacific Coast cruise wasn't particularly "shorts friendly." :-)

Oh, as for the "dress up or not" night, there probably weren't more than about 5 guys in coats and ties. The overwhelming majority of people were appropriately dressed in "resort casual" attire. I dined early, if that makes a difference.

INTERNET: Since this was a relatively short 5-day cruise, I decided NOT to buy a time plan. I simply "paid as I went" and racked up total charges of under $20 bucks for checking my email 2 or 3 times during the trip. There was plug-in ethernet service available in my (balcony) cabin.

IN SUMMARY: This was another great trip on NCL! The non-smoking situation was great, but I am concerned that without a change in NCL's policies, those conditions might never be repeated. In other words, it was sheer luck. :-)

We were on the Star repositioning which was almost the same time as the Pearl - just left one day earlier.

Unlike the Pearl, we didn't have a designated "dress up" restaurant. Or if we did we didn't know about it. In any case, I like resort casual and probably wouldn't really dress up for dinner but like to wear a good pair of pants or skirt and a nice top. , Like you we observed all the usual ball caps, worn jeans and T Shirts. My DH commented that he'd never been on a cruise where he was worried about being overdressed! And that would have been dress pants and a nice shirt!

We were on the Star repositioning which was almost the same time as the Pearl - just left one day earlier.

Yeah, it was kind of a hoot watching the Star and the Pearl "race" down the coast together. As we pulled into San Pedro harbor, it almost looked like the Pearl was going to win! Then we had to turn around to do that reverse docking maneuver, and the Star went screaming by! :-)

I may be in California next year at this time. Where were the port stops on this cruise and how would you describe the weather?

I may be in California next year at this time. Where were the port stops on this cruise and how would you describe the weather?

The port stops were Astoria, OR and San Francisco, CA.

The weather in Astoria was unusually hot...over 80 degrees, I think. But since there were two ships in port that day, one had to "tender," and that was the Pearl (the Star got the single cruise ship dock). Since Astoria is not a "regular" cruise ship stop (generally, it is only used during the "repositioning" periods), the shore-side facilities for tendering were just barely adequate. I think the people in Astoria did as best they could to coordinate all of this, but the lack of regular cruise ship activity showed. I took a tour down to Seaside and Cannon Beach (click on "photo pages" link below).

The weather in San Francisco was FOGGY, both on arrival and departure. So I never got a decent view of the Golden Gate Bridge. :-( Temperature was probably around 70 degrees, which I believe is a little low for this time of year.

The weather in Los Angeles was hazy-clear and in the upper 70's.

Thank you for the info.