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Just back from Pearl 1/2/10 sailing

luvdznee

By luvdznee,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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luvdznee

luvdznee

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We just got back today from seven wonderful days on the Pearl This was our fourth time sailing on the Pearl. However, this time around we were lucky enough to stay in an Owners Suite and we had a fabulous time. Everything from the food to the service was excellent. We spent most of our time at the Courtyard and the spa and ate at most of the specialty restaurants, except Cagney's and La Cucina, which we have dined at on previous cruises and didn't particularly like as much as the others. We did not eat at either of the main restaurants, however, we did visit the Garden Cafe buffet a few times and also had a late night snack at Blue Lagoon on the last night of our cruise. We also enjoyed a sushi dinner in the beautiful courtyard thanks to our amazing butler Gian. Overall, we really did have a very relaxing, stress free vacation. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask while everything is still fresh in our memories. We will try and answer what we can!

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luvdznee

luvdznee

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We also sailed the Pearl in 2007 and she is still in great shape. Like I mentioned, this was our fourth time on the Pearl and we really did not see any signs of deterioration or things looking older, dirtier etc. As far as the ports are concerned, we only got off the ship in St. Thomas where we did a Jeep and beach shore excursion. St. Thomas is a beautiful island with great beaches, but I personally did not care for this particular excursion very much as I thought it was too rushed. My husband on the other hand thought it was fun, but then again he was doing the driving. we did have a shore excursion booked for the Virgin Gorda Baths in Tortola, however it was cancelled the night before because of high swells. We considered booking a different excursion but we just ended up staying on the ship and relaxing.

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luvdznee

luvdznee

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We were very fortunate to be able to stay in an Owners Suite. It definitely was an awesome experience. We did not get a free upgrade, but we were lucky to receive an amazing upsell offer which I accepted. It was the best money I have ever spent for a vacation. But as others before have mentioned, I really don't know how I will be able to cruise any other way. We were spoiled the the entire week. And yes, the ship was full. On the first day, there was a sign at the guest services desk saying that it was a full sailing and no rooms were available.

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luvdznee

luvdznee

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Yes, we ate breakfast and lunch at Cagney's several times. It definitely is one of the best perks of staying in a suite. Great food, terrific service and very peaceful and quiet. We enjoyed it very much. As for the champagne, we personally did not receive any upon embarkation. Honestly, its not something I was looking for, but I don't recall anyone else with any champagne, now that I think about it.

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luvdznee

luvdznee

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Yes, the White Diamond Suite. It was awesome! I've only been home for a few hours and I want to go back. lol.. And yes, Sharkbait and Second City are still there. As a matter of fact, those were the only two shows we made a point of seeing. They were great as always!

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mdouc

mdouc

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We just got back today from seven wonderful days on the Pearl This was our fourth time sailing on the Pearl. However, this time around we were lucky enough to stay in an Owners Suite and we had a fabulous time. Everything from the food to the service was excellent. We spent most of our time at the Courtyard and the spa and ate at most of the specialty restaurants, except Cagney's and La Cucina, which we have dined at on previous cruises and didn't particularly like as much as the others. We did not eat at either of the main restaurants, however, we did visit the Garden Cafe buffet a few times and also had a late night snack at Blue Lagoon on the last night of our cruise. We also enjoyed a sushi dinner in the beautiful courtyard thanks to our amazing butler Gian. Overall, we really did have a very relaxing, stress free vacation. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask while everything is still fresh in our memories. We will try and answer what we can!

 

I'm new at this, i don't know if i'm doing this the right way, i'm going on a cruise in 20days on the pearl , i was reading about the sushi bar is it free?

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george2000

george2000

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We just got off the Pearl as well. We were not offered any champagne and did not see anyone else with champagne. We were wondering if the ship was full, because it just didn't seem crowded. The most crowds we saw were the at sea days when the pool area was packed. This was our first time on NCL, after 3 Carnival cruises and we have decided NCL is the line for us.

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jlaj617

jlaj617

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Our family is going on the Pearl at the end of March. I looked through the excursions list and none jumped out at me as a must do. Do you recommend any musts? My husband and I have cruised once before on the Carnival Legend and did an excursion at every port. However, we are fine with staying on the ship this time around. Thoughts?

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jbscoggins

jbscoggins

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So you were able to have the butler serve sushi in the courtyard? Did they just give you a sushi menu to order from or how did they handle the all-you-can eat if you were not in the restaurant proper? We're sailing in a suite on the Dawn in April and my husband is counting down the days to his sushi-fest. I don't eat sushi, so maybe choosing to have his sushi and my something-else served to us in the suite may be the way to go. Thanks!

 

 

Jennie

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ncltwotimer

ncltwotimer

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My family had a wonderful vacation, what a great ship, our 2nd cruise and all the info I acquired from these boards was quite helpful... Thank You All! My Son (23) and his girlfriend (24) got engaged on the ship so it was quite magical for them, my younger son (20) and his college roommate (20) were very busy with us during the day for shore excursions and had a ball at night without us to cramp their style dancing the nights away in the Bliss Lounge....We love the freestyle cruise..... we ate at Cagney"s and all enjoyed it.... we ate at the Lotus Garden and we all agreed that it was our favorite.....

we were disappointed that our shore excursion in Tortola was cancelled ....we will definitely do another NCL cruise again.

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luvdznee

luvdznee

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So you were able to have the butler serve sushi in the courtyard? Did they just give you a sushi menu to order from or how did they handle the all-you-can eat if you were not in the restaurant proper? We're sailing in a suite on the Dawn in April and my husband is counting down the days to his sushi-fest. I don't eat sushi, so maybe choosing to have his sushi and my something-else served to us in the suite may be the way to go. Thanks!

 

 

Jennie

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Jennie, we spoke to Gian, our butler, earlier in the day and gave him our order. We had already eaten at the sushi bar several times (on this cruise and previous cruises), so we knew what we wanted. However, there are menus for all the specialty restaurants in your suite. So you could order sushi for your husband and you could order from any of the other restaurants. Anyhow, Gian asked us what time we wanted to have dinner and we told him we would be at the Courtyard at 7:00 p.m. Sure enough, at 7:00 p.m. we made our way up to the courtyard and there was a table set for two, with chopsticks, soy sauce etc. and Diet Pepsi (our drink of choice) on ice. Gian greeted us and a few minutes later returned with our sushi. We had ordered several rolls so we did not need to order anything else as we we were quite full, but I'm sure if we would have wanted more we could have asked. It really was a lovely dinner and probably one of my favorite parts of our cruise.

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Smallmarinerstale

Smallmarinerstale

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Hello luv:

 

I have question non related to your cruise. My question is- How would you suggest to handle a not so good cruise for a second cruise with NCL? The crew members and a great majority of the onboard employees were all bad. Captain was horible. Only our normal Housekeeper was good. Our cruise director was excellent. Our cabin was torn apart literally by past guests on the Star. The balcony door handle was ripped off. The closet door was torn off. There were violations regarding Emergency evacuations (no life jackets for number of guests in cabin). There were many handoffs (you know of age purchases of liquor handing off to under ages guests). In your opinion as a more veteran NCL cruiser, do we give another chance to the cruise or jumpship to another company?

Thank You,

SMT

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pmcue

pmcue

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Since you mentioned the ship was full i am wondering how full the Sun Deck and Courtyard were? We are cruising in March and are in a Courtyard A3 and just wanted to know if there was always room to lay out?

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RandomFigment

RandomFigment

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Hello Smallmarinerstale,

 

Although a 5 time NCL cruiser, I've not sailed on the Star, so I can't speak to her overall care and condition. I do however, have some general comments:

All 5 times I've sailed with NCL things have gone wrong. Every day of my life things go wrong. The trick is to STOP looking for the wrong things, and concentrate of the good things.

 

How many "onboard employees" did you really interact with? 5 or 6 out of over a 1000? How can a captain be "horrible"? Did he sail you into a hurricane? Did he have an accent? Bad personal hygiene?

 

The "violations" for lifejackets were an easy fix. Pick up the phone, call ANYONE, and you'd get more. By the way, how many people were you trying to fit into a cabin, and which type of cabin? Traveling tip: fitting 6 people in a room made for 2 is a vacation disaster. Particularly children.

 

About the "hand-offs": happens at every bar, in every city, in every country. If the bartenders or servers have to play "alcohol police" the service would suffer greatly. Did the "handing off" affect you personally? If not, Live and Let Drink.

 

I'm not an NCL apologist. Things do go wrong. But they go wrong on every other ship, company, activity, and vacation.

They also go right. Very right sometimes. Concentrate on enjoying what's going right and I guarantee you'll have a better time no matter which cruise company you sail with.

 

Best of luck :)

 

Hello luv:

 

I have question non related to your cruise. My question is- How would you suggest to handle a not so good cruise for a second cruise with NCL? The crew members and a great majority of the onboard employees were all bad. Captain was horible. Only our normal Housekeeper was good. Our cruise director was excellent. Our cabin was torn apart literally by past guests on the Star. The balcony door handle was ripped off. The closet door was torn off. There were violations regarding Emergency evacuations (no life jackets for number of guests in cabin). There were many handoffs (you know of age purchases of liquor handing off to under ages guests). In your opinion as a more veteran NCL cruiser, do we give another chance to the cruise or jumpship to another company?

Thank You,

SMT

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luvdznee

luvdznee

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The courtyard never was crowded at all. There were maybe two or three other people, besides us, most times. Some times we were the only ones there. The pool and hot tub were usually empty. It was very peaceful and relaxing. Loved the courtyard.

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