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Pearl 2/13/10 Washy washy happy happy

familyof4cruising

By familyof4cruising,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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familyof4cruising

familyof4cruising

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Just returned from our Pearl cruise. Had a great and relaxing cruise.

 

Karan the concierge was wonderful.

 

We didn't do the ticket to dine and didn't see it offered. We ate at all the specialty restaurants except La Cucina. I am not sure I am a fan of the new dining room menus. As usual the specialty restaurants were great!

 

I promised I would confirm a few things:

The omelet station was available the whole week in the Garden Grill.

Kids 12 and under pay 1/2 price in all the specialty restaurants no matter what they eat ( kids meal or off menu).

 

Happy happy washy washy is the new saying as you enter the Garden Grill when you are sanitizing your hands. Of course the comedian on board had to mention it. Considering our friends were on the Carnival Dream this week and 6 of their 30 person group had the noro...we were all glad to washy washy every time. We met up with them in St Thomas at Magen's Bay. NEVER again will we go to Magens Bay when the Oasis is in port with us. The beach was so crowded and the traffic was the worse I have seen. Next year on the Epic I will have to think of what to do in Cozumel when we are in port with the Oasis.:eek:

 

Sharkbait is still on board- great show. The new show was called Oh What A Night. It was like watching Jersey Boys. They were amazing!

 

My husband did the behind the scenes tour offered as a Platinum perk and he loved it!

 

If you have any questions I would gladly answer them.

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

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Just returned from our Pearl cruise. Had a great and relaxing cruise.

 

Karan the concierge was wonderful.

 

We didn't do the ticket to dine and didn't see it offered. We ate at all the specialty restaurants except La Cucina. I am not sure I am a fan of the new dining room menus. As usual the specialty restaurants were great!

 

I promised I would confirm a few things:

The omelet station was available the whole week in the Garden Grill.

Kids 12 and under pay 1/2 price in all the specialty restaurants no matter what they eat ( kids meal or off menu).

 

Happy happy washy washy is the new saying as you enter the Garden Grill when you are sanitizing your hands. Of course the comedian on board had to mention it. Considering our friends were on the Carnival Dream this week and 6 of their 30 person group had the noro...we were all glad to washy washy every time. We met up with them in St Thomas at Magen's Bay. NEVER again will we go to Magens Bay when the Oasis is in port with us. The beach was so crowded and the traffic was the worse I have seen. Next year on the Epic I will have to think of what to do in Cozumel when we are in port with the Oasis.:eek:

 

Sharkbait is still on board- great show. The new show was called Oh What A Night. It was like watching Jersey Boys. They were amazing!

 

My husband did the behind the scenes tour offered as a Platinum perk and he loved it!

 

If you have any questions I would gladly answer them.

 

Thanks for getting back and glad you had a good time. I first saw the washy washy and the way I see things, I thought it said wishy, washy> I was almost afraid to view the post...LOL

 

Nita

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zetachi

zetachi

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Have to say that the best move we made was the CV. The enclosed courtyard pool and jacuzzi with fresh water and our own private dining area was the biggest plus on the cruise.

 

We ate most of the specialty dining including Cagney's, Tepenyaki, Le Bistro, Mambos and La Cucina was the last night and the brought out a birthday cake for DS.

 

We did try Indigo and Summer Palace one night each.

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familyof4cruising

familyof4cruising

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Have to say that the best move we made was the CV. The enclosed courtyard pool and jacuzzi with fresh water and our own private dining area was the biggest plus on the cruise.

 

We ate most of the specialty dining including Cagney's, Tepenyaki, Le Bistro, Mambos and La Cucina was the last night and the brought out a birthday cake for DS.

 

We did try Indigo and Summer Palace one night each.

 

It was nice meeting you and your family.

 

Can't go wrong in the CV.

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goldenglobe

goldenglobe

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Have to say that the best move we made was the CV. The enclosed courtyard pool and jacuzzi with fresh water and our own private dining area was the biggest plus on the cruise.

 

We ate most of the specialty dining including Cagney's, Tepenyaki, Le Bistro, Mambos and La Cucina was the last night and the brought out a birthday cake for DS.

 

We did try Indigo and Summer Palace one night each.

 

We did eat at Tepenyaki, Cagney's, Le Bistro and La Cucina. Although it was good, i'm not sure if it's worth the extra costs. Yes, you get personal service, romantic surroundings and some extra's but just looking at the food I don't know. The MDR was ok and perhaps some extra costs for the speciallity dinners is ok, but $ 20,-or $ 25 is to much in my opinion.

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Capecruisemate

Capecruisemate

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We also just got back from the Pearl. We ate at Indigo, Summer Palace, Le Bistro, and La Cucina(2x). We have sailed on the Pearl 3 or 4 other times. We were not overly fond of the new menu format that they have implemented. Maybe we just do not like change. There was no special dining light options that they always had in the past. I also found that there were only three new choices each night in the MDR. Perhaps we missed it...but we did not see the molten chocolate lava cake ANYWHERE or at ANYTIME. Usually in the past IF you missed it when they served it...you could always get a piece in the Garden Cafe. There were many other situations that we were not overly happy with. Did I mention we have also cruised many times in the past with NCL? Our status of being Gold Latitudes members pretty much meant NOTHING (okay, just maybe we had been spoiled in the past), we had been accustomed to getting the complimentary fruitbasket and bottle of wine(no bottle of wine this trip; just a plate of fruit...hey honey, can you go get me a plate of fruit from the Garden Cafe? I do not even drink wine...so its not sour grapes if you will pardon the pun. No more pillow mints nightly. We had 3 towel animals on our 7 nt cruise. The other BIG perk that we missed MISSED MISSED was the lack of concierge services. We had an AFT minisuite overlooking the wake on deck 11. so it is not like the trip did'nt cost us a few bucks. My DH went down to reception to ask about the concierge and was told that they no longer able to allow that "perk" to GOLD Latitudes any longer.

Well, after at least the last 7 or 8 cruises on NCL, we came home and booked a RCCL cruise in 8 weeks. We did not "re-up" our cruise rewards benefit plan onboard (as we have done EVERY past 7 or 8 cruises) and we just may switch our cruise line of choice to RCCL. Many other little small circumstances combined have contributed to this decision. I have to take some time to really digest all of the issues. In the past my DH and I been HUGE cheerleaders of NCL and we have found many of the changes to us personally to be unfavorable.

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Capecruisemate

Capecruisemate

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I forgot to mention that the BEST meal we had(at any restaurant) was at Indigo... the rack of lamb. It was amazing. The petite filet mignon at Le Bistro could not even come close. My DH was SO disappointed in his beef at Le Bistro that he took two bites and stopped eating it. He said it had no flavor and it was totally dried out. Our waitress asked twice if there was anything the matter with the beef and my DH said no both times, and shortly thereafter the Maitre D came by and asked if anything was wrong. My DH did not want to cause a scene so he said no. He did eat his escargot, and his dessert...so did they think there might have been something wrong? We did pay the full $20 pp (we had our 17 yr old with us too). We had on our agenda to dine twice @ LB and we obviously did not go back there for dinner # 2. The other thing which we found to be really out of character for NCL, of all the nights we had dinner, we were only approached 3 nights during our dinners to ask if we wanted any bar service...are you kidding me...they did not even try to sell us a drink during dinner? Whoa...nothing like the waiters up at the pool deck where my DH spent his time. One day he told me they asked him about 15 times in one hour to buy beers. They were relentless according to my DH. So it sounded very inconsistent...either all or nothing.

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pengu1n

pengu1n

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Perhaps we missed it...but we did not see the molten chocolate lava cake ANYWHERE or at ANYTIME. Usually in the past IF you missed it when they served it...you could always get a piece in the Garden Cafe.

 

Too bad you were not so happy with your cruise. Have you been on Carnival? The molten chocolate lava cake was available every night in their dining room. I don't remember having it on NCL.

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

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I forgot to mention that the BEST meal we had(at any restaurant) was at Indigo... the rack of lamb. It was amazing. The petite filet mignon at Le Bistro could not even come close. My DH was SO disappointed in his beef at Le Bistro that he took two bites and stopped eating it. He said it had no flavor and it was totally dried out. Our waitress asked twice if there was anything the matter with the beef and my DH said no both times, and shortly thereafter the Maitre D came by and asked if anything was wrong. My DH did not want to cause a scene so he said no. He did eat his escargot, and his dessert...so did they think there might have been something wrong? We did pay the full $20 pp (we had our 17 yr old with us too). We had on our agenda to dine twice @ LB and we obviously did not go back there for dinner # 2. The other thing which we found to be really out of character for NCL, of all the nights we had dinner, we were only approached 3 nights during our dinners to ask if we wanted any bar service...are you kidding me...they did not even try to sell us a drink during dinner? Whoa...nothing like the waiters up at the pool deck where my DH spent his time. One day he told me they asked him about 15 times in one hour to buy beers. They were relentless according to my DH. So it sounded very inconsistent...either all or nothing.

 

Wow, it sounds like you were not happy with your cruise, and disappointed in the Gold perks. I will miss the wine but haven't seen too many "free programs" that offer a heck of a lot anyway. Yes, not having conciegne service is a bummer. For us, it won't make a difference as we rarely used the CC anyway.

 

We have never had a bad meal at any Le Bistro, too bad your husband didn't complian. It would have served a better purpose if he had let the wait staff know than for you to let us know here on CC.

 

I hope you enjoy RCI as much as you enjoyed NCL in the past.

 

Nita

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swedish weave

swedish weave

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I forgot to mention that the BEST meal we had(at any restaurant) was at Indigo... the rack of lamb. It was amazing. The petite filet mignon at Le Bistro could not even come close. My DH was SO disappointed in his beef at Le Bistro that he took two bites and stopped eating it. He said it had no flavor and it was totally dried out. Our waitress asked twice if there was anything the matter with the beef and my DH said no both times, and shortly thereafter the Maitre D came by and asked if anything was wrong. My DH did not want to cause a scene so he said no. He did eat his escargot, and his dessert...so did they think there might have been something wrong? We did pay the full $20 pp (we had our 17 yr old with us too). We had on our agenda to dine twice @ LB and we obviously did not go back there for dinner # 2. The other thing which we found to be really out of character for NCL, of all the nights we had dinner, we were only approached 3 nights during our dinners to ask if we wanted any bar service...are you kidding me...they did not even try to sell us a drink during dinner? Whoa...nothing like the waiters up at the pool deck where my DH spent his time. One day he told me they asked him about 15 times in one hour to buy beers. They were relentless according to my DH. So it sounded very inconsistent...either all or nothing.

 

I fail to understand the reasoning behind your DH refusing to tell the waitstaff what was wrong with his meal in Le Bistro. They were obviously seeing that he was not eating it, and were attempting to correct any problem he may have had, but he did not allow them to correct it. This is not fair to NCL nor the staff in Le Bistro to refuse to let them fix the problem. To post here that the meat was not good gives me reason to question your intent.

It also leaves questions about the integrity of the rest of your post.

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familyof4cruising

familyof4cruising

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now I have another question: if you had to choose just one, which of these restaurants would you choose?

 

Lotus Garden

La Cucira

Mambos

 

We will eat in Le Bistro for sure and maybe 2 others, just are quite decided..

 

thanks for the help.

 

Nita

 

 

I read on my cruise that people did not like Lotus Garden...but for me because of the sushi I would pick Lotus Garden. My family liked the chinese. I am not a big Italian food lover so I don't go to La Cucina. Mambos is good. I still remember when Mambos and La cucina were free.

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

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I read on my cruise that people did not like Lotus Garden...but for me because of the sushi I would pick Lotus Garden. My family liked the chinese. I am not a big Italian food lover so I don't go to La Cucina. Mambos is good. I still remember when Mambos and La cucina were free.

 

yep, remember the same on the Jewel and the Star..I guess all good things come to an end...DAMN!!! In fact I will be doing the treating when we decide so I really wish they were free...LOl

 

Nita

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