Tell me about the Pearl, please

[TryingCruising]

Hi Everyone. A few years ago, my husband and I cruised with RCL for our first cruise. We loved our vacation to the Southern Caribbean, and we are finally in the market for a trip again! RCL's prices are seeming astronomical for the two weeks we could do, so I am looking into the March Western Caribbean route on the Pearl. Any insights you could share with me? Reasons I should definitely go with this cruise? We are planning on a balcony room. I'm also completely new to this idea of Freestyle cruising.

 

Thank you in advance for any responses! If we do book, I'm sure I'll be around these next two months as we plan our getaway. This seems like a great thing to dream about on this snowy day in Boston.

[Traveller20074]

the Pearl is my favorite ship..as you can see by my tickers LOL

 

It's the only ship I've been on, but I don't feel a need to try any others yet...not into going on a Mediterranean, or other cruise that was use another ship..so..Pearl it is.

 

 

The 1st thing I personally do on the ship is take the spa tour and sign up.

THE BEST thing on the ship IMHO :)

 

I love the idea that I don't have to make reservations, I just eat at the Garden Cafe which has so many different types of cuisines. Indian, Mexican, Burgers, breads, made to order omelets and crepes, all the coffee you can drink, etc etc etc etc

 

You CAN make reservations or eat at one of the other (13 I believe?) restaurants, but I don't like waiting for my food :o

The outside area (Outdoors?) is an area where they have BBQ's almost every afternoon (weather permitting)

 

Great Stirrup Cay was awesome...the snorkeling is OUTSTANDING. Other's say that it's crowded and it was, but I had a blast. They are also changing the area from what I've heard so it might have improved.

 

 

 

I just love the Pearl :o

[garycarla]

..

 

You CAN make reservations or eat at one of the other (13 I believe?) restaurants, but I don't like waiting for my food :o

...

 

Pretty sure there are not 13 restaurants on the Pearl. Epic maybe.

[Traveller20074]

Pretty sure there are not 13 restaurants on the Pearl. Epic maybe.

 

 

• From traditional fine dining to endless buffets with custom-order action stations, there is a host of delicious options included in your cruise fare. For an additional cover charge, you’ll have access to a world of possibilities including gourmet French, Japanese teppanyaki and an upscale steakhouse – 16 different dining options in all.
  

[TPEINC1958]

Pretty sure there are not 13 restaurants on the Pearl. Epic maybe.

 

If you count the number of places you can get food there are 13, not counting room service.

[Traveller20074]

Garden Cafe

Blue Lagoon

Summer Palace

Indigo

La Cucina

Le Bistro

The Great Outdoors

Great Outdoors Bar

Cagney's Steakhouse

Lotus Garden

Teppanyaki

Sushi and Sashimi bar

Sky High Bar and Grill

[newmexicoNita]

Hi Everyone. A few years ago, my husband and I cruised with RCL for our first cruise. We loved our vacation to the Southern Caribbean, and we are finally in the market for a trip again! RCL's prices are seeming astronomical for the two weeks we could do, so I am looking into the March Western Caribbean route on the Pearl. Any insights you could share with me? Reasons I should definitely go with this cruise? We are planning on a balcony room. I'm also completely new to this idea of Freestyle cruising.

 

Thank you in advance for any responses! If we do book, I'm sure I'll be around these next two months as we plan our getaway. This seems like a great thing to dream about on this snowy day in Boston.

 

The Pearl is an awesome ship with lots of dining choises, a great and friendly crew and is in tip top condition with really comffy beds. I do want to just mention one thing, I am sure there is a reason you will be cruising in March, but that is spring break for many kids, lots of families, depending on the week, could be filled with college kids and the cruising experience regardless of your ship choice may not be the same as some other time.

 

Now that miss gloom and doom has spoken, I will say again, have a great cruise and the Pearl is a great ship.

 

Nita

[Family Travel Story]

I just got off the Pearl last Sunday to the Western Caribbean (Roaton, Costa Maya, Keywest) and I have to say that it was one of my best cruises ever. If you like, you can check out some of our videos on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/familyTravelStory

[TryingCruising]

The Pearl is an awesome ship with lots of dining choises, a great and friendly crew and is in tip top condition with really comffy beds. I do want to just mention one thing, I am sure there is a reason you will be cruising in March, but that is spring break for many kids, lots of families, depending on the week, could be filled with college kids and the cruising experience regardless of your ship choice may not be the same as some other time.

 

Now that miss gloom and doom has spoken, I will say again, have a great cruise and the Pearl is a great ship.

 

Nita

 

I'm a teacher. Therefore, I'm stuck to scheduled spring break vacations!

 

Thanks everyone for the info. I am so excited to go talk to my travel agent this weekend. Keep anything else coming :)

[TPEINC1958]

Garden Cafe

Blue Lagoon

Summer Palace

Indigo

La Cucina

Le Bistro

The Great Outdoors

Great Outdoors Bar

Cagney's Steakhouse

Lotus Garden

Teppanyaki

Sushi and Sashimi bar

Sky High Bar and Grill

 

No food at Great Outdoors Bar but there is food at Topsiders Bar & Grill. ;)

[george2000]

We also just got off of the Pearl after the Western Caribbean cruise on Sunday. We did the Eastern Caribbean a a year ago and loved the Pearl so much that we booked it again. It is our favorite ship. Thinking about Alaska next just so we can cruise the Pearl again.

[more cruises]

They had some sort of Hot Pot soup in the buffet that I'm still fantasizing about - and I'm not normally a soup person. I thought all the food in the MDR was very good, just very limited choices. Just remember you can order multiples - ie: soup AND appetizer AND salad. The menu is set up to make it look like you can't. Lobster was VERY small, I ended up ordering 6 tails to get a meal's worth. They had the best key lime pie and cheesecake of any ship I've been on.

 

I second the idea of the spa/relaxation area pass. We spent many, many hours there. Fabulous views.

 

Our cabin attendant was awesome and brought me a nice feather pillow as soon as I asked.

 

You will get sick of hearing "Washie washie, happy, happy! :( I felt like I was back in kindergarten.

 

[Traveller20074]

No food at Great Outdoors Bar but there is food at Topsiders Bar & Grill. ;)

 

LOL I don't know, i just listed what was on the NCL website :D

[Traveller20074]

I loved washy washy happy happy. Especially that small girl..she's a hoot.

I hope she's on our cruise in May.

 

GREAT pictures...can't wait for May 29th!

 

They had some sort of Hot Pot soup in the buffet that I'm still fantasizing about - and I'm not normally a soup person. I thought all the food in the MDR was very good, just very limited choices. Just remember you can order multiples - ie: soup AND appetizer AND salad. The menu is set up to make it look like you can't. Lobster was VERY small, I ended up ordering 6 tails to get a meal's worth. They had the best key lime pie and cheesecake of any ship I've been on.

 

I second the idea of the spa/relaxation area pass. We spent many, many hours there. Fabulous views.

 

Our cabin attendant was awesome and brought me a nice feather pillow as soon as I asked.

 

You will get sick of hearing "Washie washie, happy, happy! :( I felt like I was back in kindergarten.

 

[rjm11]

To shed some light on the "freestyle" dining.. it's just like going to a restaurant at home. You walk in whenever, ask for a table for however many people you have, and you sit and eat. No set time, no dining with strangers. I love it. If you want to make a reservation ahead of time, you can... or you can "wing it" and, just like with a restaurant at home, you might have to wait for a table if it's a really crowded time, or if it's one of the smaller specialty restaurants. When we were on the Pearl, we ate early most nights (before 6:30) and never had to wait for a table. Also, there are wide-screen TV things all over that have the restaurants listed and the current availability (and if there's a wait time). Very handy.

 

The Pearl was awesome.. I was on the Alaska itinerary, so I can't speak to yours, but the ship is wonderful... very well laid out and never seemed crowded (even though on ours there were a lot of times the outdoor spaces weren't used because it was cold).

 

There were at least 3 nights on our trip that had "2 for 1" deals in the speciality restaurants (they were listed in the Freestyle Daily you get each day), and there were 2 for 1 drinks (martinis and mojitos mostly) every night somewhere. We only ate lunch in the buffet, never dinner, but all the restaurants including the main dining rooms were very good.

[terrymtex01]

OP.. Of the NCL ships we have been on, we both believe the Pearl is as close to looking like and feeling like an RCCL ship. The Pearl is beautiful. I also wanted to tell you that when we came over from RCCL to NCL I was TERRIFIED that we were in for a "discount" cruise experience. I felt like it would be the same as if I were used to shopping at Niemans and all of a sudden found myself in a "five and dime". I literally was so worried about that I was sick to my tummy for days before the cruise up until we got to the terminal. Once I stepped aboard our first NCL ship, which was the Sun, my fears were over and I had worried for nothing.

 

The atmosphere is a bit more relaxed than on RCCL .. it doesn't have the "formal" feel that RCCL has. As you know, Freestyle dining is the huge difference between the two and Freestyle dining fit us to a T. I LOVE being able to go into port and not have to worry about rushing back, taking showers, rushing to get dressed and having to be at a specific dining time. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that. I would be lying if I said I felt the food was as good on NCL as it was on RCCL, however that doesn't mean that NCL food is bad. I just believe ALL cruise lines have had to reduce costs and one place they have done that is with food. So really it isn't fair for me to compare food of recent NCL cruises with food we had on RCCL since it has been so long since we have been on RCCL. SPEAKING of food.. I just thought to tell you this.. I am NOT a buffet person.. but the Pearl has one of the best buffets. And without a doubt THE best buffet set up I have ever seen on a cruise ship.

 

I hate to say that you will have a great time on the Pearl.. because not every cruise line is for everyone.. But I really do believe it is a safe bet. You may even read that NCL is bad about "nickel and diming" you, but except for two minor things (IMHO minor) we never found anything on NCL we had to pay for that we didn't have to pay for on RCCL. Those two things being a daily newspaper and some gym access.. like a steam room or something like that.. and trust me.. as you can see by my pic (im the big guy) I could not care less about gym access.. LOL.

[sunset785]

Does anyone have any Freestyle Daily's for the Pearl? We are thinking about booking the Pearl to KW, Costa Maya, Belize, and Roatan for this March. Does any one have any links to a review they did or pictures they posted of the ship? Thanks!

[SuiteRose]

No food at Great Outdoors Bar but there is food at Topsiders Bar & Grill. ;)

 

You are correct, there is no food at the Great Outdoors "Bar", but the area behind the bar is a smaller version of the buffet and is called the "Great Outdoors"... it is opened at slightly different hours than the Garden Cafe (check dailys for exact times) For example, the Great Outdoors Buffet is opened in late afternoons while the Garden Cafe prepares for dinner and also I believe later in the evenings. There is definetely food at the Great Outdoors.

[SuiteRose]

Does anyone have any Freestyle Daily's for the Pearl? We are thinking about booking the Pearl to KW, Costa Maya, Belize, and Roatan for this March. Does any one have any links to a review they did or pictures they posted of the ship? Thanks!

 

I have some daily's from our trip but not all... if I get a chance, I'll scan them.

[gerapau]

Does anyone have any Freestyle Daily's for the Pearl? We are thinking about booking the Pearl to KW, Costa Maya, Belize, and Roatan for this March. Does any one have any links to a review they did or pictures they posted of the ship? Thanks!

 

I posted all the Daily's from our December trip recently (you should be able to search for them). They are for the Eastern Carribean itinerary though.

[pcl_cruiser]

I just got off the Pearl last Sunday to the Western Caribbean (Roaton, Costa Maya, Keywest) and I have to say that it was one of my best cruises ever. If you like, you can check out some of our videos on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/familyTravelStory

 

 

We are going to Alaska on the Pearl in June for our 10th anniversary. How did you get to take a bridge tour, my husband would love that.

[mousefansmom]

I just got off the Pearl last Sunday to the Western Caribbean (Roaton, Costa Maya, Keywest) and I have to say that it was one of my best cruises ever. If you like, you can check out some of our videos on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/familyTravelStory

 

I loved your videos. The suite you had would be a dream come true (but in this life I am a teacher, maybe in my next life I will be wealthy :0)! Your daughter is adorable and it looked like she thoroughly enjoyed herself! We are very excited for our upcoming trip (same itinerary) and I appreciate the sneak preview.

[Gajitman]

I loved your videos. The suite you had would be a dream come true (but in this life I am a teacher, maybe in my next life I will be wealthy :0)! Your daughter is adorable and it looked like she thoroughly enjoyed herself! We are very excited for our upcoming trip (same itinerary) and I appreciate the sneak preview.

I would love to hear about your cruise experience on the Pearl when you get home. My family has cruised twice, both times with Disney. We are trying something different this time in hopes of saving a little money, and to see how they compare. I would be most curious to hear your opinions of the differences between Disney and NCL in general [overall feel, formality, organization, etc.] and also would be very curious to hear how Castaway Cay compares to Great Stirrup Cay.

Thanks!

[rikatine]

We switched to NCL from RCI due to prices, and we love it. Sailed the Pearl in October at a great price for a balcony, you can't even compare.

[CruisingPiper]

The Pearl is an awesome ship with lots of dining choises, a great and friendly crew and is in tip top condition with really comffy beds. I do want to just mention one thing, I am sure there is a reason you will be cruising in March, but that is spring break for many kids, lots of families, depending on the week, could be filled with college kids and the cruising experience regardless of your ship choice may not be the same as some other time.

 

Now that miss gloom and doom has spoken, I will say again, have a great cruise and the Pearl is a great ship.

 

Nita

 

We are one of the families cruising over spring break :D Yes, get ready for lots of kids!