Review - NCL Pearl 4/8/22 - 4/15/22

[1025cruise]

I just wanted to write a quick review of my cruise. 

First off, this was a last minute booking. I booked on Monday, cruised on Friday. This was also my first solo cruise. My wife was "agreeable" to me going solo. I was in dire need of decompression due to a heavy work load. This was also my first "real" vacation in the past couple of years. The price was very agreeable that of all the different options available to me, it made the most sense to take a cruise. The plus, it's only an hour drive to the port. 

 

I booked an oceanview cabin on deck 8. I could have booked a balcony, but decided that since it was just me, the oceanview would suffice.

 

First off, embarkation. I had originally booked an arrival time of 12:30-1:00. I saw no need to be the first on the ship, and figured under normal circumstances that there would be no crowds. Well, these weren't normal circumstances. Due to weather, the Pearl didn't dock until 11:30. I also understand that even then, they couldn't find a couple of cruisers to get off the ship to begin embarkation, so things were heavily delayed. Knowing the ship was delayed, I contacted NCL via website chat inquiring as to whether or not I should delay my arrival. I was told no. I again assume that they figured with the lower passenger counts that "catching up" wouldn't be too much of a concern. So, I pulled into the D3 parking lot around 1:00. Just to note, you can prebook/prepay parking, but I was unable to do so. I was advised I could just pay at the port. Prepay is $24 a day, plus a transaction fee. Pay at the lot was $25 a day.

 

Once I parked a shuttle pulled in almost immediately, and parked pretty much by my car. After letting off the passengers leaving the cruise, I unloaded my suitcase from my car and handed to the shuttle driver. We were shortly off to the pier. The parking shuttle drops off/picks up all the way at the end of the terminal. I headed to bag drop, but saw a line for entry that I got into. Porters were going up and down the line collecting checked bags, so no need to go all the way to bag drop first.

 

My first complaint on this line: They could have had port staff going up and down the line making sure everyone had their proper paperwork. It was verified that a person had their ID/Passport, boarding pass, Covid vaccination card, negative Covid test, and Bermuda Travel Authorization (BTA) form. This wasn't checked until you got to the front of the line, right before entering the terminal. Especially for people needing their BTA, they could have started that sooner. For those that had all of their paperwork, you received a green sticker on your passport. Otherwise, a yellow. Once I got in the terminal, I headed up the escalator, but was stopped at the midway point, while someone was frantically running down to tell them to stop letting people up. The upstairs was full. Eventually, they let me up, but I was the last one until the room cleared. At that point, they were just starting embarkation. If I were to guess, it was around 2:00/2:30. Once the room emptied out, they reopened the security checkpoint and began allowing us through. They pulled anyone with a yellow sticker to a separate line. I am guessing that yellow stickers were those needing Covid tests or their BTA, but I can't say for certain.

 

I did not get on the ship until 4:00. I wasn't the last person, but pretty close to it. While I was at the check in counter, they were closing up shop, so everyone behind me must have gotten to the counter. Once on the ship, you were directed to your muster station where you were checked in, and shown how to put on a life jacket (which if you watched the video everytime they sent an email to do so, you already knew how to do). Afterwards, I proceeded to my cabin, where my suitcase was waiting for me. At that point, being famished (who eats lunch before getting on a cruise ship) I went to O'Sheehans for a quick bite. This was my only time eating there.

 

The ship left port around 6:00/6:30. For my first evening, I spent time in the atrium listening to the guitar player before heading to dinner in Indigo. My other nights, I tended to pre-dinner in Maltings, then dinner in Indigo (though one night I went to Moderno as I had one Specialty Restaurant credit), spend some time in the casino, then a night cap again at Maltings before turning in. From Maltings, I could hear the live music from Magnums. 

 

For the most part, I ate as many meals as possible in the MDR, though one morning I had to eat in Lido as I slept in. Also, on port days the MDR wasn't open for lunch, so I ate in Lido then. My one complaint was that the variety in Lido never changed. The only thing that was changed was the soups on offer, and the carved meat. All other entrees were same day to day. 

 

Since the purpose of my vacation was decompression, I didn't really care where the ship went to. I did get off for a couple of hours on Monday morning, but otherwise I stayed on the ship. I treated myself to a thermal suite pass, and spent a decent amount of time there.

 

We were surprised on this cruise to discover that we would be stopping at Bar Harbor on the way home, versus two sea days. The one question a lot of us had was "why". Don't get me wrong, Bar Harbor is a wonderful town, but it's a seasonal town. The season doesn't start until Memorial Day. In addition, the weather that day was terrible. Plus, the need to go through immigration. Just a note, you won't hear the announcements to go through immigration if you are in the spa. Fortunately, it was a quick pass by the immigration officer who checked your passport, a scan by ship's security to show you showed up, and a sticker to your card as a visual that you went through immigration. The pro of this was that debarkation was a breeze. Get off ship, grab luggage, and head out. I was home around 10:30.

 

Well, that was my cruise. While I'm not sure I'll cruise solo again (I did miss my wife), the trip did satisfy the need, a week to decompress and not need to think about anything.

 

 

[johnlcruise]

Nice review. Thanks for taking us on Your Most Excellent Adventure

[Broons77]

Thanks for the write up!  Some good info, especially about going through immigration prior to debark.  That should make self debark a delight.  We're on this May 20th sailing, and it's our first trip on NCL so we're looking forward to the experience.

 

I've read several horror stories about embarkation yet I'm trying to remain optimistic,  These are the first post shutdown cruises to leave from Boston and they had issues with the new gangway per the other Pearl review thread.  Hopefully a few more cruises under their belt should help them iron things out.

 

Did you have decent views of the Cape on your way out?  I'm curious if one could see the ship from the outer Cape beaches on Friday evenings this summer.

[cruiserbear55]

6 minutes ago, Broons77 said:

Thanks for the write up!  Some good info, especially about going through immigration prior to debark.  That should make self debark a delight.  We're on this May 20th sailing, and it's our first trip on NCL so we're looking forward to the experience.

 

I've read several horror stories about embarkation yet I'm trying to remain optimistic,  These are the first post shutdown cruises to leave from Boston and they had issues with the new gangway per the other Pearl review thread.  Hopefully a few more cruises under their belt should help them iron things out.

 

Did you have decent views of the Cape on your way out?  I'm curious if one could see the ship from the outer Cape beaches on Friday evenings this summer.

 

  Ship didn't set sail till 6:00PM or so. Late sailaway because of all the earlier problems of the day. So by the time we would be sailing by the cape, it would have been dark.Though you could still see lights in the distance.

[Broons77]

Thanks @cruiserbear55!  I'd hope that Massport would have their house in order after a few more of these turnarounds so the boat can get underway on time.  I can then spend my Friday early evenings this summer at the Beachcomber in Wellfleet playing Find the Pearl!  🤪🍹🚢

[1025cruise]

I believe the issues with embarkation were due to the ship coming in late and people not told to delay showing up to the pier.

 

Some other things to note:

Masks were required in the terminal (if you did not have one, one was provided). Masks not necessary on the ship. Some chose to. In Bermuda, masks were required in the terminal building (for the minute you were in it), along with taxis, buses, and ferries though reports are enforcement was lax. In the Clocktower mall, masks were optional, but suggested. Some stores did require them.

The buffet was self serve, but I did see serving utensils swapped out.

 

[laurawho2]

I was on that cruise too. It was annoying not being told anything why we were standing in line for 4.5hrs on hard concrete. You are lucky to have made it to the top before they stopped letting people up the escalator. Once upstairs we had to wait in another long line to get to the check in desks where the staff were either done with their shift, going on lunch or being hijacked by the Haven people checking in. Needless to say we were not impressed. I understand delays but if they had just told us what was going on it would have been nice. By the time we got on the ship and able to eat it was well after 4p. You were not the last on board. There was still a mass of people behind us. 

For the change of itinerary, it was not well communicated. The person in front of us at customer service told us about the change and when he finished talking to customer service, he said no its going to Bermuda for 3 days no Bar Harbor. Then the next day at lunch at O'Sheehans we heard the cruise next person say that it's been communicated many times that it is going to Bar Harbor and it has been that way all along. I booked Jan of last year and I live in Portland, Maine. I'd never book a cruise to Bar Harbor, (especially in April when nothing is open). I was annoyed they were late to board with no communication why, late to leave, late to arrive at Bermuda and leaving early to go to a place 3hrs from my home.

Overall the staff was amazing but the management was terrible. They could have communicated better the route changes, why they were late, and for the delay to board, some sort of compensation should have been offered. I don't care if it was a small room credit. Something would have been nice. Who plans on having lunch at 4:30p? 

Right now I'm waiting on a quote for another cruise I have to book before 12/31. Not my fault covid canceled my cruise 2+yrs ago but then to cancel the cruise I had booked for Oct and force me to scramble to find another cruise before the end of the year that will fit my and my wife's schedule is difficult. NCL needs to work on better communication and should extend my credits until 12/31/2023. 

Bermuda was beautiful, if not super windy first 2 days. I look forward to going back but will most likely go out of NYC where I know I will get Bermuda for 3 days and not have to do something at a port 3hrs from home. 

[1025cruise]

I just looked at my itinerary that was sent after I booked. Again, keeping in mind that I booked Monday and cruised Friday, no Bar Harbor, but was set to sail Wednesday at 7am, versus Tuesday afternoon.

 

While I agree that Bar Harbor made no sense, we pretty much just lost a sea day. I don't think the extra few hours would have made a difference. In all honesty, when I've done this itinerary in the past, we've left earlier in the day on Tuesday and had two full sea days on the way back.

[PaulB]

Any idea what happened to people who did not have their Covid testing?  I am leaving Friday and have my test scheduled for tomorrow AM at CVS.  I should have it before I leave but live in fear that it will be delayed.  I am really stressing about this now and have no idea if there are any options at the terminal if this comes to pass.  I am so confused by it all, I honestly regret booking this trip because of this. 

[PaulB]

NCL says "proof of a negative COVID-19 antigen or NAAT test (I.e. PCR) result administered by a verified third party or via medically supervised home test within two days prior to embarkation date for cruises originating in a U.S. or Canadian port and within three days prior for voyages departing from a non-U.S. port."

 

While Bermuda says 

"The COVID-19 test type must be indicated on the test result: RT-PCR, Rapid PCR, RT-LAMP, Antigen"

 

 

[Longstockingpippi1]

5 hours ago, PaulB said:

Any idea what happened to people who did not have their Covid testing?  I am leaving Friday and have my test scheduled for tomorrow AM at CVS.  I should have it before I leave but live in fear that it will be delayed.  I am really stressing about this now and have no idea if there are any options at the terminal if this comes to pass.  I am so confused by it all, I honestly regret booking this trip because of this. 

You should be getting a rapid test today, try Walgreens . 

[1025cruise]

I would test today if at all possible.

Worst case scenario, you might have to test at the pier. 

[PaulB]

Thank you, I found one that will give results today and am on my way

[1025cruise]

I bought a $10 test at the pharmacy and then did a $20 proctored test. Basically, you self test, but on camera where they validate the test was done properly.

[mizLORInj]

I was in port with you on Tuesday in Bermuda (on Gem).  Watched Pearl leave.   Beautiful weather in Bermuda that day.

 

We had NYC Gem departure delay due to all those who had not gotten their Bermuda permit (and the line was looooooooong).   Chatting at Sugarcane Mojito bar with some fellow guests and they told me they called NCL and several agents told them it was not needed, but they got it anyway.   So don't trust NCL to give accurate info!