Review - NCL Pearl - Adriatic July 12 2024

[mskaufman]

Here is a review of our cruise that left Trieste on July 12.  First I'll talk about ports and then the ship. Will follow up with pictures soon.

 

Trieste - Went a couple of days early. Trieste lived up to expectations.  Miramar Castle was great.  Taxi there.  Going back to the hotel was tougher.  The number the hotel gave us to call a taxi was consistently busy.  Ultimately we used the Uber app that sent a taxi.  Doubletree Hotel was well located.  NCL had a desk there to give advice and coordinate everything.

 

Rijeka - Research showed not too much to do/see here so we took an excursion to Trsat and Opatija. Trsat had a church and a castle. Opatija had a waterfront.  Was enough free time to get my feet wet.  Getting out of town seemed like a good choice.

 

Zadar - NCL provided a shuttle to the old town for $20 pp.  Was a bit over priced but convenient.  The shuttle let us off right by the Sea Organ.  That and the old town were very nice. Using the shuttle, easy to DIY.

 

Dubrovnik - We had been here before, otherwise we would have chosen to walk the city wall.  We took an excursion that took us to some good view points. Was not great but it was relatively inexpensive (with the $50 excursion credit) and included a ride back to the ship on the NCL shuttle (which would have been another $20).  If you have never been here, walk the wall (unless it is real hot - like it was when we were there).

 

Kotor - Nice stop and the sail in/out is really nice.  Went to see the Church on the Rock in Persat.  Top notch tour guide and port.

 

Corfu - We DIY'd the Old Fortress and did some shopping (not much buying).  Another day in the high 90s.

 

Santorini - Took the Charming Oia Village tour to get us off the ship quickly and not deal with the cable car going up.  It was a bit of hike from the parking lot into Santorini.  Huge crowds but got the iconic pictures.  Also a long walk in Fira back to the cable car.  Good news was that there was no cable car line.

 

Mykonos - Another DIY.  You could walk into town from the tender port but for 2E there was a water taxi that we took in one direction.  Easy to get the windmills and Little Venice. Very picturesque.  

 

Kotor - Top port. Went to Trogir.  Absolutely gorgeous. Fantastic tour guide.  The walk from the old town back to the port was advertised as 10 minutes.  Think 25.  Tour guide advised us to keep away from taxis. 

 

Food - Breakfast at the Garden Cafe was identical every day. If you want hash browns or waffles, head to the MDR.  It was pretty basic. Lunch at the G. Cafe was similar every day but generally worked.  Food in MDR was good.  DW had the strip steak at least four times.  Desserts were OK.  Several nights we skipped dessert in the MDR and went upstairs for crepes.  Ice cream is good.  If you want cookies, go out back at 2:30 for what is called "snacks". Did not do any specialty restaurants.

 

Entertainment - Trivia/games are plentiful.  They also do Wheel of Fortune and Deal/No Deal. Shows in the theater were basic.  Most were below what I expected. No comedians. One production show and singers did a couple of shows in the Spinnaker.  

 

NCL Air - Saved a chunk of $$ by using the BOGO.  Missed our connection in Munich but blame that on Lufthansa, not NCL. Would prefer they work with us to get decent flights rather than throw us what is in the bottom of the barrel.  Routing was Baltimore - Chicago - Munich - Venice.  When we got to Venice NCL was waiting for us and quickly got us in a van to Trieste. Would probably not use NCL BOGO again.  Your call whether it's worth the savings.

 

Happy to answer questions.

 

[sbnuggie]

Thank you for posting this, we will be on the Pearl end of august doing the 9 day athens up to Trieste.  Could you comment on the tender process?  and Perhaps confirm just how insanely busy Santorini is.

 

Thanks again

[schmoopie17]

Hoping to do a similar itinerary in 2026.

 

I'm assuming you really didn't go to Kotor twice...??

[room with a view]

Hi did you fly into Trieste or Marco Polo ? ..if it was MP how did you travel to Trieste ..thanks

[mskaufman]

9 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Hoping to do a similar itinerary in 2026.

 

I'm assuming you really didn't go to Kotor twice...??

Ooops - 2nd Kotor should be Split

[mskaufman]

8 hours ago, room with a view said:

Hi did you fly into Trieste or Marco Polo ? ..if it was MP how did you travel to Trieste ..thanks

We traveled from MP to Trieste using the NCL transfer.  It was just the two of us in a Mercedes Van.

[mskaufman]

21 hours ago, sbnuggie said:

Thank you for posting this, we will be on the Pearl end of august doing the 9 day athens up to Trieste.  Could you comment on the tender process?  and Perhaps confirm just how insanely busy Santorini is.

 

Thanks again

 

Crowded but I did get some good shots.

[mapleleaves]

Thanks for the trip report, and thanks for making it an " I'm back" report instead of Live. 

Very helpful info. 

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, mskaufman said:

Ooops - 2nd Kotor should be Split

Thanks I was wondering about that. 

[room with a view]

On 7/25/2024 at 1:58 AM, mskaufman said:

We traveled from MP to Trieste using the NCL transfer.  It was just the two of us in a Mercedes Van.

Thanks, we are probably going to take that option rather then the train or Flexibus .

[roddy good boy]

On 7/23/2024 at 7:39 PM, mskaufman said:

Santorini - Took the Charming Oia Village tour to get us off the ship quickly and not deal with the cable car going up.  It was a bit of hike from the parking lot into Santorini.  Huge crowds but got the iconic pictures.  Also a long walk in Fira back to the cable car.  Good news was that there was no cable car line.

Great review! We are planning to do this same tour in about a month, to avoid the cable car going up. Did you go directly back to the ship once you reached Fira? About what time did you join the line for the cable car? Were there a number of other ships in port? I’m trying to decide whether we have time to explore or should just head back.

[mskaufman]

5 hours ago, roddy good boy said:

Great review! We are planning to do this same tour in about a month, to avoid the cable car going up. Did you go directly back to the ship once you reached Fira? About what time did you join the line for the cable car? Were there a number of other ships in port? I’m trying to decide whether we have time to explore or should just head back.

We did go directly back to the ship.  Our plan was to get on the cable car line around 5:30 and back to the ship around 7:30 as there were five ships in port. With a 10 pm departure we could have hung around a bit.  Then a strange thing happened.  We were looking for the cable car line and there was none.  We walked right onto the cable car and was back on the ship by 6.

[room with a view]

Just read in a newspaper that Santorini is cutting the number of ships allowed to visit .

Island can't cope with 5 ships .

[surfone]

 

On 7/28/2024 at 6:14 AM, room with a view said:

Just read in a newspaper that Santorini is cutting the number of ships allowed to visit .

Island can't cope with 5 ships .

There are 5 other ships when we are there on August. 29th next month.  I've read the cable car line is long and along with hot temps it can be tough.  

[zqvol]

On 7/28/2024 at 6:14 AM, room with a view said:

Just read in a newspaper that Santorini is cutting the number of ships allowed to visit .

Island can't cope with 5 ships .

Number of ships is not the real issue, it is the number of passengers. You could easily have 10 luxury line ships there and not hit 5,000 passengers.  My guess is that soon they are going to say no ships with more than 2500 people allowed. 

[mskaufman]

At least when we were there the arrival/departure times were staggered.

[mapleleaves]

2 hours ago, surfone said:

 

There are 5 other ships when we are there on August. 29th next month.  I've read the cable car line is long and along with hot temps it can be tough.  

It's not just the number of ships that you need to consider.  Look at their arrival and departure times and their number of pax.   Maybe your ship is the first to arrive or the last to leave.  If youre first, I'd advise taking a basic ship's excursion to Oia in order to avoid the cable car and to get ahead of the crowds.  As for the return to your tender, walk down the donkey path if it's an option, otherwise look at the other ships' departure times and try to plan accordingly, probably leaving as soon as you return from your tour.  We, like the OP found no line for the cable car around 6:30/7pm. A few hrs is all you need to take in the views and see the blue domes, so returning to the ship immediately after the tour won't be a hardship! We really enjoyed watching the sunset from the ship ! Quiet and unobstructed views,

Edited July 29 by mapleleaves

[Matlily]

What did you have to do when missing your munich connection to flight to Venice this is my biggest worry, we go thru Philli and have only less than a 2 hour window.

[room with a view]

On 7/29/2024 at 10:39 PM, zqvol said:

Number of ships is not the real issue, it is the number of passengers. You could easily have 10 luxury line ships there and not hit 5,000 passengers.  My guess is that soon they are going to say no ships with more than 2500 people allowed. 

We have sailed on the Gem 2344 passengers, the Jade 2352, the Jewel 2330 , Pearl 2344, Sun 1878 and the Spirit 1972 .

 

The Bigger ships -Epic 4070, Escape 4218, Viva 3195 are all sailing the Med. 

 

but NCL are not taking the smaller ships to the Mediterranean. The Pearl is visiting Croatia and the Greek Islands .

 

NCL need to bring back the smaller ships to the Mediterranean. 

[kjquilts]

9 hours ago, room with a view said:

We have sailed on the Gem 2344 passengers, the Jade 2352, the Jewel 2330 , Pearl 2344, Sun 1878 and the Spirit 1972 .

 

The Bigger ships -Epic 4070, Escape 4218, Viva 3195 are all sailing the Med. 

 

but NCL are not taking the smaller ships to the Mediterranean. The Pearl is visiting Croatia and the Greek Islands .

 

NCL need to bring back the smaller ships to the Mediterranean. 

 

 NCL Dawn (2290) has Mediterranean and Greek Isles cruises with good itineraries and fairly reasonable pricing, especially for April 2025.  She's lower down list of my favorite NCL ships due to no observation lounge or great outdoors but we did have a wonderful time on the Dawn Boston to New Orleans cruise a few years ago.  

[room with a view]

7 hours ago, kjquilts said:

 

 NCL Dawn (2290) has Mediterranean and Greek Isles cruises with good itineraries and fairly reasonable pricing, especially for April 2025.  She's lower down list of my favorite NCL ships due to no observation lounge or great outdoors but we did have a wonderful time on the Dawn Boston to New Orleans cruise a few years ago.  

Yes, I agree ...the Great Outdoors and the observation lounge are a big miss on the Dawn .Especially on a Mediterranean cruise .

Wish the Jade and Gem did more European cruises .

[room with a view]

On 7/25/2024 at 1:58 AM, mskaufman said:

We traveled from MP to Trieste using the NCL transfer.  It was just the two of us in a Mercedes Van.

Hello , from your review I guess you went from Marco Polo to Trieste BEFORE the cruise  ..had a few days in Trieste then joined the cruise?   

 

NCL said they could do this then when I phoned to book they said they did not . 

 

Please advise ...or am I reading this wrong !!!!