X cruiser just back from 1st NCL Pearl cruise

[Bisous3]

We (we= dh, 7 yr old dd and myself) took our first NCL cruise on the Pearl for Thanksgiving after numerous Celebrity cruises and a few Princess ones sprinkled in.

 

There were definitely pros and cons.

Pros:

Love the coffee maker in the room! I usually shlep a travel one because I am an early riser and like to enjoy a cup of coffee in the A.M and don't want to get dressed and head out or have room service knocking on my door and waking up my family.

Sounds a little nutty- but I love the shower door vs. the shower curtain! I always get so grossed out when a shower curtain sticks to me when I am showering in my cabin. I always have to (I KNOW its nutty! LOL!) bring a shower curtain from the dollar store and hang it in my shower when I cruise on Celebrity!

Great, quality blow dryer in the cabin- not the useless one like Celebrity has.

Dd LOVED the towel animals!

I really enjoyed some of the regular items on the buffet like the pretzels at dinner (like good, old fashioned, NY hot pretzels) and the crepes.

I wish I would have discovered that cappucino/espresso machine by the kids cafe earlier! Duh....I could have saved a pretty penny at the coffee bar.

Speaking of the coffee bar (as you can probably tell I am a coffee lover, LOL) I had the absolute BEST decaf cappucino I ever tasted in my entire life at that coffee bar.

We had some great help from security when my dd misplaced a pricey jacket (it was a gift). I asked them to review the security camera tapes and they did! They tracked it and told us where she had it last and we found it a day and a half later.

Dd LOVED that Wii on the big screen.

Chocolate souffle in the Bistro.... It was awesome! The only odd thing was we had one maitre d tell us it was no problem when we ordered it for dessert in the Summer Palace on Thanksgiving night and he happily brought us the souffles himself. Then on the last night we requested it again in the Indigo and the maitre d there acted like he was doing us this HUGE favor by bringing it to us (I have to admit, it did seem unbelievable that they were willing to do this, but remember the first guy said it was no problem)but he brought them anyway.

There is nothing like a brand new ship. It still has that new car smell and everything is state of the art.

Love the in room movies! Some of them were fairly new releases too like Ratatouille.

The entertainment was excellent with many great choices. SHARKBAIT RULES!! Those guys were FANTASTIC!!!! NCL beats Celebrity here hands down.

DD adored that pool slide and it was very well done, with a "traffic light" and a guy monitoring the whole thing.

 

But then there were the cons.....

 

Parking at the port of Miami was a nightmare. It was so croweded and dh had to park all the way at the other end of the port (in "G") when we were leaving from "B". It was $180 for the 9 days too....we should have taken a cab. For $20 a day you'd think they'd provide a decent shuttle between parking garages! No such luck. But of course this is not NCL's fault. Lesson learned.

 

On the first night the cabin steward forgot to leave us one of those "change your clock" cards. Took us a bit to figure it out on the next day.

 

Though we made several dinner reservations, the only one that was accurate was at the Teppanyaki. The others were anywhere from 20-30 minutes late seating us. When we ate at Le Bistro, we were 35 minutes late bing seated and the poor Maitre D was so upset. At the table he had planned at sitting us were a couple that were lingering....they had been ther esince 6:00 and we had an 8:00 reservation...he couldn't exactly ask them to leave.....

The other late reservations were at Summer Palace and Inidigo.

 

Then at one point we showed up at Indigo and asked the hostess how long of a wait for a table for 2. She said between 15 -20 minutes. Then the maitre d walked up and asked us how many in our party. We said 2. He said "right this way" and seated us immediately. Weird.

 

The buffet at breakfast was an absolute zoo. I HATED this part of the day. The Summer Palace's hours were really short- like 7-8:30. Also the lines are a little silly. I found myself having to wait for an item that the line was actually for the thing that was before that item. Once when I went to take pancakes that no one was waiting for I got a "THANKS FOR CUTTING THE LINE"...whatever.

 

Sometimes people just zone out. Like they will be in a narrow path and just stop, or stroll along eating their ice cream cone and ther eis no room for anyone to pas them...I just wanted to yell WAKE UP a few times! LOL!

 

The bar servers were very pushy. On more than one occasion, I was actually interupted from my reading with a "Would you like bar service"? It was very intrusive.

 

We experienced several bad attitudes from staff. ...but in all fairness it was very few.

 

I have to say NCL has the absolute worst kids program I have ever seen. First of all, watching TV and movies is NOT what I want my child doing in the kids club. I understand it for after 10PM- but as a morning activity? Unacceptable. Also on the last 2 days in the afternoons there was activiies for the kids from 2-3 and then from 3 on it was an event that the parents had to attend with the kids. On every other cruise line, pizza making is done by the kids without the parents. Why they chose pizza making with mandatory attendance by the parents on the last afternoon when I really needed to get our packing done and check our account and all that "last day" stuff, I will never know. I was extremely disappointed with that program.

 

I do wish someone would figure out what to do about the smoke thing in the casinos on cruise ships. Even my dh, who is a smoker, couldn't sit in there too long- it gets really smoky. I enjoy video poker but never play on ships because I can't take the smoke.

 

The itinerary was a good one- no real "dud" port except for Samana. We had booked the Cayo Levantado excursion but then canceled because of rain. Samana was depressing.

 

All in all I have to say I would definitely cruise NCL again if the price is right. As with everything else, you get what you pay for. If I think of anything else to add in, I will!

[Cosmopolitan]

I do wish someone would figure out what to do about the smoke thing in the casinos on cruise ships. Even my dh, who is a smoker, couldn't sit in there too long- it gets really smoky. I enjoy video poker but never play on ships because I can't take the smoke./quote]

 

NO easy solution to the smoke.

Passengers did not want smoking in lounges....consequently, smoking was eliminated from ALL lounges. All smoking is in the casino (outside on deck or cabins)..outside not on cool/windy evenings, cabins not good if you want to go out and socialize.

 

DUH, make one or two lounges "smoking" and the casino would be less smoky as in the past.

Smokers would go to the smoking lounges and non-smokers would go to the non-smoking lounges.

It doesn't take a rocket-scientist;)

[retiredonthesea]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review. I'am some what surprised at the comment on the kids program as I have usally read how good NCL's kids programs are. The smoking thing I know is a real problem in the casino's, but seems like they could put in better ventilation system.

 

What where your ports of call? Where did you go and what did you do? If you don't mind me asking, always love to hear what people think of the different ports.

 

Glad to hear your overall cruise with NCL was a great experience for you and your family and that you will cruise with them again!:D

 

Retiredonthesea

[Bisous3]

Hi Retiredonthesea-

I too was surprised at the kids program. I had heard good things, but it really pales in comparison to Princess for example.

 

We are "beach people" and in each port, with the exception of Samana because of rain, we spent the day swimming, snorkeling and shell collecting on the different beaches.

 

In Antigua we went to Darkwood- loved it there, and negotiated a cab fare down to $20 for the 3 of us vs. the $32 quote we got from several cabs.

 

In Tortola we went to Cane Garden Bay- very nice beach with tons of facilities.

 

In Barbados we asked the cab driver to take us to Acra. He said the water was very rough there and we wouldn't be able to swim and suggested Monkey Beach . DON'T GO!! What a nightmare. It was packed and we were harassed non stop by people wanting us to go jet skiing and that type of thing. There were like 6 ships in port that day and I think every driver brought every passenger to Monkey Beach. NEVER AGAIN!

 

In St. Lucia we had a wonderful day on Reduit beach. They also had jet ski and babana boat rides but the vendors were NOT at all intrusive or pushy. As a matter of fact I don't even remember being asked if we wanted a ride. It was also less expensive than Barbados for those rides.

 

Another thing I forgot to mention about NCL that was great- the ice cream available all day at the buffet! X has ice cream but only during the meal times which is like 2 hours in the afternoon and 2 in the evening. I felt the food was surprisingly decent. My dh is from France and is VERY picky about the bread- the bread was outstanding!

 

By the way- I think the only way around the casino/smoke thing is to build 2 casinos!

[janiceah]

Thanks for the review. We will be sailing on the Pearl in 3 months so it was fun to read about your experiences. Especially the decaf cappucino!

I dread the crowds at breakfast as I love having a nice low key morning. Is there anywhere to go that is less crowded? We are early risers.

Also, did you have a hard time finding chairs or loungers to relax in around the ship. We're looking for out of the way places to read and hang out that aren't packed with people. (away from the pool is fine).

Thanks too for the info on the islands and the beaches. Very helpful. Janice

[silkhair1]

Good review. I have heard how good the kids programs are especially better than other lines. Maybe you got bad staff or something. Not sure. I will be finding out about the next age group with the kids crew since I have a 6 year old. Maybe I will notice a difference in the quality. I am happy you enjoyed it.

[ute_fan]

Thanks for the review. We will be sailing on the Pearl in 3 months so it was fun to read about your experiences. Especially the decaf cappucino!

I dread the crowds at breakfast as I love having a nice low key morning. Is there anywhere to go that is less crowded? We are early risers.

Also, did you have a hard time finding chairs or loungers to relax in around the ship. We're looking for out of the way places to read and hang out that aren't packed with people. (away from the pool is fine).

Thanks too for the info on the islands and the beaches. Very helpful. Janice

 

If you are interested in the buffet at breakfast, try eating at the buffet that is outdoors at the very aft of the ship. We didn't try it on the Pearl, but it's usually significantly less crowded than the inside buffet. I'm surprised to read that the Summer Palace's hours were quite that short. In Alaska, I remember longer breakfast hours, but if you're early risers, that would be another good alternative.

 

If you're looking for loungers that are away from the pool, and don't care about basking in the sun, check out the wonderful loungers on deck 7 (Promenade deck). We spent a lot of time there in Alaska. When we were on the Jewel, we also spent a lot of time there reading and doing crossword puzzle books, but without the comfortable loungers.

[JWestShuh]

I read that there aren't many loungers on the Promenade deck and that they were always full? Have you found this to be true? Without a balcony I would like to sit and chill and read my book away from all the crowds:)

[calenita]

We've only been on one cruise before - Celebrity Galaxy - and now are booked with the NCL Jewel, so I enjoyed your review.

What is the expresso/cappucino machine you are talking about? I wonder if it is avaialable on the Jewel.

Sorry to hear the kids clubs were a bust. My 7 year old is looking forward to them!

Also liked the input on the beaches... we are also beach people. Thanks.

[CrusinAgain]

Where did you find that special coffee machine?

[eyzwdeshut]

I read that there aren't many loungers on the Promenade deck and that they were always full? Have you found this to be true? Without a balcony I would like to sit and chill and read my book away from all the crowds:)

 

 

I think it depends on what ship you are on. When we were on the Jewel, there were loungers to be had. When we were on the Sun, they didn't have the traditional Promenade deck. I have also read on the Pearl (will see in Jan) that they do have loungers & are available.

[ute_fan]

I read that there aren't many loungers on the Promenade deck and that they were always full? Have you found this to be true? Without a balcony I would like to sit and chill and read my book away from all the crowds:)

 

It's probably one of those things that varies from week to week. When we were on the Pearl, it was to Alaska, and there was hardly anyone making use of the loungers. We pretty well had our pick every day. I'm sure there would be a little more competition for them in the Caribbean, but there were almost always chairs available on the Promenade deck on the Jewel. Most people preferred to be in the vicinity of the pool area.

 

You sound like my kind of cruiser :D . There's nothing better than sitting on the promenade deck (we're not normally balcony cruisers) with a book, away from the noisy kids in the pool area....

[BikerAl]

We sailed the Pearl last April, which was prior to the smoking policy chansmoke.ge. Smoking was allowed in some of the lounges and the casino. My wife non smoker) and I (smoker) both commented how little smoke and smoke odor tere was in the casino, compared to any other cruise we had taken, Based on that, and a friends experience, I would say the change may not be wrking, and they may wish to go back to some smoking and some non smoking lounges. Oh, my friend reported that after the shows let out, folks ran to the casino, lit up and basically blocked the entrances, and then left after their

[Bisous3]

Hi all-

If you are on early riser and like a quiet breakfast, definitely go to Summer Palace. Its much quieter there, but I was never ready for breakfast till about 9:30 or so, and it was always closed by then. Unfortunately the area that Ute_fan is referring to, "The Great Outdoors" is on deck 12 aft was part of the zoo like atmosphere as we were never able to get a table and ate breakfast at the bar several times.

 

The cappucino/espresso machine is on deck 12 aft, right next to the kids dining area, right before you exit out to the Great Outdoors.

 

We didn't ever try breakfast in the Blue Lagoon- it might be quieter there.

 

The chair hogs were out in full force on the last 2 days at sea. I watched 2 women in 2 different areas guard chairs literally from 10AM till 1 PM when I left for lunch. There were still no one sitting in the chairs they were so vigilantly guarding. Here is what I don't get. Why would you want to spend all that time having to tell people "these seats are taken"?? I mean- how stressful is THAT? If your family members are late risers or off to do other things, let them hunt down their own lounge chairs! Don't you have better things to do on vacation than stand guard???

 

There are several quiet places, the library for example, to read and have some peace.

 

As far as the kids program goes there were a couple of things I was not happy with. First was the fact that twice they brought kids down to see the 7:30 shows in the theater. Now thats all well and good except for 2 things #1, there are no sign ins during the show so if you miss the departure from the Aqua Kids Club at 7:15, your child is with you till 8:45. We had to miss one of our dinner reservations because of this. We wanted to enjoy a quiet sushi dinner and had to opt for the buffet instead. #2- I heard one Mom complain that one of the shows they brought the kids to, The South Beach musical show, had some dancing in it that she considered to be a bit inappropriate for her 6 year old. I was more liberal in my view, but still she wasn't happy and I would imagine other parents may feel the same way.

 

Second, under no circumstances do I want my child vegging out in front of a TV set while in that kids club, unless its after 10 PM at the after hours program. That is pure laziness on the part of the staff and unacceptable in my opinion. Keep in mind while in port for 5 days in a row you have to pay $5 per hour per child if your child goes to Aqua Kids so I would imagine for those 5 days the staff isn't really working that hard as the majority of the kids leave the ship for the day with their parents. I have never seen that on any other cruise line.

 

Lastly, as I mentioned previously, the last two days the parents were required to be there for the afternoon activity. We had a bunch of things we needed to take care of , especially on the last day, and would have appreciated it if my presence was not required. Poor planning. Again- on the other lines I have sailed (X & Princess), they always do the pizza making with the kids and parents attendance is optional.

 

I also heard someone pass a remark like "could they be any more obvious"? when she saw the stack of envelopes marked in bold red letters "KIDS STAFF GRATUITY" next to the sign in sheet on the last day.

 

This is really the only thing that I have to say got a total thumbs down from me on this cruise. The Aqua Kids staff was very nice though....that I do want to mention.

[slotaddict]

We were on the Pearl in October. Loved the ship. Didn;t notice that the casino was particularly smokey, however I am a smoker and probably didn;t notice.

 

I must admit that one day and one day only, I have never done it before, but DH and myself went out to the pool and put towels on chairs so that we could have a lounger in the sun, it was the last day of the cruise.

 

We were not terribly troubled by the breakfast buffet, however we did eat several morning in the Summer Palace and we found that you could have a served breakfast at the Blue Lagoon, not many people there, we got lovely window seats to look through as were entering the ports. It was perfect.

 

I too have sailed Celebrity on many occasions, it was at one time my cruise line of choice. But i find myself sailing NCL more and more, as I just like to kick back and relax. I think there is a preconceived notion that everyone on an NCL cruise dresses like slobs because they can, I found my cruises to be quite the opposite.

 

Thanks for taking the time to give your point of view.

 

As far as Samana, by the time we were ready to leave the ship, people were coming back from the town saying it was a dump. We never got off the ship, and from what we heard it was a good choice to stay aboard. We were told it was dirty, the vendors very very pushy and at least a mile walk into the tent city town. Since I thorougly enjoyed my Pearl cruise, if I did the same itinerary again, I would still choose not to leave the ship in Samana.

[cmdchiefthom]

IMHO, having taken my now 8 and 6 year old grand sons on NCL, and having observed the kid's programs on HAL and Princess, NCL has been superior in every respect! The greatest punishment those boys could get was the threat of not being able to go the the Kids Crew because of some lapse of behavior. To those kids, that was like the "death sentence"!!!

[Vyhanek]

I haven't been on the Gem but many of NCL's other ships.

 

As far as the Kids Club, I think the regular program is very good. Meaning the program has very planned activities and plenty of attentive staff. This is during the regular kids crew times - like most evenings and when the ship is at sea.

 

Now, when the ship is IN PORT you have to pay a fee and then they call it "babysitting". When they are babysitting I think they let the kids crew director do as she/he pleases. Some times on those days my kids have come back and LOVED the time saying the leader took them up to play ping pong and shuffleboard and they had a great time just cruising around the ship as a small group. Other times, like you said, I think you can get a lazyish leader and she pops in a movie to make her morning easy. That's not right especially since you are paying an extra fee to have your child there. If you are paying extra I think you can expect EXTRA!

 

On other lines there is no difference in the kids program from being in-port or at sea. Why on NCL you would have to pay for this service and then the kids are watching TV is horrible.

 

I have noticed in the past couple cruises that they do take the kids to most of those evening shows. I think it is easier for the leaders than planning games and activities. My kids like the shows but you bring up a good point, If I wanted my kids to see the show I would bring them to the show with ME! I take them to the kids club for organized activities and age appropriate play.

 

I'm not offended by any of the skimpy costumes but I could definitely see how a conservative family would think differently.

[Bisous3]

The wording of my post was confusing.....other lines also charge for babysitting when the ship is in port....what I meant was other lines don't have TV watching as an activity during normal kids club hours. It is possible that it was just on this particular cruise that the activities were poorly planned and perhaps on other ships watching TV is not one of the regular activities.

 

Also, though my dd enjoyed going to the show, I cannot imagine for example, how an 8 year old boy would want to sit and watch a bunch of women dancing around on stage in a musical. Maybe in 4 years they'd enjoy it but I know a few of those boys were disappointed.

 

Dh used to be in charge of the kids club at Club Med for 10 years. I own a dance studio. We know kids. We have run activities like this for years. The director on the Pearl for the 11/16 cruise did a poor job, and then expected the staff to be tipped. For watching a movie with my kid? Sorry.

[benzygirl]

Bisous3,

I was sorry to read about the horrendous parking. May I ask what time you arrived? We too are driving and parking at the pier. I am wondering if perhaps being a holiday with most ships sailing full, this added to the parking problem.

[Bisous3]

It could be that we just got there at a bad time. We arrived at the port about 2PM. I just couldn't get there earlier as I didn't want my daughter to miss a full day of school. I hope you have a better experience if you get ther earlier! For a 9 day cruise though it was $180 for the parking. I KNOW I could have gotten a taxi or limo service for less, even from where I live .

[cruisewmn]

Sorry to hear the kid's programming did not live up to your expectations. We've taken 8 cruises on Disney, yet my son thinks the kid's club on NCL is much better. They played in small groups and teams. As a result, he made a few friends and really got to know the other kids.

 

We can't wait to go on our second sailing on the Pearl in a couple of weeks!:D

[Bisous3]

Again, it could very well have been just the program on this ship....I too have read good things about NCL's program . Since you are going on the Pearl though if you have any preference about your son's activities you already have a "heads up" if TV is not one of them.

[Vyhanek]

Last year we cruised NCL, Carnival and RCCL with our kids.

 

I don't remember paying for kids crew while in-port on either Carnival or RCCL. They made no distinction in programming at sea or in-port. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure I didn't pay a special "In-PORT" fee. There wasn't any TV watching during the day either.

 

My kids have watched TV during the daytime at the In-port babysitting on the Jewel and the Sun so I know its not unique to the Pearl.

[insidecabin]

Where did you find that special coffee machine?

 

On the Pearl it is just near the kids eating area aft.

 

On the Gem they have 3 off them one out side and one nearer the Garden cafe and the one next to the kids area.

 

A capacino and expreso together just fill a mug.

 

We always head for the outdoor area at B/fast if busy inside, selection is not as big but the basics are there also just slip into the italian to sit if no seats or weather is off.

[Almagetty]

Hi Retiredonthesea-

We are "beach people" and in each port, with the exception of Samana because of rain, we spent the day swimming, snorkeling and shell collecting on the different beaches.

 

In Barbados we asked the cab driver to take us to Acra. He said the water was very rough there and we wouldn't be able to swim and suggested Monkey Beach . DON'T GO!! What a nightmare. It was packed and we were harassed non stop by people wanting us to go jet skiing and that type of thing. There were like 6 ships in port that day and I think every driver brought every passenger to Monkey Beach. NEVER AGAIN!

 

In St. Lucia we had a wonderful day on Reduit beach. They also had jet ski and babana boat rides but the vendors were NOT at all intrusive or pushy. As a matter of fact I don't even remember being asked if we wanted a ride. It was also less expensive than Barbados for those rides.

 

By the way- I think the only way around the casino/smoke thing is to build 2 casinos!

 

Hi Bisous:

 

I thought your review was very fair and balanced. I was also on this cruise and really agree with you about the smoke situation in the Casino. We are not gamblers, but even walking through the casino on our way in and out of the Stardust was a cough inducing experience!! :eek:

 

We did end up going to Accra and it was pretty wavy, but not rough. My kids had a great time playing and boogie boarding in the waves. We had a really hard time finding a cab driver that would take us there for a decent price. The tourist information desk in the terminal had told us that it should cost us about $4 per person each way to get to Accra, but we had one cab driver try to get $15 per person!! :eek: :eek: They were really pushing the Boatyard and other beaches. We ultimately got a cab driver to take us and pick us up for $5 per person and had a wonderful day.

 

In St. Lucia we hired a driver to take us to the volcano and waterfall. I really wish we had just gone to Reduit instead. The drive to the volcano was long and winding. After having been to Volcano National Park in Hawaii, the volcano (and the waterfall) in St. Lucia were huge disappointments to my DD's, DH and me. My sister's family enjoyed it, though, since they had never seen anything like it before. Still, what a long drive for very little time in both places!! My crew would have much preferred the beach.

 

You were smart to cancel Cayo Levantado. We did end up going and the day was a bust.

 

We really enjoyed Dickinson Beach in Antigua!