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Review of NCL Pearl cruise to Panama Canal - Dec 2016 with photos

Cuizer2

By Cuizer2,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Just a little FYI for you your seatbelt is not padded it has an airbag in it.

Great review I really want to do the Panama canal cruise and now I know I want to do it in a FWD facing suite.

 

An airbag?!? :confused: :eek:

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Thank you so much for your review and pictures! We are taking the Jade in 2018 on the Panama Cruise.

 

I was on the maiden voyage of the Jade, which was a cruise from Los Angeles to Miami ...

 

Jade-PC2.jpg

 

Jade-PC3.jpg

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Your review and pictures were amazing. I liked the helpful information on the cost of laundry. You also mentioned being disappointed in Royal Caribbean's customer service. My last two cruises with them I also felt the same. Thank you for the nice review.

 

Unfortunately Royal Caribbean's forte, customer service, is no longer their forte.

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Debde

Debde

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Unfortunately Royal Caribbean's forte, customer service, is no longer their forte.

 

I have to agree. This is very much so the truth.

 

After my first sailing in the Haven on NCL it really sunk in how Royal is just not for me anymore.

Of course I loved the breakaway. Now sailing on a smaller NCL ship I am very anxious to see if I will love the Haven experience on the Pearl.

 

I totally understand the whole climbing the Royal loyalty ladder but on most ships the Concierge lounge experience for suite guests has been dummied down to the doors opening on a black Friday shopping day or getting in line the day before!! :eek: [yes, humor is to be inserted here:D]

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Did you happen to notice if the TV had current pay per view movies?

 

I don't recall a pay per view option. I know that Royal Caribbean has pay per view movies, but I do not recall seeing any on the NCL Pearl. Now that may change after the dry dock. We were told the TVs would be made interactive during the dry dock (they were not interactive during the cruise).

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Thank you for an extremely interesting review so far.

We were in a large balcony cabin, 11134 aft and were very happy with everything. We could have done with your coffee machine however, as we we were disappointed that our UBP did not include Lavazza coffee and our coffee machine was filter pads. We are used to espresso, French style academic in France.

We watched enviously as we transited the canal, the people on their suite balconies. What a pity we missed the cabin crawl and your subsequent invitation to view but I had a rather poorly husband who tried to drink his entire drinks package on the first day!

 

I hope hubby is feeling better. I would have liked to see your cabin to compare. Maybe next time. :)

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Thank you for your review! I also was on the same cruise as you that got cancelled.... I switched to the March 13th (10 day) option...

 

I am in a SF (aft), now I wish I had spent the extra $$ and got the SE (front).

 

Once again THANKS!

 

See if you can find someone in an SE willing to share. :)

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Hi Cuizer! Nice photos as usual! It's always interesting to see what shore trips others did on the same cruise. In Roatan, our tour visited Daniel's Monkey and Sloth sanctuary- is that the one you went to? The photos looked similar.

 

I don't know the name of the place where the the monkeys were.

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katyjeka

katyjeka

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Thanks for your review, we loved it. We are thinking of the Jade this December same itinerary. We would be traveling with our 4 daughters our only concern is the lack of children. You mentioned this in your review. Do you have any idea of how many children there were? We have traveled with NCL several times in early December but never Panama. Thanks again.

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Thanks for your review, we loved it. We are thinking of the Jade this December same itinerary. We would be traveling with our 4 daughters our only concern is the lack of children. You mentioned this in your review. Do you have any idea of how many children there were? We have traveled with NCL several times in early December but never Panama. Thanks again.

 

All I can do is offer a guess of twenty to fifty.

 

In general, any cruise requiring more than five working days, or any cruise during a time when kids are in school, will have less children. Combine the two and there are very few children.

 

Also, while most of the ports do offer something that the kids will enjoy, the canal itself is not really of much interest to children.

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katyjeka

katyjeka

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All I can do is offer a guess of twenty to fifty.

 

In general, any cruise requiring more than five working days, or any cruise during a time when kids are in school, will have less children. Combine the two and there are very few children.

 

Also, while most of the ports do offer something that the kids will enjoy, the canal itself is not really of much interest to children.

 

Thanks so much. We have been on several cruises with our girls and they have always been 10 days or longer. We have been thinking of Panama for awhile now and are having a hard time deciding between the Jade cruise or a cruise to Hawaii. Your pictures and review is fantastic.

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Thanks so much. We have been on several cruises with our girls and they have always been 10 days or longer. We have been thinking of Panama for awhile now and are having a hard time deciding between the Jade cruise or a cruise to Hawaii. Your pictures and review is fantastic.

 

I'm not saying that longer cruises have no kids. I'm saying longer cruises have less kids.

 

I did thirteen night full transit from LA to Miami in the Jade in February 2008. I became friendly with a family that had three kids. That ship had a waterslide and one thing I remember was there where no kids on the waterslide (there were probably about thirty kids on the ship and they seemed to stay in the kid's program.

 

Here is the family of five during the trip through the canal ...

 

pidd-friendsenjoyingtheview_zpsa090c930.jpg

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Thanks so much for the great pics and all the info you passed on to us. Will be on the Pearl at the beginning of March so it is nice to have a preview of what lies ahead.

 

Here is what lies ahead ...

 

IMG_3876m.jpg

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