Live from Pearl Boston to beautiful Bermuda 04/07-04/14

[latebloomer56]

2 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

@cruisernut88 and @Marine Mom 

FWIW - this was shared on one of our upcoming NCL cruise's roll call - (edited/snipped for "key points")

Kinky Boots on the Encore ... , sorry ... but NCL is closing the show in January for "financial reasons". The current cast on board was told yesterday that they're getting their contract cut by almost 3 months. NCL is also closing Priscilla on the Epic and a handful of other production shows across the fleet. 

 

It's part of the "changes" for our (in)convenience ahead.  We'll just have to deal with it, adjust and find ways and workarounds, much like the "new" once-a-day housekeeping protocols onboard.  NCL's image has taken a beating and lashed at, with at least, ships are operating and sailing quite full lately as a whole.  

 

@styles27 - apologize for the sidetracked replies above.  Seeing the Pearl live at sea, looking fine aside from a bit of sea swell, not even white caps - smooth sailing back to Beantown, slowly - the ride back should be fine, nothing really of significance to worry about.  

 

Enjoy the rest of the cruise and thank you for posting & sharing.  

Not the only line, Princess last Oct. for 15 days and only one real show once both weeks. Has a Beatles show wasn't bad but no costumes for anything except the one song and dance show. Very sad but at least the crew show was awesome one of the absolute best we have seen. We love the crew talent shows on all ships though.

[Cruising Lynne]

7 hours ago, Marine Mom said:

We were on the Pearl last week and same thing, not much entertainment in the Stardust Theater.  It was a comedian 3 nights and Sonia Selbie one night and Legends (which was very good).  Other than that, nothing.  Strange, I have been on many cruises and that was a first.

Last week they rescheduled the Legends show due to the rough seas on Saturday. I think this caused us to miss out on the production show Pure Variety. Pure Variety is listed in the Freestyle daily that is in post 68 of this thread.

 

I agree that alot of the usual entertainment in the theater is missing though. Usually one night there is an acrobat/Cirque type of show and one night a magician. I don't go to the magician but hubby enjoys their shows. I thought that the welcome aboard show last week was lame with just the introduction of officers and the comedian. Usually you would see a snippet of some of the entertainment coming up in the week. The production show cast would do a song and dance number to help get you excited for the week. Who else has had the song "Your on Vacation Tonight " stuck in their head??

[Marine Mom]

21 hours ago, mking8288 said:

 

@cruisernut88 and @Marine Mom 

FWIW - this was shared on one of our upcoming NCL cruise's roll call - (edited/snipped for "key points")

Kinky Boots on the Encore ... , sorry ... but NCL is closing the show in January for "financial reasons". The current cast on board was told yesterday that they're getting their contract cut by almost 3 months. NCL is also closing Priscilla on the Epic and a handful of other production shows across the fleet. 

 

Wow, I am surprised about that.  It's too bad because I always thought NCL had great entertainment.  I guess another thing taken away....

 

[meglet]

If you think of it tomorrow, would you post how the ship pulls into the Flynn terminal, bow in or backed in?  Thank you.  We're getting on tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

[cruiserbear55]

13 minutes ago, meglet said:

If you think of it tomorrow, would you post how the ship pulls into the Flynn terminal, bow in or backed in?  Thank you.  We're getting on tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

 

   Have never seen an NCL ship backed into the terminal.

[BostonGal35]

yes, i am concerned about the lack of theater shows, but we will find plenty to do.  my mom usually goes to be early anyway!

[buffet24]

13 hours ago, meglet said:

If you think of it tomorrow, would you post how the ship pulls into the Flynn terminal, bow in or backed in?  Thank you.  We're getting on tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

I am curious as to why you are asking this... but plz dont get me wrong... there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking this... but I'm just curious to know what you are looking for, to see if you know something that I don't know about... 😉

[meglet]

We have an aft suite. Just curious what the view from the balcony will be when we board and at sailaway.

[dexddd]

5 minutes ago, meglet said:

We have an aft suite. Just curious what the view from the balcony will be when we board and at sailaway.

Have a great time.  I've followed ships out of Boston for years and can't recall one time backed in.  Not  sure why.

 

Today Pearl is there bow in.

[buffet24]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

Have a great time.  I've followed ships out of Boston for years and can't recall one time backed in.  Not  sure why.

 

Today Pearl is there bow in.

It does happen... 😉

[styles27]

Good morning everyone! We’re in our car on the way home. 
Sorry I was unable to post since leaving Bermuda. For some reason I couldn’t get this site to load. 
I will answer all of your questions and post about our last couple of days on board later today. Thanks for following!

[buffet24]

2 hours ago, dexddd said:

Have a great time.  I've followed ships out of Boston for years and can't recall one time backed in.  Not  sure why.

 

Today Pearl is there bow in.

Haha!!!  It was on OUR cruise when the Pearl backed into the Port!!!  DUH!!! 🤣

[latebloomer56]

Glad your back safe and sound. Appears you had a nice cruise. Thank you so much for sharing with us, hope you left her in good shape for our trip on the 21st.

[GALSews]

6 hours ago, buffet24 said:

Boston has changed so much since I was young adult and moved away. (Also, long enough ago that people commute to Boston from my home town which is 20 miles west of 495). If I hadn't seen the Pru and Hancock out in the distance, I wouldn't have recognized it as being Boston. I guess I should go back more often to see the relatives. 

[OrangeCatRamblers]

6 minutes ago, GALSews said:

Boston has changed so much since I was young adult and moved away. (Also, long enough ago that people commute to Boston from my home town which is 20 miles west of 495). If I hadn't seen the Pru and Hancock out in the distance, I wouldn't have recognized it as being Boston. I guess I should go back more often to see the relatives. 

 

I live near the Fenway and it's mind boggling how much things have changed there, not to mention the entire Seaport. When I first moved to the Fenway, it was just parking lots and derelict music studios. It's so crazy. 

[mawvkysc]

22 minutes ago, GALSews said:

Boston has changed so much since I was young adult and moved away. (Also, long enough ago that people commute to Boston from my home town which is 20 miles west of 495). If I hadn't seen the Pru and Hancock out in the distance, I wouldn't have recognized it as being Boston. I guess I should go back more often to see the relatives. 

Me too! I moved in  1993, and it’s probably been over 20 years since I’ve been to Boston proper. I can’t wait to see it and to see the New England coast again! I’m about as excited to see Bar Harbor as I am Bermuda. 

[buffet24]

15 minutes ago, OrangeCatRamblers said:

 

I live near the Fenway and it's mind boggling how much things have changed there, not to mention the entire Seaport. When I first moved to the Fenway, it was just parking lots and derelict music studios. It's so crazy. 

Here is a picture of Boston that I took on DEC 29, 2022...😉

Starting with Northend on the left side... work your way through Downtown/Boston Common in the center all the way to the Seaport to the right...  Winthrop and Logan airport at the top and then Prudential at the bottom of this picture... 😁

 

[mawvkysc]

Can’t wait to hear about your last day. If you remember what time the last tender headed back to the ship? 

[styles27]

On 4/12/2023 at 9:11 AM, cruisernut88 said:

Thanks for the great review. Our family will be doing this cruise at the end of June. We are very concerned about Splash Academy not being available while in Bermuda. We have specialty restaurant reservations for the 6 adults but did not include the 5 children because they wanted to go to Splash Academy. I contacted NCL to inquire about this policy for the upcoming summer months and was told that Splash Academy is currently back to its full schedule and the hours are posted in the daily planner. I then told him that photos of the daily planner are currently being posted on cruise critic and Splash Academy is clearly not open while the ship is docked in Bermuda, to which I received no reply. Hopefully we can get a more definitive answer from NCL before I try to add 5 children to our dinner reservations.

 

 

 

Splash Academy was probably the one disappointment on this cruise. 
There were a lot of kids on our cruise and they didn’t have a great plan for the teens in Entourage or the 9-12 yr olds. 
The young teens on our sailing didn’t have much to do. The pools were closed on Wednesday because of rough seas and rumors of dirty diapers (not sure how much truth there was to that but they did drain the main pool) 

The younger kids appeared to have craft activities but our grandson’s age group (9 yr olds) either watched a movie or played video games. 
 

They were at capacity many times which is expected on a sold out ship. 
 

In speaking to the director of the program this is their new schedule on Pearl and they have no plans to open during the 3 port days in Bermuda. 
 

Bermuda isn’t much of a night life island so the ship was pretty active and full in the evenings. So picture 400 kids with little to do for 3 nights. Many would run around the ship’s corridors and press every button in the elevators. 🤦🏻‍♀️. 
Pearl isn’t a great ship for kids to begin with so many on our roll call were very unhappy. 
 

Is it normal for Norwegian to close Splash Academy while in port? We’ve only cruised on Pearl. 

 

[styles27]

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by styles27

[Denise T]

Thank you for the review and the wonderful pictures. This brought back memories as the Pearl has a special place in my heart. She was my very first cruise ship for my very first cruise to Canada/New England for the first time. Lots of firsts. We sailed out of Boston. I remember looking out the window of the hotel we stayed in the night before and the excitement of seeing her docked. I loved every minute of being on board. She was the right size of ship for me. 

[styles27]

Wednesday at sea was very cold and windy. We had some rough seas at dinner time and throughout the evening. 
We were chosen to participate in the “Perfect Couple” game which was hilarious and so much fun. 

We spent a lot of time in Spinnaker listening to Funky Roots. Those guys are very talented!

 

Thursday’s seas were a lot calmer but still very chilly on deck. Lots of diehards on deck trying to get a tan before going home! 😎

Entertainment-

We loved the Legends show in Stardust. Diane Gordon (Tina Turner) was on our Pearl cruise in 2022 also. She has a fantastic voice! 
Michael Jackson and Elvis impersonators were also very good as were the Pearl singers and dancers. Beautiful costumes and cool lighting made the show even better. 
 

We’re surprised they didn’t have the singers and dancers come out on the first night for a preview of what’s to come during the week. 
 

We enjoyed both of Sonia’s shows in the theater.  (She did two different shows)
 

We couldn’t attend the adult comedy show because Splash Academy was closed. 
 

Pure variety was good but the mics weren’t loud enough. 
 

Dining

Summer Palace

We dined here 4 evenings and 2 afternoons for lunch. Service was quick and efficient and we enjoyed everything we ordered. There was always beef, chicken, pork and seafood offered along with pasta dishes and a vegetarian choice. Desserts were excellent!

Teppanyaki

So much fun. We had a great chef who had us all singing with him while he cooked. The food was excellent here as well 

 

La Cucina and Lotus Garden

Both very good.
Overall we enjoyed every meal we ate. Food was served hot and in a very timely manner.
 

The buffet was also very good. Even though the ship was sold out we were always able to find a table and the staff was very quick to clear tables when people were finished.
 

We never felt like Pearl is understaffed. We didn’t have to wait in line for a drink, bar service at all of the lounges and on deck  was great. Love that they’re still offering table service at all of the lounges we went to and by the pool. 

The crew seems very happy. We didn’t encounter one crew member that didn’t greet us with a smile! 
 

Our room attendant converted the bed back to a sofa for us each day and came back in the evening to open it back to a bed.
 

I was surprised at this because we had heard they will only come once a day.

We compensated him with a nice tip and I had made an Easter basket for him as well. He was so touched by the basket he almost made me cry with his kind words of thanks. He was awesome! 
 

Overall we had a great cruise! I’m surprised by the negative comments on our roll call on another site. 
I’m also surprised by how little people research a ship/cruise before booking it. 
I guess I’m in the minority but I spend hours comparing cruise lines/ships/itineraries etc. 
We ran into a lot of folks who didn’t know that Pearl doesn’t have the big production shows or that there isn’t a water slide and go kart track 🤷🏻‍♀️

 

Thank you for following along! If I missed answering any questions please let me know and I’ll check back and try to answer them. 
😊

 

[styles27]

12 minutes ago, Denise T said:

Thank you for the review and the wonderful pictures. This brought back memories as the Pearl has a special place in my heart. She was my very first cruise ship for my very first cruise to Canada/New England for the first time. Lots of firsts. We sailed out of Boston. I remember looking out the window of the hotel we stayed in the night before and the excitement of seeing her docked. I loved every minute of being on board. She was the right size of ship for me. 

Same! We are not mega ship people at all. For us Pearl size ships are perfect!

[styles27]

17 hours ago, mawvkysc said:

Can’t wait to hear about your last day. If you remember what time the last tender headed back to the ship? 

I believe it was around 5 pm

We went to Hamilton on Tuesday. The ferry was full because Prima was also in port so we jumped on a bus and then took a taxi back to the ship. 

[styles27]

18 hours ago, buffet24 said:

Here is a picture of Boston that I took on DEC 29, 2022...😉

Starting with Northend on the left side... work your way through Downtown/Boston Common in the center all the way to the Seaport to the right...  Winthrop and Logan airport at the top and then Prudential at the bottom of this picture... 😁

 

Love this!