The luster if the Pearl...... (my review)

[carribeansol]

First let me start by saying we have sailed 15 times on different lines. We go for the best deal and have no loyalty to any cruise line. I expect a lot for my money. We are between 38-41 years old with 2 boys’ ages 11 and 9.

 

Embarkation: EASY! We arrived at 11:15 am and walked right in. The ship was ready for us about 11:45. We were greeted with Champaign and went right up to eat at the buffet. Our rooms were ready at 2:15. We used the union discount and were told to bring proof but they never asked for it.

 

Mini Suite: We were in room 11634. The mini suite was well worth the price for us. We had 2 adults and 2 kids in the room. There was a full bath with a door not a curtain. The bed was the best I had ever slept in on a cruise ship. The boys shared the pull out couch. The room steward made it up so they did not share blankets.

 

Room Steward: Garfield was nice enough but not very social. He removed the stuff from the mini bar (needed room for the beer we smuggled!). The room was always clean and we had ice all the time. We had a few towel animals.

 

Alcohol smuggling: Rum Runners worked like a charm. No problem using the spring break kit. In addition we carried on a case of beer. I replaced a case of soda with the beer and hot glued the box. They opened the suitcase when it went through the x-ray, saw the soda and sent us on.

 

Sea Days: Plenty to keep you busy. Chair hogs were not bad. In the morning it was busy but we always had a lounge chair next to the pool in the afternoons.

 

Spa: I had two stone massages. They were good. They ran a special on the first day and last day for a 75 minute massage for the price of a 50 minute one. I still thought this was expensive. The last day they had a special called 20/20/20. It was a list of things that you picked three DIFFERENT ones for $89 at 20 minutes each. Yes, stone massage was one. I tried to pick 3 stone massages but they said it had to be three different products. So I just went ahead with the 75 minute stone massage.

 

Freestyle: This is a great concept if you do not mind waits or eating before 6 or after 8:30. I don’t like to wait for my dinner. You can make reservations but every time I called they said you don’t need them for 4 people. We worked around it by going early or late and sending someone down to get the beeper while the rest were finishing getting ready. In addition, if you like having the same waiter who knows what you like after the first night this is not for you. Waiters can be hit or miss. Let me add that we prefer the traditional dinning but it will not deter us from sailing with NCL again.

 

 

Food: We only ate at the free restaurants. Overall the food was good. We ate more fish than anything on the ship. The tuna tartar was the best thing I ate all week. I do feel that all cruise lines have slowly declined in their food quality.

 

Summer Palace: We ate here twice. The service the first night was poor, but the second was GREAT. This is the “dress up” dinning room. No jeans allowed.

 

Indigo: Again, hit or miss with the service. You can wear jeans but not shorts.

 

Blue Lagoon: Great for snacks. The kids ate there on their own one night. They have a good brownie sundae. The chicken wings were just ok. It did get busy late night with teens.

 

Buffet: Never ate there for dinner. Breakfast was the same everyday, but there was so much variety you could eat something different each day. Lunch was always different and good. The burgers in the outdoor buffet where great.

 

Shows: SHARKBAIT!!!!!!!!! Be sure to see all their shows. They are the highlight of the shows. They are juggling comedians. The shows by the dance company were bad, real bad. The dancers are ok but the singers were horrible. I would have paid to see Simon Cowel review them. Second city was good and worth seeing them. The other comedian Bill had old jokes. He said this was his last trip so maybe there will be a better guy come on this week. The lounge singer that looks Wayne Newton was the worst entertainer.

 

Roatan: We booked with Rhoney to take us to South Shore zipline and Half moon bay. Anyone who has been to South Shore will love the improvements. They put up new lines and walkways this past year. This is our favorite place. The guides at south shore are wonderful. Frankie is CRAZY! Halfmoon Bay is beautiful. You can walk right in the water and snorkel.

 

Belize: The country is nice. We did the captain your own boat tour. We each had our own boat. The countryside is beautiful but we got bored. You can’t get in and swim so it was hot. At the port you can buy knockoff everything. Terminal 4 has the most variety. You can also find any prescription drug there too.

 

Cozumel: We rented a jeep from lesspay. Total cost was $49.50 for the day. We drove to the north side and went to the adventure park. The kids loved this place. They have six or seven very TALL climbing walls, a zip line, rope bridge, and wood swing bridge. These were very challenging. We enjoyed watching the kids and cheering them on. We are proud to say they completed every climb! We then drove to San Grevious ruins. They are small compared to the mainland but they were very nice. Finally we drove around the island to Paradise Beach for the kids to do the water toys. It was windy so the water was choppy and murky. They did not have all the stuff out o play on. I also was disappointed they did not have lifeguards out there. My 9 year old had trouble and needed rescuing.

 

Great Stirrup Cay: It is crowded. However, it is a nice beach. You need to go out between the two big rocks to see any coral. There are thousands of fish; big ones, little ones, and colorful ones. There was also a stingray. The barbeque was just ok. Bar service on the beach was good. The band played all day. It was Sunday and the calypso band did a Reggie worship set. It was all the songs we sing at our home church but to Reggie music. There was a small straw market for souvenirs, you will need cash for that, everything else you can use you ship card.

 

Debarking: The last night you choose what time you want to leave and pick up luggage tags to match your time. We choose the latest time to get off the ship, 10:30. It ended up being a little behind so we were off around 11:00. Breakfast closes early so be sure not to sleep in. The bags program was offered for a price but I did not read more about it.

 

Bingo: EXPENSIVE and it is bingo for idiots. You buy a machine and it does everything for you. The machine runs $60-$140 a session. They give out raffle tickets for a free cruise at each bingo. The last day there is a drawing. I only played twice and won once. Payouts were between $103-450.

 

Casino: We play blackjack. There is only one $5 table. We did well in the casino. It did get smoky in certain areas. The roulette table is a digital. They have a black jack, slot and poker tournament. We played at the tables every day for about 2 hours. We earned 0 points on our CAS card. They only tracked a total of 2 hours for both my husband and I for the seven days with an average bet of $6. I think if you play slots it tracks everything better. At the tables it is up to the pit boss to record times and average bets.

 

Pull Strips: They sell them before each show and at bingo. They cost $20 for 6 strips. I only bought one set with a bingo promotion. Lets just say I was LUCKY.

 

Murder Mystery Show: Sign up the first night on the ship. It is free and open to the first 100 people. There are no actors, just a script to read with some adlibbing. It is only fun if your assigned group is fun. We were lucky to have two other couples that made our experience good.

 

Kids Club: Our nine year old went but would rather be with us. I think he was on the older side of the group with a lot of younger ones. He was in the 6-9 year olds. Shocking to us our 11 year old loved the kids club and preferred to be there. They spent most of their time in the teen disco playing games and socializing, He met some kids and was able to sign in and out. We had a system of sticky notes on the mirror to let each other know where we were. He also had time limits and area limits. The boys he met had dinner by themselves in blue lagoon one night. It was the highlight of his cruise.

 

Final Thoughts: We had a blast. We do not like the dinner thing but did enjoying dressing however you want, just no shorts. Our kids enjoyed this ship and we spent some quality family time. We are a blessed family! There were many spring breakers on the ship. I never saw anyone getting out of control. Even though we are not sold on freestyle dining we still choose to pay the deposit of $250 towards our next cruise.

 

Happy cruising to everyone! I’ll try to answer any questions if I can.

:p

[Traveller20074]

You did Great Stirrup Cay on Sunday? :confused:

 

 

I thought the shows with the dancers were good, but YMMV :)

 

 

Did you see Fountains? :D

[carribeansol]

LOL, No GSC was Saturday!

 

I guess I was just thinking that is why they did the worship music. We were there on Saturday. FYI- I just tried to changed Sunday to Saturday on my review so not to confuse anyone but there is no edit button.

 

 

It was not so much the dancers but the singers. The acrobats during the shows were good.

 

The fountains???? Was that a show? I did not think I missed any of the shows.

[kendallison]

Thanks for the great review! We will be on the Pearl in a mini suite in October with our 10 and 12 year old daughters so it's nice to hear a review from a similar (in age) family. We love "traditional" dining on RCI but we are trying to go with an open mind. We are also not planning on eating at any specialty restaurants so it's refreshing to hear that you did the same and don't have any major complaints. I guess we have even more in common since my rum runners just arrived last week!:cool:

My kids would like to verify if there is a self serve ice cream machine on board.

 

thanks!

 

Susan

[Mooder]

Thanks for the great review. Excellent detail and balance. Glad you had a great family experience!!

[Traveller20074]

I LOVE your rosanna quote LOLOL

 

 

The self serve ice cream wasn't all the time, but only at certain times it seemed. Not sure when, I was too busy to notice the times on it. But...they did have it in the Garden Cafe. I loved that place, I barely ate anywhere else. Lots of Indian food that was good. A different dish every day.

[Mooder]

I LOVE your rosanna quote LOLOL

 

Thanks. I can't take credit - I stole it from a fellow CC member (with permission).

[terrymtex01]

OP.. thanks for taking the time to post a very informative and well rounded review. The Pearl is a great ship. While we are not buffet kind of folks, I was disappointed you did not try the buffet for dinner as we found it to be the best at sea we have ever had. Like we actually chose it over main dining room one night. We liked it that much.

 

Sounds like you had a blast and reading your review kind of gave me the feeling we were right there with you. I could use a cruise right now.. 8-)

 

Glad you made it back home safe and sound and again, thanks for posting.

[ncyankee]

I'm leaving on the Pearl Sunday -- thanks for the review. We were on the Jade last summer. I agree about freestyle. I find it kind of a pain. thought we will definitely eat at the other restaurants - good chance we'll never go to the main dining rooms.

 

Glad to hear about the mini suites. I'm traveling alone with two boys (11/13). We should have plenty of room. I hope they'll go to the kids club and at least check it out.

 

And agree with you about the shows. They were very good last summer.

[carribeansol]

Thanks for the great review! We will be on the Pearl in a mini suite in October with our 10 and 12 year old daughters so it's nice to hear a review from a similar (in age) family. We love "traditional" dining on RCI but we are trying to go with an open mind. We are also not planning on eating at any specialty restaurants so it's refreshing to hear that you did the same and don't have any major complaints. I guess we have even more in common since my rum runners just arrived last week!:cool:

My kids would like to verify if there is a self serve ice cream machine on board.

 

thanks!

 

Susan

 

Yes there is self serve ice cream in the buffet area. There is also a a selection of ice cream next to it they choose from.

 

Great hint: Blue lagoon has a brownie sundae you can end your nights with. I think my kids had one there every night.

[carribeansol]

I'm leaving on the Pearl Sunday -- thanks for the review. We were on the Jade last summer. I agree about freestyle. I find it kind of a pain. thought we will definitely eat at the other restaurants - good chance we'll never go to the main dining rooms.

 

Glad to hear about the mini suites. I'm traveling alone with two boys (11/13). We should have plenty of room. I hope they'll go to the kids club and at least check it out.

 

And agree with you about the shows. They were very good last summer.

 

 

FYI- The kids club for 13 and older seemed not to have much going on. I knew a few kids on the ship that were 14 and they NEVER went. The teenagers all seemed to hang out around the ship in the stair wells, pool both day and night, and blue lagoon. The kids were all very respectful on the ship this week. I never saw any kid doing something that I felt was out of line. Infact, now that I think about it there was never a time where I felt someone of any age was rude.

[kendallison]

Yes there is self serve ice cream in the buffet area. There is also a a selection of ice cream next to it they choose from.

 

Great hint: Blue lagoon has a brownie sundae you can end your nights with. I think my kids had one there every night.

 

Fabulous! Thanks!

[basebare]

FYI- The kids club for 13 and older seemed not to have much going on. I knew a few kids on the ship that were 14 and they NEVER went. The teenagers all seemed to hang out around the ship in the stair wells, pool both day and night, and blue lagoon. The kids were all very respectful on the ship this week. I never saw any kid doing something that I felt was out of line. Infact, now that I think about it there was never a time where I felt someone of any age was rude.

 

Trish, I think that age group had a lot to offer, unfortunately my girls weren't interested in going. I heard from a counselor that they had over 50 teens for the "prom" and that it went really well. Yes, the kids had a time hanging with their new friends. with myspace and facebook, I think they will be friends for awhile with these kids. My daughter swears it was her favorite cruise ever and she has been on 12!

[weloverunning]

The fountains???? Was that a show? I did not think I missed any of the shows

It was part of the crew talent show on Friday afternoon.

The self serve ice cream wasn't all the time, but only at certain times it seemed.

It was usually in the Garden Cafe. HOWEVER, when the garden cafe was closed it was in the outdoor cafe next to the coffee and water dispensers.

[mississauga]

OP.. thanks for taking the time to post a very informative and well rounded review. The Pearl is a great ship. While we are not buffet kind of folks, I was disappointed you did not try the buffet for dinner as we found it to be the best at sea we have ever had. Like we actually chose it over main dining room one night. We liked it that much.

 

Sounds like you had a blast and reading your review kind of gave me the feeling we were right there with you. I could use a cruise right now.. 8-)

 

Glad you made it back home safe and sound and again, thanks for posting.

 

We felt the same way about the buffet on the Jewel. Normally we don't do buffets for dinner but the menu for the dining rooms did not appeal to anyone in our group for dinner that one night. Since the food was excellent in the buffet for lunch, we gave it a try and loved it!

 

:by OP

In addition we carried on a case of beer. I replaced a case of soda with the beer and hot glued the box.

 

Does anyone know if this is necessary for beer? In Belize, I bought a 6 pack of bottled beer and put it in my backpack. I thought if they took it, DH could always drink in post cruise in Florida before we returned home...no big deal. However, as it was going through the scanner, security asked me if it was beer or hard liquor. I said beer and she said ok and did not tell me to go to the table to hand it in. Since there were a lot of people there, I didn't want to question it and make an issue and just was happy that she waved me through and DH was able to enjoy the beer on board. Again, in Cozumel, 6 cans of beer went through with no questions asked this time. Is beer ok to bring on board?

 

To the OP: Thanks for taking the time out to write a review. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Like you, we find that we do not have to pay extra to enjoy our meals on NCL. On our 4 NCL cruises, we have only gone to Cagney's once and Tango ( because we had been when it was no charge and liked the food there ) once and each time when it was 2 for 1.

[tfero]

What do you mean by digital roulette? Isn't there an actual wheel? and a table that you put chips on?? Oh jeez..I hope so...

[carribeansol]

What do you mean by digital roulette? Isn't there an actual wheel? and a table that you put chips on?? Oh jeez..I hope so...

 

There is a wheel. You place your chips on a digital board. It is all run by a computer. There is not a "dealer" standing there. There are approx. 8 seats around this table. Each seat has a board to place their chips.

 

I did not play it. I only watched someone else play it. I accutally walked to the back of the casion to find the regular table and did not see one. I could have missed it as I only really played blackjack.

[carribeansol]

Trish, I think that age group had a lot to offer, unfortunately my girls weren't interested in going. I heard from a counselor that they had over 50 teens for the "prom" and that it went really well. Yes, the kids had a time hanging with their new friends. with myspace and facebook, I think they will be friends for awhile with these kids. My daughter swears it was her favorite cruise ever and she has been on 12!

 

I figured there was not much because the 10-12 group was in the teen center everyday.

[carribeansol]

We felt the same way about the buffet on the Jewel. Normally we don't do buffets for dinner but the menu for the dining rooms did not appeal to anyone in our group for dinner that one night. Since the food was excellent in the buffet for lunch, we gave it a try and loved it!

 

 

 

Does anyone know if this is necessary for beer? In Belize, I bought a 6 pack of bottled beer and put it in my backpack. I thought if they took it, DH could always drink in post cruise in Florida before we returned home...no big deal. However, as it was going through the scanner, security asked me if it was beer or hard liquor. I said beer and she said ok and did not tell me to go to the table to hand it in. Since there were a lot of people there, I didn't want to question it and make an issue and just was happy that she waved me through and DH was able to enjoy the beer on board. Again, in Cozumel, 6 cans of beer went through with no questions asked this time. Is beer ok to bring on board?

 

To the OP: Thanks for taking the time out to write a review. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Like you, we find that we do not have to pay extra to enjoy our meals on NCL. On our 4 NCL cruises, we have only gone to Cagney's once and Tango ( because we had been when it was no charge and liked the food there ) once and each time when it was 2 for 1.

 

I read on the boards they took everything. That is why we did not chance it. I am sure this will be a hot topic as NCL has a reputation for being the strictest of all the cruise lines.

[GORDONCHICK]

carribeansol - living in Wellington, would you happen to be a "Lifer"? We will be on the Pearl next March for the Eastern Carribean and will have a stop at GSC. That would be too cool if the worship music is kinda like home!

[JamesIlsley]

Good to read your post, CaribbeanSol! We enjoyed talking to you on the tender in Belize. Glad you also had a great time.

[Traveller20074]

I am curious. Why is freestyle a pain? Kind of like home...when we're hungry, we go eat, right? I am trying to figure this out for future cruises I might want to take, and am genuinely curious about the difference between the two. I would think it would be a rush to come back from an excursion and have to rush to dress for dinner? thanks for your thoughts on this...

 

I'm leaving on the Pearl Sunday -- thanks for the review. We were on the Jade last summer. I agree about freestyle. I find it kind of a pain. thought we will definitely eat at the other restaurants - good chance we'll never go to the main dining rooms.Glad to hear about the mini suites. I'm traveling alone with two boys (11/13). We should have plenty of room. I hope they'll go to the kids club and at least check it out.

And agree with you about the shows. They were very good last summer.

[carribeansol]

I am curious. Why is freestyle a pain? Kind of like home...when we're hungry, we go eat, right? I am trying to figure this out for future cruises I might want to take, and am genuinely curious about the difference between the two. I would think it would be a rush to come back from an excursion and have to rush to dress for dinner? thanks for your thoughts on this...

 

 

It depends on what you are use too. We prefer traditional. The service is more customized to your likes. You walk into the dinning room and your waiter has your drinks waiting on you, has a plate of cheese there if that's what you like. He greets you by name and knows if you want the kids dinner to come out before or with yours.

 

Freestyle is easy. Yes, it is just like home, you wait for dinner. You are not rushed to get ready.

 

It is just a preference.

[carribeansol]

Good to read your post, CaribbeanSol! We enjoyed talking to you on the tender in Belize. Glad you also had a great time.

 

We enjoyed talking to you too.

 

How was your jungle tumble?

[carribeansol]

carribeansol - living in Wellington, would you happen to be a "Lifer"? We will be on the Pearl next March for the Eastern Carribean and will have a stop at GSC. That would be too cool if the worship music is kinda like home!

 

Please nobody laugh, but what do you mean as a lifer? I am a Christian if that is what you mean.