AKR2011

They used to have one, but it was really slow so they took it out years ago. If you can find the ship model, you will see the yellow slide. It might be on display in the bridge viewing room.

The wave points to the back of the ship. That's what we learned on The Pearl at least. The fish were so much better!

Greetings, Cruise Critic! I just completed a special Back to Back on the beautiful NCL Pearl, and I wanted to jump in and get started on my review for you all. My name is Ashley, and my DH Alex and I try to cruise every two years. We prefer longer journeys, but the pandemic threw a wrench in that on our previous cruise. We ended up on a 7-day on The Gem in 2021: Previously back in 2018 we did a 14-day on The Escape that was full of fun adventures: We booked this Pearl cruise while on The Gem two years ago with the help of the Cruise Next team. I purchased three deposits, two to use for these cruises and one to gift my parents, who kept saying that they wanted to cruise with us someday. I liked the idea that this back-to-back had two different itineraries and that I could keep the same room since we booked so far in advance. I transferred the booking over to my TA after returning home, and the price went down a bit. I also signed up for price drops and rebooked when that happened briefly. Unfortunately, my TA did not rebook the same room and all of a sudden we went from a nice sideways inside midship on Deck 9 to way down on Deck 5 in different rooms for each leg. Luckily I saw the error immediately. My TA was able to get us the same room for both cruises again, but now we would be on Deck 11. Still midship, though. While all of this rebooking was going on, I gifted my parents the Cruise Next for Christmas in 2021, and they wanted to join us for their very first cruise. My mom has always wanted to go to Nova Scotia, so they booked the second leg. Meanwhile, our friend Emilie loves to cruise and was interested in doing Bermuda with us. Our friend Luca is a very busy teacher and has not had a vacation for a long time. She decided to room with Emilie, and Alex and I ended up with cruise companions on both legs of our trip. This was so special! I do a TON of planning and was looking forward to docking for a few days in Bermuda. Then last February we were told that the ship would leave at 8am instead of 4pm on our third day there. That was a bummer, but I love a good sea day and still figured that we could do a lot while in port. Here was our final itinerary: Friday, 8/18: Depart Boston at 4pm Saturday, 8/19: At Sea Sunday, 8/20: Arrive in Bermuda at 10am Monday, 8/21: Bermuda Tuesday, 8/22: Depart Bermuda at 8am Wednesday, 8/23: At Sea Thursday, 8/24: Bar Harbor, ME 8am-5pm Friday, 8.25: Arrive in Boston at 7am Saturday, 8/26: At Sea Sunday, 8/27: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island 12pm-7pm Monday, 8/28: Sydney Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia 9am-5pm Tuesday, 8/29: Halifax, Nova Scotia 8am-5pm Wednesday, 8/30: Portland, ME 11am-8pm Thursday, 8/31: Bar Harbor, ME 8am-5pm Friday, 9/1: Arrive in Boston at 7am So welcome aboard, and let's get started ❤️⚓

Wishing you a great cruise day, Megan! I just got back from mine and am excited to follow your trip now ❤️⚓️

Welcome to NCL, Greg! I just got back from my cruise on Jewel's sister ship the other day, and I'm glad that I was able to catch up to your review. It looks like you're having a good time overall with Freestyle Cruising. I hope you have a great last day on board. Thank you for sharing your trip with us ❤️⚓️

Hi Willdra! Thank you for another amazing review 😍 I just came back from my cruisexand couldn't wait to finish reading about yours too.

I have absolutely loved and appreciated your "summer of NCL" and cannot thank you enough for taking us along. I board The Pearl tomorrow and your reviews have been so wonderful to read in preparation. I wish you a wonderful school year snd look forward to following your next trip ❤️⚓️

Welcome back, Willdra! I've been looking forward to this review and am excited to follow along. I'm sailing myself in 5 days and need a distraction from the excitement this week.

Another vote here for the Marquise au Chocolat 🙋‍♀️

Yes, absolutely walk around Deck 8. It was a favorite of mine when I sailed The Escape a few years ago. I love walking laps and watching the sunrise. However, you have to walk inside at one end as it is not a full promenade.

I am so sorry for what you're dealing with trying to get balanced meals. That is completely unbelievable! It seems like they are trying to make it right, but they also seem to be super inconsistent. This is a long and special cruise and this is unacceptable. I really hope that things start to improve for you. ❤️⚓️

Have an amazing cruise! I'm happy to hear that they made you some new food after your lunch debacle. ❤️⚓️

Loving the photos. Happy Anniversary and safe travels ❤️⚓️

Wow, what an ending! I am so sorry you had to go through all that. I would be driving to the port in August if I were in your shoes.

I highly recommend Los Lobos. The food there is excellent. For tye other meal I would choose either Cagneys or Le Bistro.

Another amazing review! Thank you so much for taking us along on your adventures again. Looking forward to your next one already ❤️⚓️

I think a lot of this comes down to food waste. Breakfast dies down after 9:30 anyway, so I would imagine that a lot of food goes uneaten and has to be thrown out. It also takes time to clean up and set up lunch as well. The same goes for at night. That being said, I wish they would consider late night snacks at The Great Outdoors or that small buffet by the pool deck bar. I remember years ago they had small bites like nachos or fruit fondue out there, and that was a nice touch. For those that want a quick snack, it would be a great grab and go option that would keep The Garden Cafe from needing a late night cleaning and not leave as much food waste.

Richard is the BEST! I wish he was moving to The Pearl this summer. I've sailed with him twice and will go anywhere with him. Best Cruise Director ever!

Thanks! I just read On Juneteenth by Annette Godon-Reed also to celebrate the holiday. I will look into these picks.

Welcome back, Yvonne! I am excited to follow along on another trip with you and your grumpyish dad 😆 Your timing is perfect. I read the Braving It book that you suggested in your last review and loved it so much that I read the first book about Heimo as well. I just completed it this week. What are you reading on this trip, and any new recommendations? I appreciate the librarians on this forum always giving good picks! ❤️⚓️

Do you have any lighthouse tours? Let me know! 😀 My parents have their lighthouse passports and were so looking forward to this tour. Such a bummer 🙁

This was the email. I also followed up to see if he could offer another tour later in the day since it would likely get full too, ht that was a no. I guess tgis is not the best company to use unfortunately: This is Derek with The Real Portland Tour in Portland, ME. I am reaching out to folks who have booked my 12:00 tour on August 30th that may be arriving on the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship that day. The ship is arriving at 11:00 from Canada, which means folks arriving on this ship will have to go through customs, which takes a very long time here in Portland, sometimes a couple hours or longer. My tour starting point is a 15-20 minute walk from the terminal, and is not coordinated with the cruise ship schedules in any way. If you are arriving on this ship, you will not make it on time for the 12:00 tour. I am a one man company with one vehicle, and my tour is a public tour that sells out daily to customers visiting here who are not on ships. I have a no refund/reschedule policy within 24 hours of the tour time, so if your ship makes any last minute changes, or you are delayed getting through processing and miss the tour, you will not be refunded or rescheduled. The tour will be leaving promptly at 12:00. I make sure to make this clear ahead of time to any cruise ship passengers that may have booked my tour, so they know the risk they are taking if they want to keep their booking. The tour sells out with 13 people in the van. I unfortunately have no room for animals, walkers/wheelchairs, or luggage in the van. If you are arriving on this ship and need to cancel your booking, please let me know.

Yes, Canadian ports before that. So I should cancel our tour?

Hello, I received an email from the tour company that I booked in Portland concerning our scheduled tour. We are supposed to arrive at 11am and tge tour leaves at noon and is a 20 minute walk away. The tour operator is worried about customs. Is anyone familiar with the amount of time it takes to go through that? Should I cancel this tour? I appreciate any help. Thanks, all!

I mis-typed and I apologize! Less bars open on a PORT day, but still lots of places to get adrink. My apologies!