CTCruisers

We reached Sapphire level with our last NCL cruise and had a few questions: Dinner With Officers - The note says to to go to the cruise next desk to register. Do you have a choice of restaurant and times or they just assign something randomly based on their availability? Priority restaurant and entertainment seating - Does this mean we do not have to wait in line for shows like the Cavern Club Beatles shows and comedians or does it apply to just the main theater shows?

We just go to the dining room, show them our platinum cards, and order beers requesting that they don't open them. Then, we just leave and bring the beers to our cabin fridge.

Is there much shade available by the Havana pool area?

Which deck(s) have the Havana cabins and pool?

Sailing in November should make for a quiet scene on board. We sailed on the Sunshine last week and there were no issues even though it was a full ship of passengers. We had a great time.

We were just on the Sunshine. We only saw handles on the self pours in the Lido buffet on the first day of cruise and never after that.

Everything I had was good for me. My wife had issues with her two steak orders. It seemed to her like the quality is poor unless you pay the upcharge for steaks in the MDR.

We were just on the Sunshine and had a great time. I posted the following review: I hope this helps.

Just off the Sunshine. We received our ship pins and VIFP fanny packs at the Pixels desk.

Just off the Sunshine. We were welcomed in the terminal as Platinum. We had priority boarding. We went to Pixels to get our pins and VIFP fanny packs They had a party of Platinum and Diamond members with free flowing drinks. We had a free drink during the at sea brunch on the last sea day. We had priority disembarkation and tender service as well.

We just off the Sunshine. We received a letter from Carnival stating that as a platinum member, we could drop off our carry-on when we got board. But, when we boarded, all of the door to the cabin halls were closed and we could not drop off the carry-on after all.

We sailed on the Carnival Sunshine out of Charleston, SC on a 5-day cruise that started on 04/24/23. This was our 11th Carnival Cruise and 31st cruise overall (19 with NCL and 1 with RCCL). We have Platinum status with Carnival. We had flown into Charleston the day before and had reservations at the Embassy Suites in the historic district on Meeting Street. It is located inside the former Citadel fortress. Our flight into Charleston arrived at 10:00 am on that Sunday, 04/23. We took a taxi ($30) to the hotel and since we had arrived well before their check-in time, they let us store our luggage in a secure room while we went out to explore the old part of the city. We had purchased combo tickets to take two tours that day, a horse and carriage tour and a harbor cruise tour. The hotel is only a block away from the bus stops for the free DASH shuttles the city has in the historic district. The shuttles run every 20 minutes or so and we jumped on one that had a stop on Market Street. We walked through the famous markets located there in block-long buildings while checking out the various vendor booths and their displays. Our first tour was with Palmetto Carriage Tours and their barn is located just a block away from the markets. We arrived there an hour and a half early and decided to sit inside to be out of the sun. While waiting for our tour, an earlier carriage tour was loading. One of the staff there asked if we wanted to get onto the earlier tour since they had 2 open seats which was fine with us. Our carriage was pulled by a large blonde roan horse named Bezos. The tour took us an hour ride with informative narration by the driver. We found out that the horses come from Amish country farms and are well cared for. We also found out that all carriage tours must stop at a city checkpoint where they told which route they can take. That means that you can take several tours and see different parts of the city each time. We enjoyed the tour and would recommend it to all. After we returned to the barn, we walked a few blocks back up to Meeting Street to catch another Dash shuttle back towards our hotel where we hopped off and immediately jumped onto a different shuttle that would bring us to the waterfront. The harbor tour’s pier was only a few blocks from a bus stop near the aquarium. We just missed one cruise that had left a few minutes before we arrived, so we hung out walking around the area to admire the harbor views. The 1 1/2 hour tour on the Carolina Belle took us past the harbor sights going out to Fort Sumter and passing other fort areas as well as Patriots Point where the USS Yorktown and USS Laffey are docked. We finished the tour going under the Ravenel bridge before returning to the pier. It was an interesting tour. They sell drinks and snacks and they have restrooms on board. You can sit on the open top deck or down below in the closed deck with chairs and windows for viewing. We wanted to sit below, but the air conditioning made it very cold down there. After our harbor cruise, we walked back to the bus stop and took a shuttle back to the hotel where we found that our room was ready, so we checked in. After gathering our luggage, we went to our room. The hotel is incorporated in the historic old fortress. Our room had 2 gun slits in the brick outer wall. The service and staff of the hotel was amazing. Day One The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before heading to the cruise terminal. Taxis are scarce in the inner city, so the front desk had arranged a car service to take us to the terminal which was about a mile away. We arrived at the terminal around 10:00 am. The terminal to check in is not next to the pier area. As platinum members, we had a priority boarding and were seated in a designated waiting area. By 11:00 am, they were calling groups to start the boarding process which entailed leaving the first terminal and boarding buses that brought us to the second terminal which located next to the pier by the ship. We were on board the ship by 11:30 am. While we had been told prior to our trip that as a platinum benefit that we could drop off our carry-on luggage at our cabin immediately after boarding, we found out that all cabins were not accessible while their crews prepared them. We just headed topside for a quick snack and then walked around exploring the ship. The Sunshine was our 10th different Carnival ship to sail on. We found out that she had been originally named the Destiny when she was launched in 1996. She was refitted and renamed the Sunshine in 2013. She had additional improvements added in 2018. Currently, she is the oldest ship in the Carnival fleet. A lot of the ship seemed to have a fresh look to it which impressed us. By 1:00 pm, they announced that the cabins were now open, so we headed down to cabin 8230 which was an inside cabin on deck 8 located midship under the lido pool deck area. Our luggage had already arrived, so we took everything inside and unpacked immediately. We headed back topside to find a shady spot to sit and watch the sail away which was scheduled for 4:00 pm. We ended on deck 10 overlooking the pool area below. At 4:00 pm, the ship let out a load blast of its horn and everyone clapped and yelled in celebration. They had a DJ playing a fun party tunes which had a lot of folks dancing in unison by the pool. We sailed out past Fort Sumter as we headed out to sea. For dinner, we just went to the Lido Marketplace buffet which is fine with me. They had two comedians performing on the ship, Steve Wilson and Spike Davis. We went to both of their shows in the Limelight Lounge. We lucked out in that when we left the first show, the line for the second show was very short. After the comedians, we went to the Liquid Lounge Theater to see the Welcome Aboard show hosted by the cruise director, James Love who mentioned that we had 3,400 passengers on the ship. We thought the comedians were funny and the show which included a performance by the Playlist Productions cast was entertaining. Day Two This was a scheduled sea day. After sleeping in, we went to the Ocean Plaza to attend a trivia game before going up to the buffet for a late breakfast. We attended a few more trivia games in the afternoon and then went back up to the pool area to sit in the shade and listen to the DJ playing music. We had signed up for “Your Time Dining” which started at 5:30 pm in the Sunset Dining Room. This required us using the Carnival Hub app on our phone to check in when we were ready to be seated. The app would confirm a table number and you would walk up to the counter before they took you to the assigned table. My wife ordered a steak while I ordered a fish dish. My meal was okay, but the steak was under cooked and tough. For the evening entertainment, they had the same two comedians with three shows between them along with a Playlist Production Show called “Soul Train”. We had seen all of the Playlist Production on other Carnival cruises, so we decided to see the first two comedian shows. This time, the line for the second show was a bit longer than the first night. But we were able to get into both shows which were funny. Day Three This day had a port visit this day to Nassau, Bahamas. Our ship was the only one in port this day. It was our 7th visit to Nassau, so we decided to stay on board the ship and enjoy it while being less crowded. We started the day with a trivia game before heading up for breakfast. We did a few more trivia games and then headed back to the lido deck for a quick lunch and hanging out by the pool area. After the sail away from Nassau, we went back to the Sunset Restaurant for another sit down dinner. We ordered the same steak and fish dishes. This time, the steak was overcooked and tough. My meal was okay. We listened to some music that evening before heading to the theater to watch the “Love and Marriage Show” which was funny and entertaining. James Love did a great job. Day Four This day had a visit to the private island called Half Moon Cay which required tender service to go ashore. We had booked a tram tour on the island in the early afternoon, so we went to breakfast and then attended a few trivia games. By the late morning, there were no lines to take a tender to the island. We arrived more than an hour prior to our scheduled tour. We were able to take an earlier tour which brought us past all the beach locations by the harbor before heading off to the horse stables and then a Manta Ray farm located further away. We thought the tour was interesting and it was a great way to see a lot of the island during the 45-minute ride with 2 quick stops. We grabbed the first tender that was available to head back to the ship before the rush. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by the pool area listening to music. After two bad experiences in the main dining room, we just went to the buffet for dinner. For the evening, they had 2 comedian shows and a Playlist Production called “Latin Nights”. We skipped the show in the theater and went to see the 2 comedians that evening. Again, they were both funny. Day Five The final day on board was a sea day as we headed back to Charleston. We did our usual routine with breakfast and then trivia games in the morning and early afternoon. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool listening to music before heading back to our cabin to pack our luggage to be put outside our cabins. We went to the buffet once again for dinner. They had another Playlist Production show called “Epic Rock”, and 3 comedy shows. We went to the first comedy show and then went to the Ocean Plaza to listen to a band. We had planned to go to the late comedy show and I went to get into line early so that we could be sure to get into see the show. While the first show was entertaining, the final one we attended was disappointing as the comedian repeated several jokes from his previous shows. Disembarkation Day As Platinum members, we had the option for priority disembarkation which required us to be at the Sunrise restaurant on deck 3 forward before 7:15 am. We got up early and went up to the buffet for one last breakfast by 6:00 am. They were making announcements shortly after that. We were at the restaurant by 7:00 am only to find out that they had already cleared the room. One of the security officers let us get into the line to get off the ship right away and we were in the terminal to gather our luggage by 7:15 am. We had a short walk to Concord Street across from the Customs House where they had a taxi stand. Only flight home was the next day, so we took a cab back to the airport where I had a car reserved with Hertz. We spent the morning and early afternoon visiting the Magnolia Plantation located north of the city. The plantation is full of gardens and pathways by the Ashley River and throughout their 500 acres of land. The flowers were all in bloom. We took a 45 minute tram tour that told us about the history of the plantation and pointed the various wildlife found there including many different birds along with alligators and turtles. After the tram tour, we had a short walk to go to the "from slavery to freedom" tour. We thought it was an interesting tour with a guide telling us about the history of the plantation and how integral the use of slaves was needed to clear the land and farm the dangerous rice fields (alligators, snakes, leeches, and mosquitoes). Once the slaves were emancipated, the plantation had to cease rice production as no one wanted to work the fields anymore, regardless of how much was offered in pay. There are 4 slave houses that we toured. We enjoyed our visit to the plantation. Observations Platinum level – We feel that Carnival does a great job recognizing repeat customers and making us feel special (especially compared to recent NCL experiences where you are taken for granted). For platinum members, they welcome you at the terminal and give you priority boarding and disembarkation. We received a ship pin with the year on it. They had a terrific party for platinum and diamond members with what seemed like unlimited drinks. They also offered a free drink on the last sea day. You have priority service with tender service if wanted. Food – We did not go to any specialty restaurants that required a fee, so cannot comment on those. Overall, we felt the food and variety offered was very good in the buffet and the main dining room except for the steaks offered without a fee. We liked the Blue Iguana Mexican options as well Guy Fieri’s Burgers and fries. For breakfast, they offered made-to-order egg dishes, but you had to go to the Havana Bar area kitchens to get them. The lines for those were always short as we felt that most folks were not aware of them. Bar Service – We are beer drinkers and took advantage of their buckets of beer specials throughout the cruise. Their beer offerings were varied, and we found ones we liked. We do not drink enough to warrant buying their drink packages which would have cost double what we spent for our bar tab. Staff – A special shout out to two employees. First, our room steward Tamba, who had 34 cabins to service on our cruise. Our room was always clean and serviced more than adequately. He also left a towel animal surprise each day. Secondly, our bar waiter I Made, who always was johnny-on-the-spot with filling our beer buckets on the pool deck as well as the comedy shows. The cruise director, James Love (bye y’all) was excellent, and his staff did a great job with the various events on board the ship. Entertainment- The many musical acts, comedians, and shows in the theater offered plenty of variety for us. Trivia – We enjoy trivia games. We came in 2nd or 3rd several times. We finally did win one trivia on the last day and earned a coveted 24 carat plastic ship on a stick. So, we are 10 for 10 with having a ship trophy from each of the 10 Carnival ships we have sailed on (whew, no pressure there). Weather – The weather in Charleston was cool and windy, but other days were much warmer. The only rain we encountered was a few hours on the afternoon of our day in Nassau. Overall – We really enjoyed our trip to Charleston and the cruise to the Bahamas. We had a great time and feel that Carnival cruises do a wonderful job for us to have fun. We are looking forward to our next adventure with Carnival.

Just returned from a Pearl cruise from Boston with stops in Canada and 2 ports in Maine. The only port where were hit with sales tax was Boston, noting for Portland or Bar Harbor.

We were on the Pearl last week and there was no MLB playoff games available to watch on board the ship. There only were English and American Football games being shown along with some Rugby matches.

We asked about how many passengers were on board and were told 2,000 out of a possible 2,500. We always book inside cabins as we prefer darkness while sleeping and we are never in the room other than to sleep or change clothes. It is a comfortable size at 141 sq ft. They added lighting for inside the closets and the safe. The vanity mirror lights up as well. I only used O'Sheehans for a beer stop and to watch English Football matches on their TV's. The place seemed busy everyday with diners.

Norwegian Pearl Canada cruise from Boston 10/14/22-10/21/22 This cruise sailed from Boston with port stops in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island and to Sydney and Halifax in Nova Scotia before returning to the U.S. with stops in Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine. This was out 30th cruise overall and the 19th with NCL with whom we were platinum latitudes members before this cruise. We reached the Sapphire status with this cruise. We have sailed on Carnival 10 times (platinum as well) and Royal Caribbean once. We had booked this cruise several years ago and it was rescheduled twice due to the pandemic. This was our first vacation since the start of the pandemic. We had chosen this cruise as an opportunity to sail on the Norwegian Pearl. We really enjoy the size and layout of the Jewel class ships and while we have sailed on the Jewel, Jade, and Gem several times, this was to be our first cruise on the Pearl. We had been to all of the ports of call on this cruise several times, so we had not planned on taking any excursions this time. Our package when we booked this cruise included 2 free dinners in a specialty restaurant, the Adult Beverage Package, and prepaid service charges. As Platinum members, we also had 2 addition free dinners at a specialty restaurant and 30 minutes of free internet usage. DAY 1 – Friday 10/14/22 - Boston The cruise had a Friday departure from Boston at 4:00 pm. We live in Connecticut and decided to drive up the night before and stay at a hotel near Boston. On Friday morning, we had a short 30 minute drive into Boston and the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. Normally, we have used the Marine Park covered garage when we park by the Boston cruise terminal. It is only 2 blocks away from the terminal. But when we pulled into the garage, we were asked if we were cruisers and they said that we had to use a cruise parking lot and not their garage. They pointed us towards a parking lot on Terminal Avenue which was confusing as there was no signage that the lot was for cruise parking. After circling the block I stopped and asked an attendant at an entrance to the lot if it was in fact for cruise parking. She said yes and asked for a credit card for the $175 charge for a 7 day stay. We had used the e-check in prior to coming to Boston. We had a slot for going into the terminal between 11:00 am and 11:30 am. We walked into the terminal shortly after 11:00 am to find it full of passengers waiting to be processed. After going through security, we went to the short line for Platinum, Sapphire, and Diamond Latitudes members. There a line for Haven and Suites passengers and one for people needed assistance to get on board. It took about 15 minutes before we were called up to get our key cards. After we received our cards, they announced that passengers could start to board the ship. We were in line to board for about 20 minutes. We noticed several Haven passengers being ushered past our lines. Initially, we were told that cabins were not available and that we could go to public areas as well as some dining areas. We headed up to the Garden Café buffet area after which we heard that all cabins were ready just around noon. We had a quick drink before heading down to our cabin to drop off our carry-on bag. Our cabin was number 10067. This was an inside cabin halfway between midship and forward. After dropping off the bag, we went to explore the ship and take photos of the various areas on board the Pearl. The Pearl was launched in 2006, but was refurbished in 2017. Everything still looked new and fresh compared to other Jewel class ships we had sailed on. This was the first time we had sailed having a Beverage package. We are beer drinkers and prefer cold beers and in previous cruises in the past we would buy buckets of beer to make sure we have cold brews. We were pleasantly surprised that when we ordered beers they were cold. They would let us order 2 beers at a time on my one card and never asked for a second card. There didn’t seem to be a limit as to how many drinks you could order on the cruise. By mid-afternoon the Captain made an announcement that due to local sea traffic, we would not sail away from Boston until 7:00 pm. We ended up at the Sky High Bar & Grill which overlooked the Tahitian Pool area below which is one of favorite spots on the Jewel class ships. Luckily, most people honored the non-smoking section of the area and stayed on the starboard side of the bar area which allowed smoking. At 4:00 pm, they had a band called the Funky Roots playing by the pool for the “sail-away party” even though the sail-away was delayed. They had a fair amount of passengers joining in on the dancing along with cruise director staff. We went back to our cabin to find that both of our checked-in pieces of luggage were by our cabin. So we quickly unpacked before heading up to the Garden Café buffet for dinner. The evening’s one show in the Stardust Theater was the “Welcome Aboard” show which had Ralph, the cruise director welcoming us and introducing a few acts that we would see in future shows on our cruise. This included a comedian, a magician, and an aerialist duo. We ended the evening up in the Spinnaker lounge listening to a solo guitarist named Cameron and then a quartet called the Funky Roots. It was good first day on the ship, but later on in the evening the seas were fairly rough as we headed into the open ocean and we had a rocky night. DAY 2 – Saturday 10/15/22 – Day at Sea The ocean was still a bit rough for the day. We slept in before heading up to the Garden Café for breakfast after which we went to the Spinnaker for General Knowledge Trivia. We spent the rest of the morning exploring the ship and attended the Latitudes Exclusive Party which was only open to Latitudes member that were Platinum or higher (but no one was checking). They had the show band playing jazz hits while offering complimentary drinks and introducing staff members of the hotel part of the ship. There was no sign of the captain or his staff. The lounge was totally filled with passengers. I will comment on the party at the end of my review regarding Latitudes. After the party, we decided to take advantage of the indoor pool in the spa area as we had always enjoyed on previous cruises years ago on Jewel class ships. But when we arrived, we were told that the pool is only available to VIP passengers?! Disappointed and confused, we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon attending other trivia-like games down in the Maltings bar area. It was time to relax. For dinner, we went back to the Garden Café. The main entertainment in the Stardust Theater this evening was a magician named Titou. We are not fans of magic acts, so we went to the Crystal Atrium to listen to the Seaside Duo before going up to the Spinnaker lounge to watch the “Not So Newlywed game” which was very entertaining. We listened to the Funky Roots for the rest of the evening while staying at the Spinnaker. DAY 3 – Sunday 10/16/22 – Charlottetown, PEI We were not scheduled to arrive in Charlottetown until noon, so we had relaxing morning attending trivia in the Spinnaker before going up for breakfast. It was slightly overcast with temps in the low 60’s F. After the ship arrived, we waited a short time before walking off the ship and going a few blocks to visit St. Dunstan’s Cathedral Basilica which is an impressive building with its English Gothic architecture. We then walked back to the ship passing through a local mall/market. We relaxed in the Magnum’s bar area playing trivia games for the rest of the afternoon. Sail away was 7:00 pm. The main entertainment in the Stardust Theater was a production show called “Pure Variety”. We had dinner in the French specialty restaurant called “Le Bistro”. We have always enjoyed meals at this restaurant on other NCL ships. This meal was disappointing with the service provided and the meals themselves that didn’t seem up to par with what we had before. We had planned to go to this same restaurant with a reservation for Wednesday evening, but I changed it to a reservation at Cagney’s Steakhouse instead. After dinner, we went to the Spinnaker to watch and participate in the “Wheel of Ill Will” gameshow. It was a fun game where they had 4 colored buzzers on poles about six feet apart. This first part of the game had general trivia questions with 4 possible answers and you had to choose the color of the answer you thought was correct. It was timed and I was able to answer every question up until the time ran out. The next round was based on totally random actions where I just bombed out hitting my own color each time. It was fun to play the game though. We headed up the Stardust to watch the “Pure Variety” production show which had four lead singers along with about a dozen dancers. They performed several songs with multiple costume changes. There was no real scenery, just a black background. Overall, it was a good show. We headed our evening in the Spinnaker attending the “Awesome 80’s” party led by a DJ. It was fun time with the cruise director staff joining us on dance floor. Day 4 – Monday 10/17/22 – Sydney, NS We arrived in Sydney by 9:00 am with a planned departure time of 5:00 pm. It was overcast with temps in the low 60’s F. In the morning, we went to the general knowledge trivia in Magnums before heading up to the Garden Café for breakfast. Once the rush of passengers was over, we went ashore to walk through the shops on the pier and to check out the world’s largest fiddle which is right next to the cruise terminal building. The fiddle is over 55 feet tall and is impressive. They also had a piper playing a few tunes while we were there. We went back on board for lunch in the buffet and then to trivia games at the Magnums bar area for the afternoon. The main entertainment in the Stardust Theater for this evening was a comedian named Kelly Terranova. We started our evening with dinner at the Italian specialty restaurant called La Cucina. The meal started off great with our appetizer courses coming quickly that were very good. Then, we were waiting for over 30 minutes for our main courses. During that time we observed other tables complaining the length of time waiting for their meals. When our plates finally arrived, my fish dish looked like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for over an hour as everything was dried out and stuck to each other. The fish was super dry and did not taste very good. My wife’s veal was very tough and difficult to cut. We called a waiter for our check as we did not want to eat either of our meals and wanted to leave. The manager came over to see what was wrong and we showed him what we were presented and he agreed that they were not up to par. He offered to replace them, but we did not want to wait another hour for a dinner, so we left. We went up to the Stardust to watch the comedy show and Kelly was terrific. He was very funny and clever without having to resort to profanities to get a laugh. We ended the evening watching the “Speed Trivia” game and then listen to the Funky Roots play One-Hit wonders. DAY 5 – Tuesday 10/18/22 – Halifax, NS Arrival was at 8:30 AM with a planned departure of 5:00 pm. It was a sunny day with temps in the mid 60’s F. We had been to Halifax many times and had done all of the sights over the various times we were in port including renting a car to visit Peggy’s cove, visiting the Citadel, going to the Alexander Keith’s Brewery tour, and taking a city and harbor tour on a duck boat. We went to general trivia in Magnums before heading up for breakfast this morning. We decided to walk off the ship and walk the half mile or so to St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica for their 12:15 pm daily mass. This cathedral has a more plain looking appearance than others. After the service, we walked backed to the ship stopping at a few shops and at the nearby Garrison Brewery for a local beer. We spent the afternoon relaxing with games at Magnums and then chilling out up in the Spinnaker watching the sail-away. While there, we watched the 4 production show singers rehearse for their evening show scheduled in the Spinnaker. The main entertainment in the Stardust Theater was a 7:00 pm show with the magician Titou and a 9:00 pm show with the comedian Kelly Terranova. We had an early dinner at the Steakhouse specialty restaurant called Cagney’s. My wife enjoys steaks while I usually have seafood. She ordered a porterhouse steak with appetizers while I ordered a seafood medley dish with my appetizers. The service was impeccable and timely. My wife’s steak was perfectly cooked and looked delicious. My seafood was great as well. We passed on dessert as we were full. It was a terrific experience and we complimented the manager as we left, especially after our meals at Le Bistro and La Cucina. We went up to the Spinnaker Lounge to watch the “Broadway Cabaret” show which had the 4 singers from the production show performing tunes from Broadway and West End show. They were very entertaining. We rushed down to the Stardust Theater to watch Kelly Terranova perform a different comedy show than from the previous evening’s performances. Again, he was very good. We ended up the evening back up at the Spinnaker Lounge for the “50’s & 60’s Sock Hop” with the Funky Roots and the Cruise Director team. DAY 6 – Wednesday 10/19/22 – Portland, ME Scheduled arrival was 11:00 am and sail away was 8:00 pm. It was a cold and windy day in Portland with temps in the mid 50’s but it felt colder. Since this was our first port stop after leaving Canada, they required that all passengers go through immigration control by presenting yourself with your documents. This happened shortly after arriving in Portland. Before this we did go to the general trivia in Spinnakers and then had breakfast. We have been to Portland several times, so we just stayed on board. We went down to Magnums for trivia games and to watch an English Premier Football game with my favorite team Liverpool winning their match over West Ham. The main entertainment in the Stardust Theater was the aerialist duo with a show called “Duo Quintessance”. We had dinner at Cagney’s and again it was a terrific meal. I even order my first steak in over 20 years. It was a ribeye and it was delicious. We wife had a filet mignon that was perfect for her as well. The service was terrific. We did order desserts that we brought back to our cabin for a late night snack. The manager stopped by our table several times to see if everything was okay. The wine steward called us by our names when he saw us for the second evening. (He also works in the garden café during the day time and called out to us when he saw us there a few days later) We then went up to Spinnakers to watch “The Perfect Couples” gameshow which was funny. After that, we went to the Stardust Theater to watch the aerialist show which was better than we expected. We were glad we went to it. We ended our evening at the Bliss lounge listening to the show band playing jazz tunes. DAY 7 – Thursday, 10/20/22 – Bar Harbor We were scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am and leave at 4:30 pm. It was another windy day with temps in the mid 50’s. Bar Harbor does not have piers to accommodate large cruise ships, so tender service was needed to go ashore. You had to go to the Bliss Lounge to get tender tickets if you wanted to go ashore initially. We had been to Bar Harbor before so we were in no rush to take a tender. We did the same routine of trivia and then breakfast in the morning. We relaxed in the Spinnaker where we heard the announcements that tender tickets would not be needed as the rush was over. We went down to get on a tender for the short 15 minute ride to shore. We visited a few shops in the few blocks around the docks. We then returned to the ship for lunch and then attend a few trivia games in the Spinnaker lounge as we watched the sail away. Since it was our last night on the ship, we returned to our cabin to pack our luggage before heading out for dinner. The main entertainment in the Stardust Theater was a production show called “Legends in Concert”. They had the production show singers, dancers, and band back up impersonators of Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Elvis. For dinner, we went to the Indigo Main Dining Room where we were immediately seated and had a meal that only took only an hour for all of the courses. My wife had a steak and I had a salmon dish. We thought our meals were very good and the service was terrific. We then went up to the Spinnaker lounge for the “Battle of the Sexes” game which was very funny and entertaining. Next, we went down to the Stardust to watch the impersonators show. Of the three performers, the one playing Elvis was clearly the best singer and performer. The Madonna and Michael Jackson were not strong singers and seemed only focused on looking the part. But, overall it was an entertaining show. We ended up the evening in the Spinnaker for the Farewell Dance Party with the DJ and the Cruise Director Team. We made sure to put out our luggage before 11:00 pm for the stewards to pick up and bring down to the holding area. We kept a carry-on for items needed in the morning. DAY 8 – Friday, 10/21/22 – Boston. I had set my alarm for 6:00 am and when I went up to the Garden Café to get mugs of tea, I saw that we were already docked at the Boston cruise terminal. As Latitudes members, we had requested Yellow luggage tags which was to be the first color called to disembark after the self-assist passengers were called. We went up for breakfast at 7:00am. Shortly after that, they announced that passengers that wanted to use the self-assist option could start to head down to deck 7 aft to disembark. We then returned to our cabin to prepare to disembark. They called out that the passengers with yellow tags could disembark around 7:30 am. We picked up our luggage and walked to our car, driving away at 8:10 am. The whole process was very smooth. We had a 2 hour drive back home to Connecticut. Overview: Latitudes Membership – It was obvious with the huge turnout at the Latitudes Exclusive party that many passengers on board were frequent cruisers and boy have the times changed. While years ago, latitudes parties included all levels of membership. Then, they would have a separate party for those that were Platinum or higher. In the past, the parties would include meeting the Captain of the ship and his staff along with prizes being handed out with one prize being a free 7 day cruise. Now, it has been watered down to just a welcome back message from the cruise next team and an introduction of hotel management team with no prizes offered. It is obvious that any special treatment of passengers is geared towards Haven and Suites passengers only. I felt that they just take Latitudes members for granted. Dining – Other than our negative experiences at Le Bistro and La Cucina mentioned, we thought that the dining offerings were very good to excellent. This included the Garden Café buffet and Main dining Room along with Cagney’s. Staff – It appeared that all members of the ship’s crew were going out of their way to be pleasant and welcoming while on board. Everyone was very friendly. Cruise director staff – While Ralph, the cruise director and his assistant were only seen at a few events, the rest of their team were very active on board. They were friendly and made the various games and events on board fun and entertaining. A shout out to Jo Jo and Patricia who were terrific. Serdar and Alvaro did a good job as well. Entertainment – The Pearl is the NCL ship that is “rented out” for private cruises sponsored by music acts such as Kiss, Mötley Crüe, and some country artists. Because of this, they do not have a full production shows like other cruise ships. The Stardust Theater shows and acts were entertaining though with the comedian, Kelly Terranova as the standout. For music, the Pearl offered a variety of solo performers and groups. We enjoyed the Funky Roots who played as a trio and sometimes as a quartet when they had a singer. They were terrific musicians. The show band was a septet of very talented musicians playing trumpet, saxophone, trombone, keys, drums, guitar, and bass. The Seaside Duo was a husband and wife team that played along with pre-recorded music. The singer had a strong powerful voice. They were very entertaining. Cameron was a solo act on guitar. He was very clever in recording layers of sounds before every song with percussive beats, tambourine, guitar chords, etc. to give his sound a fuller tone. He did this before most tunes that he played which got old real quick. I think he should just pre-record these layers instead of re-doing them before every tune to let us hear more music. There was another solo act with Valentyna which we did not see on the cruise. Beverage package - Even though it was obvious that a lot of passengers had the beverage package, we did not notice anyone overindulging. Overall, we enjoyed our cruise. The weather was terrific compared to the forecasts I had read just prior to our sailing. We were at first apprehensive since it was our first one since the start of the pandemic. It turned out to be a pleasant experience returning to the sea which we plan to do again and again.

If it is a nice day, I would just walk down along the waterfront and take a lighthouse boat tour.

Thanks!

Thanks

We are sailing on the Pearl out of Boston on 10/14/22. We were curious if anyone has copies of the freestyle dailies from a recent Canada cruise out of Boston on the Pearl? We trying to plan out our dinner reservations.

Do you have copies of the Freestyle Dailies for the Pearl?

Thanks for the info. We really prefer the Jewel class of ships. We have sailed on all of them except for the Pearl. We enjoy their layouts.

Thanks!! We were curious if the buffet was open like before the pandemic. We sail on the Pearl in mid-October

We sail on the Norwegian Pearl in a few weeks. We were curious about the buffets aboard the ship? Are they open like before the pandemic or are they modified/closed?

Thanks for the updates. Sorry to hear about the missed ports due to the storm. We have been on a few cruises that changed their itinerary due to the weather. You can't fool around with mother nature. We sail on the Pearl on 10/14. she is the the only Jewel-class ship we have not sailed on. We are looking forward to the cruise as they are our favorite class of ships. Hopefully, Charlottetown and Sydney will have recovered from the storm damage by the time we get there.