Pearl : bad reviews

[divergirl63]

I am sailing on the Pearl, first cruise with NCL out of 7. I have read some bad reviews of the ship and the staff.

Someone please give me some good feedback.

I heard the staff is rude and not very friendly to the Garden Cafe way too crowded.

We leave Oct. 17th.

Thanks

[salty dingo]

Read enough reviews and you will find negative ones on all ships.

 

We sailed pearl two years ago and had a great cruise. Staff was super.

 

Now, the buffets are a crazy madhouse nowadays on EVERY mass-market ship like NCL and Carnival. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's pigs at the trough. Food is good but you usually play bumper cars with people every time you go in there.

[jollycruise]

When we sailed on the Pearl we had a wonderful time and everyone on board was AMAZING! I honestly think no other cruise will ever match our Pearl cruise experience. The employees and service were top notch!

[Penny S.]

The Pearl is a beautiful ship. We found the staff delightful. It is hard to find seats in the Garden Cafe, but you can go outside to eat or in to the Italian restaurant for breakfast and lunch. We were on the Pearl for an Alaska cruise, so sometimes eating outside was a bit problematic. But when the weather was nice we loved eating outside at the back of the ship.

 

People always find it easy to complain, harder to praise.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Penny

[jimswims]

We were on the Pearl on 8-8 to Alaska. My review is on these boards and a shorter version is in the member review section of CC. I thought the ship and the staff were excellent.

[Ms belp]

We had a great time on the Pearl to Alaska in 2008. We made friends we still keep in contact with, the staff/service & food was great. And bowling at sea was a hoot!:D

[Crusin'Cousins]

We too can say nothing but positive about the Pearl. The buffet can be a problem, but if you know that going in to your cruise, you can just make adjustments.

 

Great ship and great staff... We have a second cruise booked on the Pearl which we certainly wouldn't be doing if there were concerns that you had mentioned.

 

Go and enjoy!

[DebbieCruises]

We are about to take our 3rd cruise on the Pearl... all of them during the last year! This will be our 15th cruise with NCL and the Pearl has become our favorite ship. It used to be the Norway, but that was long ago before she was retired. The staff is great and the ship is beautiful! I wish you a very wonderful cruise. Remember, if you go in looking for negatives, you will surely find them. The good ALWAYS wins out on a cruise! Have a great time! Debbie

[newmexicoNita]

I am sailing on the Pearl, first cruise with NCL out of 7. I have read some bad reviews of the ship and the staff.

Someone please give me some good feedback.

I heard the staff is rude and not very friendly to the Garden Cafe way too crowded.

We leave Oct. 17th.

Thanks

 

Oh God, if you check any board, any cruise line and any ship you will see some bad reviews. Have you actually read the review section here on CC? Probably the Pearl is the most popular NCL ship there is and one of the favorites of everyone regardless of whether we are talking NCL or some other line. Is the Garden cafe crowded? You darn well better believe it, from 8:30am to 9:30 am like any other ship sailing and from 11:30 am to 1pm. I have cruised over 25 times, many cruises on NCL and only once or twice have we had better service or friendlier crew members than on the Pearl last April/May. Where did you see all these negative reviews? If you are looiking for negatives you will always find them. I just read the last 15 Pearl reviews, all but 2 gave the ship 4 t0 .5.5 stars and of the 2 that did not, one did remark how pleasant the crew was. Only one, and she admitted being a total loyalist on anyother line complained about the service. It just happened her line of choice is one that we did not receive great service on.

 

Nita

[orangegrove]

We've taken the Pearl 2x and just came off the Epic. We still love the Pearl! :) I would take her again!

[garycarla]

Yes, the Pearl and every other stinkin ship with NCL is terrible. For some reason, people keep booking them, over and over.

 

Just downright terrible. They make you pay for drinks, and bingo, and speciality restaurants, and pictures.

 

Terrible, just terrible.

 

Gotta go now and book another cruise.

[DAGVBSB]

I had a statistics professor in college who put it like this: People who have a problem or complaint are 3 times more likely to write a letter or negative review than those who had a good time with no complaints.

 

People who have no problems usually see no reason to comment or write a review.

 

So... take the number of negative reviews and divide by 3 or 4 to find the real negative to positive ratio on the cruise reviews.

[DAGVBSB]

Yes, the Pearl and every other stinkin ship with NCL is terrible. For some reason, people keep booking them, over and over.

 

Just downright terrible. They make you pay for drinks, and bingo, and speciality restaurants, and pictures.

 

Terrible, just terrible.

 

Gotta go now and book another cruise.

 

Gary.... you have been on a roll with these great comments lately!!:D

[Hunwolf]

Yes, the Pearl and every other stinkin ship with NCL is terrible. For some reason, people keep booking them, over and over.

 

Just downright terrible. They make you pay for drinks, and bingo, and speciality restaurants, and pictures.

 

Terrible, just terrible.

 

Gotta go now and book another cruise.

 

Sarcasm is better if its subtle. ;)

[divergirl63]

Thank you very much, I always tell myself do not read the reviews, but I do. Usually everything turns out just fine. :)

[love2vacation]

Just sticking my nose in here........... I appreciate the positive reviews. This will be our first time on NCL so these reviews are encouraging.:D

[Azure Moon]

I loved the Pearl.

 

The whole ship is beautiful inside and out, the buffet is the best we've encountered on all of our cruises (NCL and Carnival). The Great Outdoors at the back of the ship is a great spot to eat from the buffet, get a drink from the bar, and watch the sun set as you pull out of port at the end of the day. Spinnaker Lounge was a favorite spot of our evenings. Bliss Ultra Lounge was interesting and we visited it many times during our cruise. The crew, staff, and officers were friendly and helpful. A couple of the ladies working in the buffet asked me if hubby and I had ever been to the port we were in that day, then told me about getting from the ship into town and places they liked to shop while in that port. An officer stopped by our dinner table to recommend a menu item that was delicious that day...and he was right on - the ribs were fabulous!

 

Hubby and I would love to sail on the Pearl again one day. :)

 

 

 

[GigCrusier]

Awwww...... Sing a song of Praise.

[beetle9]

we sailed on the ship last yr and are going again same trip this yr we have sailed 15 on ccl and 1 on rccl and still going on same trip should say something. have a great trip.:)

[cliffd64]

Something to keep in about about "reviews" online ....

 

A typical Pearl cruise has 2200 passengers..

 

At most ... there might be 1% to 4% that are actually cruise critic members.

 

Of those, maybe a few will actually take the time to post a review.

 

People who feel they have experienced a bad time are many more times likely to post a review informing the world of how bad their cruise was than the people who had a great time, just as they expected. Most of the thousands of people on any given cruise who enjoy themselves usually don't feel obligated to come and post reviews about how much they enjoyed it.

 

Keep in mind that the disgruntled cruiser does not necessarily reflect the opinion of EVERYONE on a given cruise, and they usually have an axe to grind (which is usually the reason they are posting in the first place).

 

Now, thinking logically, if 2000 people all had the same "bad' experience aboard the Pearl or any other ship, no cruise line could continue to operate in that manner. There are sometimes bad events that happen to affect ALL passengers (like the Dawn having to divert to San Juan because of engine problems etc) but these are quite rare in the grand scheme of things.

 

So, bottom line... take all reviews with a grain of salt and go on your cruise with the expectation that you will have a great time, and you probably will!

[GORDONCHICK]

I had a statistics professor in college who put it like this: People who have a problem or complaint are 3 times more likely to write a letter or negative review than those who had a good time with no complaints.

 

Actually, they are 10 times more likely to complaiin, so I always keep that in mind. Multiply the good reviews by 10 to get a better comparison. (Spent too many years in stats & marketing research....)

 

I've been on 6 cruises (1 before I'd heard of CC) and have never written an actual review. But I do come back on the boards and sing the praises of the things I've loved (Pearl buffet being one of them, and I'm not a buffet person and won't go to places like Golden Corral, etc) and also mentioned things I didn't like (I thought the photography staff on the Spirit was rude, and even told the HD about it since we ran across him shortly after our "incident"). Why don't I write a review????? I'm too busy going through photos, and trying to get my family back into the grind of not being on vacation. I supposed I could do a photo review......

[trintrav]

The Pearl was also our favorite of all NCL cruises, and we have been on several. In fact, we are booked on her again in the Spring, only this time in a Suite. By far the best buffet of any cruise we have been on.

 

Enjoy and sail the Pearl with confidence.

[newmexicoNita]

The Pearl was also our favorite of all NCL cruises, and we have been on several. In fact, we are booked on her again in the Spring, only this time in a Suite. By far the best buffet of any cruise we have been on.

 

Enjoy and sail the Pearl with confidence.

 

Not only is it a great buffet but the set up is better than any I have seen.

 

Nita

[Giantfan13]

We sailed the Pearl last week and found the ship great. As I have posted in a couple of other threads, was, we did not like the 'new menu' on the ship.

 

We did not find the staff rude or unfriendly. there are always the isolated cases, but for the most part they were there and always trying to help.

And YES, the buffet was a madhouse. We tried to eat there once, and never again. We do go up to see what's there, but it is always wall to wall people acting like they haven't eaten in 3 days. We were on an Alaskan cruise, and there were no tables anywhere except outside. Eating outside on an Alaskan crusie is not a favorable thing especially when the ship is sailing. by the time we got the food to our table, sat down to eat it, it was cold. It's a pretty good hike from the food to the outdoors area. You can only carry so much. It was our one and only time up there to eat a meal.

 

The staff were friendly and cheerful, no matter where we went.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[toothy26]

We just returned from the Pearl and it exceeded all of our expectations. The ship is beautiful, staff was excellent and friendly, food was good, entertainment was terrific. We never had a problem finding a table in the Garden.

Now looking into the Gem or Jewel.