Pearl Cruise March 10

[roger001]

Just got home from our fifth Pearl cruise, two of them PC cruises. Just a few miscellaneous thoughts.

 

Port of Miami...wow...did we get lucky or what. I have never, never gotten off a ship and onto the street as fast as we did Sunday morning. We were the yellow bags tag which was the first call after the "walk offs" folks. We were called by 8:45 to proceed. We exited onto deck 7 and never stopped moving but long enough to scan our card, continued walking down into the luggage area, grabbed our luggage, straight into the immigrations area, direct to a waiting immigrations officer. He glanced at our passports, grabbed our customs declaration, and we were out the door. I'm talking less than 10 minutes for the whole thing. Way to go Miami!!!

 

Italian Restaurant. We decided to use one of our free (Platinum) specialty restaurant coupons at the Italian restaurant. Wow. Great. Service was by super nice folks (they were NCL, right), refined, and excellent. The food...presentation great, taste great, plenty of it. I was so full (ate too much of the delicious bread and olive oil dipping selections) that I had to pass on desert. I hated that. But the pressed coffee was a good finish though. Had we been paying the $15 pp cover, I think it would be well worth it.

 

Buffet. I think it gets better and better. I had a glazed piece of chicken one night and a pan seared pork chop covered with good things, both of which were just wonderful. And that doesn't scratch the surface of all and the variety that's available (or I ate). I just don't see why buffets get such a bad rap frequently. Did I like everything...well no. But did I find more good stuff that I loved, more than I could ever possibly eat...well yea.

 

This is the first time the flavored water has been available on our cruise. What a great idea. I think there were four flavors. One was a little too weak I thought. But the others, especially the lemonade, made for a great warm afternoon refreshing cool drink while snacking out in the Great Outdoors. Flavored water, simple, inexpensive, low calorie, great idea NCL.

 

The crew. Oh wow. Do I love them...well yes. After five cruises on the Pearl, we've really become almost family with a few. I know many guests don't wish to develop a personal relationship with "them". You're really missing out on adding much joy to your life if you feel that way though. My opinion.

 

I'll probably think of other thoughts later...maybe.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Thanks for your comments. We are on the Pearl for the first time this December, and I have her booked again in 2015. Always great to know that we've made a good choice!

[Tricialy]

Love your comments - the Pearl is our favorite ship - we were totally jealous of the welcome back party the Pearl was rockin' on the pier in Cozumel last Friday (we were on the Star and were docked across from the Pearl)

 

We enjoyed our week on the Star - but there is something special about the Pearl! :D

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Nice to read your review and to know you had a pleasant cruise aboard the "beautiful Norwegian Pearl." I've sailed her twice, once on the Pacific Coast itinerary, which turned out to be a lot of fun, and then Alaska. I'll be back on the Pearl in December in the warm waters of the Western Caribbean and I cannot wait! :p

[Kruizin'Kath]

Thanks for posting! I haven't seen a lot of posts on the Pearl. Can't wait until 4/21:D

[jdvmd]

Just got home from our fifth Pearl cruise, two of them PC cruises. Just a few miscellaneous thoughts.

 

Port of Miami...wow...did we get lucky or what. I have never, never gotten off a ship and onto the street as fast as we did Sunday morning. We were the yellow bags tag which was the first call after the "walk offs" folks. We were called by 8:45 to proceed. We exited onto deck 7 and never stopped moving but long enough to scan our card, continued walking down into the luggage area, grabbed our luggage, straight into the immigrations area, direct to a waiting immigrations officer. He glanced at our passports, grabbed our customs declaration, and we were out the door. I'm talking less than 10 minutes for the whole thing. Way to go Miami!!!

 

Italian Restaurant. We decided to use one of our free (Platinum) specialty restaurant coupons at the Italian restaurant. Wow. Great. Service was by super nice folks (they were NCL, right), refined, and excellent. The food...presentation great, taste great, plenty of it. I was so full (ate too much of the delicious bread and olive oil dipping selections) that I had to pass on desert. I hated that. But the pressed coffee was a good finish though. Had we been paying the $15 pp cover, I think it would be well worth it.

 

Buffet. I think it gets better and better. I had a glazed piece of chicken one night and a pan seared pork chop covered with good things, both of which were just wonderful. And that doesn't scratch the surface of all and the variety that's available (or I ate). I just don't see why buffets get such a bad rap frequently. Did I like everything...well no. But did I find more good stuff that I loved, more than I could ever possibly eat...well yea.

 

This is the first time the flavored water has been available on our cruise. What a great idea. I think there were four flavors. One was a little too weak I thought. But the others, especially the lemonade, made for a great warm afternoon refreshing cool drink while snacking out in the Great Outdoors. Flavored water, simple, inexpensive, low calorie, great idea NCL.

 

The crew. Oh wow. Do I love them...well yes. After five cruises on the Pearl, we've really become almost family with a few. I know many guests don't wish to develop a personal relationship with "them". You're really missing out on adding much joy to your life if you feel that way though. My opinion.

 

I'll probably think of other thoughts later...maybe.

Thanks for your comments!