Next NCL adventure...on the Pearl!

[put me on a ship]

We just booked our December cruise on the Pearl...11 days! Great itinerary, St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Curacao, and Aruba...we've been to all these islands at least once, some a lot! So, the question is, or topic of discussion...to you Pearl lovers, what do you like about the ship? What are some of the must do's?

 

Thanks in advance!

Kat

[roger001]

Great Outdoors, Spinnaker Lounge, bridge viewing room all the way forward deck 11, the crew. And I'm looking at the Pearl 10 or 11 day cruises myself. Been on her 5 times with another already scheduled.

Edited January 13, 2014 by roger001

[put me on a ship]

Well, I think I just figured out where my husband will be most of the time.....he will be parked in the bridge viewing room!!

[3DBeach]

Definitely following this thread to get some pointers for our upcoming sailing. Thanks to all in advance :)

[roger001]

A couple of other thoughts. The Pearl has probably the best buffet of all the NCL ships, although I do like the Jewel's also. The Pearl has several bowling alleys in the Bliss Lounge. You can frequently get popcorn in the Bliss lounge. There are also some slot machines back by the bowling alleys. That is a smoke free area, unlike the casino. And, assuming it's still there, if you walk back through the Garden Cafe (buffet), as you approach the kid's area in the buffet before exiting into the Great Outdoors, there is a coffee machine that grinds the beans and dispenses espresso. Look carefully because it looks about like the other regular coffee dispensers. There is a soft serve ice cream machine out in the Great Outdoors. Although shut down some hours, it is serviced and working most of the day. The Pearl is just a super nice ship.

[put me on a ship]

A couple of other thoughts. The Pearl has probably the best buffet of all the NCL ships, although I do like the Jewel's also. The Pearl has several bowling alleys in the Bliss Lounge. You can frequently get popcorn in the Bliss lounge. There are also some slot machines back by the bowling alleys. That is a smoke free area, unlike the casino. And, assuming it's still there, if you walk back through the Garden Cafe (buffet), as you approach the kid's area in the buffet before exiting into the Great Outdoors, there is a coffee machine that grinds the beans and dispenses espresso. Look carefully because it looks about like the other regular coffee dispensers. There is a soft serve ice cream machine out in the Great Outdoors. Although shut down some hours, it is serviced and working most of the day. The Pearl is just a super nice ship.

 

Does it have the crepe station in the evenings? The crepes on the Sun were to die for!!

[Demonyte]

Does it have the crepe station in the evenings? The crepes on the Sun were to die for!!

 

Sure. I think all NCL buffets have crepe station somewhere - at least all ships I've been on so far IIRC.

[CP Tech]

Well, I think I just figured out where my husband will be most of the time.....he will be parked in the bridge viewing room!!

 

Having just got off the Pearl less than a month ago, I was surprised how often the viewing room was blacked out. It says they will do it during docking procedures, rough weather and "other times deemed necessary."

 

Don't forget to sign up for the roll-call for your cruise. You sailing on the 11th or 22nd?

[put me on a ship]

Sure. I think all NCL buffets have crepe station somewhere - at least all ships I've been on so far IIRC.

 

All the more reason to cruise with NCL more!!!! Sorry, Carnival, NCL blows you away....we LOVED all the little things NCL did, that Carnival doesn't!:)

[deschoolie]

We just booked our December cruise on the Pearl...11 days! Great itinerary, St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Curacao, and Aruba...we've been to all these islands at least once, some a lot! So, the question is, or topic of discussion...to you Pearl lovers, what do you like about the ship? What are some of the must do's?

 

Thanks in advance!

Kat

Hey put me on a ship, thanks for joining our roll call! DW and I absolutely love the size of the jewel class and all that they have to offer. DW's favorite aspect of the Pearl is the spa and thermal suites. I love the bliss lounge and spinnaker lounge. Star Bar used to have happy hour specials but those seem to be heading the way of the dinosaur now. With several diining venues, one of our favorites remains the Blue Lagoon, whether for a late night snack or just for a lighter dinner. I second what has been said about the Garden cafe; we usually have breakfast there and occasionally a lunch or a dinner. For breakfast, don't forget to use La Cucina for overflow sitting when the buffet is crowded i the morning. My favorite specialty restaurant remains Le Bistro.

[deschoolie]

All the more reason to cruise with NCL more!!!! Sorry, Carnival, NCL blows you away....we LOVED all the little things NCL did, that Carnival doesn't!:)

I love the omelete stations in the Garden Cafe.

[roger001]

I love the omelet stations in the Garden Cafe.

 

And in the Great Outdoors.

[put me on a ship]

Having just got off the Pearl less than a month ago, I was surprised how often the viewing room was blacked out. It says they will do it during docking procedures, rough weather and "other times deemed necessary."

 

Don't forget to sign up for the roll-call for your cruise. You sailing on the 11th or 22nd?

 

We sail on the 11th...and already signed up for our roll call!:) And as for the viewing room, well, hopefully, DH can view at least once! He is very excited about that!

[put me on a ship]

Hey put me on a ship, thanks for joining our roll call! DW and I absolutely love the size of the jewel class and all that they have to offer. DW's favorite aspect of the Pearl is the spa and thermal suites. I love the bliss lounge and spinnaker lounge. Star Bar used to have happy hour specials but those seem to be heading the way of the dinosaur now. With several diining venues, one of our favorites remains the Blue Lagoon, whether for a late night snack or just for a lighter dinner. I second what has been said about the Garden cafe; we usually have breakfast there and occasionally a lunch or a dinner. For breakfast, don't forget to use La Cucina for overflow sitting when the buffet is crowded i the morning. My favorite specialty restaurant remains Le Bistro.

 

Tell me more about spinnaker lounge...is it similar to the observation lounge on the Sun? We loved that area!

[deschoolie]

Tell me more about spinnaker lounge...is it similar to the observation lounge on the Sun? We loved that area!

Yes, same thing. A few NCL ships no longer have the observation lounge forward; those areas were converted to suites (NCL Star and Dawn) and the lounge moved towards the back of the ship on Deck 7. Bingo will be played here and the lattitudes member parties will be in the lounge as well.

[put me on a ship]

Hey put me on a ship, thanks for joining our roll call! DW and I absolutely love the size of the jewel class and all that they have to offer. DW's favorite aspect of the Pearl is the spa and thermal suites. I love the bliss lounge and spinnaker lounge. Star Bar used to have happy hour specials but those seem to be heading the way of the dinosaur now. With several diining venues, one of our favorites remains the Blue Lagoon, whether for a late night snack or just for a lighter dinner. I second what has been said about the Garden cafe; we usually have breakfast there and occasionally a lunch or a dinner. For breakfast, don't forget to use La Cucina for overflow sitting when the buffet is crowded i the morning. My favorite specialty restaurant remains Le Bistro.

 

We tried all the specialty restaurants on the Sun, except Teppanyaki....my favorite, by far, was Moderno! They were all very good, though! Le Bistro had the chocolate fondue for dessert...boy oh boy, was I in HEAVEN!!!!

[roger001]

Tell me more about spinnaker lounge...is it similar to the observation lounge on the Sun? We loved that area!

 

Both the Sun and the Pearl are our favorite ships of those we've sailed. The Sun is slightly smaller than the Pearl, and has a very unique interior design (like, it took me my third Sun cruise to figure out where most thing were). And as another said, Spinnaker is like the Sun's observation lounge, just slightly bigger. We make it a stop every evening. Also, the Pearl and the Sun's Great Outdoors are very similar.

[put me on a ship]

Both the Sun and the Pearl are our favorite ships of those we've sailed. The Sun is slightly smaller than the Pearl, and has a very unique interior design (like, it took me my third Sun cruise to figure out where most thing were). And as another said, Spinnaker is like the Sun's observation lounge, just slightly bigger. We make it a stop every evening. Also, the Pearl and the Sun's Great Outdoors are very similar.

 

Well, we absolutely loved the Sun! So I'm thinking we will love the Pearl, too! I just wish we had more options for sailing out of Florida during the summer months...I know the Sky does Bahamas, and Getaway will sail year round, but neither of those itineraries are our favorites. I also wish NCL would make Port Canaveral a home port again...it's only about 40 minutes from us!

[sonntags]

Didn't the Pearl go into dry dock last year?... What was changed/updated?

[CP Tech]

Was just on the Pearl in December and I loved the Spinnaker. The odd thing I noticed was it seemed liek 2 very different places if it was day or night.

 

Beautiful place to do a nice tech Q&A in the morning, but once it got dark and they dropped the window shades, it just seemed like a totally different place.

 

In a good way.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Didn't the Pearl go into dry dock last year?... What was changed/updated?

 

I think they mostly did maintenance. However, I did notice they changed all of the directional signage to be more like what they have on Breakaway class. They also changed out the signage at Bliss and the Stardust Theater to flat-panel video monitors. The other big change I noticed was the long, skinny menus in the Summer Palace. Otherwise, I couldn't tell much of a difference from my first two sailings on the Pearl.

 

Do other folks know what else changed?