Quick review of the Pearl 11-4 thru 11-8

[skycheney]

We just got back from a 4 day Bahamas cruise on the Pearl. It was a partial charter for one of the Sixthman Concert series. The only reason we booked it at the last minute as the price. We ended up with a 2bd Suite for a steal.

 

The room was great but it was not very clean. We complained to the room steward right away and he did a great job of getting it clean and keeping it that way from then on. I can't say enough about him and he actually ended up providing the best service that we had from anyone.

 

My only other comparison for a Norwegian ship was with our Pride of America cruise last year. On that ship we also had a suite and the POA concierge and butler were far superior. I don't know why but the concierge never checked on us at all. I only saw her on about 3 occasions sitting in Cagneys when we were eating breakfast and she never engaged us in conversation unless we sought her out. This was the opposite of our POA experience where the concierge was checking on us at least twice per day.

 

The food was good on the Pearl, but once again, my wife and I both thought it was better on POA. We went to La Cucina and Tepanyaki on both ships and the food in those restaurants was better on POA. I bought an expensive bottle of wine at LaCucina and it was oxidized. When I complained they brought over a manager who tried to tell me that it just tasted different because I had just eaten. I left it there as it was spoiled and worthless. So, they brought it to my room at 11:30 that night. I called the concierge in the morning and complained again and they had the restaurant manager call me and he asked if I still had the bottle. I said yes and they had someone come up and get it. Finally, they agreed to take it off of my bill.

 

It was a strange cruise overall. The music was great as even though we were not allowed in the main events that the charter people were going to, there were still temporary stages set up all over and entertainment everywhere. But be aware, the pool slide was removed so that they could set up a stage area over one of the pools. I was told that they will not be replacing it.

 

The other strange thing was breakfast and lunch at Cagneys. No one was there. We never saw more than 3 other tables filled. It was actually kind of nice to have our own private restaurant.

 

Overall, the cruise was nice, it was just not up to par with our POA cruise last year and the charter probably had a lot to do with that.

[Rhea98]

I've been curious about this sailing--mostly general crowding. I'm interested in a short Pearl cruise before booking a repositioning. I would have booked an inside ($109.--come on!) if not for a B9 on Epic next week. I'm sure a suite experience would have been quite different. We live in south central FL so can go at the last minute. It sounds like we might try it if another fantastic deal appears.

Sorry about the difficulty getting the wine situation settled. Thanks for the review.

 

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