Review: Pearl 10-day Eastern, 3/6/15

[JWinKC]

My lovely bride and I recently returned from the 3/6/15 sailing on the Norwegian Pearl, a 10 day round trip out of Miami. Ports of call were St Kitts, Martinique, Dominica, Antigua, and St Thomas. The following is a brief review of our cruise, and the ports we visited.

 

For perspective, I'll note that we are both in our late 40's and consider ourselves to be laid back and relatively easy to please. We enjoy a good meal, but are by no means foodies. This was our 5th cruise, with 4 of these on NCL, but it was our first trip on the Pearl. We sailed with 11 other friends with whom we have cruised before.

 

Pre-cruise, we flew into FLL and took the Go Shuttle (shared van) service to the Courtyard Marriott Downtown Miami. The Go shuttle, at $26 per person, had us at our hotel about 90 minutes. Not bad, but we still prefer SAS. The Courtyard was only a few blocks from Bayside, and a CVS is located only about a block away to get last minute provisions. Accommodations were clean and comfortable. Shuttle service to the port was available for $5 per person.

 

Embarkation was relatively easy. We arrived at the terminal a little after Noon, and were on the ship a little after 1 PM. We met our group in Summer Palace (MDR) for a sailaway luncheon. It was the first of many meals there. Excellent service, even with our large group, and almost every dish we tried was good to excellent.

 

After lunch, we had a little time to explore the ship before muster drill and our sailaway party. I can understand why the Pearl and her sisters have so many fans. The ship is big enough, but not too huge. It is easy to get around, and there are great views to be had in many places on deck. Our forward balcony (9522, category BC) was declared ready around 2 PM, and we found the room adequate, if not spacious. Not as much storage as we found in a similar room on the Epic, but we were not too cramped, even with 10 days worth of clothing and stuff. Our room steward was excellent throughout the cruise. He serviced the room quickly, and kept the ice bucket full. Always friendly and cheerful.

 

As pleased as were were with the cruise overall, I have to say some of the service started a little slow, especially at the bars. This was the Pearl's first sailing after charter season, and the last charter was the Kid Rock cruise. So I can certainly understand that some of these folks were just worn out after returning from a wild party at sea, then reconfiguring the ship for normal sailing. After the first day, it seemed everyone was hitting their stride.

 

Restaurants:

Summer Palace (MDR) was our primary dinner destination. Food was good to excellent, and we found decent enough variety to keep things interesting. The service here was also excellent. They did a great job seating 10-13 of us together on several evenings without issue or long wait.

 

Indigo (Secondary DR) was only visited once by the group, and once was enough. Food was good, same as the MDR. But our service was not anywhere close to the Summer Palace experience. They did not seem to be staffed as well as the MDR. Also, the chairs are much less comfortable. If you are in a group, I suggest putting on the pants, and getting yourselves down to Summer Palace.

 

Buffet was very good for our breakfasts, lunches, and post-excursion nibbles. The pearl has an excellent buffet, with lots of variety and great quality. The only downside of the buffet seems to be fellow patrons at the buffet.

 

 

Moderno was the venue for our last dinner on board, and it was excellent. Their “salad” bar is amazing, with everything fresh and tasty. The meats served were outstanding, and the service here was just about the best we had on the ship.

 

Entertainment:

 

Since this was the first sailing after charter season, the entertainment options were a little weak. We saw a ventriloquist that was fair, and a magician that talked a lot. We missed the night with the comedian juggler, but heard he was good. Thanks to a late dinner and preparations for Quest, we also missed the Legends show on the last night, but we did hear it was very good.

 

Ports/Excursions:

 

We spent our day in St Kitts with Thenford Grey tours, visiting Romney Manor and the Batik Shop, Brimstone Hill Fortress, and finished with a little beach time at Carambola Beach Club. It was a nice tour, and the fortress is quite impressive.

 

Our group really didn't have an agenda for Martinique, so we just walked to the nearest bank and hit the ATM for some Euros then took the ferry over to Anse Mitan ($10/person USD round trip) We found some space on the beach in front of the Hotel Bambou. The not-so-friendly attendant rented us loungers for 5 Euros each, and local beers were available for for 2.5 to 3 Euros each. It was a decent beach, and a beautiful afternoon. The property is very close to the ferry pier, so easy enough to return to the port.

 

Dominica is absolutely gorgeous, and Sheppee's Fun Tours was a great way to see this island. We had a private tour visiting the Champagne Reef, Ti Tou Gorge, and a private hot spring bath. He provided beverages, and had to reload the cooler with our crew of 13. He was a most gracious host, and we had the most fun there that we ever had on an excursion.

 

Our day in Antigua was spent at the Coconut Beach Club on Yepton beach. This resort is closing soon for renovation/rebuild, but for now they offer an all-inclusive beach break with buffet lunch and all beveraged for $50/person. Beautiful beach, nice infinity pool, good food, and excellent cocktail service.

 

For some reason that was never quite explained, we were late docking in St Thomas, getting cleared to leave the ship about 8:30 AM. This kept us from catching the 9 AM ferry to Cruz Bay. It's probably just as well since it rained on Trunk Bay until about 11 AM. After that, we had a wonderful beach break on one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.

 

Our first cruise love was the Epic but now that she is gone to Europe, I can certainly see us repeating on the Pearl. She is a fun, beautiful ship!

 

A special shout out to our Cruise Critic organizers, Santacruise2 and Noillid2. Den did a great job working the meet & greet, and Tom was absolutely amazing in keeping our events organized and communicating everything. We thank you for making an awesome vacation even better. It was a pleasure to meet the Dolphins in person after so many months of on-line planning and anticipation.

[cbtravel1]

Great review! We will be sailing on NCL for the first time in March 2016, I need all of the information I can get. Thank you.

[david_sobe]

Great review

Thanks for sharing

[QuattroRomeo]

Thank you for sharing! We hope to be on the Pearl one day.