Pearl Review - Feb 2-11, So. Caribbean

[LateCruiser]

I’ll try to keep this short, but informative, and break it into sections. We were on the Feb 2-11, 2007 Southern Caribbean cruise (Groundhog Cruise).

Embarkation: We arrived at the Port at 10:20am on Friday after flying in that morning (never book a date before checking to see what else is in town that weekend – Super Bowl – no overnight rooms available). We went to the Suites/Latitudes line where there were only two couples in front of us. We were allowed into the terminal at 10:45. The other two couples went to the Suites line and we went to the Latitudes line. In about 5 minutes we were registered, had our pictures made and made our way into the reception/waiting area. We picked up our cards and were seated (1st in line) in the reception area. We had to wait about 30 minutes to board the ship, but there were refreshments (cookies, juice, and water) available so the wait wasn’t bad. By 11:30 we were boarding the ship (the back-to-back guests and suites got to go on before we did). We went straight to our room, a mini-suite on deck 11, port (left for you landlubbers) side, where our cabin steward Michael met us. The room wasn’t completely ready yet, but Michael let us leave our carry-on luggage in the room. From there we went to the Garden Café and had a light lunch (well, DW had a light lunch – mine was a little bigger). The selection and quality were excellent! We explored the ship for awhile and went back to our room around 1:30. Michael had finished by then and the room was spotless (more about the room later). Our bags began arriving around 2:20. By 2:45, all three bags had arrived. We changed clothes and proceeded to the Sky High Bar where our Cruise Critic group was having an impromptu sail away “party”. We met several of the group and watched from the starboard side (right side) as we pulled away around 5:00pm.

Room: Our mini-suite was beautiful and just right in size. We had plenty of room for bags. All but the gargantuan one fit under the bed. The really big one went into one side of the large closet (lots of nice wooden hangers). Near the closet were four large drawers for clothes, plus a large double shelf area, with a door, above the drawers. There were also three drawers by the desk/makeup table, next to the refrigerator. There were also two shelves above the refrigerator, and a safe with plenty of room for all of our valuables. The balcony had a large sliding glass door that opened easily and stayed open if you wanted it too (although if left open too long the mirrors and glass would fog up because of the humidity and air conditioning mixing). There were two chairs and a small table on the balcony. In the room there was a comfortable queen sized bed and a couch that could be converted to a double bed (we didn’t need to). Oh, the hair drying worked very well according to my wife. The bath was good sized, similar to the one in the AC Penthouse we had on the Jewel last year. There was a full sized tub/shower, a sink area, and a small toilet area with a sliding glass door. In my opinion, there was nothing to complain about. We thought the room was nearly perfect in size and functionality. Our cabin attendant, Michael, was attentive, but not overly so. He was around when he needed to be and not when he didn’t need to be. We used the sign outside the door to tell him when to turn down the bed and when to make up the cabin and it was always done in a timely fashion. We always had plenty of towels, linens were always clean, and the room was kept neat (except for our stuff all over the place – after all, we were on a vacation!). We used the four cup (three in reality) coffee maker at least twice a day and Michael kept extra coffee and creamers stocked for us. We also had cute towel animals every night, including a penguin and a dinosaur. Our cabin was in an excellent location, halfway between the forward and midship elevator banks, so it was very to convenient to get wherever we were going.

The Ship: What can I say? The Pearl is truly a gem (no pun intended), absolutely beautiful. I’ve seen others refer to it as gaudy, but we thought it was colorful, tasteful, and fun. It’s easy to get everywhere, and I’m sure we had an advantage over some passengers, as we were on the Jewel last year. The two ships are extremely similar with only a few minor differences. The shops have been moved to 7 Forward, the Casino is on 6 Forward, and the Bliss nightclub and bowling alley are on 7 Aft. The staircase in the Atrium has been moved to the port side and there is a huge 20 foot flat screen TV at the front of the Atrium now (NCL says it is the 2d largest indoor TV in the world).

Food: We thought the food, for the most part, was awesome. The Garden Café was much improved over the Jewel, with manned action stations. You still served yourself mostly, but there were always plenty of staff members to keep food re-supplied or take special requests. There was always rotisserie chicken available and at least one other main course meat that rotated among different types of beef and pork. The salads were always fresh and the vegetable selection was varied with what looked like something for every taste at every meal. There were at least two made to order omelet stations every morning (3 including the one at the Great Outdoors) and these moved quickly. I never had more than a five minute wait. You could also get cooked to order eggs, scrambled eggs, and eggs benedict. Of course there was a good selection of bacon, ham, and sausage, along with a couple of different types of potatoes. Did I mention the cereals, the biscuits and gravy, the pancakes and waffles, and the large selection of fruit? Oh yeah – the Specialty Restaurants. Worth every penny extra. We ate at Cagney’s twice (didn’t make reservations – there was always a table for 2 at 6:00pm), Teppenyaki (fun and delicious), LeBistro (elegant), Lotus Garden (very good), Mambos (much improved over the counter point on the Jewel), and LaCucina (with a group of 60 fellow Cruise Critics – great food, conversation, service, and fun!). We did formal night in the Summer Palace. It was pretty good, but not our favorite venue. We often had lunch burgers and fries at the Sky High Bar (deck 13). The topsiders grill by the pools also served breakfast and lunch (and dinner I believe).

Entertainment: We loved the “Game Shows” and Karaoke (even sang a couple of times). These were very entertaining. We also attended most of the Ballroom dancing sessions in the Spinnaker lounge. We weren’t thrilled by the production shows. The Jean Ryan Company productions, to me, were geared toward the 20 and 30 year olds. Unfortunately, this was a very “grey” group of passengers; very many in their fifties (like us), and a lot in there 60’s, 70’s and even 80’s. Somehow, “Don’t You Wish Your Girlfriend Was Sexy Like Me” and trick bicycle and skateboarding just weren’t entertaining. The magician was pretty good. We didn’t see any other shows.

Ports of Call and Excursions: The ports were terrific. Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, and Tortola. Dominica was my least favorite, but it had very good shopping. My favorite was Tortola (does that have one L or two?). Unfortunately, we left there at 1:00pm so by the time we got back from our tour, there was no time left to shop. We went on three ship arranged excursions. The tour on St. Lucia to the Pitons was very good. The tour on Tortola was fabulous. However, the Antigua tour left something to be desired. It started out good with a trip to Shirley Heights and Nelson’s Boatyard (just didn’t get enough time there). The beach we went to was terrible (my opinion). The water was green, not blue, it was very crowded, and the Italian women from the other cruise ship in port (Costa Atlantica) felt perfectly at ease going topless. DW and I weren’t quite prepared for that.

Overall: Except for a couple of what I consider minor exceptions, this cruise was fabulous. We had fun, fun, and more fun. A big round of applause goes out to all the Cruise Critic members who organized and participated in making this a wonderful experience (Snoklin’Barb, Candlemaker, GrandmaCruiser, many others – sorry if I left an organizer’s name out). And Mr. Tractor, who lives just a few miles down the road from us, was great inspiration. Who knew he had so many hidden talents (I’ll be humming “Wild Things” for months to come). Beautiful ship, great food, fantastic crew (thanks Clarence, Gusti, Michael, Jennifer, Klaus, and many, many others). This was the best vacation we’ve ever had!

[hotspur]

Food: We thought the food, for the most part, was awesome. The Garden Café was much improved over the Jewel, with manned action stations. You still served yourself mostly, but there were always plenty of staff members to keep food re-supplied or take special requests.

This puzzles me. We cruised Jewel in October/November 2006 and this is exactly how Jewel's buffet operated. Manned action stations in just about every food island.

[LateCruiser]

This puzzles me. We cruised Jewel in October/November 2006 and this is exactly how Jewel's buffet operated. Manned action stations in just about every food island.

 

Our Jewel cruise was in Jan '06. The Action Station concept was implemented later last year.:)

[MarkNH]

Thanks for the great review!

 

The water was green, not blue, it was very crowded, and the Italian women from the other cruise ship in port (Costa Atlantica) felt perfectly at ease going topless. DW and I weren’t quite prepared for that.

 

 

:D if that bothered you so much I would strongly recommend you never go on a beach vacation to Europe.

[LateCruiser]

Thanks for the great review!

 

 

 

 

:D if that bothered you so much I would strongly recommend you never go on a beach vacation to Europe.

 

LOL :D . Not so much bothered, as surprised!!:)

[triplover]

Thanks for the review! What excursion to the pitons did you take in St Lucia with NCL? The catamaran one? Could you give me a little more detail of this one? Thanks for your help!

[LateCruiser]

Thanks for the review! What excursion to the pitons did you take in St Lucia with NCL? The catamaran one? Could you give me a little more detail of this one? Thanks for your help!

 

We took the Piton Falls and Pirates Cave. Most of the time was on the bus sightseeing and taking pictures (lots of photo ops). The falls were very nice. The warm water was relaxing and refreshing. $49 p/p.

[DINKS]

Latecruiser,

 

Can you tell us about:

Formal nights - is this the same thing as lobster night? And what dining areas are reserved for formal attire? Can you get lobster dressed casually at some other dining area? Was there one or 2 formal nights?

 

Show times - given the freestyle dining, how are the show times handled? Are there multiple show times available each night?

 

Curfews - Actually was wondering when passengers needed to be back on board at each port - Is it 1/2 hour or 1 hour prior to sailing time? Wondering if I have time to run to Sunny Caribbee on Tortola after an excursion that lasts til noon.

 

Disembarkation Day - I thinks its a bummer about arriving so early and having to wait for late day flights- They should give us an extra hour or 2 in Tortola.

But, did the ship offer any Miami excursions to kill time?

 

Can you tell me anything about this "Bags Program".

 

Thank you very much for your time and welcome home, DINKS

[JudyOh]

Formal nights were the second night (first sea day) and the night we were in Tortola. Lobster was served on the first night, not sure about the second. You could dress up and eat anywhere or dress casual and eat anywhere. In the dailies it did say you could get Lobster in any of the resturants. It was on the menu for Indigo and Summer Palace.

 

The main show were at 7:45 and 9:45pm each evening. They did have shows after the 9:45pm show on some evenings.

 

You need to be back on board 1/2 before sailing, in Tortola we had to be back on board at 12:30pm

 

They offered a tour of Miami and one to the Everglades, but the Everglades tour you had to have a flight after 6pm, I believe. There was a third tour but I don't remember what it was, wasn't something I was interested so I didn't pay too much attention to it.

 

It cost $15 per person, you fill out a form with airline information and on Sat you get your airline luggage tags and boarding passes. You put on the airline tags on your luggage before you set them out, there is a special spot to claim the luggage then you go thru immigration and there is a truck you take your luggage to. This must be new because I asked the Purser early in the week and she said the 9 day did not do it, but on Friday we got this letter in our cabin with the information. I believe it was four airlines, I know Delta and American were two of them, not sure of the others.

 

Hope this info helps.

[Sootie]

DW and I are cruising on the Pearl in April/May and very much appreciate the critique. We did a Translant on the Jewel last Spring and were also very much impressed by the class of the ship. We also used to live in Stafford. Small world.

[willysgrandma]

Can you tell me which restaurants had fees and which did not?

[LateCruiser]

DW and I are cruising on the Pearl in April/May and very much appreciate the critique. We did a Translant on the Jewel last Spring and were also very much impressed by the class of the ship. We also used to live in Stafford. Small world.

 

We lived in Stafford (Aquia Harbour) before moving to the Dumfries area in 2003 - very small world!:)

 

Can you tell me which restaurants had fees and which did not?

 

Cagneys - $20p/p, LeBistro $20p/p, Lotus Garden $15p/p (I think), Teppenyaki - al la carte $15-$20p/p. The rest are no charge. You definitely need reservations for LeBistro, Teppenyaki, LaCucina, and Mambos. Probably should have them for Cagneys, Lotus Garden, Summer Palace, and Indigo. Hope I didn't miss anything.

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks so much for the wonderful detailed review. We are going on the Pearl in November and she changes her itinerary some for the Fall schedule.

 

Is it true they have good coffee machines at the Blue Lagoon and ice tea?

 

Anyone entertaining in the piano bar?

[LateCruiser]

Thanks so much for the wonderful detailed review. We are going on the Pearl in November and she changes her itinerary some for the Fall schedule.

 

Is it true they have good coffee machines at the Blue Lagoon and ice tea?

 

Anyone entertaining in the piano bar?

 

Don't know about the Blue Lagoon. We never went there. The coffe in general was very strong, but a little hot water made it just right.

 

There was a piano player in the bar area, I believe, every night.