Recently home from 9 day Norwegian Pearl cruise

[danem]

I didn't think to post here to see if anyone wanted info until I saw others doing the same. My kids are 6 and 9 and for the most part they enjoyed the Aqua Kids Club. Their favorite part was being taken to see a few shows and the PJ party was a hit.

 

Cruisinmama, I'll see if I can scan the 6-9 year old Kids Crew schedule for you soon (it was just one for the week - my kids were kind of sad not to get their own sheet each night)

 

I'm happy to answer any questions about our experience on NCL with the kids.

Emily

[c-cruise]

danem, I would be interested in your opinion of the 9 day NCL itinerary. We are looking at the 9 day eastern on the Jewel for Feb. 09. Have been on NCL before, but it was back in 2000. Usually cruise Holland America or Princess, but really like the looks of this itinerary. Our daughter will be almost 2 at the time of the sailing we are looking at. We have cruised with her twice, once at 5 months and once at 1year.

[danem]

We really enjoyed the itinerary. However, it was a little exhausting. 5 port days in a row wore us out. I would have preferred a sea day mixed in there somewhere. We thought in future we might plan to have 2 of the days be non-beach or even just plan to stay on board as the sun and swimming wore us out.

 

In Samana, we booked the excursion to Caya Levantado. We enjoyed it and were glad that we did that. However, that day we were the only ship in port and I can imagine it would be very crowded if too many ships were there. The beach was gorgeous although the water was pretty wavy. My kids loved playing in the waves and we found wonderful conch shells on the beach by the dock.

 

In Tortola we rented a car and drove some of the island (challenging on the winding roads and driving on the left). We stopped at Cane Garden Bay which was lovely and so calm. Later, we went on to Brewers Bay for some amazing snorkeling. Cane Garden was more crowded, but it would be a nice beach for toddlers.

 

Antigua, again we rented a car and we went out to Long Bay which was fabulous. My kids were just in and out of the water all morning. Then did a quick stop at Half Moon Bay. The wind had kicked up at Half Moon Bay but it was so beautiful there.

 

I had run out of researching time before the trip, so we didnt' know much about Barbados and it was sort of a bust for us. After 3 days in the Caribbean sun (highly recommend sun suits for ALL if you are at all prone to burning) we all needed a break from the beach. The descriptions of the town sounded lovely so we thought we'd bip around there. It took us 45 minutes to get a cab to take us there. They all wanted to go to the beach and sell you on an island tour. It was very frustrating but we finally got going to town and then were dropped in a hot, humid, crowded town and at least where we were dropped it wasn't picturesque, quaint or at all inviting. I don't think we got 2 blocks and the kids were done, so we decided to head back to the ship. My husband and a friend went snorkeling after lunch and I stayed on board with the kids. We had a great day as no one was at the pool. I wish I'd planned better for Barbados, but oh well.

 

St. Lucia, we caught a cab and asked for a good family beach, not too far. They took us to Reduit beach and we had a lovely day there. St. Lucia was just gorgeous and probably one of our favorite islands.

 

So, on this cruise, we mainly did the beach thing as that suited the kids best. We loved exploring all the different beaches and playing in the sand and water. I'm sure there are lots of other fun things to do as well. Hope that helps a bit.

Emily

[c-cruise]

Thanks for the review, sounds like you had a great trip. My wife and I went to Barbodas a few years ago (pre-baby) and had a great time. We took a 4x4 tour over to the east coast of the island which was a lot of fun. I agree though that the town left a lot to be desired. Did you run into many other ships in these ports. We are looking for an itinerary that is a little less crowded than the typical 7 day eastern/westerns.

 

What did you think of NCL, Freestyle, the ship, etc. We haven't cruised with NCL in quite a while so I am a little hesitant to go with them even though we like the itinerary.

[danem]

Barbados had about 4 or 5 ships in port, St. Lucia and Antigua had one other ship, Samana and Tortola we were the only ships in port. I think it just varies.

 

Honestly, we aren't freestyle fans. I missed the personal service with traditional dining and we felt like service overall was really inconsistent. We weren't so put off that we wouldn't cruise NCL again, but it won't be our first choice.

 

The Pearl is a beautiful ship. It took a while to get used to as there are more dead ends than I've experienced on other ships due to all the restaurants, but lots of great spaces (and I'm sure we didn't even come close to exploring them all) and embarking and disembarking was easy. The gym was nice and we thought the Pearl had some of the best buffet food we've had on a ship.

 

We had a balcony room, but I don't think we'd do that again with the kids because when the beds were made up, we couldn't access the balcony. The kids loved bowling, rock climbing, the water slide and the Wii on the big screen. I noticed a little toddler area in a corner of the pool deck, but it was pretty tucked away so I don't know if it was used much or what it was like (it was in it's own room). I'm pretty easy to please as I just want a place to curl up and read and see the water and sights.

Emily

[c-cruise]

Thanks again for your response. We also prefer the traditional dining. Service and food were ok on our NCL cruise, but not what we were used to on other lines. Although I can see freestyle working for us now that we are traveling with a toddler.

 

Glad to hear that the ship was nice. Have been looking at deck plans and it did seem like there were a lot of dead ends. At least they looked to have a wrap around promenade on the Jewel class ships.

 

Our first cruise with our daughter we had a standard balcony room and it was just to small. Was fine when it was the two of us, but adding in the pack and play and all the baby stuff was just made it too cramped. We ended up booking a mini-suite on our last cruise and got upgraded to a full suite. Had all kinds of room! NCL seems to have a lot of different cabin classes compared to other lines. I think we would be going with a mini-suite (don't remember the category code) if we go with NCL.

 

Brent