First time on NCL Pearl Questions

[byrondee]

Hi All,

 

First thanks for all the great info I found on the boards. I have a few additional questions:

 

My wife loves hot tea, is that available at all times as part of the free beverages?

 

Second I love ice in my coke which I will have in my room, are there ice machines around or do I have to get some from one of the eateries?

 

 

Can I bring my own coffee mug and get coffee in the morning?

 

Is there sweet-n-low for the ice tea avail?

 

Can I refill my own water bottle during the day?

 

 

Thanks for any help, also if you are on the Pearl during our trip, would love to meet/greet. We are 41 and 34 year olds and pretty active and drink lightly.

[VonChap]

Hi All,

 

First thanks for all the great info I found on the boards. I have a few additional questions:

 

 

Second I love ice in my coke which I will have in my room, are there ice machines around or do I have to get some from one of the eateries?

 

 

Can I bring my own coffee mug and get coffee in the morning?

 

Is there sweet-n-low for the ice tea avail?

 

Can I refill my own water bottle during the day?

 

 

Thanks for any help, also if you are on the Pearl during our trip, would love to meet/greet. We are 41 and 34 year olds and pretty active and drink lightly.

 

Our Pearl room stewards kept our ice bucket and a soft sided cooler full of ice for the whole cruise. Just take some post-it notes and leave them a note about ice.

 

For water bottles, they want you to fill up a glass of water and then pour into your own bottle. Although, we drank the tap water from the room in our bottle and it was fine.

 

Same with your own coffee cup--they dont want you to fill up your own cup from their machines in the buffet, etc. There is a small coffee maker in your room. I saw Splenda in April in the coffee area but not sure about Sweet-n-low.

 

Have a great cruise. The Pearl is a wonderful ship.

[bakerintn]

Hot tea will be available in the restaurants, but not the bars.

 

I think that the easiest place to get tea to go is probably the Blue Lagoon -- less crowded than the buffet area. Tea will be bagged -- if you have an absoulte must-have variety, bring your own.

 

Your cabin will have an ice bucket -- my experience is that it does not keep ice very well --- if you can, bring a small cooler. Leave a sticky-note for your cabin steward asking them to keep the cooler / ice bucket filled for you. The in-cabin refrigerators keep things cool, but not really ice cold.

 

if you want coffee in the morning in your cabin, make your own with the cabin's coffee maker or order room service. I would order two cups from room service to get a full mug full. There is a room service card that you can put on your door at night to order drinks / food for the morning.

 

You might find this post helpful in other areas:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=852599

[cruiseat50]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for any help, also if you are on the Pearl during our trip, would love to meet/greet. We are 41 and 34 year olds and pretty active and drink lightly.

 

The only advice I can offer since I have never cruised before would be to go to the Roll Call boards and join in there for the meet and greet. When are you going? If it is on 1/18/09 you will be on our sailing and there is already a great bunch of people on the r/c for this sailing. :D

[IWORK2CRUISE]

Hi All,

 

First thanks for all the great info I found on the boards. I have a few additional questions:

 

My wife loves hot tea, is that available at all times as part of the free beverages? Yes. I always found several flavors at the coffee station in the buffet area. You could also go to Blue Lagoon. Or take a couple of tea bags from the buffet area and heat water from the coffee maker in your cabin.

 

Second I love ice in my coke which I will have in my room, are there ice machines around or do I have to get some from one of the eateries?

Your cabin stewards will refill your ice bucket.

 

Can I bring my own coffee mug and get coffee in the morning?

Yes, but you need to fill regular coffee cups and then pour into your mug. This is for germ protection. Or you could utilize the coffee maker in your cabin.

 

Is there sweet-n-low for the ice tea avail? Yes

 

Can I refill my own water bottle during the day?

Yes, but you need to fill regular water glasses and then pour into your bottle. This is for germ protection. HINT: I brought along a small plastic funnel and this made it quite simple

 

Thanks for any help, also if you are on the Pearl during our trip, would love to meet/greet. We are 41 and 34 year olds and pretty active and drink lightly.

Join your roll call. It's fun to communicate with others on your cruise.

Happy cruising!

[byrondee]

thanks, all for the quick responses........ Really looking forward to this trip. I have only been on one other cruise and that was 1993 on the RC Nordic Empress and that was a short 3 nights. Will do the roll call.

 

Byron

[DDMau]

You will really enjoy the Pearl it is very nice and lots to do and eat. Check out the Ice Cream bar at the back of the buffet. A little ice cream a little cake a little bit too good. Enjoy your cruise.

[BikerAl]

I think everything was answered but the sweet n low, and yes it is available.

 

Al

[nderoche]

The Pearl also has two expresso/cappucino machines on the pool deck at the back of the ship for really great coffee. We had room service deliver a huge pot of coffee for us every morning as well. Room service will also deliver ice to your cabin within minutes of a phone call. I agree with a previous poster that the ice buckets do not keep ice very long but we really didn't want to hassle with lugging a cooler onto the ship. They tend to fill your ice buckets at odd times during the day and not at cocktail hour, so have alternatives planned, particularly if you have a bar set up in your cabin.

[OldBaldGuy]

Re the waterbottle, I emptied mine a jillion times a day (it was HOT off of the Mexican Rivera and the Carib), what I did was just walk up to any of the outdoor bars. They would fill my bottle with ice and water as often as I asked. I would occasionally have a beer or drink, and would give them a little extra tip as thanks...

[terrymtex01]

Since your questions have pretty much been answered, I just wanted to tell you that you will love the Pearl. She is SUCH a beautiful ship and has a great crew. Please remember to come back and tell us how you liked your cruise.. 8-)

[CaroltheCruiser]

Hot tea will be available in the restaurants, but not the bars.

 

I think that the easiest place to get tea to go is probably the Blue Lagoon -- less crowded than the buffet area. Tea will be bagged -- if you have an absoulte must-have variety, bring your own.

 

Your cabin will have an ice bucket -- my experience is that it does not keep ice very well --- if you can, bring a small cooler. Leave a sticky-note for your cabin steward asking them to keep the cooler / ice bucket filled for you. The in-cabin refrigerators keep things cool, but not really ice cold.

 

if you want coffee in the morning in your cabin, make your own with the cabin's coffee maker or order room service. I would order two cups from room service to get a full mug full. There is a room service card that you can put on your door at night to order drinks / food for the morning.

 

You might find this post helpful in other areas:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=852599

Hello, this may be a silly question but that is what these boards are for right? Of the 9 cruises we have been on, we have never ordered room service. How do you known what to tip or do you? If you just order coffee and OJ in the mornings, do you tip? Thanks for your help.

[terrymtex01]

Hello, this may be a silly question but that is what these boards are for right? Of the 9 cruises we have been on, we have never ordered room service. How do you known what to tip or do you? If you just order coffee and OJ in the mornings, do you tip? Thanks for your help.

 

It is my understanding, but I can not swear to it, that the room service delivery people are not a part of the tipping pool. Not for sure why they aren't, but that is what I have read. They are very hard working as there are usually only two or three of them that service the entire ship.

 

We usually tip them $1.00 for each of us that order something. So for instance if I just order a snack but my DDP doesn't want anything... I would probably only tip a dollar or two. If my DDP and I both order something, we would tip from $2.00 to $4.00. Even if you are just ordering coffee, they should get tipped something.