Pearl Review May 3-8, Good not Great

[lauraleigh9mm]

This was our first NCL cruise- We had been on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival previously.

Embarkation:

This was by far the fastest we have ever gotten on board. I don’t know if it was 15 minute and we arrived at about 12:30. The glass of champagne was very nice and we were very pleased.

The Ship:

The ship is beautiful, Large and modern, and fairly easy to navigate. I found all the public spaces clean and in great shape! We had a balcony cabin for the first time. It was wonderful. It was not as large as I thought it would be and would have been tight for more than two people. The bathroom layout is fabulous. I love not having a shower curtain that never keeps the water in. The Casino is the only odd spot on the boat. It is circus themed and seems a little out of place with the ship (did not stop us from visiting of course!)

The Food:

This is where things were not so hot. We ate in the Main Dining Room (MDR), Le Bistro, La Cucina, Lotus Garden, and the buffet. The MDR was fair to lousy with only a few dishes really tasty. The cold soups are good, and I had a few appetizers that were yummy, but the entrees were awful. DH had the steak one evening that looked awful and tasted worse. The desserts were OK, but nothing memorable. Le Bistro was good though our meat was overcooked. I thought it was worth the $15 cover charge. La Cucina was OK. Olive Garden and Buca di Beppo’s are better. But it was worth $10 cover charge. Lotus Garden was our best meal on board. They had a BOGO for the cover charge but it would have been worth it anyway. We also had our best service on board there as well. Lastly, the buffet: It is the best laid out buffet I have ever seen at sea. Unfortunately the food was awful. It was always very crowded and there was always issues finding a table without bumping into people. The hard ice cream was good but that was the only thing that made an impression. Also the boat had just recently changed to Pepsi from Coke which killed me and saved me money since I am a diet coke addict.

The Service:

Our cabin steward, Rick, did a good job. We really did not see him all that much but that is fine. I like that they have the little wheel sign at the door that says what you want to have done with the cabin.

Bar service was fine what little we had of it. We did do the beer tasting and that was very stupid. I was hoping it would be a little about the beer making process and tasting beers from around the world. Not Really. But they did give you a bottle at the end so if you were looking at this a purely alcohol thing, than it was a good value at $15. The service in the MDR was just bad. I don’t think I am a needy person but I hate always having to ask for water over and over again. We had several things forgotten and one time they brought us someone else’s meals. I think that the fact that they know they are getting their tips no matter what, brings down the level of service. People usually had smiles, but no one seemed to go out of their way for us.

Freestyle:

My DH liked the idea of not getting dressed up at all and being more comfortable but really missed the MDR experience that we have had on other ships. He did not like having to wait with the pager for a table for dinner. I did not care all that much about it. Other than the meal situation, I did not see a whole lot of difference than other cruise lines as far as activities etc.

I am not going to get into the ports too much as one was San Francisco and the other was Astoria Oregon. Astoria is a cute place but there is really not that much to do. This would have been the one time we should have taken one of the ships tours, or rented a car.

Disembarkation:

We chose that last color to get off the boat. We were in no rush so it seemed OK well, there were 3 boats in at the same time as us and customs was overwhelmed. The kept closing it down, so we did not get off ship until nearly 11:00 AM. People were already lining up to get on the ship! We spent the night in Vancouver and then took the Amtrak down to Seattle and flew out of there. This was the way to go! It was a lovely ride (4 hrs) along the coast most of the way and saved us hundreds as opposed to flying out of Vancouver.

Would I cruise NCL again? Of course! It was still a great deal even with the issues we had, but if we were looking at similar cruises with another line, at the same price we would probably go on another line.

[judyf]

Freestyle:

My DH liked the idea of not getting dressed up at all and being more comfortable but really missed the MDR experience that we have had on other ships. He did not like having to wait with the pager for a table for dinner. I did not care all that much about it. Other than the meal situation, I did not see a whole lot of difference than other cruise lines as far as activities etc.

 

 

Nice reviews thanks for posting.

 

The one thing you can do is make a ressie with the same waiters every day and then you would have an experience like traditional cruise dining. I know a few who do that on NCL.

[nyflush]

Good review thanks for posting.

 

When I was on the Gem I thought the buffet was really good it sounds like they may have changed it or had a bad week:( I hope it's good on my next Gem cruise:)

I also liked that you could sit outside at the buffet on the Gem nice AFT view.

I think the Asian restaurant was our fav that trip too:)

[judyf]

I'm thinking the buffet is a little more crazy on a cruise to Alaska. As I know I don't think we will be eating outside :)

 

Always a more casual cruise means more in the buffet.

 

Maybe I'm thinking wrong but this is my thoughts and I'm getting prepared for it in two weeks.:)

[nyflush]

Sorry OP I was on the wrong ship!!!! LOL but thanks for the info on the Pearl:)

[jmtn]

We were also on the same sailing and has similar experiences. We ate at the Summer palace the first night and had such wonderful service and excellent food (although the portions were on the small side -- but enough for us), that we decided to eat there the second night. Again a very good meal and service, so we decided to eat there the third night. The third night was Lobster night, and we had the worst service and worst lobster I have ever experienced on a cruise ship. Half a lobster tail each and dry as a bone!. We heard that they were serving lobster in the buffet, so we headed up there and had lobster pieces with pasta -- it was so good we had seconds. We decided to eat at the specialty restaurants for the remainder of the cruise. Had the most excellent lunch at Blue Lagoon, and our best dinners at Mambos and the Sushi bar. The sushi chef went crazy and started making custom rolls not offered on the menu - if you get a chance request his Milwaukee roll! The sake at the sushi bar is pretty good as well. We tipped extra on those nights!

 

The buffet was hit-and-miss. Sample a little first, and if there is something good, go get some more. We did all of our breakfasts at the Great Outdoors, but on some days had to take our food into the La Cucina area to get out of the cold. Breakfasts were decent. The cook in the Great Outdoors knew how to do the eggs "well done". The grits were excellent, especially when loaded up with butter, brown sugar and the warm milk next to the hot cereals. The chocolate croisants were also very good, but sometimes we had to wait for them to be replenished.

 

The entertainment was good. We really enjoyed the dancing and acrobatics, and "sharkbait" was outrageous at the Liar's Club show. The crew talent show was a big surprise. The "fountains" skit at the end had everybody rolling in the aisles.

 

We also enjoyed the Freestyle approach -- didn't wear half the clothes we brought! Also, I really liked that they don't chase you out of your stateroom on the morning of disembarkation. I had time to use the gym for 1 hour, clean up, get a late breakfast and relax. Unfortunately, Vancouver was swamped with 5 cruise ships -- 3 at Canada Place. It took 3 hours from the time we left our stateroom to the time we were in a rental car driving out of the downtown area.

[judyf]

What did you wear to the main dining rooms? I see you posted you only wore half the cloths you brought. We're looking to bring less suitcases.

 

Thanks