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TR: Norwegian Pearl Pt. 2 (Boat Review, 1/1-1/8/12)



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 30th, 2012, 04:45 AM posted to rec.roller-coaster,rec.travel.cruises
GodsOnSafari
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 47
Default TR: Norwegian Pearl Pt. 2 (Boat Review, 1/1-1/8/12)

(This is still OT for RRC, but will be so when I review the individual
experiences during the cruise. For the second part of the trip report,
I figure I’ll give a review of our cabin, wait staff, public areas, et
al. That will give me more time to focus on the actual itinerary
rather than reiterate certain aspects of the ship’s design/operation.)

Most of the cruises my wife and I have taken are on boats similarly
sized and with similar numbers of passengers to the Pearl. In all
honestly, the Pearl was perhaps more packed than usual because of the
holiday that we were sailing over. In fact, 2/3 of the passengers, we
were told, were from outside the US. There were a substantial number
of accents and multiple languages being spoken, and many announcements
made over the loudspeaker were in a Costa-esque 5 languages. All the
crew was very capable of speaking english and we had no communication
problems whatsoever.

Having experienced a suite with NCL before, we chose to go that route
again on this trip. However, rather than pick a forward facing room,
we went with a smaller, more private balcony in the aft. We also were
more cognizant of the amenities that the suite offered than we were
the first time around, and made sure to use out butler multiple times
to get food from the specialty restaurants. The room itself was almost
identical in layout to the suites on the Norwegian Dawn, and the
balcony was of very stout size – larger than the Caribe deck on
Princess. Being aft though meant that we weren’t driving through the
wind, and so our balcony was almost always somewhere we could sit
unless weather was particularly inclement. There was a shower/tub
combination in the bathroom, a large closet, an espresso machine, mini
bar, a large chair in place of the fold out sofa the Dawn had, and
luxurious beds that were amongst the most comfortable we’d ever slept
in. The TV was a flat screen and larger than what we remembered being
on the Dawn, and also featured a stand alone DVD player (the Dawn’s
had a DVD player built into the TV). If any negatives existed, it
would be that items that had fluttered off the top deck had the
tendency to occasionally land on our balcony. This was rather rare. We
also had some drippage as a result of cleaning make our chairs wet
from time to time.

As far as public spaces went, the Atrium has a very wild look with an
icicle like ceiling and lots of shiny metal everywhere else. While the
perfumery is located in the Atrium, most of the shopping is in a
distinct wing between the atrium and the theater going forwards, which
means that it feels more like usable public space and something lobby
like, and less like the feeling of “shopping mall” exhibited on the
Ruby Princess.

The main show room was decently laid out with not too many obscured
seats, but I thought the cup holders there were placed badly; on the
backs of seats and so low, it almost demanded people stepping into
them. Further up in the ship is Spinnaker Lounge, a somewhat generic
(large circular chairs near the entrances aside) show lounge/ballroom
where things like trivia and Latitudes member parties took place. In
the aft lies Bliss, one of the more audacious looking venues I’ve ever
seen. Like something out of a Hedonism resort, its a nightclub/bar
featuring arcade machines and bowling with seating in all sorts of
different fashions, including several beds for lounging. To be
completely honest, we felt a bit ridiculous sitting there most times
we went in. Maybe that was a result of going in the afternoon when it
was not crowded and there were still underage folk around. I’m not
sure. When we chose to drink, it was most often around the triumvirate
of bars adjoining Le Bistro, where a piano player was present and foot
traffic/people watching was high. There aren’t that many closed away
bar areas outside of the larger lounges, which I suppose is the
downside of the freestyle dining concept.

With regards to the food; for whatever reason, we came away feeling
like NCL was at the least equal to most of the food we’ve had on other
lines. We enjoyed pretty much every meal that we ate regardless of the
venue – if anything, I felt again that the value in some of the
upcharge locations wasn’t really there. We chose to only eat in two;
Mango’s (as of this writing, likely already transitioned into a
Brazilian steakhouse) and a delivery from Cagney’s. The steak I had
from Cagney’s was fine, but not significantly better than the free Rib-
Eye present on the menu of Indigo. The main dining room choices and
the fact that there are two entirely different standard menus between
those main dining rooms makes them very appealing to us. Most
surprisingly, we found that the service we had from wait staff on NCL
in those restaurants was comparable to the standard service we had on
the other lines we’ve cruised, and was actually better than what we
had on Princess, in spite of never repeating the same people. The
decor in Russian Palace was almost Carnival-like in it’s over the top
splendor – we like audacious sometimes, and it hit the mark there.

I also was a big fan of the buffet’s layout and choices – the area was
wide between counters, the “action” stations were quick to serve, and
the offerings were varied. My wife had no problem whatsoever finding
vegetarian food of all sorts, and I was actually really pleased with
some of the more foreign offerings, such as the station devoted to
Indian food. Plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Also, when the main
buffet was closed, it was likely that the substantial buffet areas
either in the aft of the ship (“The Great Outdoors”) or near the pool
(“The Grill”) were open and serving lots and lots of food.

Speaking of the pool areas, this was the first time my wife and I had
ever actually used a pool area on a boat. Use of said pool on the
Grand Cayman day turned out to be a very wise idea – there’s two large
pools with one being considered “adults only”, there’s a water slide,
there’s 4 hot tubs, and there’s a children’s water play area up on the
Sundeck. They’re a nice diversion, for sure. Other on board sports
activities included a rock climbing wall, a sports court where we
badly played tennis against each other, and some areas to practice
driving golf balls. I haven’t hit off a tee in about 18 years, and
would honestly state that I have retained none of my youthful
abilities.

As suite passengers, we had access to exclusive breakfast and lunch in
Cagney’s Steakhouse up on deck 13. A lesson we learned on our last
cruise with NCL was to never bother going anywhere else for breakfast
if you have that access – we stuck to that plan well this time. We may
have gone to a different venue once for breakfast? Honestly, we spent
most of our lunches there too. The veggie entree selection was not as
fantastic, but the breakfast there was superb. Aside from the small
buffet of items to select, there were all sorts of great items to eat
– the menu seemed expanded since we were on the Dawn, in fact.

Entertainment on the ship was fairly standard: Production shows
featuring old standards and dancing, a comedian, a hypnotist. We
completely skipped The Second City performance because that’s not
really our scene, but we did see the major production shows. I wasn’t
hot on any of them. It is worth stating that the streak was kept alive
of hearing Dancing Queen during a cruise production show. If only I
liked Abba.

Foot traffic is one of the things I find most often irritating about
big ships. The lines to get into the main dining rooms sometimes made
going downstairs in aft difficult later in the evening, but even with
the substantial number of people on the ship, flow of people seemed to
be much more relaxed than was the case on some of the other vessels
we’ve been on. If there was a point where we concluded that there were
just too many people, it was on the first at-sea day when the sun deck
and pool area were absolutely jammed with humanity.

Shopping was generally no different than any other cruise ship (aren’t
all megaliners Dufry Shops anyways?) but at least there was the
benefit of it being slotted as its own section rather than jammed into
another public area. The walking paths through the photo and art
galleries were wide enough to allow easy transit, though we still
preferred to go with the exterior corridors of the promenade to
prevent getting stuck behind slow moving seniors and the like.

In general, I think we were very happy with the Pearl. Clearly, mass
market liners are going to have certain drawbacks, and those were as
present here as they are anywhere (Inch of Gold, endless
announcements, art auctions, etc etc etc) but they aren’t so annoying
that they have led me entirely away from the mass market cruise as a
form of vacation. They’re simply another conduit for us to search for
entertainment/adventure through, and one that in the case of this
boat, we were very pleased with overall.
  #2  
Old February 13th, 2012, 03:48 PM posted to rec.roller-coaster,rec.travel.cruises
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 375
Default TR: Norwegian Pearl Pt. 2 (Boat Review, 1/1-1/8/12)


As far as public spaces went, the Atrium has a very wild look with an
icicle like ceiling and lots of shiny metal everywhere else.


Did they still have the Chihuly sculpture in the atrium? I didn't care for the
icicles, but really love Chihuly. One of the other things I liked about the
Pearl which you may not have noticed, being in a suite was that the carpets in
the corridors had fish on them and the fish were swimming towards the bow. So
if you lost track of where you were, you only had to look down.

With regards to the food; for whatever reason, we came away feeling
like NCL was at the least equal to most of the food we’ve had on other
lines. We enjoyed pretty much every meal that we ate regardless of the
venue – if anything, I felt again that the value in some of the
upcharge locations wasn’t really there. ...


Most
surprisingly, we found that the service we had from wait staff on NCL
in those restaurants was comparable to the standard service we had on
the other lines we’ve cruised, and was actually better than what we
had on Princess, in spite of never repeating the same people. The
decor in Russian Palace was almost Carnival-like in it’s over the top
splendor – we like audacious sometimes, and it hit the mark there.

I also was a big fan of the buffet’s layout and choices – the area was
wide between counters, the “action” stations were quick to serve, and
the offerings were varied. My wife had no problem whatsoever finding
vegetarian food of all sorts, and I was actually really pleased with
some of the more foreign offerings, such as the station devoted to
Indian food. Plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Also, when the main
buffet was closed, it was likely that the substantial buffet areas
either in the aft of the ship (“The Great Outdoors”) or near the pool
(“The Grill”) were open and serving lots and lots of food.


I felt the same about the food and the service on NCL. We almost never ate at
the specialty restaurants that had an upcharge, and the service was good. We
also traveled during a high occupancy time (Christmas -New Years) and the only
problem we had was that with so many large family groups that wanted to eat
together, we couldn't get a table with a mixture of other people at dinner.

In general, I think we were very happy with the Pearl. Clearly, mass
market liners are going to have certain drawbacks, and those were as
present here as they are anywhere (Inch of Gold, endless
announcements, art auctions, etc etc etc) but they aren’t so annoying
that they have led me entirely away from the mass market cruise as a
form of vacation. They’re simply another conduit for us to search for
entertainment/adventure through, and one that in the case of this
boat, we were very pleased with overall.

  #3  
Old February 14th, 2012, 03:13 AM posted to rec.roller-coaster,rec.travel.cruises
GodsOnSafari
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 47
Default TR: Norwegian Pearl Pt. 2 (Boat Review, 1/1-1/8/12)

Did they still have the Chihuly sculpture in the atrium? *I didn't
care for the
icicles, but really love Chihuly. *One of the other things I liked about the
Pearl which you may not have noticed, being in a suite was that the carpets in
the corridors had fish on them and the fish were swimming towards the bow.. *So
if you lost track of where you were, you only had to look down.


Yes! I knew I'd seen that exact work before in a few other locations
(Mohegan Sun Casino comes to mind). Its a spectacular piece.

And we did know about the fish. A nice touch.

I felt the same about the food and the service on NCL. *We almost never ate at
the specialty restaurants that had an upcharge, and the service was good. *We
also traveled during a high occupancy time (Christmas -New Years) and the only
problem we had was that with so many large family groups that wanted to eat
together, we couldn't get a table with a mixture of other people at dinner.

 




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