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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
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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
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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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