There were many things I enjoyed about the cruise. The NORWEGIAN PEARL had been in dry-dock earlier in 2017 and everything was clean and freshly painted. Every member of the crew that I encountered, without fail, was pleasant, courteous and very helpful. The food was good. I particularly liked the Summer Palace dining room. My cabin was small, but nothing that I wasn’t aware of well in advance. It would have been nice to have a chair to sit on in the cabin instead of the little round stool. The entertainment was good. The stops en route were interesting. NCL had arranged for a man from Panama to come aboard when we transited the canal and give a nice, informative commentary over the PA system for the entire length of the canal. That was very enjoyable.

There were several things about the trip that I found disappointing. I am a single traveler, so I had to pay double for my cabin. For this reason I chose to watch very carefully any expenditures for extra things during the trip. I avoided having my picture taken, but that was easy. The shore excursions were priced more than I thought was reasonable. The drinks onboard the ship were just too expensive. I would have enjoyed an occasional drink, but $10 to $13 each plus an 18% charge added to that was just too much. I ended up having just one bottle of cider during the entire two weeks. The ship has no self-serve laundry room for passengers to use. Had I used their laundry service it would have cost me about $20 per day. Keep in mind that’s for only one person. Some might think this extreme, but I ended up doing laundry each evening in my cabin. Not fun. Wet laundry hanging in a small cabin does not add to the charm. I had signed up for a ship-sponsored bus to the airport after the cruise. They got so far behind schedule that I had to give up on the bus and take a taxi. NCL would not refund what I had been charged for the bus. There was a $14 per day charge for tips. I can only hope that it actually gets to the crew members.

All in all, I enjoyed the cruise. In making future plans I would avoid any ship without a self-serve laundry room. I have friends who said drinks on their cruises weren’t nearly as expensive. I’ll have to consider those cruise lines when I make plans.