Norwegian Pearl Review

Some very nice staff but horribly managed

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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Had2reviewPearl
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Dec 2018
Cabin: Mid-Ship Mini-Suite with Balcony
Traveled with children

I don't think I'll cruise with Norwegian again, and certainly not out of Tampa. There was not a lot that was better than other cruises I have been on in the past, and plenty that was much worse.

First of all, we were affected by a fog delay. Obviously, that part is not controllable by the cruise line, but their handling of the issue was terrible. We had separate reservations for three different cabins and I was the only one to receive notifications about the delay (via text). If we had been coordinating with the others, they probably wouldn't have been notified at all. Additionally, as this cruise was departing on 12/30 (which I guess is considered a holiday by the company) they shut down their customer service line early, while there were literally thousands of people lined up outside with no guidance. I actually did speak with the a representative earlier that day, who was very pleasant and nice, but gave me very different information than everybody else gave me. The lady actually told me that because I was traveling with two small children (1 year-old and 2 year-old), as well as my 75-year old mother, that we would be able to join the priority boarding given how late the boarding was. We were slotted for a 10am boarding time (with scheduled 1pm departure) but we were told to arrive at 9pm (first, it was 6pm) due to the fog delay, which meant that we had nowhere to go (we ended up having to pay for a hotel room just so our kids could rest). We ended up waiting in line for 4-5 hours, which as you can imagine, was utter hell for our family. We had understandably tired, screaming and restless children, who were being kept in a line until 1am when they normally go to be at 8pm. At no point, were there any announcements made to the crowd. The only representatives we saw were only addressing people in Haven (premiere level) and suites to move them to priority boarding. The next day, we found out that we would be skipping one of the four ports of call and I don't ever remember getting any notification other than some paltry onboard credit that appeared on the account with no explanation.

The cruise itself was hit or miss. Many of the staff were very pleasant, but I have found that to be the case on all of the cruises (Carnival, Royal Caribbean). There were also a handful of staff that didn't have the best attitude, but they were in the minority. We went into this trip knowing that Norwegian wasn't as toddler friendly (no drop-off care/activities for children under 3 years old, etc.), but it was still worse than expected. They planned all of the toddler activities (parent participation required, which was fine) at the most awkward times for toddlers (prime toddler meal times like noon and 5pm), and they located the smoking section of the deck right next to the kiddie pool area. They also seemed to have a systematic system for filling their dining rooms, with no regard for small children. They would start at one end of the restaurant and then fill tables back, but I thought this was weird because they were sticking us with our loud children next to people that wanted to enjoy a nice meal. This was less of an issue for us, but I felt bad for the people near us. At one point, an old lady yelled "QUIET!" in a nearby table when my 1 year-old started screaming (he's admittedly loud). Also worth noting is that about half of the high chairs had broken buckles, which was not the biggest deal but certainly not ideal.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin MA
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