We chose this cruise because we canceled a group cruise and we had friends already booked on this sailing. Going into it, we knew the Pearl was an older ship. However, it had been refurbished or that's what is being told on NCL's website. The cabins were partially refurbished with mismatching furniture. Our Room Steward was awful. He was never around. We did not receive towel animals which is customary. After the cruise, we found out towel animals were by request only due to environmental concerns. I wholeheartedly agree with that change but at the time, we did not know. So when I went to Guest Services to complain that our Room Steward was never around and we hadn't received towel animals, the agent said she will have a special treat for us later delivered to the room. I was not expecting anything but that was nice. I was in the room when the Steward came in without knocking or announcing himself. He said, "did you order ten towel animals?" I said I asked for one at night but not ten. I left and later there were ten towel animals in our cabin.

The Glow Party/White Hot Party was indoors which was odd and not as fun as it is outdoors on other NCL sailings we have enjoyed. The Cruise Director was OK.

Disembarkation at the end of our cruise in New Orleans was horrendous! We were two hours behind schedule and almost missed our flight. I asked what was going to happen when larger ships started sailing out of New Orleans and the staff didn't have an answer. The Pearl has a capacity of 2,394 passengers and the Getaway has a capacity of 3,963 passengers. I can only imagine what the wait time to disembark almost 4000 passengers would be!