10 Nights Greek Isles: Santorini & Athens from Istanbul Cruise

Perfect? No. But an excellent cruise nonetheless

Overall our cruise experience was excellent. Perfect? No, but it was an excellent experience overall. Embarkation - nailed it! No hassle. THANK YOU! The staff - Outstanding everywhere - and there were lots of them. A special shout out to Saw, Velisto ("V") and Cristina at the Martini Bar. It became our "go to" bar for this cruise because of the amazing service. Our room attendant Nowaz was excellent in every way as well. This is an excellent itinerary and definitely the right time of the year. Ports were not crazy busy, weather was excellent (not scorching) and with the exception of the tender operation for Kotor, Montenegro, they were very well organized. Kotor was a NCL tender operation and it was horribly understaffed with equipment. We paid for priority service and it still took 2 hours to get to shore. A real gong show. Food Service....generally very good, but there were 'misses'. We LOVE freestyle dining v. set times. There was a wait on one occassion but that was ok, we went back to our favourite martini bar to wait. The main dining rooms (Summer Palace and Indigo) were generally loud although the service was good (not great). Always friendly and polite but they seemed way too busy at times. The downside of freestyle is that you do not see the same dining room staff and I think that is unfortunate. Food was good but we were disappointed at one dinner - food was not up to scratch that evening but that was the exception. The set menu could use more variation night to night, but not a deal breaker. Garden Cafe (buffet) was good but it could be changed up more than it was. I did miss not having the nacho/taco station that was on Princess. There was a different theme each evening but I personally did not find it particularly appealing when we did go to the buffet. Breakfast was standard fare, but it was very good - it was my wife's preferred spot. O'Sheehan's offers pub style casual dining ....24 hours a day. This is an outstanding venue which we visited regularly. It was my favourite spot for brunch. They have set menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night, but they are very flexible - have a craving for something off menu? They will try to accomodate. Again, great staff. An amazing venue that no other cruiseline has figured out yet. It is a big PLUS for NCL. Specialty dining? We did Cagneys (steakhouse) and Moderno (Brazilian steakhouse). I did send my filet mignon back at Cagneys (too well done). No fuss, no problem - came back a few minutes later ...perfect! Excellent - food, service, experience ...as always! Cleanliness... Zero issues. The NCL "washy washy" crew was hard at work throughout the cruise. Everything seemed clean. Public washrooms, and I use them a lot, were ALWAYS clean. Our cabin was kept spotless. Even touch up work around the ship was happening early morning. Ship was in great shape. I have read lots of these Pearl reviews and I am perplexed - I think I observed one table that needed to be cleared in the main buffet on one morning, but otherwise absolutely NO cleanliness issues anywhere ...and I look for these issues. Entertainment.... Overall, a disappointment. The overall quality seems to have slipped since COVID. This is a smaller ship than Breakaway so there are fewer venues. That limits the entertainment choices so if you are not a fan of what's happening, it is really limiting. Comedy? No. Silent Disco? No. The main theater had two shows each evening (7 & 9 pm). Some shows were good (main singers & dancers - 3 different nights). Magic show? Lame. Other shows? Did not tweak our curiosity enough to even check them out. Watch a movie under the stars? No thanks. If you did not care for what was happening that evening you were on your own - no other options for that time slot. For us, this was disappointing but not a deal breaker. We were not a fan of the cruise director. We paid for a wine tasting on this cruise. I LOVE red wine. My favourite wine was a white. BAD. This is the only wine tasting I have ever done in 30 years where we went from red to white. The sommelier attempted to defend this process but I/we think it was the quality of the reds that dictated this perverse approach. Bad experience at ANY price - ridiculous. AVOID the wine tasting. Cabin ...we had a club balcony cabin for this cruise. We loved the washroom. The modest increase in space made a huge difference in the utility of the area. There were three adults in our cabin so the slightly larger footprint was a HUGE hit. Loved the room. No issues. Did not really care for what sounded like dragging of deck chairs early in the morning, but again, not a deal breaker. Our attendant (Nowaz) was amazing - always a smile and a warm greeting. Everything requested was handled on a very timely basis. Other cabin attendants that we met seemed equally friendly. Absolutely no issues here. Customer Relations desk ...I had questions at different times throughout the cruise and visitied with these people. It was very busy at times so I picked my spots. No issues with the staff and I got what I needed. Disembarking ...not great, but it is about as well as it can be done when you have so many people leaving within such a short window. We had no issue finding our luggage. Excursions ...I find all cruiseship excursions to be ridiculously priced and NCL is no different. We did our own research (Viator, Google amongst others) and booked our own private tours, and had a blast. The NCL gong show in Kotor was challenging but we did overcome ....lol. Miscellaneous ...I do wish that this ship had more power outlets throughout the ship. By the way, this is my pet peeve on most cruise ships. Our electronic devices had limited or no battery power so we were always hunting for juice. We always found it, but we had to work at it at times. Yes, the upgrade cost for internet service is outrageous. I had to visit the help desk upon boarding to get it running on my first device but after that it worked well for everyone. I think NCL has the highest upcharge for internet in the industry. It is a must have for us so we always plan on the gouging in our travel budget for this cruiseline. Specialty drink package did not include specialty coffees - disappointing. I really missed my morning double capucinno, but not enough to pay more for it. Overall, this was a busy ship but it did not feel crowded. Great staff! Really clean! Good food! Were there issues? Sure, but nothing is perfect. It was an excellent cruise. We would definitely recommend Pearl and for anyone that has not visited Santorini, Mykonos, Olympia, Kotor, Dubvrovnick or Split ...GO, not to be missed!!!!

Wonderful Cruise with Old World Theme!

We had a wonderful cruise on the Pearl from Rome to Athens. NCL booked us great flights with only one layover each way. We pretty much got to spend two days in Rome, landing at 9am and Two days in Athens. NCL allows for 2 night deviations when choosing their air plan which we love. We booked this cruise for the intensive, old world itinerary and the BOGO airfare certainly helped make this cruise a reality for us. Embarkation was a breeze and the terminal in Civitavechia is very nice. Disembarking in Athens was a little slow but with our two night deviation we were in no hurry and had a nice breakfast in mdr that morning before departing the ship. Taxis were easy to get, just had to fine the line. We do enjoy the Jewel/Dawn class ships very much. We know they are not the latest and greatest but they are easy to get around and it seems like we can always find a seat somewhere. Our port days were so long we didnt really have time to do much on the ship besides eat, perhaps hangout a little bit outside and sleep. So we really cant comment on any of the shows. The bartenders where friendly and upbeat. The public spaces were relatively clean and kept. Wait staff for the most part were cheerful as well. I wasnt expecting much from the food on board. I really hope ncl and food prices in general can get worked out. We only ate at the mdr a few times and the food was just ok. Cagneys 2x and Le Bistro 1x were very good. Osheehans was good as well. We would have loved to eat at the chinese restaurant on board but the cover charge of $50 person was too much for us. This was the first cruise we did not indulge in the chinese restaurant, Lotus Garden, on board which was a bummer as the food has always been above average in the past and the green tea ice cream is fantastic. All of the port stops were wonderful! Most stops we were there with ample time to do a tour and then explore on your own with many port stops departing at dusk or night. Which we love. Our tours booked through NCL varied from excellent to average with most being very good. Our Instanbul by land and sea through ncl was just an outstanding tour and it has to be way up their, if not number one of all the tours we have booked through ncl over the years. The lets take a selfie tour in mykonos was okay. The tour to Oia in Santorini was just too short, very crowded, but too short as they only gave you one hour in Oia which is just ridiculous. The tours we took in Crete to Knossos and in Rhodes to a baptistry and old town both had outstanding tour guides. Our three stops in Italy I arranged tours from outside of NCL and they did a wonderful job as well. Getting off the ship in all cases was relatively easy. We did end up tendering in Mykonos which turned out to be a positive as the one ship pier that was in use on our day is quite a walk from the old town and tendering for us didnt take that long. Both Santorini and Mykonos used the ports tenders not the ships which was a plus! Our room was an inside on deck 8 close the Osheehans. This was our first inside room, in the past we usually get an obstructed view room across the hall. We love this location. right by the main elevator shaft that takes us to the entry to the Garden buffet, Cagneys, the atrium, or down to the Indigo mdr. We are just one deck up from promenade which we like walking around on. All in all it was a wonderful trip from beginning to end and we are looking forward to our next cruise on Norwegian!

Haven - the Ultimate Experience

Recently traveled on the Pearl in the Haven 3-bedroom villa. Me, my sisteWr, brother and brother-in-law and my 8 yo disabled grandson. If you ever have an opportunity to sail in a Haven suite, do! We love cruising and NCL has never disappointed, but the Haven takes the experience to the next level. Our Concierge, Lou, ensured we were able to get reservations for shows, specialty dining and any other activities were available. Jafar, our butler, was always available to meet any needs or requests, at any time. I was a little nervous traveling with a wheelchair bound 8 year old for the first time, but NCL worked very closely with me prior to and during, to ensure any special accommodations or needs were able to be met. My grandson had to travel with special food (tube fed) and I worked with an accommodation specialist, prior to sailing to ensure we were able to bring all things needed on board without issue. Most other passengers were wonderful and did not make us feel we were in the way and were understanding. Dining - we ate at a variety of venues throughout the 11-day sailing. The buffet was good, nothing out of the ordinary, but good, great variety and certainly something for everyone in our group. As we were in the Haven, we were able to have breakfast and lunch in a "specialty" venue as there is not a Haven restaurant on the Pearl. As in the Haven restaurant on other NCL ships, the menu did not change from day to day, but enjoyed ordering different items on various days... the brie burger and shrimp louie turned out to be my favorites for many lunches. For specialty dining, we choose Le Bistro, La Cucina, Cagney's and Teppanyaki. My favorites were Le Bistro and Cagney's. We ate in the main dining room on most nights and I enjoyed the variety and being able to try different and new things. I was always able to have a wonder and relaxing dinner. I do love being able to order more than one appetizer/dessert, as sometimes you just can't make up your mind. I'm not the greatest in writing reviews, but wanted to say that NCL did not disappoint, all of the staff we encountered and interactived with, always made a feel special, even if only a smile and a greeting.