The
Norwegian Pearl was completed at Meyer Werft of Papenburg, Germany, in November 2006. She weighs 93,530 tons and measures 965 ft. Innovations are Norwegian Cruise Line's first rock-climbing wall and a four-lane 10-pin bowling alley. The
Pearl offers 10 restaurants and a wide range of public rooms. Her 2,394 passengers are looked after by Norwegian officers and a 1,000-member crew primarily from Eastern European countries and the Philippines.
Fellow passengers include couples in their 20s to those in retirement and multi-generational family groups, in a vein similar to Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean. Gratuities are added to the final bill on the basis of $10 a day per person. The result can be perfunctory service in the main restaurants, while usually more willing in the specialty restaurants.
In the summer months, the Pearl cruises from Seattle on 7-day round trips along the Inside Passage to Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay and Victoria, B.C. Then in the fall, she comes down the coast and passes through the Panama Canal to begin alternating 5- and 9-night Western and Southern Caribbean itineraries through the spring.
The single most popular meeting place is aptly named Bar Central on Deck 6, combining Shakers Martini & Cocktail Bar, Magnum's Champagne & Wine Bar, and Maltings Beer & Whiskey Pub. Bliss Ultra Lounge and Nightclub forward on the deck above offers live music, dancing and cabaret entertainment, and multiple TV screens for sporting events. Spinnakers Lounge, an observation room high up on Deck 13, tiers down to a dance floor and stage for daytime and nighttime music and dancing. The main show lounge, the Stardust Theater, presenting Broadway and Las Vegas-style revues, slopes downward for the equivalent of three decks into a gaily decorated setting. Side pockets provide intimate seating and suite passengers enjoy a reserved section. The Pearl Club Casino has high-stakes blackjack, roulette, three-card poker, Texas Hold ‘em, stud poker, craps, and 200 slot machines.
To escape the crowds, head up to Deck 12 for the library and reading and writing room, card room, and a lifestyles room for enrichment courses, plus a chapel and three private meeting spaces. The 24-hour Internet Cafe's eight terminals sell blocks of time to reduce costs; provisions are made for wireless and in-cabin access. South Pacific Health Spa and Beauty Salon, operated by Mandara Spa, has 20 treatment rooms, including three for couples. The Body Waves Fitness Center offers a wide range of gym machines, with the treadmills and cardiovascular workout equipment having individual flat-screen TVs. Scheduled aerobics and yoga classes are held on a sprung wooden floor. A suite of men's and women's steam and sauna rooms, a plunge bath, whirlpools, jet-current exercise pool, indoor lap pool, whirlpool and hydrotherapy pool round out the options. For sports-minded passengers, dual-purpose areas are set up for basketball and volleyball and court and paddle tennis, plus two golf driving nets, mini-golf, and a giant chess board. The rock-climbing wall, at the rear of the ship's funnel, has different routes varying in difficulty. A four-lane 10-pin bowling alley is inside.
Kids, who have their own snack and soda cafe, will find programs divided into four age groups: 2-5, 6-8, 9-12 and 13-17. For teenagers, the New York subway-themed Underground Teens' Club offers computers, video arcade with 35 machines and a lounge retreat. The Splashdown Kids' Club for the youngest ones has a supervised gym, movies, computer center, arts and crafts area with a kids' pool, waterslide and four whirlpools.
Freestyle dining is what NCL is all about. Screens placed about the ship indicate restaurant seating status. Passengers receive a beeper that signals when their table is ready. Individual restaurant managers can make reservations for any location that evening or for a future night. In addition, reservations can be had by phoning ahead or showing up at the Crystal atrium desk daily between 11:30 am and 5 pm. For traditional dining, a reserved table with the same waiter each day is an option in the two main dining rooms. The Summer Palace, in opulent gold and white Russian style, and the smaller Indigo, done in a modern style. The extra-tariff restaurants include Cagney's Steak House, impressively decorated with paintings and photos of some of America's top criminals. Before or after dinner, the adjacent Star Bar has a delightful piano lounge atmosphere. For suite passengers, Cagney's becomes available for breakfast and lunch. For some, Le Bistro is the best of the extra-tariff specialty restaurants, here located in place of the third main dining room found on the other ships and thus having large windows rather than interior views. The French menu offers onion soup, escargots in garlic butter, seared yellow-fin tuna, salmon in Sorrel cream sauce, and oven-glazed sea bass in a Chardonnay mousseline.
Lotus Garden Asian Restaurant (extra tariff) features sushi, sashimi, a 180-seat table seating restaurant, and a 32-seat Tepanyaki Room arranged at two horseshoe-shaped counters for the entertaining cooking display. At no extra charge, La Cucina Italian Restaurant has it own permanent space in the style of a trattoria with checkered tablecloths and wooden tables. Mambo's Latin Tapas Restaurant is for spicy meals and small plates. The diner-style Blue Lagoon (no extra charge) offers crisp potato skins, shepherd's pie, Buffalo chicken wings, beef burgers, and English fish and chips. Down below at the lower atrium reception level the Java Cafe sells frozen coffees, espresso, cappuccino, tea, pastries and cookies. The Garden Cafe lido buffet, located high up on Deck 12, avoids queuing with freestanding serving stations that display soup and pasta, salads, sandwich fixings, ethnic specialties including, and at breakfast prepared-to-order omelets and waffles. For a peaceful setting, The Great Outdoors, is a smaller buffet positioned at the stern with table settings high over the wake.
The Pearl's 1,197-unit accommodations take 2,394-passengers on a double-occupancy basis. A myriad of cabin fare categories are available; the largest number of cabins are either oceanview with balcony, oceanview or inside. These three types are spread over Decks 10, 9, and 5 with a small number of cabins on Deck 4. Deluxe owner's suites offer 928 sq ft of living space with private courtyard area with pool, hot tub, gym equipment, steam room and sun deck, living room and dining area, bedroom with king bed, full bath, whirlpool tub and a separate shower, flat-screen TV with CD/DVD player and private library. Five owner's suites are only slightly less luxurious. The 10 courtyard villas share a private interior courtyard with a swimming pool, whirlpool and deck chair lounge area protected by a roll-back dome. The master bath is set alongside the windows with flat-screen TVs above the tub and all have a second inside bedroom designed for one or two children. These clustered accommodations are ideal for a group of friends or large families traveling together.
In other categories, the owner's suite, Romance Suite with its view over the bow, mini-suite and balcony and outside cabins come with large baths having separate water closet, shower and washstand compartments. All staterooms, including insides, have rich cherry-wood finish, interactive TV, hair dryer, safe, refrigerator and tea- and coffeemakers. Some are interconnected to create larger family quarters in flexible combinations of two, three, four and five bedrooms.
