We are just back from one of those"free" Caesars trips. This one cost about $500 pp plus trips for a balcony cabin on the Pearl to Alaska and Glacier Bay. You might remember that I wrote extensively about taking the same route a couple of years ago, and in fact we have taken this exact cruise 3 times! I thought it might be worth mentioning a few changes. NOte the drinks are still free in the casino bar, but they have decreased the types of included well drinks (no bailey's Irish cream for example).
The good news is that we received 4 free specialty meals plus free internet due to NCL's sales that included extras. As Platinum NCL Latitude members we also got a meal to Le Bistro (French) with a bottle of wine. Both my husband and I got free trips, so we again each took a friend (the two are a couple), then onboard, asked for extra keys to each room and switched rooms. This is the easiest way to do a swap, if you trust the other people, and we checked bills at the end and made corrections. Another way is to actually swap rooms completely once on board.
We found the food on the ship generally excellent, especially in the specialty dining. My husband had some food requests (no pepper) and the specialty restaurants fixed him right up when he made a request in advance. MOderna (Brazillian) was outstanding. It has moved from sharing 8th floor space with The former Blue Lagoon (now O'sheenan's) to a private dining room on the 13th level near Cagney's steakhouse. This makes for a more intimate dining area. There is a small but excellent buffet of salad, soup, and other items, beautifully presented. Then the servers come around with meat and more meat, so if you like meat you are in for a treat. There is nicely flavored Brazillian chicken (2 kinds), lamb chops, pork sausage type things, sirloin, ribs, filet mignon and more, plus cooked pineapple, plantains, rice, and mashed potatoes. Service was excellent, and my friends said it was better than several Vegas Brazillian restaurants.
Cagney's steakhouse was fine, the Italian better than I remembered, Teppanyaki amusing (but too loud) with plenty to eat (though not as good as Benihana's to me). LeBistro was a bit disappointing, with bad swordfish, and so-so service.
However, it was easy to see that NCL has gone from nickel and diming to quarter and dollaring. It looks like they are heading to ala carte. At specialty restaurants if you want more than 2 appetizers, entree, and desert, you pay ala carte for extras. The "free" dining packages don't include gratuities and neither does the fee you pay. More items like lobster dishes are not included in the special specialty pricing.
The free main dining rooms have now added ala carte extra "specials" such as whole main lobster. This undercuts the whole thing about paying one flat fee for a cruise. The regular main dining room menus seemed a little better than the last time we sailed, but service was a little worse, with no one ever introducing themselves. Also upon entrance they ask for your room card for absolutely no reason I can see, which slows down entrance, and there is a quick pileup of people waiting at the door, even when they first open, even at the aft Summer restaurant. Freestyle my eye -- unless you are there right at opening, I advise you to book your free meals in advance. And because so many people are booking the specialty meals, be sure to book online in advance if at all possible if you like specific times (or any times! For specialty restaurants).
The buffet was more crowded than ever, possibly because people were confused by which restaurants are free (they don't advertise what is going on well to newbies), possibly because this was a very full cruise, I don't know. But it was REALLY hard to find a table at breakfast, so my friends kept sitting in LaCucina area (too far from hot food for me). They also no longer serve the pecan rolls I love every day, only twice during the trip (they are absolutely the best food on board). The good news was that ice cream was now available at lunch and dinner. There was also a make-your-own pasta area, but this good idea wasn't very well realized, since they didn't provide shrimp or chicken to go in it (at least not when I wanted it). There seemed to be less of the indonesian/asian entrees (a good thing) but also less of the big steamship round of beef or ham or other carved meats for dinner. Deserts were good, but they actually had a small selection of different deserts. Lemonade and flavored water was now available for non coffee or tea drinkers, also hot chocoate (and juice in morning).
There was no chocolate buffet. No midnight buffet.
I found the $7.95 per room service charge annoying and stupid, especially when I caught cold and had a fever and ended up staying in my room for a couple of days. Why should I pay extra for something that was traditionally free on cruises? And what happens when you are sick and don't want to pay these stupid extras for food you already paid for -- either you end up going to buffets or restaurants while sick (and infecting others) or your husband brings you food (and plates end up in the hall which cause more work for stewards). And if you do pay the charge, you no longer feel like tipping the people who bring the food, because you feel you just paid them. So in the end, the extra charges don't really save the cruise company much money, cause more outbreaks of disease, and annoy the passengers. False economy.
There were other signs of cutbacks on board -- number of entertainers was less. We had an overabundance of the same comedian. Number of dancers in the production shows was less, and stage was bare for not-so-great "Variety" show that was actually mostly Broadway and other tunes sung and danced (no variety acts). I missed big Legends in Concert show due to my illness. (Note that while 2nd city comedy troupe was overused in the past, I missed it because it did add variety, and nothing has replaced it.)
After having gone on more than one NCL cruise, I found the number of announcements for bingo, "seminars" that just want to sell you stuff, art auctions, and constant "really big sales" extremely annoying. Also annoying was the lack of tv programming in this age of satellite tv. If they can get BBC news, Fox news, MSNBC, and CNBC, why can't they get more channels than just those? There are also two movie channels showing fairly recent movies such as new Jungle Book and Batman vs Superman, but they repeated these over and over so it really wasn't as much variety as you thought at first. (Ask at front desk for a copy of movie list).
Cost of shore excursions in Alaska is extremely high (if not outrageously high). Book online in advance or on shore to save a bit, or just walk around towns. (Tip - Skagway's Frontier Excursion bus trip booked online much better and cheaper to Yukon than train trip).
Ship was still extremely cold inside (to me at least). Plan to wear layers inside and out.
Seating in Stardust main theater still problematic for handicapped folks. The handicapped row is also the wide row people use to get from one side of theater to other, so if you sit there, people are always hitting into you and stepping on your toes (or lack thereof) or hitting your bad legs. A new scooter area has been put in on the left side of 6th floor, but I found it hard to maneuver my scooter into it. Poor design. Access on and off ship for handicappers is theoretically better, but we went to the designated waiting area on one day and found confusion and a longer wait than if I had just scooted off the boat. Note handicapped people - book a handicapped room, you cannot park wheelchairs or scooters in the halls. Also you cannot take a ship's wheelchair off the ship, so bring or rent your own (or rent a scooter in advance -- this is a large ship).
Back to quarter and diming it -- NCL drinks on board are not cheap. $11 for a single shot of Bailey's Irish cream. At casino bar with the "free drink card" they will upgrade you for $5. Booze in Duty free area continues to go up in price and is generally not worth the inconvenience of having to pack it in checked luggage (check sizes though, 1 liter is much larger than usual fifth). You cannot carry any liquids on board, not even soda or water now.
As for Alaska, you can't beat the scenery. Global warming has made for a bit less of rainy weather there, but it can still be quite nippy even in August. Take umbrellas and layers of clothing. Don't forget to layer up your kids. (I saw some families heading out with some kids in shirts when the temperatures were in the 50s). There are free shuttles from some of the docks into town now, depending on where your ship docks. Bring binoculars. We saw several kinds of whales, seals, sea lions, and other critters right from the cruise ship.
Like many of the NCL ships, the Pearl could use more lounges and open seating areas. Many of these places used to be onboard but have now been converted to specialty dining rooms (or art auction space). And because there are fewer of these areas, there is also less entertainment.
Side note -- the Bliss lounge continues to confound me. It looks like an Arabian Nights lounge, complete with some beds, but they put in a bowling alley, making it weird and noisy. Going there for karaoke or other entertainment is crazy.
My final conclusion is that NCL continues its descent into second rate cruise line, and except for its exceptionally cheap (not FREE) offers for gamblers, is not worth choosing. Gamblers might want to look at cruise offers from independent marketers. We are going on one with Celebrity at end of year and getting much lower fees ($136 plus gratuities instead of $400-500 NCL charges for "free" cruises) plus independent host put us in suite and aqua class instead of the crappy inside and oceanviews Caesars regularly offers us now (with balconies rare exceptions). If you go on NCL, beware of extra fees for this and that, drink only at the casino bar to save money, and book tours outside the ship. Bon voyage.
Posted by: Misscraps <misscraps@aol.com>
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