We chose the 11 day cruise to the Southern Carribean mainly because it was a repositioning cruise back to NY. Last month we were on the Dawn & visited the majority of the islands offered on the Pearl. All the islands are beautiful, & worth seeing again however on a repositioning cruise your time is quite limited on some of the islands. Cruise population were mainly east coast people because of the convenience of NYC end point.

This is our 2nd time on the Pearl & we have an 11 day Panama Canal cruise booked for November 2019 on the Pearl. The Pearl was our 1st NCL ship & probably my favorite ship because of its staff/crew. A lot of the Pearl's employees are on a 2nd or 3rd contracts with that ship so it was wonderful to see people that remembered you from previous visits. The employees on this ship are probably the friendliest I have encountered on a whole on my 6 cruises with NCL. Embarkation in Tampa was effortless and despite the previous cruise being a charter cruise we were on the ship within 45 mins. Disembarkation in NYC was orderly & fast too. Food on the cruise was good although on a lengthier cruise you tend to get tired of the same daily menu. For the 1st time on a NCL cruise, we had a horrible cabin steward. We tend to stay up late in the casino & get up early for daily activities so we spend hardly any time in our cabin yet our cabin was hardly ever made up. We met our steward the 1st day & he seemed lovely. However, on a sea day he was very annoyed that my husband was sleeping in late because it was a "early" day for him. We had a towel animal once in 11 days & I laughed because I couldn't figure out if it was actually an animal or if he just dumped extra towels on the bed. I decided to call it a sting ray without a tail. I've read that NCL is limiting their towel animals so maybe our steward decided to implement that policy immediately. There was a new cruise director on this ship, Pedro & the assistant cruise director was Tiara. Both were good. However, all games & activities on NCL ships are scripted & the same on every ship, down to the jokes they tell. Some cruise directors do better with the material, others are just flat. As always, entertainment is variable. The show Legends was outstanding! The aerialists are always wonderful on every ship. The production staff was really good but the stand out show for me was a singer that got on the boat at St. Lucia & was doing 2 cruises back to back. Chris Burke was amazing! He had a beautiful voice & was so humbled to be performing to a crowd that clearly adored hm. He loves what he does & it was reflected in his performances. There was a comedian named Puck that people enjoyed. I intended to see his performances but when you're doing well in the casino it's hard to leave a winning table. There was also a hypnotist named Dale k that people enjoyed. He does 2 shows on the cruise; general admission to all & adults only. Casino was more busy, consistently then other boats I have been on. All the casino staff are outstanding! All the islands are beautiful. We got to Bonaire (1 of my favorite islands) are 7am & nothing opens in Bonaire until 9:30am. St. Lucia on a Saturday is market day so except it to be hectic & crowded. St. Kitts is a beautiful island & you'll love it if you want pictures with little monkeys or to see monkeys in the wild. Once it port, don't be surprised if you unexpectedly have a monkey in your arms & your camera is clicking pictures. For $10 you can exchange the monkey for your camera/cell phone. The monkey "owners" are very adapt at maneuvering their monkey & your camera in seconds. St. Thomas was also a short visit from 7am to 1pm. Probably the most memorable for me on this cruise was entering NYC. I've lived in NYC my whole life but to see the faces & emotions of the crew/staff seeing NYC for the 1st time was amazing! A lot of the crew were emotionally taken aback seeing NYC for the 1st time & sending pictures back to their families at home. There were a lot of tears & a lot of happiness & joy seeing a famous city for the 1st time & disbelief that they were actually looking at the statute of liberty or freedom tower. Overall, a great cruise.