Norwegian Pearl Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,402 reviews

Dad always wanted to cruise the canal

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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Auntda22
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Nov 2019
Cabin: Mid-Ship Oceanview Picture Window

We only cruise with Norwegian, very casual friendly atmosphere. No strict schedules to go by! I cruised with my dad, stepmom, and a friend of mine. In Cartagena we took a party bus, plenty of free rum and cokes with the price of your ticket, and ride around town with your own 3pc band, 3 stops, dancing and shopping as well as history all in this tour. Next was the canal, we didn’t get off but those who did were gone from 9am until we went back through the canal and around the island to pick them back up at 5:30pm, a narrator talks through the canal explaining the canal. Puerto Limon we decided to walk into town, didn’t feel safe just the 2 of us right downtown so we went back, would recommend a tour with a group here. Roatan is beautiful but the beach was full of people selling stuff and the water was full of seaweed, to the point we got out of the water. My favorite was Harvest Caye, Belize it’s a private island, new and clean and safe. Parasailing here is great, can recommend that!! People aren’t pushy at all and very friendly. Costa Maya has a long dock so be ready for a bit of a walk, lots of shops right off the pier and several places to take trips or taxis. 4 days at sea were very relaxing. Will definitely travel with Norwegian again.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Oceanview Picture Window

Wasn’t happy with the room temperature, seemed stuffy and warm all the time. Set as low as it would go, we called 4 different times to have it checked, never got cooler, we finally gave up. Cabin steward was awesome and very friendly.

Port Reviews

Colon (Cristobal)

Walked ashore, only made it a block away. 2 ladies together did not feel really safe so we bought a couple souvenirs and snuck behind the people hounding you to buy stuff and went back to the ship.

Costa Maya

After a bit of a walk on the pier into town there is a large area for shopping which also has areas for eating and a bar. If you can see that there will be more than one cruise ship on the island that day I would suggest going in early as there were three ships docked by the time we finished shopping and we’re headed back. The shopping area is very crowded with that many ships at one time.

Puerto Limon

We decided to walk into town and do a little shopping, you have to exit through a jail type cell, barred area. Local people were sticking their arms through the bars trying to get you to come go on their tour or ride in their taxi and yelling at you the whole time, we tried to exit with a larger group of people so they would leave us alone. After we got through that crowd we went through a local park that a man was pointing up into the trees to show us a sloth and a few local birds, there were people walking through the park trying to convince you to go with them to their shopping areas, we went to one local store then right back to the ship. There were only two of us ladies by ourselves and I did not feel overly safe. I did talk to several people on the ship that had taken excursions booked through the ship, and they said the island was beautiful. I would suggest if leaving the ship that you take a tour if you’re not in a large group.

Harvest Caye

This is Norwegian Cruise lines private part of Belize, everything was very new and clean there were restrooms, a pool, private beach, and several excursions to do on the island. There are several shops to look around in, there was an ice cream parlor, items on the island had to be purchased the food was not free. There is quite a walk from the ship in to the island but it is under a covered awning, there are golf carts available for people who cannot make the walk. We took a para sailing tour which I would highly recommend. The island was not over crowded as we were the only ship there. Really enjoyed it!

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