My First Cruise in 10 Years: A Norwegian Pearl Review

Cruises were never really "my thing." I've always preferred immersing myself in one city and getting to know it properly, rather than doing what I call the "speed dating" version of travel; a few hours here, a few hours there, never quite enough time to fall in love with a place. This cruise was chosen as a family trip, because let's face it: cruises are all-inclusive and make it easy to bring everyone along, including children and older travellers. Was this the cruise that changed my mind about cruising altogether? Here is my Norwegian Pearl review and, if you're considering NCL for your first cruise, here's what you can really expect.

Katakolon, Greece

The Trip at a Glance

Ship: Norwegian Pearl

Cabin: Ocean View

Embarkation port: Athens (Piraeus), Greece

Itinerary: Chania, Greece

Katakolon (Olympia), Greece

Corfu, Greece

Kotor, Montenegro

Zadar, Croatia

Koper, Slovenia

Disembarkation Port: Ravenna, Italy (with onward transfer to Venice, Italy)

Nights: 7 nights

Sailed: June 2026

First Impressions: Boarding Day

I'd braced myself for a long embarkation day, because on my last cruise, over a decade ago, we spent hours in line just to board. However, boarding the Norwegian Pearl was easy and seamless. We boarded the ship in under two hours and most of that time was spent waiting for all the members of our party to arrive.

Even the safety briefing was quick, without hordes of people standing tired at their emergency stations, barely listening. Although, I will admit, I wasn't immediately swept off my feet by the ship itself. No dramatic "wow" moment walking on board, just a smooth, efficient start to the trip.

The Cabin Review

We had an ocean view room and walked in expecting the classic, small porthole window. We were pleasantly surprised that we got a huge window that took up almost the entire side wall of the room. That window made the space feel a bit bigger; and it became our favourite morning ritual to open the blinds as we sailed toward each port, just to watch the country's coastline come into view.

There was just enough room for us and our bags without everything tumbling over. The bathroom was nice too, although fairly standard as far as cruise bathrooms go. Location-wise, our room was near to the gym (which I appreciated more in theory than in practice), the spa, and just a short walk from the main buffet; handy for convenience, and less handy for the diet.

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  Cruise Bathroom

Food & Dining Onboard

I'll admit it: I'm not a buffet girl, so that's not where this review is going to shine. That said, there were a lot of buffet options and they rotated daily, which I'd imagine is standard across most cruise ships. The real highlight for me, though, was the specialty dining on the Norwegian Pearl.

We tried three specialty restaurants:

Teppanyaki - A hibachi-style restaurant where the servers were genuinely amusing, with songs and theatrics at the grill that kept the entire table entertained.

Cagney's Steakhouse - Solid across the board, with many steak options. This was the family favourite.

Le Bistro - My personal favourite. The French restaurant had top-notch service and excellent food. I love French cuisine, so the escargot was, without question, my standout meal of the entire cruise.

On the nights we skipped specialty dining and the buffet, we ate at Summer Palace and Indigo. The service there was a step up from the buffet, though not quite on par with the specialty venues. Heads up: some dishes overlap across the different restaurants, so it's worth asking your server what's actually unique at each.

Entertainment & Onboard Activities

It had been so long since my last cruise that I'd genuinely forgotten: a cruise ship is basically a floating city. There was entertainment every night to keep everyone entertained; my favourites were the 'Deal or No Deal' game show, the 'Not So Newlywed' game show, and 'Hoist the Colors: Celestial Pas de Deux' (an aerial acrobatics show).

There were many onboard activities, but what really stood out to me were the life-sized chess, mini golf, the climbing wall, and the multipurpose sports court. It was a shame for us because we love tennis and there wasn't any tennis equipment to utilise - only pickleball.

There were quite a few bits and bobs of shopping you could do on the cruise too. You could get duty-free shopping (once the boat was in international waters) and you could also go art shopping. My husband and I just loved looking at the pieces; although some were a bit on the pricey side, we did manage to collect a few.

One small logistical note: duty-free shopping only opens once the ship is far enough from port, so don't go looking for it too early in the day.

We loved that in the time before dinner, there was never a dull moment.

Ports of Call

Our cruise stops were absolutely amazing; however, a few of our ports shifted along the way; in Croatia, Split was swapped for Zadar and in Greece, Santorini was swapped for Chania, Crete.

Some of my highlights included Chania's old town and its surprisingly great leather goods; walking in the footsteps of ancient Olympians in Olympia; wandering Corfu's markets for fresh cherries; and sailing into picturesque Kotor, Montenegro, which was hands-down my favourite stop.

(I'll be going deeper into each of these ports of call in a separate port-by-port shore excursion guide, so keep an eye out for that one.)

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Disembarkation Day

With boarding being so smooth, I was curious about the disembarkation process. Disembarkation is built with your experience in mind - there's a system to it. Luggage tags were dropped off a few days prior disembarkation, and your bag needed to be out of your door by 10:00 pm the night before, with your designated luggage tag. There was a paper advising when each group will be called to disembark; but it also came over the PA system on the morning of disembarkation. On that morning, we went for breakfast early to secure a seat, then made our way off the ship to our bus transfer to Venice Marco Polo Airport. We then took a taxi to our hotel for the final leg of our trip.

What Surprised Me (Good and Bad)

The bad:

• I got a bit seasick eating dinner at Cagney's, because of its location near the bow of the ship. This isn't something I remember feeling on previous cruises.

• Elevator wait times could be quite long, so we ended up taking the stairs most of the time.

• On a few port days, we had to pay for our own transfer to the city centres. I saw other cruise lines offering complimentary transfers, which made me a bit disappointed in NCL.

• On departure, we had to pay close to $100 USD per person just to get from Ravenna to the airport in Venice, in addition to a taxi from the airport to our hotel, due to how far the port in Ravenna was from Venice.

The good:

• You have access to almost everything you need without leaving the ship.

• There's also something about waking up in a brand-new destination every single day, without having to go through immigration and border control every single time.

• The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. Crew members greeted everyone as they walked in to the buffet with a cheery " washy washy, happy happy, smiley smiley' to make the sanitisation process even a bit more fun.

• Our cruise director, Jess, was absolutely amazing and genuinely hilarious. She made even the driest news over the announcement system highly entertaining.

• The variety of shows and activities made sure that there was never a dull moment on board and that there was something for everyone.

Will NCL be seeing me again?

Yes, I would absolutely cruise with NCL again. Aside from the few rocky moments, this was a genuinely great experience.

What struck me most? How beautiful it is basking in the beauty of the sunsets, or watching land past by, from a ship.

Have you cruised with NCL before, or are you thinking about booking your first one? I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments! If you're planning a Mediterranean cruise of your own, keep an eye out for my full port-by-port shore excursion guide, coming soon.