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Norwegian Pearl 10-2007: Disembarkation Day
By Steph | November 13, 2007
DISEMBARKATION: Our flight was not leaving Miami until 2:45pm so we enjoyed Freestyle Disembarkation. We chose the Express Walk Off Program. With this option you are free to disembark at anytime after the ship is cleared up until they call for all guests to disembark. You must carry off all your luggage to participate in this program.
So on our final morning we got up at 7:45am, showered and then headed to breakfast. After breakfast we headed back to the cabin and packed. We were out of our cabin by 9:30am so that our cabin steward would have access to the room to prepare it for the next guests. We were given a list of things we could do while we waited to disembark. We planned to head to the Bliss Lounge, but we couldn’t even exit the elevator on deck 7 because of throngs of people waiting to get off the ship. We headed away from the crowds and sat in some window seats and read until they made they final call to disembark. We walked right off the ship at 10:30am without having to fight the crowds. There was a bit of a line at immigration, but I think we spent less than 10 minutes waiting.
Grabbed a taxi and $24 plus a tip later we were at the airport. Checked in and made it through security and then grabbed lunch. We flew American home because I had travel vouchers on this airline as well. Lots of flights were delayed because of weather issues. We came really close to getting to volunteer off this flight for $300 in vouchers each. We love getting free flights from free flights. The budget traveler comes out again. At the last second they called our names and said they didn’t need us to volunteer off today. We were the last ones on the plane. We were slightly delayed, but had plenty of time to make our connection in St. Louis. Landed in Indianapolis and we were picked up by my BIL. No problems with our flight home.
SUMMARY: We enjoyed our Freestyle experience. The ship is large and beautiful with plenty to offer. We enjoyed getting a table for two for dinner. Although, we noticed that we felt less connected to other cruisers. We did meet some people at the spa, on excursions, in the lounges, etc. The food was good, not excellent except for Cagney’s and La Cucina. The inside cabins are small, but well designed. The spa was a slice of heaven. The variety of entertainment was great. The staff was friendly. The itinerary was great.
I still would like to take a longer cruise next time. I was jealous of the people who stayed on board for the 9 night cruise to follow. I did purchase a Future Cruise Credit, so we will be cruising with Norwegian again. We also have a cruise booked with 28 of our friends and counting for January 2008 so the obsession continues.
Topics: Cruise, trip report |
August 10th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Thanks for the post