Seas2mountains

I also thought it was a joke about the cookies being gone. Still can’t believe it was and is a real thought. 🤷‍♀️

Is this the one of same granddaughters who you want to eat off the kids menu when at specialty dining? So she has to meet a cookie sales quota on the cruise AND eat off the kids menu?

Thank you again for the great live review! We will be on the Epic for the first time in December and will also be in the Haven. I have heard other say they really like the Haven on Epic but would love to hear your thoughts on it. Sorry to hear about the bar staff being disappointing and I would also be really frustrated if they substituted ingredients without telling people in advance. Enjoy your last day at sea. Hope the job situation gets resolved in your favor. There have been times in my career that the door closed on a job I wanted but later on I saw that it really was a blessing and something better came along. When we have a lot of non refundable OBC remaining at the end of a cruise, we spend it on expensive face or eye creams that are found in the cruise shops and they don’t take up too much space in our luggage.

Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We agree on needing more musical entertainment. We usually like going to the District for piano entertainment on the Breakaway and B+ ships. Congratulations on earning Sapphire status! We tend to use our Latitude specialty dining coupons at Teppanyaki or Moderno.

Would love to hear what ship you were on when you experienced this and when that was? Despite the expected changes that happened after Covid and as cruise lines struggle to pay back massive amounts of debt, we have gone on a dozen cruises on NCL since 2021. We’ve had such a great time that we keep going back and we are bringing our kids and grandkids. Change is going to happen. We get frustrated by the changes, too. The cruises have not always been perfect but we really honestly had a great time. We can’t wait to get on another cruise in less than two weeks, with family in less than 90 days, and shortly after that to explore Norway and Iceland and more. It is such a blessing to be able to cruise and there are so many people who wish they could experience crunchy shrimp or the ability to hear live music in a beautiful setting while the ship gently rocks as the sun sets. I know we are so lucky to have this opportunity and there are so many cruise line options to choose from. What will you do with these responses? Will you book on another cruise line?

Thank you for the recommendation. I’m going to try the Lobster Thermidor in about two weeks. My husband usually gets the Sea Bass and I usually get the Dover Sole and we have found it to be consistently good on all ships. The Filet de Boeuf is also good and it’s fun to try to say it with a French accent. We love the escargot, too, and our granddaughter loves the French Onion Soup. The Marquis au Chocolat (second photo from end) is amazing if you have room for dessert. The shape is quite interesting and we’ve had servers laugh about it and my husband makes jokes about it every time I order it. I also like the Frazier for dessert.

We have had Ocean Blue on the first and last night of the cruise and have not noticed a difference in quality. We honestly thought the seafood was all probably frozen anyways. I would recommend it for one of your choices. It is a favorite of ours and was also for our son and his fiancée, too, when we were on the Escape last summer. (They call it Bayamo on Escape but it is the same menu.) Ocean Blue recommendations. Appetizer - Blazing Shrimp Soups/Salads - all good choices Entree - Fisherman’s platter especially if it is a good catch of the day. My husband likes it fried and I like it grilled. Sadly the Brussels sprouts are no longer available to order as a side. Here are some photos. The bread was really good, too. It was a bonus to be able to sit outside on the waterfront the first night.

I agree about NCL not being consistent with what is served. Here are the brownies we found in the buffet on the Gem around mid-afternoon over President’s Day weekend. We did not try one. The cookies still made an appearance in the Haven/suite lounge in the Port of Miami and also in the Haven pool area each day. They are too dry and crunchy for me.

Thank you for doing a live review! Posting again as the first post disappeared. The cookies are sadly only being provided to people booked in the Haven or suites. We were on the Gem in the Haven about a week ago and saw the cookies in the Miami terminal Haven/Suites boarding area. We saw them again in the Haven pool area. Other posters are correct that they are no longer being served in the buffet. Haven only. We did not see them when we walked through the buffet area to get to Great Outdoors. Have a wonderful cruise! Looking forward to following along. 😎

We still tip the room steward, bar staff, restaurant servers, musicians, butler/concierge when in a suite or Haven, Splash Academy staff when we bring our granddaughter, and at times the maitre d’ when we are in a suite or the Haven and tend to see them often. We know others choose not to tip at all and it is a personal decision and I respect that choice. Some will remove the daily service charge for all kinds of reasons they make up in their head to try to justify why they shouldn’t have to pay it.

Totally agree. The 13 year old and 10 year old are deserving of an adult menu even if they can’t finish it all.

If the OP has 2 paid for specialty meals for two people for the cruise, he can tell the matre’ d how many specialty meals should be charged when checking in for each meal I recommend the OP @thesnoopster2 splurge in paying for some pre-paid specialty dining meals for the 13 year old and 10 year old. They will likely appreciate trying new foods and the fun of having a multi-course meals. Trust us - life is short. We have experienced the horrible loss of a young person in our immediate family and you would spend the $ and time if you knew what we have unfortunately experienced.

When my now adult children were younger and they cruised with us, we enjoyed watching them decide what to order for their appetizer, salad or soup, entree and dessert. When we went to restaurants at home, they asked if they could order an appetizer and soup or salad. On the cruise ship, we did not suggest they order from the kid’s menu. I am happy to say my adult kids are adventurous eaters and definitely not picky as they tried escargot and other options when cruising. Now while we aren’t that old but have an 8 year old granddaughter who has cruised with us for 3 cruises, we don’t even give her the option of a kid’s menu. She likes Caesar salads, French onion soup, and the adult entrees even if she can’t finish them. She loves Miso soup but not the salad, the rice and Chicken Udon noodles at Teppanyaki. You paid a lot for this cruise. Why are you assuming your granddaughters don’t deserve to be treated to normal meals and should be forced to order from the kid’s menu to save you a little money? Shouldn’t you be the example to show them how much they are valued and have the option to order from the adult menu? When you arrive to a specialty dining restaurant, let them know who will use the specialty dining meals.

We are so hoping that Emma is on another cruise ship or on a break when we embark on the Gem again in 19 days. We have as many cruises as you have and we have never been so frustrated by a cruise director as we were on this recent cruise.

We disembarked from the Gem on Monday at about 7:05am. They called for those carrying their own bags at 7am. We did have priority disembarkation with a concierge and did carry our own bags. There weren’t many people in front of us and it was really fast. We were in a taxi by 7:15am and at the Miami airport by 7:35pm as there was little traffic except at the airport with it being a holiday. We made a 9:35am flight but knew our ship could be delayed and had a back up plan in mind if we were to miss that flight. I would not recommend an early flight like ours to others because of the risks but we needed to be home early that day.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience on the Gem and with Emma as the CD. We also had a wonderful cruise but it was tough to have this happen when we did like the musicians on the cruise but they weren't scheduled until late at night even thought the atrium was available earlier. I wondered the same thing about the CD getting a bonus for revenue on Deal or No Deal when we saw it was offered all three nights. I don't think I've ever had a Bingo game on a ship at 9pm at night. We were on the Gem in March 2023 for a 10 night cruise. I did do a live review and scanned through the dailies I posted. From what I saw, Deal or No Deal was in the atrium one night at 8pm and otherwise was in the theater at about 1pm and Bingo was also in the theater at 4pm. We have had some amazing cruise directors and I would have let this go with it being a short weekend cruise if we weren't scheduled to cruise again on the Gem again on March 12th of this year. With so many recent NCL changes, I wasn't sure if this was a fleetwide or not. Keeping our fingers crossed it won't happen again every night in the atrium on the next cruise.

For dinner, you can go to the main dining room at your preferred time or you can make a reservation. You can also eat at a specialty dining restaurant or at O'Sheehan's or the buffet. On a previous Spirit cruise, the cruise director did have a karaoke contest with the winners singing in Spinnaker lounge with a final winner. I have not seen this happen on too many ships but it is possible depending on the cruise director and their staff. They typically have family karaoke for an earlier time with adult karaoke at a later time in the evening. For the shows, it is Legends in Concert and Pure Variety. You can see these on NCL.com. Again, have a great cruise!

Is it unreasonable to expect to have some decent live entertainment options in the evening before 9:30pm?

For those who choose Breakway and Breakaway+ and Prima class ships, this is normal. For those of us who love Jewel class and below ships, this is a change! Cruise director, Emma, may have changed my future cruise plans and cruise line loyalty. I have spent the whole evening looking for alternative cruise lines for our Prima cruise which has final payment due in 2 days and also for future cruises as we need to book a December 2024 and February 2025 cruise. I can live without hash browns and cookies and breakfast in OV, but no rational location for live entertainment is pushing me to choose another cruise line such as Celebrity. We will be Diamond after our next Gem cruise in March.

We stayed in Suite Aft cabin 8132 in December on the Pearl. We had excellent service for breakfast and lunch in Moderno. Our cabin was close to yours with a decent sized but not large aft balcony. We did not have a special place to go for a sundeck but did pay for the spa passes for the cruise. For Karaoke, on the cruise we were on in December, the cruise director designated the Bliss Lounge for daily karaoke mainly for families the majority of the evening even with the bowling lanes open which meant there was some noise. However, the cruise director makes or breaks this as on our recent Gem cruise, there was hardly any karaoke except for the last night. For the shows, I can't remember but the show quality is decreasing with time. Have a wonderful cruise!

I was also on the Gem for the 3-day President’s weekend cruise. Here are the dailies. NCL Gem 021724.pdf NCL Gem 021824.pdf NCL Gem 021624.pdf

Thank you. That is what we experienced, too, on past cruises in 2023 and most recently in December on the Pearl. This is very new to us and we are hoping it won't be the new normal.

Deal or No Deal was in the atrium for three out of three nights during the prime hours of the evening. It impacted ALL three nights of the cruise. I am very used to Deal or No Deal happening on a cruise but am not used to it happening every single night in the atrium. It sounds like this may be an isolated incident based on the limited responses so far which is what I am really hoping. Maybe cruise director, Emma, was showing off to someone who wanted to cast her as the game show host in Hollywood. At least that is my hope. And we dread if this will be the nightly entertainment and only entertainment in the atrium in a few weeks.

Thanks but to clarify, I know about Price is Right and other revenue generating games (Bingo, Deal or No Deal) displacing theater production shows in the theater. I was referencing the band, duo, guitar player or piano players who typically perform in the atrium or Spinnaker being displaced by Deal or No Deal and Bingo in the evening. We were on the Pearl in December and did not experience this on that same class of ship just about 60 days ago. I am hopeful this was due to it being a 3-day cruise or some other glitch with the musicians. Wondering if others are seeing more Deal or No Deal or Bingo in the evening and less musical performances in the smaller venues like the lounges (not the theater).

We had a wonderful President's Day weekend 3 night cruise with our 8 year old granddaughter. I may provide more of a review with photos later but wanted to check to see if this a new trend or not. What happened each night in the atrium and especially on the last night was so frustrating when we love to cruise to listen to the lounge and atrium musical entertainers. We are used to the Deal or No Deal game shows happening around the ships typically in the afternoon. But has anyone recently experienced Deal or No Deal being the ONLY evening entertainment option in the atrium? This happened on Day 3 of 3 with Deal or No Deal card sales being scheduled 6:45pm-7:30pm and the game at 7:30pm with nothing else scheduled in the atrium before 6:45pm and nothing in the atrium after the game. To try to generate even more revenue in the evening, Spinnaker lounge had bingo card sales from 8:30pm-9:00pm with Bingo at 9pm and the band wasn't scheduled to start their first set of the evening until 10pm!?! Thankfully, Davi who plays piano and is a great singer started in Magnum's at 9:30pm for his first set of the night. Yes, they had one Trombone player and one Sax player in Magnums before that but that was it except Karaoke and the comedian's second night and we already saw him the first night. I'm attaching the dailies to show the schedule. You can see that cruise director, Emma, hosted it all three nights. On Day 2, we were enjoying listening to Davi play in the atrium while folding chairs were a bit distracting as they were setting up for Deal or No Deal. Just wondering if this is a new trend like no hash browns, no cookies in the buffet (can confirm they are still in the Haven), and no more breakfast in the observation lounges. I can confirm they were still making crepes in the buffet in the evening. We will cruise again on the Gem in mid-March for a 9 night cruise and are concerned about a shift in entertainment to focus on the revenue generating choices since I am sure Deal or No Deal and Bingo help NCL with $$$ but we aren't used to these so often every evening at the detriment of providing musical entertainment options we have experienced on our past NCL cruises. NCL Gem 021724.pdf NCL Gem 021824.pdf NCL Gem 021624.pdf