TrixieBel

After a great week in England finding ancestors gravestones, touristy things to do, and attending a wedding we have just spent a day in Milan. Now we are waiting to board our flight to NYC, and the adventure of the cruise is nearly here. But first some time in NYC and Washington DC...

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After a couple of lovely days in London we drove to Windsor this morning and stood in the line to get in the gates for 2.5hrs. I've got very sore feet this afternoon!

We are now checked into our English country hotel (Chartridge Lodge) until Sunday. Off to have dinner with our nephew and his partner and their new baby in a few minutes [emoji4]

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She was OK. We are very blessed to be able to be doing this whole trip at all, and flights in business class. My mother died at the end of last year, and this trip is possible thanks to her legacy...

We suspect though that RJ may need to see a dr today. She's had a recurrent tooth abcess and after having a horrible headache last night we think she may need antibiotics (again) [emoji33]

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12 days to go! And we are adventuring on the other side of the world already.

We flew (for over 24hrs) with Emirates via Dubai to London. It was as bearable as 24hrs in planes can be. In other words we were desperate for a shower when we arrived...

Today was a long planned and pre-booked tour of Buckingham Palace's State Rooms. So amazing to be walking in places that so many statesmen and the famous and Royal have trod. Beautiful rooms and exhibitions, including a number of the amazing dresses / gowns that the Queen has worn over the years of her reign. No photos allowed in the Palace, so here's the outside and a painting from inside the Queen's Gallery where we were allowed cameras.

We are now relaxing in our hotel room (Park Plaza Victoria - recommended so far), and just about to go find a bar for a well deserved drink.

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Will be following along. We are on a plane heading TO Heathrow arriving Sunday evening. You leave... We arrive :-)

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And, we have left home to "hotel it" at the airport before our early early flight to Dubai-London in the morning. Here we are...

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purepixie67: Glad to hear there is sun out for our arrival! Just need sun next Saturday in Chesham for the wedding we are going to.

DominicAUS: thanks for the best wishes. Hope I can provide some good hints for your trip.

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We are just a day away from boarding our plane away from Australia to start our trip, which will culminate in a week aboard the GEM! Hubby and I both finished up at work today (it's Friday here) and I'm now not due back at work until Thursday 1st September. "We" is myself, Jenn and hubby, Tony (both just over 50) and our 23yr old daughter (RJ). RJ has Down Syndrome and so lives life a little differently than other 23yr olds...

The bag/s are pretty much packed. Just need to put in the last minute stuff tomorrow, then we are off in the afternoon to stay at a hotel right at Sydney airport. We live way on the other side of the city, and our flight takes off at 6am on Sunday morning, so the overnight at the airport was a "no brainer".

We route up to London via Dubai. WOW - what a mess that was up there just a day ago. but it looks like they have now reopened the runway and so we should get through OK for our transit.

We have so many exciting things to experience before we get anywhere near the GEM. First up next Monday is a tour of Buckingham Palace's state rooms. And, we even get to see the Queen's dresses including her wedding and coronation dresses. Then, it's off up to a small village in Oxfordshire for our nephew's wedding, and of course a drive by the Mini factory in Oxford for hubby.

And, then onward to the next adventure after that. I've got a generous roaming allowance, so am hopeful I can update along the way, including some posts on board the GEM. But, I'm not promising too much from on board because I see from the board that there's no sign of that ultra-fast NCL wifi yet :confused:

Jenn

We are due on board the GEM in 2 weeks. We have registered our daughter with NCL as having been diagnosed with celiac disease. They have acknowledged this and we hope things will go smoothly.

Will revisit this message thread when we get back and let you know what we found in terms of gf foods.

Jenn

That seagull in post 160... Take another look. Are you sure it's not a rabbit skiing through the sky?

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I asked this same question a few weeks back because there's no internet packs showing for our Gem sailing on 20 August. I was sure they were there ages ago, and then when I went to look - not there. I've resigned myself to "switching off" but really would have liked to indulge my inner writer and try a live review...

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My concern with the rule isn't the bulk stuff coming on board, but how this will affect port calls.

There are many ports of call with high temps expected, and not so good local water supplies. As a family we would usually take a bottle of water each off a ship for the day to keep ourselves hydrated.

As someone with some knowledge of public health I can easily theorise this: More cruisers will now be forced to buy onshore bottled water at ports because of those hugely inflated NCL onboard prices, and a percentage of those buying on shore in some ports will get water that may not be so safe to drink. This has the potential for increasing the number of cruisers presenting to sick bay with gastrointestinal bacterial issues.

So I hope NCL are prepared to deal with that increase.

I'd love to see the stats on presentations to sick bay with those issues after a few months of the policy. And keeping in mind the rate of gastrointestinal issues on cruise ships can affect their reputations...

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Hey Disneygirl - we are on the Gem on the 20th too. We'll have to meet up for a drink to commiserate over being on the "wrong" ship... [emoji898][emoji483][emoji3]

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Enjoying this review greatly. Please keep it going. Hating having to scroll past the TROLL on the thread though. Wish a mod could get him/her out of the thread so the rest of us could enjoy it... But, hey. "Ignore" will continue to work I guess.

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I think there's a limit to how many photos you can upload in one post.

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14512 so you might be in luck!

 

 

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Thanks [emoji3]

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We just got off the Gem today. We stayed in a two bedroom haven suite... express laundry cleaning due to a flooded bathroom soaking our clothing in sewage (more on that to follow.)

Can I ask which stateroom you were in? We are in one of those soon (14010)... and hoping there's no ongoing bathroom issues!

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The internet packages have disappeared from MyNCL for our August sailing on GEM. They were there a month or so ago, now it shows 0 under Internet Packages. Maybe they'll make it free internet??? ;-)

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Thanks for the responses, they are greatly appreciated. Our daughter was recently diagnosed with full blown celiac disease that had resulted in two hospital stays and horrible skin lesions before it was diagnosed.

I never realised that celiac disease could actually be so serious. Just thought that whole gluten free thing was a trendy first world diet choice. Now I know different...

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We've already contacted the cruise line about our daughters special dietary needs and they have said to meet with maître de after boarding, but what happens about the lunch immediately after we board? Do we have to tell them ahead of time where we plan to lunch that day?

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Been following along on this and am amazed at the cultural difference brought up by muesli. Muesli is a standard breakfast staple in both Australia and New Zealand. Probably 1/2 of the cereal aisle in a supermarket is dedicated to all different brands and kinds of muesli. It's quite amazing to me that you think it's so new [emoji106][emoji3]

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Now that these are here, those that put their email addresses up here might want to delete them from the thread... I see people try and avoid putting their email here - to avoid spam bots.

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There are 2 x day 4. One is what happened when GSC was missed.

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