Carol++

We are heading back a little early for a medical emergency. Captain said we will be docked around 2 am. Smooth sailing this week!

Can you share any info about the medical emergency? My daughter and MIL are on board. Thanks.

Hi fellow cruisers! I will be going on the Gem at the end of July with a group of 25 people for my twin girls Sweet 16 (we figured this would be way less stressful and expensive than paying for a 5 hour party at a banquet hall!). Each of our three kids, twin 16 yo girls and a 15 yo boy, are bringing 2 friends each. In addition there are assorted family members also sailing. In total there will be :

(1) 10 yo

(3) 15 yo

(7) 16 yo

(1) 17 yo

(13) adults ranging in age from 24 thru 54

 

Any advice to make this enjoyable for all and minimize my stress (I'm the mother of the birthday girls)?

The 15-17 year olds can all take part in the teen club "Entourage." There is a kids club also for the 10 yo.

The worst part of smoking in the casino is the abusers. Its one thing to have the person sitting next to you light up while they are playing. I have been sitting there at my machine and had a group of five old ladies come over and have one or two sit and the rest gather around while everyone of them lights up. And none of them are playing. When someone asked to play the machine they were sitting in front of, they refused to move and said it was too windy to sit in the outside smoking area. They said they came down every twenty minutes or so to gather and smoke. To them the casino wasn't to play the machines, it was just a warm, lighted inside smoking area.

Ugh.

Lots of cigarette smoke in the Gem casino. It is bad, in my opinion. But, the Breakaway is worse.

ETA: Thank you for letting me know that Celebrity has no smoking in the casino! Is the whole ship non-smoking indoors? Sounds like that might be my next cruise!

It was a joke, hence the "lol" :)

I thought maybe you were making a joke, but I was not sure. :-)

They use sea water, that's why there are waves in the pools. Lol

The reason for the waves in the pool is the motion of the ship. Even the freshwater pools in the spa rock and roll.

It is chlorinated sea water. Stings the eyes. Bring goggles.

Thank you. IMHO, the best place to watch from (certainly to photograph from) is where I took the photo--- at the end of the Sunset Bar. You get the perspective of the plane landing over the beach, and NO wind from the plane.

The planes that are coming in for landing do not cause wind. The wind (propulsion exhaust, I would call it) is from the planes that are taking off. Stand back from that.

We did Bernard's Tour Number 2, the one that gives you time at Orient Beach (and not shopping time in Marigot). Orient Beach was beautiful, and we were glad we'd chosen that Tour. Plus we aren't shoppers. (As it turned out, because we were there on a Sunday, many of the stores were closed anyway. The folks who'd done Tour Number 1, and who had a lot more time in Marigot, didn't seem very happy about it.)

 

Here's one of my photos from Maho Beach, btw, the last stop on Bernard's Tour:

 

 

(photo by turtles06)

Nice photo.

I think Second City used to be funny I remember seeing them years ago with older people and I know plenty of comedians got their start in Second City but the people they have in the group now just aren't as good? Will probably still give them a shot on this cruise

For sure, give them a shot! They do three shows: 1 scripted (in the theater) and 2 improv (in Spinnaker), one of which is "adults only." Of the cast, Mark is really terrific; the others not so much. But still, go see the show.

I wonder why ?

My snarky (obvious) answer is that NCL prefers not to divert monies to external allocations.

Does the GEM have a charity walk like HAL and RCI ?

No.

Carol posted most of what we did. We met Carol and her husband on the cruise through our roll call. We played trivia together.

In honor of winner jjikids, I remembered now to recommend the trivia game "Last Man Standing" that was held in the Atrium (toward the end of the cruise, I forget which day). That was a lot of fun.

By the way, with regard to the "art auctions" -- they are not really auctions. Each piece has a very high reserve price, almost the same as the "retail" price. The auctioneer might start the bidding low, but the high bidder does not win because the top bid is not nearly high enough. And TIP: Don't invest any energy in accruing raffle tickets for a "free work of art." The cost to ship the "free art" to your home is $35. They do not store the "free art" on the ship. Free champagne, though, so there is that.

I liked the entertainment, especially Tenors of Rock. I also like World Beat, even though I have seen it before on Gem several years ago.

Girlygirl, have you checked on a Roll Call for your cruise? And if so, has your Roll Call arranged a Meet & Greet? That is how some of us met each other.

Also looking for recent Gem dailies. We are on the 2/21 cruise and was hoping to check them out.

I apologize that I did not save the dailies from my Jan. 22 cruise. I thought about it, but it seemed like work and I was on vacation. Also, our dailies were affected by the severe weather, with some activities cancelled or rescheduled.

On our cruise, there were several different trivia tracks. There is a regular morning and evening trivia, and also progressive trivia. Don't know if you are into that.

I can also tell you this: There are daily lectures in Pulse Fitness on two themes -- (1) lose weight/increase energy/improve metabolism (purpose of the talk is to explain that your body is acidified and to sell you a detox system consisting of very expensive algae that is purported to cause your body to heal itself to achieve those health goals), and (2) improve posture/decrease back pain/joint pain (purpose of the talk is to sell an orthotic. By the way, they will let you borrow it for a day without cost. If you don't return it, $199will be charged.) Don't worry if you miss the lecture one day, because they do these almost every day.

Let's see, what else? Bingo, art auctions... Occasionally there was afternoon entertainment in the Theater. Music on the pool deck in the afternoon... We often had ballroom-type music in Spinnaker from 7:15 to 8pm, and at 8:15the cruise director staff would host a game show (e.g., Newlywed Game). Karaoke in some form or other was almost every day, sometimes twice a day.

Anywhere you are my friend.

Awww, same.

We loved our shows on the Gem. We had the usual production shows, Sandor and Allison, the aerial show, Tim Kaminski, Second City Comedy and the Tenors of Rock. Performing in the lounges were Leo and Dana. Best entertainment we had seen in years.

Hey, Freddie, wanna tell folk where the best seat is for Sander and Allison (Magika)? :-)

Tenors of Rock was fabulous. I caught that show at 7 and 9. Most nights I had dinner at 6pm so that I could catch the 7 pm show, and if I liked it, could see it again at 9.

I asked the same thing a few weeks ago and here is a response I received:

No ventriloquist currently on board, and they do not do Fountains anymore.

To answer the question: It's been replaced (AFAIK) with nothing, which is pretty standard for NCL these days.

There is a "Guppies" program that is new.

We will be on the Gem Feb.21.We have a ride to the port but will likely be taking a car service going home.My wife fears being stranded.

 

Lenny

Hi Lenny,

Enjoy your cruise. I think if you arrange for a car service ahead of time you might be able to negotiate the right price. But if you allow yourself to be captured by the first fellow who asks if you need a ride, you will end up paying more than necessary. The "need a ride?" men wanted to charge us $45 for a ride that is about $20 by taxi. We offered to pay $25 but they waved us off then to find easier marks. Taxis are plentiful. How far a ride do you have from the port?

 

BUT caveat emptor!! We won one of the raffle prize draws at an auction. We had to go to the office in the evening; more really hard sell!! Till I told them we wanted to choose our prize. We were given a choice of 6 PRINTS. We chose one and expected to pick it up so we could put it in out case.

HA BLOODY HA!!!

"We don't have room to carry them on the ship, we have to arrange it when we get back to Miami." "We are staying there for three days so we will be able to pick it up?" "Oh no, it will have to be sent to your home address" "We live in New Zealand." "Then it will cost you USD75 (I think)."

USD75 to get a free raffle prize.

 

Mike

Hi Mike,

Yes, it is a crock of sh_t. I was fooled to sign up for their credit card in order to get a promised "free" work of art. "At no cost.... Zeros on the invoice." And I had to make an appointment where I thought I was going to pick it and was then told it would cost $35 to mail to me (USA) and they did not have room to carry them on the ship. Bull.

Carol, thank you for the great review. Although we live on Long Island it has been many years since we have cruised out of NY and are so excited. It seems everyone agrees the entertainment is top notch. How were the chair hogs at the pool?

Chair hogs do not bother me, (a) because I don't lounge that much, and (b), I have no trouble whatsoever moving someone's towel. What was difficult is that all the lounges were packed so closely together it was hard to move around the pool deck. Stubbed my toe a couple times.

First, a big thank you to our Roll Call leaders and organizers! It was great to meet folks and to be involved with the Cruise Critic group -- definite perks! Shout-out to Freddie, trivia champ!

The weather was a huge factor, of course. Many activities and shows were cancelled, the pools in the thermal spa were closed until the seas calmed. At the advice of others on Cruise Critic, we brought Bonine and did not suffer a bit of seasickness. Very sad for fellow cruisers who suffered. My husband and I had an inside cabin on Deck 8 (near O’Sheehan’s) which was a relatively stable location in the ship.

SENIOR OFFICERS AND STAFF:

At our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet with senior officers, Cruise Director Alvin asked us to please let them know immediately if there was anything we did not like during our cruise, because they would rather hear from us immediately so they could try to fix the problem rather than to have us complain on Cruise Critic. I took this to heart and wrote many comments and observations – positive and negative, and some of these I think they truly found helpful. I got a nice thank-you note from the Hotel Director, Sonja. In general, all the Officers were very accessible and visible and seemed concerned with customer satisfaction. Although my comments below contain some negative observations, I love the Gem and will sail again. Here are some impressions:

Captain: Serene and reassuring. I enjoyed learning about his humble background.

Cruise Director Alvin: A great master-of-ceremonies, fun at parties, a nice guy and a good leader.

Entertainment staff: Sweethearts from top to bottom. Consistently greeted me by name and it felt very friendly.

Wait staff: Positive encounters throughout the ship.

Hotel Director Sonja: My mattress was horrible, saggy and lumpy. Two days on it gave me terrible back pain. I saw Sonja at the Latitudes party and asked her if there were any spare mattresses on board. I really did not expect to get yes for an answer. But in fact, she said there were lots of new mattresses, and that they had not had time to replace all the old ones. I gave her my cabin number and a few hours later I had a brand new firm and comfortable mattress.

Reception Desk: Pleasant enough, but not as knowledgeable as I would have hoped. They always had to go back behind closed doors to find out answers. Here is an example of mediocrity: Sometimes there were no comment cards, so I would stand in line to tell them they were out of comment cards. This always came as a surprise to them, that is, they were not aware that they were out of comment cards. I would think that restocking comment cards would be one of their responsibilities. But, no. So they would go to the back behind closed doors, then five minutes later emerge without any comment cards. “Oh, we will have to get some more. Maybe tomorrow.” For a cruise line that seems to genuinely enjoy feedback, it is rather shocking that so often they run out of comment cards and that reception desk employees are not mindful to restock them.

Cabin Steward. He was a little testy. My husband and I do not like a lot of service to the cabin, don’t need or necessarily want the bed made daily, and are accustomed to reusing slightly damp towels. We are in and out of the room a lot throughout the day (my husband takes a lot of naps). We often left the door sign on “Do Not Disturb.” This upset the cabin steward and seemed to present problems for him.

FOOD and FOOD SERVICE:

No one could eat outside those first couple days because of the weather, and that overwhelmed the buffet area. It was impossible to find a seat. Folks were walking back and forth with plates from one end of the seating area to the other and back again. People sat down to eat on the wide window sills. I asked if they could please open Magentas (secondary MDR) for breakfast, but was told that there was not enough staff for that. When the weather got warmer, it was easier to find a seat in the buffet, but by that time, my husband and I were enamored by the MDRs. We had no trouble being seated immediately if we arrived before 6 pm or after 8:30 pm. There was a lot of hubbub at the hostess stations because of many large groups.

In my opinion, the food in the buffet was a step down from the last time I cruised NCL. There seemed to be less of a selection, less variety. For example, there was potato salad and cole slaw every day, whereas last time I cruised there was more of a variety of prepared salads and different ingredients. Also, there was more duplication within the buffet line this time. Also, cheeses were more mundane -- last time there was brie, this time, not. Also, the buffet ran out of things that were not refilled. I think the kitchen ran out of food a couple times. I pointed to the empty serving bowls of walnuts, slivered almonds and cottage cheese and was told by chef assistants that they ran out.

The pool-side bbq was held on nice sea-days and it was great.

Our experiences in both MDRs were all excellent for both food and service. I recommend the striploin steak. We had prime rib twice, once on the buffet, and once in the MDR. There was the option to purchase lobster for $20 any day in the MDR; we never did that but saw some in the dining room and it looked fantastic. Coffee was a puzzle -- sometimes it was excellent, and sometimes burned and bitter.

O’Sheehan’s has many kinks that still need to be worked out. Service is ridiculously slow, and the waiters will forget to bring out part of your order.

ACTIVITIES, PARTIES and ENTERTAINMENT:

‘70s Party – The production cast does a fun number to open the party.

Fountains – They don’t do it anymore since a passenger complained about it to the CEO. By the way, I think that Alvin liked doing Fountains.

White Party – They don’t do snow anymore due to safety concerns. No flash mob on this voyage.

Quest – I enjoy and participate in this game, but I think now that it is 2016 we have moved to a new era where “two men French-kissing” should not be a challenge for points. There are a lot of gays (especially on this LGBT-friendly cruise line). A team that has gay guys has no trouble getting a point.

STARDUST THEATER: They have GOT to do something about the kids running around and all the late-comers. It is so annoying. The show is underway already for 10 minutes and you have to stand up to let latecomers cross into your row, or worse, maybe, they head all the way down to the front and boy, do they take their sweet time to get seated. Also, the supposed rule about children not allowed in the first two rows is completely unenforced. My suggestion would be that latecomers must be seated in the upper balcony only.

Production shows: Adorable.

Tim Kaminski (comedian): Very personable and funny.

Tenors of Rock: Outstanding!

Aerial Duo Balskat: Mesmerizing!

Magika: Super annoying!

Second City: Shout-out to Mark.

In general, I thought that many of the entertainers did too much begging for applause. “Are you ready for a good time? … I can’t hear you … you can do better than that…” Do other guests hate this as much as I do? Maybe some people like to be exhorted to cheer louder, I don’t know.

TV: Gets BBC, CNBC, FOX and MSNBC. Also, there is a channel where is shown entertainment events from earlier in the cruise. During the first sea days we watched a little news and both FOX and MSNBC International news was about how much snow was falling in Philadelphia and NYC. Even though we were having rocky seas, we knew that in a few days we would be in the sunny Caribbean.

The SLIDE: Is open. The night before St. Thomas the ship’s executives were all clustered around the slide and some crew members in bathing suits were testing it. The following day (St. Thomas), the slide was “verified” and put into use. I enjoyed it. It is not steep, but it is fast and fun. The line moved quickly except for when kids don’t exit the slide promptly at the bottom. The ship might need to put a crew member there at the bottom to direct traffic. I am sure they will figure it out. The pools on the Gem are great – big enough to swim “laps” and the water temperature was refreshing. TIP: bring goggles if you like to open your eyes underwater.

CIGARETTE SMOKE: I am very sensitive to cigarette smoke and found it to be a problem on this sailing. Especially on the first couple days because no one could go outside to smoke due to the weather, the cigarette smoke was very heavy inside. Sometimes the smoke permeated the bar areas adjacent to the casino, and into the theater. In fact, my lifeboat drill station was supposed to be in Magnums (Deck 7, above the Casino on Deck 6). Well, I could not sit in Magnums, so bad was the smoke. So I checked in and then sat in a different drill station to hear the instructions. Maybe they can do something with fans, I don’t know. Also, some people getting onto the elevators reeked of cigarette stench so much that I could not even ride the elevators with them. I would pay double for a smoke-free sailing.

CONDITION OF THE SHIP: Inexplicably, there was some broken stuff: broken coffee machine, broken ice cream machine, some broken seats in the theater, some light bulbs burned out, some old signage (Blue Lagoon, anyone?). Fortunately, there were mostly working coffee machines, light bulbs and comfy theater seats.

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Allow them to take your picture -- they have a quota. It is fun to look at the photos at the end of the cruise.

ART GALLERY (Park West employees): Obnoxious, officious b_tches. Hate them. The “auctions” are not really auctions because of the very high reserve prices, just a few dollars below the PW-established “retail” price. TIP: Don’t sign up for their credit card, despite the promise of a “free” work of art. They will charge you $35 to ship it to you. They say that there is not enough space for them to store the give-way artworks (to carry off the ship), but this is a crock of sh_t.

PORTS: I saw lots of people bringing food off the ship. Boxes of cereal and even oranges. Nothing was confiscated.

San Juan: Low key and it is easy to get around the old city for free. There are free trolleys and free trams to the forts. Admission is $5 and worth it. There is free WiFi at the Starbucks.

St. Thomas: Loaded with American ex-pats waiting to accost you to try to bring you into bars, sell you timeshares (um, excuse me – “Vacation Clubs”), jewelry, eye creams, etc., etc. They are on you like flies. We had booked a snorkeling excursion (through NCL) on a speedboat. The boat ride was fun and crew was great. There were two stops – one where we saw a few sea turtles coming up for air, and one with a few fish. Even though the undersea life is a bit sparse, the trip was fun and I enjoyed a good long swim in the ocean. Afterwards, we did contribute to the local economy and bought a necklace and a couple drinks. I recommend a Bushwacker – it is like a mocha milkshake but with a very powerful effect.

St. Martin: We went to Maho Beach on a tour booked through NCL. The beach, although kind of grody, was well worth it for the experience of planes landing above your head. A FedEx plane came in super low. We also had a couple 757s. There is a guy on the beach with a megaphone announcing all the incoming flights and takeoffs. He is also excellent at timing photos. I saw a group do this – they paid him $5 very well spent. I wrote a comment to NCL afterwards that the tour company (“Rendezvous”) and the "tour guide," (Lex) were terrible. In a bus ride of about 45 minutes roundtrip, he gave almost no historical information, but mainly just pointed out various businesses as we passed them. Literally: “This is a hardware store. This is a restaurant. This is a nightclub.” He also spent time listing (not once but twice), all the types of car dealerships. And how much he wishes he had an Audi. And he gave misinformation about an alleged freshwater shower (does not exist) and where we could find WiFi (again, wrong). We would have been better off with a cab. Traffic was no problem because of the new bridge.

Tortola: We had booked a snorkeling excursion through NCL. Very professionally run. The undersea life in Tortola is richer than in St. Thomas.

DISEMBARKATION in NYC: We had the last disembarkation time and had no trouble at all (well, except for the fact that we were waiting in our cabin until our number was called, and this was a problem for our cabin steward who needed to clean our room for the next sailing and he kept knocking. My fault, probably, because I forgot to switch the door sign to “Do not Disturb”). Our turn was called at about 9:45 am.

Getting off the ship was smooth, and we easily found our luggage and breezed through customs. One sort-of-amusing-mostly-annoying thing is that as we crossed the street toward the taxi stand, we were accosted by agents trying to sell us car service for double the cost of a taxi. Fortunately, I am not a rube in NYC. Take a metered taxi, folks. It cost us about $20 to get to the parking garage at 673 St. Nicholas where we parked for $16 per day.

Home now, where unpacking and laundry await. And work tomorrow, boo.

Booked in Haven on Gem in August 2016 sailing out of NYC with stops at Port Canaveral, GSC and Nassau. Up until two days ago whenever I signed into NCL there were about 63 excursions showing that we could choose from.

 

Today there are only 12 excursions showing?

 

Only thing that has changed is that I did call the excursion department day before yesterday and book a couple of excursions. But why would that now limit what I can see?

 

Jenn

Hi Jenn,

It will not show you excursions that are the same time as the excursions you booked.

Annoying, I agree.

Does the climbing wall have any height or age requirements?

 

Don

Not for age or height, but must wear socks.