melis

9 hours ago, Sydneyberlin said:

Oh dear- consistently inconsistent seems to be the motto with NCL. But I’ve heard very similar stories about other cruise lines as well. 
 

And as I’ve said before somewhere else on this forum- if they refuse to serve us by the bottle in violation of what was promised months ago when we paid for the package upgrade, and after maybe trying to argue with someone of “manager status”, then I will make the booze servers life hell, as much as I feel sorry for them personally. Meaning: Constant nagging about where my next drink order is, constant follow ups with the waiters to see where that drink waiter is and on it goes. Especially in the MDR, the drinks have always been slow (on other lines too) and I’ve always had a suspicion that this might be on purpose to not give you too many refills.
 

Something tells me that very quickly we will have a bottle of Veuve on our table and so we should.

If you get satisfaction from making the server's life hell, then you are an awful person.

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Thank you.

Hi all, we are going on the Gem in November and my daughter will turn 10 during the cruise.  Would you recommend buying the bday package or bringing decorations from home for the room?  TIA!!! 

On 8/16/2019 at 8:04 AM, yearsofcruising said:

My GEM of a ship..Five times a charm. Just love the size , convienence of everything , simple , fun.

Been to all specialties ( la cuccina not my favorite ) ( teppanakki becomes noisey ) but all adequate.

Pool hogs are normal...shows are fine..casino and activities keep you busy.

Will book again for March after I return in 3 weeks..lol

P.S. I always do deck 9......

Hi, can you book shows in advance, or only after you board? We were on the GEM last year and loved it!!!!!  I just can't remember the show info. TIA!

On 4/7/2019 at 9:55 PM, Lisalk12 said:

Fri & Sat travel -
Just kidding we have to get to New York first! We live in the eastern part of Oklahoma and decided to fly out of Dallas so we could have a direct flight with Southwest. We didn’t want the baby to have a long drive and then have to stay confined in an airplane the same day so we traveled to Dallas the night before our flight. We stayed in the Element Hotel ($253 for 2 rooms) by Dallas Love Airport that offered a park and fly option ($8/day).

I found the room to be clean and comfortable. It had a refrigerator, microwave, stove, and dishwasher. It offered healthy pre-made meals and a free breakfast buffet the next morning. We put the big boys in one room and us with the baby in another room. The hotel offered free Shuttle service every 30 minutes to the airport. We left the hotel at 9:30 for 12:55 southwest flight.

We got our tickets & luggage dropped off. We planned on having the baby sit in our lap since he is under 2 and all we had to show for him was a birth certificate. The big boys used passports and also have Tribal ID cards. I kept the babies stroller and knew that people take it with them but didn’t know the procedure for getting it tagged. Figured out the hard way that you need to have a special tag and a luggage claim tag on it to board. I was able to get both of those at the small boarding desk while my family boarded the plane. I was concerned with the recent grounding of some jets that it might be a madhouse. But all went smoothly and security was fairly easy to go through. My husband had the clear walk through and could of taken all three boys if we had done some research.

Making it through security quickly we had plenty of time for a sit down lunch at Cool River Cafe. I enjoyed my first (of many) margaritas and we had a delicious lunch of hamburgers, quesadillas, prime rib sandwich and a grilled cheese for baby.

We went to the gate to wait for our plane but noticed TSA and guards putting on gloves, eye protection, and meeting right by the door at the gate. Of course I’m curious and a little concerned that they know something that I didn’t know. Turns out they were rechecking for TSA. Everyone had to get their ids and tickets out and they went up and down the lines.

Finally, onboard the plane with the stroller properly tagged and put under we are ready for takeoff. I didn’t know how baby would handle the cabin pressure. We gave him a binkie for takeoff and he did great!

He loved eating plane crackers and watching basketball on the tv programs available through the Southwest app. The flight there lasted almost 3 hours. Baby fell asleep the last hour and he woke as we started descending. He wasn’t a happy camper at all. So I let him bite off and chew on a small sample of gum. That seemed to help him calm down and he finally spit it out and took his binkie for the last few minutes of the plane ride.


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Both my kids loved the Wubbanub!!!!

Love your review so far! You are such a positive person!

I created a report of beverages mentioned on CC for our last cruise. Found it to be very useful and wanted to share. We are planning on using it again in about 80 days on the Escape. Here is the LINK to the report.

I give your report an A+!

reminds me of a time when my husband packed for me b/c I was working crazy hours before a trip......we went out on a friend's boat. I had a blouse, sweatpants and flats. Not cute. A few drinks in and it was all good! Love your review, best wishes for you and your family.