alg7334

Next up is the balcony. It was really spacious!

Pros:

- Very spacious! The room was huge compared to the inside staterooms we usually get.

- Balcony was very large - could easily fit a pool deck chair.

- Great huge curtain that separates the "living room" area from the bedroom area. This was great for me, the early riser, so I could read or watch TV while my husband got a couple more hours of sleep. Even better there was a separate heat control on that side!!

- TONS of storage space! There are lots of drawers.

- Bathrobes are in the closet.

- Coffeemaker was in the room.

- Regular outlets but I recommend bringing an extension cord/power strip as there are only two outlets.

- Honestly having a bathtub was not a major selling point for me but I actually ended up really enjoying having the extra space to shave and store bath products.

- Quiet. We heard virtually no noise from anywhere around us. The first morning I heard very faintly them putting the chairs out on the pool deck (I'm a very light sleeper) but never heard it again.

- Two separate heat controls was great! One side of the room could be cold for sleeping and the other side snuggly warm. :)

- Great location, convenient to everything especially buffet if you wanted to bring food back to your balcony.

Cons:

- Wish they had at least one pool deck chair on the balcony so we could have laid down out there (maybe you could ask for one? We never tried.)

- TV was far away from the bed so for those of us who need glasses/contacts during the day it was difficult to see the TV while you were trying to fall asleep at night. It would be great if they put another one in front of the bed.

- Difficult to open the closet doors because of where the bed is placed. The doors don't open all the way.

I hope this was helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions at all!

In my opinion, one of the greatest features of this room was this huge curtain that you could draw to separate the "living room area" from the "bedroom" area. This was perfect for my husband and me because I wake up much earlier than he does so I could draw the curtain and read or watch TV without bothering him. The best part - there was a separate heat control for that side of the room!!!

Closet and storage near the bed:

Bathroom:

My husband and I did the 5 night Caribbean cruise out of Miami 11/5-11/10 and stayed in a mini-suite, cabin # 11556. We loved the room - it was great! Below are some pictures and thoughts on the room (I didn't take them on the first day before we settled in so I apologize in advance about the room being a little messy!!).

View of the room from the door:

Standing at the foot of the bed looking back at the door:

Bed and closet area:

Foot of bed (this would be a great place to put a second TV!):

We did 5 days of theme parks in Orlando before our cruise so we were incredibly lazy some of the sea days! :D

The movie channels are 35 and 36. All movies are free. I think some ships have movie rentals but they are unreasonably priced. Pearl didn't have rentals - just the 2 channels of free movies.

I love Walking Dead too! Watching it right now on Netflix! :)

Do you know if the ships get AMC? I am a Walking Dead fan and hoping I can see inboard the Gem.

Unfortunately it does not. Only the channels listed in the first two pictures are available. On the favorites channel it was a mix of re-runs of all kinds of shows including 2 Broke Girls, Home Improvement, Parks & Recs, etc.

Just got back and in case others were interested in this same topic, please see my new thread that includes pictures of the movie offerings:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=40639281#post40639281

For anyone sailing on the Pearl soon, I thought you might find it helpful to know what TV channels there are on-board and what movies are playing.

I'm not sure if the other ships have the same channels and movies but this can at least give you an idea of what they may have.

It can be hard to find the line-up sometimes but it's on channel 21 and comes up just after they show you pictures of all the ship's officers. These are from 11/5/13 - 11/10/13.

Have a great cruise! :)

I just got off the Pearl on Sunday and it wasn't offered on our cruise at all. They did however have yoga and spin class - they were $12 each.

Hello Alg7334,

 

Your review was great! We will be sailing on the Gem next year in May. This will be my first time on Norwegian and my 3rd cruise. I had a few questions, first is there anywhere I can get a copy of the menus for the Grand Pacific/Magenta dining rooms? Also we will have a mid ship balcony, do they provide coffee makers in those rooms?

 

Thanks :D

Cheryl

I'm sorry I just saw this! Balcony rooms come with a coffee maker so you will have no trouble there! For menus, you can probably find more current ones on CruiseCritic but if not here is a great website to give you an idea: http://www.beyondships.com/NCLGem-Menus.html

How far is the port from grand central? Do you remember what the can ride was cost wise? There are 5 of us coming from ct so we are trying to decide the best way to get to ny

 

 

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I'm sorry I just saw this. It is about 10-15 minutes away from the port and the cab was about $20 total with tip. You will need 2 cabs for 5 people. We traveled with exactly 5 and it worked great.

I did that itinerary in April - review is in my signature :)

Anyone who has been on a NCL cruise recently, what movies were playing on the movie channel? We are going on Pearl next week and just curious what they are playing. Assuming all ships play generally the same thing so please share regardless of what ship you've recently sailed on. Thank you in advance!!

I booked with Cayman in a Nutshell. Going in 2 weeks - will let you know how it is.

http://www.caymaninanutshell.com/cayman-tours/1-cayman-in-a-nutshell/view-details

(except for the night we were in the middle of eating and watching the show and we felt a "bump" and the lights went out for awhile...yea, you don't wanna know).

I kind of do want to know! If you're willing to share :)

This was just a fun thread - thank you so much for sharing your memories and all the great pictures!!!

Hello Alg7334,

 

Your review was great! We will be sailing on the Gem next year in May. This will be my first time on Norwegian and my 3rd cruise. I had a few questions, first is there anywhere I can get a copy of the menus for the Grand Pacific/Magenta dining rooms? Also we will have a mid ship balcony, do they provide coffee makers in those rooms?

 

Thanks :D

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl - I'm sorry but I do not have copies of the menus however I can tell you that they are pretty much the same each cruise and on each ship. If you do some searching for the menus on any ship in the fleet you'll get the general idea. Lobster night is the first night only so if you like lobster do not miss MDR the first night! http://beyondships.com/NCLGem-Menus.html

Yes all balcony cabins provide a coffee maker. They are those little 4 cup ones - very easy to use and brews good quick coffee!

Have a great trip!!

Thank you for this great review, we are looking to take this cruise in December instead of the Breakaway cruise that we currently have booked. It sounds like we might enjoy this slightly smaller ship and the entertainment more than we did the very large Breakaway.

It's interesting - we booked Breakaway for November to try it out but I am a bit hesitant. I've never been on a mega-ship before and I'm not sure if I would enjoy it as much as the Gem. I'm not crazy about having to make reservations to shows. I always liked being surprised by what's in the Freestyle Daily each day. But we're going to give it a try and we'll see....

You will love the Gem! So much to do, not crowded, no reservations needed for anything. Have a great trip!!!!

Is this tour group in La Romana? We are trying to decide what to do when we get there. The tour with Terry sounds great.

Thanks

This was in Samana, Dominican Republic. I'm not sure if he does tours in La Romana but if he does you should definitely book something with him!

How far is the port from grand central? Do you remember what the can ride was cost wise? There are 5 of us coming from ct so we are trying to decide the best way to get to ny

 

 

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Same story as us then because it was 5 of us from CT. We took the MegaBus out of Hartford on Columbus Blvd this last time. It was super easy and CHEAP! Roundtrip tickets for 2 adults was $18. The bus dropped us off about 2 miles away from the cruise port. We grabbed a cab and the total from the drop off in NY to the cruise port was about $11.

We have also taken Amtrak out of Hartford to Penn Station before as well as taken Metro North from New Haven before. All of those cab rides are under $15 from the station to the port. I highly recommend doing one of those instead of driving and paying the $300 to park!

Thanks for your nice comments - this was my first time writing a review!

You should find a publisher to get you a book deal! You would make great travel guides and I bet be very successful!!

Excellent! Glad you found it helpful - hope you all have a great vacation!!!!

They aren't baking them on the ship? We might be eating 4 or more day old cake then?

I'm assuming they make the special order cakes and freeze them to preserve them. So it's not like you would be eating a cake that has been sitting out rotting for 4 days.... I was under the impression that Carlo's is a family owned bakery and they keep their recipes in the family, therefore would be making all the products themselves prior to the ships sailing. I could be wrong though.

First World Problems.

Haha! Agree! This is seriously the most ridiculous post I've ever read.....

Needing to have an order placed four days prior to sailing is not ridiculous.

 

I am sure Carlos has a contract with NCL stating they need a certain amount of days to place an order. I do not know what the logistics are (if cakes are made at one of his shops or actually onboard).

Agree - keep in mind it's not NCL making the cakes on behalf of Carlo's. It's Carlo's making the cakes and stocking them on the ship. They need time to make sure they make all the cakes and the treats to accommodate 4,000 people at least a few weeks before sailing. Don't worry - I'm sure they make extra cakes in case people who didn't order ahead of time decide they want to buy a cake while on board. I'm sure you will still get your cake. Have a great trip!