amberjohn

I am interested in their beach. How far is it from the cruiseport? Is it walking distance? I can't find that info on their web site.

Thanks

Hello,

We don't have any plans on doing much in Jamaica. One thought we had was to take a short walk and swim for an hour at Margaritville.

How is the beach there?

How far is it from the ship?

Do you get harassed much either on the walk or on

the beach itself?

Is it a nice clean beach?

Thanks

Just bought a couple of hot/cold drink containers with a cover from the dollar store. Don't want anything that I would be upset with if it got lost. These have worked great on several cruises.

Is there a decent spot for free snorkeling (if I bring my own mask)? Where is the best

snorkeling located?

thanks

We will be going here in November. This is great information....thanks

We are looking at this cruise also. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.

We are curious about excursions, crowd levels, need to book shows in advance, number of children and anything else pertaining to this off-season cruise?

Thanks

Hello,

I read this review because we are considering taking the Breakaway out of NY (Caribbean) this Fall. I love the smaller ships like the Dawn and GEM but are thinking of trying a larger ship with different shows and more attractions. On the smaller ships we have had smaller crowds and almost no lines/waits for most things including the shows. How is the BA for crowds and waits in the Fall? Can you just attend shows or do you still need to reserve them in the offseason?

thanks

Hello,

As a followup to my original question:

We had no waits for restaurants and shows on the GEM. We could walk into the theater right before the show and there were plenty of seats. I know that you have to reserve some shows and activities on the Escape and Breakaway. Does this hold true for the sailing I mentioned in the Fall? What

shows/activities tend to be crowded in the Fall sailing?

thanks

Hello,

We took our first non-Summer cruise

(10/31/17, 12 days) on the GEM last year. There were very few children, no lines or crowds anywhere (including the pool and places to eat). We got hooked and were wondering if this was typical during longer cruises (10 days or more) on all ships during October and November? I know the GEM is a smaller ship but was also wondering if the crowds are smaller on ships like the Breakaway and Escape? The four cruises we are looking at are:

10/16/18 (11 nights) Breakaway out of NY

10/26/18 (14 nights) Dawn out of Boston

11/25/18 (14 nights) Escape out of NY

11/26/18 (12 nights) GEM out of NY

Thanks

I'm 6 feet tall and stood in the pool but is was up to my neck in the deep end so I'm assuming that some of the pool was 4-5 feet deep?

I heard the GEM is coming to Boston. Does anyone know when?

Thanks

Both were on the GEM out of NY in November 2017.

I am convinced that it varies no matter what cruise you take. Took a cruise on the Dawn in 2012 and 2014 and the pizza was below average. Took a cruise on the Dawn in 2015 and the pizza was fantastic (unfortunatly ate it every day it was so good). Took a cruise

on the GEM in 2017 and the pizza was below average again. Plenty of other food if the pizza doesn't pass the test.

GEM

no lines

seemed like less crowds

Loved it on the Dawn (3 cruises), hated it on the GEM. These were my only experiences.

Very poor movie viewing. Older movies shown occasionally in the Atrium. It was too noisy to really hear them,

quality of the screen was terrible and very little decent seating.

There are several references to the entertainment

throughout this post (trip report):

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2565482&highlight=gem

Trip Video has been posted on YouTube:

Waldo'sOctober 31st, 2017 GEM cruise from NY

Hopefully it uploaded correctly?

Summary:

Drive: The drive from Southern NH to Ridgefield NJ took us longer than it should have. We left late because of the storm up North and hit rush hour in NY/NJ. The ride home was much

better. We took the scenic Palisades Parkway and drove in the middle of the day. The drive to NY/NJ was an experiment for us and we would do it again. The Hampton Inn Park and shuttle was a great deal for us and we would do this again next time.

Cabin: We booked the guaranteed room which cost us $499 each with no perks. The catch was that the room wouldn't be assigned to us until we got close to the cruise departure date. We lucked out. We got cabin #10035 which worked out to be a great location for everything on the top decks of the ship. This was the first time that we had a cabin with only the two of us

in the room so the cabin "seemed" so much bigger. Our cabin steward (Neal) was the best we have ever had. He was very attentive and would greet us by name every day.

Weather: This seems like the best time of year to cruise in the Caribbean. The threats of bad storms seemed to be over. The cruise was smooth the whole time, no rough weather. We got

very little rain and mostly beautiful sunny weather, but not too hot. The only cool day was when we departed NY.

Food: We loved the food on the GEM. We ate at the complimentary restaurants and thought there was a lot of variety. We had all sorts of complimentary food including Seafood (Shrimp, Scallops, Salmon, ect.) and Meats (chicken, pork, turkey, ribs, wings, lots of beef, ect), salads, pastas, pizza and much more. We did a variety of sit down restaurants, Buffet, Barbecue on the deck and Chinese food. There was always comfort food at the "Great Outdoors" when we needed it.

Entertainment: We thought the shows were great. We loved anytime the house Band (Sonata) played and enjoyed all the shows that the Ship's Dancers and Singers did. We don't enjoy

the Improv done by the Improv group. We enjoyed the magician and ventriloquist but thought their acts were weak. We really enjoyed the Aerial Duo and the Comedian (Tim). The band Sonata was excellent and the other onboard musicians were decent. We got involved in much of the onboard activities and kept very busy. We actually thought we would have a lot of down time based on the length of the cruise and the fact there was just the two of us travelling.

Just the opposite happened, we couldn't find enough time to do everything we wanted to.

Ship: We loved the GEM. The layout of the ship was wonderful. The GEM had two decent sized pools and one was adults only plus an adults only hot tub. It also had a slide in the pool area. They showed movies and sports on a 2-story TV screen in the Atrium. They had a multi-sport area with a variety of sports. We hope to have a chance to take another cruise on the GEM.

Itinerary: Because of all the destructive storms our itinerary was changed from St. Thomas, St. Maarten, San Juan, Totola and St. Kitts to St Kitts, Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados and

Martinique. We haven't been to any of the islands on the new itinerary so this was all new to us. We enjoyed all of the islands except St. Lucia. We didn't get the new itinerary until less than 2 weeks before departure so it was tough to set up excursions. The new islands were further south which cruises from NY usually don't go to. We liked the new itinerary. Crowds: I don't know if it was the time of year or the fear of further storms but the crowds were minimal. We never had a wait for anything. The pools and Hot tubs were not crowded. If you came in 2 minutes before show time you could get a good seat. No wait for sit down restaurants, Chinese restaurant or for the Buffet lines. Even the embarkation was seamless.

The only long lines we encountered were during the whole mess of trying to get home from Barbados.

Day Eleven: Saturday 11/11/17 (Drive Home)

We had a good nights sleep and a nice breakfast at the Hampton Inn and then headed north to NH. We couldn’t believe the difference in temperature, 80 degrees down to freezing in 24 hours. The ride home was uneventful. We took the scenic Palisades Parkway and stopped a couple of times to look at the views.

Day Ten: Friday 11/10/17 (Departure/Barbados airport)

We were supposed to get up at 5am to fill out Immigration paperwork. At 3:50am there was an announcement that we needed to be there at 4am (first line/wait). We filled out our paperwork and had a very light breakfast. We were supposed to be off the ship and on a bus by 6:30am so we decided to spend our last hour relaxing in our cabin. At 6:30am we were on our way to the Barbados airport. We got to the airport around 7am and waited in line to get our boarding passes (second line/wait). We were waiting in line for 75 minutes dragging our luggage with us. As I got to the front of the line the computers crashed (third line/wait). We waited in another line for passports (fourth line/wait) and then around the corner (fifth line/wait) for a security check(shoes off). Plane loading was supposed to be at 9:10am (sixth line/wait), didn’t happen until 9:50am. Departure was supposed to be at 10am, over 30 minutes late. This is nothing compared to the disorganization in NJ. There were Customs and Immigration lines (seventh + eighth line/wait). We collected our bags and were told to sit in an area for an NCL Rep. She showed up very late and took us to an elevator (ninth line/wait) where we had to go up in small groups lugging all our heavy luggage (no porters to help). One elderly gentleman collapsed (I assume from exhaustion and/or dehydration) onto the floor, while waiting in the elevator line. We finally all got to the 2nd floor and had to drag luggage across the terminal. This was the most ridiculous line of all (tenth line/wait). There was supposed to be a group of NCL Reps sending passengers to the proper vehicles for transport. When we got to the area where we were supposed to pick up our transports there was only one Rep using a smartphone to direct us. Only about 75% of the information he was giving out was correct. When it was our turn he told us to take the shuttle to Manhattan. I told him my car was at the Hampton Inn in NJ. He told me to take a cab ($80) and NCL would reimburse me. It was now rush hour and we were exhausted(14 hour day) so we decided to stay at the Hampton Inn and get an early start to NH in the morning. The initial problem was not NCL’s problem, things break, but they did a lousy job of dealing with this problem. .

(7 Waldo shoutouts/ 81 final total)

Day Nine: Thursday 11/09/17 (Sea Day)

Sadly, this would turn out to be our last cruise day. We finally went for a big breakfast. After breakfast we went to the Comedian “Tim Kaminski's Q and A” (really enjoyed this). We ate lunch and then went to the“Afternoon Trivia”. Next it was back to the Spinnaker to watch the “Battle of the Cake Makers”. We caught the end of “Scattergories” and played the “10 Minute Mystery” and then went to watch the end of the Art Auction. Next it was a round of “Washer Toss” and then we went for a snack in the “Great Outdoors”. While up there we bumped into the entertainers from the “Duo Dynasty” and talked to them for a while (what a nice couple). We walked a mile around the ship before going to the Atrium. The Atrium was hosting a “Crew Spotlight Jam Session” which we watched. For the remainder of the cruise the Atrium would be very busy with people trying to get answers about their flights home and the remainder of the cruise. We had been accumulating points all week from the activities that we had been involved in. It was now time to go to the “Bliss”and turn them in for prizes. We collected 3 pens and 2 can insulators. Our last activity was to attend the show “Get Down Tonight” which was a 70’s themed show (very good). We went back to our cabin and our “letter” was on our bed. It stated that we were “pink”, one of the lousy colors which meant we were on one of the earlier flights. We had to be in Le Bistro at 5am Friday, missing a whole day of the cruise. We had to have our luggage in the hallway by 10pm Thursday night. Finally got packed and organized and in bed by 1am.

(3 Waldo shout outs/ 74 total)

Day Eight: Wednesday 11/08/17 (Grenada)

We woke and had another quick breakfast. We left the ship at 10am, our intention was to walk around the port city. We were greeted by a local who was going to take us to some places to look at spices. I started to realize that we were being scammed and he was trying to charge us for a “walking tour”. I should have charged him for my lost time! There wasn’t much to look at in the downtown area. We went back to the ship for lunch. Around 1:30pm we got on our bathing suits and took the water taxi ($5 each way per person) to the beach. We swam and had a beer. This must have been the place to go. We kept bumping into people from the cruise. We went back to the ship at 4pm, showered and went out for a snack. We went to the 7pm show “Duo Dynasty”, a fantastic aerial duo. After the show we went for fish and chips (very good) and wings at O’Sheehan’s. After dinner we talked to Guest Services about our flights and then listened to Sonata (we love this band) in the Atrium. We turned in our travel form and went up to the “White Hot dance party”. We had a cup of tea and then were in our cabin by 11:30pm.

(10 Waldo shout outs/ 71 total)

Day Seven: Tuesday 11/07/17 (Martinique)

We woke at 7amand had a small breakfast. After breakfastwe walked around the ship taking pictures. We left the ship at 10am. Wewalked all around the city, took pictures, visited the church and library andwaded a little at a small beach near the pier. We walked for about 3 hours and went back to the ship by 2pm. We had a quick snack and I took a dip in thepool and hot tub while Nancy was relaxing on a lawn chair. At 4pm the Captain announced that there wereproblems with the propeller and it could only move at a slow speed, we wouldnot be able to make it home. Instead ofheading to St Thomas we were being re-routed to Grenada and the stay was beingextended to 6pm. Thursday and Fridaywere supposed to be sea days but that itinerary was being changed. Thursday would still be a sea day but theship was being re-routed back to Barbados. It would arrive at 1:30am Friday and they would begin to start flyingpeople from Barbados to NJ. We had asnack, got dressed and went to the 7pm show. Tonight was a Ventriloquist named Kevin Johnson. He was funny and entertaining but (like themagician) could have had a little better act. After the show we went to dinner at the “Magenta” for the firsttime. Nancy had the fish and I had SteakDiane, both good. When dinner wasfinished we went to a Bee Gees/ABBA tribute by the band Sonata and then watchedthe “Liars Club Game Show” in the Spinnaker. We went to the “Late Night Dance Party” on the pool deck and then backto our cabin at midnight.

(4Waldo shout outs/ 61 total)

Day Six: Monday 11/06/17 (Barbados)

We woke up at 8am and had a small breakfast. Our plan was to walk to the “Boatyard”. As we were getting directions from the port officers, they told us we could take a shuttle for $5 one way per person. This sounded like a great idea. This was an interesting ride from the pier through the capitol to the beach. We were dropped off and paid our $20 per person. We booked our snorkel tour,picked out our 2 chairs/umbrella and got our free drinks. We both got a beer and took a swim.

There were also 3 inflatable that were included in the package. While swimming we were paged for our snorkel time. This was worth the admission alone. We were taken out to 2 ship wrecks for over an hour. We saw the sunken ships and many fish. This was the best snorkel of our vacation. The last part of the package was a free ride back to the cruise port. We went back to our cabin to shower and change and then went upstairs and had a quick lunch. After lunch we went back to the port shops at 2pm to get souvenirs and use the free WiFi. We got back to the ship at 4pm. We went up to the Garden Café for ribs and pasta. We were going to wait for the ship to leave port but it kept getting delayed. We were supposed to depart at 5pm but didn’t leave until 7pm. At 7pm we went to the “Jean Pierre Parent Magic Show”. We thought the show was amusing but not up to the standards of the other shows. It had some decent comedy mixed in with card tricks. We watched a little NFL football and then listened to the “Sonata Band”. My wife really wanted to see the “Tina Turner Tribute” so we stayed to watch it. The show was excellent. I don’t really care for her music but could appreciate how well it was done. After the show we went back to the cabin. We finished watching the NFL football game and then went to bed at 1am.

(9 Waldo shout outs/ 57 total)