aloesch

I'll be cruising out of PR next weekend. I actually plan to hit walgreens or cvs to pick up a few things the night before the cruise. I'd be happy to take a look if no one else does before :-)

DONT put the corkscrew in your carry on if you're flying as it will be confiscated by TSA at the airport. Put it in your checked luggage.

I lost my favorite corkscrew to tsa cause it was in my carry on. You might want to carry it on to the ship but check it for sure for the flight!

Just wanted to be sure that you are clear on how it works, Ashley.

 

Each person in the cabin must purchase the package.

Yes i did know that! I didn't mean to make it sound like I only wanted one package. I just meant hubs and I had different reasons for liking the changes. Thank you though!

I really hope this is accurate! I was planning to do the premium package anyway but the option of better wine for me and bottled water for the hubs makes it a no brainer! Yay!

Absinthe - Illegal in the US at the proof and bottling we bought on the French side of St. Martin - for medicinal purposes only ;o)

 

If you want a real fun gift - Sheridan's, sold on the ship! Our friends go nutz over it!! Fancy double-bottle, cream and liquer........almost impossible to find in the states and if you order online, the shipping is crazy. Check it out in the Duty Free shop, usually 2 for $44.00 but looks and tastes like a million bucks!

 

I got hooked because the ship shopping guide said "not sold in the U.S. That was a while ago, but I still can not find it.

Do you know if that Sheridan you mentioned is sold in Canada?? I had something similiar a few years ago near Niagara Falls and brought a few bottles back but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called. (Guess I liked it a little too much... haha)

It still appeared to be shuttered when we were there. If there was restoration, it wasn't apparent from the outside.

You must just be a good photographer then! Lol It looks much better in your pic than i remember it looking in person :-)

I'm going to go off on a tangent for a moment. I meant to post this while covering the ship. This is the new brand of tea that RCI is putting out now. It's awful. I enjoy Earl Grey, and this new stuff tastes bad. I've written about my dislike for this new brand on the comment cards. Hopefully they switch back to the (still not great) Lipton.

Okay, back on track:

Heading to the airport, Puerto Rico's main "interstate"

Some salt in the wound as our vacation ended

The Normandie Hotel, built to look like the former ocean liner of the same name.

One last glimpse of our ship

Our final stop of the trip

Have the new owners started restoration on the Normandie already? I know it was just sold in August (finally!) But it looks better in your pic than it did when i was in San Juan in march of this year. I'm so glad to see it getting fixed up!

Hello All: Thinking of booking a sail on the Gem in September through Canada. I cannot see anything on the Norwegian site that talks about the UBP package. Why would they not immediately publicize this offering?

 

I appreciate all the input here, and I was wondering....when you say coffee is included, does that also mean specialty alcohol coffees? Of course, using the alcohol within the package.

 

I would guess that by September, NCL will have all this worked out. I remember Celebrity going through the same newness curve back in 2010.

 

If the Gem is offering this package, it certainly would sway our decision to sail with them.... I hate the surprising drink tabs at the end of a cruise. :eek:

 

Thanks

They said "specialty coffees"are not included, whichi took to mean lattes, mochas, etc. I had no trouble getting a Baileys and coffee though :-)

Kim,

I've been following your review since the beginning and found it super interesting to see your perspective. (For those who don't know, I was on the same sailing with Kim). It's hard to believe that we could be on the same sailing on the same boat and yet have such incredibly different experiences.

I didn't notice any of the wear and tear that you mentioned. And I actually commented to my DH how impressed I was with the public bathrooms compared to our last sailing on Royal. I found the bathrooms I was using to be well kept up, well stocked, and very clean. We must have been using different bathrooms the whole cruise. I spent a lot of time in the casino but can't remember using the bathroom in there at all. I only had one meal in the buffet (a quick breakfast) but I still managed to see the washywashy guys several times almost everyday when we were wandering by.

I laughed when I read your note to take a sweater to the Stardust because of the air in each seat. I'm literally warm all the time, to the point of being uncomfortable on a regular basis (when I hit menopause the hot flashes are probably going to kill me! lol), so I found the air in the back of the seat to be a complete lifesaver. It's perhaps my favorite feature of the entire ship and I wish every theater everywhere had the same! lol You mentioned only noticing on of the hot tubs being used around the main pool and never anyone in the front one, but we had the exact opposite experience. We frequent had to give up on soaking at all because we couldn't find a hot tub with any room at all. They were packed to capacity nearly every time we tried to get in.

Our bridge tour did give us free champagne and mimosas, I know you mentioned that you guys didn't get any. Were you the 915am tour? We were at 1015, maybe they just got their stuff together by then. lol

We had no trouble finding the Rush-it (Advanced check-in) desk when we got off the ship and we happily sent our stuff ahead to the airport and enjoyed 5+ hours in NOLA before heading to the airport.

I wish I'd noticed the ship smiling at us. I took lots of pics of the ship and never managed to notice that. I absolutely loved your review and your pictures. You really captured the ship in a way that I am totally incapable of doing. I think you should be writing travel reviews for a living! :-)

Good luck starting your nursing program this month!! Let me know if you need anything at all or have any questions about anything. I've got stacks of books sitting around that I'm sure I'll never use again after (hopefully) passing NCLEX this month so if you find you need any new books I'd be happy to pass mine along.

If you purchase the drink package, do you get a sticker on your room key like you do for soda - or do they have to scan your card every time you order a drink?

They put a sticker on your card but for no apparent reason. On the Star 2 weeks ago they took my card every single drink and brought me a receipt to sign. They had to take both my card and DH's card if we both wanted a drink. It was so inconvenient!

I promised to come back and post a picture of the drink list from the Star...

The list on the Star was different. I'm out of town but will post the picture i took of it tomorrow when I get home.

And I was told specialty martinis were excluded and couldn't get then even when I tried to substitute the liquors just fyi. Seems like everyone is having different experiences so far, i think employees don't know much about the program in general since it's so new

Just bumping this up in hopes you might see my question,Kona

Thanks Cindy

I believe it was 42/person roundtrip. We were very satisfied with them, the guy you talk to when you reserve is the owner and his son was the one who drove us. They were right on time picking us up from the hotel and made one other stop to pick up other people. When we got off three ship they were ready and waiting for us exactly where they said they would be. They handled all the luggage for us. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again at all.

I've cruised twice from PC, the first time we stayed pre cruise at the Hampton at mco and used Laura's shuttle to get to the port morning of the cruise. They were much cheaper than anyone else we found and the service was great. They picked us up at the hotel and dropped us off at the ship, and they were there waiting when we got off. Out second cruise from PC, we reserved Laura's shuttle again but read some tips online about renting a car and looked in to it and the price was even cheaper than the shuttle for two people. Check out budget rental cars and find a coupon code on rentalcarmomma dot com. They have a drop off right down the street from the port and will shuttle you back and forth. So we did two separate rentals, one from airport overnight and dropped off at pier and one back from pier to airport. With 4 people, this is probably your best bet!