bragstarr

There was even coffee, tea and juices set out in La Cucina at breakfast time. They actually encourage you to eat in there. Right outside it, too (aft deck behind it) there is another buffet station where they make fresh eggs and omelettes, and no one was ever there. Walk all the way back, pick up your food outside, and go back onboard right into La Cucina for a quiet eating area!

This is truly a super report on what there is to do, see and eat in St. John. Thank you so much!

Menus for MDR are posted daily.

Restaurant fees: Cagneys--$25 pp., Teppanyaki--$25 pp., Le Bistro $20 pp., Tequila $10 pp., La Cucina $10 pp. Not sure about the Asian restaurant and I believe Sushi is a la carte. We had a coupon in our past passenger booklet mailed to us by the travel agent for buy one get one free in Tequila if we had a receipt from Le Bistro showing 2 dinners had been purchased on the cruise, so we ate there for $5 each. The coupon book expired 12/31/10, however, so no idea if they are reissuing it. The 2 main dining rooms, buffet and Blkue Lagoon are free.

The only way you can eat in Cagney's for lunch is if you are in certain cabins/suites, but I think it's free in that case.

Didn't eat breakfast in Blue Lagoon. Went there for lunch one day, it was terrible, and never went back. Did see menu one morning, very limited, I think you're better off going to the back of the buffet (Great Outdoors) for a quick and good omelette.

As for MDR reservations, we called them every morning (most phones have a button right to it or dial 050) and made our reservation for that evening, based on that day's newsletter and what we had planned for the day.

Just off the Gem, we had the delayed departure, with a very rocky ride down and freezing cold in Florida! Such are the chances you take in December....I'm going to give some food recommendations. If you do have a bumpy ride, eat in Magenta rather than the Grand Pacific. More centered in the ship and much smoother ride. We made reservations for dinner all nights (and ate in Le Bistro and Tequila too) so we didn't ever wait, but I did find out from a fellow cruiser if you get to the MDR and there is a wait they give you a beeper and a two for one drink ticket. Not a bad deal. The buffet has some nice choices, the melon was horrible, but great pineapple. Never saw grapes or a berry. Cold fruit soups in both the buffet and MDR were super. Probably it's been mentioned but their bakery onboard is quite good, try the banana bread, pretzel rolls, chocolate croissants (breakfast). Sometimes when the buffet closes they keep the Great Outdoors (rear section of the buffet outside) open so check your newsletter and watch for that, and there is often a sign at the entrance of the buffet. Be prepared to have your hands sprayed with "washy washy" at every turn! The Great Outdoors stays very quiet, most people never find it, they have most of the breakfast spread and an omelette station out there, never waited at it while they were lined up in the front of the buffet. There is also a soft serve ice cream maker outside there in addition to the one inside the buffet, no one ever sees it. You have to stay in the buffet to get the hard scooped flavors, though. Tea and coffee stations all around, everyone pushes at the first one they see. Just walk back a bit. At breakfast and lunch in the buffet go to the rear stair area and cross to the port side to La Cucina, you can bring your food in there and sit, always a place. Another find--the Great Outdoors area serves "tea" from 2:30-5:30 and day three we discovered the BEST scones with cream and preserves. Check them out. Also good on the ship foodwise: smoked salmon (lox), baby lamb chops (in both Le Bistro and MDR), the best lobster tails I ever had on a ship in the MDR, the lobster tacos in the tex-mex were fabulous but beware, a lot of stuff in the restaurant VERY spicy, but I got the tacos without the peppers in them and they were mild and wonderful.

Any questions--ask and I may have answers....;)

Am taking NCL Gem from NYC in December and there are a few shore excursions from the ship. What I am trying to find out if, like in many Caribbean ports, there are independent operators offering excursions from the port. Also, if we wanted to take a taxi, is there anyplace nearby the port interesting to do (have already been to KSC). Looking at perhaps an airboat excursion--hate to book directly through NCL but that may be the only option. Was at this port a number of years ago, we rented our own car and it turned into a disaster!

Thanks.....

Cabin 9153, Oasis, of course!

Q is 149 square feet, L, M, N are 182. Honestly, I've stayed twice on NCL Dawn in a 145 sq. ft. cabin and it was fine.

Yeldarb, check if the Royal Booking page still shows 182 square feet for the Q also. Although the floor plans show it at 145, the booking page online showed it at 182, which is incorrect. I called them at that point, told them I had been expecting a 182 sq. ft. cabin when I booked it, and they changed me to an L. It's worth a try if they are still listing it at 182!

What cabin did you all have so I can figure out where to book.

9153. Great location, great cabin, great cabin attendant (Randy from Trinidad, IIRC).

I hate to see my category Q. I guess the rest of the boat is big enough to make up for the room size.

I cannot tell you how many times we moseyed on past where we knew the Qs were to try to cop a peek in, especially since we originally had one. Alas, to no avail. We did meet someone one day who had one and they said it was fine. My only guess would be that somehow the cabin was shorter and maybe there was a chair instead of a couch. Sorry, I tried!

BTW, Love the Speed Racer logo! My 27 year old son was addicted to it!

...and even more so, if the only way you can swing it is to do four people in one inside, do it. You'll manage for the week, especially if the alternative is not going at all!

I do have to point out I'm not quite sure this is the configuration for all inside cabins. Although ours was great where the bed was (facing the door) I do think there are ones that have both the bed and the couch sideways. We had also heard that cabins that connected did not have a couch and only a chair. This was not true. It was a connecting cabin and the door connecting the two was across from the bathroom entrance. We barely if ever heard our neighbors!

Do you think this room is large enough for family of 4 (2 tween boys),

Depends on how much time you are spending in the cabin--if you're out and about a lot you will probably be OK for the week. Might be tripping over each other a bit but you can manage for a week. Be forewarned there is very little actual drawer space--we used hangars and closet shelves a lot, and even tucked underwear in some of the little hidey hole cabinets to the left of the vanity mirror!

It swivels somewhat--my husband was able to see it pretty well. I was on the side of the bed on the same side of the wall where the TV was mounted, and did not see it all that great. If it swivels 45 degrees, that's being generous.

I know I told a few of you I would post my inside cabin photos. This was a Category L, the larger one. I thought very spacious and well laid out for an inside! Will answer any questions if you have them.

Anyone who picked this ship--you made a great decision!

Deck--9

Cabin--9153

Class L--Larger Inside

Front Port--right by forward stairs

Bed location--this is an inside cabin where the couch is next to closet and bed headboard is along back wall, not next to the couch (in other words, when you walk in the cabin, you are facing the foot of the bed.

Quiet cabin for the most part. It connected to another cabin and I heard them maybe two times. Other side of cabin backed onto crew stairwell and across from that was an elevator. When they brought up luggage we heard some banging around but nothing to cause complaint.

Obviously wind was not an issue nor do I have a balcony to report on!

This was a great cabin for an inside. Laid out well, lots of space to move around in. Right near the forward stairs; one quick flight down and I was right in Central Park. We always crossed through the ship either through there or the promenade, not through a deck of cabins, seemed much shorter.

Nicole, just back from my cruise to Alaska and trip to Seattle, and of course I had to read the end of your review! Thanks for all of it. You are a wonderful writer and your humor is similar to mine. Glad you enjoyed NYC. Yeah, it's overcrowded but we have a lot to offer. I have NEVER been to Alice's Tea Pot and now it is on my list of things to do. Enjoy Disney World!

Thanks for this next part--you really do a nice job of writing. Incidentally, my son and his friends loved Music Unlimited also--they even have a picture of the group with him and his friends. But for some strange reason, they unofficially refer to them as Orlando and the Dudes.....funny!

Sorry for the long absence...I have strep :( And we're stuck in a heatwave. I promise I'll get to all of your replies and update soon.

Oh, strep is miserable and bad weather never helps anything. The weather here on LI has just progressively been bad this month (anyone see the US Open Golf on TV--15 minutes from my house). Feel better and rest.

Nicole--dear son is home and currently taking a nap. He slept about 3 hours last night. Yes, he went to tea, ate chocolate melting cake, rode mopeds on Grand Turk, devoured much sushi, won a ship on a stick at trivia, and is generally satisfied but exhausted. Now of course at age 22 he will have forgotten to do laundry and I will be the recipient of it all. Said the cruise director and assistant CD were just OK but their staff was great and knew them all by the end of the week, cabin steward not so hot, waitstaff was great to them especially considering they ate multiple meals and they tipped them extra. Thanks so much for vicariously entertaining me and I look forward to the rest of the review!

Someone please come to my house and serve me tea--it's a quarter to five, we have an event to go to with a light dinner at 7PM, and I'm hungry!

Nicole, my son comes home tomorrow. I don't even think I need to ask him what he did on this cruise at this point. Although I'm sure the stories will come out. I wonder if he went to tea. He LIKES tea!

I was wondering why we never saw grandma and now I know. Maybe just one little picture--even a profile? Does she know she's missing internet fame?

Gotta go to BB&B for those towel clips.....

I just wanted to correct an earlier post, actually the The verrazano bridge connects Staten Island, NY to Brooklyn, NY. Not NJ :)

I have no idea where my brain is these days. This is absolutely correct--thing is, I never get off in Staten Island, what I always do is take the Outerbridge into NJ from 440! So in my messed up head....well, never mind. I stand corrected! Good thing hubby didn't see this!:eek:

Templed beat me to it. The bridge indeed is the Verrazano Narrows, which connects Brooklyn and New Jersey. It's quite bizarre for those of us NYers who ride over it all the time to sail under it.

Looking at your food pics, my son must be having an absolute party. I want warm chocolate melting cake NOW, accompanied by that nice looking fruit plate. And strangely enough, I want me a cheese plate. Never ordered one of those, but it looks good to me at the moment.

Your review is truly unbelievable. Pictures are phenom. You should forward this to someone at Carnival when it is done--perhaps alert John Heald to it on his blog. Including the part about the--um, dirty area by the elevator. Ugh.

I hosted a Carnival House Party a few months ago, yes, I was one of the lucky ones to win. I sent my son on the ship with my "I Drive the Funbus" shirt I was given to wear. Did you notice any of those? Wonder if someone is noticing him--he thinks I am crazy.

Keep it up!

I TOLD you the Junior's cheesecake was the best! Incidentally, the Manhattan store is more expensively priced that the original one in Brooklyn, which has more of a fun atmosphere...but not in the best neighborhood. That being said, $10 for a decent corned beef sandwich in NY is pretty common.

The NY Pizza you had, from a food court, was probably not a true representation of the stuff. Why didn't you have Nathan's hot dogs--and better yet, their french fries? Yum!

You can really see the differences in the camera quality, but your pictures were still a lot of fun. If you ever go to NY again, or for anyone else reading, you can get really great prices by going to a website called Broadway Box. This lists every discount available for every show--not that all shows ever have a discount, I am still waiting to see Jersey Boys!

My friend who lives by me and isn't even on CC is getting forwarded your links. She's getting a kick out of seeing NYC out of a non New Yorker's eyes too. Keep up the good work!

This has to be the longest review I've ever seen, but it's great. You're giving this New Yorker some ideas where to eat. You MUST have had a bad day at Century 21. It is a landmark--the one here on LI by me is fabulous. I cannot believe you took pics of PATH and the rat in the subway (welcome to NY). Dylan's is very cool but completely overpriced. Tiffany is...well, Tiffany! I love browsing there. Bloomies is great too. Did you make it to the giant Macy's? You didn't hit the Disney store two blocks down from Tiffany? That's fun too.

I certainly hope the next installment finds you at Juniors, because if you left NY without their cheesecake you missed out on the BEST!

I'm sure my DS and his friends are having a ball.....

Very nicely done so far. 22 year old son and 3 friends are on this cruise as I type this. Since we live on LI, it only took them an hour to get to the pier (sorry!). Looking forward to details. We actually did this itinerary on Imagination last year out of Miami, so know the ports!

Need to keep an eye on this one; but I'm not sailing until January!:(

Can't wait to try that Kiss on the Lips. The Funship Special sounds like it would put me to sleep for the night (I'm a real lightweight). I LOVED the BBCs on RCI--wonder if they are as good on Carnival.

PineappleGal--see you're in Albany--wave to my son in Troy for me, he's at RPI!

Robin