Ncl gem 2/19/12

[CSRAJ81]

:confused: Just got home from sailing on the GEM this past week, 2/19/12 all in all it was a good cruise,ship rocking and rolling one day going and one day coming, very cold and windy on Saturday, couldn't walk on pool deck it was so cold but still there were some kids in the pool :eek:

There were alot of children and lots of teen's, not that i am againist this, kid's are kid's but lets have some respect, i have 5 son's and went on many cruises with them and they were never like some on the ones on this trip. Blue lagune was a big hang out for them which was ok but when there are other people enjoying the resturant we do not want to hear every other word being the "F" word, or them throwing water at each other and thinking its funny while the parents are in their cabins at 1:00 in the morning :mad:. Had wreath's on our 4 cabin door's on deck 9 so our group knew where their cabins were at the begining and its something we always do but this is the first time that someone stole them! Secruity camera helped catch who took them and the secruity people went right to their room and got them back for us, all they told us that it was a teen-ager that took them and the parent's thought it was funny!:(

Did not think much of the show's, second city was great, they really were funny and did not miss any of their shows but the older comidian was bad, some may have liked him but i do not see how,

Food was very good, can not get better where ever we went, we ordered shrimp cocktails in the main dining room which you can get upon request but they are so small that i think the whole dish of them didn't add up to one shrimp:rolleyes: but as i said all in all the food was wonderful.

We have sailed on NCL before and will again, its just that they take the little things away that added a nice touch, creme brulia, shrimp cocktails, mints on your pillow(unless your a silver lat. member)

Many good times on this cruise and a few bad ones but as i said this is how i felt.

[Fine and Jim Dandy]

Glad you had a wonderful trip. I would place the blame on the parents. Kids act the way they were raised and taught. Many parents feel once they get on the ship, they can let the kids roam free with no rules. Little or no consideration for other passengers.

[JKNYC]

I was on the same cruise, and I agree with you about some of the kids' behavior. But I'll add that most of the bad behavior I saw was by adults. I think some people take the "freestyle" concept to mean "do whatever you want, whenever you want", without regard to your fellow passengers.

[Highboy90]

The sad part is the ones who misbehave, young and all are the ones who have a great time at the expense of others.

 

Thanks for the review. Hopefully, my cruise on the Jewel in a few weeks goes well.

[CSRAJ81]

I agree about the parent's, even when my older son's were teens on the past cruises i always knew where they were and who they were with, 3 of my son's were with me on this past cruise and they acted nothing like some that i have seen. And if i were the parent of the "teen" that stole from my door i would have walked down with him or her and made sure there was at least a "i am sorry" from them.

We had a wonderful time and met alot of good people from all over. Sat at the table for breakfast and had some nice chats with guest and workers on the ship. Looking forward to our next cruise already :D

[emcelh]

:confused: Just got home from sailing on the GEM this past week, 2/19/12 all in all it was a good cruise,ship rocking and rolling one day going and one day coming, very cold and windy on Saturday, couldn't walk on pool deck it was so cold but still there were some kids in the pool :eek:

There were alot of children and lots of teen's, not that i am againist this, kid's are kid's but lets have some respect, i have 5 son's and went on many cruises with them and they were never like some on the ones on this trip. Blue lagune was a big hang out for them which was ok but when there are other people enjoying the resturant we do not want to hear every other word being the "F" word, or them throwing water at each other and thinking its funny while the parents are in their cabins at 1:00 in the morning :mad:. Had wreath's on our 4 cabin door's on deck 9 so our group knew where their cabins were at the begining and its something we always do but this is the first time that someone stole them! Secruity camera helped catch who took them and the secruity people went right to their room and got them back for us, all they told us that it was a teen-ager that took them and the parent's thought it was funny!:(

Did not think much of the show's, second city was great, they really were funny and did not miss any of their shows but the older comidian was bad, some may have liked him but i do not see how,

Food was very good, can not get better where ever we went, we ordered shrimp cocktails in the main dining room which you can get upon request but they are so small that i think the whole dish of them didn't add up to one shrimp:rolleyes: but as i said all in all the food was wonderful.

We have sailed on NCL before and will again, its just that they take the little things away that added a nice touch, creme brulia, shrimp cocktails, mints on your pillow(unless your a silver lat. member)

Many good times on this cruise and a few bad ones but as i said this is how i felt.

 

Cruising during President's Day week probably isn't the best time because of school vacations. We usually go in September so it isn't an issue. I have to say though, I was on a Carnival cruise last week from Jacksonville with my daughter and there were 700 children on board. They were very well behaved and caused no problems that we could see.

 

We'll be on the Gem in September again doing the 10 day Canada cruise. We've also thought the food was good on all our NCL cruises. After reading so many posts about the food on Carnival being better I was looking forward to finding out for myself. I didn't see any difference except in the buffet, and there, NCL has the edge. Maybe it was the just ship we were on.

[CSRAJ81]

I have to say on all the ships i have been on so far NCL has the best in the buffets, Carnival was and is not even close to the other ships in the buffet, their food in the main dining rooms are very very good but not to my liking in the buffets :(

The shows are far better on Carnival then NCL, but i do not like the layout and deck plans on Carnival. NCL i think has better looking ships and decks,

i guess it is just in what kind of taste you have, all are good its just what you like :cool:

[sailor'swife]

Thanks for you review. We are sailing on the Gem to Canada on 10/10/12, so I am reading "all things Gem" these days. :)

[emcelh]

I have to say on all the ships i have been on so far NCL has the best in the buffets, Carnival was and is not even close to the other ships in the buffet, their food in the main dining rooms are very very good but not to my liking in the buffets :(

The shows are far better on Carnival then NCL, but i do not like the layout and deck plans on Carnival. NCL i think has better looking ships and decks,

i guess it is just in what kind of taste you have, all are good its just what you like :cool:

 

I'd like to try another Carnival ship as I'm sure there are differences. We were on one of the older and smaller ships on a 5 night cruise and, while the entertainment was OK I've seen better on NCL ships. I know Carnival recently changed their menus so maybe that made a difference in the food we had. I'd read that the food was better on Carnival but didn't find that to be the case on this cruise. The chocolate melting cake I'd looked forward to tasted good but was mostly liquid, fish dishes were overcooked and the lobster was very salty. Our table mates, who had been on other Carnival ships said the food wasn't what they'd experienced on prior cruises.

[CSRAJ81]

with the ship being sold out and so many people chatting before the cruise of 2/19//12 i thought there would be much more feedback after the cruise,:confused:

[che5904]

Thanks for the review, glad to see you had many good times.

Yes some people and their children can put a damper on a vacation, unfortunately not too much NCL could have done about this. But I’m happy to hear their security cameras work well and that NCL didn’t give you a hassle about breaking their nothing on exterior of doors rule.

Some posters feel that NCL should have raised base prices instead of taking the little things away like mints on pillows and large sized shrimp. Others feel leave the price lower. I guess no matter what NCL did they could not please all.

Great to hear the rest of you meals were wonderful, seems like you had a great time despite small hiccups

[snorklinbarb]

Thanks for the review, glad to see you had many good times.

 

Yes some people and their children can put a damper on a vacation, unfortunately not too much NCL could have done about this. But I’m happy to hear their security cameras work well and that NCL didn’t give you a hassle about breaking their nothing on exterior of doors rule.

 

Some posters feel that NCL should have raised base prices instead of taking the little things away like mints on pillows and large sized shrimp. Others feel leave the price lower. I guess no matter what NCL did they could not please all.

 

Great to hear the rest of you meals were wonderful, seems like you had a great time despite small hiccups

 

We were on the same ship Jan. 18-28 so there were not many kids. However, there was a particular group of teens who traveled in a pack and were quite disruptive wherever they went. They came in late to the show & started to heckle the entertainer (who took care of that brilliantly).

 

All of a sudden the group tamed down. Turns out a couple of the sr. officers had a little chat with their parents. So they do take steps to curtail this kind of behavior.

 

Perhaps too many kids not behaving on this cruise due to having a holiday in there. Thanks for the warning.

[che5904]

We were on the same ship Jan. 18-28 so there were not many kids. However' date=' there was a particular group of teens who traveled in a pack and were quite disruptive wherever they went. They came in late to the show & started to heckle the entertainer (who took care of that brilliantly).

 

All of a sudden the group tamed down. Turns out a couple of the sr. officers had a little chat with their parents. So they do take steps to curtail this kind of behavior.

[/quote']

 

Well good to know NCL put the effort into trying to tame it down and it worked. There are certain things NCL could tell the parents (against rules or policies) and certain things they could ask of the parents (not against any rule but inconsiderate), unfortunately with the latter that doesn't always help. Glad it helped all around in this case.

[CSRAJ81]

:eek: Didn't know about the rule about putting things on the door, have sailed on NCL 5 times and always did it, easier to find your room the first couple of days when you have something that stands out on your door:rolleyes:

Anyway, NCL did take care of matters when ever there was a problem with the teen's on the ship, one girl was ready to throw a glass of water in another girls face in the blue lagoon one night as their were having a fight and cussing at each other, the poor waiter had to get between them and almost had the water on her :mad:. All under the age of 18 and no parents around!

Never swore like that when i was that age in front of anyone older then me or in mixed company and my kids were brought up to have the same respect

[che5904]

Didn't know about the rule about putting things on the door, have sailed on NCL 5 times and always did it, easier to find your room the first couple of days when you have something that stands out on your door

 

I can't recall off hand where I first read it. I believe it was in my welcome book. It has to do with safety regs. Someone on a thread a while ago stated the safety issue was fire because the hallways were so narrow. I don't know how true that reason is, sounded pretty logical to me.

 

Anyway, NCL did take care of matters when ever there was a problem with the teen's on the ship, one girl was ready to throw a glass of water in another girls face in the blue lagoon one night as their were having a fight and cussing at each other, the poor waiter had to get between them and almost had the water on her . All under the age of 18 and no parents around!

 

Glad they were able to take care of things.

 

Never swore like that when i was that age in front of anyone older then me or in mixed company and my kids were brought up to have the same respect

 

Oh me neither. If I ever got caught, life as I knew it would never be the same :eek:. Not sure whether mine was respect or just plain fear in those days. Not really sure what would have happened but I certainly didn't plan to find out ;). And if my children ever did, they didn't get caught. But I doubt they did, they just weren't that type of kids.

[PatJim]

Sorry to hear about kid's misbehavior on your Feb. Gem cruise. Though we don't have children, we're pretty tolerant of their behavior (I have a good memory of my own earlier life~!). We agree with other posts that when behavior gets out of hand, the fault lies in the parents. We were on the Gem this past December. One special night at the Bistro specialty restaurant was ruined for us and others by a large group of young children seated in the center of the room. The hostess seated us in the back "because of the noise," but it was still disruptive to a peaceful dining experience. Seems there was only one young adult, parents not present, and kids shouting and crawling over and under tables, etc. NCL personnel should have intervened and contacted the parents to come and restore order.

[suzequ]

Glad the cruise overall was a success - sorry to hear that some young people felt that vacation means a vacation from rules and manners. Unfortunately it isn't always teenagers that misbehave/forget their manners - I'm frequently amazed at adults who behave like toddlers having tantrums.

 

Our dd (almost 18 now) always negotiated ship rules with us before we left and this upcoming cruise is no different. They reflect our expectations re: her behavior, but also rules to keep her safe.