Gem Review 7/28-8/4

[callmebetty]

A great trip on a great ship!

DAY 1

We got to the pier in NYC at 10:27. We were put into a priority "line", which no one was in and given a playing card to note that we booked through CAS. We sat down with the other card holders and about 6 minutes later we were boarding! In that 6 minutes we ran into some fellow CCers :)

We headed out to explore the ship and spent some time relaxing on the big sunbeds on deck 13 or 14 on the front of the ship. It was hot up there and we never made it back up there.

We got to our room, which was an inside stateroom on deck 11. We hadn't been in an inside in 10 years, but it was clean and well appointed. Neil, the room steward was absolutely fabulous and went way beyond all expectations. More on him later!

We hit the Bali-Hai bar over looking the pool and people watched for a bit with a bucket of beer until muster. For those of you that cruised last year, they have done away with the buckets with the built in bottle openers and now give you an opener on a key chain, so no more spilled beer!. We met Mark and Rain, both fabulous, charming servers!

Muster was short and sweet and before we knew it, New York was getting further away!

Duty free shops opened earlier than I though they would and we made some purchases. The one thing I didn't like about this process was learning we would have to go pick up our liquor the last night instead of having it delivered. Good think my dear hubby told me he would carry the liters we bought :)

Off to the buffet for a quick bite, some exploring, and then into the casino.

Our first (and come to think of it last) interaction with the casino host was to find out about the slot tournament DH had bought into. She informed us that there was a letter in our room. We explained there was an envelope with our drink cards but no letter. She said she knew it was there because she put it in there herself. Not very pleasant and after triple checking, there was no letter...

Anyway, we played around for a bit and then left to wander.

We returned and met some great people at the 3 card poker table. Anthony, Laureen, Simon, Tracy, and some others (after 2 bottles of champagne among the table, the names escape me!). DH hit a 3 card straight flush and before we knew it is was after 4AM already.

Returned to the room to find a towel animal waiting :)

[callmebetty]

DAY 2

I was up early and wandered up to deck 12 to get DH some coffee. I chatted with a few people up there, which I would chat with each morning! Back to collect hubby and deliver him coffee before his 9:15 slot tournament session. He did his thing and we went back up to the Bali-Hai for a cocktail before our meet and greet. The meet and greet was in Bliss lounge and we had a good turnout for our roll call. The officers gave little speeches and as we were all about to turn into popsicles, we left for our slot pull. It was very cold in Bliss during the daytime, but at night it seemed to warm up a bit.

Slot pull- we had 32 people participate, each putting in $21. I think we got 3 (or maybe 4) spins on the wheel during our time. We all left with $11, but $10 is a small price to pay for the fun we had!

Hit the buffet for lunch. The lines were a little crazy, but we managed to grab some food. Seating was a big issue most of the trip. There were also two youg kids doing what appeared to be breakdancing in the middle of the floor which also jammed things up a bit. There was a good assortment of food and there was flavored water available!

Returned to the room to find that Neil, without me saying a word, emptied our mini-bar and stocked it with the Diet Coke I had boarded with. What a guy!

Nothing much to report until it was time to go to Moderno's.

I prebooked Moderno's before we left, but looking back, there was no need to. The salad bar was amazing! I could have eaten there evrynight and been happy. The meat was good, though some was pretty salty. The ribs were a bit dry, but the filet was fabulous. The fried bananas they bring in a little dish were amazing as well. The pineapple at the end was not to be missed. I think I could have been rolled out of there at the end!

The one downside to Moderno's is the location. People use it as a cut-through, so while you are eating there are kids running through, bathing suits passing by, and it is overall distracting. The other thing is there were pictures being taken on the staircase so everytime the flash went off, we saw it. We did see a few officers eating dinner at the same time we did so it must have been noticed. In my head I had pictured this as more of a closed steakhouse than a cut-through, but it was still worth the cover charge!!

Great lightening show which we watched from the lounge chairs on deck 7.

Back to the casino for our daily donation and then off to deck 11 to find another towel animal waiting for us along with the one from the day before :)

Note-the inside stateroom showers are actually pretty roomy with sliding glass doors.

[chars]

I am enjoying reading your review. I am sailing on the Gem on Saturday and booked thru CAS. So, you really didn't have any interaction with the casino host? The last time I sailed on the Jewel I felt as though the casino host made sure she acknowledged my husband and I every time we entered. I look forward to the rest of the review!

[callmebetty]

Chars,

We felt the same way when we were on the Jewel last year. Since this was a big gamblers cruise, being a millionaire slot tournament and all, I think we were considered "little fish" this time around. I don't want to go off on a rant about this, but it is why we are doing Carnival next year for our back to back instead of ncl again.

[callmebetty]

DAY 3

 

We were in no hurry to get up this morning since we weren't getting off the boat. We had a leisurely breakfast and wandered around the mostly empty ship just enjoying the weather and the fact there weren't that many people on board. We ended up back at Bali-Hai in the afternoon for more quality time with Mark and Rain. No pun intended, but rain it did! The skies opened up and we had to get out of the pools because of thunder and lightening. We hung out and watched the people dashing back to the boat from port. We also watched some kids using the deck as a giant slip and slide, which looked like a lot of fun! I contemplated joining them but decided I would rather watch...

The weather cleared up, everyone got on board on time, and we headed to dinner in the Blue Lagoon later in the evening.

We sat, and sat, and sat. We encounted another CCEr and she joined us. The hostess came over to take our order since the waitstaff was not visible. At one point another guest got up and started filling water glasses and iced teas. The staff seemed to think this was funny. Shortly after this, half of the patrons in the restaurant broke into song. It was hysterical. All different tables singing the song that was playing...I felt like I was in My Best Friend's Wedding!

Anyway, my well done wings arrived and they were chilly. Sent them back and said I didn't want others. DH enjoyed the Wonton soup and I enjoyed the Tomato soup. Our companion's fish and chips arrived with fries instead of the potato chips she asked for so the hostess took the plate away. The waiter came with the chips, but no fish. Finally her whole meal arrived and we helped eat the extra chips. It was an off night in the Lagoon I think!

We went back to see our very freindly slot attendant Victoria, who I cannot say enough nice things about, and eventually called it a night.

[www3traveler]

What was the on ship entertainment like? Another Gem thread someone was saying that there was "an older gentleman playing piano". I have a friend that I have lost track of that has played piano on The Gem. He was born in Scotland and was living in Vancouver, B.C. a couple of years ago. Do you remember him? Thanks

Mandy

[callmebetty]

DAY 4

 

Great Stirrup Cay-

I will never hear the end of it from DH for saying we should skip the buffet and eat on the island!

We got on a tender and waited for about 10 minutes. We arrived on the island which is showing some improvement from last year. We got lunch first, which was like a tragic version of the buffet on the ship. The lines were a mess, the food was either overdone or cold, and I just was not impressed.

On to the good stuff...if you walk down to the second beach area by the cabanas, the water is much clearer than that first area! It was gorgeous. I found some shells and sea glass to bring back with me. In the trees by the beach you can find lizards and under the rocks you can find tiny hermit crabs and snails. It is a bit rocky to get there, but our bare feet were ok. You can get some great pictures of the boat from here. I did it as an attachment since I haven't installed everything I need to on this computer...

Back to the ship!

The tender we got on was unpleasant. It was about 1/2 full when we got on and we sat while they crammed more and more people on. People came up the stairs, saw there were no seats, and went back down the stairs. More people came up and went down. This went on for a good 25 minutes. There has to be a more effective way to run tenders....

On our nightly casino visit we talked to Victoria again. We had been telling here about the machine where you drop the quarters and they push things off the edge. They reset them every night...I know it is just for fun, and we went there when we didn't want to play slots or table games, but it was impossible to win a bottle of bubbly. Victoria came over and gave me a little gift which was really really nice of her. I hope she becomes a casino host because she truly deserves it!

I woke up in the middle of the night because our hangers were making a ruckus in the closet. I can tell you Deck 12 is deserted but beautiful at 3AM!

[callmebetty]

www3...it was me that said older gentleman. He never talked so I am not sure, but I am thinking his name was Mike and the guitar guy was named Leo. I am going to try to get the dailies scanned tomorrow!

[www3traveler]

One other question: was there a staff member that stood out above the rest?

[boopsahoy]

Love your review! We are also casino goers. We have had different casino hosts and they all are different. We had one that offered us comp dinners one year but the next year no. We were telling this to one of the slot attendents and he must have spoken to the casino host and she apologized and did get us a comped meal at cagneys.

 

When did the Gem get Modernos? What restaurant did it replace?

[callmebetty]

I will finish my review soon, but to answer questions...

Staff that stood out...

The bartender at magnums (I wish I caught his name) had some great mind benders and matchstick tricks!

The slot attendant Victoria was absolutely wonderful. We told her about not rally connecting with the casino host and she asked if she could pass along a message to her. With other people being comped multiple dinners and being showered with attention, we opted to just stay quiet and not make waves. we racked up quite a few

Pints so I am not sure if we got lost in the shuffle or what. At one point the host and I were washing our hands at the same time and she completely avoided any sort of conversation wit me (we were literally washing our hands...)

Moderno's replaced the tapas place, right across from the blue lagoon. Like I said, great food, lousy location!

Neil the room steward also really stood out. He made towel animals for me each night and let the collection stay in the room the whole time (must have been because I had a few stuffed monkeys wit me, which he also posed with each new animal)

If any of you see Neil or Victoria, p,ease tell them Jim and Jackie say hello!

[callmebetty]

Nassau

We got off the ship and headed through town to Junkanoo beach. It is a free public beach with clear water and soft sand. It was gorgeous! If I could live under a palm tree here, I would!

We stopped at a red hut with coca-cola umbrellas and had some excellent coconut drinks. You can get 3 for 10 virgin or $6. Each with drinks and they are buy 2 get one free. They cut the coconut open right in front of you and give you the coconut water in a cup then fill the coconut with whatever concotion you choose. The lady's name is either Keisha or meisha and she was hysterical!

Back to the water for a bit and then on the advice of a local, ont the #10 bus to go get Mac and cheese. The bus took us to twin brothers. Bus trip was 1.25 each. Twin. Rothers was too tourist Trappish for us so we walked next store to candies. Best decision ever. Mac and cheese is $2.00 and was so good we ordered another. Also had some conch fritters. I don't like seafood but these were quite yummy. Talked with the ladies there and told them they need to feature this wonderful dish on the menu as something other than macaroni since to us, macaroni is with tomato sauce (or maybe it's just my Italian side coming through). Had a beer with the ladies and smoky who was dressed up in a zoot suit selling cigars for $10 each (or that is what dh tAlked him down to) .

Headed out to find Canepas (little limes), but all we found were trees full of Unripe mangoes. Back to the water and one more drink at the coca-cola hut (which had the best prices around). If you go early, you can buy an all day package with unlimited alcoholic drinks for $39 which is a great deal, but I would need to hire someone to carry me back to the ship!

Back on board by 3 and watching for pier runners. A few pulled up In a golf cart and one guy actually had the nerve to finish his señor frog drink and cigarette before getting on board. I guess some people don't mind when 2300 passengers are waiting for you to finish your overpriced drink and the crew is taking the Gangway apart in front of you!

On this night while in the casino, we saw a parade of chefs and staff go by. They told us they were going to sing so we joined the parade. I would have gone on stage with them but dh kindly stopped me!

More towel animals awaited when we got back to the room,,,by this time I could almost open my own zoo.

Note: you know you are an insomniac when you see the same episode of house either a) three times in one week or b) twice in one night or c) you can give a sales pitch for gemstones better than the guy the replay on tv..in my case it is d)all of the above...

Which reminds me...we went to a gemstone talk earlier in the week and dh won an entry int the blackjack tournament. I would have preferred tamzanite, but hey a win is a win.which we did little to none of the duration of the cruise :)

 

Next post will bring the nights that made me feel every one of my 33 years...yep.the white hot Party, karaoke, and closing down bliss on the last sea night

[boopsahoy]

I will finish my review soon, but to answer questions...

Staff that stood out...

The bartender at magnums (I wish I caught his name) had some great mind benders and matchstick tricks!

The slot attendant Victoria was absolutely wonderful. We told her about not rally connecting with the casino host and she asked if she could pass along a message to her. With other people being comped multiple dinners and being showered with attention, we opted to just stay quiet and not make waves. we racked up quite a few

Pints so I am not sure if we got lost in the shuffle or what. At one point the host and I were washing our hands at the same time and she completely avoided any sort of conversation wit me (we were literally washing our hands...)

Moderno's replaced the tapas place, right across from the blue lagoon. Like I said, great food, lousy location!

Neil the room steward also really stood out. He made towel animals for me each night and let the collection stay in the room the whole time (must have been because I had a few stuffed monkeys wit me, which he also posed with each new animal)

If any of you see Neil or Victoria, p,ease tell them Jim and Jackie say hello!

 

Im pretty sure I remember Victoria from my last cruise (she was great!) and I also think we had the same casino host! She never even said hello! Our last cruise we got 2 comped dinners without asking, which we mentionned to a slot attendant-cant remember his name:o-and HE spoke to her and came back to us and asked where we wanted to eat. (you would think at that point she would have come over!) He got us dinner at Cagneys (or she did through him!). We were a little annoyed since we play every night and we played for hours and hours on the sea days.

 

Im loving your review!

[NYGirl1002]

Loving your review Betty. I like getting a different perspective, i.e., the casino.

 

Also thanks for your GSB tip.

[callmebetty]

DAY 6

A lazy day at sea...

We decided to skip breakfast and wait to have lunch in the MDR. WE got a seat by the window and I had the chips with tapenade, summer rolls, and NY Strip. DH had goat cheese stuffed portobello cap, summer rolls, and steak and cheese.

The food was good, the service was great. The company was annoying. There was a couple that complained about everything...the location of the table, the effervescense in the soda, and everything else. I honeslty felt bad for the server when they demanded that they go to another bar and get more soda. Diet Pepsi isn't all that bubbly to begin with. If you are going to send your soda back 3 times, bring your own darn cans!

Anyway, we enjoyed our lunch and wandered around the ship to walk some of it off.

Stopped in the casino for our donation. Ventured into the hot tubs and pool. The pool, as I should have mentioned earlier, is vey, very salty. The hot tub is very, very chlorinated.

Which reminds me...earlier in the cruise, Jim and I had left our bathing suits on the floor in the shower (tsk, tsk...we threw them in there seperately, there was no way we were both fitting in there at one time lol) and when we came back to the room, Neil had hung them both up to dry. Again, absolutely unexpected and greatly appreciated!

Back to day 6...

Jim decided in the evening that he was going to play in the cash Hold 'em game. He doesn't like playing in the tournament because they allow too many opportunities for rebuys and it gets annoying for serious players. Anyway, it is better for both of us if I don't hover over his shoulder so I got changed into some White Hot attire and moseyed on up to the party at Spinaker. It looked like a teen club, which is why all of the adults were now headed to Bliss. I met some fun people, namely a guy who beacame my 24 year old dance partner. We danced, drank, and were merry. I checked in with DH, who did well at cards, and he gave me another 30 minutes before I turned into a pumpkin. Apparently it was

3:30 already! Got back to the dance floor to witness some pretty "inventive" dancing by some people in pretty interesting "clothes". I danced, danced, danced, and eventually crashed...only to wake up to that pesky episiode of House on TV again!

White Hot party was fun, and maybe I just didn't see them, but last year there was an ice luge and all the dancers had wings on...hmmm.

 

And boy my legs were tired!

[boopsahoy]

We arent a fan of their diet Coke/Pepsi. It just doesnt taste the same as at home. But I wouldnt return it! Thats just silly lol

[callmebetty]

This is exactly why I bring my own diet coke on board! Slap a luggage tag on the box and it arrives no problem :) we spend enough on other beverages and even if we didn't, it's a matter of personal taste :) :)

[boopsahoy]

This is exactly why I bring my own diet coke on board! Slap a luggage tag on the box and it arrives no problem :) we spend enough on other beverages and even if we didn't, it's a matter of personal taste :) :)

 

 

I just may do that this year-do you have to put in your luggage or can you just bring the pack with a luggage tag?

[callmebetty]

Day seven and day eight...ooops!

The last day on the ship.... I was a little slow-moving this morning so we woke up and ventured up for what is usually our last breakfast buffet. During the cruise I became a fan of the roasted tomatoes with some capers from the lox bar a slice of cheese on half English muffin. It's also a nice touch that they had either crispy or soft bacon available at all times. We explored the ship a bit more checking out the duty-free shops. I tried on a Tanzanite ring that was gorgeous but the $2800 price tag made me ask for something smaller. the next ring wasn't much more reasonable but according to the sales person it was a steal. Both of these rings can be found on the ship on the next sailing :)

 

DH decided to play some three card poker so I entered the second to last qualifying round of the slot tournament. The thing about the slot tournament is that they do it as teams now. if you're solo you have to play for three minutes get a short break and play for another three minutes. this is exhausting!!!! I made it to the finals despite being the only person in the row who didn't know someone. my competitors were certain at least one of them would beat me!!

Onto the finals which is about 15 minutes later. One of my fellow cc members was there. Neither one of us won but our arms got a good workout!

The top three teams each got a T-shirt and a bottle of bubbly. I am not sure what a team of two is supposed to do with one T-shirt.....

Went back to check on DH and have a Mojito since I just burned up all those calories. Because the drinks server misheard the order at the table instead of two dirty bananas they brought to dirty martinis which I also ended up with.... it isn't easy to navigate the casino with three drinks in hand. I abandoned two of them and moved to a slot machine.

Our loss is another cruisers gain! A lady playing 600 pennies a spin on the rio game had $3800 in her bonus game with 154 free spins remaining! She ended up cashing out with $5100 :)

We left the casino to wander around the ship. We had a drink at magnums where we learned some really cool tricks with matchsticks and other mindbenders.

We went back to the room to start to pack and I decided I would go to the blue Lagoon to get some food to bring back. When I arrived at the blue lagoon I waited about five minutes to place my to go order. I ordered my buffalo wings extra well-done and I tried to order my husband some wonton noodle soup. I was told soup cannot be taken out of the restaurant. Apparently it is a safety hazard to walk on a moving ship with soup... have they been to the buffet lately? Have they actually tried the temperature of the soup? Anyway I canceled our order stopped at the casino to bring back a few drinks and

left it at that.

I wasn't ready to sleep so I went for a walk. I ran into another Cruise critic friend outside of spinnakers and we chatted for quite a bit. The party moved to Bliss :)

Stopped at the room, Left sleeping DH a note about where I would be and headed back out.

The bartender from magnums was there doing more matchbook tricks. He really was amazing. There wasn't too much dancing going on at this point. By this time they were starting to take all of the liquor off of the shelves. We had one last shot from the last bottle that was left on the shelf....very sad time for all of us!

I shuffled back to my room cursing myself for being up this late and still not being packed!

What was playing on the TV? I would have been surprised if it was anything other than that episode of house that had haunted me all week!

The wake up call came three hours later... I got up showered and finished packing. DH woke up unpacked and repacked since I didn't put the liquor in the suitcases.

We grabbed our bags and headed up to deck 12.

This is where I saw a difference from other lines... NCL doesn't kick you off but instead lets you enjoy breakfast and coffee until you're ready to leave. They should know I am never ready to leave! We chatted with our new friends from the casino Simon and Tracy who were headed to catch a plane to Vegas. This is what inspired me to book back to backs next year. What better way to avoid ending a vacation then to follow it with another one? Of course this can result in an endless loop of cruising, but we won't think about that!

we stayed on board until 1025. We made our way down to deck seven. An employee stopped us asked if we were looking to depart to which we said yes he then asked what language we needed... English Dutch or Spanish? I am pretty sure we understood the English part first...

Walking off the boat was easy customs was not... keep your iPads iPods cellphones and headphones out of the view of the security officers. Many people were warned multiple times that customs officials would confiscate these items and they would receive a fine. It surprised me that people actually argued with these workers considering it's for the security of our country.

We got through customs quickly once we got to the front of the line and there were only four people behind us to end the trip. We hit the sidewalk of New York and started planning our next vacation.

 

Later tonight pros and cons, goods and bads, and I wish I would haves...

 

I just realized why this seems so long...I combined day 7 and day 8... They ran together for me so I guess it's ok...and it's my review anyway lol

[boopsahoy]

Oh no the review is almost over :mad: Im glad you are going to continue with some pros and cons.:D

[callmebetty]

I brought a 24 pack, I was going to put it in a bag, but DH said why bother...

When we got to the pier, we saw lots of people had done the same thing...juice, water, soda were all stacked on their own little cart!

I left the leftovers in the room with a note for Neil to do what he wished with them so hopefully some crew got some diet coke instead of yucky diet Pepsi :)

[boopsahoy]

I brought a 24 pack, I was going to put it in a bag, but DH said why bother...

When we got to the pier, we saw lots of people had done the same thing...juice, water, soda were all stacked on their own little cart!

I left the leftovers in the room with a note for Neil to do what he wished with them so hopefully some crew got some diet coke instead of yucky diet Pepsi :)

 

Good to know-thanks!

[callmebetty]

Some random thoughts....and questions...and things I forgot to mention!

 

Karoke Idol

I participated. I got my behind kicked! There were some seriously talented young singers on this ship. The song selection was lacking and didn't have my usuals (Summer of 69, Spiderwebs, Harper Valley PTA, etc...) but there was a large selection of Christmas songs! It is really amusing to watch the pictures that flash behind the lyrics. During my song (I Want You to Want Me, they showed a lady chopping onions and crying !?!). During other songs there were people running in fields, making smores, something that looked like a Proactive commercial...Oddly mesmerizing I would say.

Prizes were a keychain for 3rd, a deck of cards for 2nd, and a bag for 1st.

 

Ping Pong/Table Tennis

DH participated in this tournament. He came in second. No prizes, but it was fun. He got some initials on his particpation card...the only ones we got the entire cruise.

 

Bowling

We did not bowl, but the lanes looked pretty nice. $5 per person per game is a bit steep, but I think that includes shoe rental. There are 4 lanes in the Bliss Lounge.

 

Napping

On the day we were in Florida, we wandered up to Spinnakers. They have some lovely lounge type beds. We took advantage of one and actually fell asleep watching the rain come down the windows for a little while! I think my sunglasses may still be up there. They do have a mini shuffleboard (looks like shuffleboard on an air hockey table) type game up there which is $3.00 per play.

 

Casino

The slot and black jack tournaments are not like other ships. They run for the duration of the cruise. You can rebuy as many times as you want to.

The rake during the cash Hold 'Em games is steep. The max they rake is $25 per hand and if the pot gets even close to $100, they seem to take the $25. DH was able to turn $60 into $560 but thinking about like this : 8-12 hands per hour X 3 hours X let's say $20 rake per hand....thats alot of money the ship is making when they are not putting up any money, except what they are paying the dealer at an hourly rate.

Why do they give 1 tshirt to a team of 2 people that win?

Tenders

If the tenders are sitting there with their motors running while people board, why not run the boats at less than full capacity?

Tastings

Why run tastings back to back? I don't have the dailies in front of me, but I know the martini tasting was immediately followed by another tasting I would have liked to go to. We skipped them both due to dinner plans we wished to be fully alert for so I guess it doesn't matter!

Pools

They did a good job keeping the adult pool adult only for the most part. The hot tubs...not so much! I wish there were more than 2 pools because sometimes it just felt like being in a pot of heavily salted people soup! It was nice though to hang out under the waterfall in the adult pool.

 

Things I would have liked to have done

Watched a sunrise from the big two person sunbeds on the upper deck forward location

Gotten at least one nice picture of me and DH taken

 

I am sure I will think of more as I finish putting away our vacation stuff!

 

I hope this section didn't seem too negative, they are all just things I noticed.