Gem - 10/28 mini review.

[davy jones]

Just back from 10/28 sailing. Overall, it was a very good cruise. Here is a mini review.

 

CD - Julie. A good CD. She is very personable, approachable, and was always out and about. She left most of the humor to her assistant Dan Dan.

 

Stardust shows - Welcome Aboard and Farewell shows, 3 production shows, Jeff Harms (comedian), Second City (mostly sketch comedy), Charles Peachock (juggler), and Chip Romero (magician). Enjoyed them all.

 

Other entertainment - Second City, magician, and Production Cast Singers did shows in Spinnaker. There were a number of themed parties in the Spinnaker, including a costume contest and party for Halloween. There was the usual assortment of musicians onboard.

 

Food - Good to Very Good. Preferred Magenta over Grand Pacific. Dinner Magenta (5x), Grand Pacific (2x), LeBistro, and La Cucina. Lobster on first night was better than the usual cruise ship lobster. Breakfast was buffet, Blue Lagoon, or room service. Lunch was mainly outdoor grill, with some buffet, and Blue Lagoon. MDR desserts and cheesecake were good. Scooped ice cream is a big bonus. I enjoyed the chocolate fondue and black forest cake at the chocolate buffet.

 

Service - Overall, very good. Did not see room steward very much, but everything was very well taken care of. Grand Pacific doesn't like to seat couples at 4 tops, preferring to try to get you to share a larger table. Once seated, service was good. This was not a problem at Magenta. Poor service on one trip to Blue Lagoon. Other trips to Blue Lagoon were good.

 

Many of the ship's officers were kind enough to attend the meet and greet, including the captain. We also met many very nice fellow passengers (and cruise critics) there.

 

The hotel director, Jenny Lin seemed to be everywhere and doing all sorts of things. In fact, I don't know if she was ever in her office. She's the only hotel director that I remembered after 20+ cruises.

 

Ship - Very nice ship with a couple of quirks that you quickly adjust to. Note: All inside through foot traffic on public decks is on starboard side.

 

Cabin - Paying attention to late price cuts turned our inside cabin to a standard balcony. :) The cabin was pretty much as expected. The lack of a drawer in the night stand and vanity was annoying.

 

Ports: San Juan - We've been there before and the 3:00 PM arrival only gives 2 to 3 hours of daylight, so we didn't have hard plans. Intermittend rain started shortly after we disembarked. We walked around OSJ for a while and rode the tourist bus. We were back on the ship for dinner.

 

St. Martin - First time there. We booked a tour through Bernard SXM tours. It was a very good tour. The weather held out until we were walking back to the ship, then we got very wet.

 

St. Thomas - Been here before. Went to Emerald Beach for 4 hours, followed by looking around stores at Havensight. We somehow managed be inside during the afternoon heavy intermittent showers that soaked many of the passengers.

 

Samana - We had an enjoyable beach day at Cayo Leventado.

 

Weather - Perfect weather until arrival in San Juan. Three ports had late day rain that I mentioned. We did not feel any ship motion until the trip home, when the wind kicked up, causing large swells that the ship handled very well and limited some outside access.

 

A very enjoyable cruise. I look forward to sailing the Gem again.

[RYMOMA]

it was nice to met you at the m&g :D

 

everything he said was true!!!

[pcreek]

Thank you for posting! This is exactly what I'm looking for!!

 

I'm getting excited about my cruise coming up - and this helps. :D:D

 

Sounds like you had a good cruise - except about the weather. We got soaked in Cozumel one time, but even that was fun!

[francina]

Thanks for the review. I cannot wait to get on her.

 

 

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