9 Days on the Gem, Nov. 6th-15th

[Gregor4500]

I'm going to give an overview of the cruise first for those that don't want all the details. Then continue in more detail after.

It was my wife and me both in our mid 50's. Booked a (BA)balcony and a few weeks before sailing bought up to a (MA) minisuite. Really I could sum up the whole cruise with one word, "Fantastic". The food was good, the weather was perfect and the service was great.

I'm going to try and attach a photo and come back.

Edited November 16, 2013 by Gregor4500

[Highboy90]

Be interesting to read your review. A family friend was on the same cruise. Said they had a good time. Pricing for the cruise was certainly nice.

[IpadEnthusiast]

I'm looking forward to this review...I'm on the same cruise Jan. 1

[Gregor4500]

We were fortunate to have nice weather (for november) for sail away.

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Dinner the first night was surf and turf. We both got double tail. I don't know why people criticize these. They were cooked perfect and tasty. Yes they are small, but we had an appetizer, salad and desert. The steak wasn't anything to write home about, but it was ok.

 

We skipped the show the first night. Spent time at Magnums bar, listening to Leo on guitar and drinking wine. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, we brought 6 bottles of wine on board and paid the $90 corkage. For us it was well worth it. The way I figured it was we could bring on one of our favorites, Kendal Jackson Chardonnay, which cost us $15 per bottle and pay another $15 corkage and it would cost about the same as their cheapest Chardonnay Meridian. Which I can buy for around $5 a bottle here.

 

More later.

[Gregor4500]

First sea day the Meet and Greet was 11am till noon at the Bliss lounge. We had a pretty good turn out. 34 out of the 53 that signed on showed up. All the lead officers also showed which was really nice.

 

Hard to remember what we did that day. It did get a little rough so my wife took a bonine as a preventative. By dinner she was fine.

 

Went to La Cucina, it was a first for us. We've always avoided this restaurant. When we started with NCL this was a Free specialty. Always a wait so we never bothered. Then when they started charging, I felt like it was free, so it should still be. Big mistake. I love Ossi Bucco so we went.

It was delicious.

My wife had the Salmon.

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And we shared Pasta carbanaro.

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I think this review is going to cover a lot of food.

 

Skipped the show again. Don't really remember what we did. Probably went to Magnums again. That was our favorite bar, with our favorite bartender, Irene.

 

Having trouble getting all the photos in.

Edited November 16, 2013 by Gregor4500

[pcreek]

Thanks for starting your review, Gregg!!

 

We are on the next trip. :D

 

We are also going to try La Cucina this time. I felt the same as you - never made it while it was still free. But, we'll give it a shot this time.

[mem05]

Thanks Greg. Ditto that for us, fantastic. It was great to meet you and your wife on the cruise. Thanks again fro arranging the M&G, it was a nice opportunity to meet our fellow cruisers and the officers. I'll share any experiences that are different from yours with excursions and such.

[Gregor4500]

Thanks Greg. Ditto that for us, fantastic. It was great to meet you and your wife on the cruise.

 

We enjoyed meeting you and Kelly as well. Maybe we'll cruise together again sometime.

[mem05]

That would be great. Maybe same time next year for us.

[Gregor4500]

Friday, second sea day. Slept late and went to the Great outdoors for breakfast. A beautiful calm morning.

Spent the day reading in the hot sun, finding a lounge chair was no problem.

Jerk Chicken cooked on the grill by the pool for lunch. Really good.

Got a caipirinha at the Atrium bar and it wasn't the way it should be. So went to Madernos bar for the next one and he knew how to make it. He said they are told to put in ginger ale even though it's wrong.

Had dinner at Grand Pacific, food was what we expected. Service was very good.

We went to the 9:00 show and saw the comedian, Jeff Harms. He was really funny. Glad we went.

I think we went to Magnums for a while and a snack at the Great Outdoors before bed.

[Gregor4500]

Saturday, Puerto Rico. Another beautiful day. Every port day the temperature was in the mid 80's and no rain.

The night before I asked our room steward, Mensie, for a lounger for the balcony. Really not sure if he would be able to do this, but it was there. I didn't mention but on the first day I asked him for a foam topper for the mattress and to empty and remove the mini bar. I gave him $5 tip. I always bring ones and fives to carry on board.

Anyway, spent a lot of time reading on the balcony while sailing to Puerto Rico.

Went to MDR for lunch. I had the Calamari and a Cobb salad. Both really good. My wife had the shrimp and salmon sandwich, was good. It came with sweet potato chips, yum. We also split a fish and chips to try it. Wouldn't recommend it.

Puerto Rico we just wandered around town. Ate some street food. Always a gamble, but we enjoy it.

Back on the ship we sat on the balcony, sipped some cold wine and listened to music from a carnival on shore.

Dinner tonight was at the Grand Pacific, Prime Rib night. Everything was just perfect. Our waitress Cathrine was great. Had the Chocolate decadence for dessert, wow.

This was also the the first time we met the Martir D', Aurora Jalba. She was great. After meeting her I knew why everything ran so smooth in the Grand Pacific.

Later we sat at Bali High Bar and watch the band play at the pool below.

[Bella213]

I'm going to give an overview of the cruise first for those that don't want all the details. Then continue in more detail after.

It was my wife and me both in our mid 50's. Booked a (BA)balcony and a few weeks before sailing bought up to a (MA) minisuite. Really I could sum up the whole cruise with one word, "Fantastic". The food was good, the weather was perfect and the service was great.

I'm going to try and attach a photo and come back.

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Excited to read your review! I have quite a while (over a year) until we do this cruise, but still excited to read the details on how fantastic this cruise was for you!

[Gregor4500]

Sunday St. Martin, We decided on Le Gallion beach. Waiting for a taxi at the port they have benches with signs as to where they're going. There were none for Le Gallion. We waited at the Orient beach area because I knew it was near by. The only other ones there at that time (around 9:30) was a young German couple going to Orient. After I explained the difference they decided to join us. Four of us in the cab was $7 each. We where the only 4 people I saw there from our ship. What a great beach. No crowds, calm clear water, $3 beers and good food. Had the taxi come back at 2:00. We asked her to drive us over to Orient just for a look. She took us to where the nude beach ends and non-nude begins. The only ones I saw naked were Old men. Orient looked crowded and rough. Glad we did Le Gallion.

 

 

All in all a great beach day.

[Gregor4500]

Sunday, back at the ship. Tonight we had reservations for Le Bistro at 7:30. Around 6:30 we went down gave a bottle of wine to the hostess to keep chilled for us and sat a Magnums for a pre-dinner cocktail and listen to the piano guy. Le Bistro is usaully our favorite of the specialty's, but not this night. It was very loud and service was off. When I mentioned it, I was told the chefs table was going on hence the noise and I guess any assistant waiters were helping out. Next time I'll check ahead. Of course there could always be large groups like any other restaurant nothing you can do about that. Maitre D', Davor, assured us if we came back we would be happy. We did later in the week and he was right. I must say he made sure our second visit was perfect. It really did make up for the first.

[Gregor4500]

[ATTACH]293315[/ATTACH]Monday St. Thomas. Another beautiful beach day. Took the open air taxi to Sapphire beach for $10 pp. Beach was beautiful. Chairs were $7 each, plenty of trees for shade.

 

So far both port days we went to the buffet for a snack after the beach. I must say I enjoyed the pizza. Thin crust and fresh mozzarella.

Around 4:45 sitting on the balcony I hear a strange noise below. I look down to the pier and see something the size of a trash can flying down the pier. I didn't realize what it was till it came to rest. It was a cleat the bow line of the ship was tied to. It was supposed to be all aboard at 4:30 but some were late. If this were 20 minutes sooner there most likely would have been many serious injuries. This thing was too heavy for one man to even budge it. I watched tow try. It traveled from the bow to mid ship at around 30 mph. That's about 500 feet.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Gregor4500

[RYMOMA]

so jealous you had great weather

 

we were on the week earlier and we had rain and rocky seas on the way back

 

i think i may have to book it again so i can finally get some good weather!!!

[WaldosPepper]

[ATTACH]293315[/ATTACH]Monday St. Thomas. Another beautiful beach day. Took the open air taxi to Sapphire beach for $10 pp. Beach was beautiful. Chairs were $7 each, plenty of trees for shade.

 

So far both port days we went to the buffet for a snack after the beach. I must say I enjoyed the pizza. Thin crust and fresh mozzarella.

Around 4:45 sitting on the balcony I hear a strange noise below. I look down to the pier and see something the size of a trash can flying down the pier. I didn't realize what it was till it came to rest. It was a cleat the bow line of the ship was tied to. It was supposed to be all aboard at 4:30 but some were late. If this were 20 minutes sooner there most likely would have been many serious injuries. This thing was too heavy for one man to even budge it. I watched tow try. It traveled from the bow to mid ship at around 30 mph. That's about 500 feet.

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That is scary! Not only is it a miracle nobody on the pier was hit by it, but also that no one was struck by the whipping line either!

 

Holy Cow!!!

 

:eek:

[Gregor4500]

Still Monday, Had dinner at Moderno tonight. We've done this restaurant once before. It's fun for something different. If you've never tried you should. But we'll probably skip it next time. Maybe because we have some good land based ones in our area.

The show tonight was the Juggler/comedian Barry John. Really entertaining, not to be missed.

[Gregor4500]

so jealous you had great weather

 

we were on the week earlier and we had rain and rocky seas on the way back

 

i think i may have to book it again so i can finally get some good weather!!!

 

The weather can make such a difference. We were lucky to have sun and mid 80's in every port.

[Gregor4500]

Tuesday, Cayo Levantado. We purchased the $14 excursion which consisted of a tender to and from the island. Seemed like a good deal. We were on the 9:00 tender and got 2 loungers front row. Another beautiful beach day. We bought a coconut and a pineapple each hollowed out and made into drinks. I thought they were just ok and switched to beer. For lunch we bought chicken they were grilling for around $6, it came with a salad. Later I talked to two separate couples that bought grilled red snapper from an "unapproved" food vendor. They both raved about it.

 

[Gregor4500]

Back on the ship they were cooking chicken enchiladas on the poolside grills. Made for a great afternoon snack. For dinner this night we went back to La Cucina. We had asked for the same waiter, Ramish, he was really good. I had the 14oz ribeye. It was as good as I've read it was. The show was a vocalist Jennifer Fair. She was very talented. Must say there were some talented entertainers on board.

[Gregor4500]

No more ports so I'll wrap it up with this post. Having 2 sea days before and after I really enjoy. There is so much to do 2 people can be on the same ship and have very different experiences. We tend to get up early and like to relax and read, soak up some sun, gamble a little, see a few shows, enjoy music and a drink at Magnums, meet new people and dine in specialty restaurants. Where as I spoke to some who were never up for breakfast, enjoyed getting quick meals at the Garden Cafe, gambling late and closing up the Bliss lounge. A cruise is what you make of it.

To sum it up:

Food, Main dinning room food was always presented well and served at the correct temperature. But nothing to write home about. The specialty's were much better and in my opinion worth it. We always budget for a few nights. Five nights this trip.

I do have copies of the 9 day menu rotation. But I can't seem to post them large enough to read. I'll work on that.

Service, I can't think of one negative. Everyone was happy and helpful.

Ports, We just did beaches and were blessed with great weather.

Entertainment, NCL picked some winners for this cruise.

 

I give credit to Jenny Lim, the hotel director for running such a great ship.

 

Feel free to ask any specific questions.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Gregor4500

[pcreek]

Thanks for the info, Gregg!

 

I am getting excited for my turn!

 

I see that Julie is the CD - didn't we have her last year on the Jewel, as well? She seems very familiar to me.

[scaaty]

S

 

This was also the the first time we met the Martir D', Aurora Jalba. She was great. After meeting her I knew why everything ran so smooth in the Grand Pacific.

Later we sat at Bali High Bar and watch the band play at the pool below.

 

Aurora is the BEST! We first met her a few years ago when we had a problem, she took care of everything splendidly and we are always thrilled when she's on board. :D:D

[Gregor4500]

 

I see that Julie is the CD - didn't we have her last year on the Jewel, as well? She seems very familiar to me.

 

Don't remember who last year but currently on the Gem it's Matt, not Julie.