The worst coffee I have ever had. 10 Day NYC Gem Cruise Review!

[Jezo]

Okay a couple of quick facts here to see if you will be interested in what I have to say.

 

The ship: Gem, obviously. Most likely why you clicked on this thread. That or the coffee.

 

Us: Three of us. Myself, my wife, and our son. Ages? 34, 32, 3.5.

 

The trip: 10 day edition NYC to San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Tortola which left January 30.

 

The room: Porthole 5500. We spent the big bucks ($800 a person) to get the UBP promo so we would have our drinks included.

 

 

That one. Hmm, apparently that isn't linking, oh well, it was going to be a picture of the window outside the ship.

 

So that's that. There are a thousand other threads discussing those ports, the ship, so this one is just a quick run down of our experiences and general comments about the trip with personalized answers to questions if anyone has any. If not, well, its going to be a short bunch of posts.

 

So stuff about the trip:

 

Weather stuff: 6am the first morning, so Saturday, we were hit with a doozy of a wave. It felt like we were on one of those swinging pirate ship rides at an amusement park. One rocked the boat half way up on the starboard side, and then 60+ MPH winds and another smash from the other side flipped the boat up as high on the port side as anyone had ever seen. We were, it felt like this anyway, basically looking down at our feet when laying in bed. Everyone talked about it the next day from the captain to the people cleaning the rooms, every passenger, and then people manning the restaurants. The wave broke glasses, tossed tables around, smashed liquor bottles. I think the captain on the morning announcement called it "some motion" and "a couple of good waves", but he's a hardened Nordic dude who has seen everything and, I asked, the boat can take 6 times larger smashes than what we went through. Other than that it was colder than expected down by Florida (boo) but once we were way down there it was 85 and sunny every day. Coming home everything was fine until the last day, as expected, where the boat was going all over the place.

 

Service: Absolutely top notch. Couldn't have asked for anything more. If anyone complains about how the staff was towards the people then they are jerks. Everyone was out of their way kind to everyone and really acted like they wanted to help you and be friendly. My son had many "friends" and even the guys cleaning the tables at the buffet will go out of their way to get you a drink from the bar if you strike up a conversation with them like a normal decent human being.

 

Food: We have a 3 and a half year old who was scared of the kids club, we are at the buffet, Magentas, and O'Sheenhan's. The pool deck barbecues too. No specaility anything this time, just all the included offerings. No complaints. We found more than enough to eat everywhere. I am not some fancy lad who needs 5 star gourmet at all times. A corned beef sandwich for lunch with some cole slaw makes me happy so the food we had delicious.

 

Drinking/Ultimate Beverage Package: So we upgraded ourselves to get this for "free", meaning we spent a couple hundred extra bucks to move up from an inside cabin to a porthole (obstructed guarantee category which got us in our room 5500). Oy. UBP. We drank a ton. (blah blah blah you have a kid why are you drinking go away we behaved and I don't want to deal with your pretentious life views). Pretty much everything is included. No you can't have some X.O. cognac or shots of Blue Label, but you can have anything your mind can dream up. Wine, prosecco (champagne), mixed drinks, frozen cocktails, rum/vodka/whatever and soda, it's all there. $60 a person a day worth it? Not sure, if you can drink 6+ drinks a day, yes, but we got it included and we got our money's worth. I took pictures of a bunch of the drink menus with prices, I could post them but apparently the website I use to host images is blocked here.

 

Room: 5500. Port side most forward cabin on deck 5. That room rocks and rolls. Up and down, left and right. Waves over the porthole. If you like adventure go for it, if you want minimal motion, yeah, that's not for you.

 

Cruise crowd: OLD! Sorry if you are reading this and you are old, but this was an old cruise. I know it's the time of the year and it's a longer cruise, so its less young folks, but this was really old. Walkers, wheelchairs, motorized scooters, oxygen masks. It was not a big family event at all. According to the Nickelodeon staff normally they see 700 to 800 children on the cruises. This one had less than 100, so that was great in that the kids pool was always empty, the kids events were not packed to the brim with 100s of little ones, and when we did participate in the children's events we got lots of attention.

 

Kids club: Deathly scared because he saw a clown on the second night, he went once and that was it. So we'll try again next time.

 

Shows: Nope, we had a child. We were up at dawn and settled down in bed by 10 on a late night. We did watch the band play in the atrium when we could though, the little man loved watching the music.

 

Coffee: Look! It's my clickbait subject line buried down here near the bottom. I should get into the SEO business. So back on topic. Oh my goodness is this bad coffee. Might be the worst I have ever had, and I can drink instant swill mixed with hot water. I love diner black coffee served in old pots and I don't mind what I get on airplanes in coach. We don't understand it really, the coffee machines fresh grind and everything is served proper temperature and looks great. But the taste of what is on this ship down there with the worst I have ever had. But did it matter? Oh heck no, we got a pot to the room every morning and drank it at the buffet. I guess that says more about our coffee addiction though that the actual stuff itself.

 

Ports: There are whole boards dedicated to each of them so here's a quick summary of what we did at each. San Juan: Wandered around, bought Panama hats at Ole, at mofongo at the place next door. St. Thomas: Went to Megan's Bay because it's the beach from the Twilight movie and my wife wanted to see it. When you get there do not stay anywhere near where they drop you off. Walk way off to the left. It's nice and quiet and empty, for some odd reason of human behavior everyone just sits where they are let off and they are three people deep to the water. Very confusing when there is a huge expanse of empty beach to hang out on. St. Martin: Took the public bus to Mahalo beach to watch the airplanes. Awesome, just like the videos on Youtube. Totola: Got off, looked around, saw nothing open, found nothing to do because we weren't taking a cab anywhere, got back on the boat and sat by the pool.

 

So that's that. It was the best family vacation we have had. We all took a daily nap, enjoyed everything, loved the people we met, and would do this one again, outside of that room. My body is still shaking when I close my eyes. I think I might go lay down now actually, I am tired.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Jezo
Shows!

[david_sobe]

Love your review. Glad it was the best vacation ever. NCL is not known for their coffee and there is always complaints. The title of the thread is a teaser thinking it is going to be all about coffee. Love it! :)

[batesrock]

Thanks for your post. Was the rock wall open? Dock in Tortola near to being finished?

 

 

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[Dave85]

Enjoyed your post. The coffee was pretty lousy on my Breakaway cruise... but not the worst I've experienced on a cruise. That dubious honor goes to the Carnival Pride in 2009 (sickeningly wretched).

[Jezo]

Thanks for your post. Was the rock wall open? Dock in Tortola near to being finished?

 

No, it was closed for our trip. There was a note in the room saying something about them doing work or up there, the Norwegian Gem is a beautiful ship, its so great, you will love being on board, ohyeahtherockwallisclosedsorrybye.

 

As for the Tortola dock.. no. While we were on land we were watching for a while, as it excited my son, a huge ground mover thing digging up the ocean and dumping rocks around. Out in the ocean the big pier stand thing machine was off banging down whatever it is piers stand on. The area around the pier, which is supposed to be like a lot of the other islands, is mostly empty land right now. Maybe by this summer, but no where near done in a short time frame if thats what you are hoping.

[Valen9]

Thanks for a great review! We're sailing on Gem next week and I'm glad to hear that she's still a great ship.

 

Still no idea what we're going to do in port, if we even bother to get off the ship. Mostly we just want to be somewhere that isn't covered with snow right now.

[Nancy&Frank]

Great review, thanks.

[Gershep]

Great review. My husband loves his coffee so I guess we will have to order a pot from room service and bring it to the buffet. Shots at the bar are included with the UBP? Do you know if they have Fireball?

[Jezo]

Great review. My husband loves his coffee so I guess we will have to order a pot from room service and bring it to the buffet. Shots at the bar are included with the UBP? Do you know if they have Fireball?

 

The coffee in the buffet is the same as room service. In the buffet it's ground fresh in front of you when you push the button but somehow it's still terrible.

 

Yes, they did have Fireball and there was actually some kind of special going on when we were on the ship, cheaper Fireball shots and full bottles for sale. There were pictures of Fireball on the drink board by the pool and at various bars advertising it.

 

Shots under $10 are included, just dont get them in a souvenir glass or they will cost $4.95. It's pretty much all the liquor outside of the ultra premium stuff I didn't drink anyway. We had colorful mixed shots at O'Sheenahans and a couple of shots of 43 up at the Spinnaker lounge.

[Mom2B&Z]

Ita the coffee is awful. Fwiw, I experimented with different machines in the Garden Cafe, and found the one furthest from the entrance (closest to the kids Cafe area) to have coffee more palatable than other machines. It was one of the machines that serves the coffee more as a latte, but it tasted better and got me my caffeine hit :)

 

 

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[NJsharon]

Thanks for the review. Overall sounds like a good time!

Looking forward to going on the Gem in March. :)

[Ilovesailing]

As for the coffee there are two different machines, one pours out coffee from liquid (ground beans) and the other is fresh ground as you can see the beans on the top which is a little better.

The trick is to fill cup half or 2/3 then add hot water, it then becomes drinkable.

[OzCanuck]

Kids club: Deathly scared because he saw a clown on the second night, he went once and that was it.

 

This.

 

Yes, my son still mentions the 'Green Hair' from our Dawn cruise 13 months ago. Usually with fear in his voice. Coulrophobia is inherited (sorry son).

[Demonyte]

Coffee: Look! It's my clickbait subject line buried down here near the bottom. I should get into the SEO business.

 

How do you know that much about it then? ;) :D

[meatball_nyc]

Thanks for the nice review. It's good reading about ships in warm places !

So glad I only drink tea and not coffee

;);)

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[Jezo]

So glad I only drink tea and not coffee

;);)

 

Oh the tea! There was one woman who daily stole all of the green tea from every box in the buffet. We would watch her slowly wander from station to station and stuff it all in her purse. There was never any green tea anywhere. The Great Green Tea Caper was an alternate title I had in mind for this thread.

[daisyae21]

Great review! We are sailing out on the 27th and am bummed about the rock wall! My sons and busband were really looking forward to doing that!!

 

About how many days did it take to get to warmer climates where you can use pools and stuff?

[mking8288]

... Food: we are at the buffet, Magentas, and O'Sheenhan's. The pool deck barbecues too ... A corned beef sandwich for lunch with some cole slaw makes me happy so the food we had delicious.

Thank you for sharing ... So, we won't miss the frozen lobster tails on seafood night in the buffet. Anything good or special upstairs that you had? We thought that the buffet choices were good & improved over the years whereas the MDR lunch menu were boring by day 3 or 4 already, same with no rotations or daily specials.

Was services in O'Sheehan's slow but cheerful - we might just head there for lunch on embarkation day instead of dealing with the buffet. We typically board early with priority check-in so might just do a light early lunch & then head for our upgraded cabin to relax & take a short nap before the boat drills.

How was disembarkation coming back to NYC ? although usually feel no need to hurry off & customary to do the full MDR breakfast as our farewell ritual.

# #

As for bad coffee served, they are equally "bad" and "as good" as those served on Carnival and on Royal - reasons (excuses, really) for lines to have a lobby coffee bar, for the Starbucks generation. Whenever we travel, I always bring our own choices - just in case & far more economically. Hot boiling water will do - our secret is use Half-And-Half and not milk or 2%, best is condensed milk (too sweet for some) as in iced French-Vietnamese coffee a/k/a Cafe Sua Da.

 

It's good reading about ships in warm places ! ... Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

Hello, how was your last sailing ? It's better to be on the ship in warm(eer) weather, regardless of where ... Saw one of your recent post that you won't be on one of NCL ship for a while. Time for us to start "early" packing although our cruise-only items are "always" ready, LOL. Going to start checking those shipcams to see if the success rates for ships calling on GSC or skipping & going to Nassau direct ... like we did in 2014, duh !

Edited February 12, 2015 by mking8288

[Cattie]

The coffee was BAD! So bad, we ended up getting latte's every morning in the atrium!

[meatball_nyc]

@mking

Next trip is first week of November to GSC (crossing my fingers). My son wants to do Atlantis Waterpark. Never been. Last time in Nassau was 2006!

Only 262 days to go.

We always do a land beach vaca with the whole family in August.

Hoping for nice quiet early fall weather ;)

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[Gershep]

Thank you for your reply. I don't want to make this a booze thread but I have one more question. I can recall that on the Gem a while back they would have "sale" days in the duty free liquor store. Did they have those on your sailing? If so do you remember what days they were?

[Kingofwylietx]

Great post, but it does have me wondering about the coffee. I recall that I found decent coffee on Pride of America a few years ago.

 

Do you know if we can take our own beans to use with the in-room coffee machines? Perhaps we can request a grinder? It's an odd question, but I (and my fellow travelers) do like good coffee. We are not above bringing our own, even if it is a bag of ground coffee to pour in the machine.

[Jezo]

Was services in O'Sheehan's slow but cheerful - we might just head there for lunch on embarkation day instead of dealing with the buffet.

 

How was disembarkation coming back to NYC ? although usually feel no need to hurry off & customary to do the full MDR breakfast as our farewell ritual.

 

It was slow but we knew most of the service people from going there all the time so we didn't care, we talked to the wait staff, would get drinks from the bar, hang out, and not worry about what day or time it was. Also we had no where to be or nothing to do but sit, look out the window, and relax, so we had no reason to get a rushed meal.

 

Disembarkation was slow. We picked the last color and it was an hour late. Not sure what happened but it was slow for everyone. Once you were off the ship it was okay, but it was a long time before our color was called. We got a bunch of food from the buffet, secured a tabled at the itallian joint, and just hung out until it was time to get off.

 

About how many days did it take to get to warmer climates where you can use pools and stuff?

 

It was supposed to be nice the second day but unfortunately there was a cold front. It wasn't terrible and people were outside, but not like it normally is. When we have done it before the first sea day is terrible but once you are down near Florida everything is fine.

 

Thank you for your reply. I don't want to make this a booze thread but I have one more question. I can recall that on the Gem a while back they would have "sale" days in the duty free liquor store. Did they have those on your sailing? If so do you remember what days they were?

 

It was one of the last ones, but the prices in the ports were better.

 

Do you know if we can take our own beans to use with the in-room coffee machines? Perhaps we can request a grinder? It's an odd question, but I (and my fellow travelers) do like good coffee. We are not above bringing our own, even if it is a bag of ground coffee to pour in the machine.

 

We didn't have a coffee machine in our porthole window room so I cannot answer that one for you.

[Jezo]

 

Oh hey there it goes, needed to use a different hosting service. I guess imgur is blocked.

 

That's our room. 5500.

[jjjct]

Glad you had a good experience on the Gem, it is one of my favorite ships. Love all the Jewel ships + the Dawn.

 

Coffee is the worst on NCL on every ship. My friend brought creamer with her. I thought it was a bit over the top at first, but boy did it make the coffee yummy. She brought International Coffee in Caramel Rum and Nestle Chocolate flavors. We stored it in our fridge and brought it with us in the morning.