review of Norwegian Gem February 11 -21, 2016

[nycrewz]

* Norwegian Gem February 11 -21, 2016

 

This was our third time on the Gem out of NY in February and was an overall great vacation. I went with my wife, my 12-year-old son and my 8-year-old daughter

 

Embarkation was delayed as the ship arrived late in NY. All told, everything was backed up by about an hour [which means it took me an hour and a half to go from my apartment to being served lunch in the main dining room; still seems like the best getaway for my family].

 

Had a bit of a mishap during the muster drill. Someone knocked over the sign for our station in Le Bistro and it hit me on the head—I got a cut and was a little out of it; a nurse and then the ship doctor checked on me and gave me a bandaid. Lucky me getting injured in the safety drill.

 

 

We had the ultimate beverage package which was an excellent addition to the cruise experience. My wife and son enjoyed non-alcoholic drinks throughout the vacation and I enjoyed many a mojito, plus what I thought was a very nice Shiraz with most dinners. My wife also was a big fan of the Moscato.

 

Dining—we mostly ate in Magenta---ovverall, there was a dramatic improvement in service and quality of food. We also had 2 nights in Grand Pacific as a table of twelve, which was a really enjoyable experience. First night we were at the large table in the center of the dining room [i think that it might’ve been the Captain’s usual table] and had a spectacular view of Manhattan during sailaway [i guess a benefit of having sailaway delayed by an hour]. One night in Magenta, there was a relatively long line to get seated [which is something we’d come to expect from previous cruises]. That night, we were given vouchers for a glass of champagne each as well as a pager that would let us know when to come back to be seated. It was very nice to be able to relax in the bar area in comfortable chairs rather than be stainding in the hallway. Great improvement.

Are dinner one night at Orchid Garden. It was ok, but we have plenty of better options in NYC so we didn’t repeat---and the main dining rooms had some really great choices. Highlight in MDRs was probably the rack of lamb; also the short rib with Cajun shrimp was very good. Anytime my wife or son didn’t find an entrée they were excited to try, the had the steak that was available everynight and enjoyed it.

We ate at O’Sheehans a few times. We liked the wings a lot and my kids liked the burgers. I did not care for the chicken pot pie or the corned beef sandwich. Also, the late night menu is very limited; we expecially missed the late night desserts.

 

The pools: we had fun in the water a few times. Didn’t really mind the chair hogs [though they seemed to be out in full force]. My daughter only went on the slide once, though she did say it was a lot of fun. I did wish that the staff was more consistent about blowing a whistle at rule-breakers. Our friend’s 8-year-old kids jumped from the side of the pool into the water and got scolded; a short time later a group of four teens were repeatedly jumping in from the bench around the pool [a higher jump with a bigger splash] and nobody from the crew said anything to them].

 

Onboard entertainment: Only time I saw the production cast was when they sang songs of their own choice on a sea day towards end of cruise. They all sang well.

 

The comedian [Cory Kahaney] was very funny and an excellent choice for a NY-centric crowd.

 

I could’ve done without seeing the magician. Was mediocre and seemed to be begging for applause before doing a trick, rather than earning applause by blowing us away with his performance.

 

The acrobats were a lot of fun to watch. Truly amazing too see them do their thing while the ship [and stage] was moving a lot.

 

 

I thought the band Prism was fantastic [at first, I saw them during the welcome aboard show and was completely underwhelmed]. The dance parties that I went to with my daughter where they performed were lots of fun. They sounded very tight and moved seamlessly from one song to the next to keep the crowd dancing [btw, dancing up in Spinnaker on deck 13 when the ship is rocking is also no mean feat]

 

We played a lot of trivia and went to a bunch of karaoke and really enjoyed those things. My wife and son also had a lot of fun with the scavenger hunts.

 

My daughter only went into Splash academy two times and did not like it at all.

 

 

I thought the passengers on this trip were mostly vvery friendly and well-behaved which made for a nice vacation.

 

 

The ports: we went horseback riding in the mountains near San Juan---this was amazing.

 

In St Thomas, we went to Meghann’s Bay. It was a little too crowded and was not our finest port experience. There were 6 ships in port that day.

 

In St Maarten, we took a cab to Orient Bay Beach/La Playa and had a wonderful time. Enjoyed playing in the waves and then I took my daughter parasailing and my son jet skiing. Also, we had some delicious escargot right on the beach---which allowed us to skip our usual dinner on the ship at Le Bistro and save a few dollars]. We did get some major sunburns this day as we missed a few spots with sunblock and zinc. This was the only downside of that day.

 

In Tortola, I stayed on the ship with my daughter, while my wife and son took the NCL excursion to Virgin Baths/snorkeling. They said it was ok, but not great.

 

 

Favorite spot on the ship was probably evenings having a drink under the stars in the Great Outdoors. Very peaceful most nights, except one night when a group of twelve was laughing and talking very loud til around 11:30. Fortunately for me, I was part of that group……

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review.:)

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed reading your review.

 

Keith

[Barb Nahoumi]

Thanks for your review. We are looking forward to our cruise in April.

[djpk2003]

Thanks for the great review, I enjoyed reading it! :)

 

Do you mind sharing what your child disliked about Splash Academy? We are heading on the Gem for our first cruise in April, and have struggled to find much feedback specifically about the kids program on Gem. I'm very hopeful my two kids (aged 8 & 9) will enjoy it and want to go!

[some like it hot]

Excellent positive review thank you. Makes me extremely excited to be sailing on her in FIVE weeks whooooooohooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

 

Maybe silly questions, but knowing the answer will probably put our minds at ease: SOCKETS IN CABIN- is there only one? what plug is it? can we bring an extension cable to plug several items in at a time? DISEMBARKATION DAY - would we be taking a risk, booking a tour at guest relations when we get on the ship, or pre-booking (we have a very late flight home from jfk). E-CIGS - can e gigs be used inside the ship, at bars etc?

 

 

Gill

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[Letsgo 2]

Excellent positive review thank you. Makes me extremely excited to be sailing on her in FIVE weeks whooooooohooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

 

Maybe silly questions, but knowing the answer will probably put our minds at ease: SOCKETS IN CABIN- is there only one? what plug is it? can we bring an extension cable to plug several items in at a time? DISEMBARKATION DAY - would we be taking a risk, booking a tour at guest relations when we get on the ship, or pre-booking (we have a very late flight home from jfk). E-CIGS - can e gigs be used inside the ship, at bars etc?

 

 

Gill

Hi Gill, we always bring a small surge protector with us

you dont have many plugs in a Mini so it always comes in handy

never had any issues bringing it on board. Excursion you can always

book on board, but they also may sell out.....check when you get on board,

We always book ahead .Hope that helps

Marion

[Maraprince]

Few questions......first time on the Gem

 

- what time are you allowed to board?

- if you are platinum, is there priority boarding/separate lounge in NYC?

- did you have a "white night"?- other than O'Sheenan's is there a buffet area for breakfast/lunch?

- life jackets required for muster drill -- inside or outside?

- disembarking -- separate area for platinum?

 

Thanks!

 

MARAPRINCE

Edited February 27, 2016 by Maraprince

[mizLORInj]

Few questions......first time on the Gem

 

- what time are you allowed to board?

- if you are platinum, is there priority boarding/separate lounge in NYC?

- did you have a "white night"?- other than O'Sheenan's is there a buffet area for breakfast/lunch?

- life jackets required for muster drill -- inside or outside?

- disembarking -- separate area for platinum?

 

Thanks!

 

MARAPRINCE

 

Usually boarding around 11:30. If you are platinum, as soon as you're through Security look to the right -- there is a gold/platinum line. You will need to show your boarding pass as proof of status. You'll get a low boarding number; there is no platinum lounge to wait.

No life jackets--inside muster drills.

The Garden Cafe is the buffet. It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

No platinum debarkation but you get a color for your luggage--i think it's gold--which is the first or second group for debarkation after suites are called. If you self-debark, no priority for platinums.

Edited February 27, 2016 by mizlorinj

[mizLORInj]

Excellent positive review thank you. Makes me extremely excited to be sailing on her in FIVE weeks whooooooohooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

 

Maybe silly questions, but knowing the answer will probably put our minds at ease: SOCKETS IN CABIN- is there only one? what plug is it? can we bring an extension cable to plug several items in at a time? DISEMBARKATION DAY - would we be taking a risk, booking a tour at guest relations when we get on the ship, or pre-booking (we have a very late flight home from jfk). E-CIGS - can e gigs be used inside the ship, at bars etc?

 

 

Gill

Hi Gill. I don't think e-cigs are allowed. See you soon!

[Sizzlechest]

Hi Gill, we always bring a small surge protector with us

you dont have many plugs in a Mini so it always comes in handy

never had any issues bringing it on board. Excursion you can always

book on board, but they also may sell out.....check when you get on board,

We always book ahead .Hope that helps

Marion

 

I bought a couple of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000083KIH

 

I did this to handle all the chargers for phones, Nintendo 3DS, tablets, etc. The advantage is that there's plenty of space for power adapters that can eat up two spots on a power strip. It works great, but at this point, just about every device charges from a USB connection. Even non-USB devices often have an adapter: http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Pack-Charger-Power-Cable-Nintendo/dp/B00W3X5E62

 

Therefore, I'm probably going to buy one of those multi-USB charger hubs and use that since it will take up a lot less space: www.amazon.com/Anker-10-Port-Charger-Multi-Port-PowerPort/dp/B00YRYS4T4

[jethrojam]

Thanks for the review. Doing same cruise next year

[lunaxmars]

Thanks for your review! I'll be boarding the Gem next month.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[some like it hot]

Thanks guys

Very helpful :) and YES see you very soon Lori. We will need to know meeting time and place????? As we are unfamiliar with this ship, please be prepared to have to launch a search party to find us......hahahahahaha

 

Gill

[Turtles06]

E-CIGS - can e gigs be used inside the ship, at bars etc?

 

Gill

 

Hi Gill. I don't think e-cigs are allowed. See you soon!

 

This is actually covered on NCL's web site (which is really a great place to start for questions about NCL rules). E-cigs are subject to the same restrictions as cigarettes, which means you could use them wherever you are allowed to smoke cigarettes, including inside the casino when playing. But not in bars or other indoor spaces, which are smoke-free.

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq#smoking

 

We were on the Gem earlier this month. I saw a number of people with e-cigs violating these rules. But then again, our cruise seemed to have an unusal number of obnoxious people who thought they could do anything they wanted, wherever they wanted, including the woman who sat down next to us one morning on a lounger on Deck 13 where we were enjoying the beautiful shade and quiet, and began clipping her toenails, right there onto the deck. Clip clip clip, drop drop drop. Beyond disgusting. When my spouse politely asked her to do her personal grooming in her cabin, she replied that this was a cruise and she was free to do whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted to do it. (Taking NCL "free" to a very new level.)

 

Fortunately, and as they always are, the staff and crew of the Gem were fabulous. Some of the pax on this cruise, not so much. (And no, it wasn't even the Jan. 22 sailing.)

[Maraprince]

Usually boarding around 11:30. If you are platinum, as soon as you're through Security look to the right -- there is a gold/platinum line. You will need to show your boarding pass as proof of status. You'll get a low boarding number; there is no platinum lounge to wait.

No life jackets--inside muster drills.

The Garden Cafe is the buffet. It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

No platinum debarkation but you get a color for your luggage--i think it's gold--which is the first or second group for debarkation after suites are called. If you self-debark, no priority for platinums.

 

Thanks so much for answering my questions.

 

I have a few more:

 

- Can I trade the free bottle of champagne for bottled water or canned soda? Non drinkers.

- Is there a "white night" party , where is it held and and do most people particpate?

- What time are the shows? We want to try to eat something before hand.

- Do you tender at Coca Cay?

 

Thanks again.

 

MARAPRINCE

Edited February 29, 2016 by Maraprince

[MICHLEV1974]

Thanks so much for answering my questions.

 

I have a few more:

 

- Can I trade the free bottle of champagne for bottled water or canned soda? Non drinkers.

- Is there a "white night" party , where is it held and and do most people particpate?

- What time are the shows? We want to try to eat something before hand.

- Do you tender at Coca Cay?

 

Thanks again.

 

MARAPRINCE

 

great questions...i have a few answers for you ---yes there is a white night party..it's held inside and there's alot of participation especially in the first hour...fun loud awesome dance party.

yes, they tender at the private island :)

[candybars]

just returned from the gem yesterday..we observed all the children having a great time.. very surprised to see several times a large group of teenagers having dinner with the staff enjoying themselves. looks like there is no need to worry.