Gem Garden Villa review 12/11-12/19/16

[LAatl]

Just back from a wonderful 8 days on the Gem in the Garden Villa. Feel free to ask questions. Once I have time, I'll upload pics of freestyle dailies and menus, as well as my breakdown of the cruise. But I wanted to start the thread

[NYcruzzer]

Welcome home. I am sailing on the Gem this Thursday 12/29 First time in the Haven. I heard the sliding roof in the Haven pool was stuck at 95% closed. Was that the case on your cruise ? Also are there still DVD players/DVDs in the Haven suites ? I thought I heard they removed the DVD players are started offering complimentary pay per view movies.

[Pete's/Boy]

Since we will be in the GV on the GEM in just a couple days, we will look forward to your review and insights. cannot imagine it is anything but a fantastic experience. Our last experience on the GEM was incredible.

 

 

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[easyboy]

What port did you like most?

[dlynn0366]

Welcome home. I am sailing on the Gem this Thursday 12/29 First time in the Haven. I heard the sliding roof in the Haven pool was stuck at 95% closed. Was that the case on your cruise ? Also are there still DVD players/DVDs in the Haven suites ? I thought I heard they removed the DVD players are started offering complimentary pay per view movies.

 

Gem Haven sliding roof ? I as on the Gem a couple years ago & I don't believe the roof had the ability to open unless something has changed. Now I've read some say it retracts others say it's a fixed roof ...now I'm super curious !! All I know is the week I was on Gem the weather was great & the roof was never open.

Edited December 24, 2016 by dlynn0366

[goldmom]

Gem Haven sliding roof ? I as on the Gem a couple years ago & I don't believe the roof had the ability to open unless something has changed. Now I've read some say it retracts others say it's a fixed roof ...now I'm super curious !! All I know is the week I was on Gem the weather was great & the roof was never open.

 

The roof on the Gem definitely retracts (at least when it's working). I've seen it open about half way and it also closes completely. Mostly they seem to leave it open a couple of feet.

[Hermit88]

Just back from a wonderful 8 days on the Gem in the Garden Villa. Feel free to ask questions. Once I have time, I'll upload pics of freestyle dailies and menus, as well as my breakdown of the cruise. But I wanted to start the thread

 

Thanks. Happy you had a great time. Sailed Haven a number of times, never GV. Always had best service :). Wondered if GV guests service is different/better (not sure how it could be)? :cool: I know about the extra space, the 6 bottles, the car service (although that gets mixed reviews on these boards). What no one in many years has shared is a comparison of the little unseen things the staff does between GV and regular Haven suites. I have come close to getting a GV many times, but don't need car service, UBP makes the bottles not additional $10K special, and I like to see other people (people watching is part of my cruise experience). So that only leaves the space. So, I guess my question is . . . was there additional special treatment or is 7 days of extra space worth the extra $? I get the Haven extras (especially on the smaller ships), but can't see how it would be that different GV or not.

 

Could you also share the name of your Butler & Concierge and let us know how they impressed you?

[dexddd]

Welcome home. I am sailing on the Gem this Thursday 12/29 First time in the Haven. I heard the sliding roof in the Haven pool was stuck at 95% closed. Was that the case on your cruise ? Also are there still DVD players/DVDs in the Haven suites ? I thought I heard they removed the DVD players are started offering complimentary pay per view movies.

 

Our room didn't have any dvd players, it did have the interactive ppv (free in your case). There were 90 movies to choose from. Stop and replay worked most of the time very well but on a couple times it would start from a previous stopped spot and it would replay again.

[dexddd]

Thanks. Happy you had a great time. Sailed Haven a number of times, never GV. Always had best service :). Wondered if GV guests service is different/better (not sure how it could be)? :cool: I know about the extra space, the 6 bottles, the car service (although that gets mixed reviews on these boards). What no one in many years has shared is a comparison of the little unseen things the staff does between GV and regular Haven suites. I have come close to getting a GV many times, but don't need car service, UBP makes the bottles not additional $10K special, and I like to see other people (people watching is part of my cruise experience). So that only leaves the space. So, I guess my question is . . . was there additional special treatment or is 7 days of extra space worth the extra $? I get the Haven extras (especially on the smaller ships), but can't see how it would be that different GV or not.

 

Could you also share the name of your Butler & Concierge and let us know how they impressed you?

 

Current Concierge on Gem is Patrick until 1/22 when Elvina comes back. Butler will vary by location.

[littlelulu01]

Thanks. Happy you had a great time. Sailed Haven a number of times, never GV. Always had best service :). Wondered if GV guests service is different/better (not sure how it could be)? :cool: I know about the extra space, the 6 bottles, the car service (although that gets mixed reviews on these boards). What no one in many years has shared is a comparison of the little unseen things the staff does between GV and regular Haven suites. I have come close to getting a GV many times, but don't need car service, UBP makes the bottles not additional $10K special, and I like to see other people (people watching is part of my cruise experience). So that only leaves the space. So, I guess my question is . . . was there additional special treatment or is 7 days of extra space worth the extra $? I get the Haven extras (especially on the smaller ships), but can't see how it would be that different GV or not.

 

Could you also share the name of your Butler & Concierge and let us know how they impressed you?

 

Not OP but we recently sailed the Jade 2 week med in a garden villa. Have also sailed Pearl 2 bedroom haven so thought I'd offer comparison from my perspective. Both sailings for us were just husband and I. Space wise the garden villa was way too much space but we did love it. The biggest difference I noticed was with the GV it's kind of like there's public and private spaces within the villa. The bedrooms seemed to be treated as private space and had the dial for privacy, make up room... But living room, decks... You are likely to run into staff entering and caring for those areas. There's no privacy dial on the main door to the villa and if you are outside you wouldn't hear the doorbell. There was an inside and deck steward plus various maint workers in and out. The walled windows are also not private at night with anyone able to look up into the villa when lights on. Once we got that figured out things went more smoothly.

 

I guess attentiveness factor depends on what you want and also who your villa staff are. We noticed a big difference in attentiveness with our butler and concierge. We aren't high maint and so didn't really have many requests. Our butler would deliver platters of snacks, like really good stuff that I didn't see anywhere else on the ship. Brought us a blender and fresh fruit and juices so we could make fruit smoothies. Once we figured each other out it all went really smoothly, he'd come and go and often we'd not even know he had been there was it not for some setup he left for us. As for the concierge he to was spot on. Husband mentioned lack of a comfortable chair and one was delivered for him.

 

The biggest difference I noticed was that we never used the haven courtyard area. Our villa was pretty much a separate ship within the haven area and it had everything we could want. It was really nice after long hot days in port and also on sea days to have a villa that after a couple days of getting used to, felt like a private oasis.

 

With the two bedroom haven on the Pearl it was Alaska and only one week. I preferred the covered haven hot tub for cold weather sailing and the immense deck space of the GV wouldn't probably have been used by us for cold weather. I'm not even sure if I'd take the GV vs 2 bedroom jewel class haven for cold weather even as a low cost upgrade but for warm weather and 2 weeks it was a once in a lifetime experience.

[LAatl]

We had pay per view for free. And, yes, the haven roof was open part way, but I don't remember seeing water on the floor (and we had a bunch of rain) so I'm not 100% sure it didn't close.

[LAatl]

Since we will be in the GV on the GEM in just a couple days' date=' we will look forward to your review and insights. cannot imagine it is anything but a fantastic experience. Our last experience on the GEM was incredible.

 

 

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To me, most of the eastern Caribbean ports are pretty much the same. We did excursions in st Maarten and st Thomas. But you really don't want to venture on your own away from the port shops in any of the ports I've seen. We love orient beach in st Maarten, though.

[LAatl]

Gem Haven sliding roof ? I as on the Gem a couple years ago & I don't believe the roof had the ability to open unless something has changed. Now I've read some say it retracts others say it's a fixed roof ...now I'm super curious !! All I know is the week I was on Gem the weather was great & the roof was never open.

It was partially open every time I was in there. It created a nice breeze without feeling too humid.

[LAatl]

Welcome home. I am sailing on the Gem this Thursday 12/29 First time in the Haven. I heard the sliding roof in the Haven pool was stuck at 95% closed. Was that the case on your cruise ? Also are there still DVD players/DVDs in the Haven suites ? I thought I heard they removed the DVD players are started offering complimentary pay per view movies.

Tell Patrick and jayson the Ainsley's said hello! They got rid of the 70's carpeting throughout. The decor is very tasteful...not what you've seen on YouTube videos

[LAatl]

Thanks. Happy you had a great time. Sailed Haven a number of times, never GV. Always had best service :). Wondered if GV guests service is different/better (not sure how it could be)? :cool: I know about the extra space, the 6 bottles, the car service (although that gets mixed reviews on these boards). What no one in many years has shared is a comparison of the little unseen things the staff does between GV and regular Haven suites. I have come close to getting a GV many times, but don't need car service, UBP makes the bottles not additional $10K special, and I like to see other people (people watching is part of my cruise experience). So that only leaves the space. So, I guess my question is . . . was there additional special treatment or is 7 days of extra space worth the extra $? I get the Haven extras (especially on the smaller ships), but can't see how it would be that different GV or not.

 

Could you also share the name of your Butler & Concierge and let us know how they impressed you?

Jayson was the butler (very attentive). Patrick was concierge (he's awesome). We are hard-working people, working full-time, with a son in college (who also works), who would never dream of getting the GV. But my dad paid for the trip and got a last minute upgrade at a fraction of the cost. We were supposed to stay in the haven in the 2-br suite. The alcohol was great becaus we didn't have to pay for the beverage package as 3 of us didn't get it for booking like the first two in our group. The butler would bring mixers (Bloody Mary, margarita, OJ and pineapple juice) so we mixed our own drinks and walked around the ship with them.

 

The service was spectacular. As for the space...there was 5 people in our group. So my dad and brother each got their own room, my hubby and I got the third room and our son slept on the couch in the living room. The extra room was awesome, because three people could shower and get ready at the same time (3 full bathrooms) and my son could play the piano at night or watch movies, or even come in late and not disturb anyone. It was like staying in an apartment for the week. No one was on top of anyone and we could all go to our rooms if we wanted some privacy. The private courtyard was so nice when we wanted to just hang out in our own hot tub.

 

And people treated us differently because we were in the GV.

[NYcruzzer]

Thanks for all the

Updates , happy holidays everyone

 

 

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[Hermit88]

Merry Christmas & thank you all for the information. Best wishes for the new year!

 

 

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[LAatl]

So I'm not going to bore you with day to day stuff...because, unlike previous cruises...we really didn't do much on the ship except spend some much-needed time with each other.

 

So, here are some highlights...

 

We flew in a day early to stay in Puerto Rico. We stayed at the Caribe Hilton...very nice resort and worth it to not travel same-day. Our flight from Atlanta was uneventful and the taxi was very easy to snag and cost a flat $24 from the airport to the hotel.

 

The hotel is beautiful and has a couple of restaurants on site, and a starbucks and quiznos. We ate at a little place just outside the hotel (but still affiliated with it) I think it was named Pina Coladas. Good food (mostly bar and grill food)

 

The next morning we had a buffet breakfast (included with the room) and grabbed our shuttle to the ship. My brother arranged the shuttle beforehand.

 

There were some issues with getting people off the previous cruise...so we had to wait outside in the heat and humidity for just over an hour. NCL did eventually send people outside with water and flavored water to give to people waiting and there was a local vendor selling ice cream.

 

Once we got in, going through security was pretty easy...just make sure you have a pen handy to fill out the health form for everyone (each adult must have one and fill it out).

 

Once they started letting people through, we were the first in the Haven line. Again...we usually get balconies or mini-suites...so we've never traveled like this before. Once we were all checked in, they showed us to the VIP waiting area where we were given our room keys, first freestyle daily and some snacks. My son, who is 20, was upset because he still had the corner of his room key notched out (meaning a minor) and we had to go to the front desk once on the ship to get him approved to be able to drink. A parent has to sign a consent form on ship for this...and they can only drink beer and wine.

 

Someone from the staff came and got us and the other Garden Villa (as they take them on the ship first). My son was literally the first passenger on the ship...he loved it...and still has a swollen head from it!

 

 

 

We were taken right away to Cagney's to have lunch. I had the best intentions and started off my trip with the Caesar salad with chicken (warning...they not only make the dressing with anchovies (which I don't mind) but they put anchovies ON the salad unless you ask them not to). Very good salad!

 

Note: breakfast for suite guests is in Moderno and lunch is in Cagney's. Gem doesn't have a Haven restaurant.

Edited December 25, 2016 by LAatl
entry error

[Hermit88]

That is a great dad gift, our kids are grown, so that's a pretty good reason to book the GV. Plus in looking at this the cost per sq/ft is reasonable compared to booking multiple cabins, as everyone after the 1st 2 people are really inexpensive considering the $ and benefits.

 

A number of these posts described that everyone knows the GV guests? That can be good (staff/crew) or not as good (passengers that do not appreciate if GV guests are treated differently); has anyone had any experiences with this?

 

I am really considering this as an XMass present, will see kids later this week, so thanks again.

 

 

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[LAatl]

After lunch...we were taken to the Garden Villa...This place is amazing! and pics don't do it justice. There are three doorbells to the villa and each bedroom door can be closed and you'll need a room key to get in. This makes it safe when entertaining and you don't want people in your rooms, or if you're traveling with several couples or families and you want privacy. We kept the doors propped open during the day (unless people were showering) and closed them at night.

 

When you walk in, there's a beautiful foyer with real paintings and a small toilet area off the foyer. Turn right and there's 3 bedrooms (all with their own full bathrooms and two with private balconies), the master bedroom has double vanity, garden tub, stand up shower and two sliding doors that go into the private courtyard. The space is laid out nicely, keeping the sleeping areas separate from the entertaining areas.

 

There is plenty of room in the smaller bedrooms for storage of clothes, suitcases and toiletries. The master bedroom has a walk-in closet and even a pants presser to get wrinkles out.

 

I'll post more as I have time

[LAatl]

Few pics of the bedrooms...if someone can help me with the correct way to upload pics without them rotating...let me know

Edited December 25, 2016 by LAatl
addition

[LAatl]

That is a great dad gift, our kids are grown, so that's a pretty good reason to book the GV. Plus in looking at this the cost per sq/ft is reasonable compared to booking multiple cabins, as everyone after the 1st 2 people are really inexpensive considering the $ and benefits.

 

A number of these posts described that everyone knows the GV guests? That can be good (staff/crew) or not as good (passengers that do not appreciate if GV guests are treated differently); has anyone had any experiences with this?

 

I am really considering this as an XMass present, will see kids later this week, so thanks again.

 

 

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The staff in the main dining room knew us after the first day...when we were in Moderno for breakfast, we did notice that we got more attention from staff than some other tables...but, when you're paying that much for a room...I don't think it's a bad thing to expect exceptional service. However, I don't think other guests received bad service...I just think people went above and beyond for our group and the other villa.

[Hermit88]

Before I book, what was you cabin number -- port or starboard?

 

 

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[Clarea]

Few pics of the bedrooms...if someone can help me with the correct way to upload pics without them rotating...let me know

You can upload the photos to a photo sharing site, such as FlickR or Photobucket, and then put links to the photos in your CC posts.

[LAatl]

Before I book, what was you cabin number -- port or starboard?

 

 

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Horizon villa 14000 starboard side.