Just Back from the Gem!

[gidgetgoes]

what an awesome cruise! if you are able to upgrade to a suite, DO IT. our butler was not great (just really not personable or friendly), but our concierge was crazy great, she helped us so much! totally the opposite of what we expected. the two bedroom penthouse was huge and wonderful. do you like red wine? the Norwegian north/south red blend was really good, best red available on the bev package, we drank it all week, surprisingly great. the food was awesome! blew Disney out of the water. we had some seriously great food, although the Asian was probably the least of the pack. every single employee was nice and friendly. what a great vacation! loved the Gem, perfect sized ship. great itinerary, perfect weather on our cruise, too. wow. this was only our second cruise, we are officially cruise people now!

[Turtles06]

Welcome back and glad you had a great cruise! We really like the Gem, have sailed on her three times.

 

We were on the Jewel last month, and my wife thought that North/South wine was very good as well. After she discovered it, she would ask for it at dinner even when it wasn't on the wine list of wherever we were eating, and they would always be able to get it for her.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post.

[Gershep]

Glad you had a great cruise. The Gem is my favorite ship.

[poona1]

Gidget...good to hear that you had a great time...I will be sailing as well on the gem in a month....how would you rank the specialty restaurants...thanks

[TYSONBOXER]

Glad to hear you had a great cruise. We will be sailing on the Gem in August in the owners suite. Has anyone been in it on the Gem? Would like to know if the balcony is big. We like to have breakfast on it in the mornings

 

 

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[dexddd]

Glad to hear you had a great cruise. We will be sailing on the Gem in August in the owners suite. Has anyone been in it on the Gem? Would like to know if the balcony is big. We like to have breakfast on it in the mornings

 

 

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Are you in the H3? If so, that room has two balconies - front which is very large and a double width side hull balcony which is nicely protected.

[LiLBxQt]

Good to hear! We sailed once on the gem 2 years ago and it was definitely one of our best cruises mainly bc of the crew! We're sailing again on it next month. Can't wait!

 

Thanks for the [emoji485] recommendation. Sounds like it will be my go to at dinner [emoji16]

 

Glad to hear the food was good! We thought so too 2 years ago! Did you eat in any of the specialty restaurants?

 

 

 

 

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[boopsahoy]

Glad to hear you had a great cruise. We will be sailing on the Gem in August in the owners suite. Has anyone been in it on the Gem? Would like to know if the balcony is big. We like to have breakfast on it in the mornings

 

 

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Which owners suite? We had 9504 and LOVED it!

[BostonGal35]

Which owners suite? We had 9504 and LOVED it!

 

sounds like the food improved since we were on board too, at least in OP's opinion.

[TYSONBOXER]

That's the room we have, 9504. They wanted us to upgrade to Deluxe owners suite, but floor plan looks better in this one. Plus have two balconies

 

 

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[boopsahoy]

That's the room we have, 9504. They wanted us to upgrade to Deluxe owners suite, but floor plan looks better in this one. Plus have two balconies

 

 

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9504 is a nicer room than the DOS.

 

[gidgetgoes]

Gidget...good to hear that you had a great time...I will be sailing as well on the gem in a month....how would you rank the specialty restaurants...thanks

our steaks at cagneys were ridiculously good. service was great. really loved that one. le bistro was similar, great service and awesome food, nice decor. those were our favorites. moderno had great service, the food was very good, but we did not do it justice. not hungry enough. the salad/starter bar was good. the meat servers are super friendly and funny. la Cuchina was also very good, with great service. teppanyaki was a mixed bag. the food was good (the garlic rice alone is worth the up charge), but the way they did it in that tiny room, the chefs are back to back and it's really distracting. they all do the same show, but with different flair, and so you can hear them all at different points in their speils. the food is mostly good, but it's just an awkward experience. and the sushi was...okay? they only have three kinds of nigiri, although they have quite a few rolls. the menu is really limited. it's also the same restaurant as the regular Asian, which has kind of a ridiculously limited menu and not awesome food. we ate there twice, once mostly sushi, second time mostly Asian, neither time was great. the service here is also really slow, took forever both times, had to get the attention of the maitre'd couple times. definitely least favorite specialty (sushi).

 

the grand Pacific dining room is awesome, just a gorgeous room, very friendly and efficient staff, great food! we had lunch there a couple times as well as dinner. there is a pistachio creme brule on the first night that's worth the price of the cruise, omg. we thought the magenta room was kind of sad and dreary, though. food was good, service good, but what a depressing room.

 

the public spaces are wonderful, especially the gorgeous lounge outside le bistro, below the Asian. we also loved to end our day up in the front corner of the spinnaker lounge with drinks and books, listening to whatever band they had on and off. so many great spots on that ship to sit and relax.

 

tip: the bar menus look like they are all the same in all lounges, but they aren't! there are different specialty drinks in each, so check them all out! and if you don't find and visit the mojito bar, you are missing out. make a point of it.

[gidgetgoes]

also, we ate at cagneys for lunch most days, it is the restaurant they use for the suites. it was very good. it would be cool if they offered one different thing each day, though. the menu was the same every day, and white very good, it would be nice to have just a little variation. i fell in love with the goat cheese tart, good god, i think i have several wedged into my hips now. service was also top notch every day. always the same couple guys, really great.

 

we had breakfast in our suite every day, they get it from the buffet. not awful, but definitely the least awesome of the meals. our weird butler made every interaction awkward, so that might have played a role. he was really the only weak staff link, but it was okay. he's basically room service, unless we were missing something.

[Vitamin_Sea]

Happy to hear you liked the Gem.

Sailing her in 53 days!!

[poona1]

Thanks so much gidget...i can't wait

[boopsahoy]

also, we ate at cagneys for lunch most days, it is the restaurant they use for the suites. it was very good. it would be cool if they offered one different thing each day, though. the menu was the same every day, and white very good, it would be nice to have just a little variation. i fell in love with the goat cheese tart, good god, i think i have several wedged into my hips now. service was also top notch every day. always the same couple guys, really great.

 

we had breakfast in our suite every day, they get it from the buffet. not awful, but definitely the least awesome of the meals. our weird butler made every interaction awkward, so that might have played a role. he was really the only weak staff link, but it was okay. he's basically room service, unless we were missing something.

 

The suites lunch menu is pretty new. We had the same menu for a few years straight and that got boring. I love the tuna nicoise appetizer which I get as a main course.

 

We found sushi at the sushi bar was quick. Much better than seated :D

[goofy4mickey]

We were on the same sailing and I agree with most of your review. Excellent staff & service. Filet at Cagney's was AMAZING! We loved Magenta & requested the same server (Jenna) every time we dined there. Our butler (Teo) was non existent...saw him the 2nd day after inquiring about him and that was it for the next 9 days. Will probably do same trip next year.

[gidgetgoes]

The suites lunch menu is pretty new. We had the same menu for a few years straight and that got boring. I love the tuna nicoise appetizer which I get as a main course.

 

We found sushi at the sushi bar was quick. Much better than seated :D

unfortunately, we had our son with us and he's all about pork dumplings. :)

[gidgetgoes]

We were on the same sailing and I agree with most of your review. Excellent staff & service. Filet at Cagney's was AMAZING! We loved Magenta & requested the same server (Jenna) every time we dined there. Our butler (Teo) was non existent...saw him the 2nd day after inquiring about him and that was it for the next 9 days. Will probably do same trip next year.

i guess i just didn't get the whole butler thing. i think i see the potential, but it didn't really add any value to us. he brought us afternoon snacks, but i had heard they'd bring your favorites, we had to ask him several times to bring more gummy bears. he seemed seriously put out when we called to request anything. and he just was the least personable staff member. we tried to start conversations with him and he'd just ignore it. for someone in that position, we were surprised he wasn't more friendly or helpful. luckily, we didn't really need him, and everyone else was super awesome. our cabin steward was great.

[dexddd]

We were on the same sailing and I agree with most of your review. Excellent staff & service. Filet at Cagney's was AMAZING! We loved Magenta & requested the same server (Jenna) every time we dined there. Our butler (Teo) was non existent...saw him the 2nd day after inquiring about him and that was it for the next 9 days. Will probably do same trip next year.

 

When we went on Gem in Dec we saw Teo as we boarded and said hello. We had him a year earlier on the Spirit and we did see him every day. He was ok with us but a couple had the same room a few months later on the Spirit and you would have thought they were long lost relatives. We didn't have him on the Gem though.

[mking8288]

Any comments and feedback about the GEM's internet from the recent sailing? Has the new 3-tier plans including the social media package been rolled out. Several folks on our upcoming GEM Roll Call thinking of signing up for the paid features of the iConcierge App, is it $9.99 per device or higher ?

 

Names of the senior officers onboard ... Captain, HD and CD, etc.

 

TIA.

[Quencups]

That's the room we have, 9504. They wanted us to upgrade to Deluxe owners suite, but floor plan looks better in this one. Plus have two balconies

 

 

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OMG I loved the DOS. I never wanted to leave the balcony hot tub!!. The Gem is my fav ship. Just booked the GV for June, 2018 :)

[gidgetgoes]

Any comments and feedback about the GEM's internet from the recent sailing? Has the new 3-tier plans including the social media package been rolled out. Several folks on our upcoming GEM Roll Call thinking of signing up for the paid features of the iConcierge App, is it $9.99 per device or higher ?

 

Names of the senior officers onboard ... Captain, HD and CD, etc.

 

TIA.

we had 100 minutes of internet with our package. i didn't resize at fittest that you have to log out every time you use any of it or it blows them all at once. that might sound stupid, but hey, vacation. anyhow, our awesome concierge got the internet manager to credit them back. after that it was easy.

 

they don't have the tiers yet, i wish they had. we used our Verizon plan on the islands.

 

sorry i don't know any of the main crew names! just wasn't paying attention. we didn't go to the cocktail reception for the suites because we had a dinner planned.

[mking8288]

gidgetgoes - appreciated the info about internet as it is of interest to our Roll Call sailing end of this month. We will check with those currently onboard about the officers, etc. How was the main production shows, if attended ... hoping that it's been changed since we last last it (as they don't revise them often).

 

Sounds like that complimentary Asian/Chinese fusion food hasn't changed much nor improved - thinking NCL would do better by making it Shanghai Noodles instead, even simplier menu choices but they're fine even for us, just my 2 cents in case they are reading some of these posts.

Edited April 11, 2017 by mking8288

[gidgetgoes]

gidgetgoes - appreciated the info about internet as it is of interest to our Roll Call sailing end of this month. We will check with those currently onboard about the officers, etc. How was the main production shows, if attended ... hoping that it's been changed since we last last it (as they don't revise them often).

 

Sounds like that complimentary Asian/Chinese fusion food hasn't changed much nor improved - thinking NCL would do better by making it Shanghai Noodles instead, even simplier menu choices but they're fine even for us, just my 2 cents in case they are reading some of these posts.

 

oh man, we totally suck, did not go to any shows. really just relaxed by the pool, sat in lounges before dinner, went to spinnakers after. we are hella boring. the bands, though, in case you care. there's hotwire, girl and guy and maybe 4 band members? maybe three. they would alternate pool/spinnakers. they were okay? very lounge rock. very nice people, but best when doing abba and similar. but the other band, groove international, i wanted to take them home. the singer is psycho good, the band is great. loved them. they do reggae around the pool and an awesome 70s thing in spinnakers, one night they did a Bob Marley show. just...they were great.

 

we also caught Leo in the lounge, and he was...loungey? might have liked him better if he didn't always have the audience up singing with him. but they were having a great time, so good for them. we just thought it was funny, kept us entertained. there's a very good jazz trio, too, loved them. only saw them around twice. didn't seem to have a name? like, the show band? young guys, played well.

 

the Asian was really the least of all restaurants, absolutely. they should definitely try a different thing there. or just get a real menu. but with so much other great food, it was not a big deal. i did notice that it was much easier to get a table toward the end of the cruise than easier. so.