Gem Review August 2-9 in 2 Bedroom Suite

[saretaj]

I have another question - were you offered any laundry specials?  Travelling with my 6 year old who will no doubt require numerous clothing changes!  I saw on one post about a $25 (or so) special?   Did this happen at all during your sailing?  TY in advance!

[raitch]

4 minutes ago, saretaj said:

I have another question - were you offered any laundry specials?  Travelling with my 6 year old who will no doubt require numerous clothing changes!  I saw on one post about a $25 (or so) special?   Did this happen at all during your sailing?  TY in advance!

Yup they offered it maybe 3 days into the trip.  My parents took advantage of it and their laundry was returned folded and wrapped, in a laundry basket.

[saretaj]

Thank you, you have been SO helpful!!!

[saretaj]

Were you invited to dinner with the Captain?  If so, which night?  My sister has done this in the past (I have never been offered as we usually do just Balcony rooms) and loved it.  Wondering if it's worth it, and if kids are even allowed?  TY again!

[raitch]

3 hours ago, saretaj said:

Were you invited to dinner with the Captain?  If so, which night?  My sister has done this in the past (I have never been offered as we usually do just Balcony rooms) and loved it.  Wondering if it's worth it, and if kids are even allowed?  TY again!

Maybe... we got a lot of weird  invitations to things and ignored all of them.  Sorry!

[djpk2003]

Thanks for the review! We are excited to sail on Gem again in October. I rarely see people post about her so it's always good to hear when people have had good recent experiences! 

[brokenarrowhd]

Thank you for sharing your review raitch!

[brokenarrowhd]

On 8/9/2019 at 3:55 PM, Jess46 said:

Great review! I'm doing this trip next Friday.  Do you happen to know who the cruise director was and if they were entertaining at all?  I find that they can usually make or break the game shows and whatnot.  It's much more fun with an engaging and enthusiastic cruise director. 

 

Jess46, there is a roll call and a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet for the August 16 cruise! Check it out...

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[Always Cruising]

Do you think your cabin (11030) is going to have the noise problem on all of the Jewel class ships?  Not sure if all have the same cabin placement and numbering.  Thanks for your thoughts!

 

Second question:  I'm assuming you had a Suite, but not a Haven cabin.  You had Priority boarding - that's included for the suites that aren't Haven? 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Always Cruising

[ncb106]

On 8/9/2019 at 3:41 PM, raitch said:

We are not frequent cruisers (this was only our third NCL trip and our first with the kids) so I spent months and months preparing for our Boston-Bermuda trip.  Sometimes I think I checked this board more often than the moderators did!  In general it seems like Gem doesn’t get a lot of coverage on CC, so here’s my quick rundown of the ship and our trip in general.

 

First things first: we had a GREAT time and would go back, on the same ship and the same itinerary, in a heartbeat.  We’d do the same exact room class— but we would NOT do the same room location!

 

Embarkation was easy since we got to the port at noon and had concierge service.  We didn’t even have time to grab a snack in the embarkation lounge as we were escorted directly to Cagney’s for lunch.  

 

Room thoughts- we were in 11030, the Garnet penthouse.  It was an amazing room.  Lots of space for the 5 of us, big balcony.  We spent lots and lots of time in the room!  Butler service (Josephine) was such a treat.  She took good care of us, and because my parents had the adjoining minisuite, she also answered their questions and was polite and kind even though technically she didn’t work for them.  Our steward Arnel was fast and efficient, and we appreciated him sticking closely to NCL rules about not being alone in the room without a female staff member if there was only a teen in the room.  Our concierge, Anoop, was also wonderful though we only used his services for embarkation and disembarkation.  He checked in on us throughout the ship and again allowed my parents to disembark with the priority folks even though they weren’t in a suite or Haven.

 

What I did NOT like about the room was the noise.  I’d scoured every online review I could find because I was concerned about being under the pool deck.  I guess we were the odd ones out because the noise above was very loud particularly the running on the pool deck late into the night, the chairs being set up in the AM, and the band playing on the pool deck.  We had been told that since we were in the back side corner of the deck near a staircase the noise would be minimum... nope.  I’d stay in a 2 bedroom suite again in a heartbeat but not in THIS particular suite.  

 

Entertainment on board was okay.  We did the welcome aboard show and weren’t wowed by any of it, so we just heard drips & drabs we made our way through the ship. The kids weren’t blown away by Splash Academy/Entourage so I don’t have much feedback there either- the circus show they put on in Stardust was super cute though!

 

Overall we were happy with the food.  Teppanyaki was the best meal of the trip followed by Haven/suite breakfast in Moderno.   Food was always hot and plentiful, though it always took forever for the kids’ meals to arrive to the table.  The great Outdoors is as great as everyone says.  Just a beautiful place to have a meal or snack or sit and chat.

 

Bermuda was gorgeous, though the construction on the wharf was a little loud and the cranes got in the way of the view.   We did the Clearwater Beach triangle excursion (I definitely recommend, gorgeous EMPTY beaches) and also Hartley’s Helmet Diving.  That Greg Hartley is a trip!  Totally an amazing experience though, we all loved it (including kids ranging age 6-15).  Not offered through NCL but you should absolutely do it, even if you’re claustrophobic.

 

Overall I found the layout of Gem a little weird (only one bar in the atrium and then a bunch of bars jammed together at Bar City?) but it’s a nice size and we never felt like it was overcrowded.  I do think that having access to the Haven level restaurants helped with this, particularly during the rainy weather.  We had two rainy sea days (one with waves big enough for the puke bags to make an appearance in the stairwells) but it still seemed like there was room for everyone to find a place to hang out.

 

We pre-purchased the thermal spa, which we’ve used and loved on previous ships, but it was a waste of our money this time.  Somehow it didn’t occur to us that having the 3 kids along would mean there was much, much less time to lay around in an adults only area all day... 

 

One thing I need to highlight, though, is the staff.  I kept seeing posts on FB groups that the Gem staff is rude.  We never encountered even one staff member that was the least bit rude!  Every single staff member would look you in the eye, smile, and speak to you.  I seriously don’t know what people were doing to this amazing staff to cause them to be rude in any way.  We had zero concerns or issues with staff and anything that we did notice was dealt with swiftly and completely.

 

Disembarkation was so fast I almost missed it.  We were priority so met at Stardust at 8:30 and were on the curb with our bags by 8:45.  It would have been even faster if they hadn’t pulled my husband aside to hand him cash for his refundable onboard credit he didn’t completely use.

 

Overall, gem has not been my favorite of the NCL ships I’ve sailed on but I would go back on in a heartbeat if given the chance!  Please feel free to ask any questions you might have.  I’ll add photos further downthread.

 

 

who was the cruise director?

[raitch]

47 minutes ago, ncb106 said:

who was the cruise director?

Luz.

[mjfalk]

Just a quick note. On GEM now and in 11530(port side instead of starboard) and have the same noise. Bring earplugs. The ping pong tables are above this cabin. 

[MotownVoice]

Awesome photos.   I was going to try to avoid looking at the shots of the penthouse so’s not to become resentfully jealous.   Too late.  Love your diagnosis as to what could make a perfectly pleasant person turn rude.  “It might just have been YOU.”   Ain’t it the truth?

[cementhands]

On 8/9/2019 at 3:41 PM, raitch said:

We are not frequent cruisers (this was only our third NCL trip and our first with the kids) so I spent months and months preparing for our Boston-Bermuda trip.  Sometimes I think I checked this board more often than the moderators did!  In general it seems like Gem doesn’t get a lot of coverage on CC, so here’s my quick rundown of the ship and our trip in general.

 

First things first: we had a GREAT time and would go back, on the same ship and the same itinerary, in a heartbeat.  We’d do the same exact room class— but we would NOT do the same room location!

 

Embarkation was easy since we got to the port at noon and had concierge service.  We didn’t even have time to grab a snack in the embarkation lounge as we were escorted directly to Cagney’s for lunch.  

 

Room thoughts- we were in 11030, the Garnet penthouse.  It was an amazing room.  Lots of space for the 5 of us, big balcony.  We spent lots and lots of time in the room!  Butler service (Josephine) was such a treat.  She took good care of us, and because my parents had the adjoining minisuite, she also answered their questions and was polite and kind even though technically she didn’t work for them.  Our steward Arnel was fast and efficient, and we appreciated him sticking closely to NCL rules about not being alone in the room without a female staff member if there was only a teen in the room.  Our concierge, Anoop, was also wonderful though we only used his services for embarkation and disembarkation.  He checked in on us throughout the ship and again allowed my parents to disembark with the priority folks even though they weren’t in a suite or Haven.

 

What I did NOT like about the room was the noise.  I’d scoured every online review I could find because I was concerned about being under the pool deck.  I guess we were the odd ones out because the noise above was very loud particularly the running on the pool deck late into the night, the chairs being set up in the AM, and the band playing on the pool deck.  We had been told that since we were in the back side corner of the deck near a staircase the noise would be minimum... nope.  I’d stay in a 2 bedroom suite again in a heartbeat but not in THIS particular suite.  

 

Entertainment on board was okay.  We did the welcome aboard show and weren’t wowed by any of it, so we just heard drips & drabs we made our way through the ship. The kids weren’t blown away by Splash Academy/Entourage so I don’t have much feedback there either- the circus show they put on in Stardust was super cute though!

 

Overall we were happy with the food.  Teppanyaki was the best meal of the trip followed by Haven/suite breakfast in Moderno.   Food was always hot and plentiful, though it always took forever for the kids’ meals to arrive to the table.  The great Outdoors is as great as everyone says.  Just a beautiful place to have a meal or snack or sit and chat.

 

Bermuda was gorgeous, though the construction on the wharf was a little loud and the cranes got in the way of the view.   We did the Clearwater Beach triangle excursion (I definitely recommend, gorgeous EMPTY beaches) and also Hartley’s Helmet Diving.  That Greg Hartley is a trip!  Totally an amazing experience though, we all loved it (including kids ranging age 6-15).  Not offered through NCL but you should absolutely do it, even if you’re claustrophobic.

 

Overall I found the layout of Gem a little weird (only one bar in the atrium and then a bunch of bars jammed together at Bar City?) but it’s a nice size and we never felt like it was overcrowded.  I do think that having access to the Haven level restaurants helped with this, particularly during the rainy weather.  We had two rainy sea days (one with waves big enough for the puke bags to make an appearance in the stairwells) but it still seemed like there was room for everyone to find a place to hang out.

 

We pre-purchased the thermal spa, which we’ve used and loved on previous ships, but it was a waste of our money this time.  Somehow it didn’t occur to us that having the 3 kids along would mean there was much, much less time to lay around in an adults only area all day... 

 

One thing I need to highlight, though, is the staff.  I kept seeing posts on FB groups that the Gem staff is rude.  We never encountered even one staff member that was the least bit rude!  Every single staff member would look you in the eye, smile, and speak to you.  I seriously don’t know what people were doing to this amazing staff to cause them to be rude in any way.  We had zero concerns or issues with staff and anything that we did notice was dealt with swiftly and completely.

 

Disembarkation was so fast I almost missed it.  We were priority so met at Stardust at 8:30 and were on the curb with our bags by 8:45.  It would have been even faster if they hadn’t pulled my husband aside to hand him cash for his refundable onboard credit he didn’t completely use.

 

Overall, gem has not been my favorite of the NCL ships I’ve sailed on but I would go back on in a heartbeat if given the chance!  Please feel free to ask any questions you might have.  I’ll add photos further downthread.

 

 

Great review. We’re going this fall. Question about any Zumba or other dance classes? 

Many theme parties? We’re going to use up expiring credits and are hoping for activity.

Many thanks for information.