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Almost Live From The Gem NYC To San Francisco


bob brown
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1 hour ago, jezabel80 said:

Great Review! A lot of great info.   Regarding the outlet in the bathroom, can you plug in a waterpik?   I believe on the newer ships it says electric razors only.  Thanks

Correct...the bathroom outlet will not power a waterpik, but it will power a nightlight...and unlike the newer ships, the outlet stays live, even when the bathroom light is turned out.

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3 hours ago, bob brown said:

Correct...the bathroom outlet will not power a waterpik, but it will power a nightlight...and unlike the newer ships, the outlet stays live, even when the bathroom light is turned out.

Glad to hear that.  We have plugged in items like an electric toothbrush and did not realize that when the light was out, there was no power to our devices.  Glad this is an older ship and this feature is not being used.

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Hi Bob. Curious if you know any details about the Gem dry dock slated for November. Can’t seem to find any info on CC. Was on an LA to NY Gem cruise last winter. Like many things better on the Gem than on the Bliss (just finished a 14 day cruise on it)

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Just a question for one of you folks on the Gem right now-  if you happen to meander to the aft on deck 9, could you let me know what is next to the corner cabins back there?  The deck schematics show it as white space but I suspect it is crew closets, electrical or crew staircases. Trying to figure out if it's noisy back there.

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2 hours ago, musicgal said:

Just a question for one of you folks on the Gem right now-  if you happen to meander to the aft on deck 9, could you let me know what is next to the corner cabins back there?  The deck schematics show it as white space but I suspect it is crew closets, electrical or crew staircases. Trying to figure out if it's noisy back there.


I was happy to wander up there just now after our excellent dinner in the Grand Pacific. As you suspected, it is all crew space. On each side in the corner is a “Crew Only” staircase (available to pax in the event of an emergency) as well a “Crew Only” store. Just forward of these spaces on each (interior) side is a “Crew Only” locker.  

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As our fabulous cruise winds down, I want to say how much my wife and I have enjoyed dining in the Grand Pacific MDR.  We’ve been seated all over the dining room, and the service has been excellent everywhere. (The same for the one time we’ve eaten in Magenta.)  The food in the MDRs has also been the best we’ve ever had on an NCL ship (and far better than it was on our recent cruise aboard the Celebrity Summit).  Just tonight we were commenting on how affirmatively good each course of our dinner was.
 

I wish I could say the same for the service and food in the specialty restaurants (we’ve eaten at all five of them), but I can’t.  
 

I know that how folks feel about food and service is very subjective; obviously, I’m just giving our personal reactions. YMMV.  

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5 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

As our fabulous cruise winds down, I want to say how much my wife and I have enjoyed dining in the Grand Pacific MDR.  We’ve been seated all over the dining room, and the service has been excellent everywhere. (The same for the one time we’ve eaten in Magenta.)  The food in the MDRs has also been the best we’ve ever had on an NCL ship (and far better than it was on our recent cruise aboard the Celebrity Summit).  Just tonight we were commenting on how affirmatively good each course of our dinner was.
 

I wish I could say the same for the service and food in the specialty restaurants (we’ve eaten at all five of them), but I can’t.  
 

I know that how folks feel about food and service is very subjective; obviously, I’m just giving our personal reactions. YMMV.  


glad to hear you had great food and service at the main dining rooms. We will be sailing the gem in February and it will be our first NCL cruise, we typically cruise on HAL. 

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40 minutes ago, Koali said:


glad to hear you had great food and service at the main dining rooms. We will be sailing the gem in February and it will be our first NCL cruise, we typically cruise on HAL. 


We’ve only cruised once on HAL.  We enjoyed the cruise (it was the very special Viking Passage itinerary), but felt limited in terms of the dining and entertaining options (we were on the Zuiderdam). I think you will find more variety in terms of places to eat on the Gem, and more variety in terms of entertainment.  On our HAL cruise, the buffet was an afterthought, and a pretty poor option for dinner, with limited food selections that never changed. There was one station called “Distant Lands” that served only Italian food.  That’s not the case on NCL, where the buffet is an integral part of NCL’s freestyle dining concept.  We’ve had a number of themed nights in the buffet (e.g., Greek. Indian, Latin America).  The Indian food cooked on this ship is excellent, and it’s a great choice for dinner (or lunch).

 

The Gem is a wonderful ship, and I hope you enjoy your first NCL Cruise!

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10 hours ago, Turtles06 said:


I was happy to wander up there just now after our excellent dinner in the Grand Pacific. As you suspected, it is all crew space. On each side in the corner is a “Crew Only” staircase (available to pax in the event of an emergency) as well a “Crew Only” store. Just forward of these spaces on each (interior) side is a “Crew Only” locker.  

 

Thanks for looking, Turtles. That makes sense, as that's the handiest place to put supplies for the stewards and the butlers who service those aft areas.  You probably know all the secret passageways after being on Gem so long!

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Bob, Turtles & all onboard, enjoy your sea day en route to arrive at San Pedro tomorrow, some of the pictures bring back memories of our Mexico Rivera cruise on the Star 11 years ago. Thanks for sharing & taking the time to post.

 

Now, here's a trivia for you, while you are still on her. Dawn has a similar one, same location but unmarked ... Deck 4 mid ship, port side.  What is Age Pantry, see if you can find out 🙊 just ahead of the elevators & stairs, around the corner.

IMG_20191219_225019754.jpg

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11 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

As our fabulous cruise winds down, I want to say how much my wife and I have enjoyed dining in the Grand Pacific MDR.  We’ve been seated all over the dining room, and the service has been excellent everywhere. (The same for the one time we’ve eaten in Magenta.)  The food in the MDRs has also been the best we’ve ever had on an NCL ship (and far better than it was on our recent cruise aboard the Celebrity Summit).  Just tonight we were commenting on how affirmatively good each course of our dinner was.
 

I wish I could say the same for the service and food in the specialty restaurants (we’ve eaten at all five of them), but I can’t.  
 

I know that how folks feel about food and service is very subjective; obviously, I’m just giving our personal reactions. YMMV.  

Loved reading your and Bob's comments on the cruise.

Are you on for the second leg back to NY as well?

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13 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Bob, Bill, Arlene, anyone

If you can please get that cruise list from Mary and email a picture of it to me?

So sorry to bother you, but it is very hard to get in touch with them.😥

Okay...will do it from San Pedro.

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Just now, musicgal said:

 

Thanks for looking, Turtles. That makes sense, as that's the handiest place to put supplies for the stewards and the butlers who service those aft areas.  You probably know all the secret passageways after being on Gem so long!

 

I'm in that area and the only crew members I've seen are for housekeeping. There are crew stores in the middle also behind the stairwells. I find the aft area to be very quiet, less guest traffic than the middle part.

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59 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

Now, here's a trivia for you, while you are still on her. Dawn has a similar one, same location but unmarked ... Deck 4 mid ship, port side.  What is Age Pantry, see if you can find out 🙊 just ahead of the elevators & stairs, around the corner.

IMG_20191219_225019754.jpg

 

Depending on the gangway being used, you pass this on the Gem disembarking in various ports. It’s where they store us seniors overnight. They let us out in the morning. 

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25 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Loved reading your and Bob's comments on the cruise.

Are you on for the second leg back to NY as well?

 

Thanks!  No we aren’t, but we will be spending a few days in SF (and seeing Hamilton there, our fifth time 😊).

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Random comment:  if, like me, you really enjoy walking laps on deck, I highly recommend Deck 7 (the promenade deck) over Deck 13.  On Deck 7, you can walk an entire lap of the ship, so it’s only 2.66 laps per mile.  And it’s beautiful to be so close to the water.  Up on Deck 13, you’re not only sharing space with people in lounge chairs, but the walking track is much shorter, 5.5 laps/mile. (I lose track of my count after a bunch of those laps!)  If you want to run, though, that’s only permitted on Deck 13. 

 

BTW, the chair hogs don’t only live on the pool deck. They are down on the promenade deck as well, where there are limited lounge chairs.  This morning, two of those chairs had a rolled up towel and a pair of sandals and a small bag on them, no humans in sight.  I passed these chairs numerous times during the next 45 minutes; no change at all. 

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