Back from the Gem 10/21-10/28

[ktpc2005]

We just got back from our cruise on the Norwegian Gem 7 day cruise around the Med Sea. This was the second full cruise for the Gem and she was up to speed like a ship that had been around for years. That was attributed to the management team that they had and I heard from many staff members that the group that they had on board got a crew up to speed faster than ever before.

Here is the recap:

Background

This was my honeymoon cruise with my new DW.

Pre-Cruise

We arrived in Barcelona on Saturday after flying British Airways from Boston to Heathrow to Barcelona. We arrived in Barcelona at 10:30, picked up our luggage, and hopped on the Aerobus to the Hotel Continental Barcelona. We arrived at the hotel at 11:30am and were able to check in right away. Everyone that was checking out on Sunday had NCL Jewel tags on their bags and everyone checking out on Sunday had Gem tags. The hotel was great and we had a balcony room which we sat out on a lot. We stocked up on soda and water for the ship at their free 24 hour buffet. We checked out on Sunday at noon and got a taxi to the pier and were there in about 15 minutes.

Embarkation

Embarkation was painless in that we dropped our bags off with the porters outside and then went right over to the Latitudes line and was checked in less than 10 minutes. We then got on board and headed to Grand Pacific for lunch because the rooms were not ready until 2pm (A crew member gave you a piece of paper that said that they recommend Garden Café, but we saw and new from this board that one restaurant is open). We had a nice relaxing lunch that ended right at 2pm. We went to our room and everything was there including the paperwork for the week, shore excursion tickets, and a bottle of champagne from our TA.

Room

We had a category II inside room on the 11th floor which was really nice. The only complaint that I had was that we were right below the Garden Café kitchen and during the day if there were moving large carts, we could here them rumbling around. Our room stewards were great. The room has a large closet, 4 cubby shelves outside, 4 cubby shelves, in the closet, and 3 sliding shelves. There is a mini fridge, which we had cleared out by our room stewards on the first day. The TV had ESPN Int’l, Fox News, BBC, a German Station, a Spanish Station, 3 Music Channels (just music, no videos), a couple of ship channels, bow cam channel (the camera has a night vision setting which keeps the screen bright all night and trump the keep the TV on all night for the sun to wake us up), and movie channel. There are on demand recent movies for $11.99 (the same that they had on our BA plane for free) and adult movies for $14.99.

Cruise Critic Meet and Greet

We had a nice turnout of I think around 45 people at 10:30am in Le Bistro on Monday morning. The whole cruise officer team was there including the captain Mikael Hilden, Clint Wells the CD, Klaus the hotel manager, and other officers. They did a Q&A with the attendees, and Klaus did point out that he and people under him do read these boards and websites. He says that he would rather have you talk to him on the board then ripping them apart on the boards.

Food and Restaurants

We tried all the free restaurants except Tequila. We are not big on the specialty restaurants so I will leaves those reviews for someone else:

Grand Pacific: Located on Deck 7 Aft, it is the restaurant that is open for all 3 meals. We had breakfast 5 of the 7 days and thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast here than in the Garden Café. The service was really efficient and we were usually out of there in 30 minutes for breakfast. If you have a time deadline, the server will suggest things that can be made in that time period. The menu had a variety of hot and cold items. For Dinner this restaurant and does not allow jeans to be worn. They were so strict on jeans that my DW had a jean jacket with her and put it on because it was cold and the hostess from the front door came over and yelled at her to take it off before someone complains about her wearing jean material, so it is (one 1 of 3 customer service black marks because she could have said it in a nicer manner).

Magenta: Only open for dinner and the place were the reservation desk is during the day. Magenta allows jeans all day and consists of tables and booths with pillows. We both liked Magenta more than Grand Pacific.

Blue Lagoon: Blue Lagoon is located in the same area as Tequilla and in a U shape overlooking the Crystal Atrium. During dinner, half the space allocated for the Blue Lagoon is taken over by Tequila leaving about 10 tables for Blue Lagoon. The service was really slow and unorganized because the waitstaff was not dedicated to a set number of tables. One night that we went for snacks, it got so bad that the restaurant manger was taken orders for the waitstaff.

Garden Café/Great Outoors/Pool Grill: I am not a big buffet fan but the place does the job. For breakfast there are hot and cold foods at the Garden Café and Great Outdoors, and a continental breakfast at the Pool Grill. The one thing that I did like was that the Garden Café was open until 11:30 each night so we could get some dessert or a snack after the show.

La Cucina: We went there because we got back from Rome early in the day before most people did. We went at 5:30 when it opened saw that there was no one there and asked the hostess if we could get in without a reservation. She started this speech that this is a specialty restaurant and you need a reservation but she made it think that she was doing something great to get us in. When we walked in there was one table full and when we left there was 3 tables full. The food was really good and that made up for the hostess’ attitude.

Entertainment:

Gem Production Company: The Gem Production Company did three shows during the week. The first show was called “World Beat” which I thought was really bad because it was supposed to be about the music from around the world. What it turned out to be was the cast singing pop songs that had the names of different continents in costumes from that continent (i.e.: Africa-Rain over Africa and Asis: Theme from the movie Mulan. The second two shows were better in “Get Down Tonight”, a 70’s music review and “Colors” a review of songs that have colors in them.

Romano Frediani: Romano is a great juggler, from a family of performer for over 250 years, who does a wide variety of different kinds of juggling including off of drums and in the dark. He is also really funny and was great as the special guest for the Liar’s Club

Duck Cameron: Duck is a great magician who did a wide variety of tricks and got a lot of the crowd involved.

Donny Ray Evins: He did a tribute to Nat King Cole for the embarkation day welcome show and he is really good and sounds just like Nat King Cole.

Second City: Second City is a comedy troupe who does shows all over the country and has a exclusive contract with NCL to do shows. They do a mixture of scripted and improve comedy for their show.

Bars (that we went to)

Spinnaker: Spinnaker is your normal layout compared to other ship, expect that they added somethings to get people to come in during the day. They have coin operated pool, shuffleboard-like game, table soccer, darts, and an electronic roulette game.

Frank’s Place (Star Bar): This bar is on deck 13 and has been turned into a gangster themed bar.

Bliss: Bliss is home of the bowling and the late night parties. They have couches, beds and chairs throughout. There are also some video poker machines along the walls for gamblers. Each night there was a theme party like shadow dancers, PJs on the last night, toga party, and blacklight.

Pools:

There are three pools, one for everyone, one for adults, and a kiddie pool connected to the Kid’s Club. There are four hot tubs around the pools, two for everyone, two for adults. The pools and hot tubs were open each day 8am to 11pm each day. The water slide is open from 10am-6pm. The pools are heated to about 80 degrees and they are saltwater.

Excursions and Ports

We were late into the first port Messina because there were a lot of ships coming in that day and we had to wait for the pilot to park the ship in the dock. We did two excursions and had no problems with them. We did Livorno on our own and Mt Etna and Taromina.

Disembarkation:

We did the express disembarkation and left the boat at 8:30am. We were off and out the door with no issues in five minutes and were off to the airport.

Recap:

The Gem is a beautiful ship and she is running like a well oiled machine even though she is not even a month old yet. Good job NCL.

 

 

If anyone has questions let me know.

[nyflush]

Thanks for the review cant wait until our Feb cruise om the Gem she sounds amazing!

[LucynPeri]

Thank you for providing some valuable information. I do not cruise that much, and your information is greatly appreciated. Esp. the restaurant reviews, looks like there are a lot of choices, and the info on the jeans is good to know also. We leave next week for the 11/9 Gem sailing, so we are in the midst of packing. Thanks a lot!

[tomk3212]

Thanks for the VERY comprehensive review!! We're on the Gem next week and are looking forward to it!

 

Heated saltwater pools? Love it! Now we can pack our bathing suits!;)

 

How was the weather?

 

Tom & Eileen

[pgh]

Thanks for the review. I'm sailing her in January and can't wait!

[Skimo]

Thanks for the review. You mentioned that you brought water and sodas onboard. I take it this did not present a problem? Did you take it in your hand luggage or case?

[ddombrower@sympatico.ca]

Great review, I see you stayed at the CONTINENTAL in BARCELONA

 

 

How was it? Was there free food!!!!!???

 

How much was the TAXI to the pier and how long does it take.?

 

 

We are planning to take the BUS from the Airport . Is it do-able.??

 

 

Sorry about all the questions, and thanks for your review.

 

 

DENNY DOMBROWER

[ktpc2005]

 

How was the weather?

 

Tom & Eileen

 

It was in the 60's during the day all week. We had hit and miss showers during the week, but they were usually on the tour bus heading the cities, by the time we got to the places the rain had stopped:D. When we were on Mt Etna it was snowing:eek: and the tour guide said that it was the earliest snow they have had in years.

 

At sea on our first night and the sea day across the Med Sea, the north wind was howling causing the Med Sea to have 10-20ft waves. That caused a feel people to be a little sea sick, but after that we had 5-10 foot waves for the rest of the trip.

 

Thanks for the review. You mentioned that you brought water and sodas onboard. I take it this did not present a problem? Did you take it in your hand luggage or case?

 

We had it in our hand luggage, we also had some liquor:eek: and the Barcelona port authority did not care:D. There was a table for people to go to that did have liquor but the table was empty. :D

 

 

Great review, I see you stayed at the CONTINENTAL in BARCELONA

 

 

How was it? Was there free food!!!!!???

 

How much was the TAXI to the pier and how long does it take.?

 

 

We are planning to take the BUS from the Airport . Is it do-able.??

 

 

Sorry about all the questions, and thanks for your review.

 

 

DENNY DOMBROWER

 

The Hotel Continental Barcelona is a basic hotel, if you are looking for luxury, look somewhere else. The buffet has cereal, baked goods, hard boiled eggs, fruit, milk, coffee, soda, water, beer, juices, and for a fee they have bottles of wine. They will also mail postcards for you for free if you use their complimentary postcards.

 

The taxi was 12 euros which we caught from right above Las Ramblas on the Plaza Catayluna. It takes about 15-20 minutes depending on traffic. Watch out, there is a .90 euro fee for all the big bags in the taxi trunk.

 

The bus is very easy to do, just walk outside the terminal and there are bus stops all along the road. Just get on and pay the driver, he does have change so exact change is not needed. It takes about 25 minutes to get the Plaza Catayluna and then a 5 minute walk from the bus stop. Its very easy and cheap:D .

[Skimo]

 

We had it in our hand luggage, we also had some liquor:eek: and the Barcelona port authority did not care:D. There was a table for people to go to that did have liquor but the table was empty. :D .

 

Really? Was it, er, 'masquarading' as something else :)

[coneygal]

Although we start in Barcelona, different hotel. Hope some Cruise Critic members will also be with us then.

[cpdad]

 

Food and Restaurants

...

La Cucina: ...We went at 5:30 when it opened saw that there was no one there and asked the hostess if we could get in without a reservation. She started this speech that this is a specialty restaurant and you need a reservation but she made it think that she was doing something great to get us in. When we walked in there was one table full and when we left there was 3 tables full. The food was really good and that made up for the hostess’ attitude.

....

We were on the Gem just prior to you - the 11-day inaugural cruise. We had the same experience with this "hostess". Major attitude problem. We ate there twice and encountered the same attitude both times. I forgot to write down her name as I had intended to mention it on the cruise comment card since she was the only unfriendly, rude employee we encountered. Like you, we only had to deal with her for a minute or two, so we didn't let it bother us much. I had forgotten about it until I read your thorough review.

 

One thing the hostess did not mention, but we overheard from another guest, was the availablility of "al fresco" dining at La Cucina. This means they have a number of outdoor tables available for those of us without reservations who cannot be accommodated indoors. So, if the weather is pleasant and you don't mind eating outdoors, mention this option because the hostess may remain silent about it.

[ktpc2005]

Really? Was it, er, 'masquarading' as something else :)

 

 

No masquarading, picked up in Barcelona for cheap and just tried our luck.

[ktpc2005]

We were on the Gem just prior to you - the 11-day inaugural cruise. We had the same experience with this "hostess". Major attitude problem. We ate there twice and encountered the same attitude both times. I forgot to write down her name as I had intended to mention it on the cruise comment card since she was the only unfriendly, rude employee we encountered. Like you, we only had to deal with her for a minute or two, so we didn't let it bother us much. I had forgotten about it until I read your thorough review.

 

One thing the hostess did not mention, but we overheard from another guest, was the availablility of "al fresco" dining at La Cucina. This means they have a number of outdoor tables available for those of us without reservations who cannot be accommodated indoors. So, if the weather is pleasant and you don't mind eating outdoors, mention this option because the hostess may remain silent about it.

 

 

I did not get her name either but my DW and I both put down the date, time that the incident happened on our comment cards.

[missty]

Although we start in Barcelona, different hotel. Hope some Cruise Critic members will also be with us then.

 

We will be on the May 25th cruise! Can't wait!!!

missty

[missty]

Great review!! Thank you!!

[ktpc2005]

Some other things that I forgot to mention:

 

On our cruise they had 1/2 price specialty restaraunts from 5:30-6:30 for all of them except the Tapanyaki (SP) and the special menu at Le Bistro.

 

On the last night there was 2 for 1 bowling at Bliss if you were wearing your pajamas to the pajama party.

 

There were 2 for 1 drinks at the casino most nights from midnight to 2am.

 

There were double slot point nights and free slot play giveaways at the casino from midnight to 2am.

 

For those who like the instant wins that they sell at the shows for a chance to win up to $2000, the best deal was on the last night where they gave you 4 tickets plus 2 free, 8 raffle tickets for the free cruise giveaway, and a totebag.

 

On the first night, there was free alcohol tastings at the store and if you bought on the first night you were put in a raffle for 50% of your liquor purchase.

[Deannie]

We are going March 16, 2008. I really am looking forward to the trip. Thank you so much for your review. I am traveling with my sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and 5 year old niece.;)

Did you hear anything on what the Kids Club is like?

[ktpc2005]

We are going March 16, 2008. I really am looking forward to the trip. Thank you so much for your review. I am traveling with my sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and 5 year old niece.;)

Did you hear anything on what the Kids Club is like?

 

 

I did not see in the Kid's Club, it is located on deck 12 near the Garden Cafe. The kid's club was open until 10pm and then after that you had to pay for baysitting. The kid's pool with a small slide is connected to the kid's club. I saw in the freestyle daily that if you want you kid to stay at the club during port days it was $5/hr b/w the hours of 9-5

[tomk3212]

It was in the 60's during the day all week. We had hit and miss showers during the week, but they were usually on the tour bus heading the cities, by the time we got to the places the rain had stopped:D. When we were on Mt Etna it was snowing:eek: and the tour guide said that it was the earliest snow they have had in years.

 

At sea on our first night and the sea day across the Med Sea, the north wind was howling causing the Med Sea to have 10-20ft waves. That caused a feel people to be a little sea sick, but after that we had 5-10 foot waves for the rest of the trip.

 

 

 

We had it in our hand luggage, we also had some liquor:eek: and the Barcelona port authority did not care:D. There was a table for people to go to that did have liquor but the table was empty. :D

 

 

 

 

The Hotel Continental Barcelona is a basic hotel, if you are looking for luxury, look somewhere else. The buffet has cereal, baked goods, hard boiled eggs, fruit, milk, coffee, soda, water, beer, juices, and for a fee they have bottles of wine. They will also mail postcards for you for free if you use their complimentary postcards.

 

The taxi was 12 euros which we caught from right above Las Ramblas on the Plaza Catayluna. It takes about 15-20 minutes depending on traffic. Watch out, there is a .90 euro fee for all the big bags in the taxi trunk.

 

The bus is very easy to do, just walk outside the terminal and there are bus stops all along the road. Just get on and pay the driver, he does have change so exact change is not needed. It takes about 25 minutes to get the Plaza Catayluna and then a 5 minute walk from the bus stop. Its very easy and cheap:D .

 

Thanks for the weather information. We'll dress accordingly.

 

BTW, I noticed in your profile that you are from Rhode Island; where in RI? I was born in Providence, both my parents are from Cranston and most of their siblings live in the Warwick area.

 

Tom & Eileen

[ktpc2005]

Thanks for the weather information. We'll dress accordingly.

 

BTW, I noticed in your profile that you are from Rhode Island; where in RI? I was born in Providence, both my parents are from Cranston and most of their siblings live in the Warwick area.

 

Tom & Eileen

 

 

I am in the Cumberland area and I work in Providence.

[angeljt]

Thanks for the review and info. :D Glad you had a good time!

[ktpc2005]

Your welcome.

 

I just posted my port review on the Europe page

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=12205012&posted=1#post12205012

[Deannie]

Thank you for your information.

[CJSTAR]

We just got back from our cruise on the Norwegian Gem 7 day cruise around the Med Sea. This was the second full cruise for the Gem and she was up to speed like a ship that had been around for years. That was attributed to the management team that they had and I heard from many staff members that the group that they had on board got a crew up to speed faster than ever before.

 

 

If anyone has questions let me know.

 

Thanks for your great review. Glad you had a good time. My husband & I just booked the Gem for Nov 16, 2008 (over a year to wait...:( ) for it's Trans-Atlantic from Barcelona to NYC. I bet crossing the Atlantic the end of Nov is going to be cold, but I'm sure we'll have a great time.

Thanks for your info on all the restaurants. We've never done the Free-Style dining so I appreciate your comments. How far in advance do you have to make reservations for the different restaurants? and do you need reservations for all of them or just the specialty restaurants? Like I said this is new to us.

[electricron]

How far in advance do you have to make reservations for the different restaurants? and do you need reservations for all of them or just the specialty restaurants? Like I said this is new to us.

 

Basically, you only have to make resverations for the Specialty restaurants. You can only make them a day in advance. As an example, on Monday morning you can make reservations for Monday and Tuesday nights.

Note not all the Specialty restaurants will have a surcharge, there will be some that are free. The Asian, French, and Cagney's Steakhouse restaurants will have a surcharge. Blue Lagoon, the Italian, the Buffet, and the two Main restaurants will be free.