Review GEM Western Med 5/25 - 6/1

[wednesday]

It is long and I apologize, I have a tendency to be long winded :p

 

Background

We are a couple in our early 30’s from Florida, with no children and our stateroom was a mini suite. We have only taken one previous cruise and that was on the Carnival Legend Western Caribbean itinerary.

 

Flight over and embarkation

We flew in the day of the cruise using US Airways Orlando to Barcelona through Philadelphia. No problems at all with our flights, every flight was on time and our bags made it through Philly. All flight attendants and gate agents were friendly.

 

Upon arriving in Barcelona getting through customs and immigration was a breeze, we grabbed our bags found the first taxi and managed to be some of the first people at the port arriving around 9AM. It was raining in Barcelona so we did not attempt to do any sightseeing.

 

At the port we happened to meet the Concierge for the Gem, Claudio Shulze while we were trying to check our bags, what a nice guy! We talked to him for a few minutes before it got busy and later before we boarded the ship he offered to make reservations for us a Teppanyaki for whichever seating we liked. Those of you traveling in rooms with concierge should not be disappointed with Claudio! We ran into him multiple times over the course of the trip and he was always so friendly.

 

The embarkation process was easy, the only problem is that we were so early we had to wait for hours to board the ship and we were extremely tired from our long flight. Upon boarding the ship, a staff member was waiting to show us to wherever we desired to go, we told him we would like to eat lunch at the Grand Pacific and he promptly escorted us there, asked for a table for us and assisted us to our table! A very nice touch I thought. We were seated at a table by the window and had a very nice and relaxing lunch. I had the Tilapia and my husband had the BBQ ribs, the fish was excellent and the ribs were good but a little tough. After this we found a comfortable and quiet place to sit and wait on the announcement that the rooms were ready.

 

First impressions of the ship

Overall first impression of the ship was that it was sparkling new and very clean, not a speck of dust anywhere, we even saw the room stewards dusting the baseboards in the hallway. All of the crew was very friendly and accommodating.

 

Our mini suite was AFT 11632; it was very nice and ample storage room. We had fresh flowers in the entryway, the bathrobes and the fruit bowl. We also received the fresh baked cookies the last night. The fruit bowl was the only inconsistent service we received, it didn’t arrive until late the second day and was only replenished once. Our room stewards were Mario and (I think) Amani. We had a towel animal every night, including the last night, which they didn’t do on Carnival. The only noise issues due to location were on days in port when you could hear a loud thumping noise. We also had some very rude neighbors across and down the hall who let their children run and scream in the hallways at all hours for the entire cruise. The only issues that we had for this cruise were these people and other rude Passengers in the buffet so we just avoided that area at peak times if we could and all was good.

 

We did not use the pool or see any shows, it was too cold and rainy for most of the trip for us Floridians to use the pool and we just don’t enjoy theatrical shows.

 

The food

The food was very good in my opinion and considerably better than Carnival. We enjoyed the Freestyle dining and ate at most of the specialty restaurants. I want to address the complaints by some regarding “nickel and diming” We were given a $100.00 onboard credit when we booked and it covered almost all of our specialty dining and we only ate in one of the main dining rooms 1 night. We feel that the decent price we paid for the cruise justified some splurging on the ship as well.

 

Teppanyaki

The first night we dined at Teppanyaki (thanks to Claudio) and it was fantastic! I wanted lobster but wanted filet with it instead on the calamari and scallops, they were very accommodating of my request. The steaks, chicken and seafood brought out to be cooked all looked very fresh and our dinner was excellent. We dined with a very nice group from San Diego and they had each received the coupon booklets from NCL (we didn’t) and they gave us one of their buy one get one free vouchers.

 

Blue Lagoon

Later that evening we went to the Blue Lagoon for buffalo wings, my husband loved them even though they were not very hot he thought they tasted great. Because of this we visited the Blue Lagoon quite often, also trying the spinach artichoke dip, potato skins and a few of the desserts. It was all pretty good. The service was sometimes a little slow but we usually went in the evenings and were in no hurry anyway.

 

Grand Pacific

The second day we had breakfast in the Grand Pacific dining room with our cruise critic tour group. Breakfast was very good, I have to say the orange juice and coffee on NCL is much better than on Carnival. They had waffles with a Bananas foster type topping that were really good. The only thing that was only okay was the scrambled eggs but they weren’t good on our Carnival cruise either. We ate breakfast every morning at Grand Pacific and it was always good and never very crowded.

 

The Buffet

Lunch on the second day was at the buffet and was the reason we only went there at off peak times or if there were no other options. I have to say this only because Americans have a bad reputation for being rude when they travel, but this cruise was primarily European and I witnessed rude behavior on or exceeding the level I witnessed on our primarily American cruise. I had a woman try to steal my table and when I wouldn’t let her take it she sent her husband to try to bully me out of it! I told them both what I though about her. Anyway I think that no matter where you are from a lot of peoples attitudes about vacation are about putting themselves first at the expense of everyone around them. A lot of people that we talked to had bad experiences with the buffet and fellow passenger behavior there. My take on the problem (aside from peoples attitudes) is that the buffet area on this ship is rather small and all of the stations are crammed together on one side of the ship so everyone is herded into this small area, also there is nowhere near enough seating (this is where Carnival outshines NCL, the Carnival ships buffet was the entire width of the ship with the service stations spread out with adequate seating) We only ate here one other time (after returning from our Malta excursion) when it was too late to have lunch at grand Pacific. Once again found it to be a rather miserable experience.

 

Tequilas

On the second night we had dinner at Tequilas, which was NOT charging a service charge on this cruise. The fajitas were very good and we loved their chips and salsa as well as the margarita tartlets YUMMY! We had dinner here a second time with our group from Cruise Critic; I had the swordfish that time and found it to be bland. Service was good here.

 

Cagney’s Steakhouse

On the third night we dined at Cagneys. The service was excellent and the food was very good. I had a very nice and properly cooked filet and my husband had the T-bone. We also tried the lobster bisque, crab cakes, bananas foster (flambéed in the dining room) and molten chocolate cake and everything was delicious. We were also presented with a cake for our anniversary; we were too full to eat it so it was delivered to our room by room service. It was really pretty good, yellow cake with whipped icing and a raspberry filling.

 

La Cucina

Had dinner here on the fifth night, they bring around a trolley of appetizers, serve an assortment of bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and have an appetizer menu. Needless to say it would be hard to leave here hungry. We tried the fettuccini carbonara, lobster ravioli, chicken parmesan, chocolate torte and tiramisu. We enjoyed everything here and the service charge was only $10.00.

 

Magenta

We ate here on lobster night and I like that they serve split tails that are grilled, they were very good. I ordered two :D we also tried the spring rolls and honey crème brulee which were good as well. Service was good.

 

Orchid Garden

This was probably our least favorite specialty restaurant because the food was a little bland. We had the Szechwan braised beef, orange beef, dim sum and banana pancakes. The service was good here.

 

The shops

A warning about the quality of the NCL logo shirts and sweatshirts, one tee I purchased had a rip in it that I didn’t notice until I got home so inspect those carefully prior to purchase (I am not complaining because they were only 10 dollars just giving a heads up). The sweatshirt I purchased however was 40 dollars, I spilled something on it so used my spray and wash stain treatment on it and ended up with a big discolored area. They are not very colorfast so be careful when cleaning them.

 

 

The ports!!!!!

 

Malta

We booked the ships ancient temples excursion; it took us to 3 ancient temple sites as well as to a fishing village. We enjoyed our day here, especially the stop at the fishing village where we had a gelato and did some shopping at a local market. They had some very nice linens here and we purchased a tablecloth and placemats for a very reasonable price. After the excursion those of us that wanted to shop in Valetta were dropped off near the city gate. We just roamed around and did a little shopping, found the people in Malta to be friendly and they were all fluent in English.

 

 

Naples

Loved it! We had a private tour booked with some fellow cruise critic members. Our driver was Michael with Drive Amalfi. He was a lot of fun and very knowledgeable. We very much enjoyed our day with him. We drove up the Amalfi coast, had lunch at the Ristorante Pizzeria San Giovanni, it was located in a small hillside town and had gorgeous views. We all had pizza which was excellent and reasonably priced. We stopped in the town of Amalfi for some shopping, had the best gelato of the whole trip here! The gelateria is located right across from where the busses and vans drop you off, I must recommend the chocolate with chili pepper, almond, blood orange and Limon cello flavors. We also bought some of the beautiful locally made ceramics. We next drove to Pompeii and I have wanted to visit this place for a very long time. I was not disappointed! It is absolutely amazing to me how advanced the Romans were at 79 AD.

Our Pompeii guide was Franco and he was the best, very knowledgeable! If you can book Franco by all means do. Would also book Drive Amalfi again without hesitation,

 

Rome

Loved it too! We had another private tour with our CC group. This one was with Stefano of Rome Cabs. He also comes very highly recommended. He was very professional, personable and knowledgeable. We would book a tour with him again, and have already talked about possibly going to Rome for a week and booking him for a few tours. We visited the Coliseum, forum, pantheon, trevi fountain, the Spanish steps and the Vatican. The Vatican was very crowded and hard to enjoy because of this. We are not Catholic so unless we return at a less busy time we would probably skip it on a return trip. Lunch in Rome was at L’Insalata Ricca; it was very good and very affordable. The white pizza was fantastic.

 

Florence

Was a good day but the weather was pretty bad (cold and rainy). Our tour was with Rome in Limo and our guide was Laura. She was very nice and knowledgeable. We just didn’t have enough time here to see everything and because the Uffizi takes so long to see we had to skip it. We started the day by stopping at Pisa to see the leaning tower. We then headed to Florence and stopped along the way at The Olivicoltori Toscani associati Factory store for wine and olive oil and got a really good deal on some very nice Tuscan Olive Oil. I believe it was 6.50 euro for a large bottle. We visited a church that had beautiful views of Florence as well as the Michelangelo Square, the academia and Santa Croce Square. We had lunch at Boccadama at Santa Croce; the food here was good and reasonably priced. We had time to do some shopping in Florence as well.

 

Villefranche Sur Mer

We did this port on our own. What a beautiful town Villefranche is, we got off of the boat early and kind of roamed around. We found the market that they have on Saturdays and bought some wonderful herbs de provence from a very nice lady who also spoke fluent English (which we found to be very rare here). If you go to the market you should stop at her stall, it faces the street and is quite large selling herbs and other food items. We had pastries from the G. Galli Boulangerie Patisserie that was located beside the market, you have never seen such beautiful pastries in your life and they tasted wonderful. The folks in there spoke no English but were friendly and we managed to get what we wanted. After this we took the train over to Nice and happened to meet fellow CC member Missty and her family. I have to mention I had been looking for her the whole cruise because she missed the meet and greet. It was quite funny meeting her in Villefranche and we enjoyed our time in Nice with her group. Her husband is an excellent navigator and he guided us through town and to the beach. There was a market located a block off of the beach and we stopped there and bought some French soaps, the lady at this stall also spoke English. We returned to Villefranche and went our own separate ways. For lunch we had burgers and fries at L’escale on Rue DE L’Eglise. I just had to have some FRENCH fries. The burgers were awesome, I had a goat cheese burger and highly recommend it. The waitress here was very nice but spoke no English so ordering was an adventure, it all worked out and was worth it. Our time on the French Riviera was too short and after lunch we had to get in a very long line to tender back to the ship. One note, all of the restaurants that are directly on the water are VERY expensive, if you walk down some of the side streets you will find plenty of cafes with more reasonable prices.

 

Debarkation and trip home

Very smooth, we had breakfast at the buffet but it wasn’t extremely busy. We then walked off the ship at 7:30AM, no big lines or anything. Met Pam and Steve, with whom we were sharing a cab and had no trouble finding a cab to accommodate us.

 

At the airport we had to wait about 30 minutes for the US Airways ticket desk to open, but once it did there were no lines. If you are flying a European carrier be prepared to wait in enormous lines, I have never seen lines that long in an airport before! The US Airways jet parks out on the tarmac and you are bussed to and from the plane, it looks like it would be inefficient but it went very smoothly.

 

The flights home were pretty much on time, if you are flying through Philly you need to plan to have at least a 3 hour layover. It took us 2 hours to get off the plane, get our bags, clear customs and immigration, recheck our bags and go back through security. We really didn’t care for the Philly airport, their were too many rude employees and it was very crowded. We did have good service at the TGI Fridays there and no trouble with the US Airways gate agents.

 

Final thoughts

We really enjoyed this trip and we met some great people both on our flight over, from Cruise Critic, on the boat and in port. I would not hesitate to sail with NCL or on the Gem again and most importantly I did NOT feel nickled and dimed to death, I thought the price of the cruise was very fair and with the on board credit we received from NCL we paid very little out of pocket for dining. We also had absolutely no problems making reservations in any of the restaurants and most days we made them that morning before leaving for our excursions. I really have trouble understanding the complaints that some people have about NCL and freestyle cruising. While I can still appreciate traditional dining and getting to know your wait staff, I think I prefer the freestyle and the freedom and selection it provides.

 

One last thing: I know this is silly but a lot of people either missed it or did not realize what they were seeing. Between Malta and Naples be sure to keep an eye out to what I believe it is the Port side of the ship, you will be able to see Mt. Etna! We were dining at Cagney’s and I kept telling my husband that I thought it was a volcano we were seeing and that maybe it was Mt. Etna but we thought the captain would say over the intercom if it was. Well it was so large it stayed in view for hours and I thought it has to be a volcano so after dinner we went and checked the navigation channel on our TV and what do you know it was Mt. Etna! I will post some pics of it in the balcony shots.

[Gull]

wednesday, I thought your review was thorough and great. You should also post it in the Member Review's section.

 

We're on the Gem in August and trying to decide what to do for excursions.

We were in Rome for close to two weeks last summer. I'd like to try to do something else. Not sure what though...

Gull

[wednesday]

I did post it over there but it said that it takes a few days for them to review it before they post it. Stefano with Rome cabs was great, I think you can customize tours with him (not necessarily Rome). Although I don't think I am allowed to post his website but I am sure you can find it if you search. One of the ship excursions in that port goes to Ostia Antica and that looked kind of neat. You will have a great time!:D

I wish I could go again!

 

 

wednesday, I thought your review was thorough and great. You should also post it in the Member Review's section.

 

We're on the Gem in August and trying to decide what to do for excursions.

We were in Rome for close to two weeks last summer. I'd like to try to do something else. Not sure what though...

Gull

[Whippets]

Wednesday, thanks for posting your review. We sail in November and I can't wait!

[missty1405]

I knew it was long and that is why I tried to put headings on everything so hopefully people that don't feel like reading the whole thing can jump to the parts that interest them.

 

 

Too funny! I guess whoever thought yours was to long, didn't see mine!! I had a few posts for my report!!! LOL Loved it Wendy! And we had a great time meeting you and your dh. I am glad we did, since I was dissapointed that we missed the meet and greet.

 

missty

[northanstar]

Sounds like you had a great time. I'm off for a week on the Gem w/c 27 July and really looking forward to it.................

[H2Otstr]

Wednesday, We were on the cruise just after you, sailed June 1st.

 

I thought your review was very well written, and I read all that I wanted to because it was so well organized in bold faced sections.

[pandi77]

Thank you for the wonderful review, it inspired me to take a look at the tours on NCL's website. Stupid question-am I reading the prices correctly? It states a private tour for 2 in a car (full day) cost $1,678 per person.....I am missing something right? Some of the tours are listed over $3,000 dollars, can anybody confirm the pricing of the tours?

[wednesday]

If you can get a group of 8 people together on your sailings rollcall, book a private company. That is what we did in Naples, Rome and Florence. Naples was "Drive Amalfi" Rome was "Rome Cabs" and in Florence we used "Rome in Limo" It was very reasonable with 4 couples splitting the costs. Much cheaper than the ship excursions and there was never an issue with getting back to the ship on time. We had a fabulous time with each of those tours.

 

 

Thank you for the wonderful review, it inspired me to take a look at the tours on NCL's website. Stupid question-am I reading the prices correctly? It states a private tour for 2 in a car (full day) cost $1,678 per person.....I am missing something right? Some of the tours are listed over $3,000 dollars, can anybody confirm the pricing of the tours?

[pictonite]

Thanks, Wednesday, for such a detailed review. I really enjoyed your descriptions of all the restaurants, and of the ports. We are considering a European tour next year - your review really helps!

[pandi77]

If you can get a group of 8 people together on your sailings rollcall, book a private company. That is what we did in Naples, Rome and Florence. Naples was "Drive Amalfi" Rome was "Rome Cabs" and in Florence we used "Rome in Limo" It was very reasonable with 4 couples splitting the costs. Much cheaper than the ship excursions and there was never an issue with getting back to the ship on time. We had a fabulous time with each of those tours.

 

Thank you Wednesday,

My husband and I also are in our early 30's, live in Fla, and seem to have similar tendancies as per your review (not in to shows, etc).

I will take your advice and look at a rollcall, I am new to cc boards but i'm sure I can sort it out :-) There are several tours listed on NCL that i'm confident we can do sans NCL but with some fellow cruisers.

 

We sail on the Gem May 10th 09', we booked a PH aft ( 1st suite and aft for us both) -can't wait

thanks again, Andi

[wednesday]

If you want, drop me an email at redchilicat1@yahoo.com. I would be happy to help you with any questions. We live in Lakeland so we are not too far from each other :) I can also email you some pics! Photography is my hobby.

 

 

 

Thank you Wednesday,

My husband and I also are in our early 30's, live in Fla, and seem to have similar tendancies as per your review (not in to shows, etc).

I will take your advice and look at a rollcall, I am new to cc boards but i'm sure I can sort it out :-) There are several tours listed on NCL that i'm confident we can do sans NCL but with some fellow cruisers.

 

We sail on the Gem May 10th 09', we booked a PH aft ( 1st suite and aft for us both) -can't wait

thanks again, Andi

[Mylisa]

Wednesday, thank you for the great review!

 

We are leaving this Sat. for the same exact cruise with the same exact tour companies at the ports.

 

It's great to hear that everything went well and that you loved your trip.

 

We're looking forward to having a fabulous vacation just like you apparently did!

 

What was the temperature range while you were there?

[wednesday]

Hey

In Malta it was warm and relatively comfortable, not sure what the exact temp was but I wore capri pants and short sleeves and was fine.

 

Naples was warm, my husband and I were comfortable but I think others in our group were hot. Again i had on capris and short sleeves.

 

Rome was cool and rainy and Florence was cold (felt like December or january in Florida) and rainy. I had to buy a sweatshirt to wear in Florence.

 

Villefranche was beautiful and comfortable.

 

I know you will enjoy your cruise! If you have Michael, Stefano or Laura tell them the southerners from Florida said hello! :D

 

Wednesday, thank you for the great review!

 

We are leaving this Sat. for the same exact cruise with the same exact tour companies at the ports.

 

It's great to hear that everything went well and that you loved your trip.

 

We're looking forward to having a fabulous vacation just like you apparently did!

 

What was the temperature range while you were there?

[wednesday]

I forgot to mention this but I had a real problem with swelling the whole trip. I NEVER EVER swell but something (I was told possibly the water on the ship) made my feet and everything else for that matter swell badly.:( It was so bad I can even tell by looking at the photos of myself. Just wanted to put that out there, I think next time I will make sure to get some sodium free bottled water.

[rrobynec]

What a beautiful town Villefranche is, we got off of the boat early and kind of roamed around.

Before I ask my questions--I would like to thank you for a wonderful review, esp the tip about Mt. Etna. I have been reading these boards religiously, since I discovered them a few weeks ago, and your mention of Mt. Etna is so far the only reference!:D

I do have a question for you, since you said you said you got off the boat early. I was reading on the Mediterrean boards that somebody on another cruise line (carnival maybe?) had to wait to tender until all of the ships excursions had tendered. Does NCL have the same restrictions? I was planning on doing Villefranche on my own too, but would hate to have only three hours there--I don't think I could visit Eze and Nice like I had planned in this amt of time:eek:.

Thanks again for a wonderful review!:D

[kodos]

Glad you had a good time too and I enjoyed talking to you at the meet and greet.

[rrobynec]

Sounds like you had a great time. I'm off for a week on the Gem w/c 27 July and really looking forward to it.................

Why haven't you joined our roll call northanstar? I'm hoping to have a meet and greet, but there haven't been many joining the roll call.....:confused:

Can't wait!!!!:D

[wednesday]

Hi

We had to wait about 20 minutes to board a tender, they fit us (there were about 20 people waiting that hadn't booked excursions) in with one of the excursion groups. I don't know if they do this every time or not.

 

Before I ask my questions--I would like to thank you for a wonderful review, esp the tip about Mt. Etna. I have been reading these boards religiously, since I discovered them a few weeks ago, and your mention of Mt. Etna is so far the only reference!:D

I do have a question for you, since you said you said you got off the boat early. I was reading on the Mediterrean boards that somebody on another cruise line (carnival maybe?) had to wait to tender until all of the ships excursions had tendered. Does NCL have the same restrictions? I was planning on doing Villefranche on my own too, but would hate to have only three hours there--I don't think I could visit Eze and Nice like I had planned in this amt of time:eek:.

Thanks again for a wonderful review!:D

[Mylisa]

Hey

In Malta it was warm and relatively comfortable, not sure what the exact temp was but I wore capri pants and short sleeves and was fine.

 

Naples was warm, my husband and I were comfortable but I think others in our group were hot. Again i had on capris and short sleeves.

 

Rome was cool and rainy and Florence was cold (felt like December or january in Florida) and rainy. I had to buy a sweatshirt to wear in Florence.

 

Villefranche was beautiful and comfortable.

 

I know you will enjoy your cruise! If you have Michael, Stefano or Laura tell them the southerners from Florida said hello! :D

 

Will do!

 

What were most people wearing to dinner?

[wednesday]

Will do!

 

What were most people wearing to dinner?

 

We never ate dinner in the Grand Pacific but everywhere else it was a mix of casual and the somewhat dressed up. I wore jeans and a nice shirt most nights. On the dress up or not night I noticed a lot more people dressed up.

[Deb635]

What time did you fly out of Barcelona? We are wondering if a 9:15 a.m. flight will be cutting it too close. We would like to go for a few day pre-cruise and then head home the day we get back to port. How did things go once you got back to Barcelona? Was it crazy getting off the ship for those who wanted to leave early?

[wednesday]

What time did you fly out of Barcelona? We are wondering if a 9:15 a.m. flight will be cutting it too close. We would like to go for a few day pre-cruise and then head home the day we get back to port. How did things go once you got back to Barcelona? Was it crazy getting off the ship for those who wanted to leave early?

 

Getting off of the ship was pretty easy, we carried our own luggage off so the night before we had to get a form for I think it is called express debarkation. my husband handled that so I don't remember. They will make announcements though. I don't know the earliest you can get off, we were off around 7:00 or 7:30am and on a Sunday morning it takes maybe 20 minutes to get to the airport. I think 9:15 is a little early to try and get out but if you are on an American carrier it might be okay. Most of the European carriers had enormous lines. Customs, immigration and security didn't take long at all for us. Our flight was at 12:15.

[gnial131]

What language are the announcements in on the Gem?

[Preds]

Sorry to get off-topic, but I have to ask,

 

To the original poster (Wednesday) - is that you in your avatar holding the Koala? If so can I ask where that was?

 

When we went Australia 5 years ago we visited the Cairns Tropical Zoo during the day and the Night Zoo in the evening. While there we were able to get pics holding the Koalas (among other animals).

 

The night zoo was a phenominal time. http://www.cairnsnightzoo.com/home.htm

 

To this day, that is still the favorite trip for all of us, especially our 2 sons who LOVED the night zoo. They constantly beg us to go back!