Seas2mountains

@BirdTravels Thank you for your very detailed and thorough review! I always appreciate the time you take to provide so much information about the ship and all venues. Do you have any insights or thoughts on how you are scoring a bottle of wine each day of your cruise? It looks like NCL appreciates you, too. I know this is not typical for most guests in Club Balcony Suites. Thank you! Enjoy your cruise!

Have a wonderful cruise! We love NCL and MSC YC. We have future cruises booked on both cruise lines. Thank you for doing a live review. I’m enjoying following along with you.

Wow. We did not have a fruit bowl in our suite on the Gem in March. How did you get the bottle of wine?

This was the same sparkling wine we were given on the Gem in March. We did not drink it.

We have been on two MSC cruises but both were in YC so I can’t comment on the dining experiences. I understand the MSC cruises in Europe may be very different than MSC cruises originating in US ports. Some differences may include later dining times, announcements made in several languages with English being last, and different foods being served. One thing we didn’t like on MSC was not knowing when lounge performers were scheduled. They gave a time range like 6:30pm-11:00pm. When we arrived at about 7:30pm, they might play for a few minutes and say they will be on a 15 minute break which was actually a 25-30 minute break. It was more difficult to get served drinks in the MSC lounges than we experienced on NCL. We really loved the YC experience on MSC and have future cruises booked.

We’ve been on many NCL cruises and have cruised on most of their ships and also have not experienced close tables.

I’m so glad you got a chance to try it and liked it! My husband does not typically drink gin but he had several gin drink with the ‘66 Gin by Norwegian on a cruise a few weeks ago. I thought it was really tasty, too.

Here’s a photo of the challenge coin and patch received on the Gem. While we are both military veterans and both are registered with NCL, as we kind of expected, we received one. It’s all fine as we have another cruise soon.

How did you like the Aviation? I forgot that was the other mostly gin based drink.

I liked the Basil Cucumber Twist or a simple Gin and Tonic or Gin and Club soda with extra limes

Here’s more info on that ‘66 Gin.

Thank you for taking the time to post this wonderful and entertaining review! If you like Gin and since you have P+, I recommend having them use Norwegian ‘66 Gin for your next Gin drink. My husband and I really liked the taste. It’s fairly new.

Wiki is not accurate. It was refurbished in 2021.

Thank you for taking the time to post an excellent and helpful review.

I still need to do the Ink 48 hotel update later this week.

We have been on MSC YC on Seaside (Feb. 2019) and Divina (Jan. 2023). On Seaside, there was a good duo that played in Top Sail who alternated with a pianist who we didn't care for as much as the duo. On Divina, the Top Sail entertainment barely existed as one pianist came in during dinner and sometimes came back for a second set but that was rare. We did not experience any DJ's in YC areas on either ship. I think there is pipped in music on the speakers in One Pool? I do agree with you that MSC YC can provide better value than the Haven which we also love. We do like paying one price for MSC YC and knowing it includes the Wifi for two devices, upgraded drinks and San Pellegrino, and the One Pool area with food and drink options is much better in our opinion that the Haven pool area. We experienced amazing service and food in Le Muse on MSC YC Divina but it was comparable to the Haven. We do have NCL and MSC YC cruises scheduled this year. But, we tend to enjoy the entertainment options on NCL much more than on MSC YC. On MSC, there is a younger crowd so if you leave the YC area, you have to deal with the masses and people who bump into you and don't say excuse me and more unattended or ignored children jumping on furniture in the common lounge areas when trying to enjoy music. The dailies on MSC listed the live music options as being a range of time like 6:30pm-11:00pm. When we would arrive at the lounge, the performers would start a few minutes after the top of the hour like 7:05 -7:10pm and then before 7:40pm they would stop and say they were going to take 15 minute break and would be back at the top of the hour. We would wait and observe that they came back a few minutes late and would start about 8:05pm-8:10pm and do the same thing at 8:40pm where they said they were taking a 15 minute break but that 15 minute break turned into a 25 minute break. We did not experience this same pattern on many NCL cruises. When waiting in those lounges on MSC, it was a longer wait for drinks than we experienced on NCL lounges. We even had a bit of wait in Top Sail in January but it may have been due to one staff member. Which MSC YC ships were you on and did they have more than just the pianists in Top Sail? We know Divina may have been limited for entertainment compared to the Seaxxxx ships or Meraviglia. We know DJs were by the common area pools on MSC but did not have any in Top Sail or One Pool.

Safe travels home! That’s great you were able to make the flight changes in the app. It seems that some travelers who use NCL air don’t even try to use the airline apps or make contact with the airline for requested changes. Instead, they complain about the bad flights on CC or social media. 🤣 I’ve not read your entire update as I was on the Gem during a chunk of it with bad wifi to CC, too. Sounds like you had a great time as usual! Did you miss the thermal spa?

The neat newer water fountain with music and video at LGA in terminal B food court.

Disembarkation was smooth and easy except for one person in port. We got off the ship a little before 8am and used the priority line. The concierge on the Gem, Leo, is a true professional and you will be lucky if he is in charge of anything on NCL as he was always available and engaged. He sometimes found us at dinner to follow-up. One person working to direct people in port tried to stop us from using the priority line and also tried stopping other Haven/Suite guests, too, but we insisted and he finally backed down and let us use it after showing our cards. We were in a taxi across from Pier 88 soon after and got to LGA about 9am as there was a lot of traffic. We were able to move our 2pm flight to one departing about 12 Noon. Overall, we had a fantastic cruise thanks to the wonderful crew working so hard. The Gem leadership impressed us as they did try to be visible and we know a great crew doesn’t exist if there aren’t great leaders involved. We think NCL is doing the right thing to eliminate the in-person muster drill as we found it did not add to understanding what to do in an emergency. Our next cruise is about two months away on the Escape with similar port stops but we are taking family with us. Honestly, we’d rather be on the Jewel in Alaska but family wanted beach related stops. Oh well. Thanks for coming along. It was fun to read comments.

Here are some final sunset photos from our last night and another treat photo.

NCL did a really nice job on our first cruise with the new military recognition. This was in our cabin when we embarked. We did not attend the military recognition reception but heard it was really nice and well attended.

Last dinner in Cagney’s. Delicious with excellent service as usual. Appetizers Oysters Rockefeller Shrimp Trio Entrees 5 ounce filet mignon with lobster tail Lamb with lobster tail Broccoli Mushrooms Onion Rings Spinach There were some issues connecting to Cruise Critic but not to other websites.

A funny situation. When we were docked in Tortola, we were walking on deck 7. I needed to use the restroom so I approached the nearest women’s restroom. A woman was standing outside the restroom and whispered and asked me not to enter. I asked why. She whispered that her husband was inside using the multi-stall restroom and I should use the handicapped restroom instead. I was intrigued as to why he was using the women’s restroom and asked her if the men’s restroom was being cleaned. He walked out and admitted that because they were late for an excursion, he was “too lazy” to walk down the hall to the available men’s restroom. So if you are feeling lazy or are in a hurry, grab the one you feel like using regardless of inconveniencing other guests.

Thank you so much! While I have not spoken to Paquito but did see him and did appreciate the cruise staff who did a great job with trivia and other events, here is a visual trivia photo of him for a bonus question. I’ll see if I can spot him tonight to say hello. What is the cruise position/role of the other person you asked about?