JennieCoconut

I am so sorry to hear about your injury. I had a trimallelor fx and dislocation 7 years ago. Your pictures brought back awful memories of an ankle that didn’t look like it belonged on my leg. Take it easy!!!

Love reading your reviews! 🤗

Tuscan is great! We dined there last year and could only get a late reservation at 8pm. It was pretty much empty so not sure why we couldn't get in earlier. We have booked it for the first night this August.  The lobster rigatoni is delicious. I always get the filet with gorgonzola sauce. And burrata as an app. Can you tell I'm a cheese lover!? 

I got hosed at the spa on the Gem during my honeymoon. It was an 11 night and my gel nail polish had already chipped. I checked out their menu and decided I would spend the $50 for a gel manicure.  Well, when I was done, the charge was $90!! They had charged me for a special "fire and ice" manicure with the gel polish on top of that. I fought with them and they said that I never said anything during the service. How was I supposed to know what they did wasn't their standard overpriced manicure? My husband ended up going in and fighting with the spa manager about it. We got a refund but from now on, I will stay away! 

I was on the Gem in October and they had paper straws. I got one with every drink I had in all venues! 

I just got upgraded for our past cruise in October.  We got notified on Thursday around 1pm for a Sunday sailing. I was waiting for the rejection email and was happily surprised to see we got awarded our bid so late in the game! Good luck!

I haven't been on the escape, but NCL is mine and my husband's go to cruise line. We have sailed the Summit twice with my parents, who only sail Celebrity.  Summit is a nice ship and is due for a major overhaul in March so you'd have new everything in the summer, which is nice. We find the food on Celebrity to be waaaay better than on NCL. Our last NCL cruise, the buffet was inedible for lunch.  Specialty restaurants were good, but Celebrity has great food in the free venues.  NCL has O'Sheehan's for some late night food after many cocktails, where Celebrity does not.  The crowd is a lot older on Celebrity though. There is much more of a nightlife on NCL and more of a fun atmosphere. So we love Celebrity for our family trips but when we go solo, prefer NCL. 

We just got back from the Gem and we bought fans. We got small collapsible ones that are battery operated. We had them in our checked luggage. Was totally fine on NCL, Celebrity and we flew with them as well. 

On 11/6/2018 at 11:02 PM, CruiseGal999 said:

For entertainment ... Must see Justin Golan's shows. He is SO talented, funny and involves the audience.  I haven't laughed that hard in ages.   He also has a show in NY in December, 2018. 

 

 

We just off the Gem with Justin. He was fantastic. So funny!!!! 

Wow, we got our upgrade! Thought for sure we were getting the decline email today at 3pm for our Gem sailing on Saturday. We went from OG Porthole oceanview to BA Mid Ship Balcony. Bid $155 per person. Was in the fair range. Can't wait! 

This is the first thread I check everyday. I see some upgrades were awarded for October 27, but not for the Gem that I've seen. Last year we got our upgrade 24 days out so I was really hoping to have that again and find out yesterday. Waiting really is the worst part! ;p

My husband went super slow on it and I flew right down. We went again, this time changing sides and the same thing happened. Maybe as PP said, skin to slide is best!

All of our perks transferred to our new room last year when we were awarded the upgrade.

Did I read somewhere they are changing the menus on NCL soon?

Gem is great! We sailed last year for our honeymoon. I love the layout of the ship. Those big mega ships don't appeal to me since I have a metal ankle. We are sailing on her again this October. We always found plenty to do and found the food to be great. We get the UBP and SDP as our perks. This time we are going to skip Moderno and Teppanyaki to do Le Bistro and go to Cagney's twice! Our favorite spot in the evenings before dinner was the sugarcane bar (in Moderno's). It was rarely crowded and the bartender there last year was fantastic! O'Sheehan's is also a fun place to get drinks in the evening!

I was on your cruise and ended up chatting with you after I gave you a Waldo shout out in the Martini bar area. We were the ones who won the newlywed game!

We got a small credit back from NCL for the cruise getting cut short. I called early this summer to find out what the time frame was on it and the man told me we had to sail THIS YEAR so we are booked on the Gem again on Oct 27th going to Bahamas for our one year. They sure don't give you time to use that credit!

I bid on just a mini and got the spa!

Bummer. It doesn't look like they even have spa suites on my ship. :(

I just checked the price of our trip in October on the Gem. Since we booked, the price for our catagory (OG) has gone up $700!

Congrats OP!

Question, I just put in a bid today (80 days out). If you bid on a mini suite, is that seperate from a spa mini? What's the difference exactly? Can I just get awarded a spa suite? Do all boats have them? I'll be on the Gem. I didn't even know about them and I love anything spa related so this got my interest!

Spirit is awful! I flew down to Atlantic City (near my parents) a few years ago. After delaying my flight home a few times, they cancelled it outright. No other flights for 24 hours so I had to miss a day of work. Not weather related either.

October 31, 2017 Gem 11 night S. Caribbean, which I jokingly refer to as the ill fated Halloween cruise. Booked a category IX last minute (no single supplement at all) for $429.

 

I was ready to go home after 10 days, so I didn't view flying home from Barbados as that bad. I managed to get to the Airport very early, and was checked in before the computers crashed!

That was my HONEYMOON. Talk about ill fated! lol.

We are using the credit they gave us to have a "redo" first anniversary to the Bahamas. After the credit, drink and dinner package gratuities and all the taxes, we are doing 7 nights for 1200 total. Not THAT great but didn't want to waste that $800 NCL gave us.

Thank you so much! I must have missed that. I saw that a beach day was part of their add ons so I assumed it was more money. I'm very excited, glad you enjoyed it!

If you want to know if it is one of the cruises with the "Past Guest Offer" you should be able to look up your sailing on the NCL web site and it should show up along with the other promos available with that sailing, like "Free At Sea" and "Free Onboard Spend". If you are in a suite or above (not mini-suite) you should receive an extra point per night as well. Finally, if you booked the cruise more than 9 months out prior to February 2017, you should also still receive on extra point per night, grandfathered in from the previous Latitudes rules.

Thank you! It will be double points with the past guest offer, woo hoo ;p

Hello!

My husband and I will be heading to the Bahamas in October aboard the Gem. We sailed her last year for our honeymoon to the Caribbean. We had planned to do the sea lion swim in St. Thomas but our itinerary changed due to all the hurricane damage. I was super stoked to see that Nassau has a sea lion excursion as well! It's at the Blue Lagoon Island. I looked on my NCL and I don't see that as an excursion. Has anyone done this that can give some feedback? From looking at their direct site, it doesn't look like you have access to the beach afterwards (although I could be misreading it). I was hoping NCL did it as an excursion for the added insurance of getting back to the boat. Could that excursion maybe be added later? Thanks for any help!

How do I find out if the cruise I'm booked on is going to give me double pts?

I've been to Bermuda probably eight times. I love it. I usually rent a moped. It's such a great way to see the island! It takes some getting used to, as they drive on the opposite side of the road, have lots of roundabouts and tons of buses! We always go to Horseshoe Bay but walk all the way to the left when we get there, through the little cove. It's virtually deserted over there! I've done Harbor Nights before. It was fine but I don't feel the need to go again.