MookieNJ

My wife and I returned today from our unexpected 11 day cruise on the Gem.  The captain and crew were wonderfully professional throughout the whole cruise, even more so over the last two days.  As stated previously, we received word on Sunday night that the ship would be arriving at 12:00 noon rather than 10:00am due to the forecast of strong winds.  Their original plan was to begin disembarkation around 2:00pm.  The staff distributed a new daily for Day 11 with morning activities planned.  They were playing a movie in the Stardust Theater, ran some game shows and activities,  and had Leo scheduled to sing at noon.  We headed down to the Atrium around 11:00am and it was absolutely packed.  The cruise director Claire was there and she looked concerned.  They got Leo up on stage shortly after 11:00am and he was playing songs that 99% of the crowd knew.  It seemed like he was trying to keep us happy and calm.  Unfortunately it was getting super claustrophobic in the public areas.  If I remember correctly, it was around 12:30pm that they announced that the weather forecast had worsened and that we could return to our staterooms to relax.  My wife and I felt very bad for our steward Armando, who had been amazing throughout the cruise.  He and his colleagues had just finished setting up all of the rooms on deck 11 for the new guests.  We dropped our bags off and went to have lunch.  They had switched the Garden Cafe over from breakfast to lunch, and O' Sheehan's transitioned from breakfast to lunch as well.  We went back to our cabin a little after 1:00pm.  Fortunately for the few hours around lunch time we were close enough to the city to have cell service.

Around 1:45pm they announced that we would be going back out to sea because it would be too unsafe for the guests, crew, and ship to attempt to dock with the strong winds.  The captain informed us that the new plan was to dock at 6:30am on Tuesday and begin disembarkation at 7:00am.  The only breakdown in communication at this point was that the newly updated afternoon/evening daily for Day 11 was only available in public areas from the crew.  My wife and I missed a few events in the afternoon that we would have otherwise done.  I'm not sure how difficult it would have been to have them distributed to the staterooms as well.  However, as previously stated, they reopened the entire ship on a regular schedule.  All of the bars, restaurants, and specialty restaurants were open like it was any other sea day.  The casino, shops, and thermal spa reopened.  The new "PBP" (Premium Beverage Package) continued for all guests.  On an aside, our keycards were stamped PBP and the embarkation staff did call it the Premium Beverage Package.  We confirmed with them that the benefits of the Ultimate Beverage Package and Premium Beverage Package were the same.  Back to Day 11 ... we were not charged tax on drinks as we were back in international waters.  They brought back one of the juggling acts to do a second show with new material.  Some of the bars and restaurants were beginning to run out of supplies, but just little things.  For example, my wife's caesar salad was made with iceberg lettuce, and they ran out of orange slices for drinks at O' Sheehan's.  Hardly an annoyance, but an interesting tidbit!  Everyone settled back in and seemed to enjoy the extra sea day.  My wife and I spent time reading before heading to the show, having dinner, and settling in to watch a couple of Leo's sets in the Atrium.  We did not receive a new bill based on the extra night, so no extra gratuities or daily charges.

Disembarkation today was a breeze.  With an early start at 7:00am, it seemed to be a lot easier to spread everyone out and get us off the ship rather quickly.  As we were leaving, we noticed what appeared to be a lot of luggage covered by some impromptu fencing.  We figured it might be the luggage of those who arrived on Monday for their scheduled cruise.  I would think it would have been extremely difficult to get back the checked luggage to everyone who had already dropped it off.

All in all it was not an ideal situation, but hats off to the captain, crew, and guests for making the best of it!  Bad weather happens, and I'm very happy that they chose to put safety ahead of everything else.