WishIwerethere

2 things.

We were on that cruise and I do not recall the slide working AT ALL during ANY part of the cruise.

And yes, some passengers especially children were unruly, and unsupervised.

A black eye for this particular group of people.

We were on the 1/22 Gem cruise. 26 foot waves 60 mph wind.

It wasn't terrible, but not a picnic. I can't imagine what the people on Anthem went through.

Sounds like somebody made a mistake.

4 days Gem. WooHoo:)

49 days - first time on Norwegian. Woot ! Jan 22

Thanks everybody. See some of you there. :)

Right across the Caloosahatchee Don. Enjoy the cruise.

 

And yes, you're crazy to fly from Florida to NY to get on a cruise, but have a great time anyway! :)

Yes but I get to fly back when im done.

WOW ! You folks on the NCL boards are real friendly. :cool:

Wow, where are all the Gem cruisers today ?

Anybody ?

OK so my friend in NY calls and says, I'm booked Jan 22nd. 10 night on Gem.

I live in Florida (I know crazy to fly to NY to cruise), so I said ah, why not. Sailed many times on Royal and a few on Carnival.

So what's in store for us on Gem? I heard just refurbished. What are the highlights and must see and do on this ship. What are the hidden secrets to look for, and any other advice to get most out of this sailing.

Oh and thank you very much.

Can of worms is right. Hey but how much more room does something other than a "nice tee shirt" take up ? Or how much more room does the remainder of pants legs as opposed to shorts take up ? Granted you won't need a suit but what is a nice tee shirt anyhow ? No curse words? No scantily clad women? No rips or stains or is it the nice t shirt because it has sleeves ?

I've heard that the difference was caused by differences in temperature when measurements were taken.

Cold water does cause shrinkage :eek:

I don't care what most people wear in the dining room, but we were on a cruise when a probably a 45 + yr. old male came to our table wearing the same swim trunks and tank top that we had seen him wearing earlier in the day in the swimming pool and later playing ping pong and dripping in sweat. Image our shock when he and his wife joined us at our dinner table wearing the same clothes he had warn all day. His wife was dressed just a little bit better. They were that way the first & 2nd. night. Some one must have said something to them because after that they were a little better the rest of the cruise.

Is a black bathing suit OK on formal night ?

I think a young one that age is dressed fine for MDR. As someone said, conduct is more important than dress for one that age.

The sun is what fades my suits.....I have several with a "charm" than hangs from the waistband....the suit fades, but under the charm (kind of a dangly round thing), it's the original color. Got to be the sun. If it was the water, underneath the charm, it would be faded, too. But, it's not!

 

Yes...they do put chemicals in the pools...whether they are salt water or chlorinated fresh....

Maybe a combo of the 2..... Lots of chemicals then go lay in the sun to activate all those chemicals and fade away.

I saw one group on our recent Vision cruise spend about 2 hours in the hot tub. Enough time to fade a rubber tire.

I just take mine off. :eek: And then the sun won't fade it either.

You would need to have your swimsuit in the sun for more than one week to fade it that much.

I wasn't expecting that ending.:)

Me either but since they probably make so much from other people who never check, it was no skin off their teeth.

I mentioned that last week. I know they're adding new restaurants. Our Freedom MDR waiter told us they're taking away one level of the MDR. Take that for what it's worth.

I don't doubt it. They are really pushing the alternate (more money) dining options.

Great place to stare over the side and watch the flying fish soar in front of the ship

I think Vision will impress for a first cruise. Entertainment and food are excellent.

I do agree freedom class will be a wow !

The most recent Vision review in this forum indicates bar and wait staff service was excellent. I'm thinking RCI read some of the feedback and read the riot act to staff. Wish it had happened before we sailed.

We are sailing to Bermuda on the Vision on September 1st and are really looking forward to it.

 

 

The Itinerary is great and we have never been to Bermuda. Judith has never been to Nassau so that will be a first for her.

 

Being smaller and older than the Oasis and Allure, the Vision doesn't have all of the nifty big activity, entertainment, dining, and bar options.

 

The Vision is for cruisers who know how to make friends, have fun, and entertain themselves.

I don't want the mega ship big activity, and we did make several new friends, we had a very good time, especially RCL sponsored excursion..

Just sayin the service was not what Royal had given us before. What are people saying that is "ridiculous" ?

Maybe the OP's title which included "bad ship" was not the best way to phrase it, but I haven't really seen any recent posts saying its a bad ship.

Tell the O.P. What your favorite part of the ship or service is that makes it a good ship and then they can take good comments and compare with the other comments.

Don't hold your breath waiting. They had both our e-mail addresses. Neither of us ever received it. (BTW, I watched my junk mail file closely, and it didn't end up there either.)

Me too. After my third email they sent me this link... http://www.royalcaribbean.com/esurvey

Rah Rah ! Nah !

Hey I don't recall anybody saying it was a dirty filthy ship but just people saying bad bar service, and some staff issues and my observation that it is not what I think Royal stands for, or least what they used to stand for. I didn't have a bad time, any cruise is a good time.

Sorry but this is incorrect...RCI has what they call "Tea Time" in the WJ on all ships from 3:30-5:00pm daily...Great selection of food/snacks with my favorite being scones and bread pudding.

But it's not a ""special" tea time like Carnival ships have. A special area set aside in the MDR for a "high tea" service.

We really enjoyed this on Carnival.

We cruised on Vision of the Seas June 9 to 19 Bermuda cruise. It was not perfect but far ahead of the Celebrity cruise on Constellation we took in December.

 

The Vision cruise met our expectations. We don't understand how a cruise can get such negatives when the ship was beautiful, very clean, had abundant selection of foods, good service, and delivered us to the ports we expected.

 

Just wondering if others are surprised at the negatives reviews.

 

We ate, we drank, we had entertainment, the cabin was spotless, the bed was comfortable, the bathroom fixtures were like new.

 

We have good thoughts about the time aboard chatting with new friends at lunch, in the lounges, and around the pools. There was less smoke than we encountered on the Celebrity ship. DH won money in the casino one day when it wasn't busy and he noted little smoke.

 

I write because many are booked on future cruises on Vision and wish to say there are many positives to meet your expectations.

 

Did not meet our expectation of what Royal Caribbean normally provides. Yes we got food that was good (not great). Shows were good - no issues there.

Windjammer service was very good - maybe overstaffed. Hard to find snacks at times. Impossible to get good wait service at bars. R bar was the exception.

The ship looked good but not great ! I didn't expect new but it was a small older ship with some apparent staffing problems.

I don't like the mega ships and now I don't like the small ships.