Laszlo

Ship safe power strip    https://amzn.to/4bSvFvR

Nice! What are you using? I use a GoPro with various mounts depending where on cabin is. I shoot in video mode, 4K one shot every two seconds

Have a great cruise, will be in Bermuda in 6 weeks

5 minutes ago, qky said:

Hi all,

 

When a port visit says 8 am to 6 pm, what time should you expect to actually be able to leave the ship?  I understand there are variables but I am looking for general/stereotypical times?

 

Thanks!

IF everything goes on time we have been off the ship or close to getting off at the set time. The ship also needs to be cleared, sometimes that is done in minutes, sometimes its lot of minutes 

26 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Ouch! Yet another reason to "Buy American"!😎

Just one more thing "America" doesn't make.... a 4 million dollar digital press.

5 minutes ago, disneynan said:

This is a bit of a budget trip for us so we are only going to use public transportation or the NCL ferry. Our first 2 days mirror yours....we are bringing snorkel gear with us as we are an hour's drive from Boston so can pack whatever we want 😉

Hope you have a wonderful trip and thanks for the advice. 

We bring our own gear also and drive to Boston from PA

Have a great time!

5 minutes ago, disneynan said:

That's great to hear. I was on the Pearl last fall which looks like a sister ship and thought it was wonderful. 

We plan to visit the St George's/Tobacco Bay area one day. Do the walk from Horseshoe to the other southern beaches another day and then just stick with Dockyard on our last day. 

Any "can't miss" recommendations?

The Gem and Pearl go hand and hand. Both Tobacco and Horseshoe are nice. The caves are cool, Gibbs lighthouse. We tend to skip those since we have been there before. For anyone going for the first time I highly recommend doing a 5 hour private island tour the first day, you really get to see a lot. Our plan this time around in Tobacco Bay the first day, HSB the second and they renting a boat for 6 hours from H20 Sports.... https://www.h2osportsbermuda.com

We have rented from them in the past. Its a great way to get off the beaten path. The are a 7 minute cab ride from the dockyard

21 minutes ago, disneynan said:

Thanks Laszio! I am on the June 14th sailing. We will be an extended family group of 15 ranging in age from 10-84, so excited!

Bermuda is great and very easy. No need for to use the ship excursions for going to the beach and some other things. We love the Gem, probably our favorite ship

2 minutes ago, disneynan said:

I'm sailing to Bermuda on the Gem in June and am planning some full days off the ship. Are we allowed to take water off the ship in open containers? I'm hoping to be able to take water bladder backpacks and some refillable Nalgene bottles with us since we'll be doing a lot of hiking.

Been there a number of times and never had issues taking off water. Took off a 32 ounce bottle in my back pack. When in June are you goin? My wife and I are on the June 28th sailing

17 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Do you really think she'll trust NCL now? 🤣

Come on now she'll be in the Haven. No crazies there except few nutty passengers Lol

Just now, BirdTravels said:

Nice deal in the 10's of millions. 

 

Don't talk to strangers. "Senior company executives traveled to Juneau to meet and help the passenger."

My bet is it will never happen, her medical bills and travel reimbursement will be fully covered. She will be offered a payout in the hundreds of thousands.... maybe a million along with sailing in the Haven once a year for the rest. Time will tell

3 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

So you say that problem exists for getting compensation from the Philippines, correct? I didn't consider that, I don't know much about international law. But seems like there will be a lot of litigation for the next year or so. I hope the woman recovers, medically and emotionally. I hope NCL will do the right thing.

 

 Doug

My company was in a law suit a number of years ago against a company based out of Spain. Long story short it was for a very expensive piece of equipment that failed. We were told by our lawyers and some others unless you are looking to recover 10 of millions of dollars and have many years to kill move on. Had this been a US based company it would have been "Easy" being based in another country makes it extremely difficult 

11 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

She will be sailing in the Haven for the rest of her life with all of the money she will make. Senior NCL management flying out to see her... trying to keep her from suing NCL. Several 10's of millions there. Sue the medical center (which is a contract business, not run by NCL). Sue the talent acquisition firm who resourced the crew member to NCL for failing to check him. Sue the individual for whatever insurance money he has. 

10's of millions??? A lot easier said then done. My guess is being 75 years old she will be offered nice a deal from NCL and she / her family will settle. 

Crazy stuff can happen anywhere. Hopefully everyone is OK at the end of the day. I wonder if the woman passenger will get a free cruise.

When we were last there 18 months ago the security line for the Haven was to the right as you look at the river. The actual Haven check in was all the way down near the end on the left side. Been to NYC a bunch of times and I swear each cruise things are moved around 

1 hour ago, Phalex said:

I wish there was more availability! We actually bit the bullet and upgraded to FF suite on 10. I didn't want to spend all this $$ for having to complain about not being able to get some shut-eye.

Nice, The Star is similar to the Gem.... What cabin did you get?

22 hours ago, Phalex said:

Hello,

 

New to cruising and my wife and I are diving in the deep end by taking a 16 night repositioning cruise on the Star next Spring. We wanted a suite and the only aft facing suites (which looked good to the price) left were on deck 8. Then I saw the Bliss lounge is right underneath on 7. Are we going to be kept awake until 2AM every night by the noise from below??

 

I saw some comments that this is a problem, but nothing recently (since the refitting in 2018). Should we try to move to another suite if possible?

 

Thanks!!

One thing I did not like about the aft suite on the Gem (twice) was the amount of soot and sometimes trash that would land on it. On our cruise to Bermuda the room steward was out there every morning washing the deck and chairs down. In June we are going to Bermuda in a forward suite this time

52 minutes ago, CruisnDeb said:

 

Having grown up in Maryland, I think we judge crab cakes differently then the rest of the population.  In Maryland you get mostly crab and other places you seem to get a lot of filler.  Just wondering if that was the case with Cagney's.  Sadly, I've learned to lower my expectations when I see crab cakes on any menu 😞 

There is nothing like crab cakes from Maryland and Lobster from Maine. Nothing else comes close

40 minutes ago, Damascus43 said:

I haven't checked a bag at an airport in the last 20 years and would rather not when I go on the Breakaway in September. My bag fits in the overhead on an airplane and fits through x-ray machines. Do I have to give it up at the terminal or can I bring it onboard with me?

My wife and I always bring a carry on and a small backpack, no issues at all

11 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Some insurance guy is reading this and licking their chops. 

 

Only have seen this a handful of times-- like Seabourn or SeaDream when they have private beach days. 

Yes, private beach days on their private beach. Not NCL lifeguards on a Bermuda beach. Do the NCL guards watch only the people from the ship? Do they watch Joe from Bermuda and his family? Dumb idea, be extra careful at Non guarded beaches just like I'm extra careful while renting a boat in Bermuda and swimming in the water knowing no guards are around to save me

It was terrible tragedy all around, the man who died lives very close to me 

On 4/21/2024 at 8:34 AM, outbackpaul said:

Agreed, if NCL has excursions there they should send or pay for lifeguards until the regular swimming season.

Take the guards from the ship and send them to the beach? Never going to happen

7 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

It's just that many posters forget about empathy. Someone might be in the wrong. They may have made a silly decision. Heck, they could have made absolutely every wrong move in the book. 85 isn't far off from my grandma's age. I imagine her in this situation and how this could impact her. I don't think I'd need to tell her she was wrong. Perhaps I could make some suggestions as to what she could do next time...but bottom line, there are a lot of posters lacking empathy about various happenings on these here boards. And, I'll admit, sometimes I spout off before having half a brain to consider the human element. 

It starts with the Captain. I went to the meet and greet on the GA during our 12 day cruise. The captain was there with a few officers. I remember someone asking about dock runners and time to be onboard etc... The Captain was very blunt and said when we have a port sail time of 5:00pm that means the gangways are pulled at 4:45 and the dock lines are let go between 4:55 and 4:59 and we sail at 5:00pm. He also went on to say something about how they are charged by the number of passenger and by time. If they are in port past their departure time NCL is charged X amount of thousands of dollar for every minute the ship is still there. I have no idea if this is true or not. He did also went on to say the will stay and wait for NCL sponsored excursions and will not stay for a private ones. Every Captain is different, this one was German and if anyone has every traveled in Germany you know the transportation system runs like clockwork

While the ship sailed away with Claudene’s medication, Richard’s eyeglasses and both their spare hearing aid batteries and phone chargers on board.

Their is a reason why I carry a small backpack with me whenever we do an excursion for the day.

Med's.... check

Sunglasses, eyeglass.... check

Hearing Aid batteries not needed

Phone charger.... check

12 hours ago, roddy good boy said:

I need to consider this for our Mediterranean cruise. My kids gifted me an Apple Watch this last Christmas. Not only am I still trying to figure the thing out, the notion of trying to insure it synch’s with the ship’s and local times is daunting! 

It's very easy. If Needed you can easily Manually change the time on your iPhone. Your watch will sync to the Phone in a second