earlbird

Does anyone have a Norwegian Gem Pin they would be willing to part with?

 

I was SO disappointed to find them discontinued!

 

As you can see in my countdown clock, it was one of the reasons I picked this last cruise :(

 

I have posted this request under the Memorabilia Section also but wanted to try here.

 

I won't be able to continue my quest on new ships but it is especially disappointing to have sailed the Gem just after they were gone.

I believe that I have a couple from the Gem around here somewhere.

You are welcome to one.

We're from Ottawa and do the same thing. Although pier parking is "expensive" that plus a hotel about an hour from Manhattan will be less then the cost of one airfare.

Manhattan Cruise Terminal website has a 25% off parking coupon - that will save you a few bucks.

We have cruised on the Gem five times since 2014, and I agree with all of the previous responses.

Tendering to Great Stirrup Cay on the Gem in July was a nightmare.

It is a wonder that someone was not seriously injured. There was no organization, no direction, and no crowd control. People were lined up on the stairs, were pushing and shoving, and they continued calling tender numbers, even though they were way backed up. I would never tender on the Gem again!

Traveler's Checks through AAA. They are free, compact, insured, and cashable in the casino. You can get $500 denominations. I have found this is the easiest way to go.

Computer Nerd....I am happy for you...You made a decision that makes you "relieved" and ultimately happy....that is a very good thing...

We all should do what we think is best for us.

 

My DH and I (Platiunum) have been sailing NCL for a few years..lately only in suites. We are probably not sailing again anytime soon unless NCL shows in their pricing and amenities that we are valued customers.

I say "we"...as I have one solo (CAS) cruise coming up..and that too will probably be the last for me...since CAS has also changed so much that I really do not get much benefit from them..

 

Good luck and happy traveling...whatever you choose in the future :)

JAJA - I totally agree with you. Our last six cruises (out of 35) have been with NCL. However, I do believe that we will also be saying goodbye to Norwegian.

Their CAS program has drastically changed, and does not reward you like they used to.

Good luck Computer Nerd. It looks like you will not be alone.

Mine are also off by 30 minutes.

For menus and other information about the Gem try:

http://www.beyondships.com

Then Norwegian Gem

Then Menus.

"Then again, I live in a crowed area and know how to move quickly."

Those crows will certainly get you moving.

Before buying luggage tag holders, I printed the tags on cut manila folders - much more durable.

we're driving so not worried about hauling luggage through airports, etc. We'll have extra room in our larger of two bags (i know because we're already packed!!!). I'm thinking about throwing in some extra hangers. Needed? What would you bring?

me!

Port.

We were on the Gem's Feb. 21 sailing. I do not recall the CD's name - only that he was the least visible I ever experienced. A brief announcement before and after each show was all we heard of him. I couldn't help thinking that perhaps he had another job on the ship - which gave him a few minutes off each evening to play CD.

Agree - on our Feb. 1 cruise I wouldn't have recognized him if we came face to face. Certainly not like Dan Dan.

Yes they do,. When we were on the Pride of America in 2014, the crew was great.

Has anyone received any type of response from NCL regarding their complaint concerning the Gem cruise on 01/22/2016. We have emailed, filled out their email post cruise survey, and mailed letters regarding how they failed to even try to control the behavior of the group of rude, vulgar, obnoxious, and disrespectful passengers on board and have heard nothing back yet. This group ruined our on-board experience on this cruise. NCL has got be aware of the problems this group caused! There had to be many complaints filed.

 

We (6 of us) are booked on the Epic next January. Should NCL choose not to address this issue in a substantial way, we will have to decide if we will cancel our upcoming cruise and break ties with NCL.

 

 

Norwegian Spirit June 10, 2007 6-Day Bahamas & Florida

Norwegian Dawn December 04, 2009 9-Day Southern Caribbean

Pride of America February 11, 2012 7-Day Hawaii Inter-Island

Norwegian Dawn January 20, 2013 7-Day Western Caribbean

Norwegian Gem January 22, 2016 10-Day Eastern Caribbean

Try contacting Viviana Mantilla - vmantilla@ncl.com.

She is a Guest Relation Coordinator.

We are a retired couple in our 60s. Our Sail dates were February 1 thru February 11, 2016. Traveled from Boston to NY on Amtrak the day before the cruise. We stayed at Doubletree Suites in Times Square and highly recommend this hotel for its proximity to the cruise terminal. We could see the ship from the window in our room. Lauren, the concierge was very friendly and very helpful.

 

Traveled to the port from the hotel via taxi. The route the driver took caused us to get backed up at a traffic light which would only let 3 cars through the turn to the cruise terminal at a time.

 

Once at the terminal check-in and boarding were swift and painless. We had booked through Casinos at Sea and therefore were among the first to board after Haven, suites and special needs passengers.

 

This was our first cruise on the Gem so I cannot comment on the changes made during dry dock. We have previously cruised on Norwegian Majesty, Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian getaway in ocean view, balcony and inside cabins.

 

Once on the ship, we ate lunch in the main dining room (Grand Pacific). Lunch was very good and service was quick. We then dropped our carry-on luggage in our room. We had a mid-ship mini suite #11054.

 

The room was a nice size with a balcony big enough for 2 chairs and a small table with room to spare. We did not like the tub/shower in the bathroom. We felt the side was too high and made entry and exit into the tub/shower difficult. The room had ample storage. The closet doors are a little awkwardly placed with not a lot of room on that side of the bed. The bed was comfortable. We did not experience any noise from the floor above. Did hear the ship creaking and closet hangers clanging together during rough seas. TV had limited stations. Our room attendant, Elme, was excellent. She kept the room immaculate, was very friendly and responded to all of our requests in a timely fashion.

 

The ship was very clean, the staff was for the most part friendly, polite and responsive.

 

There were lots of public areas and quiet places on the ship. We are not pool people so did not hang out much in that area.

 

The atrium is a small area and was often too congested. When movies were playing it was difficult to converse, hear or be heard at the guest services area because the movie volume was so loud. Even walking through that area, the volume was too loud.

 

We loved the spa and used it frequently.

 

Dining: We felt the food was hit or miss. The food in the Garden Buffet was repetitive, sometimes the coffee machines were not working. I did love the crepes which were offered nightly. Tea selection was limited (I recommend looking for the pure black tea bags in the total lime green package as I do not like flavored teas and find Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea too weak). Seating in the garden buffet is extremely limited at peak times. There is a long walk to some of the seating and we felt that the amount of food stations in the buffet area were fewer than on the Dawn which is actually a smaller ship. The great outdoors was a nice area to sit and eat on good weather days. Overflow seating was sometimes available at breakfast in La Cucina which is a long walk from the buffet stations.

 

Some days there was a complimentary lunch special of soup salad and sandwiches offered in Moderno (listen for the PA announcement). This was a nice quiet alternative to the buffet and less formal than the main dining room.

 

We ate 6 nights out of ten at Magenta which is the smaller complimentary main dining room. We chose this because the Grand Pacific has a dress code requiring collared shirts and no shorts for men.

 

While most nights the food was tasty, the portions were small. For example if the dish said it came with broccoli, there was a very small single broccoli floret on the plate. The dining room seemed to be severely understaffed and the staff while friendly and trying to be as accommodating as possible were many times clearly overwhelmed. My DH felt that both in the buffet and main dining room the food quality had diminished from previous cruises to an almost fast food quality.

 

We had dinner 3 nights in specialty restaurants.

 

Cagneys: The only place on the ship that has Shrimp cocktail on the menu each night. The foodservice were good but not great. The raspberry crème broulet was soupy and tasted terrible.

 

La Cuccina: Osso Bucco was excellent. Chicken Parmesan was OK.

 

Le Bistro: This was my favorite meal on the cruise. Onion soup was good. The filet was excellent and the crème broulet was divine. DH had the duck which he said was good.

 

We had lunch at O'Sheehans once. The place was deserted. I had a salad and it was more of a side salad than and actual meal sized salad. DH had a corned beef sandwich which was very dry and came without any condiments.

 

Entertainment was varied: Leo in Magnums was very talented, we saw one production show which was very good. Saw Tenors of Rock which was excellent. The bands that performed at varied locations around the ship were all good.

 

The casino: Although we did not win on this cruise, we felt that the casino staff were excellent. Especially Jay the bartender in the casino. Dealers Jesse and Jose. The pit bosses were some of the friendliest I've ever seen.

 

We had been to all of the ports before. On this cruise we did 2 shore excursions:

 

Segway on the Boardwalk in St. Maarten. This was fun and a good value for the money.

 

Escape to Jost Van Dyke in Tortola. This was a very good excursion. My DH was a little disappointed in the breakfast service info. It does say the you can purchase breakfast and when we arrived at the Soggy dollar bar at about 8:00 AM he went to the small covered seating area and asked when they served breakfast, he was told that they would start serving breakfast at 9:00 AM. At 9:00 AM we went to the covered seating area and were denied seating. The covered service area is reserved for their hotel guests. You can order breakfast but it is served in take-out boxes, you have to eat on the beach or at a couple of outdoor picnic tables if available. If this had been more clearly stated in the shore excursion description or if communication had been clearer when he first inquired about breakfast he would have been better prepared. We did get breakfast and it was good. The staff of the Rebel Yell were informative and friendly. Overall we felt the excursion was worth the money.

 

We had great weather and relatively calm seas sailing out of NY and down to all the ports of call. Sailing back to NY we had moderately rough seas some people were sick. Luckily neither DH nor I have ever gotten seasick.

 

Due to severe winds sailing back to NY we did not arrive back at port until almost 9:00 AM.

 

This caused the whole disembarkation process to be delayed. For those doing easy walk-off with all of their luggage it was simple and easy. For the rest of us it was not. There was no clear indication of what we should do. No announcements were made as to whether we should stay in our cabins (some stewards told people they had to leave their cabins, others said they could stay until their color was called). No announcements were made as to where people could wait if they did leave their cabins. The only announcements that we heard were not to congregate in public areas and not to get in line until your color tag was called. We had priority debarkation tags (yellow) which was the first color called after easy walk-off and we could not get our luggage until 11:00 AM.

 

In summary, this was a very good cruise. Felt that the biggest pluses were the cleanliness of the ship and the hard working staff who did their best to make the cruise as enjoyable as possible. None of the items mentioned in this review would keep us from cruising with Norwegian or on the Gem again. 

We were also on the February 1 sailing. We were practically neighbors, as we were in 11060, and last year we had 11054.

I totally agree with your "hit or miss" comment regarding the food. Also, one night in Cagneys the service was excellent, and another night it was terrible.

LeBistro did have great onion soup. This was our favorite restaurant.

Very interesting that some nights the so called "dress code" was enforced and other times it was not.

We felt that the Gem has gone downhill from our two cruise on this ship last year - not major things, but a compilation of many minor items (which all add up). Several other passengers who had previously sailed on the Gem also stated the same thing.

Good luck in making early flights.

We got off at noon yesterday!! Worst disembarkation ever.

Just some first impressions on our 8th voyage on the Gem.

 

We have always stayed in The Haven and we couldn't ask for anything better.

 

Or so we thought.

 

We have the dining and beverage packages.

 

Want a drink before sail away? You have to pay .84 cents tax for being in port.

 

Drink prices have gone up: $12.10 for a gin & tonic, $12.25 for a glass of wine.

 

Wow. Happy they added the beverage package to our booking for the Haven.

 

They took the DVD players out of the cabins so we can't use the disks we brought.

 

We've been told tonight, our first first night that if we don't figure out our dinner reservations for the entire voyage, we probably won't get into the specialty restaurants. It's February 11 and no room left in any restaurant for Valentines Day.

This has never been the case on any voyage in the past.

We just decided in the morning where we wanted dinner, called the concierge, and bingo, we had a reservation.

Not now.

We've been told by our concierge, Francesco, that over 500 dining packages have been sold and the restaurants are almost fully booked.

***?

 

There seems to be a big difference on this ship since we last sailed last February.....and it's not the nice new carpeting or furniture. We're getting the strong impression that cuts in staffing and increased prices are the new normal.

 

What is happening with NCL?

 

More later.

YES, there is a big difference on this ship since our two sailings last year.

Having just returned yesterday, I can attest to that. Cuts in staff, a lot of new staff (particularly in the casino), increased prices, and the more than usual yearly cutbacks in several areas are very noticeable. You will see more as the week goes on.

As a poster indicated a few weeks ago, "There is something missing on the Gem."

We are definitely rethinking as to our sailing with NCL in the future.

Check the manhattan cruise terminal website. Sometimes they have coupons to save on parking rates. We found one for our cruise last year and saved $80.

We have used the 25% off coupons the past couple of years, but no coupons seem to be available now.

New member here and this was my first cruise. We live in upstate Ny and did not want to fly so the NCL gem seemed perfect. Getting on the ship wasn't to bad of a wait. Once on the ship forget about getting any food. We could not find a seat anywhere in the "cafeteria" ( the same food quality as a high school cafeteria). Finally after the safety meeting we had to go to we found a seat at osheenas pub on the ship. Just when I thought the garden cafes food was bad we tried osheenas food and it was equally terrible. On top of the terrible food the service was just as bad. In the 7 or 8 times we ate there not 1 time was our order correct. Also the grille at the Tahitian bar was not open for the entire cruise. Food on the ship gets a 1 outta 5 stars only because the orchid gardens food was decent. We brought our 2 yr old daughter with us on the cruise and of course why would the nice slide going to the pool work? So now on of the main things for her to enjoy is no longer working. Now back to the food. On day 6 me and my brother in law both got sick from the undercooked chicken grilled by the pool. We both threw up during the night and felt better by morning. I can say I did not gain any weight on this cruise because the food was out of my system within a few mins after every meal. After thr food sickness I could not eat anymore meat on this ship the last 4 days. The thought of it made me sick and I love eating grilled food. So I managed eating pasta and pizza the remainder of cruise. I can only hope not all cruises are like this. I will never return on a NCL ship after this cruise. We may have to drive to Baltimore and try a Royal carribean next time. I give this cruise a .5 outta 5 stars. The reason for the half star is because the ultimate beverage package was a great bargin. Also our room cleaning guy was great as well and very friendly. Ship was very clean also.

Glad you enjoyed the Ultimate Beverage Package.

I will be getting off as you will be getting on. I'm 30 year old and a strong kid at heart but the slide won't make or break anything. The ship and its crew make the Gem vacation something special every time.

Definitely agree. Our upcoming cruise will be the fifth on the Gem, and of our 33 cruises, the Gem is our favorite.

I have always brought Travelers Checks in the past to use in the casino.

I assume that this is still acceptable? It eliminates bringing cash and the 3% fee.

The metagame of comparing the slide not running to war crimes is becoming a favorite past time of regular posters on this board.

 

But that ship graveyard in Bangladesh really is a sight to behold.

Really? The slide is not running!

The Gem has become the worst ship on any cruise line.

 

A floating monstrosity of depression and sadness.

 

It needs to be scrapped and left in that ship graveyard in Bangladesh for the scavengers to pick apart.

Interesting, because in your February 2015 review, you stated that you loved the Gem (except for the coffee) and, "It was the best family vacation we have had".

What made you change your mind?

HA!! ;)

 

We're also on the February 1 sailing of the Gem, I suppose we'll all somehow manage without the water slide. :rolleyes:

See you in 25 days - slide or no slide.