ggTexasGal

Perhaps I should explain our aversions to "Dinner with Officers"... DH spent (too many) years in the US Army (long story) as a Sergeant Major/Command Sergeant Major. Which means we went to MANY "formal dinners" with Generals!

We had a great time in Bermuda and Bar Harbor! Bar Harbor is a somewhat "quirky little tourist town"! Happily, the US is filled with charming and quirky towns.😍 We're not writing-off NCL! We currently have several future cruises booked. I just wish that a few things had gone more smoothly. What I had not posted previously: We were both very upset/stressed because DH's phone was lost or stolen the last day at Bermuda. I imagine that had a HUGE effect on my overall outlook. Yesterday we got a replacement phone and HUGE sighs of relief!

It was somewhat of a surprise show for me. I like Whitney Houston's music and found the method of delivery interesting. My husband just wanted to get out of the theater. (That probably was more because a couple nearby arguing than about the show).😒

No lunch consumed in Bar Harbor! We have not had dinner with officers for many years. Yes, we did send laundry on two separate days. Both came back nicely folded and wrapped in clean white tissue paper in a wicker basket! We love that Latitudes perk for free laundry!!!

New review, just posted...

In February, DH decided “I want to go to Bermuda, again.” He booked the Norwegian Gem, from Boston, May 31 through June 7. We have traveled from Boston to Bermuda previously, once on Gem, and twice on Dawn. It has been six years since our previous cruise from Boston to Bermuda. Happily, we are comfortable with the ship and the itinerary. In fact, we excitedly looked forward to cruising on the Gem again! He selected an Oceanview room (Forward/Port). Because the booking date was already within the 120 days until embarkation, NCL required Payment in Full. We had no problems completing the reservation quickly with our PCC. We booked flights to/from Boston via SWA. We also booked our stay (near the port) at Homewood Suites Seaport. The only truly foreseeable hick-up in our plans was the scheduled visit to Bar Harbor, Maine. We knew that NCL (at any time) might cancel that port stop ... Que sera, sera! … February to May felt like an extremely LONG time for our IAH to BOS and to NCL Gem travels to begin! In the meantime, we celebrated two anniversaries, one baby shower, seven birthdays, one engagement, and Mother’s Day! And a huge number of very bad storms that created mayhem across the states!!! On day 21 prior to the cruise, we made certain that we completed our port check-in. “Cruise Bug” really hit around 4 days prior to our trip. Translated, that means we packed our luggage and printed our luggage tags. (The Gem tags are GREEN!) May 30th finally arrived with an early morning hustle and bustle for us to get to the airport in a timely manner for our early morning SWA flight. … Our SWA flights were on time from IAH to BNA to BOS. Once off the flight we headed to the Silver Line (SL1), traveling from Terminal C to Congress St @ World Trade Center and walked to the Hampton/Homewood Suites Seaport (they are in the same building!) For us, it was an easy walk, since we each had only 2 small pieces of luggage. The hotel is nice, the room had a decent view of the city. From the hotel it is an easy walk to find plenty of selection of food and beverages. (DH logged 10,540 steps this day.) … Early on Friday morning, we walked from the hotel to the cruise terminal. Again, we were very glad that we had small suitcases, since many people were struggling to deal with their larger luggage. The lines were already beginning to build-up for embarkation. Getting into the correct line can get confusing while the previous cruisers are still being disembarked. However, since we had been there before we knew to head to the escalator area. Around 10am the congestion had grown enough that they decided to allow us into the terminal area. As usual, only if you are in a HAVEN or SUITE, will they recognize any “status” you have. Once inside the terminal, it was still a bit more obvious, yet not all the workers are familiar with Latitudes “status”. We gave up trying to explain that Ambassador and Diamond are significantly higher status than Platinum! (Apparently, it is not important to NCL to fix.) (DH logged 10540 steps this day.) … Once onboard, we went to our Muster Station, which was outside on deck 7. They repeated information from the Muster Drill video (which, pre-cruise, we were reminded six times to watch. (that number is down from 15 - 16 on some previous NCL cruises!) We then visited the Latitudes desk. We decided against going to “Wines around the World,” and going on the ship tour. We did not purchase Cruise Next. Next, we headed to O’Sheehans for lunch. Despite what seemed like mayhem, our food was delivered quickly enough, and was hot and fresh. The rest of the afternoon was a blur for me due to adult beverage consumption! We went to Cagney’s for dinner. I asked for my Petite Fillet to be unseasoned and medium well done …it was excellent!!! DH enjoyed a medium Ribeye. Our salads and the sides were good. We skipped dessert! We went to the theater for the Tom Franek Show. He is extremely talented and very humorous! We enjoyed his performance enough to go to two more of his evenings in the theater! Two Thumbs up!!! (DH logged 12,348 steps this day.) … Day 2 = Sea Day June 1 We played Bingo, then attended the Latitudes event in the Spinnaker Lounge. Otherwise, we walked around the ship (a lot) and stopped at assorted bars throughout the entire day. DH tends to drink straight Whiskeys/Bourbons, and I try assorted drinks (usually trying something new). Therefore, we had plenty of “taste testing” during our entire week! Lunch and dinner were both at the Garden Café. No complaints! We went to the Military event in the Spinnaker Lounge. It was well attended! They served canapes and drinks. The staff left after a brief introduction and short mingling. DH received a folder containing a photo taken with the captain, delivered to our stateroom. We returned to our room early. Sorry, no comments on this day’s entertainment. (DH logged 11,240 steps this day.) Day 3 = Bermuda June 2 We got off the ship and walked around the dockyard for the entire morning. After purchasing a 2-day transportation pass, we returned to the ship. We ate dinner at Le Bistro, which was very good. Early to bed! (DH logged 16,470 steps this day.) Day 4 = Bermuda June 3 We were awake early, so we got off the ship ASAP and headed to the NCL provided ferry to St George. In St George, we walked to the Unfinished Church, we then walked Church Folly Lane, to Queen Street, to Secretary Road, to Government Hill Road. After stopping to drink some water, we then turned around at Barry Road and went back via Government Hill Road to Secretary Rd, to Queen Street into town. We wandered around town for a while, stopping at Kings Square briefly. We then walked to Sir George Somers statue and Bob Burns Memorial Park (garden area), on Ordinance Island. From there, we walked past the Towne Hall to Duke of York Street, where we caught the number 11 Bus to Hamilton Central Bus Terminal. In Hamilton, we walked west to Church Street (past City Hall) and headed south on Queen Street to Queen Elizabeth Par-La-Ville Sculpture Park, and Bermuda’s oldest Moon gate. We then headed south, and then west, to Barr’s Bay Park (just to kill some time). We then walked East along the waterfront to where the Hamilton Ferry docks, so we could review the schedule. We had plenty of time, so we walked up Front St for some shopping. With plenty of time to spare, we returned to the Ferry Dock and waited for “The Spirit of St George” (which is NCL’s ferry) and rode back to the Royal Naval Dockyard and walked back to the ship. (DH logged 13,980 steps this day.) Day 5 = Bermuda June 4 We took the first available #7 bus to Horseshoe Bay. There, we walked down the hill to the beach to wiggle our toes in the sand and write the date in the sand and take a photo of it. From Horseshoe Bay Cove, we headed East to Horseshoe Bay (more photos). Then continued to Butts Beach, Middle Beach, Water Rocks Beach, to Angel Beach, to Hidden Beach (with photos stops along the way). We turned around and somewhat retraced our path. At Horseshoe Bay there are restrooms with showers. There is also a restaurant/bar. I believe some equipment is available to rent. (I can’t provide more information, since we only rinsed our feet and used the bathroom.) We then walked along Horseshoe Road (up the hill) to turn Left on South Road. We continued to walk East past the Henry VIII Restaurant & Pub, where we turned right on Lighthouse Road to visit Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. (We did not climb up the lighthouse stairs!) We walked back down the hill to South Road and walked to a bus stop near Sonesta Drive. The ride back to the dockyard seemed very long, since there were many locals getting on and off. Back on the ship we showered and changed, then headed to La Cucina for dinner. I did not enjoy dinner… the restaurant was extremely noisy, and service was exceedingly slow! To be fair; I was tired, & the restaurant filled quickly and had large tables nearby. (DH logged 21,415 steps this day.) Day 6 = Sea Day June 5 In the Stardust Theater tonight was Whitney Houston – Everlasting. I liked it very much! DH was just not into it. We ended up leaving early because a couple who came in late to the show sat nearby and started arguing loudly. (Not cool folks!) We hustled our way to the Spinnaker Lounge for “Perfect Couple Gameshow.” Over the years we’ve seen it many times, but this one was one of our favorites because the participants were fun! When the show ended, we grabbed some drinks and headed to our room. (DH logged 13,945 steps this day.) Day 7 = Bar Harbor June 6 MANDATORY USCBP INSPECTION!!! After lengthy lines that snaked around the ship, we finally got through facial recognition quickly. Yet, the whole process wasn’t fun! The positive was that we got our tender tickets (since we did not book any excursion) to go ashore. The temperature was cool (for us… compared to Houston). We had a pleasant time walking through the town, seeing some sights, and doing a little shopping. We decided to return to the ship and enjoy the rest of the day with some quiet ship time. We went to Magenta for dinner. I had been looking forward to my meal, but unfortunately, I did not care for the pasta dish that I had ordered. So, we left and went to the buffet for some veggies and fruit. Following that we ordered a couple of drinks and returned to our room to unwind and sleep. Disembarkation Day We were awakened during the night by a fussy baby in the next-door stateroom. DH was like a cranky baby himself, so I put the pillow over my head and went back to sleep for a few hours. Around 4:45 am, we got dressed and went to the buffet for our last breakfast onboard. We each had an omelet and some fruit, which were very good! Then we headed back to our room, grabbed all our stuff, and headed down to deck seven to get into the “Easy Walk-Off” line. It was a bit of a wait, but we finally got the “Go ahead” and were off the ship, through the terminal, in a Taxi, and heading to the airport in fewer than 45 minutes. (DH logged 15,220 steps this day.) LIST of OFFICERS: Master - Roger Berlund Chief Engineer - Marin Solc Cruise Director - Isha Nirban Executive Housekeeper - Cesar Hapa Guest Service Manager - KitKat Reyes General Manager - Joao Gigante Food & Bev Director - Roland Shrock Executive Chef - Alister Fonseca Restaurant Manager – Isaac Martin Beverage Manager - Junior Wallace. NOTES: Not just at the port of Boston, but also on the ship, our Latitudes experiences for the entire week, from beginning to end, did NOT shine. Despite being 2 of 17 total Ambassadors or Diamonds. That just does not reflect a good sense of valued “Norwegian Family.”

Are you looking for immediate replies, or, will a review posted on June 7 be soon enough? I don't write "live posts". However, I do plan to post about our Gem cruise 5/31 through 6/7, after we return to Boston (or maybe on 6/6 while still on the ship ...if I make time for it).

I wish I could be helpful. Hopefully, someone will be able to give you great details!

Onboard Credit can be used for Cruise Next while onboard the ship. Generally, Cruise First Credits are purchased online, or with NCL via phone or chat (pre-cruise), and then used online, or with a representative or TA.

Did you happen to check in the Alaska forum? https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

Drink service in the buffet, such as coffee? We have taken dozens of NCL cruises over the years, but I can't recall ever being offered "drink service." Probably, we just eat and move on more quickly than the average person, but I've only noticed the tables being cleared and silverware being restocked.

Perhaps, you've confused @ChiefMateJRK with "chengkp75" (who did, formerly, work for NCL).

https://travelness.com/scotland-midges

On the island: mini gulf course (very mini, but, it's there), volleyball, 3 different zip-lines, food trucks and cafeteria, great bars, several separate coves (no additional costs). Local "Market" to shop for Bahamas made items. No cost: underwater sculpture park (beyond the primary beach). And, then there are the more private areas that do have costs associated with them and In the water w/fee to rent equipment: Paddleboards, Snorkeling gear (or bring your own = no costs), Kayaks, Wave-runners.

Packages: https://www.ncl.com/onboard-packages/bottled-water-packages

That is great news!

Or, ask room steward to remove everything from the refrigerator.

Thank you for your post! It is invaluable information that some might never have thought of before their cruises!

On a 5 day cruise (in January), depending on the dates and the demographics, that might happen!

NCL does not own any parking at Port Canaveral. Perhaps reading from top to bottom of the below added link will help answer some of your concerns: https://www.portcanaveral.com/Cruise/Directions-Parking Note that it states "Please know that all terminal parking garages and surface lots do not open before 10 AM for embarking passengers." (We would most likely arrive a little earlier and get in a line-up!) Note: There is also a statement that oversize parking is available. Rates are subject to change without notice. Contact the Canaveral Port Authority at 321-783-7831 for the latest information. Hopefully, your concerns are addressed and alleviated once you read (reread) the linked info.

Yes, it does!

Harvest Caye is a little different in the way it is operated, since the Belizean government requires that the island must have Belizean citizens working on the island (so they come over from the mainland for the day when ships will be arriving). The flora and fauna on Harvest Caye are outstanding! The pool is beautiful and the kiddos splash pad is quite nice. The beach itself can be hit or miss depending on the weather. We generally walk to the island from the ship, as early as possible, in order to enjoy the assorted displays, flowers, animals and pool before it gets too hot. On one visit, we rented a Villa for the day, and enjoyed the beach at that end of the island, with friends we had made onboard. That was a truly wonderful day and we stayed until they chased us all back to the ship! 🤪

I found this from a recent cruise. I hope it helps some... BTW, did you try looking on NCL? ncl.com/excursions

If you do not book online with NCL pre-cruise, you could visit the ShorEx desk onboard the ship, or utilize your stateroom TV, or use a kiosk screen onboard. If you utilize none of these, there is a Shore Excursion building once you reach the island. After you have your Shore Excursion ticket(s), you head to the indicated gathering spot (should be listed on your tickets).

@PugM0m & @CruisnDeb Restaurant reservations can be made at 120 days (or earlier for suites/Haven & higher Latitudes status)!