My First NCL Cruise-Short and sweet and to the point!

[boop3]

Just returned from my first cruise on the NCL Gem 2/27-3/6/10.

 

A little about me. I have been on 6 previous cruises. I traveled with my DH and 2 DS 15 and 21. The boys had a balcony room and we had a mini suite.

 

Embarkation- We drove down from Syracuse NY on the morning of the cruise. In spite of the recent heavy snow we had clear roads and made it in 4 hours. ( No speeding either!)

We opted to park in the garage. No problem with parking and gathered our bags and headed in to check in. This was about 11 AM.

 

We checked in quickly. We were seated in a nice area and we were called to board 40 minutes later. This was a much nicer waiting area than on my last cruise out of Bayonne NJ.

 

Stateroom- We had our first mini-suite. It was smaller than I expected but the bathroom was big and made up for it. Loved having a tub. Had Lito as our steward. He was very nice and very efficient. Our boys had a balcony room and were pleased with it. They had Francis on deck 10 and he also was very nice and efficient.

 

Dining- We found the food to be very good. We ate dinner in the Magenta and the Grand pacific. Both wait staff were very good. However no matter what time we went we had a 30-45 minute wait. We also had dinner one night at Cagney's . I am not a steak eater but DH is. He said his steak was very good. I had the chicken and I found it very salty. The staff brought me Lamb that was very good! One thing I found that no matter what dining venue we were in it was very noisy. I am not sure if it was due to the high number of kids on break ( I later found out many Canadian schools were on break) but it was difficult to carry on a normal tone conservation.

 

Shore Excursions- My boys and I did Universal Studios through NCL. We had a great time and the staff was very nice.

 

Great Stirrup Cay- Was OK nothing special. I have been on other private islands that I liked better.

 

Did not see any of the shows.

 

Did buy a week pass for the spa and loved it!

 

Disembarkation- Was a mess. We did the walk off. I put a note on my on line survey that they should call 2 floors down at a time and not all at once. The 2 staff members that were doing the disembarkation did not direct people where to get in line and complained to each other how they had doing this job.

 

Overall a very good experience and I would cruise NCL again!

 

Nora

[FLAHAM]

What time did you eat dinner? We ate after the first show at 8:30 and had no wait in seven different restaurants (including both MDRs) on a full ship.

[feefour]

Thanks so much for your review. We are sailing on Gem on 4/3. I've never sailed out of NYC before. You stated that parking was not a problem. I have 2 nervous sets of parents driving in from Boston and PA. Can you provide me with any specifics that I can use to ease their pain? You said you opted for the garage, is there open air parking as well? Is there a price difference? Did you get a sense that parking was ever an issue (i.e. that there could be a lack thereof?)

 

Apologies for boring with minutiae when I'm sure there were so many more important components to your vacation than parking! TIA for any advice you have.

[boop3]

No Problem feefour! My DH is a nervous Nelly as well. We drove up a ramp and parked on the roof of a parking structure that faces the ship. It is very well monitored I was unsure of where we were going to leave the car. Parking was easy to get to in and out.

The cost was 210 for a 7 day cruise.

[njhorseman]

Thanks so much for your review. We are sailing on Gem on 4/3. I've never sailed out of NYC before. You stated that parking was not a problem. I have 2 nervous sets of parents driving in from Boston and PA. Can you provide me with any specifics that I can use to ease their pain? You said you opted for the garage, is there open air parking as well? Is there a price difference? Did you get a sense that parking was ever an issue (i.e. that there could be a lack thereof?)

 

Apologies for boring with minutiae when I'm sure there were so many more important components to your vacation than parking! TIA for any advice you have.

 

 

Permit me to respond. There is no garage...it is an open air parking deck on the roof of the cruise terminal. I is convenient but expensive...$210, paid when you enter the parking deck, for a 7 night cruise. I've not heard of any problems with space not being available, but I suppose it is not impossible for that to happen. There are other parking facilities in the area near the pier and I'm certain you would be directed to one of them in the unlikely event that was space wasn't available on the roof.

 

Edit...looks like the OP responded while I was typing!

[feefour]

Thanks boop and NJ for the info. Good news that other parking is nearby. My step-dad is convinced that there will be no available parking at the port and wants to be reassured that other close parking is accessible.