Super quick review of Gem 3/20/10.

[moopdog]

This will be a really short & sweet review of the Gem. It was me, DH and two kids (7 & 9). We sailed out of NYC last Saturday 10/20 and came home yesterday.

 

Food: I was a little dissapointed with the same selections almost everyday at the Garden Cafe, but it was pretty good and we all found things we liked each day. We did most of our meals here, due to "fast" factor. The "washy washy/happy happy" guy in charge of squirting each person with antibacterial stuff was a riot and we loved seeing him each day. The coffee on board was not the best, and for a family who doesn't allow the kids to have soda, that either left water or milk. No powerade/gatorade or fruit juice. Slim pickins in that dept.

 

The Main dining rooms were nice and the Grand Pacific was especially beautiful. The food was good, but the portions were not near large enough for my husband...fine for me & kids though.

 

Blue Lagoon was good for breakfast and desserts, but that's all we had there. We did no signature dining at all.

 

ROOM: We had cabin 10608. It was just barely big enough for our family of 4. I don't think we could've gotten away with it if our kids were a few years older/bigger. I think we could've lived without the balcony, since a lot of the trip was too chilly to be out there and on the warm days - we were off the ship. I did enjoy the view though & the ability to airdry our swimsuits out there each day, etc. The room was clean, and the beds were very cozy. The bathroom was good too, with the ability to have on in the toilet area, one taking a shower and one at the sink/mirror all at the same time.

 

Entertainment/Kids Club. Can't say much about the kids club, since my son didn't have any desire to go & my daughter only went twice (though she did say she loved it). We only took the kids to one evening show - the Hypnotist (the Mesmerizing Brenda Kaye)....don't miss this show!! So funny that my husband and I had tears rolling down our cheeks & the kids were equally entertained. We saw bits & pieces of the various sigers/pianists, and they were good, but not our thing for this particular trip.

 

Ports: We did the shuttle only to Disney since we already had tickets. For some reason & based on reviews I had read, we expected to get off & running as soon as we docked. Not the case, they allowed people who had decided at the last minute to line up and buy the excursion while we sat on the bus waiting to go. It was annoying. By the time we got to Disney (Epcot in our case) and got on our first ride (we had an hour wait for Test Track) it was almost 4 o'clock! We had to be back on the bus at 7:15. The rest of the rides had less wait times, but by then we were kind of behind the 8 ball.

 

Great Stirrup Cay was awesome, our favorite day of the trip. Loved the beach, the water, the scenery. It would not has been as much fun if we had not gotten the first tender over & got the best lounge chairs though -- get in line for the tender tickets about 15 minutes early. In our case, they started handing out tickets at 9:30 AM and my husband went around 9 & got number 261. The Hippo slide was not operating due to wind, but my kids didn't mind a bit. Also, they warned us of bugs & sand fleas, but I never saw or felt a single one.

 

Nassau. It was beautiful, but I regret our choice for the day: Day passes at the British Colonial Hilton. The beach was covered in glass & the area to swim in and kayak in was much too small for us. Though if my kids were younger (under the age of 5) the beach & pool would be ideal - minus the glass of course. After that, we shopped & headed back to the ship, even though we still had about 3 hours left & I wanted to take a taxi to Atlantis, just to walk around it. My family only wanted back on ship though - party poopers!

 

The days at sea coming home were predicatable. The first day (Thurs) was warm enough to swim & we did. The kids enjoyed the ship, and we had a good dinner "out". The next day was far too cold and we felt a little bit like trapped rats. Couldn't go outside, but what's left to do? This is the day we bowled - fun, and went to the arcade - pricey. We bought our pictures at the photo gallery and I got a massage. In other words - the cruise lines are not fools - they make their $$$ on these "sea days", that's for sure ;-)

 

Miscellaneous: The ship did not rock at all until the 2nd night and the last night....quite rocky, though the crew kept saying how mild it was compared to normal. My husband said he'd hate to see their version of "bad" is.

 

My daughter caught a stomach bug on day 5 but it was short-lived. :( I just mention it because we are very diligent with hand washing and of couse used hand sanitizer constantly and still - it was not avoided... there's only so much you can do.

 

We had a blast watching my 7 year old do the rock wall, so fun and lots of good photo ops!

 

There were a few gaggles of pre-teens that got to be annoying, but all in all, it was not too bad. I wish the crew would have dispersed them when they congregated in the stair wells, but they really did not disturb anyone that I could see.

 

Over all, it was a good week. Please ask if you have specific questions, but I'll probably only be on here for a few more days as my vacation is over....I'm not gonna hang around much more!;)

[sinclaj]

I enjoyed reading your reply. We were on the Gem the week before and had tremendous winds the first night. I wondered how the people managed with the trip to Disney. We just took the shuttle to Cocoa Beach.

 

Glad to hear you had such a great time. We sure loved it too.

[sottovoce]

12 ounces of Powerade contains 30 grams of sugar; 12 ounces of Pepsi has 41 grams. Your kids were lucky NCL doesn't serve free Powerade or Gatorade. You might as well give them soda.

[moopdog]

12 ounces of Powerade contains 30 grams of sugar; 12 ounces of Pepsi has 41 grams. Your kids were lucky NCL doesn't serve free Powerade or Gatorade. You might as well give them soda.

 

For one thing, it's the caffeine - my son can't have it due to a medical condition, therefore we all stay away to make it easier.... for another, 41 grams is still more than 30 grams, right? :rolleyes:

[DaisyL]

For one thing, it's the caffeine - my son can't have it due to a medical condition, therefore we all stay away to make it easier.... for another, 41 grams is still more than 30 grams, right? :rolleyes:

 

Too bad you didn't realize about the soft drink situation before ... you could have brought your own. BTW, the choices a the same no matter what cruise you take.

 

Thanks for your review... very good. I agree about the cruises out of NY, you kinda lose out on the first and last days if the the time of year is not good. We've taken several cruises out of NY in February so we agree. When our son was younger we would vacation in the summer so although it was expensive we could enjoy every day. Now that we're empty nesters we cruise out of NY in the off season but when the weather is still good in the NE... April, May, Sept, Oct. etc.

 

Glad you had a good time overall.

[sottovoce]

For one thing, it's the caffeine - my son can't have it due to a medical condition, therefore we all stay away to make it easier.... for another, 41 grams is still more than 30 grams, right? :rolleyes:

And water is zero grams. That's less than 30 grams, right?:rolleyes: