Gem 12/25-1/1 cruise- any reviews?

[steviek49]

Just wondering how the Gem did on this "stormy" cruise?

Was the ship rockin'?

Did she miss any ports?

How was the weather in Cape Canaveral, Nassau and GSC?

Overall, How was the cruise?

Anyone?

[sesasheep]

Just got home 5 minutes ago from this cruise!

 

the weather was actually pretty good with three days of 70 degrees, 2 of almost 60.

 

the first day was pretty stormy with 10-15 foot waves and some people were very sick.

 

we did not miss any ports, and a good time was had by all at all of the ports.

 

port canavrel was about 55 and sunny, GSC was almost 70 and kind of windy, and nassau was 75 and sunny. the last sea days were 75 and 60 respectivley, with nice sunshine.

 

overall the food was good to very good, the service from the crew was top notch and the entertainment was ok.

 

the officers were so visible, we always saw many of them walking around and chatting with the guests.

 

embarkation and debarkation were both a breeze.

 

overall we had a fantastic time and would be very excited to go back!!!!!

 

any questions or comments and i will be happy to try to answer them.

 

-sesasheep

[welove2cruise232]

seasheep, glad to hear you had a great time on the Gem! Can you tell me what some of the entertainment was on the ship? Not the shows, but the lounge entertainment?

 

Thanks!

[asylum575]

Just back as well.

I agree with sesasheep

 

Weather was the worst part of the trip. No beach weather. Grand Stirrup Cay was OK with shorts, but the steady breeze made it feel cooler. I really wish they had tested out those new azipods and cranked it up to do a southern itinerary:rolleyes:

 

The ship is in fantastic condition. It was decorated for the holidays. Great Pacific had great 3-4 foot wreaths on the windows and there were several well decorated trees. Santa read a story up in Spinnaker and the kids got milk and cookies.:)

 

We've been on the Jewel and I like their buffet station/islands better. I'm not a good judge of buffets, though. We make it a point NOT to do battle at the buffet. We ate there for one lunch. We prefer the more controlled environment of the dining rooms. :D

 

We ate at Magenta twice, and were not happy twice. The first night we went there for Christmas dinner, we are 4, kids 6 and 2. We were also traveling with inlaws and aunts/uncles. We totaled 9. Christmas dinner was OK, we had the turkey, but the service was unacceptable. Our salads never came and the entrees came over a period of 15 minutes. I complained to the head waiter, which was the first time in 13 cruises I have ever complained. I felt bad for the waitress because she was obviously spoken to about the service. This was our 4th NCL cruise and the first for the rest of our party. Christmas dinner is important on our family and was not the one to mess up, sorry. We ate at Magenta for lunch on the day at Nassau. The bread for the sandwiches were so hard, it scraped the roof of my mouth, ouch. It was obviously old and toasted. This was the case for 5 of us at lunch.:mad:

 

Great Pacific was great, absolutely great. We ate there for every breakfast, all but one two lunches and two dinners. Service was great. My 2yr old also found her favorite dessert, NOTHING. It's a plain plate with the word nothing written in chocolate syrup. She asked for nothing every night.:)

 

We bought the wine package. It was, choose 6-8 bottles and get 20%off. We ordered 8 and the total came out to $220. It's the only drinks we paid for. That's how we roll, ha ha

 

We bought the spa package for both. It was nice to hangout in the sauna on those chilly days.:cool:

 

Any questions? shoot

[asylum575]

seasheep, glad to hear you had a great time on the Gem! Can you tell me what some of the entertainment was on the ship? Not the shows, but the lounge entertainment?

 

Thanks!

 

Piano guy in the Great Pacific was OK. The guy at the martini bar was really good and always had a crowd. They call that area Bar City.

 

We didn't go to the clubs, so I can't comment on the DJs.

 

The band that played in the Centrium on New Year's Eve kept the party going pretty good

[blitzjb]

We just returned . Weather can not be controlled. We expected it to be chilly going south. The waters were a bit rough, our cabin was midship on deck 9 so we were good. A bit chillynon the firstnseanday. Florida was chilly, we were planning on a visit to cocoa beach to check out the surf shops. The free shuttle was an added bonus. GSC was sunny. Warm enough for us to lounge on the beach for the day. The beach BBQ was good. A beautiful day in the Bahamas followed by two nice sea days. We were pleasantly surprised to be able to be outside on the last sea day lounging by the pool.

 

We ate dinner every night in the magenta dining. We had eight people. On day three we had an excellent waiter. The matre d- Ashsish arranged a reservation for then rest of the cruise with the same waiter. Even on a freestyle cruise- you can have what you need in the dining room if you speak with a matre d.

 

We ate lunch on the deck or from the buffet. Thebmdr menu is the same for lunch every day. the bbq's on the deck were very good. We are not buffet people but due to the fact that the food is cooked behind the buffet, it was pretty good. Plenty of omlet stations and seating. Most people didn't qrealize there were plenty of omlet stations and seats at the rear of the vessel.

 

The best kept secret on the Gem is the tapas bar. Every day from 5:30-9:30 there is a tapas menu (no charge). It is located at the tequila bar between the blue lagoon and tequila restaurant. Excellent tapas...

 

Overall a very fun and relaxing week...

[sesasheep]

The lounge entertainment consisted of guitarist Leo Jolstol, Pianist Michael Blackwell and Pianist Greg Shloatthauer(I think that was his name)

 

The poolside band was Joy band, the party band was Kenosis and the DJ was Jeperson

[tokidoki]

Welcome back, can anyone comment on the 2 production shows, as we look forward to them. I've enjoyed the Dawn and Jewel shows! I hear that the shows might change soon? thanks

[asylum575]

Glad to hear someone had good experiences in Magenta. Great Pacific was our choice and we were happy. Magenta's head waiter Ashish kept on asking us to come back and give them another try. Later in the cruise, I didn't have the heart to tell him of our second bad meal there. I'm sure he was going to try to make our next dinner special, but we were perfectly happy with Great Pacific.

 

Here's a must. The lobster tacos at Tequila's. Holy cow. They were delicious. I ordered the steak fajitas first for a make your own surf-n-turf. I wish I had the lobster tacos first. They were that good.

[welove2cruise232]

The lounge entertainment consisted of guitarist Leo Jolstol, Pianist Michael Blackwell and Pianist Greg Shloatthauer(I think that was his name)

 

The poolside band was Joy band, the party band was Kenosis and the DJ was Jeperson

 

Thanks. Haven't heard of any of those, but Joy was on board the last time we sailed on the Gem. We love going to Bar Central for a pre-dinner cocktail, and hope the entertainment is good there...

[bob brown]

I was on the Gem 12/11 to 12/18. The entertainment was fair. My basis of comparison was the Dawn 10/10-10/17. The entertainment on that cruise was fantastic, about the best I've ever experienced on a cruise, so it was a hard act to follow....

[coka]

...The free shuttle was an added bonus...

 

Is this something new? The last time I was there we had to pay.

 

coka

[RalphWiggum]

I was on the Gem 12/11 to 12/18. The entertainment was fair. My basis of comparison was the Dawn 10/10-10/17. The entertainment on that cruise was fantastic, about the best I've ever experienced on a cruise, so it was a hard act to follow....

 

I agree. I like the choreography much better on the Dawn production shows. I know the Dawn shows are Jean Ann Ryan productions - I don't think the Gem's are. Plus, there were no aerialists, gymnastics or other specialty performers showcased on the Gem production shows. Like Bob Brown, I noted in my Gem review that I was disappointed in the shows precisely because the Dawn shows set such a high bar. To be fair, Gem's Colours was not bad...just ordinary. IMO. The Gem shows emphasized the singers over dancers and, of the five or so featured singers, I thought only two were good. Unfortunately, the two solid singers weren't the lead singers so we were in for a lot of screeching...

 

I haven't been on the Jewel but have read from other posters that Cirque Bijou has similar bells and whistles to the Dawn's Bollywood.

Edited January 2, 2011 by RalphWiggum

[asylum575]

I haven't been on the Jewel but have read from other posters that Cirque Bijou has similar bells and whistles to the Dawn's Bollywood.

 

We really enjoyed Cirque Bijou on the Jewel in 2009. Haven't seen anything as good since.

[bob brown]

I agree. I like the choreography much better on the Dawn production shows. I know the Dawn shows are Jean Ann Ryan productions - I don't think the Gem's are. Plus, there were no aerialists, gymnastics or other specialty performers showcased on the Gem production shows. Like Bob Brown, I noted in my Gem review that I was disappointed in the shows precisely because the Dawn shows set such a high bar. To be fair, Gem's Colours was not bad...just ordinary. IMO. The Gem shows emphasized the singers over dancers and, of the five or so featured singers, I thought only two were good. Unfortunately, the two solid singers weren't the lead singers so we were in for a lot of screeching...

 

I haven't been on the Jewel but have read from other posters that Cirque Bijou has similar bells and whistles to the Dawn's Bollywood.

While I agree with your assessment, I was referring more to the other entertainment than just the production shows...

A standout on the Dawn was Patti and Jose. Also excellent was Fire and Ice. The classical pianist that entertained us during dinner each evening in Tsar's Palace was great. On the Gem, there wasn't any, until a talented young passenger played some. The comic on the Dawn was way better than the one on the Gem.

And we had the star cruise director on the Dawn--Matt Baker. What more can I say?

Wiki Wiki Wah!

[RalphWiggum]

While I agree with your assessment, I was referring more to the other entertainment than just the production shows...

A standout on the Dawn was Patti and Jose. Also excellent was Fire and Ice. The classical pianist that entertained us during dinner each evening in Tsar's Palace was great. On the Gem, there wasn't any, until a talented young passenger played some. The comic on the Dawn was way better than the one on the Gem.

And we had the star cruise director on the Dawn--Matt Baker. What more can I say?

Wiki Wiki Wah!

 

Sorry bob brown, thought you were responding to tokidoki's question. Matt Baker was a delight, and this is coming from someone who usual just tolerates cruise directors. He really made everything he participated a lot of fun. Also, the other entertainment was strong too. Of my nine cruises, the three I had on the Dawn had the best entertainment BY FAR.

[bob brown]

Is this something new? The last time I was there we had to pay.

 

coka

You can pay NCL for shuttle service if you want to, but why?

They don't tell you that some Cocoa merchants run a complimentary shuttle also. Around every thirty minutes. It stops at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, and is near several shopping venues. There is a connection there for another shuttle to Walmart.

By the way, there is free wifi at the hotel, no password needed.:cool:

[blitzjb]

The shuttle is sponsored by the surf shops and Starbucks..

I read about it on CC prior to leaving

[Brad Price]

On 1/1/2011 at 1:32 PM, sesasheep said:

The lounge entertainment consisted of guitarist Leo Jolstol, Pianist Michael Blackwell and Pianist Greg Shloatthauer(I think that was his name)

 

The poolside band was Joy band, the party band was Kenosis and the DJ was Jeperson

Michael Blackwell, Pianist, Gone, May 2014, But Never Forgotten

[ColinIllinois]

3 minutes ago, Brad Price said:

Michael Blackwell, Pianist, Gone, May 2014, But Never Forgotten

 

 

 

Please don't bump up 8 year old threads.   They are full of outdated information.   You already have a thread about your 'friend'.

[Brad Price]

By chance did you know Michael well ?  I knew him starting about 1975. I really don't understand threads. What are you suggesting I should do

[All-ready2cruise]

6 minutes ago, Brad Price said:

By chance did you know Michael well ?  I knew him starting about 1975. I really don't understand threads. What are you suggesting I should do

If it's important to you, start a new thread. I looked at the date and thought, "What the heck?" this is 8 years ago, who's interested in this?  

Please try to keep it relevant to this time-frame. 

Enjoy your cruise, if that's still relevant. 

[ColinIllinois]

2 hours ago, Brad Price said:

By chance did you know Michael well ?  I knew him starting about 1975. I really don't understand threads. What are you suggesting I should do

 

I'm suggesting you stop trolling.

[ColeThornton]

2 minutes ago, ColinIllinois said:

 

I'm suggesting you stop trolling.

 

Pretty sure this is the same one who was here a few weeks back trolling as the mentally challenged person and probably some of the other troll handles before that.

[Brad Price]

I am a 67 year old happily married man living in British Columbia, Canada trying to figure out what became of his good friend, Michael Blackwell who was my Mountain Climbing Buddy for many years. Mike & I and our wives became  good friends. Both of our first marriages dissolved and we lost touch. Your nasty comments are uncalled for. Why would you say that ?