Gem - 4/9-4/16 -Not exactly a review; just my thoughts

[lgfromdg]

Just got back from the Gem. Had a wonderful cruise and loved the ship - can't wait to sail her again.

 

Embarkation - Got to the port around 11:00am and sailed through security and check-in. While waiting to board, we purchased our Spa Passes -$119 a person for the week. The ship was cleared for boarding a little before noon. Both main dining rooms, as well as the buffet, were open for lunch. Cabins were available around 2:00.

 

Meet & Greet - I would really recommend that you join your Roll Call & attend the Meet & Greet. We met some great people and played trivia with some, had dinner with others and always saw a familiar face around the ship. All senior staff members attended the M&G; NCL obviously cares about their guests, as well as the Cruise Critic connection. We were given a card that had all their cell phone numbers listed and told to call if we had any problems. I

 

Latitudes party - I won 2 passes for he Behind the Scenes tour. We went through the entire galley, the laundry, backstage at the Stardust theater and on the bridge. In each area, a staff member explained the process to us. The head sous chef walked us through the food preparation areas; the Procurement Officer explained the ordering and storage process; the Officer in charge of Environmental issues described the process of waste reduction & recycling, as well as his other duties such as making sure the ship complies with each countries fuel requirements, etc; the staff member in charge of the laundry demonstrated all the machines to us (this was my favorite part of the tour); one of the performers took us backstage at the Stardust and walked us through the dressing rooms and explained costumes and sets. The Captain walked us around the bridge. One of our tour members said he would go to the bridge viewing area 4-5 times a day; you could see how thrilled he was to actually be on the bridge with the Captain. If you are interested in what it takes to run a ship, I would highly recommend this tour.

 

Entertainment - We always found something to do - played trivia and games a couple times a day; went to shows at night. I really enjoyed the Second City shows.

 

Food - This is so subjective. One person would say they didn't like the food; another would say they thought the food was pretty good. To me cruise food is like banquet food -when your cooking for that many people, it's not going to be restaurant-quality. The buffet can be crazy at peak times; we avoided it then.

 

Dress Up or Not Night - was mostly Not. I would guess no more than 20% dressed up and most of them were semi-formal or just a bit dressy. Even fewer people dressed up for the second time. We're casual so it didn't bother me but I could see where the people who dressed up might have been disappointed.

 

Disembarkation - We took tags with the latest disembarking time - left the ship around 9:50 , found our luggage right away and breezed through customs.

 

This was my favorite cruise so far. I loved the ship, the crew, most of the people I met and had a fantastic time. We're planning on sailing the Gem again next year.

[Hopes4]

Glad to hear you had a great time. I loved it so much last year that this year there are 26 of us going!

Would you happen to have any dailies you could scan and post?

[ussenterprise]

How was KSC?

[lgfromdg]

Sorry - I didn't keep any dailies.

 

We didn't go to KSC but there is another review of our cruise that talks about it.

[Journey11]

I am glad you had a great time. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the cruise.