Gem Review 2/19/12-2/26/12

[gpa385]

Let me sum up our trip on the Norwegian Gem in a word: good. Strike that, two words: VERY good. It was our first cruise ever (4 people: myself, wife, 12 yo son, 10 yo daughter), so being newbie’s, we had a completely fresh set of expectations, and many of them were met. I’ve always loved the idea of a cruise – being in the middle of the ocean, the camaraderie among fellow sailors, the food, traveling to new places while we slept, having a casino right there, the activities (for my kids, really), drinking a beer under the sun, all of it. Ultimately, it was a chance to spend time with my family, and the Norwegian Gem was an excellent place to do that.

 

So here’s my review, IMHO. I know my perspective is skewed by not having cruised before, so please take that into account while you read it. Pls ask questions, happy to help (remember, I'm a noob, so I might not be able to answer everything).

 

Room:

We were in 11586, a Mini Suite Mid Ship on Deck 11. Didn’t want to spend too much, but we needed a balcony and just a little elbow room. It was a floor below the Kids Club, which was key, and close to the pool, breakfast buffet, and a short walk to the spa and gym. Had a great Room Steward, Jacinto, who learned our names the first day and would remember them throughout the trip – small thing, but impressive. We had 4 of us in our “Mini Suite” (under 300’), and he managed to clean after us well. He gets 5 stars.

 

Weather:

We sailed from NYC, and not surprisingly, we bisected a storm on our way south which made the first day at sea ROUGH, with 15-20’ waves making me wonder if the ship could, in fact, capsize. (Being on a high deck didn’t help). But past that day, the weather was PERFECT. The last day at sea was also a little rough and COLD, but to be expected (we were east of Virginia-New Jersey). Since it was mid February, it could have been SO much worse.

 

Main Dining Rooms:

> Grand Pacific: Nice, looks like something you’d see at Disney. Get multiple app’s and share, they’re not big. Food was a step above solid.

> Magenta: Know some on this board aren’t fans, but I liked it fine. Food was the same as GP.

> Garden Café: Imagine a good (but not great) Las Vegas buffet, and you have an idea of the food (same as GP and M). It had a little bit of everything. But if your a "foodie," prepare to be underwhelmed.

 

Other Restaurants:

> Blue Lagoon: Good comfort food spot.

> Great Outdoors: Not always open, but it was the untapped buffet (same quality as Garden Café, but smaller). Went there whenever we were in warm climes, even taking food from the Café. Don’t know why people didn’t use this more often.

> Topsiders: Whenever the grill next to the pool was going, the food looked great (never got a chance to eat there). Otherwise, basic buffet food.

 

Specialty Restaurants:

The Japanese restaurant, Teppanyaki, was booked every night (only a handful of seats). The Tex Mex place, Tequila, was solid. We didn’t try any other Specialty restaurants, sorry.

 

Restaurant Service:

In the face of no direct tip, the staff was (not surprisingly) inconsistent. Small stuff, like taking 10-15 minutes to deliver a drink order, just kind of takes the joy out of it a little. But sometimes they were really good. We didn’t go back to the same restaurant, so it never made sense to “stay” with a certain waiter.

 

Entertainment:

The house guitarist, Leo J, was amazing. Heavily underplaying while in the Atrium during dinner hours, but was able to show off when he was after hours at Magnums. “Icanto” (sp?) was amazing, a two person husband and wife cirque du soleil, but the sexuality was perhaps a little much for kids. (My daughter turned to me after seeing yet another wild split in a skimpy outfit and said, “This is sooo inappropriate”). Me, I didn’t mind too much ;-0. The comedian was lackluster while the closing show was funny. The “World Beat” night, I could have lived without. All up, like the food, it was Vegas-lite, which is what you’d expect a) on a ship miles from shore and b) not in Vegas.

 

Activities:

There was ALWAYS something going on, particularly for families. The center stage between the two pools had SOME kind of contest/dance party/activity going at all hours. My 12 yo son spent whatever free time he had on the Sport Court (don’t understand why they close it for bball at 5PM but they do). There was a Rock Wall, but wasn’t open that often (looked like fun). Casino was VERY small, but could always find a seat. The Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments were fun (didn't win). Blackjack table minimums were $5-10, depending on the time of day.

 

Kids Club:

Since I'm a newbie to sailing and NCL, I have no frame of reference as to the changes (apparently, they just changed how they run the club THIS PAST WEEK). But we were impressed: my 12 yo initially resisted the club (like most kids, he'd prefer to hang with the bigger kids) but after the first day making friends, he was hooked. Didn’t have to worry about my 10 yo girl, she loves these “clubs,” and was skipping to it with a smile. In the end, they generally used the club as a meeting place for friends and then didn't go back so much in the latter half of the week.

 

Excursions:

> Port Canaveral: Didn’t think there was enough time to go to Disney, no one else wanted to see the Kennedy Space Center, so we ended up staying on the ship in this port. Worked out fine, plenty to do.

> Great Stirrup Cay: The island’s fun, and really curious to see what it’ll look like when the construction’s done (the construction didn’t get in our way, btw). Rented a 4-person raft, and that was a hit (has drink holders, so us parents got to “enjoy” it too). Here’s a tip: the morning the ship drops anchor here, bring your breakfast to the port side of Topsiders and wait for the tender tickets to be handed out at 9AM – we stumbled into that trick and got one of the first boats off the ship. The island itself was great. Fantastic snorkeling out by the barrier island in front of the beach – saw a stingray and a tiger fish.

> Nassau: Dabbled with going to Atlantis, but the price was extreme. Decided instead to go to the Sheraton Cable Beach, and it was a hit: great beach, great pool (4-5 pools), and a nice swim up bar, all for $25/adult and $12/kids. Son went jet skiing and daughter went out on the paddle boat. Here’s a tip: take the #10 Jitney bus to and from. To the right when you walk out of the straw market, corner of George and Bay Street, near the British Colonial Hilton. Costs only $1.25/person (versus a Taxi which was $5/person). Got back to port around 3PM and a late lunch at Senor Frogs, a tourist trap but totally worth it. If you’re more adventurous, try the Fish Fry on the way back from Cable Beach.

 

Pools:

It's amazing how many people can be packed into the two pools and hot tubs, but it was never annoying. Price you pay for traveling during a popular holiday week.

 

Sun Lounges:

There are 8’ loungers on Decks 14-15 in the front and up top – totally worth scoping those out. Even during this packed week, you could always find a chair on Deck 13 overlooking the pool.

 

Spa/Gym:

Pretty large spa (for a ship) and top notch, one of the best spa's I've ever been to, on land or off. If you like a good spa and think you’re going to go more than once or twice, get the week long pass, totally worth it. Gym was good, but busy the first day – the foot traffic dropped off precipitously as people found other things to do (or just gave up).

 

Packing:

Outside of the normal things to pack, here are some things I'd recommend bringing you might not think of packing, tips I gleaned from reading other posts on this board before my trip:

 

> Water Bottles: If you’re like us, you can live without soda for a week, and drank water (cough…cough…okay, some beer, too) exclusively. Getting a soda card would meant GOUGING ourselves with soda, not healthy. But the water glasses are SMALL, so bring water bottles, and fill them up with the water. Good for the gym, too.

> Post It Notes: Bring a pack of post it notes, and write a note on the door to tell others where you are, where to meet, etc.

> Lanyards: Some shorts/bathing suits don’t have pockets, so get yourselves lanyards to wear your room key cards around your neck. Invaluable for the kids.

> Laundry Detergent Packages: This ship doesn’t have self service laundry (they offer the normal hotel ‘bag’ service for an obscene price), so bring some of those individual detergent packages, and do laundry in the sink/bathtub and dry it in the sun. Not perfect, but gets the job done.

> Highlighter + Pen: Bring a highlighter for circling things in the daily list of activities, and a pen for all the signatures you have to make when going through/from customs.

> Snorkel Gear: Bought snorkel gear at Costco for $30/each for the 4 of us before the trip, and we went out at Great Stirrup and Cable. Might be too much to pack for you, but it was worth it, cost less than the rentals.

> Laundry Bag: Bring one of those dry cleaning laundry bags with you, and fill it up with your group’s dirty laundry. Then when you leave, you’re not mixing up dirty and clean clothes in the same bag. Plus, you might be able to go down a bag (stuff it into another bag).

> Motion Sickness: Yup, it’s possible. We avoided it, but others weren’t so lucky.

> Pack LESS: Like you've heard elsewhere on this board, take whatever you're going to bring and leave HALF of it behind (I know, hypocritical coming from the guy bringing 4 sets of snorkel gear). Bring a pair of pants, shorts, a couple of swim suits, a few shirts, and that's IT.

 

p.s. Tried posting this under "Member Reviews" and it kept error-ing out. Oh well.

[JMHAM1]

Sounds like you had a good first cruise experience. I hope this gave you all the bug that afflicts most of us here at CC.

 

I love the Gem and it sounds like y'all had a great family vacation. Thanks for taking the time to post!

[cindasilk]

Thank you so much for the great post regarding your 1st cruise vacation. A lot of good tips DH and I cruise on the Star in the middle of May to Berumda. i have written down some of your suggestions so that i don't forget closer to cruise date. So happy you all had a great cruise.

[Gregor4500]

Nice review

[jints07]

My wife and two children were on the same cruise....in fact we were just down the hall from you in 11538! I full agree with your review. Overall a great vacation, great ship, etc. I am so depressed today because I want to go back! :)

[Highboy90]

Thanks for the review and like you, will be taking my first cruise ever and it will be with NCL. Only difference is I will be on the Jewel but hope to have similar results.

[teacher_md]

Thanks for the review. Looking at this cruise for my Spring Break next year. Are you allowed to refill your water bottle at the beverage stations? I thought that NCL frowned upon it - spreading norovirus and all.

 

Thanks! - aj

[smeyer418]

the bag price for laundry is $24.95. yes its higher than it was(it was 12.95 two years ago) but I can fit 100 worth of wash in it...and I would rather they do it than me...

 

I wish I knew how the Kids club was different...

 

and I am glad you had a very good time welcome to cruising...

[sailor'swife]

Thanks for your review. Dh and I just booked a fall cruise on the Gem, so appreciated your input.

[cliffd64]

Thanks for the review. Looking at this cruise for my Spring Break next year. Are you allowed to refill your water bottle at the beverage stations? I thought that NCL frowned upon it - spreading norovirus and all.

 

Thanks! - aj

 

Here is a tip to avoid any problems in that area.... Fill one of the clean NCL buffet glasses and transfer the liquid from the glass to your refillable water bottle.... Repeat until your bottle is full. Much more sanitary that way. :)

[gpa385]

Cliffd is correct - fill up glasses and transfer to a bottle.

 

As for laundry prices, guess I'm just cheap...said the man who spent $$$ in the spa (me).

 

As for what's different w the kids club, I asked a couple who'd been there before, and they said it was more activities, both inside and out.

[murr202]

Great review. You need to cruise again and again to see what is good and bad. we went on the Jewel last year and it was fabulous. We are booked on the Gem this May and have a mini in the same area. I'll remember Jacinto, hope he takes care of us.

To those who need water everyday. We bought the water package last year and had water anytime we needed it. We took the bottles with us everywhere. Don't remember the price but we will be getting it again on the Gem.

[turning40withMickey]

gpa~

 

about Sheraton Cable Beach... do you recall the cost of jetskiing? I am guessing it was additional cost...

also~was kinds of inflatables were included? Kayaks included?

 

Thanks!

[DMH15]

Thanks for a great review. You and your family sounds like the kind of folks we like to cruise NCL with.

 

Your daughter? Loved her comment. My niece would have said that same thing.

 

Hope you will cruise NCL again, since you will no longer be newbies.

[gpa385]

Turning40:

 

Jetski: The cost of a Jet Ski was $75 for a half hour (that was the total cost for myself and 12 yo son). Cost goes up to something like $25-50 for every 15 minutes past 30. Wasn't affiliated with Sheraton, it was just some locals who sit just to the right of the hotel's beach.

 

Inflatables: @ Sheraton, the Paddle Boat/Aqua Bike was FREE (included with the Day Pass). For my 10 yo who didn't want to go on the Jetski, it was perfect. Think Kayaks were included too, but not 100% sure. The inflatable at Great Stirrup Cay was $20, I think? Totally worth it.

[turning40withMickey]

Turning40:

 

Jetski: The cost of a Jet Ski was $75 for a half hour (that was the total cost for myself and 12 yo son). Cost goes up to something like $25-50 for every 15 minutes past 30. Wasn't affiliated with Sheraton, it was just some locals who sit just to the right of the hotel's beach.

 

Inflatables: @ Sheraton, the Paddle Boat/Aqua Bike was FREE (included with the Day Pass). For my 10 yo who didn't want to go on the Jetski, it was perfect. Think Kayaks were included too, but not 100% sure. The inflatable at Great Stirrup Cay was $20, I think? Totally worth it.

 

 

Thanks! I am pricing out jetskiing since all three of my kids want to....

Thanks for noting this was not part of the Sheraton, as I am guessing it will be similar on any Nassau beach.:D

We rented the family raft at GSC last year, definitely worthwhile. My girls also loved the hippo slide at GSC.

[Angles kisses]

Thanks for great review. How do u get the spa pass and how much ?

Thanks !

[whenisthemidnightbuffet?]

Thanks for great review. How do u get the spa pass and how much ?

Thanks !

 

The pass can be purchased at the pier during embarking, or you can go directly to the spa once on board. Believe it currently costs $119 per person for week.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for posting your review and glad you had a good, no, very good time.

[azbaby8062]

We typically try to book a room between decks, with no public areas below and above us. However, I have noticed with the cabin we are looking at, it seems that the only deck they are located on are Deck 11. I notice that there are public areas above it. How was the noise level? Did you ever hear noises at night or early morning?