Gem 9 Day NYE Cruise Review! 12/31/12-12/9/13

[b00kbug]

Hello all!!

 

Home recovering from a bad case of the sniffles and coughing that I picked up the last few days of our trip. We had an amazing time and I'm looking forward to sharing what I can!

[boopsahoy]

Looking forward to your review-I leave Friday for the same cruise:D

[azappraiser]

Hello all!!

 

Home recovering from a bad case of the sniffles and coughing that I picked up the last few days of our trip. We had an amazing time and I'm looking forward to sharing what I can!

 

Also looking forward to your review... we leave in 2 weeks for the same itinerary. Although, I do have a question regarding the title of your thread... "Gem 9 Day NYE Cruise Review! 12/31/12-12/9/13"... are you sure you're back home yet? :D

[b00kbug]

Okay then, I guess I'll start off with some basic background info. This was a honeymoon trip for DH and I. I am 26, DH is 28, both from eastern Long Island. This was DH's first cruise, certainly not to be his last!

 

We arrived at the port a little after 11am as I always enjoy getting on the boat as soon as possible to enjoy every single minute of my vacation. Embarkment was a bit of a mess. I heard a few different reasons behind this - this boat was late, there was a mechanical problem, a part needed to be replaced - not really sure on what did actually happen.

 

Because we were in a suite, we walked through security easily. But FYI...for any other honeymooners our there, or any couple really....fuzzy handcuffs are not allowed and will be confiscated. :o If you are in a suite, be sure not to allow yourself to be herded into the same lines that everyone else will go through. The people organizing the lines kept trying to push us through the general lines and we had to insist a few times that we were priority before they showed us the right way.

 

We were shown into the priority lounge where there was coffee waiting for us. We had just finished our cup of coffee when we were asked to leave the lounge and go to the check in line. We were escorted to the area to check in where it was a bit of a wait since there was only two people being used to check in all the suite members. It still beat the ridiculous lines that I heard built up later on.

 

After they took our pictures and my NCL credit card info, we were brought back to the lounge where we got to enjoy finger sandwiches, juice, and other snacks. The staff made sure everything was kept filled though the coffee was just cold at that point. Oh well.

 

And we waited.

 

And waited.

 

More waiting.

 

We continues to hear updates like 'only a half hour more' about three or four different times. A few other updated were given, but they were spoken at the front of the long lounge room and as we were seated in the back, I couldn't hear a thing.

 

Finally, around 2:30, we were guided onto the boat and into Cagney's for a very late lunch. There was much rejoicing, and a well deserved glass of wine.

 

 

After a yummy lunch, we took a few pictures before it got too dark and eventually went to see our room for the first time. Aft suite 10166 was beautiful, a ton of storage space, big balcony, and we had champagnes, flowers, and fruit waiting for us.

 

 

We met our butler Randito or 'Randy'. He showed us how to use the coffee machine on our room and gave us his extension number should we need anything.He was great through our trip though we didn't ask much of him really. He always made sure to say hello and check to see if we needed anything. Our concierge was names Ryan, and he too was fabulous that we only used him once or twice. In fact when we would see him he would yell at us 'You never call me!'.

 

The boat left late, around 5:30/5:45. I always like to be outside and see the statue of liberty and going under the bridge but WOW it was cold. DH had to stand behind me as I was taking pictures because I almost fell backward a few times because of the wind. When I finally admitted I couldn't feel my anything, we headed back to the room to enjoy the bridge from our balcony.

 

We unpacked and made ourselves at home in our suite. One tip that I got from cruise critic that I highly suggest people follow is to buy a cheap over the door shoe organizer for your toiletries. It was so handy to have everything out for easy access but not causing a big cluttered mess. We got ours for about $5 and we'll definitely be bringing it again.

 

We changed into our NYE party clothes before going to La Cucina for dinner. The food was great, my chicken parm was amazingly tender. We also had two glasses of estancia pino noir wine. I am not usually a red wine fan, but this was fantastic. I highly recommend it!

 

The daily said there would be parties all over the boat for NYE but there was going to be a balloon drop in the atrium and my inner five year old screamed BALLOONS! so that is where we went. We claimed seats at the java bar and were glad that we did because the atrium quickly became PACKED. Barely room to walk around at all.

 

So we drank, and met a few people seated near us. The boat was ROCKING. I had heard that the trip may be rough heading out of NY, and we certainly felt it early. Every so often we would hit a large wave and we would all be lifted out of our seats a bit and the entire atrium was filled with sounds of 'WHOAA' and then hysterical laughter.

 

About an hour before midnight, there was a table with hats and noisemakers that people swarmed like it was the last time they would ever see a noisemaker or glittery paper hat again. If you are going on a NYE cruise I would advise you to bring your own and avoid the stampede.

 

 

Just before midnight, waiters gave out small plastic glasses filled with champagne. We watched fox 5's countdown from times square on the big screen, counted down the last ten seconds and..

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

 

The balloons fell, the music was jamming and everyone was in full party mode. It was a great way to bring in the new year, and apparently THE place to the on the boat that night as we heard from several people who went to a few of the other parties offered in Bliss or Spinnaker, that it was pretty lousy.

 

Not much after midnight, we headed back to our room for the night, exhausted and looking forward to day 2!

[b00kbug]

Also looking forward to your review... we leave in 2 weeks for the same itinerary. Although, I do have a question regarding the title of your thread... "Gem 9 Day NYE Cruise Review! 12/31/12-12/9/13"... are you sure you're back home yet? :D

 

ug, how the heck did I manage that??? :eek:

[JMHAM1]

Interesting about the handcuffs.....we bring all sorts of things and have never had anything confiscated. :eek: Maybe they were just keeping them for their own amusement. lol :p

 

Love reviews from honeymooners!! Keep it up!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[greatlakesgirl]

Loving your review so far! :D

[jdvmd]

Hello all!!

 

Home recovering from a bad case of the sniffles and coughing that I picked up the last few days of our trip. We had an amazing time and I'm looking forward to sharing what I can!

 

Look forward to your review!

[narrow56]

I'm excited to read the rest of your review. My husband and I are sailing on the Gem June 29th!

[Family Travel Story]

Thanks for the begining to your review, sounds like a good start. I am going on the same cruise next month with my DW and DD and can't wait.

[NYteacher]

I was on the cruise that disembarked the day you boarded. We had such rough seas and winds that something to do with an anchor was dislodged. This caused us to change direction slightly and reduce our speed back to NY. This, of course resulted in your delayed boarding and departure.

 

I don't think we even began disembarking until well after ten. We waited in the cabin and the cruise director kept pleading for people to not block the exits and to not come to the atrium until their color was called. My impression was that many of our fellow passengers ignored the disembarking directions, causing even more delays.

[oskar95]

I was on the cruise that disembarked the day you boarded. We had such rough seas and winds that something to do with an anchor was dislodged. This caused us to change direction slightly and reduce our speed back to NY. This, of course resulted in your delayed boarding and departure.

 

I don't think we even began disembarking until well after ten. We waited in the cabin and the cruise director kept pleading for people to not block the exits and to not come to the atrium until their color was called. My impression was that many of our fellow passengers ignored the disembarking directions, causing even more delays.

 

We docked at 10:30 and our party was of the ship 1:30:eek: Ah, miss Ken and Big Mommas voice!

 

What a great report! Being in the Atrium looked awsome!

[Cupcrazy]

Thanks for posting. Looking forward to more.

[cloudydrms]

Just booked this cruise/itinerary in April. Looking forward to reading the rest of your review!

 

Cindy

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review.

[b00kbug]

Thanks for all the love!

 

 

Okay, so that night in our lovely little suite the boat would not let either of us sleep. There is a bar set up in the room with glasses and such that rattled like crazy all through the night because of how rocky the water was. Everything we had on the table rattled, the shower door slammed open and shut - it was a noisy, rocky, uncomfortable night.

 

While I would love to tell you that I woke up chipper and eager to enjoy the first full day of our vacation - I can't. In fact, I was stuck in bed with awful sea sickness until 2pm. I have NEVER experienced sea sickness before and it is not something I would like to repeat.

 

 

While I tried to sleep most of the morning away, DH did wake me up to ask me if we were going to the M&G and I promptly told him that he can go, but I would wait in the cabin for death to claim me. I just felt THAT awful. I was the M&G organizer and I felt so terrible, but there was no way that I was getting out of bed.

 

DH had breakfast brought to the room for himself and ginger ale for me. He said breakfast was okay - but did not compare to Cagney's that we got from then on.

 

Around the 2pm mark, DH dragged me from the bed to the medic - we passed a good number of other people in the hallway who also looked like death warmed up. The medic was certainly prepared. They took one look at me, handed me two dosses of the sea sickness pills along with a little info on sea sickness. While I would have preferred to bury myself back in bed, DH insisted I needed something in my stomach so he half dragged me to the Blue Lagoon where I got myself some soup.

 

A little later on, I did find some comfort being out in the open air and in one of the hot tubs. Here is a note for those who are sailing on the Gem soon - for some reason, the hot tubs next to the adult pool were running cooler than the hot tubs next to the family pool. On the first full sea day, it was rather chilly out and the adult hot tubs were luke warm at best. We finally jumped to one of the warmer ones when we wised up, and it was much better. We heard several people complain about this but we sadly never saw anyone actually work on the problem. :(

 

DH eventually dragged me out of the hot tub so we could get dressed and head to dinner. We had some time before our reservation and we found ourselves at the Maltings bar. Now, I really missed the piano bar that was on the Jewel but Maltings became out hangout spot. Why? The bartender was great (I am pretty sure his name is Phil, DH claims it was Jim) and he had popcorn and bar nuts/crunchy bits that was yummy, and they had a good selection of beer on tap for DH. It's a good spot to listen to any music happening in the lounge one floor below because of the open balcony nearby as well.

 

We went to Orchid for dinner that night and the menu was amazingly broad and I wish we had gone back when my stomach was cooperating. I can tell you that the fried crab dumplings are delish.

 

That night we went to the Newlywed Not-So-Newlywed Game Show. We arrived early because I have been to the show on the Gem and I know the place can get tight with seating. While we waited, they had some ballroom dancing happening, and DH and I took a whirl even though the older much more experiences ballroom dancers were twirling circles around us - not to mention with the rocking ship, we were all stumbling every so often!

 

The game show was a lot of fun, I was very happy that my stomach allowed me to attend! The newlyweds were actually the couple that we were sitting next to for NYE at the Java Bar, so that was nice. Of course the couple that was married the longest beat the pants off the other two couples. The best moment was when the newlywed groom was asked 'What is your favorite condiment?' And he replied 'Trojans'.

 

By the end of the game show, it was time for bed for my sick butt and we both hoped for better weather when we woke up!

[F27TW]

Awesome review so far !

Sorry u had such a sea sickness problem ... esp on ur first night ... and on ur Honeymoon too!

Keep up the great work .. really looking fwd to the next installments, as my partner and I have been seriously looking at taking this cruise !

[jrs101]

Congrats on your nuptials. Sorry about the fuzzy cuffs...that made me laugh. Can't wait to hear more about your cruise. Great job!

[Tiger55]

Very nice review so far, can't wait to hear the rest!

 

The condiment/trojan question is all part of the show. Our friends were newlyweds on one of our past cruises, and the CD tells the guy to say that, but it still never gets old:D

[trish1c]

I'm enjoying your perspective on the trip. As a non-suite passanger let me tell you embarkation was worse for the rest of us. We had to stand that entire time with our heavy winter coats.

Upon boarding DH & I hung out in the library for about 15 minutes before our cabin was ready. We grabbed a quick bite at the relatively empty Blue Lagoon before muster which was much better without the life jackets.

Did you ever learn what the medical emergency was which sent that poor passanger off the ship before we even left Manhatten? What an awful way to start a vacation. I hope it wasn't too serious but we did see an ambulance on the dock.

We did sailaway with friends in the Garden Villa which was lovely but isolated.

We spent a quiet NYE in the Star Bar.

New Year's Day was rough. I could have handled the waves or my hangover but both sent me back to bed. I noticed all the sea sick bags by the elevators and around ship on the way to the M&G. Sadly they got a lot of use. The senior staff came. Paul the CD who boarded with us introduced them even though he didn't really know them either. The didn't stay long or mingle.

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Great review so far...sorry that you got seasick...

[sebas030]

Very nice review so far, can't wait to hear the rest!

 

The condiment/trojan question is all part of the show. Our friends were newlyweds on one of our past cruises, and the CD tells the guy to say that, but it still never gets old:D

 

 

Talk about "fixed" game.....On the first night of my first cruise on the Gem, We attended the Newlywed game, we were about 20 in the spinnaker lounge....the youngest couple on stage, married for less then a year, was funny :D ......BUT the young wife was also a participant on the " bachelor" game 3 days later.....saying in her opening speech that she was single and opened for dating :eek:

 

She was also the winner in a dance competition during the cruise and was NEVER seen either with her " new husband" or her "date" :D

 

anyways...we had such fun that I got addicted to cruising !!!

[LarryNY]

Great review so far, congrats on your wedding. We are also from eastern Long Island sailing on the gem this friday 1/18 celebrating our 25th Anniversary. It goes quick let me tell you, enjoy the moments!

[jrs101]

Heh hem, Mrs. Bookbug. Waiting anxiously for more. Checking back everyday!

 

J