I Blinked! Back from Gem Aug 24th Sailing

[Bottlenosedolphin]

My family and I were deciding whether to go on the Breakaway in Oct or the Gem in August (same itinerary). We chose the Gem Aug 24th sailing and so happy we did. Although the week went so unfortunately fast! I'm going to attempt a mini review of the pos and negs and hopefully won't miss anything. If you have questions about the sailing, feel free to ask.

 

We drove to the pier and parked around 9:30 a.m. They started the security line around 9:45. I had strollers with me so they put us in a shorter line through security (a nice surprise for us when you have little ones in tow) and went to straight to the latitudes line to check in. We were all checked in by 10:00, and with kindles in hand, were occupied for the next hour when they started boarding. They had water and juice for guests while we were waiting. The whole process was very painless and went very smoothly. When we got on board, we went to the Garden Café until the rooms were ready, maybe an hour later. We met our stateroom attendant, Jonathan (we had balcony rooms on deck 9) who was by far the best stateroom attendant we have had on a cruise (and we have been on quite a few). He greeted us by name before he even met us and was always around if we needed something. He was even able to quietly clean our room around our sleeping son. Kudos to him!

 

As far as the room goes, we usually get a mini-suite, but this time chose to get balcony cabins. I really didn't expect the size difference. If you are deciding btwn the two- there is a huge difference in the bathroom size and on the pull out couch. There is no way a child older than 8-9 would be able to sleep on that couch. My four yr old son was hitting the limits of the length of the sofa bed (which is only pulls out to about 3/4 the length of the reg bed). super tight for a grown kid, and no way 2 bigger kids could sleep on it. The balcony size was fine for us, it had two chairs and a table.

 

Overall, the staff were amazing. Friendly and attentive. I sailed the jewel two times prior, and enjoyed this ship and this staff more. There were staff who were willing to go out of their way to accommodate my kids if they wanted a 'Dora' placemat at dinner (trust me, I said my kids were fine with what they had but the staff insisted on finding it at my kids request) or a certain dinner roll they liked. They even went to the garden café to get them food- above and beyond!!! Staff were always around giving out cold towels at the pool, or frozen grapes, ices, and water on the way back from an excursion. Really impressive in the details.

 

A few negatives (ok 4 in total-not bad) were that some of the staff in the main dining rooms were less than enthusiastic. They really took their time and left our table w/out checking in, water refills, and no food in front of us for 15-20 min at a time. One night we arrived at the restaurant at 6:15 and after still not having our entree at 7:10 we informed our waiter we wanted to make the show at 7:30. He laughed at us saying it wouldn't happen. We got our food at 7:20 and had to get up and leave. Dinners in general went 1 1/2 hrs on avg and it just seemed like the kitchen couldn't handle the crowds. Other than Thursday night on our cruise, it seemed as though most guests chose not to dine in the specialty restaurants and went to the main dining room.

 

Which leads me to my second negative. The timing of the events on board didn't make sense. We felt either rushed or forced to miss things. One example was Thursday on the ship. Bingo was scheduled for 4:30. We arrived to find out cards were first going on sale at 4:30. An hour later, at 5:30 the games began. By 6:30, we had to leave and go to the show which started at 7. With little ones, it was hard because we first had to dress and go to dinner after 8:30 (so we went to the blue lagoon for a fast dinner).

 

Third little peeve of mine was when someone would leave an empty food plate outside their door at 8 p.m. it wouldn't get pick up until 11 a.m. the next day. This happened time and time again throughout the trip.

 

Lastly, and most important negative, was billing on the boat. Please check your stateroom accounts line by line. I pre-paid my service charges (for 6 of us) before we sailed and they recharged us when we got on the boat saying they had no record and would have to file an inquiry w/Miami office. I spent too much time at the front desk and would not leave until the chargers were corrected (its a lot of $$!). When they realized it was a system error on their part, they didn't once even apologize. While told "this never happens" we met other guests on board who pre-paid dinners, etc. and were charged again. So please look because I am sure the cruise line is making $$ off of "system errors" that guests don't catch on their statements.

 

Now back to the positives, the private island was amazing. They have expanded it and, while still working on it, it looks beautiful. There are plenty of chairs and it never felt crowded. In general, the cruise never felt overly crowded even though there were 3000+ on board. The pool got crowded here and there but it was still fun. I ever go near the hot tubs- they are always overrun by kids which I can't figure out, but to each their own. My kids loved the slide but one annoyance were the kids playing at the end of the slide. It painfully slowed up the line and for as many times as the employees told them they couldn't swim at the end of the slide, the did anyway because their parents were nowhere to be found. I do wish there were more staff to regulate things like that. Overall, most kids were respectful and many parents were staying close. It was pretty peaceful on deck, until a fight broke out btwn two women. I don't know exactly what happened but all I saw were fists, food flying, and a girl crying. Staff came over and took them off deck. Never really encountered that on a ship- its vacation people- time to relax!! :)

 

For excursions, we did the Atlantis and dolphin swim. I had never been to the Atlantis and now we are def planning on returning. It was a great day and well worth the money. Lazy river is tons of fun and swimming with the dolphins, for me, is priceless (you can prob assume im a dolphin lover from my username.)

 

Anyway, enough of my rambling. We had a fantastic cruise and my kids are sitting here singing the cruise theme song as I type this. Let me know if you have any questions about the Gem sailing. Happy Labor Day!

[tymike]

Thank you so much for you review!

 

I am booked on the Gem next summer with the same itinerary. Can I ask what you did in Port Canaveral? I'm not sure I'm up to a 7 hour tour of NASA, and I'm also not sure I want to spend the day in the shopping mall in Coco Beach. Any suggestions?

 

I'm so glad to hear about Great Stirrup Cay being great! I'm already looking forward to the day!

 

Thanks again!:)

[Bottlenosedolphin]

In the past, we spent the day in Magic Kingdom (which was tons of fun but a very, very long day since the boat doesn't dock until noon). This time around we decided to stay on the ship which was the best decision for us. It seemed as though most passengers got off of the ship so we were able to enjoy the empty pool and pool deck.

 

You definitely have a great cruise to look forward to!

[cabincop]

thank you for your review. I love the Gem she is my favorite. I hate when people leave trays outside, how hard is it to leave it in your room till the steward picks it up, lol.

[sparks1093]

Thanks for the review! Can't wait until it's our turn:). Did you notice if the Blue Lagoon was open before sailaway?

[Bottlenosedolphin]

Pretty sure it was. Love their wings.

[tymike]

In the past, we spent the day in Magic Kingdom (which was tons of fun but a very, very long day since the boat doesn't dock until noon). This time around we decided to stay on the ship which was the best decision for us. It seemed as though most passengers got off of the ship so we were able to enjoy the empty pool and pool deck.

 

You definitely have a great cruise to look forward to!

 

Thanks so much for your reply! Staying on the ship may be just the thing for us as well! I'm glad you had a great cruise!

[Vicki'sMom]

Thank you for posting your review! We will be on the Gem next month for the Canada/New England itinerary and again next May ("Hi!" sparks1093! :)) for the itinerary you reviewed! :D

 

I appreciate the advice about checking the room account line-by-line. I feel even better now about my decision NOT to prepay the gratuities. ;)

 

We also plan to stay on the ship in Port Canaveral! We visit Florida multiple times a year and would much rather spend a relaxing day on the ship. :D

[spidybabe]

Can I ask what you did in Port Canaveral? I'm not sure I'm up to a 7 hour tour of NASA, and I'm also not sure I want to spend the day in the shopping mall in Coco Beach. Any suggestions?

 

Take the shuttle to Cocoa Beach. There is a lot of interesting stores with beachy type products, Ron Jon surf shop, and the Sharktank store with a really really big tank with small sharks inside. Also you can go onto the beach. Plus there is a bar that has dollar margaritas on Monday's after four. They are great.

Safe sailing

[jdvmd]

Thanks for sharing your comments!