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GEM review April 5-14, 2014

mizLORInj

By mizLORInj,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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mizLORInj Great Review Rare

mizLORInj

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Posted (edited)

HI all. Here's a brief review of our 4/5-14, 2014 9 nighter on Gem.

 

We are all past guests of Norwegian at various levels from bronze to becoming platinum on this cruise.

 

Embarkation was simple and quick. We arrived around 11:30. I think the first group of suite passengers was escorted on at 12:05pm. We were on shortly after.

We had 3 cabins: one SF aft suite, one BA mid-ship balcony, and one mid-ship MA mini-suite. The SF is great; nice balcony and space in the cabin. Didn’t use Cagney’s breakfast and lunch perk much except for the brownie dessert which I picked up a few times and took the Great Outdoors to eat with the family. I prefer the variety of food the buffet or poolside bbq offers than the same menu every day as Cagney’s offers. The minisuite was 11100 and was under an uncarpeted area of the Garden Café and they heard carts rolling above them all hours of the night. Will note to never reserve this cabin again. The BA cabin on deck 10 was nice for the most part minus some of the louder neighbors.

 

Aft cabins are great except if the wind is a certain way the soot lands on your balcony. You do also get an occasional dropping from a balcony or The Great Outdoors above. Someone on a balcony above us cleaned out their hairbrush and I suppose she thought the wind would catch the hairball. Well it didn’t and it ended up on our balcony and also our neighbor’s.

 

We ate at the Grand Pacific the first night for the surf n turf. Service was very slow. Also went to Tappenyaki and Cagney’s once each for dinner. Both were very good.

 

My adorable nephew participated in some of the Nickelodeon shows; wasn’t much for the Splash Academy. There was even a show the last day at sea that featured the kids and it was quite cute. Same Nickelodeon shows over and over on the tv.

 

Garden Café offers a great variety of food stations. We loved the Asian station. There are plenty of typical American offerings like sandwiches, pizza, etc., as well as salads and pasta bar, and various veggies. Desserts on most cruises I find unappealing, though this time there was a mini lemon pie that was fabulous. The poolside bbqs were excellent—especially the Asian one the last sea day. The one thing that is horrible is NCL’s bacon. The soft ice cream was a bit too watery too. Which wasn’t a bad thing because I ate less of it. :-)

 

We met lots of fun people at the CC M&G, as well as around the ship and on excursions. So a shout-out to all of them!

 

Past Guest party was in the Spinnaker lounge one day at 1pm. Officers were there and other crew. Drinks were passed around and some type of hors de' oeuvres snack thingie.

 

I’m the proud winner of the Name that Disco tune game held in the Spinnaker lounge. It was fun. Others we met won the joke contest and also the ladies’ bicep contest!

 

White Hot Party was good too and featured some interesting shot concoctions. The blinky cups are back too, but they’re white now vs. clear from the past.

 

PORTS:

 

In Old San Juan we wandered to the Parrot Club on Fortaleza for a mojito, and then Pirilo Pizza Rustica (also on Fortaleza) that had good beer and excellent pizza. We then went to La Taberna Lupulo (didn’t open till 6pm). Seemed to be a lot less going on in OSJ than I remember from years past. Had a nice leisurely walk back to the ship.

 

St. Thomas we docked at Havensight and we did a private excursion on sailboat High Pockets. We have sailed with other outfits there as well, and haven’t had a bad daysail yet. Very enjoyable day.

 

St. Maarten we were off the ship early (especially when we saw Oasis docking!) and headed to Maho beach. Nice beach, though it was the most crowded I’d ever seen it. Sunset’s burger was very good.

 

DR we booked Cayenes del Mar in advance with some other CC members and had an enjoyable day there too.

---------

 

Weather was great up till Saturday sea day when it rained, and then Sunday was absolutely perfect. Enjoyed the SF balcony until the last moment.

 

Carlos the concierge was fabulous and Jeffrey our butler tried to keep the SF suite’s LaVazza coffee stocked as we loved the coffee and cappuccino from that machine. Raymundo was my cabin steward and he was great.

 

I got some awesome photos of the NCL Sun coming into port in St. Thomas so email me at my screen name plus yahoo dot com if you’d like me to send them to you.

 

A great cruise; wish I could still be on the ship. It’s getting older and needs a facelift in some places, but still I love the Gem and will see her again for sure.

Edited by mizlorinj
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mizLORInj Great Review Rare

mizLORInj

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Also forgot to mention that we did 2 martini tastings. You can get a tasting every day--see the drink menu. We arrived a little late 2nd to last sea day to the featured tasting and couldn't buy in so we got the regular tasting menu which was ok. The last day at sea the martini tasting were fabulous! lemon drop, cosmo something or other, and a few other really good ones. $15 plus gratuity. The minis are about the size of 2.5 regular martinis I think. :cool:

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tel2

tel2

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Hi!

 

We too were on this cruise, and agree with most of the comments of OP but will chime in here to address a couple of issues not addressed by OP. We were in an aft mini-suite on 11 (and no, I wasnt the person who cleaned out my hairbrush and threw it overboard - oh yuk). I am VIP level in CAS, so had VIP benefits, including concierge and use of Cagneys for breakfast and lunch. My husband tiered up to golden on this cruise, so he had some of the same benefits separately. Actually I was literally 80 points shy of VIP when I boarded. Hit it within about 20 minutes of the casino opening. Casino manager said I normally wouldnt get full benefits of VIP until next cruiise, but since I was so close and got there in the first hour of the cruise, she would make an exception. I cannot remember her name, but she was a host on Breakaway last year, and was promoted up to manager on the Gem. They gave me my choice of the soda package for two (a VIP benefit) or a 200. comp to be used however we wished. We took the comp. since we had brought a case of soda and a case of water on board with us.

 

We went to Cagneys for breakfast and lunch on multiple occasions - service and food were good. We also had the UDP. We generally tended to eat late -- 8PM or 8:30, and even without reservations we never had a problem being seated immediately at whichever restaurant we chose (Teppanaki we did make reservations for...). We ate in Cagneys (2x), Orchid Garden (1x), Moderno (1x), Teppanaki (2x), La Cucina (2x) and LeBistro (1x). Cagneys was by far the best. Teppanaki and LeBistro were very good, with good service. Food at LaCucina was good, but more or less on par with Olive Garden. Service was lacking both times. Items missing from order, long wait between courses, couldnt find our wine.... Moderno was OK - the beef was very overcooked. But the service was very good, and when we pointed out that the filet was dried out and extremely well done, they brought us more freshly cooked. But by far the worst was Orchid Garden - food was lousy and cold. The ribs were so fatty they were inedible. Service was non-existent.... The ice tea I ordered never showed up. My husband is a milk drinker, and when he asked for milk, the waiter made a face and said he would have to go downstairs for that, and then stood there and waited, as if he expected my husband to say "never mind", which he didnt. They charged me for the add-on lobster entree, which arrived cold in any event, and the manager would not remove the charge (even though there is not supposed to be a charge if you have the UDP), which forced me to stand in line at the service desk to have it removed. It wasnt the 10.00 - it was the principle, and I was annoyed. My husband said you couldnt pay him to go back.

 

We ate a few breakfasts and lunches in the buffet, which we found good. Food was hot, varied and stations were clean. We never had a problem finding a seat. Loved the crepes - sometimes we skipped dessert at dinner and went in search of crepes.....

 

We spent ALOT of time in the casino. The hosts and servers in the casino were terrific for the most part. They remembered that we drank non-alcoholic frozen drinks during the day, and switched to the alcoholic ones at cocktail hour. They remembered that we always had a cordial after dinner. During the day -- when I drank non-alcoholic strawberry daquiris all day -- more often than not they just showed up with them. At dinner time, as soon as we walked in someone would approach or catch our eye and ask/signal what we wanted to drink. Same with after dinner. The 11PM snack area set up in the casino was nice - sandwiches and wings were tasty. The only time we had an issue in the casino was late at night -- we could never find a server and one of us would have to go to the bar and get our drinks ourserves, and twice we won a jackpot after 2AM, and could not find anyone on the floor to come pay us. Both times it took close to 45 minutes to get paid - after we had to get up and walk about the casino looking for someone who was working - and we were very irritated. This never happened during the day or evening hours.

 

At VIP level, I was entitied to 7 days of spa for 2. My husband had zero interest in the spa. The casino manager had no issue at all giving me all nine days for one person. ALso, since we had the UDP, the manager sought us out and said since we had already paid for our dinners -- we each would have gotten one dinner comped - my husband is golden - we should let them know what restaurant we were going to each night and they would comp the wine. So we got a bottle of wine pretty much every night. At the end of the cruise they also comped off multiple spa treatments and a couple hundred dollars of liquor and perfume purchases in the duty free shops. Total comped off was about 1400., way more than on any other NCL cruise we have been on, though there were others where we played as much money over the same amount of hours.

 

I also spent alot of time in the spa. I used it almost every day for some period, and got massages every other day (4 of them), as well as a facial. On the very first day, I wrote "No sales please" on my intake papers, and they never bothered me once about purchasing products, which was nice. On Breakaway, I was inundated with sales pitches, despite making the same request at the initial visit. One amusing episode at spa -- loud pushy woman at counter - holding up line of folks - trying to negotiate a lower price on a pedicure, because she did not want a "pedicure", she just wanted polish removed, cuticles pushed back, nails clipped, and new polish applied. Huh? Isnt that a pedicure? She left in a huff saying she was going to customer service to complain. Really.... My only complaint about the spa is the size of the robes. I am a large built women, but not huge by any means, but the robes were sufficiently small that they gaped open in front, and they didnt have any larger sized ones. When I asked if they could grab one from the men's side, assuming they would be larger, she basically blew me off and said what I had would be fine. I was a bit miffed.

 

Our room steward (whose name I unfortunately have forgotten already) was very very good. We left a note on the first day with a 20.00 bill saying we were pretty low maintenance but it would make our stay more pleasant if he could empty refrig and remove all contents so we could put in soda and water, provide an ashtray for my husband for the balcony, leave extra coffee and real creamers for the coffee pot, and make sure our ice bucket was always filled. Not only did he empty refrig, but when we came back he had stocked our soda and water in fridge. The room was always spotless. We always had ice. The ashtray on the deck was always empty and clean, along with the rest of the balcony. He was always pleasant, and when we left in the morning, even if only for 20 minutes to run up to buffet and load plates to bring back down to eat on balcony, our room was made up in that short interim. And we got towel animals every night. And he showed me how to make the hanging monkey. Sooo cute.

 

All in all, a terrific cruise. We are going on the Gem again in the fall to Canada and New England. Cannot wait. We've been on Majesty (gone but not forgotten) Pearl, Gem, Jewel, Breakaway, Epic and Jade, and this so far is our favorite.

 

Terry

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cpiers

cpiers

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I too was on this cruise and unfortunately went to lay down to take a nap on Sunday at about 10AM and slept to 12:30! Thus missing the meet and greet at the Bliss Lounge. Oh well.

 

I also had the Spa Pass, and if anyone is on the fence about getting one - DO IT!!!! It was worth every penny. I agree with the above poster about the robes, but it really didn't bother me that much. I was at the spa every morning at 8AM to 10AM and I pretty much had the place to myself. Those heated tile loungers are to die for! I had such a hard time getting out of them as my whole body was in such a state of relaxation. In the afternoons I would stop by again and there were usually about a dozen people in there. Some nights we went from 9PM to closing and again we had the place to ourselves. And the views from the co-ed and women's side were gorgeous!

 

My second favorite thing to do was to go see LEO! Loved him! Very talented and very personable! NCL struck gold when they contracted him. By the end of the cruise, every time he played it was standing room only. They need to have him in a larger venue than Magnum.

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tel2

tel2

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tel2, I'm so curious and hope you don't mind .... how much time and money do you spend in the casino to get so many great perks?

 

Hmmm. We spend ALOT of time. Gambling (and for me, spa services) is our primary entertainment on vacation. Sea days, probably 6-8 hrs a day playing video poker or tables. Port days, probably 4-5 hours. Amount of money spent is very misleading. It isn't about how much you spend - it is about how much money you put thru the casino. We brought 5000. And didn't exceed that, in fact, came home with almost half of it even after buying trinkets and liquor in ports - but we won a number of jackpots and played that money all thru as well. If we had played only the 5000 we brought, and hadn't won any jackpots at all, that money would have been gone by day 2 or 3 and we wouldn't have gotten anything close to that level of perks. But we kept hitting for 1500, 2000 etc and kept recycling that money. At the end of the week, we usually spend about the same amount that the cruise would have cost us if we had paid in full for everything. In fact, that is usually our rule of thumb -- we bring cash to gamble in roughly the amount that the entire cruise would have cost us out of pocket if no comps were offered. Sometimes we come home with money, sometimes we exceed our budget by a bit, but that is about what it works out to averaging our twice a year cruises. We are usually comped at mini suite level, sometimes a full suite. We generally take what is offered and do not upgrade, although occasionally we upgrade to a better cabin, I.e., for Alaska we were comped a balcony, but wanted the experience of a large balcony given the beautiful scenery and thought we would spend more time in cabin that usual, so we paid to upgrade to a suite. But usually, we take whatever they offer, figure out what that would have cost if it hadn't been comped, and bring around that amount of money to gamble.

 

Terry.

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Tralfie

Tralfie

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Also forgot to mention that we did 2 martini tastings. . :cool:

 

Did someone say martinis?

 

Bazinga!

 

I'm on the Gem in September, and can't wait! Meanwhile, the whole cleaning-her-hairbrush-thing really bothers me. I mean, even if it DIDN'T land on your balcony, did the woman really need to be tossed into the ocean? I seem to recall that there are these things... what are they called? Oh, right, trash cans!

 

I guess you can buy a balcony, but you can't buy class!

 

Fun review! Thanks for sharing!

 

Richard/tralfie

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Tralfie

Tralfie

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Terry:

 

Thanks so much for sharing the info about your gambling habits. I know I'm not alone in always wondering, but never really wanting to ask, about what people who are comped CAS members at your level wind up gambling. It's interesting to know! My first full-length cruise was in early March (on the Breakaway), and I'll be doing the Gem in September for a week. How much I bring to gamble with may well depend on how well I do at the Borgata in Atlantic City in May! LOL

 

Richard/Tralfie

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tel2

tel2

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Richard

 

Good luck at Borgata. We go to AC about once a month but I dont think we have ever played there. We are diehard Harrahs/Caesars players. Since they have so many properties, and we are 7 Stars (guess you could have figured that out... LOL) it makes the most sense for us to stay with one casino.

 

Terry

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EvilBanker

EvilBanker

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Meanwhile, the whole cleaning-her-hairbrush-thing really bothers me. I mean, even if it DIDN'T land on your balcony, did the woman really need to be tossed into the ocean?

 

The entirety of her landing on the balcony would have been even more distressing (LOL). :eek:

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mattR

mattR

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I too was on this cruise and unfortunately went to lay down to take a nap on Sunday at about 10AM and slept to 12:30! Thus missing the meet and greet at the Bliss Lounge. Oh well.

 

I also had the Spa Pass, and if anyone is on the fence about getting one - DO IT!!!! It was worth every penny. I agree with the above poster about the robes, but it really didn't bother me that much. I was at the spa every morning at 8AM to 10AM and I pretty much had the place to myself. Those heated tile loungers are to die for! I had such a hard time getting out of them as my whole body was in such a state of relaxation. In the afternoons I would stop by again and there were usually about a dozen people in there. Some nights we went from 9PM to closing and again we had the place to ourselves. And the views from the co-ed and women's side were gorgeous!

 

My second favorite thing to do was to go see LEO! Loved him! Very talented and very personable! NCL struck gold when they contracted him. By the end of the cruise, every time he played it was standing room only. They need to have him in a larger venue than Magnum.

 

What did they charge for the spa pass?

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BritChickBN1

BritChickBN1

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Meanwhile, the whole cleaning-her-hairbrush-thing really bothers me. I mean, even if it DIDN'T land on your balcony, did the woman really need to be tossed into the ocean? I seem to recall that there are these things... what are they called? Oh, right, trash cans!

 

I guess you can buy a balcony, but you can't buy class!

 

 

 

Richard/tralfie

 

I was going to say the EXACT same thing.

 

 

Thank you for your review OP! I cannot wait to sail on the beautiful Gem in little more than a month. :)

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cpiers

cpiers

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What did they charge for the spa pass?

 

We signed up before we boarded at the table in the waiting area and the charged us $338 for the 2 of us. A bit pricey - but in my opinion, money well spent.

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cv322

cv322

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Thanks for your thoughtful review Lori ;)...I loved meeting you & your family :). I just booked the Gem again, this past week, for an 11-day on 10/27...maybe you guys could go also :confused:.

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