My HUGE GEM review 9-26-14 New England Sailing parts 1-12

[camasidaho]

So sorry about all the typos. Again fat fingers and a new phone and cutting and pasting without being able to edit much. Hope you all fill forgive me and be able to decipher what I wrote

[AAAAmerican]

Dear camasidaho,

 

Thank you for your review so far too. The more ye show the more all shall know.

 

As in a book it is not the cover which makes it best..eh..

 

Mistakes are a normalcy now. We all make those. Textual entry errors..;)

 

So sorry you missed Fenway and the Green Monster with your Charlie Cards...:eek:

 

 

 

 

 

So sorry about all the typos. Again fat fingers and a new phone and cutting and pasting without being able to edit much. Hope you all fill forgive me and be able to decipher what I wrote

[camasidaho]

Newport is a fun city with a million things to do. Thanks to Tom's port guide we decided to do the 2 buck trolley 67 to the breakers we used our vip tender cards to skip the line on deck 7 but had to wait for a tender foe only about 10 minutes on deck 4. Nice tender in. The walked 2 blocks to the info center. There are many options and tours for sale there. We decided to do it on our own. It was 19.50 for adults and 5.50 for the teenagers to do the tour of the breakers. Which is mind blowing but enough.

We walked down to the 49 stairs on the cliffs and just spent an hour watching and taking the ocean breaking on the cliffs

took the 2 buck bus back and got lucky with a driver that was actually narrating a few things so we tipped him. Not bad for a public bus. Standing in line to get back on the ship ncl was giving out cups of chowder. I had read getting chowder was a to do thing on this cruise in ports but save your money as ncl gets you some on the pier for free.

[EllieinNJ]

Wow! So enjoying your review/blog. We are doing this trip next September but they eliminated Boston and gave us an extra sea day. I was okay with this because I've been to Boston a few times, but after reading your report, I feel a little cheated because we are more port people than cruise people. At least we still have Bar Harbor and Newport. The two cruises after us are going to Portland instead of Newport. Looking forward to more. Ellie.

[Cruise girl 53]

Part 12 ok. I am impressed. Prizm and a crew member just did Billie Jean. The hat. The glove the moon walk. The black jacket and pants. Thriller album feel all the way. The vocals. One of the best at seas performances I have seen of this type of music. Worth the elevator ride up to the 13th floor. Made our night. Hope prizm plays on later cruises for the rest of you. Now rock with you. This is good stuff for a cruise ship. This Michael Jackson impersonator is good and the live band makes it better if you like 70s o and 80s make this a must do if they are playing when you sail. Too bad my hw is absolutely exhausted and too worn out to dance. She insists it was a 10 mile walk to the reversing rapids. I say 2 miles. Truth in the middle. It was far from a flat walk also. Very hilly and they didn't bring great shoes. My bad and I don't get to dance tonight with her because of it. But they band has kept the group out on the floor during many songs and now doing some b52s. My wife just said it sounds like Xm 33s Saturday night safety dance - my favorite radio program it's a retro mix of the best 80s dance music and tonight sounds like a good sampling of that show

 

Just ran into oldiesdj again from cc and was able to give them the bottle of wine we got with our room. Would have hated to just throw it away.

I normally don't write about food because everyone as different tastes but do want to mention that they do have ice cream. Yes soft serve. But also regular hard scoop ice cream. Had butter pecan yesterday. Good stuff. I felt the buffet is pretty robust especially for breakfast even though we cagneys for breakfast and lunch if we want.

Good morning. Woke up a bit early and watched the ship pull into bar harbor. Worth getting up for. What's unique was all the little markers or floats in the bay for the lobster traps. We passed by hundreds of them. And several lobster boats. Loved seeing the fancy houses overlooking the bay. It is overcast and cool. Top of Cadillac mountain was cloud covered which means no use to ride up there on the free busses until it burns off because there is no view from there yet. Finally have great cell and data so will probably post this on cruise critic now in hopes it might help passengers boarding this Saturday. I will say the fall new England colors are in full swing here. Much more than the first 2 ports.

I beat up on Peggy cove a bit as being hyped and it is. Again the rocks are cool but it's far from the only lighthouse around. Yesterday 2 were near the pier. Today saw several as we pulled in. Each pretty cool to see.

Bar Harbor is a very small town and thr biggest 3 buildings you see from the ship are smaller hotels one looks like a 2 story with maybe 50 total rooms. Looks pretty quaint and a fun place to see. Cadillac mountain looks like a hill but can't quite see the top. I am sure it is a nice view but being from the west when we say mountain we mean like 10000 feet or taller. So I will probably refer to it as Cadillac hill.

Again it is cool. Long pants and a jacket. My hw had worn a sweatshirt yesterday and it was soaked from the drizzle. I had more of a windbreaker and was dry and fine so I recommend something more like that.

Since tomorrow is our cram everything in day I decided to let the boys sleep in as late as they wanted. I will say this aqua guy in the teen club has become their new best friend /older brother type. He took them bowling last night then took them to karaoke yesterday joining my youngest in a duet of Toto's song Africa. We missed it but heard about it. Again my kids are not singers so if you had to endure that my apologies :) but the kids had a blast and that was fun for them.

OK I wil try to post all 12 of these in the same thread and come up some clever title I hope gotta kill a few hours before everyone is up and ready to tender in to bar harbor

 

Sorry for the typos. Newer phone and fat fingers. When the trip is over I will post the second half under a completely new thread as this one will probably be buried. Thanks for reading.

 

Do you know if you can rent a car in new port ri is it near ship

[camasidaho]

Just pulling into new york city. Rainy. I like how the Gem comes in a bit later as I have been on ships that have docked at 4 or 5 am. It is 610 and we are going under the narrows bridge right now. That gives us a chance to see the statue of liberty about 630 and docked around 7.

My thoughts on this cruise is that this by far is the friendliest crew we have seen on a ship. Noticeably. Example: thru out the week Leo the guitarist would take requests and as he did so would ask people's names. Then all week when those people were around he would call them by name during the show at the last night he went around the lounge and called about 25 people by name and all from memory.

The hostess in Mdr started call us by name after day 1 and memorized our room number which they asked for or swiped you room key. Other staff learned our kids names. We were boarding in Boston and some of the crew called my teenagers by first name my kids had no idea they were. Then of course our butler and room steward and Conseiger did from the start. It's almost like they had been given sheets with our photos from when we got key cards with our names to study which is fine but they did a fabulous job always greeting us by name and we did back. But they have many names each week !!! Besides the names the entire crew seemed happy and would always say hello or smile. My kids continually commented how this staff seemed happy and friendly. Much more than other cruises.

We felt the food at the buffet was very good. Why sit in cagneys for an hour when you can just get what you want when you want and how you want for lunch and breakfast? Maybe to be waited on I guess

Overall we loved this cruise and the itinerary and the staff. Awesome experience. And the 2 bed Suite was a great way to go with a family on board

[din2play2]

Welcome back Camasidaho! TY for your very detailed review - loved reading it. Sounds like you had a GREAT vacation.

I am going on Gem in April and can't wait! I didn't know they showed movies in the Stardust - what movies did they show?

[camasidaho]

Here is my last bit of advice. Again sometimes what I read here and what really happened were different. Our letter said to do priority with luggage be in the stardust but 845 am which we were. The self assist priority were already getting off the boat. But it was delayed some and we waited and waited. About 920. No biggie but we had rushed the kids through the buffet line. It took maybe 20 minutes to leave stardust and walk all the way to the pier only to walk all the way back and get our luggage and go through customs and then a bit of a zoo.

[camasidaho]

So it was pouring rain here. Crazy. Ad when you exit the pier folks on a tour or bus go to the left and people needing a taxi go straight across the road to the busy taxi stand. The line was huge and it was pouring rain. We went t the end of the line and waited then some hire car guys approached us for a ride. We negotiated and got a ride to our hotel for almost a cab fare and without the 45 minute wait in the down pour.

 

Travel tip. To the left of the taxi stand and around the corner were other car services. For a few bucks more than a cab you can save the long line wait. Our driver says he is a Uber driver and said Uber is going strong in nyc

We got to our hotel and got an earlier check in and got out of the rain

[camasidaho]

Some of the movies in the stardust were gravity, saving Mr banks, non-stop, and grown ups 2.

[meatball_nyc]

Loved your review. Welcome home to a rainy reality.

It's never fun when a cruise is over.

I can't even see the ships on the port ny webcam it's so foggy and rainy!

Safe travels.

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[camasidaho]

We did not really investigate renting a car in Newport so I can not tell you what was near the pier. Sorry

[crisperjr]

So it was pouring rain here. Crazy. Ad when you exit the pier folks on a tour or bus go to the left and people needing a taxi go straight across the road to the busy taxi stand. The line was huge and it was pouring rain. We went t the end of the line and waited then some hire car guys approached us for a ride. We negotiated and got a ride to our hotel for almost a cab fare and without the 45 minute wait in the down pour.

 

Travel tip. To the left of the taxi stand and around the corner were other car services. For a few bucks more than a cab you can save the long line wait. Our driver says he is a Uber driver and said Uber is going strong in nyc

We got to our hotel and got an earlier check in and got out of the rain

 

Enjoyed your review! We sail the Gem next Saturday.

 

Wanted to know about the self assist. Do recall what time that started?

 

Also, is there some sort of laundry day on the Gem? On Carnival, we could get a bag of clothes done for $15.

 

Oliver

Edited October 4, 2014 by crisperjr

[chasinraynbowz]

My mom and I are going on the Gem next Saturday and am wondering the same thing.... what time is self assist? I have arranged for a car to pick us up at 930 to take us to the airport in Newark. Our flights are at 1pm.

[camasidaho]

There was a laundry day I think Wednesday. It was like 25 bucks for all you can fit in a small bag if I recall. Self assist started about 815 I think and most were off by 915 pm.

[Sugar0802]

Thank you for the review! I'm sailing with Pam and Oliver next week Saturday and the travel tips are very helpful. Thanks again and safe travels home.

[camasidaho]

Thanks. Spending the night at a hotel in long island city on queens got an early check in then after the rain stopped rode the subway in and went to the top of the Empire state building. We'll the 8th floor observation deck. Ironically we watched the Gem pull down the Hudson River and past the statue of liberty just exactly a week after we had done it. Nice vantage point to watch the gem. Off to home tomorow.

[cruzinhansens]

I also am sailing next Sat & have loved reading all your info.Did you eat at any special little places in Canada ,either port that you would recommend .We have a rental car in Halifax also.

[camasidaho]

Since thr ship gives you chowder at the dock in

Newport that took care of that. I mentioned outside of peggy cove we did have a lobster but I do not recall the name. It was fair. We did it to say we did it

 

It was hard to eat off the ship because we were already so stuffed with food that was paid for already. A fee port days we skipped lunch and we're so go urged we didn't even feel the miss. Sorry I don't have a list of great places to try in each port.

[Cruise girl 53]

What do you recommend in bar harbor Maine

[Cruise girl 53]

Just read a review bar harbor main the travelin inn for lobster got 5 stars for lobster

[OldtimerBill]

Hi and thanks for the great review.

 

We were glad to get to meet you on the ship and were blown away by the suite. Also, thanks for the bottle of "sparkling wine". As I was easing the top off it suddenly popped and I was afraid I had put a dent in the ceiling of our cabin. :)

 

Hope you had a safe trip home.

[camasidaho]

Just getting to my home airport. Nice to meet you also and glad you could drink that safely. Ya it will be tough to go back to a regular cabin again. Good to meet you and we will see you later on down the road on a future cruise

[laurabegorrah]

I also am sailing next Sat & have loved reading all your info.Did you eat at any special little places in Canada ,either port that you would recommend .We have a rental car in Halifax also.

 

We had the best lobster roll in St John (well, actually, St Martian) at the Sea Caves. Thankfully we go there just before 5 tour buses pulled in! You'd need a car (or a tour bus) to get there, but the food was wonderful and the sea caves were very cool. We toured the Fundy trail as well - 10 min drive from the caves. Sooo worth it. Great views (even though they were mostly obscured by fog).

 

When we were driving out of Peggy's Cove, there was a little mom and daughter shop that had simple, yummie, home made food. Not a huge selection, and not very fancy, but the price was great and the food was good. It's right next to an artist's co-op type place. As you are driving out of Peggy's Cove, it's on the right. Beats waiting in line at the light house. Although, I've heard the food at the light house is pretty good as well.

 

Also, Yankee Lobster Comp in Boston, just a few short blocks from the port, had FABULOUS seafood. I did a hot lobster roll there, and was in heaven!

 

I'm a bit of a lobster fan. lol

Edited October 7, 2014 by laurabegorrah

[camasidaho]

Thanks laura for that info. Wish we could have done a few more things but my hw and kids wanted a slower pace

This was a great cruise and great itenerary