Just off The Gem April 6, 2015

[lritch426]

Had a fantastic time on my 10 cruise on the Gem. I'll answer all questions I can. Ask away!

 

Food was good... After 10 days could use a home cooked meal...

Dinner in magenta and grand pacific took way too long. I enjoy a slow meal but we would be there for almost 2 hours whenever we went.

 

Crew was VERY friendly and fun. Gio was the Cruise Director and Kristine was the assistant. They were great!

 

Had the UBP and it was well worth it. No issues with any drinks my balance at the end if the cruise was only what I bought in the photo Gallery.

 

The excursion in Tortola (Virgin Gorda) was horrendous. Bathrooms were closed when we got there (after a 40!minute ferry and 10 minute taxi ride)Although it is a beautiful place there was so much Chaos in the caves and people were coming from both sides we had to wait 20 minutes just to get past small areas... Very tight. And we had less then 2 hours to explore, not worth the money. It could have been very nice but was extremely disorganized.

 

I do have all the Dailies.. I will try to post some. Btw, rock wall still closed.

Overall a fantastic cruise I love the Gem!

[NJ Johnny]

Did the ship dock at the pier in Tortola or did you tender? Thanks Carol

[BritChickBN1]

Glad you had a great trip. I look forward to seeing the dailies if possible.

[www3traveler]

Who was the Captain and the Hotel Director?

[bskmom]

Do you know if Gio will be cruise director for a while. You liked him?

Thanks again

Patti

Edited April 6, 2015 by bskmom
Left off word

[Doc2725]

Diner at Magenta taking too long, sounds about right. Not a major issue, but we ran into the same thing on the Gem is 2013. Glad that you had fun, the Gem is a great ship!

[OceanBlue123]

Did the ship dock at the pier in Tortola or did you tender? Thanks Carol

I was also on this last sailing of the Gem. The Tortola dock looked a very long way from finished, so we tendered.

 

We had the UDP and our dining was glorious. I am not a fan of Freestyle dining as the MDR often disappoints with waits to get in, slow service and reptitive menus. The UDP made all the difference. I highly recommend it.

[EllieinNJ]

Did you or anyone you knew stay in an obstructed ov cabin and were the windows/portholes glazed over like someone reported on a sister ship, Jewel?

[lritch426]

Did the ship dock at the pier in Tortola or did you tender? Thanks Carol

 

We tendered... Then went on excurstuon in Virgin Gorda so the ferry was a decent size. But they used the lifeboats otherwise.

[lritch426]

Did you or anyone you knew stay in an obstructed ov cabin and were the windows/portholes glazed over like someone reported on a sister ship, Jewel?

 

No I'm sorry we didn't we were in 11038-11042 the mini suites, which btw, the noise from up above was minimal. I was very nervous before boarding thinking it would be loud, but no worries there.

[lritch426]

Do you know if Gio will be cruise director for a while. You liked him?

Thanks again

Patti

 

Gio just came off of a vacation so I assume he will be there awhile. He is very energetic friendly and funny. Won't disappoint :)

[lritch426]

Who was the Captain and the Hotel Director?

 

The Captain was Lars from Norway and Hotel Director was Tony from USA. Not sure last names.

[Janine]

I know you would make a lot of people (including myself) very happy if you were able to post the Dailies!

[OceanBlue123]

I was also on this last sailing of the Gem. The Tortola dock looked a very long way from finished, so we tendered.

Just saw in the CC Tortola section that a Carnival ship did dock in Tortola a few days before we tendered!? I do not know how as the dock did not look too good to me, but maybe the dock will actually be ready soon?

[Weluv2cruise2gether]

Also just off the Gem and had a great time. Gem crew was great! My only dissappointment was shore excursion in Tortola. It was Tortola by Land and Sea. It rained during the sea part so not much of an opportunity to see the sites. Crew was friendly and no one can help the weather so I understand. Next you get dropped in Soper Hole and told you have 30 minutes to look around and shop. Well we got about 15-20 mins. Next loaded onto open safari buses for land portion. Well, if you enjoy going up and down steep hills with sharp curves at a very fast speed your idea of sightseeing, then you may enjoy it. One actual photoshop for about 5 mins at a lookout. Next 2 stops were about 30 seconds each and if you were on the opposite side of bus, too bad, no picture for you. Very dissappointing!

[Gershep]

Glad you liked the Gem. Did they have menu's with all the different fancy drinks?

[luvtheships]

Do you recall what other cruisers did it Tortola?

 

Other types if excursions?

 

Taxi to beaches?

 

 

 

 

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[lritch426]

Do you recall what other cruisers did it Tortola?

 

Other types if excursions?

 

Taxi to beaches?

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

My friends just went shopping in Tortola. It really does seem like a wasted stop since we were only there 7-1 and by time you get on Tortola, you have to worry about getting back to the boats by 11:30 to make it back on ship for 12:30.. Listen, it wasnt horrible to be wading in the Caribbean waters I'll take a traffic jam like that over the west side highway in NYC anyday but once the dock is complete it will be much better but right now may pay to just stay in ship and enjoy the view and prime pool seating... Lol

[lritch426]

Glad you liked the Gem. Did they have menu's with all the different fancy drinks?

 

They posted the drinks of the day for the week so you could look at those.. And some others but really anything I asked for they made. No issues :)

[dshefter]

Thanks for the post. We are on the Gem next January, so hopefully the dock in Tortola will be finished. Looking forward to The Baths. Sorry to hear your tour was disorganized. We are on the same excursion.

[mizLORInj]

Glad you liked the Gem. Did they have menu's with all the different fancy drinks?

 

Fancy drinks are at the Sugarcane Mojito bar in Moderno. The martini bar has some good ones too.

 

I wish Gem's O'Sheehan's made the Botanical Oasis cocktail like O'Sheehan's on the Breakaway. But they didn't.

[lritch426]

Thanks for the post. We are on the Gem next January, so hopefully the dock in Tortola will be finished. Looking forward to The Baths. Sorry to hear your tour was disorganized. We are on the same excursion.

 

Should be better once dock is finished, you should arrive on time to excursion. Also, if all else fails do devils bay first (amazing) then go back the way you came (short hike no caves) and go to the baths beach, then if time allows go through the caves that connects the two. Basically you are dropped off in the middle and can go either way. The problem was 1/2 went one way and1/2 went another... Caused a huge traffic jam in the middle at the caves. If our excursion was told to go one way.. It may have helped alleviate the congestion.

[first_carnical]

We were on the same sailing, I think. We also did Virgin Gorda baths excursion through NCL. We didn't have any problems, the only thing we wished is that we would have more time to explore the caves. We went to Devil's Bay first and it wasn't crowded at all. We spent some time on the beach snorkeling and then went through the caves to go back. We had some traffic on the way back, but not too much. We found that it was beautiful and we wished that we had more time to walk through different paths and take pictures. I think NCL should really extend Tortola time, so that people have more time. We really enjoyed our Gem experience, which was our first time on the Gem.

[Crusin6]

We were on the same sailing, I think. We also did Virgin Gorda baths excursion through NCL. We didn't have any problems, the only thing we wished is that we would have more time to explore the caves. We went to Devil's Bay first and it wasn't crowded at all. We spent some time on the beach snorkeling and then went through the caves to go back. We had some traffic on the way back, but not too much. We found that it was beautiful and we wished that we had more time to walk through different paths and take pictures. I think NCL should really extend Tortola time, so that people have more time. We really enjoyed our Gem experience, which was our first time on the Gem.

 

 

Did you bring your own snorkel gear? I'm thinking about doing this excursion through ncl and could easily bring our plastic stuff for simple close in snorkeling but of course if they supply the real stuff on this excursion all the better

 

 

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[lritch426]

We were on the same sailing, I think. We also did Virgin Gorda baths excursion through NCL. We didn't have any problems, the only thing we wished is that we would have more time to explore the caves. We went to Devil's Bay first and it wasn't crowded at all. We spent some time on the beach snorkeling and then went through the caves to go back. We had some traffic on the way back, but not too much. We found that it was beautiful and we wished that we had more time to walk through different paths and take pictures. I think NCL should really extend Tortola time, so that people have more time. We really enjoyed our Gem experience, which was our first time on the Gem.

 

Maybe the fact that we were on the last taxi to get to Virgin Gorda affected us too. Everyone was already heading down the paths when we arrived. We sat up top on the ferry... So took us very long to get off.