The not-so-suite life: Gem aft penthouse badly in need of refresh

[Turtles06]

Very bummed to read this. We are in that suite beginning 2/21 and I have been looking forward to a 10th deck penthouse forever. We had one booked on the Jewel a few years ago but had to cancel when DH got pneumonia. We have had aft penthouses on the 9th deck but the 10th was my dream - with the bigger balcony and the one we visited a couple years ago was much better layed out than ours. Oh well, guess I'll just have to hang on the balcony and ignore the room issues but I sure hope the smell is gone for good. Sounds like you had some maintenance done so hopefully we won't have to. ;)

 

The balcony is wonderful, mismatched furniture and all. So just hang out there! And yes, you'll have a totally brand new mattress (well, just used by us and the folks on the cruise that left yesterday :)) and a new mirror on one of the doors. If you smell that fishy odor when you enter the cabin, you may want to say something.

 

I hope Ryan is still the cabin attendant. He was absolutely wonderful, one of the best we've ever had.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[mrrobby]

Very bummed to read this. We are in that suite beginning 2/21 and I have been looking forward to a 10th deck penthouse forever. We had one booked on the Jewel a few years ago but had to cancel when DH got pneumonia. We have had aft penthouses on the 9th deck but the 10th was my dream - with the bigger balcony and the one we visited a couple years ago was much better layed out than ours. Oh well, guess I'll just have to hang on the balcony and ignore the room issues but I sure hope the smell is gone for good. Sounds like you had some maintenance done so hopefully we won't have to. ;)

 

Hello, Like I posted earlier on this thread, the Suite is not in that great of condition, but you will have a great cruise.

 

The balcony is amazing and while lounging on your lounge chairs looking at the wake none of that other stuff will bother you.

 

The bed in our Suite 10666 was great and I actually liked it more than the bed in our house. It seemed like it was new or close to new.

 

The furniture is ugly and bright, but the room is a decent size and you have room to move about and it's much larger than a balcony room. Of course it should be for the money they charge.

 

Ryan is a great room attendant. I hope your butler is not Erlindo. It seemed kind of like you were bothering him if you asked him to do something. A few friends of mine in the Aft Suites also felt the same way.

 

Have a great cruise and don't let this small stuff bother you. We didn't and totally enjoyed the cruise.

 

All the Best

Rob

[jjikids]

On demand movies are free in suites. $9.95 for everyone else.

We also had Erlindo. He gave you what you asked. He didn't volunteer for more than that. He did give us loads of snacks each day much more than what we have ever had in suites before.

At least the carpet was clean.

They also have Bulgari instead of Elemis for shampoo, conditioner and body lotion.

[DMH15]

That table would be great for snacks like pistachios. Keep a can under it and just slide the shells into the slot. :D

 

Sorry, not meaning to jump in with a pun, but couldn't help it. I would gladly stay in that cabin.

 

Most of the time we book OVs and insides since we spend a lot of time enjoying the other parts of the ship.

 

Now if cruising in the summer, we definitely would want a penthouse/OS to avoid the noise especially on sea days.

 

I've seen worse looking cabins, forward penthouses with the "sea door" with rust and salt creep. It's the nature of the beast.

 

Certainly beats painted steel bulkheads and oil coated bilge strakes one sees for months as a crewmember. ;)

 

Oh and the comment about duct (or duck!) tape! I recommend gaffer's tape as its adhesive comes off clean leaving no residue. Yes it's more expensive than duct tape but worth it IMO.

 

http://www.amazon.com/ProTapes-Pro-Premium-Gaffers-Adhesive/dp/B00J4I9GNG/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1455293015&sr=1-4&keywords=gaffer+tape

 

 

I have a travel size goo gone too[emoji3]

[Turtles06]

The balcony is amazing and while lounging on your lounge chairs looking at the wake none of that other stuff will bother you.

 

.....

 

Ryan is a great room attendant. I hope your butler is not Erlindo. It seemed kind of like you were bothering him if you asked him to do something. A few friends of mine in the Aft Suites also felt the same way.

 

 

Agreed -- for sure hang out there and stare at the wake. :)

 

Our butler was Roshan. We aren't "butler people," so I can't really comment on him, except that he seemed nice and I have to believe that if we'd requested anything, he would have taken care of it. I will add, though, that after the first couple of days, I never saw him back there around the aft suites. Maybe none of us were "butler people." :)

 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

[Barb Nahoumi]

We were in 10164 (the starboard corner).

 

For those unfamiliar with the table and chairs, which were always pretty ugly and are now old, worn, and ugly, here they are (as well as the desk, with the hole NCL left in it, and a glimpse of the bordello-worthy curtain):

 

 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

That's suite furniture? I had better chairs in my Balcony room on the Dawn.

[mrrobby]

Agreed -- for sure hang out there and stare at the wake. :)

 

Our butler was Roshan. We aren't "butler people," so I can't really comment on him, except that he seemed nice and I have to believe that if we'd requested anything, he would have taken care of it. I will add, though, that after the first couple of days, I never saw him back there around the aft suites. Maybe none of us were "butler people." :)

 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

 

We are not butler people and it was only my second time with a butler. I am just comparing how much nicer and warm our butler was 2 years ago.

 

His name was Jeffrey and he was from Jamaica. He was just wanting to do anything for you and could not have been a nicer person.

 

With Erlindo I only called when I absolutely needed him to bring me something. I think we ordered room service lunch twice. He screwed up 1 of the orders and naturally I didn't say anything to him.

 

I told him don't bring the afternoon snacks and he proceeded to bring them anyway.

 

Enough butler ranting.

[peg013]

On demand movies are free in suites. $9.95 for everyone else.

We also had Erlindo. He gave you what you asked. He didn't volunteer for more than that. He did give us loads of snacks each day much more than what we have ever had in suites before.

At least the carpet was clean.

They also have Bulgari instead of Elemis for shampoo, conditioner and body lotion.

 

I'm hoping they have some Elemis stashed somewhere on the Gem for our cruise in April. We had the Bvlgari on the Escape and I was not impressed. The scent stinks imho and kills my asthma. Every time I got on an elevator that someone had used it I ended up with a coughing attack. Not fun!

[Turtles06]

I'm hoping they have some Elemis stashed somewhere on the Gem for our cruise in April. We had the Bvlgari on the Escape and I was not impressed. The scent stinks imho and kills my asthma. Every time I got on an elevator that someone had used it I ended up with a coughing attack. Not fun!

 

It was Bvlgari this past week in our cabin on the Gem.

[dongordon]

Hello, Like I posted earlier on this thread, the Suite is not in that great of condition, but you will have a great cruise.

 

The balcony is amazing and while lounging on your lounge chairs looking at the wake none of that other stuff will bother you.

 

The bed in our Suite 10666 was great and I actually liked it more than the bed in our house. It seemed like it was new or close to new.

 

The furniture is ugly and bright, but the room is a decent size and you have room to move about and it's much larger than a balcony room. Of course it should be for the money they charge.

 

Ryan is a great room attendant. I hope your butler is not Erlindo. It seemed kind of like you were bothering him if you asked him to do something. A few friends of mine in the Aft Suites also felt the same way.

 

Have a great cruise and don't let this small stuff bother you. We didn't and totally enjoyed the cruise.

 

All the Best

Rob

 

I agree with Rob about Ryan and Erlindo...

Ryan was the best cabin steward I ever had and Erlindo was not the best Butler (I had to ask Ryan when I wanted something from Erlindo), but I do not use the Butler much at all.

We always saw him in the late afternoon with the "snacks" everyday, but we never ordered any meals. And I always forget that you can use the phone to contact him....my bad! :)

 

Don

[david_sobe]

Sorry the suite was not up to your expectations. I do like the new carpet. Did these suites not have that very loud color carpet before?

The Gem is a ship that is 10 years old. They can sure replace the desk and chair. But the rest of the room does not look that bad to me IMHO. I guess I am used to wear and tear on cruise ships. Every room or suite I have stayed in has had something showing wear.

[peg013]

It was Bvlgari this past week in our cabin on the Gem.

 

I know the Gem switched over. That's why I'm hoping for a stash. They couldn't have used every last bottle of the Elemis before they switched, could they? I'm going to ask the Pre-Concierge to request that if there is any left on the ship to please stock our suite with it since I cannot use the Bvlgari. If it doesn't work, I'll have to use my own since I can't use or be around anyone using the Bvlgari. It really sucks that they got rid of Elemis and got something with such a strong scent. I'm sure I'm not the only one on the ship with asthma.

Edited February 12, 2016 by peg013

[Dr. Cocktail]

Thank you for your excellent review! I am travelling with friends who are booked into your cabin and I was waiting for a last minute upsell ...

 

Maybe not.

 

Whereas people refer to drydock renovations, this cabin could easily be rejuvenated on a last/first day turn around. With proper planning, a couple of suites could be done every cycle. While you couldn't refurbish the bathroom, new furniture and cabinets could be waiting appropriately packaged shore side. As soon as people departed, the soft goods (drapes and bedspreads) could be removed and all of the sofas, tables, chairs and even desks.

 

Removal time? Thirty minutes at most. Then, put in the new furniture and mount the desks/cabinets ... one hour at most.

 

The old furniture is there because NCL frankly doesn't care.

 

I always vote with my wallet ... while I love my Haven Suites on the Breakaway Class (and all of the extra perks that come with it ...), I don't feel the need to upgrade to a Days Inn Suite on the Jewel Class Ships.

[Love my butler]

That's suite furniture? I had better chairs in my Balcony room on the Dawn.

 

Agree. That décor is disgraceful for any room let alone a suite. Except for the carpet it looks like the inside of a truck stop cafe.

 

Just NCL saving another nickel and dime.

[jjikids]

I know the Gem switched over. That's why I'm hoping for a stash. They couldn't have used every last bottle of the Elemis before they switched, could they? I'm going to ask the Pre-Concierge to request that if there is any left on the ship to please stock our suite with it since I cannot use the Bvlgari. If it doesn't work, I'll have to use my own since I can't use or be around anyone using the Bvlgari. It really sucks that they got rid of Elemis and got something with such a strong scent. I'm sure I'm not the only one on the ship with asthma.

 

I asked about the Elemis line. Our steward proceeded to being me a dozen of each kind of Bulgari product. I love them so I was happy. He said there is no Elemis left.

What is funny is that the spa still has Elemis products. I had two massages there and both girls didn't know that Elemis is no more in the suites.

[david_sobe]

The carpet does not match the drapes ;)

The new carpet looks great but they kept the loud green/red drapes that matched the former carpet.

[goldmom]

I also loved the Elemis and used to bring the left overs home to make the cruise last longer. LOL! Do they still have bar soap? If not I'll bring my own.

[hateswaterloves2cruise]

The balcony is wonderful, mismatched furniture and all. So just hang out there! And yes, you'll have a totally brand new mattress (well, just used by us and the folks on the cruise that left yesterday :)) and a new mirror on one of the doors. If you smell that fishy odor when you enter the cabin, you may want to say something.

 

I hope Ryan is still the cabin attendant. He was absolutely wonderful, one of the best we've ever had.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

I'm sure we will enjoy our cruise. Our one last Feb on the GEM was bad weather all the way to PR and most of the way back. I have a video I did off the aft balcony that looks much worse than anything I've seen with the Anthem issue but we still had a good time.

 

Thanks for the new mattress, mirror and closet door fix. We had lots of things break and crash last year, hopefully this year will be much better.:)

 

My plan is to relax on the balcony. We've done this cruise so much I don't even care about the ports anymore altho going to the beach is a pleasure. We're not big butler people but still appreciate a friendly one but usually the room steward is the best. Thanks for the updates.

[Vinegarjoe10]

Very bummed to read this. We are in that suite beginning 2/21 and I have been looking forward to a 10th deck penthouse forever. We had one booked on the Jewel a few years ago but had to cancel when DH got pneumonia. We have had aft penthouses on the 9th deck but the 10th was my dream - with the bigger balcony and the one we visited a couple years ago was much better layed out than ours. Oh well, guess I'll just have to hang on the balcony and ignore the room issues but I sure hope the smell is gone for good. Sounds like you had some maintenance done so hopefully we won't have to. ;)

 

Hateswaterloves2cruise,

 

We were on the Gem (1/22/16-2/1/16) and were in 10166. Yes, the furnishings in the Aft Penthouse suites might best be described as 'shabby sheik' but for the perks that come with an SF class stateroom 'shabby sheik' was just fine with us.

 

The Gem is an older ship, and yes, NCL could have completely redone everything in the suites, but they chose not to, and all of us who have booked suites have seen photos on the NCL page as well as those posted by previous cruisers. Not worth complaining about in my book.

 

Hopefully Ryan is your Cabin Steward. He told us he was going to the Breakaway after he concludes his contract on the Gem.

 

Ryan is an excellent cabin steward, thoughtful, courteous and he maintained our room above what we would have expected.

 

If Erlindo is your butler, well, he will be a 'reactive' butler, not a 'proactive' butler. He will do whatever you ask, but he didn't really volunteer anything.

 

Let him know early on what your snack preferences are, or you will receive the same snacks daily.

 

There were 4 Cruise Critic members in 3 of the 4 SF suites and 1 of the balconies on deck 10, and we all had participated in the Roll Call for our cruise so were friendly with each other throughout our cruise.

 

The general opinion was that Ryan was an excellent cabin steward and Erlindo, well, not the best butler. Perhaps it was a bad week for him, as I know how busy the butlers can be and he may have been overworked by other Suite or Haven guests thus not being as present on deck 10.

 

My wife and I are 'glass half full' type of people, and scratches on chairs and funky colored drapes didn't ruin our experience one bit.

 

The balcony is large, and we spent almost every evening while in the Caribbean sitting out there enjoying the beautiful weather and sights. We are now spoiled and will not sail in anything less than a Suite on the Jewel class ships.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

If you do have Ryan as your cabin steward, if you could, please tell him him Joe and Erin, who were in 10166 said hello. Thanks in advance.

 

Regards,

 

Vinegarjoe

Edited February 13, 2016 by Vinegarjoe10

[hateswaterloves2cruise]

Vinegarjoe thanks for the extra input. We too are easy to please and don't look for things to complain about. Friends of ours had a 10th deck suite on the Gem a few years ago and when we visited I was in love. Our 9th deck penthouse didn't seem quite as large and I loved the balcony. I booked this cruise over a year ago just to get the 10th deck. We've had good butlers and indifferent butlers in the 4 or 5 times we've been lucky enough to stay in suites (first time was an amazing upgrade to 2 bed). We don't do dinners in the room or ask for anything special. I'm just happy to be somewhere where I don't have to cook, clean or really do anything. Plan to spend a lot of time on the balcony reading. It's snowing and blowing so badly here we couldn't leave if we wanted to. Hoping for better weather next Saturday. :)

[richstowe]

Frankly Turtles , I am shocked how the comments have overwhelmingly been about the shabby furniture . My concern would be about the smells , the banging closet and broken mirror . As a poor sleeper , anything which destroys my sleep is annoying . These issues would be serious in any cabin but as you were paying a large premium ,that much more annoying !

 

May I ask if you asked for or received any compensation for these issues ?

Glad you enjoyed your cruise in spite of these problems .

[Turtles06]

Frankly Turtles , I am shocked how the comments have overwhelmingly been about the shabby furniture . My concern would be about the smells , the banging closet and broken mirror . As a poor sleeper , anything which destroys my sleep is annoying . These issues would be serious in any cabin but as you were paying a large premium ,that much more annoying !

 

May I ask if you asked for or received any compensation for these issues ?

Glad you enjoyed your cruise in spite of these problems .

 

Thank you for your comments. I'm a poor sleeper too, so those tangible issues were a problem. But the grossly stinky mattress was replaced the next morning, the broken closet door closer was immediately fixed after we reported it, and the same for the broken mirror. Yes, all three of those things were disturbing during the nights each was discovered/happened, but housekeeping was great and responded to us promptly.

 

We did not ask for compensation; we really hate having those kinds of conversations with Guest Services and taking up our time on vacation to have them. I think we just wanted to put that stuff behind us as quickly as possible. If the staff had been less responsive we might have felt differently.

[only chris]

Turtles, Which suite were you in on deck 10? We were in Suite 10666 on the cruise previous to yours and agree with you on the furniture and the Nespresso machine. We did not find any weird odors or smells in our Suite. Everything worked, but us like you were hoping for more than just new carpet.

 

When the ship first came out of drydock a lady posted from the ship about the Aft Suites. I was pretty disappointed that the furniture was not replaced and basically they did nothing. The table and chairs are a total joke. It was our 2nd time in an Aft Suite and after the first time 2 years ago we thought all that stuff should have been replaced.

 

Naturally one of the best things the Lavazza machine was replaced with a much cheaper and inferior Nespresso machine.

 

We enjoyed our cruise very much, but I can't agree with you more that those Aft Suites need to be redone.

 

I priced it out for next year and they are totally crazy. For 2 people, my wife and myself for the exact same cruise they want $7200 with taxes and port fees. That is the same cruise on the Gem, 10 day same route. CRAZY

 

All the Best

Rob

I have booked suite 10666 on the Gem for may 2017. Were you happy with this cabin? Was it reasonably close to access to an outside smoking area? I already am worrying I have made the wrong decision because of what I am reading about the lack of renovation to the suite when the rest of the ship was done. I would be very interested in hearing more from you about this. Thanks in advance

[Tudorcruisers]

i would be very disappointed indeed if I had paid for a suite and had all the inconveniences you had. The furniture looks dreadful and all the issues that came with it and the smell. I'm glad you still had a good holiday.

[FM]

It's the little things sometimes that can make an experience a more positive one. In this day and age with the economy the way it is, when one splurges for a suite, then one should expect a little more ... not only in services, room size etc but in the décor also ... the overall package. It is absolutely great that the Executive Housekeeper responded promptly to the issues so that you were able to enjoy your cruise.

 

But seriously, a Nespresso (I could've brought mine from home - lol) ... but at least it's better than the video I saw of one suite (forgot which line) which had a Mr. Coffee - seriously?! And come on - how difficult is it to replace that cheesy card table and chairs with something more modern and comfortable ...

 

Going on our very first Suite experience with a Haven Spa Suite aboard the Breakaway next year ... expecting a lot NCL :) ...