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****Live from the Gem Garden Villa****

SuiteCruiser

By SuiteCruiser,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Mom2B&Z

Mom2B&Z

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SuiteCruiser, I didn't realize you're from Ottawa! We live outside our beautiful capital :)

Enjoy the cruise, can't wait to hear about all your antics! The GV will never be the same!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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esm54687

esm54687

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What a great thread to follow!!! Have a super time!!

 

My mom is a breast cancer survivor (20+ years) and my wife kicked NHL's butt at 31 (17 years suvivor and still living life large) ..... sending all great thoughts and prayers that you also kick cancer's ass!!

Edited by esm54687
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SuiteCruiser

SuiteCruiser

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Day 1

 

Last weekend I had a brilliant idea to buy all of the Vixens tote bags. Not sure where it came from, but once I thought about it, well, that train left the station and there was no stopping me. Had I had that brilliant idea a couple of weeks before it would have been easy, but no.

 

I scoured Canadian promotional websites, designed the bags and at check out would find that they would be available May 9th, which just wouldn't be ideal, since we get back to NYC on the 7th. I then asked Jen, who couldn't come on the cruise if I could ship to her in NY and then she could bring them with her when she visited. She was 100% onboard.

 

Founds some, send the order in and on Thursday night, the box arrived and it weighed a ton. Jen found a small dolly, loaded it up and brought them to me. The bags are great, I gave Jen hers and she really liked it.

 

Now, I'm a block away from the pier so walking down and decided that I could handle my suitcase, carryon and the dolly at the same time. I turned the corner, it was going pretty well, considering, and then I smelled something. It was familiar, but I thought I was wrong, but nope. Up ahead, there was horse on the sidewalk getting groomed and blocking my way. So, I had to move my cases, and then the box gingerly getting around the horse who I swear was smiling and laughing at me, and then for the next 20 feet, I and my wide load was doing a slalom course around horse****.

 

Up to the pier, thankfully dropping my bags, and quickly through security and directed to the Suite Check in line which was 30 people deep. I sent a message to the girls saying they would know me because I was wearing a blue raincoat with white polka dots...and I'm 6'2" :)

 

There had been two people checking in, but one was locked up with a family holding a photocopy of a birth certificate and trying get onboard, so I was in line for 30 minutes. I should have gone to another line, but thought for sure they would open another kiosk.

 

I was 3 people back and someone called my name, told me to come with them and it was Cathy and her Mom. They were checking in, so I went with them. Hugs for Cathy and tried to hug her Mom who told me, you'll see, I'm the grouchy one. I told her I'd get a hug out of her by the end of the day.

 

Onto the Priority Lounge, where everyone was there and Harriet was handing out tiaras for us all. Harriet is about a foot and a half shorter than I am, so she stood on a chair so she could hug me. I knew right away that this was going to be an amazing trip. I already felt so connected to everyone. We were laughing and carrying on and probably annoying the other guests, but we didn't care.

 

We came onboard, and straight to the Garden Villa. It's absolutely beautiful much nicer than the pictures and YouTube videos we'd seen would show. It's also bigger than it looked, massive living room with the player baby grand piano, a bar, table for 10, huge couch, chairs and a massage chair. That chair would quickly be put to good use because Geri knocked her back out that morning and was feeling terrible.

 

The outside is two decks, there's an outdoor dining room area and a massive hot tub. The hot tub is the same size as the ones by the main pool. The upper area has loungers and a hammock, but it was too windy to spend much time up there. We did go up later for going under the Verazzano (sp?) bridge.

 

We met our cabin steward and butler and he asked what we wanted for our 6 bottles of liquor. We then discovered that the shoreside concierge never submitted the requests. Cathy had been back and forth with them several time and the list she put together had been worked on for over a year.....but we start from scratch and get it sorted.

 

We cleared out and headed to Cagneys for lunch. Gretchen had upgraded on Friday to a suite and Phyllis and her friend Sherry would given VIP status because they were hosting the Meet and Greet, so we were all able to have lunch there.

 

The menu was new, there were a few complaints of not really seeing anything appetizing, and the shrimp cocktail was gone. I had the French dip, which I loved and 2 others didn't like at all, it's an improvement from the one on the old menu, but it also goes to show how subjective food is. Service was a bit slow, and some left without enjoying their meals.

 

Back to the Garden Villa to hang out and visit, catch up on life, and lots of laughs. The luggage started arriving and finally the box arrived and I played Santa handing out the bags. Everyone loved them and I think it will be great to get a picture of us all on the way to Great Stirrup Cay.

 

Cathy and her Mom were off wandering around when I handed them out, then we were out for Muster and when we came back, my suitcase was there. I started unpacking and I hear "Where is that Bitch?" I look and see Annie coming in my room. She said "Thank you so much for the gift you bitch" She was laughing and so was I, and I got my hug. She's warming to me LOL.

 

We have 3 bottles of shampagne in our Villa due to the platinums, but we have one bottle of Champagne and we opened that for sail away. Lots of toasts and kind words, and we are off!

 

We pulled out, and seemed to be trucking it down the Hudson, we all stood and watched Lady Liberty and then when the bridge got close, went up top to see if we'd make it :)

 

I got changed for dinner and we all headed to the casino. We were doing a Vixen slot pull so gathered everyone up and I picked a machine and we each loaded $100 into it. It was a $5 machine, so we all took 6 spins. It was the worst machine ever. Nothing showed up on the payline for all but 6 spins out of the 54, thankfully a couple of the hits actually did something, so we were shocked at the end that we had $1215 left. We cashed out and I handed out $135 to each person. Yay!!

 

We all played and I kept donating, no luck for me, and then it was dinner. We decided to eat in the MDR night one, even though the girls in the Villa all have the old version of the UDP. Sometimes it's nice to mix things up a bit. We had reservations and verified them with the Concierge, and she had no record of them. She got us in 15 mins earlier than planned, so we all went and then the waiting game began. Getting a drink was more than difficult and there was an hour between our apps and our mains. We kept asking where our food was and got a bunch of different excuses. Finally they came, and it was okay, but we were kind of past hungry then.

 

Back to the casino for most, a couple went to bed and then I continued to donate all night. Some of us had some nice wins. It was nice to wander around the fairly small casino and see familiar faces everywhere.

 

I went to bed at around 1:30 and was up at 9:00. My phone was ringing, but no one was there. A little later it rang again, and it was Shore Excursions confirming GSC, I sure hope it wasn't them calling at 9:00 I like to sleep in on cruises.

 

I left my room and saw the Villa was empty. I figured the girls were all at breakfast, but actually they were all in the casino :) I tried to find a spot outside to sit down for Day 1 recap, but it's too windy, hopefully it will calm down the further south. I went out on the balcony attached to my room and I'm typing as the calm sees take us towards Florida.

 

Thanks for following along! We're having so much fun :) We seem to be running into hiccups on service everywhere we go, at least I'm hoping they are just hiccups. It's early and I fully expect the service to pick up. It's not putting the least bit of a damper on us though, we're here for fun and that's what we're getting.

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SuiteCruiser

SuiteCruiser

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Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts and so glad to have you following along.

 

I need to get ready for the Meet and Greet and it's in 10 minutes and I'm in my bathing suit, so gotta run! Will check in later :)

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dexddd

dexddd

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Thanks for the update - sounds like you are having a good time. One more miss by pre-concierge.

 

Which GV are you in -- are they the same layout on Gem?

 

So the new menu is in Cagneys for lunch on the Gem. The steak is also missing but I do agree the new french dip was great. We also liked the Brie Burger which replaced the regular burger. The desserts also changed although the descriptions look a lot like the old ones.

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biker@sea

biker@sea

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Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts and so glad to have you following along.

 

I need to get ready for the Meet and Greet and it's in 10 minutes and I'm in my bathing suit, so gotta run! Will check in later :)

 

Can you Please tell us who the staff is ?

 

.

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hpecorari

hpecorari

Posted
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Have a blast, ladies! Remember, I WAS invited as an honorary!

 

Funnily, I've met 4 of you in person too, all on separate occasions. (Hi Phyllis, Harriet, Sally & Cathy!)

 

 

My friend Tracy (TracyE) is leaving today on the Escape, too.

 

 

Everybody cruising, but me. :(

 

 

Stephen

 

.

 

Yes you were invited! Hold on a little longer.... Your 50th BD cruise is just around the corner!

 

Harriet

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Letsgo 2

Letsgo 2

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8660506c3d87395da2ec117f3146ae6f.jpg

 

Here we are

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

OMG, I absolutely love it, wishing you ladies the best time ever, dont let anything put a damper on your cruise.......wishing you nothing but good times laughter and a big win in the casino.

Marion

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