Gem 5/7 Cruise Thoughts

[mugtech]

This was our first cruise on the Gem since 2012, so we were impressed with the refurbishment of November, 2015. The old decor was much louder, more of a jazz feel, while the new feeling is more mellow to me, it was almost like cruising on a new ship. The embarkation in NYC was smooth as usual, arriving by taxi at 10:45, checked in by 11:10, boarding started at 11:30. We were in the buffet by noon. Being both Platinum, we gathered up our invitations to cocktail parties, specialty dining, bottle of wine and chocolate strawberries. Sailing out was delayed because of a yacht race out at the bridge, and the windy cool weather made us very eager to head south. Will comment on other topics by subject rather than a daily report

[mugtech]

The change in itinerary, missing GSC, has been commented on in other threads. I was glad that the changes were made ahead of time, giving us an extra 6 hours in Nassau rather than the usual last minute skipping of GSC due to weather or rough seas. The itinerary is typical of heading South out of NYC, taking almost 2 days to get to Florida And 2 days to get from Nassau back to NYC. We are looking forward to being back on the Gem again in November after flying into San Juan, giving us 7 days in the Caribbean. For cruises out of NYC we take Trans Bridge buses from Allentown, PA, to the Port Authority for $30 each round trip, half fare for aged 62 and older, and then a $10 plus tip taxi ride to the ship. Flying to San Juan is more expensive and time consuming, but we are confident it will be worth it. We are going to do b2b in November, visiting 10 ports, 8 of which we never visited before. Prices for inside and outside cabins are the same as they were last November when we booked those cruises.

[Lovemygreekgeek]

Glad to hear that the Gem looks great!! I used to take those buses ages ago when I went to Muhlenberg college!!

Edited May 15, 2016 by Lovemygreekgeek

[mugtech]

The entertainment was what we have come to expect on NCL, well done and a variety. I only watched the magic show for 10 minutes, not to give it away, but the woman disappeared and reappeared twice. The female stand up comedian was a funny 45 minutes, and the production people and orchestra did a great 50 minutes of 70's music well balanced with my kind of rock (Born to Be Wild, 25 or 6 to 4, Pinball Wizzard) and the usual Sunshine Band type disco. The production of numbers from Swing was also inspiring big band Era music. I also checked out the video arcade, only because the current promo includes $100 arcade credit. Would not spend a nickel on the present machines. With everything so boomer oriented these days I would think some pinball from the 60's into the 90's would be well received.

[mugtech]

Of course food is always subjective, but we have never had better food than on this cruise. The buffet had a different theme every night, kept it interesting. We also enjoyed Orchid Garden as a complimentary Asian restaurant. The Grand Pacific was a nice alternative, 8 of us seated in 5 minutes at 7 PM and everything was served in less than an hour. Le Bistro was our only pay restaurant, but it was the Platinum free one with a bottle of wine, best food of the entire cruise . Tried a burger at O'Sheehan's, it was very good, intend to visit there again next cruise. The lechon, crispy pigskin , was very good on Asian night in the buffet, and the Filipino carver gave me a large pile after I requested it. He was not smiling, the people in front of me were saying things like "no fat for me" and "look at that pig head". My wife, a Filipina, was quite pleased as she crunched the lechon.

[jaja]

Thanks !!! Keep it coming....we leave on the Gem on Saturday:D (we love her!). How was the staff...? We have always found them superb!

[mugtech]

The entertainment was what we have come to expect on NCL, well done and a variety. I only watched the magic show for 10 minutes, not to give it away, but the woman disappeared and reappeared twice. The female stand up comedian was a funny 45 minutes, and the production people and orchestra did a great 50 minutes of 70's music well balanced with my kind of rock (Born to Be Wild, 25 or 6 to 4, Pinball Wizzard) and the usual Sunshine Band type disco. The production of numbers from Swing was also inspiring big band Era music. I also checked out the video arcade, only because the current promo includes $100 arcade credit. Would not spend a nickel on the present machines. With everything so boomer oriented these days I would think some pinball from the 60's into the 90's would be well received.

 

Forgot to mention Leo, still playing solo guitar at Magnum. He has been playing on the Gem at least since our Bermuda cruise in October of 2011. He did a great hour of Beatles with enthusiastic sing along from the audience, does well with James Taylor and Elton John.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[mugtech]

Thanks !!! Keep it coming....we leave on the Gem on Saturday:D (we love her!). How was the staff...? We have always found them superb!

 

Zach, the cruise director, was high profile, enthusiastic but nothing special. I do believe a certain Turk spoiled me back in 2012. Assistant cruise director Oh Henry from South Philly was a fun guy. He admitted that he was a protégé of Eddie Spaghetti, also from South Philly (Philippines). Saw Eddie on the Sun last year as assistant cruise director, was told he is now on the Jewel

 

Sarah was very good running all the trivia, one of the few Canadians on the cruise, plenty of fun. Have always been well treated well by all the staff, our steward was good at delivering messages between myself and my wife. After the first morning the Peruvian member at the desk got out an extra Freestyle Daily as soon as he saw me coming. The staff has a great turnover rate, I spoke to no one except Leo who will still be on the Gem in October when the San Juan cruises start

[herdingdogmom]

Thanks for the review. Good to hear the Gem's refurbishing was well done. We are looking forward to the November Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan too.

[mugtech]

Second City did three shows, one in Stardust and two in Spinnaker. They also did a murder mystery in Le Bistro, which I missed. The 5 players were all new to me, had not seen SC on a ship since the BA in 2013. The first night they called classic SC, which for me translated into "skits I have seen." The improv the other two nights was good stuff, using old setups with some new twists. In Stardust they used the same pictures and questions on the big screen before the show to advertise all the famous people who have performed with them since 1959. I enjoy seeing Del Close, an instructor for years who also did some Dead shows back in the electric kool-aid acid test days. There are a few books written about him which I found to be very entertaining. I even bought a DVD online of My Mother the Car, Del's gift to tv. Seems most people really like or really do not like SC, kind of like the Trumpster, who was the victim of a few one liners.

[mugtech]

We just hung out at the beach at Canaveral, and unless you got the excursions benefit I cannot see booking the beach transportation through NCL. If you pay cash when you exit the ship it costs $13, leave whenever you want, return whenever. Buying on the ship costs $15 and you must meet outside the ship at 1:10 PM, meaning you must get off in the initial 1PM rush. At the beach and umbrella and two chairs rented for $30 for three hours, but if you walk about 400 yards down the beach you can get the same for $28,

 

Going to the zoo on the first Nassau day was a nice trip for us, ship in at noon, meeting time 2:05 PM. A short walk to the bus and an hour tour before the zoo, including a stop for shopping. Good t-shirts for $7, one had 2 for $10. The zoo featured the national bird, the flamingo, running around free. This would be a great stop for Flamingoheads, fans of Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadors ("A house ain't a home until you take the wheels off") Beautiful birds and a 130l rodent are also included.

 

The glass bottom boat tour was scratched due to mechanical problems, so we took the SeaWorld explorer trip instead on the second day in the Bahamas. A 20 minute boat ride out to the reef informed us of which celebs own which house, condos etc. The undersea part was worthwhile, saw many different fish including a 4 feet long sand shark, a few rays and turtles.

 

Both trips were, like our previous trip to the Kennedy Space Center, a once in a lifetime experience. We liked it but would see no reason to do them again.

[mugtech]

Next cruise staff were very friendly and helpful as usual. If one buys two or more future deposits then they are $125 each for a $250 deposit. They used to limit the purchases to 4 per cruise, but now one can buy 8. Still good to be used in 4 years, and one advantage is that on certain cruises one can use more than one cruisenext. In addition they give out the ship pins, still available on the Gem, but the whole program is going away. We had two friends on their first cruise, so Nextcruise gave me 4 pins and invited them to the first Latitudes cocktail party. The newbies loved the Gem and the cruise, one signed up for the NCL credit card and bought two Nextcruises. They are 62 and 64 years old, really looking forward to cruising in retirement.