NCL Gem Review - June 4 to 12

[Lisalk12]

First a little about my family. "We" consist of my husband (41yrs), me (40) and our sons, one 14 year old son

10 year old son.

DH and I have sailed in 2013 on NCL Star through CAS (7 night ocean-view to the Caribbean) and June 2015 we booked a family cruise aboard NCL Sky's (4 night penthouse suite to the Bahamas). This is where my family fell in love with the "suite" life. We continued our journey aboard NCL Jade in March 2016 and it was during this trip that we decided to get Cruisenext coupons toward another cruise and we booked this NCL Gem cruise while still on the ship directly though NCL. We chose the Gem because we could use two Cruisenext coupons plus kids sailed free on this particular sailing. We originally chose a balcony but later called NCL and upgraded our room to a mini-suite. Called NCL another day to get a cabana at GSC. And four weeks after our final payment was made we received notification from a third party agency (that we had used in the past and didn't want to use again) saying thanks for booking through them! Really!!!! We called NCL and they said they could do nothing about it. It seems that whenever you book with someone else the note stays on your account and you are hooked to them unless you state otherwise when booking. Just a heads up!!! My husband is extremely upset that he booked the cruise, upgraded it and made changes to excursions and we now have to pay someone else! Anyway...

[Lisalk12]

Our accommodations:

For this trip we booked a category MB on the 11th floor. We booked when we could chose two free perks and chose UBP and Internet. I loved the UBP on our last trip. Not that we drink a lot but I like to try different things and like not having to worry about getting something that I didn't enjoy drinking. Because my parents have health issues we have learned to get insurance on our vacations. And the Internet lets us FaceTime with them a few times during the trip. We called 1 month out to set up my account to have special dietary (Gluten & Dairy Free) note attached to the room number. NCL emailed me paperwork to add to my reservation number.

 

A week before we were to set sail I had a day off and decided I was going to get everything printed and ready to go. When going on the webpage I noticed something didn't look right. After some great spy work I figured out that my husband must of done an upsell and moved us to a 2 bedroom family suite (11012). Surprise!!!! Never try to surprise the planner. I knew this was for a sweet gift for our 20th anniversary and I didn't want to ruin it so I keep my mouth shut....Until 3 hours later when what did I find in the mail but an envelope from NCL. I knew it had to be luggage tags!! I left the mail hoping my husband would hide the tags. He left it there didn't even touch it. At that moment I thought maybe he didn't upgrade and the letter was just a "our bad we made a mistake here is an upgrade for you". I had to open it... Right? Finally I made a big production over opening the mail and when I got to the NCL he almost fell out of his chair getting it out of my hands. So the secret was out and I told him he was the best husband ever and now I needed to go pack more bags because we had tons of room to store luggage in our new cabin!!!

[Lisalk12]

The day of our departure to NYC was eventful to say the least. We were headed to the airport in plenty of time when we received a message that our second plane would be delayed, then the phone rang that our first flight was REALLY delayed. I always stress about missing flights but we always leave a day or two early because of this very reason. Since Gem would be sailing out of NYC we wanted a couple of full days to explore anyway. So We checked in at the airport and managed to enjoy some appetizers and a drink while we waited.

Finally we boarded our first flight over an hour late. It was a quick hour flight to St Louis. When we got there the flight passengers and crew were so helpful in letting us get off first and giving us directions to RUN for our next flight. When we boarded they were like "here is our family of four. Saved you a seat... Let's go" and we were off! Can't say how appreciative we were of all those that waited and left us with seats by each other!!!

[Lisalk12]

We touched down in NYC.

Now let me say we come from a small northeastern town in Oklahoma. We have taxis but you have to call them and you can get anywhere in town in under 15 minutes for no more than $10. I'm sure we looked completely lost!

We ended up thinking we were taking a taxi but ended up with a personal driver for $60 to our home away from home for the next two nights. Wyndham Midtown 45 (which is part of our Wyndham timeshare.) We found it to be well kept even though they were going through some renovations at the time. We had a one bedroom presidential room.

 

It was equipped with a bedroom with full bath, living area with small kitchen area and queen size pullout sofa. The owners lounge had a great view of the New York skyline.

The only problem we had staying there was the elevators. They seemed to take forever one day (it was during checkout time) and took 55 minutes to get the elevator.

[Fpacifico]

Those private drivers take advantage of new visitors.

[bobdcl]

on the gem in two months-- can't wait for your review!

[Strangerush]

SO excited for a Gem photo review!!!!

[PorkChopKid]

Those private drivers take advantage of new visitors.

Actually, $60 from the airport into Manhattan isn't bad. Have heard taxis are more like $75 with passenger paying for any tolls.

[$hip$hape]

We touched down in NYC.

 

Now let me say we come from a small northeastern town in Oklahoma. We have taxis but you have to call them and you can get anywhere in town in under 15 minutes for no more than $10. I'm sure we looked completely lost!

We ended up thinking we were taking a taxi but ended up with a personal driver for $60 to our home away from home for the next two nights. Wyndham Midtown 45 (which is part of our Wyndham timeshare.) We found it to be well kept even though they were going through some renovations at the time. We had a one bedroom presidential room.

 

It was equipped with a bedroom with full bath, living area with small kitchen area and queen size pullout sofa.

The owners lounge had a great view of the New York skyline.

 

The only problem we had staying there was the elevators. They seemed to take forever one day (it was during checkout time) and took 55 minutes to get the elevator.

Count your blessings, that you were "saved a seat".

Welcome to the Big City !

A personal driver for $60 is not bad.

How nice that you had a view!

And an elevator!:)

Edited June 17, 2016 by $hip$hape

[Lisalk12]

While in New York we sampled food from:

They had wonderful all natural ingredients!! I could of ate here every meal.

The boys did have to tryout pizza!

We found this place:

it had five or six different types food options in one place. So everyone was happy! We actually are here two nights!

[Lisalk12]

We happened upon and annual event called

Stars in the Alley. It was held in the alley right beside Juniors restaurant. For $2 admission charge you would stand and hear performers from all of the famous shows happening in town. Of course we had to also eat at Juniors. The boys loved the desserts!

[Lisalk12]

The highlight of my trip was getting to watch two Broadway musicals!

My favorite!!!

Followed by my oldest sons pick for the next evening.

In my option the theaters were small with intimate seating.

[Lisalk12]

We walked 8 miles one day to see Grand Central Station, Time Square, Broadway, and Central Park.

[Lisalk12]

Our last night before sail away we ended up going to a new hotel due to not having an open room at the time share. We had booked the Yotel. (I know husband was so excited about the name of this hotel)

we booked through an app that allowed us to bid on the price. But what we didn't notice was that the room would be an economy room so this is what we ended up with... Smallest room EVER!!

So husband was able to upgrade to a larger room that had a queen size bed with a set of bunk beds for the boys. Much better!

They had free muffins, coffee, tea in the morning.

No pool or hot tub but the elevator was awesome!

https://vimeo.com/171175558

As was the vending machines!

[Lisalk12]

Saturday morning we woke up ready to get the show on the road!! We packed up, the boys enjoyed muffins and tea, I took my sea sick pill and we were off to figure out how to get there. Low and behold a taxi was right out the front door of the Yotel. We stuffed our three large suitcases in the trunk and put the small one on our lap and we were off!! From the Yotel I could see the water so I knew it must be close! It look less than 6 minutes to get to the port with the cab driver dropping us off right across the street from the porters. Our taxi ride was $5.80 then we were off to give the porters our bags. We turned around and went up the elevator to

The checkin/security area. It was a breeze and only took us 20 minutes. Now we have been to Miami, Houston, and New Orleans cruise ports and NYC was my least favorite to checkin. The others just seemed a little bit more layed back with one- on -one attention. But to NYC's credit we were early and had to wait to board where in the other ports we were always arriving later and the mass of people were already taken care of. No worry because I was getting ready to be on board!!! We sat and enjoyed pastries, coffee, tea, and juice in the VIP lounge until Monica announced that we would be heading over to board. In all we were on the boat by 11:30. Lunch for suite guest was to be served in Cagney's at 12:00 so just enough time to get a drink

Mango Meltdown - my go to sail away drink! And take some photos and checkin one last time with those poor friends and family that had to stay behind on land.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Lisalk12]

At 12:00 we headed up for lunch. It was packed!! Cagneys has a new lunch menu.

I miss the shrimp cocktail!!!! We enjoyed....

Nicoise Salad

Cobb Salad

Santa Fe Flatbread

I met with the special dietary waiter Bridgette. She brought the dinner menu for that night at the main dining room for me to pre order.

[Lisalk12]

After lunch we were ready for sail away and went to our room to unpack and watch New York pass by. Room 11012 was directly to the side of the elevators at the front of the ship. The library was one floor above the room.

Living area

Master bath

Shower

The room has a separate bedroom with a full side couch that turns into a bed with a bunk bed on the wall. This room has a small bath with a shower.

The master bedroom has a large bed attached to the large bath.

Large closets

Coffee/tea

Fresh flowers

[skynyrd]

Thanks for the review. I'm looking forward to reading further, I go on board the Gem on the 25th and I am getting more excited each day.:D

[Lisalk12]

If you have a starboard room you will be able to see the Statue of Liberty as you leave.

The bridge was amazing as we passed under also.

Another place to watch would be the Spinnaker Lounge on forward deck 13. It had drinks and plenty of seating to get a wide view of everything.

[Lisalk12]

After sail away we enjoyed time in the lounge with our favorites:

Mango meltdown

Spicy Bloody Mary (no worchestire sauce for mine) and a

Margarita. (during our trip we never had trouble ordering drinks and we never ordered anything not covered by the UBP).

[Lisalk12]

My husband setup the I Concierge on each of our phones. This allows us to text/call others onboard the ship. It also gives us updates of onboard spending and events. We love this tool to keep tabs on the boys!

[Lisalk12]

For dinner we went to the main dinning room Magenta

that is located in the middle of the ship and had

 

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Grilled Salmon

Shrimp Jambalaya

 

I really enjoyed the North & South Red Blend wine and drank it almost every evening. My husband liked the Moscato.

[Lisalk12]

For dessert we had

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Ice Cream

Apple pie

And my fruit plate

[Lisalk12]

Back at the room we had our Sparkling Wine

and tried to unpack and settle in for an amazing journey.