8/15 Gem from Miami Waiting for a Report

[zanzibargirl]

Good tip! Should we bring the hard copies as well as the email?

[JillK]

1 hour ago, Snowrose said:

Thank you so much!!!!

The other tip I got on the Nextdoor app here in my neighbourhood was to get it laminated so that you can carry it with you to show as proof when needed. Apparently it costs $2.99 plus HST at Staples.

[LNielsen]

17 minutes ago, JillK said:

The other tip I got on the Nextdoor app here in my neighbourhood was to get it laminated so that you can carry it with you to show as proof when needed. Apparently it costs $2.99 plus HST at Staples.

I’ve seen it mentioned/suggested  that you should not laminate your vaccine card as any boosters cannot be added to it.   
 

I went on Amazon and bought holders that you insert the card into, it then zip locks.   

[Cruiseandgamble]

1 hour ago, LNielsen said:

I’ve seen it mentioned/suggested  that you should not laminate your vaccine card as any boosters cannot be added to it.   
 

I went on Amazon and bought holders that you insert the card into, it then zip locks.   

 

I scanned my original and then laminated the scanned copy for travel.  Once the boosters come out, I'll have my original to be updated by the clinic/pharmacy/doctor then rescan it and laminate that copy.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.

[DCGuy64]

26 minutes ago, Cruiseandgamble said:

 

I scanned my original and then laminated the scanned copy for travel.  Once the boosters come out, I'll have my original to be updated by the clinic/pharmacy/doctor then rescan it and laminate that copy.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.

Very good idea, I think I might copy you. 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Cruiseandgamble said:

 

I scanned my original and then laminated the scanned copy for travel.  Once the boosters come out, I'll have my original to be updated by the clinic/pharmacy/doctor then rescan it and laminate that copy.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.

 

I think the cruise lines and other places requiring vaccine cards are requiring the original, not laminated copies. I got a passport cover with a pocket in the back that fits my original CDC card perfectly to keep the two most important travel documents safely together.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VF53P8C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[LNielsen]

2 hours ago, Cruiseandgamble said:

 

I scanned my original and then laminated the scanned copy for travel.  Once the boosters come out, I'll have my original to be updated by the clinic/pharmacy/doctor then rescan it and laminate that copy.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.

Great solution!   Thank you for the tip.   

[ChiefMateJRK]

6 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

other places requiring vaccine cards are requiring the original

Who are these other places who require original vaccine cards?

[JamieLogical]

4 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Who are these other places who require original vaccine cards?

 

For example, I am traveling over the land border into Canada for Labor Day weekend and I have to show my original vaccine card there. I just read a story yesterday about a couple who was arrested in Hawaii for using fake vaccine cards to try to avoid the quarantine there for unvaccinated tourists...

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-couple-arrested-after-traveling-hawaii-fake-covid-vaccination-cards-n1277156

[knitlady037]

17 hours ago, Janicept said:

They want the actual card.  I read on another site you can try to get another card from the place you got your original vaccine.  It was in response to someone that lost their card.  Maybe they can fix your issue.  I got mine in February too.

Thanks. I have my original card, just wanted to make sure they are not asking for the digital version also. For some reason they cannot find me in the system. They think either my name was entered wrong or something else was entered wrong. Very frustrating. I am guarding my original card with my life!

[milolii]

I agree with Jamie, border control officials are the most likely group to scrutinize the cards.  Don’t laminate the original but use a plastic sleeve.  
 

Took family member  to get third shot earlier this week.  While waiting, saw Nurse issuing new cards to folks who had laminated their card.  Now they have 2, to keep up with, she commented. 

[Snowrose]

15 hours ago, Cruiseandgamble said:

 

I scanned my original and then laminated the scanned copy for travel.  Once the boosters come out, I'll have my original to be updated by the clinic/pharmacy/doctor then rescan it and laminate that copy.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.

 

But scanning a card with a watermark would invalidate it, wouldn't it? I mean, a watermark is used to prove an item isn't a copy.

Edited August 21, 2021 by Snowrose

[Cruiseandgamble]

14 minutes ago, Snowrose said:

 

But scanning a card with a watermark would invalidate it, wouldn't it? I mean, a watermark is used to prove an item isn't a copy.

 

According to the Sail Safe FAQs, "a photo of your vaccination record will be accepted".  Maybe it's good enough to get on the ship but not to cross any borders?

 

[Marygracie C.]

On 8/20/2021 at 5:44 PM, LNielsen said:

I’ve seen it mentioned/suggested  that you should not laminate your vaccine card as any boosters cannot be added to it.   
 

I went on Amazon and bought holders that you insert the card into, it then zip locks.   

we got same Amazon holders and put vaccination card in it and it fits into passport perfectly.we also read not to laminate the card

[BirdTravels]

On 8/20/2021 at 7:08 PM, Cruiseandgamble said:

I scanned my original and then laminated the scanned copy for travel.  

No one that requires original proof of vaccination would accept a scanned copy. You need to have your original to board a ship.

[ChiefMateJRK]

On 8/21/2021 at 7:30 AM, Cruiseandgamble said:

 

According to the Sail Safe FAQs, "a photo of your vaccination record will be accepted".  Maybe it's good enough to get on the ship but not to cross any borders?

 

Nice!!  I think this is new, as I haven't seen it mentioned before.  I certainly will have my original card, but also have scanned images stored on my computer and in my separate backup locations.

[AKR2011]

So back to the original topic...Any updates from The Gem? I know the first sailing just debarked today. I would personally love to see dailies and a La Cucina menu. One more week on my end, and I will definitely do a review 😊

Edited August 22, 2021 by AKR2011

[Laszlo]

On 8/21/2021 at 7:55 AM, JamieLogical said:

 

For example, I am traveling over the land border into Canada for Labor Day weekend and I have to show my original vaccine card there. I just read a story yesterday about a couple who was arrested in Hawaii for using fake vaccine cards to try to avoid the quarantine there for unvaccinated tourists...

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-couple-arrested-after-traveling-hawaii-fake-covid-vaccination-cards-n1277156

Those people are complete idiots, not only did they have fake vaccine cards for themself then had ones for their kids who are 4 and 5 Lol

[Seanair]

Just got off the Gem today.  What a wonderful cruise!  In no particular order, here are my observations after a very satisfying week! Let me preface this by saying we were in The Haven and so were able to skip many of the usual lines and were escorted to our dinners and excursions.  Let me tell you, that once you go Haven, you will never want to go back.  But enough of that...

 

1) Pre-board testing. This is the one part of the process that being  a high level Latitiudes member or Haven doesn't help you.  Basically you start with a security sweep (which I think is for the benefit of the 3rd party CVS crew running the testing);  Next stop is to show your passport and vaccine card.  Fair warning that if you have a WHO vaccine card (my daughter lives in Austria ) the entry-level folks doing the scanning didn't have all the information they needed; no worries, the senior staff were there to straighten things out.  Finally, you self swab for the antigen test and are then sent to a waiting area until they call your test number (you might also get a txt/email if you pre-registered with CVS).  Once your number is called, they put a wristband on you which you will need to gain access to the actual port where you can check-in.  Not a bad process, but I think NCL will smooth out some of this process over time. I'd say the whole testing scenario took about 45 minutes.

 

2) All of the crew we interacted with were so happy to be sailing again.  Many of them have been "on vacation" for over a year.   Service was awesome.  I especially like the effort they put in to remember your name, even if they've only interacted with you once.  Shout out to my friend Yad-Z from "South Philly" at Maltings! 

 

3) Our Cruise Director Marzena from Poland was everywhere.  She and the assistant CD Jose had a daily show on the Activities Channel that talked about activities and events on the ship.  As always, the cruise operations folks do a great job getting the parties started (along with the production members from the shows).  My observation here is that these first cruises are only about 60% full, and so the venues actually don't have enough attendees early on to get the dance parties rocking.  So the staff step in and prime the pump until folks arrive.  We had 1200 on this cruise.  The next cruise out only has 1000 (we talked to someone doing a back-to-back).

 

4) Dining - They've definitely upped their game in the main dining rooms.  The two nights that we did Grand Pacific and Magenta we really enjoyed our meals.  They offer the same menus but have many great appetizer choices that you can order multiple of if you are a picky eater.  My middle daughter is notorious for not ordering much at a normal dinner, but at Grand Pacific she did 4 appetizers and an entree!  Le Bistro was the best meal we had on the ship. We normally don't go there on the bigger ships because there are so many other choices, but on the Gem, it is a standout.   Second best meal was probably La Cucina.  Cagney's was good, but we thought their Haven lunch was actually better than the dinner. (Haven guests use Cagney's as their lunch restaurant and Moderno as their breakfast area).

Regarding the buffet, we don't usually partake in this, but I did want to point out that it was self-service. 100% fully vaccinated ship and crew FTW (for the win!). 

 

5) Plenty of bars on the ship.  Best drink on the ship (according to my girls) was the Mr. Worldwide.  It's the official drink of Cagneys, but they make it everywhere.  Make sure to go see Yad-Z down at Maltings Whiskey Bar or the Martini Bar.  Also recommend O'Sheehans for beer (they have the Guinness Pub Cans).  The beverage package gets you most of the good drinks on the ship.  The Espresso Martini is an upcharge, as is higher level wines and champagne.  But we were able to find plenty of decent wine within the package.  And when you order a glass at dinner with the UBP, you basically are getting a bottle as they will refill that for you as much as you need during your meal.  

 

6) Entertainment was great. There is one production cast that performs all of the shows, so they need to be able to go from Swing to 70s to Country.  Blazing Boots, their country offering, was our favorite. They also did a great Broadway Cabaret style show in the Spinnaker Lounge which I would highly recommend.

Frank Townsend, the comedian, was hilarious.  We've seen him on another ship (maybe the Dawn).  When not performing, he was often found out and about interacting with the guests and as a result working on new material 🙂

 

7) Masks;  All staff were masked (including waiters, butlers, concierges, casino).  Exception was when they were performing either in a stage show, or hosting an event on the pool, Bliss, or Spinnaker.

 

 

8 - Facial recognition software was the star of the show when boarding and leaving the Ship.  This for me really was amazing.  You did not need to hand your key card to anyone;  they scan your face when leaving the ship and coming back on.  Bravo NCL.

 

9) Excursions and port requirements - All of the ports we went to required masks.  It was also advised that you bring a photo ID and at least an eletronic copy of your vaccine card.  We never needed this, but apparently if you go to some establishments in the port, you may be required to show proof of vaccination to enter a restaurant.   Excursions were great - Highly highly recommend Fury catamaran in Cozumel, though I should point out that there will be lots of included beer and margaritas; including when you are on their private beach.    Harvest Caye, which is NCL's private port in Belize,  is wonderful. They've done a great job with it, including a nice covered walkway from the ship to the port.   Must do for the adventure seekers is the Superman Zip Line.  Amazing!  Don't worry if you aren't able to pre-book the Adrenaline zip-line tour that includes Superman; we were able to upgrade from the Lagoon Zip easily once in the port.

 

10) The ship looks great.  Note that they removed all the waterslides for the time being.  I was told they may do something different in that area once they re-position the GEM to NYC.  No kids on this cruise anyway.  And NCL just announced they are extending the 100% vaccination through the end of the year.

 

11) Flights - word of warning; if you do the flights through NCL, you will get placed in middle seats.  Make sure to check out your seating a week out from the cruise so you can try to move into better seats.  We managed to do it without spending any extra money.  Another group we were travelling with chose to spend the $ per seat to get what they wanted at check-in.  If you do the ship transfer, prepare to patiently wait for the bus to arrive.  We had a longer wait than I would have liked; I think this was a combination of flying into FLL for a Miami cruise coupled with just missing the previous shuttle.

 

This was our 6th NCL cruise.  Not the biggest ship we've been on (that would be the Escape) and not the smallest (that would be the Spirit).  However, one week before the cruise I managed to get my bid for the Garden Villa accepted which separated this cruise from all others.  This is a truly massive suite at the top of the ship.  We had 5 of us (including my girls age 19-25) and another party of 3 in another Haven room and the 8 of us spent a large chunk of the time enjoying the private lounging deck with its own full size hot tub for 8 people and lots of loungers.   Plus an impressive panoramic view of the main pool deck (can they see into our room?).  Exceptional service with this room. 

 

That's top of mind for now after getting off the ship this morning.  Happy to answer questions.  I made sure to talk to as many crew as I could to get their stories and to thank them for being part of the restart and making our vacation so nice.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Seanair

[rbalfour]

Thanks for the information on check in. We have already a CVS login so hopefully that will smooth things out.

[TSUmom]

14 hours ago, Seanair said:

Just got off the Gem today.  What a wonderful cruise!  In no particular order, here are my observations after a very satisfying week! Let me preface this by saying we were in The Haven and so were able to skip many of the usual lines and were escorted to our dinners and excursions.  Let me tell you, that once you go Haven, you will never want to go back.  But enough of that...

 

1) Pre-board testing. This is the one part of the process that being  a high level Latitiudes member or Haven doesn't help you.  Basically you start with a security sweep (which I think is for the benefit of the 3rd party CVS crew running the testing);  Next stop is to show your passport and vaccine card.  Fair warning that if you have a WHO vaccine card (my daughter lives in Austria ) the entry-level folks doing the scanning didn't have all the information they needed; no worries, the senior staff were there to straighten things out.  Finally, you self swab for the antigen test and are then sent to a waiting area until they call your test number (you might also get a txt/email if you pre-registered with CVS).  Once your number is called, they put a wristband on you which you will need to gain access to the actual port where you can check-in.  Not a bad process, but I think NCL will smooth out some of this process over time. I'd say the whole testing scenario took about 45 minutes.

 

2) All of the crew we interacted with were so happy to be sailing again.  Many of them have been "on vacation" for over a year.   Service was awesome.  I especially like the effort they put in to remember your name, even if they've only interacted with you once.  Shout out to my friend Yad-Z from "South Philly" at Maltings! 

 

3) Our Cruise Director Marzena from Poland was everywhere.  She and the assistant CD Jose had a daily show on the Activities Channel that talked about activities and events on the ship.  As always, the cruise operations folks do a great job getting the parties started (along with the production members from the shows).  My observation here is that these first cruises are only about 60% full, and so the venues actually don't have enough attendees early on to get the dance parties rocking.  So the staff step in and prime the pump until folks arrive.  We had 1200 on this cruise.  The next cruise out only has 1000 (we talked to someone doing a back-to-back).

 

4) Dining - They've definitely upped their game in the main dining rooms.  The two nights that we did Grand Pacific and Magenta we really enjoyed our meals.  They offer the same menus but have many great appetizer choices that you can order multiple of if you are a picky eater.  My middle daughter is notorious for not ordering much at a normal dinner, but at Grand Pacific she did 4 appetizers and an entree!  Le Bistro was the best meal we had on the ship. We normally don't go there on the bigger ships because there are so many other choices, but on the Gem, it is a standout.   Second best meal was probably La Cucina.  Cagney's was good, but we thought their Haven lunch was actually better than the dinner. (Haven guests use Cagney's as their lunch restaurant and Moderno as their breakfast area).

Regarding the buffet, we don't usually partake in this, but I did want to point out that it was self-service. 100% fully vaccinated ship and crew FTW (for the win!). 

 

5) Plenty of bars on the ship.  Best drink on the ship (according to my girls) was the Mr. Worldwide.  It's the official drink of Cagneys, but they make it everywhere.  Make sure to go see Yad-Z down at Maltings Whiskey Bar or the Martini Bar.  Also recommend O'Sheehans for beer (they have the Guinness Pub Cans).  The beverage package gets you most of the good drinks on the ship.  The Espresso Martini is an upcharge, as is higher level wines and champagne.  But we were able to find plenty of decent wine within the package.  And when you order a glass at dinner with the UBP, you basically are getting a bottle as they will refill that for you as much as you need during your meal.  

 

6) Entertainment was great. There is one production cast that performs all of the shows, so they need to be able to go from Swing to 70s to Country.  Blazing Boots, their country offering, was our favorite. They also did a great Broadway Cabaret style show in the Spinnaker Lounge which I would highly recommend.

Frank Townsend, the comedian, was hilarious.  We've seen him on another ship (maybe the Dawn).  When not performing, he was often found out and about interacting with the guests and as a result working on new material 🙂

 

7) Masks;  All staff were masked (including waiters, butlers, concierges, casino).  Exception was when they were performing either in a stage show, or hosting an event on the pool, Bliss, or Spinnaker.

 

 

8 - Facial recognition software was the star of the show when boarding and leaving the Ship.  This for me really was amazing.  You did not need to hand your key card to anyone;  they scan your face when leaving the ship and coming back on.  Bravo NCL.

 

9) Excursions and port requirements - All of the ports we went to required masks.  It was also advised that you bring a photo ID and at least an eletronic copy of your vaccine card.  We never needed this, but apparently if you go to some establishments in the port, you may be required to show proof of vaccination to enter a restaurant.   Excursions were great - Highly highly recommend Fury catamaran in Cozumel, though I should point out that there will be lots of included beer and margaritas; including when you are on their private beach.    Harvest Caye, which is NCL's private port in Belize,  is wonderful. They've done a great job with it, including a nice covered walkway from the ship to the port.   Must do for the adventure seekers is the Superman Zip Line.  Amazing!  Don't worry if you aren't able to pre-book the Adrenaline zip-line tour that includes Superman; we were able to upgrade from the Lagoon Zip easily once in the port.

 

10) The ship looks great.  Note that they removed all the waterslides for the time being.  I was told they may do something different in that area once they re-position the GEM to NYC.  No kids on this cruise anyway.  And NCL just announced they are extending the 100% vaccination through the end of the year.

 

11) Flights - word of warning; if you do the flights through NCL, you will get placed in middle seats.  Make sure to check out your seating a week out from the cruise so you can try to move into better seats.  We managed to do it without spending any extra money.  Another group we were travelling with chose to spend the $ per seat to get what they wanted at check-in.  If you do the ship transfer, prepare to patiently wait for the bus to arrive.  We had a longer wait than I would have liked; I think this was a combination of flying into FLL for a Miami cruise coupled with just missing the previous shuttle.

 

This was our 6th NCL cruise.  Not the biggest ship we've been on (that would be the Escape) and not the smallest (that would be the Spirit).  However, one week before the cruise I managed to get my bid for the Garden Villa accepted which separated this cruise from all others.  This is a truly massive suite at the top of the ship.  We had 5 of us (including my girls age 19-25) and another party of 3 in another Haven room and the 8 of us spent a large chunk of the time enjoying the private lounging deck with its own full size hot tub for 8 people and lots of loungers.   Plus an impressive panoramic view of the main pool deck (can they see into our room?).  Exceptional service with this room. 

 

That's top of mind for now after getting off the ship this morning.  Happy to answer questions.  I made sure to talk to as many crew as I could to get their stories and to thank them for being part of the restart and making our vacation so nice.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

Thank you for sharing. I have been hoping to hear more on the check-in experiences.  We have moved to a DOS and are excited about it - the Garden Villa looks absolutely wonderful!  

[coffeebean]

17 hours ago, Seanair said:

Just got off the Gem today.  What a wonderful cruise!  In no particular order, here are my observations after a very satisfying week! Let me preface this by saying we were in The Haven and so were able to skip many of the usual lines and were escorted to our dinners and excursions.  Let me tell you, that once you go Haven, you will never want to go back.  But enough of that...

 

1) Pre-board testing. This is the one part of the process that being  a high level Latitiudes member or Haven doesn't help you.  Basically you start with a security sweep (which I think is for the benefit of the 3rd party CVS crew running the testing);  Next stop is to show your passport and vaccine card.  Fair warning that if you have a WHO vaccine card (my daughter lives in Austria ) the entry-level folks doing the scanning didn't have all the information they needed; no worries, the senior staff were there to straighten things out.  Finally, you self swab for the antigen test and are then sent to a waiting area until they call your test number (you might also get a txt/email if you pre-registered with CVS).  Once your number is called, they put a wristband on you which you will need to gain access to the actual port where you can check-in.  Not a bad process, but I think NCL will smooth out some of this process over time. I'd say the whole testing scenario took about 45 minutes.

 

2) All of the crew we interacted with were so happy to be sailing again.  Many of them have been "on vacation" for over a year.   Service was awesome.  I especially like the effort they put in to remember your name, even if they've only interacted with you once.  Shout out to my friend Yad-Z from "South Philly" at Maltings! 

 

3) Our Cruise Director Marzena from Poland was everywhere.  She and the assistant CD Jose had a daily show on the Activities Channel that talked about activities and events on the ship.  As always, the cruise operations folks do a great job getting the parties started (along with the production members from the shows).  My observation here is that these first cruises are only about 60% full, and so the venues actually don't have enough attendees early on to get the dance parties rocking.  So the staff step in and prime the pump until folks arrive.  We had 1200 on this cruise.  The next cruise out only has 1000 (we talked to someone doing a back-to-back).

 

4) Dining - They've definitely upped their game in the main dining rooms.  The two nights that we did Grand Pacific and Magenta we really enjoyed our meals.  They offer the same menus but have many great appetizer choices that you can order multiple of if you are a picky eater.  My middle daughter is notorious for not ordering much at a normal dinner, but at Grand Pacific she did 4 appetizers and an entree!  Le Bistro was the best meal we had on the ship. We normally don't go there on the bigger ships because there are so many other choices, but on the Gem, it is a standout.   Second best meal was probably La Cucina.  Cagney's was good, but we thought their Haven lunch was actually better than the dinner. (Haven guests use Cagney's as their lunch restaurant and Moderno as their breakfast area).

Regarding the buffet, we don't usually partake in this, but I did want to point out that it was self-service. 100% fully vaccinated ship and crew FTW (for the win!). 

 

5) Plenty of bars on the ship.  Best drink on the ship (according to my girls) was the Mr. Worldwide.  It's the official drink of Cagneys, but they make it everywhere.  Make sure to go see Yad-Z down at Maltings Whiskey Bar or the Martini Bar.  Also recommend O'Sheehans for beer (they have the Guinness Pub Cans).  The beverage package gets you most of the good drinks on the ship.  The Espresso Martini is an upcharge, as is higher level wines and champagne.  But we were able to find plenty of decent wine within the package.  And when you order a glass at dinner with the UBP, you basically are getting a bottle as they will refill that for you as much as you need during your meal.  

 

6) Entertainment was great. There is one production cast that performs all of the shows, so they need to be able to go from Swing to 70s to Country.  Blazing Boots, their country offering, was our favorite. They also did a great Broadway Cabaret style show in the Spinnaker Lounge which I would highly recommend.

Frank Townsend, the comedian, was hilarious.  We've seen him on another ship (maybe the Dawn).  When not performing, he was often found out and about interacting with the guests and as a result working on new material 🙂

 

7) Masks;  All staff were masked (including waiters, butlers, concierges, casino).  Exception was when they were performing either in a stage show, or hosting an event on the pool, Bliss, or Spinnaker.

 

 

8 - Facial recognition software was the star of the show when boarding and leaving the Ship.  This for me really was amazing.  You did not need to hand your key card to anyone;  they scan your face when leaving the ship and coming back on.  Bravo NCL.

 

9) Excursions and port requirements - All of the ports we went to required masks.  It was also advised that you bring a photo ID and at least an eletronic copy of your vaccine card.  We never needed this, but apparently if you go to some establishments in the port, you may be required to show proof of vaccination to enter a restaurant.   Excursions were great - Highly highly recommend Fury catamaran in Cozumel, though I should point out that there will be lots of included beer and margaritas; including when you are on their private beach.    Harvest Caye, which is NCL's private port in Belize,  is wonderful. They've done a great job with it, including a nice covered walkway from the ship to the port.   Must do for the adventure seekers is the Superman Zip Line.  Amazing!  Don't worry if you aren't able to pre-book the Adrenaline zip-line tour that includes Superman; we were able to upgrade from the Lagoon Zip easily once in the port.

 

10) The ship looks great.  Note that they removed all the waterslides for the time being.  I was told they may do something different in that area once they re-position the GEM to NYC.  No kids on this cruise anyway.  And NCL just announced they are extending the 100% vaccination through the end of the year.

 

11) Flights - word of warning; if you do the flights through NCL, you will get placed in middle seats.  Make sure to check out your seating a week out from the cruise so you can try to move into better seats.  We managed to do it without spending any extra money.  Another group we were travelling with chose to spend the $ per seat to get what they wanted at check-in.  If you do the ship transfer, prepare to patiently wait for the bus to arrive.  We had a longer wait than I would have liked; I think this was a combination of flying into FLL for a Miami cruise coupled with just missing the previous shuttle.

 

This was our 6th NCL cruise.  Not the biggest ship we've been on (that would be the Escape) and not the smallest (that would be the Spirit).  However, one week before the cruise I managed to get my bid for the Garden Villa accepted which separated this cruise from all others.  This is a truly massive suite at the top of the ship.  We had 5 of us (including my girls age 19-25) and another party of 3 in another Haven room and the 8 of us spent a large chunk of the time enjoying the private lounging deck with its own full size hot tub for 8 people and lots of loungers.   Plus an impressive panoramic view of the main pool deck (can they see into our room?).  Exceptional service with this room. 

 

That's top of mind for now after getting off the ship this morning.  Happy to answer questions.  I made sure to talk to as many crew as I could to get their stories and to thank them for being part of the restart and making our vacation so nice.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

Many thanks for your review and information. Sound like you had a wonderful time. Also sounds like NCL was READY!

[laedw]

Thank you for this review.  I haven't read of any COVID-19 outbreaks on the ship.  That's good news!

[trivimp]

Did they offer the Port Valet program for this sailing?  (e.g., check your bags on the ship all the way thru to your destination) 

[Seanair]

I don't recall seeing the Port Valet program offered.  Being in the Garden Villa, we got every perk imaginable, including a Limo trip to the airport; but Port Valet was never mentioned...