Back on The Sea Again: Gem 08/29/2021 Review

[AKR2011]

On 9/12/2021 at 2:52 PM, janpa70 said:

What is breakfast like at Sheehans? I've only ever ate there for late night snacks, meals. What kind of sandwiches do they serve for breakfast?

 

We love breakfast at O'Sheehan's! Alex had a full English breakfast with baked beans, and for sandwiches you can customize. There' not as much variety as the MDR, but it's quick service and casual. A great place when you have to get out to a port.

 

On 9/12/2021 at 6:08 PM, beadelc said:

Thank you so much for all your information! I am going to be in the Gem in Oct. 10th and your information has been very helpful.

Thanks

Bea

Thanks for following and enjoy your cruise!

 

22 hours ago, meatball_nyc said:

What a great review, Ashley. Thank you again!

 

I would have “liked” every post, but CC is being a pain in the you know what with that. 

 

Hope to be back at sea on the Gem sometime soon. Thank you!

 

safe travels!

Thank you for being here! Always happy to help our a Tribe Member. I have fallen behind over there and need to play catch up!

 

11 hours ago, TSUmom said:

Thank you for sharing!  I am enjoying your detailed review and the pictures.  

Thanks so much! I appreciate you joining me.

[AKR2011]

Last port day ☹️☹️☹️

 

I did not get pictures in the morning, but we hit the buffet and enjoyed the songs of our amazing greeter Doreen and the coffee ladies. If you stayed on ship, lots to do as usual:

 

This is our third cruise in a row visiting Cozumel, and each time has been amazing! The first time we went to Discover Mexico Park where we toured a museum, drank mudslides, made our own chocolate bars, ate homemade mole and chips, hung out with an alpaca, saw a Mexican high pole dance, tasted tequilas, and ate a Mexican lunch with a margarita. That place was so amazing that I almost rebooked it...except it was a Covid fatality 😭 The amount that these islands have suffered is unreal and worse than any natural disaster of the past. Every guide told us the same sad stories, so again, I highly recommend going local and tipping the staff. The last time we were in Cozumel we booked a Trikes tour, and I highly recommend that experience too. More on that in my Escape review.

 

We weren't sure what to do this time, and I kept looking for local companies. Then I was on Shore Excursions Group (I had a 10% off promo code), and I saw a tour that looked great: Electric bikes through Punta Sur Eco Park with time at a beach club to snorkel. We have never done anything like that, so we decided to book. I have booked on that site before and always had great experiences. Most of the money goes directly to the tour operators, they guarantee to get you back to port on time, and prices are much cheaper than the cruise line. We often find that hardly anyone else books our same tours, so we get a special experience. This time would be no different. If you want to book privately, I later googled the company and found them: https://beachbumcozumel.com/

 

When we arrived at port, we had to take a $10 taxi to International Pier where Royal docks, and we arrived earlier than they planned us to be. We walked around their port for about an hour, and man, it was HUMID!! It was about 85% humidity, and the port days prior we had temps over 100-degrees. By the time we made it back to Beach Bum to meet our guide, I was second guessing the idea of a bike, but you only live once, and he already had our bikes loaded and ready to go. We drove for about 20 minutes and reached our destination:

 

I will share our experience coming up...

 

~ Ashley

[AKR2011]

Did I mention that this was another private tour because no one else booked? Yup, unbelievable how lucky we were this cruise. When we arrived, our guide gave us time to get used to riding the bikes. I am only 5'2", and my feet could barely touch the ground. It has also been a LONG time since I rode a bike, and I was a little nervous at first, but Alex was loving it:

 

We only had to wear masks at entrances, so our masks quickly came off. You could decide how much you wanted to pedal on the left handle bar with an electric gauge labeled 0-5. The right handle bar had a throttle if you preferred. Soon we were both getting the hang of it and having a great time:

 

We stopped at a dock with an observation tower on the way to the beach:

 

There was a rectangular dock down below to watch wildlife:

 

I stayed on the dock and went crocodile hunting. I found one almost instantly:

 

Alex went up to the observation tower with our guide and his binoculars. This stop was probably only supposed to be about 10 minutes long, but I've learned over the years that my birding husband does not stay for just 10 minutes when birds are around. We were there for almost an hour, and he counted 26 species up there and entertained our guide with his knowledge:

 

Normally when Alex birds, I use his phone and the E-Bird app to put in what he saw, but I decided that I was on vacation and didn't want to do that. Instead, I chatted with the groups that came and went from the tower and met some nice travelers. We seemed to be the only cruisers, and although three other groups came and went during the hour, every group was small like ours. Eventually I convinced Alex that there would be more birding opportunities, but he was really sad to leave. I think if we go back to Cozumel, I will just drop him off here and he can stay all day. Anyway, we biked more and stopped at a lighthouse next:

 

It was 133 steps to the top, and then you had to crawl out a little doorway to the porch. I forgot to ask if it was still operational, but it was very cool to see:

 

We were the only ones up there, so lots of time to pose for photos:

 

The view was awesome:

 

Notice how empty this area is? Our stop at the beach club is coming up next...

 

~ Ashley

[AKR2011]

Now lots of tours come through Punta Sur Eco Park, but it is a pretty big place. Maybe that's why we lucked out and saw this when we arrived:

 

Not one person at this beach at all. We had our choice of loungers:

 

I was actually really happy finishing book #2 and sitting at a table:

 

Snorkeling is included in this tour, but to be honest, I was not interested in swimming today, and Alex wanted to find more birds. He went exploring, and I hung out with my book. The view was beautiful:

 

Soon they brought us a snack. They had Ceviche and Guacamole with chips. I just stuck to the guac, but Alex said that the ceviche was great:

 

We had over an hour of beach time, and we probably could have convinced our guide to stay longer, but Alex saw the sky and thought we may have a rainstorm. We got caught in the rain the last time we were in Cozumel, and he didn't want to do that again. Our guide said that we could go whenever we were ready, so we packed up and headed out. By the time we left there were two small groups that came to the beach as well. It was still very intimate, though. We went full speed (20 mph) on the way back, and we beat the rain. Our guide was able to get us photos by the sign:

 

Our tour was supposed to be 3 hours, but it ended up being about 5. It did rain briefly while we were in the cab back to Beach Bum, but we never got wet today. In fact, this was the only rain that we saw all cruise. We tipped our guide and grabbed another cab back, asking the driver to take us to Mega. That is the grocery store right outside of Punta Langosta where NCL docks. I had candy from Honduras, so now I needed Mexican treats for my co-workers. I quickly grabbed a bunch and inquired about liquor. I believe Jameson was about $13/liter here, and that was the lowest I found it, so I bought two bottles. Then we headed back to the ship, noticing that the pier was quite wet. I'm happy we missed the rain. The vendors were eager to sell us things at a discount, but we didn't need anything else. If you do want to save, just shop at the end of the day and/or after a rainstorm. Definitely lots of bargains!

 

Final Thoughts: This was an awesome day, and I'm so happy that we booked the electric bikes. It's something that I will consider for future ports now. They were a lot of fun and a great way to see the park. Beach Bum was a great company to book with, and it was a very affordable tour as well. I definitely recommend this one.

 

~ Ashley

[AKR2011]

When we arrived back to the ship, it was about 4:00. They had the cold towels and water again, but no big dock party with dancing and music like we're used to. That was a little sad, but the staff were still out there greeting everyone and ensuring that we had a great time. This crew was incredibly friendly and grateful for all of the passengers. We headed to our room to shower and change and saw another sad site:

 

Debarkation instructions are always so sad. After changing we packed up our second bag of Platinum laundry. This is the best perk I tell you! We wanted some drinks and met an awesome lady while walking to Spinnaker. It was her first cruise, and she was having a great time. We chatted with her and gave some advice on planning to make awesome experiences. Then we went to play the game show Family Insanity. The crew put us into family groups, and we had to do crazy things together. I had to pretend to birth a baby at one point, we had to run around screaming that we won the lottery, we had to get the audience to dance with us, and we had to quickly take a group selfie:

 

Our family group did very well and won over the crowd. Yet another crazy hour of insanity that I would never participate in on land. I had a few AMFs (Alcohol is My Friend as I called them) as we played. We stayed for trivia and then headed down to Bar City for a game of Farkle and some drinks:

 

We eventually made it to the whiskey bar for some Pass the Pigs. There we bumped into Tony and challenged him to a bar trick where you exchange a shot of water with a shot of whiskey:

 

Tony did well and ended up with about half a shot of whiskey in the end. I told him it was his if he could rescue it. He said that I owed him Jameson without working for it since he always helped us win trivia, and I kept that promise on the next day. You'll also notice the bar nuts above. I love NCL snack mix. They had these spicy corn things most of the time, but the traditional bar mix could still be found in a few places too. I mention this, because I know there are lots of fans of the bar mix. I've seen the posts. I've seen people inquire about buying it on land. Yes, it still exists.

 

We took our Pass the Pigs game up to O'Sheehan's:

 

We had wanted chicken wings all week, and tonight was the night. We always order them extra crispy with sauce on the side. Alex also ordered nachos and said they were good. I ordered pretzels, but I don't know what they did to the cheese sauce. It was watered down and not cheesy. Luckily the waiter brought me the nacho cheese and it was much better. Wings themselves were good, but the sauce tasted more BBQ than Buffalo. I'm an Upstate NY girl. I have high standards. Oh well:

 

After dinner we admired the chandelier for a few minutes:

 

Angel was playing in the atrium but didn't seem to have much of an audience:

 

I went to the 9pm show while Alex hung out at Bar City. It was Jesse Hamilton's second show. The first was better in my opinion, and I was sad that we had a second show of his instead of the main production Swing, which they had the week before. Once again, Jesse is entertaining and the band was amazing, but I don't think it's a headlining show. I then went back to meet Alex and watch Nathaniel at the piano. He was actually taking a little break and had a guest entertaining everyone:

 

I drank another martini of course:

 

Although the next day was a sea day, we had a lot sun and action today, so it was time to head back to our cabin. Once again, our steward left us a towel animal on the bed:

 

I know towel animals are no longer the norm unless you ask for them, but I miss the eyes. I may need to pack stickers on our next cruise. Still, this one here was a favorite of mine. Our last day of sea is coming up, and I will try to post tomorrow. Today was a 10-hour day, and I'm hoping to get home at a decent hour tomorrow.

 

~ Ashley

[Shellbelle28]

Yay for bar mix! We were on a cruise juuuust as COVID was becoming a concern in February 2020 and mid-way through the trip it disappeared from the bars and I was sad. 

[aubreyc1988]

4 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

Yay for bar mix! We were on a cruise juuuust as COVID was becoming a concern in February 2020 and mid-way through the trip it disappeared from the bars and I was sad. 

I have only seen the bar mix, not the corn nuts...and i loved me some spicy cornnuts! the bar mix is too waxy for my preference. 

[TSUmom]

I am always so sad when I get the "you will be leaving us soon" papers but not near as sad as I am when I walk off of the ship.  I guess that is why I am always sure to have another cruise already booked to look forward too.  Only 26 days and I will be on the Gem!  Thank you so much for sharing your cruise!

[Jenjohncourt]

Thanks for your review. I love the Gem!!! 

[AKR2011]

19 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

Yay for bar mix! We were on a cruise juuuust as COVID was becoming a concern in February 2020 and mid-way through the trip it disappeared from the bars and I was sad. 

LOL, I just knew someone would understand my need to mention it. It's just one of those special things that I always look forward to on vacation.

 

15 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I have only seen the bar mix, not the corn nuts...and i loved me some spicy cornnuts! the bar mix is too waxy for my preference. 

Hahaha, come to the small ships and you will find what you are looking for. I loved following your Encore review by the way 😊 And way to save a life - that was wild!!

 

9 hours ago, TSUmom said:

I am always so sad when I get the "you will be leaving us soon" papers but not near as sad as I am when I walk off of the ship.  I guess that is why I am always sure to have another cruise already booked to look forward too.  Only 26 days and I will be on the Gem!  Thank you so much for sharing your cruise!

26 days is so close!! I am 702 until The Pearl unless I have some kind of major career bump or I win the lotto. Thanks for following and enjoy your cruise.

 

1 hour ago, Jenjohncourt said:

Thanks for your review. I love the Gem!!! 

Thank you for reading. I love her too!

[DCGuy64]

It's been a pleasure reading your review, Ashley! Truly, you write so well and so vividly. It also sounds like you and Alex made the most of your time both onboard and off, which is how it should be! 😄

We're just 5 days away from our own Gem adventure. I'm anxious to try some new drinks and also see the Champagne Bar. I love champagne. 🍾 We're also looking forward to the spa. Our cruise last month in Italy was wonderful but the spa was disappointing, due to Covid they only had the saunas available, you had to book in advance and could only go for 1 hour/day max. I hope things are better on the Gem! I also want to try out Sheehan's, the menus look really good. Oh and we've booked at Cagney's, La Cucina and Moderna. I am a big meat lover but my wife is a vegetarian going on 30 years so I feel kinda bad taking her to 2 steakhouses, LOL! But there's always stuff for her to order. Anyway, thanks again for your amazing review. 😀

[AKR2011]

48 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

It's been a pleasure reading your review, Ashley! Truly, you write so well and so vividly. It also sounds like you and Alex made the most of your time both onboard and off, which is how it should be! 😄

We're just 5 days away from our own Gem adventure. I'm anxious to try some new drinks and also see the Champagne Bar. I love champagne. 🍾 We're also looking forward to the spa. Our cruise last month in Italy was wonderful but the spa was disappointing, due to Covid they only had the saunas available, you had to book in advance and could only go for 1 hour/day max. I hope things are better on the Gem! I also want to try out Sheehan's, the menus look really good. Oh and we've booked at Cagney's, La Cucina and Moderna. I am a big meat lover but my wife is a vegetarian going on 30 years so I feel kinda bad taking her to 2 steakhouses, LOL! But there's always stuff for her to order. Anyway, thanks again for your amazing review. 😀

Thank you so much! I am more of a martini girl myself, but I do love the bubby too. They were trying to sell me on the spa nonstop on The Gem. In the hallways I was always stopped with deals and offers. It's not my thing, but they were definitely looking for business. The salad bar at Moderna is amazing and vegetarian friendly, and there is at least one veggie dish on Cagney's menu too I believe. Plus the sides are really good. Thanks for following!

 

I lost my next post and have to retype...Back in a bit!

[PhillyTravelBug]

Love the review!! looks like an enjoyable time. Can I just say how nice it is to read trip reports again??!

[bluesea777]

16 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I have only seen the bar mix, not the corn nuts...and i loved me some spicy cornnuts! the bar mix is too waxy for my preference. 

 

Sorry, but I (and DH) hate the corn "nuts". They are so hard on the molars! The first time we saw them was on the 2015 Escape inaugural TA and I went "oh my god they switched the bar snack to these". Well, I complained to the Beverage manager about them, calling them "chicken feed".

 

Fortunately they didn't make those chicken feed fleetwide and we have been able to enjoy the usual bar snacks on the ships after 2015.

 

Phew!!!

 

 

[AKR2011]

Last sea day 😭😭😭 Was I up at the crack of dawn again? Why of course! I walked laps around the promenade until the Atrium Bar opened at 6:30. I enjoyed some Daydreamer's Daiquiris while I started book #3, one that I have read every single summer since its publication in 1998 (Summer Sisters - Judy Blume):

 

Eventually I saw that it was close to sunrise, so I grabbed a whiskey and ginger to go and went on deck:

 

Man, that one is so blurry! I apologize to my Jameson for that one. I took a ton of sunrise photos as I was trying to soak in that last morning as much as possible. Here are a few of them:

 

As soon a I finished I grabbed breakfast. I had all intentions of eating lunch in the main room finally, and I wanted to be hungry for that. A note on scrambled eggs: I tried them every day I ate in the buffet and they always were runny. So sad since I love them, but plenty of other good things to eat:

 

I feel like I always overeat in the buffet. The plates are huge, and I never even filled mine up too much. I went back to the room after breakfast, and Alex was up and starting to move. I accompanied him to his breakfast at the buffet and read my book while he ate. Then we headed to Trivia, and I had a Moscow Mule:

 

I stayed after Trivia to watch a presentation on Prima, and Alex went to find a quiet place to read. The presentation was brief and not very informative. The thread on here has so much more information. I'm hoping for District Brew House and Howl at the Moon, but the Cruise Next team knew nothing about venues. I also asked if a racetrack is planned on all of the trips, but they had no knowledge of ANY racetracks. Interesting since the thread on here has pictures of one I believe. So lesson learned, just follow Cruise Critic instead. There was a lot going on around the ship today:

 

I grabbed a drink and wandered after the presentation, eventually ready for lunch. I met up with Tony who also planned to eat in the main room, so we went together. Before we arrived I mentioned to him that I saw the Encore menus the week before and noticed that my beloved Red Pepper Hummus was still there but my favorite dessert ever - Peanut Butter Cheesecake - had been taken off the menu. I don't know if it's a big vs small ship thing, but Tony explained that the lunch menu now changes. The hummus was the other day, but today was the day for my cheesecake!! I was so happily surprised. We had a long lunch and chat, but I did not get pictures. The staff were kind enough to make me pesto pasta (not technically on the menu), because that is another favorite of mine and I hadn't really gotten the chance to eat it all week. Then there was dessert of course. If you ever find yourself in the main dining room for lunch, look for Peanut Butter Cheesecake. It is one of the best desserts on NCL and my second favorite of the week...My top dessert came at dinner.

 

~ Ashley

[AKR2011]

3 minutes ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Love the review!! looks like an enjoyable time. Can I just say how nice it is to read trip reports again??!

Aw, thank you! So many great reports right now too. I'm having trouble keeping up with them all and trying to finish mine at the same time.

 

3 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Sorry, but I (and DH) hate the corn "nuts". They are so hard on the molars! The first time we saw them was on the 2015 Escape inaugural TA and I went "oh my god they switched the bar snack to these". Well, I complained to the Beverage manager about them, calling them "chicken feed".

 

Fortunately they didn't make those chicken feed fleetwide and we have been able to enjoy the usual bar snacks on the ships after 2015.

 

Phew!!!

 

 

I agree!! I definitely prefer the old fashioned bar mix and was happy when I saw it a few times. The corn nuts are too spicy and yes, soo hard on the teeth too.

[negn]

See you used Well now.   We’re from Albany and we’re planning to get tested there.   Did results come back quickly ?   Also was there a charge if you told them it was for travel.?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

41 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Sorry, but I (and DH) hate the corn "nuts". They are so hard on the molars! The first time we saw them was on the 2015 Escape inaugural TA and I went "oh my god they switched the bar snack to these". Well, I complained to the Beverage manager about them, calling them "chicken feed".

 

Fortunately they didn't make those chicken feed fleetwide and we have been able to enjoy the usual bar snacks on the ships after 2015.

 

Phew!!!

 

 

if I'm not choking on a corn nut, I'm not truly living 😉 

[AKR2011]

After lunch I went to Spinnaker and met up with Alex for some Deal or No Deal. This time we were not chosen and only won a measly pull tab card, but as always it was fun to follow along:

 

Besides the closing of shows in the theater, we only ever saw our Cruise Director Marzena at Deal or No Deal and evening game shows. That was a bit of a bummer, but her staff were awesome! Gabrielle was my personal favorite, but every one was a bundle of energy and made our cruise so much fun. After playing I did something new...I took a small nap! I wanted to be able to stay out tonight, and a little shut eye wouldn't hurt. I turned on the TV for a rare moment and fell asleep to a movie for a bit. I did set my alarm, though. I know people always ask about the TV. We do not really watch it. I would put it on in the morning while waiting for Alex to get ready and watch the news, but that was about it. Channels include some ship specific stations, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, a sports channel with a lot of soccer (always on at O'Sheehan's whenever I went for my water bottles), two stations with some TV shows (one with modern sitcoms and one with old shows), and I believe two movie stations. We don't vacation to watch TV, so it's fine for us, but there is not a lot to offer. After my nap I grabbed a drink and went to watch Bingo at the theater. I never play, but I had a few red tickets to put in the bin for the cruise drawing. I am used to seeing the bin chock full of tickets, but there were not a ton in there on this cruise, probably due to the small capacity. I did not win, but I saw that someone in our FB group for the cruise did. Congrats!! Evening Trivia was in the atrium, so we went there next. Did I have another Daydreamer's Daiquiri? I didn't think so, but it looks like it. Alex had the drink of the day, which was a Sparkling Garden:

 

The bartender and Alex had a conversation about Brazil, where Alex grew up, and he brought him a shot of special Brazilian Rum to try. I thought that was really sweet. The staff on this ship I tell you...Amazing!! We stayed to drink and hang out for awhile with our trivia buddies, but eventually we had to pack, so we grabbed drinks and headed up to our cabin. Our laundry was not back at first, but we called our steward's phone line and he immediately delivered. It was pressed and folded in the basket again, and I was finally able to meet our ninja steward. I handed him a $20 bill and thanked him for everything. Our room was always cleaned perfectly while we were out, and of course I appreciated the towel animals. We had two issues that were not resolved, but not his fault. First was the safe. We had trouble getting it opened and closed, and by the end we couldn't seem to keep it locked. I did meet with someone earlier in the week, but it was never quite fixed. Then there was the temperature. We had it set on the lowest temp all week, but it just did not seem cool. We slept with just the sheet all week.

 

Eventually we were almost all packed up and headed to dinner at La Cucina for our last Platinum meal. I was happy to see the return of Fruits de Mer, although the old one has puff pastry and an amazing cream sauce. This one was still good, though. I did not get photos, and I apologize for that. Alex didn't want dessert, but I insisted that we share. I looked up the menu so I can tell you that it was called Marquise au Chocolat. It came out looking like a chocolate sausage, and it was the best dessert I had all week. So rich and delicious. Then we stopped by the atrium for photos:

 

We customized the border on this one since we never had our embarkation photo:

 

We went back to the cabin again to change before heading to the show. We decided to put on our clothes for tomorrow so that we could put all of our luggage out and have it organized. That worked out well. The show was Get Down Tonight, and it was a cast production featuring songs from the 70s. We absolutely loved this show! Like Blazing Boots, there was no storyline, but the music and performers were top notch, and everyone was singing along and having a good time. We were sad that the crew didn't come out and sing the Norwegian song after. I know that's probably because of Covid, but it was sorely missed. We then got our drink on and went to Sugarcane for mojitos and some Ticket to Ride on my tablet:

 

We left the bar and chatted with a crew member at the check-in station for Moderno and Cagney's. She spent half an hour talking to us about the two months that the crew were there without passengers. They had a lot of time to learn how to run the best ship possible, but they were really missing having the guests. She also spoke about how hard the pandemic was on all of the crew and their families when they were sent home for so long. It was such a wonderful conversation, and Alex left her a tip before we moved onto our next bar. Such a delight, and you could see her smile from under her mask. Again, I have nothing but love for this crew!

 

We went to Bar City, and Tony was down there asking for the Jameson that I owed him. I went to get a double shot and ended up chatting with a couple at the bar for probably half an hour. They're on CC too, and we shared our love of NCL cruises. They told me about a shot that I just had to order, so I brought the whiskey over to Tony and returned to grab these shots for myself and Alex. Presenting Alien Brain Hemorrhage shots:

 

It's a lot of Blue Curacao and Peach Schnapps, but the Bailey's in there curdles. Very similar to a car bomb I guess? Chunky to drink, but definitely fun to try. We stayed well past the time that they were serving, just drinking and chatting. Then they started to turn the lights off around us, so we decided that we should probably leave. I wanted a late night hot dog, so we went to Sheehan's for that and another drink. It was very lively up there with many people trying to enjoy every second left of the week. We made it back after 2am and found this cute guy hanging out:

 

I am going to try and finish tomorrow. I have our ending of the cruise and final thoughts. Thank you all for reading and commenting!!

 

~ Ashley

[AKR2011]

27 minutes ago, negn said:

See you used Well now.   We’re from Albany and we’re planning to get tested there.   Did results come back quickly ?   Also was there a charge if you told them it was for travel.?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both times we were tested in the morning an had results by the evening. Before the cruise it was about midnight (that was a Friday) after it was around 9pm (on Labor Day). No charge at all, but we were directed to a Well Now specifically for anti-symptomatic people. I've never been to a Well Now, but the staff were great and the waiting room had a free Icee Machine. That was kind of fun!

 

16 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

if I'm not choking on a corn nut, I'm not truly living 😉 

You are too funny! I will save them all for you if I ever catch you on board.

[aubreyc1988]

44 minutes ago, AKR2011 said:

Both times we were tested in the morning an had results by the evening. Before the cruise it was about midnight (that was a Friday) after it was around 9pm (on Labor Day). No charge at all, but we were directed to a Well Now specifically for anti-symptomatic people. I've never been to a Well Now, but the staff were great and the waiting room had a free Icee Machine. That was kind of fun!

 

You are too funny! I will save them all for you if I ever catch you on board.

I'd really PREFER something in between the bar snacks/corn nuts. I like that the corn nuts are spicy, makes me drink mojitos faster...but I feel like the barsnacks have a kind of wax like texture that I just cannot get behind. 

[Shellbelle28]

1 hour ago, AKR2011 said:

Then there was the temperature. We had it set on the lowest temp all week, but it just did not seem cool. We slept with just the sheet all week.

I'm starting to wonder if this is caused by the new "Upgraded Medical-Grade Air Filters. We are strategically installing medical-grade air filters of the highest filtration grade, MERV 13 or HEPA, capable of removing 99.9% of airborne pathogens, including COVID-19, and implementing new bi-polar ionization technology."

I've seen a couple of reports by cruisers about their rooms being too warm.

The denser the filters, the harder it is to push air through unless they also upgraded the air handling machinery. 

[luvcruzing]

I love the “Welcome Aboard” photo, Ashley.

[janpa70]

5 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

It's been a pleasure reading your review, Ashley! Truly, you write so well and so vividly. It also sounds like you and Alex made the most of your time both onboard and off, which is how it should be! 😄

We're just 5 days away from our own Gem adventure. I'm anxious to try some new drinks and also see the Champagne Bar. I love champagne. 🍾 We're also looking forward to the spa. Our cruise last month in Italy was wonderful but the spa was disappointing, due to Covid they only had the saunas available, you had to book in advance and could only go for 1 hour/day max. I hope things are better on the Gem! I also want to try out Sheehan's, the menus look really good. Oh and we've booked at Cagney's, La Cucina and Moderna. I am a big meat lover but my wife is a vegetarian going on 30 years so I feel kinda bad taking her to 2 steakhouses, LOL! But there's always stuff for her to order. Anyway, thanks again for your amazing review. 😀

Would love to hear about your experience with the spa on Gem. I'm going in October and already paid for the spa. I've never done this before but decided to treat myself this time. Enjoy your trip.

 

[AKR2011]

21 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I'd really PREFER something in between the bar snacks/corn nuts. I like that the corn nuts are spicy, makes me drink mojitos faster...but I feel like the barsnacks have a kind of wax like texture that I just cannot get behind. 

I love that we've started a debate about snack mix. Definitely beats trying to discuss chair hogs or gratuities! 😄

 

21 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

I'm starting to wonder if this is caused by the new "Upgraded Medical-Grade Air Filters. We are strategically installing medical-grade air filters of the highest filtration grade, MERV 13 or HEPA, capable of removing 99.9% of airborne pathogens, including COVID-19, and implementing new bi-polar ionization technology."

I've seen a couple of reports by cruisers about their rooms being too warm.

The denser the filters, the harder it is to push air through unless they also upgraded the air handling machinery. 

You have a great point. I hadn't thought about that but have read the same review lately. Hmm...🤔

 

19 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

I love the “Welcome Aboard” photo, Ashley.

Thank you! It was a nice make-up photo. We don't have any with that pose, so I'm pretty happy with it.