Gem 1/11/2023, NYC to Bermuda

[pookel]

2 hours ago, billslowsky said:

I just watched the Gem leave, looks relatively calm with the sun going down...  hopefully the captain finds them a "relatively calm" path back to NY.  I was on the Gem late January 2018, the year that the Breakaway supposedly tried to go directly through a bomb cyclone (great videos).  We came up from the Caribbean maybe two weeks later, really rough seas.  I was on deck 7 or 8 in an oceanview room, some friends on 4 described how the waves were so rough that their windows would occasionally be underwater.  Gulf Stream not friendly to us.

 

I'm almost regretting my upgrade to deck 11 balcony club mini-suite from deck 5 oceanview .... I would love to see the waves up close like that!

[mking8288]

31 minutes ago, pookel said:

 

I'm almost regretting my upgrade to deck 11 balcony club mini-suite from deck 5 oceanview .... I would love to see the waves up close like that!

If you enjoy surfing, watch it up high on Spinnaker Lounge, Deck 13 Fwd ...

 

We're in an OV, Deck 4 Fwd a week after Sandy in 2012 on the Gem, blasted our way thru a NorEaster - 30 to 40 ft. waves & strong gale diagonal across the bow for 15 hours leaving NY, unforgettable giant  submarine porthole view of raging sea. 

 

Tomorrow, not looking pretty heading in but ... trust the bridge & ship captain.  Should be able to plot & cut a path thru, probably quite rocky for a few hours and stay indoors, outside decks closed for safety 🛟  

 

Recently, it was reported that another cruiseline's ship captain (think it was Carnival) ordered stewards to lock down & secured all the balcony doors while sailing thru the Golf of Mexico ahead of forecast ... that's pretty rare.  

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by mking8288

[AwesomO]

3 hours ago, billslowsky said:

I just watched the Gem leave, looks relatively calm with the sun going down...  hopefully the captain finds them a "relatively calm" path back to NY.  I was on the Gem late January 2018, the year that the Breakaway supposedly tried to go directly through a bomb cyclone (great videos).  We came up from the Caribbean maybe two weeks later, really rough seas.  I was on deck 7 or 8 in an oceanview room, some friends on 4 described how the waves were so rough that their windows would occasionally be underwater.  Gulf Stream not friendly to us.

even without high waves, it's not hard for them to cover the windows on deck 4. we were on the Gem sailing back to NYC from the Carribbean when we had a similar experience. Felt like a washing machine haha. 

 

https://youtu.be/tu3Z77aU1f8

[EllieinNJ]

Hope our February 1st Getaway Bermuda cruise doesn't turn into a cruise to nowhere.

[mking8288]

@EllieinNJ  Hi, again ... since last September's M&G onboard the Joy.  Think POSITIVE - wasn't that an excellent cruise to New England & Canada, we lucked out & just missed the storm that roared across days later, affecting the subsequent sailing.  We are going to bring the Getaway safely home & disembark as you get ready to embark ... 

 

Happy & Healthy belated New Year 2023.  Regards & Best Wishes.  

[Mlake09]

Day 3

Today was great! It was a sunny but windy day in Bermuda, and the winds have definitely picked up since 2pm. The captain announced during sail away that they are expecting high winds (50 knots plus) and waves (3 meters or more) throughout tonight and into tomorrow night. When we got back on the ship this afternoon, both pools had already been drained and the vomit bags were already out on every stairway. We also noticed that all the furniture at the front of the ship on the balconies under Spinaker had been tied down. 

 

We ate breakfast in the main dining room, which was good. The service is a little slower than last cruises, but you can tell many of the staff are new and learning and doing their best. We ate lunch off the shop and had a drink and snack at the Great Outdoors when we got back on. We watched a number of folks amble toward the ship even though they were later than the all-aboard time, and many people clapped and hooted at them to run. I’m not judging because when we were here in November, I was so paranoid about the time change and didn’t trust my phone and Apple Watch that I brought us back a good hour and a half early, which is a lot when the stop is only 6 or 7 hours. For dinner we ate in Magenta. We spotted another minor menu change…the lobster ravioli appetizer is now ricotta ravioli with lobster sauce…they were still quite good. Service was a little slow but nothing too crazy, and we ate right around 6:30pm, in their rush hour.

 

Hoping it won’t be too windy/wavy tonight. We’re headed to dinner soon after my wife has just won us over $150 on the slots. It’s pretty Smokey in the casino today- was much better yesterday. 

 

*****the internet was super slow yesterday and I couldn’t post this last night. I’ll try another update later tonight.

 

Re: the waves and wind, yikes! Last night and right now- really wavy! We sailed in November right after that Florida hurricane and that was bad, but the wind is making this worse. It’s not as predictable to know where the motion is coming from. 
Heading to breakfast soon and will see how many people are out!

[bluesea777]

CruiseMapper is showing Gem sailing westward from Bermuda.

 

Thank you OP for latest news. 

 

Be safe.

Edited January 14, 2023 by bluesea777

[EllieinNJ]

So what did you wind up doing on your day in Bermuda?

[Birdnutty]

So happy you are doing this.  Too bad you didn't label your review as being LIVE, as many more folks would be following.  But maybe that's a good thing, meaning less dumb questions.  Hmmm

 

Sorry that your weather is less than ideal.  It's fun to be a little rocky, but crazy rocky can be nowhere near as much fun.  Hope it doesn't affect your stomach or your trip in any way.  If anything, it might send some people to stay in their cabins instead of being out and about, reducing the "crowd" factor.

 

Three questions:  On the days at sea, have there been any mention of Latin dance classes or Zumba in the Daily?  Lots of people, especially me, really love that.

Secondly, are there many people masking up at all?

And how was your day in Bermuda?  What did you end up doing?

[MLA]

On 1/12/2023 at 8:02 AM, Mlake09 said:

We had a great first day yesterday! We were able to board very early (around 10:20am) and we were in the first group allowed on board.  The early boarding may have been in part to the prior cruise doing customs in Florida instead of NYC (I saw that in another post).  The staff have all been very friendly and even though we’ve never ordered the boxes of water before (we typically just bring a reusable to each meal), the new FAS six liters per person has been a score! I think we’ve gone through two already!  For those of you that are platinum plus, last night in turn down our room steward also left us two half liter boxes, for the latitudes level perks. We are platinum currently but should hit the next level after our February cruise!

 

We had lunch in O’Sheehan’s when we boarded (burger was good, fries were good but cold, and wings were good but I do prefer the “old” wings and not the newer ones- I know there are other threads about this).  Even though the bar wasn’t supposed to open until 11, the bartender still was able to make some drinks (nothing with real fruit), which was great! After lunch we went for a walk, then a quick nap (we take the train in from western mass and got up at 4am), and then we went out for another walk during sail away. I really enjoy leaving out of NYC because there is so much to look at! We had dinner at Moderno and that was very good. The staff are all very friendly so far.

 

I can’t speak to the entertainment because we typically don’t do many of those activities while on board, but I’ll try to keep an ear out for what others are saying. There are more kids and teens than I would have expected for a random January sailing, but I’m guessing that it’s due to the three day weekend for MLK day. It’s cold and pools were empty yesterday. We’re headed out for a walk and then to breakfast now, but if the internet keeps up, I’ll try to post again!

Enjoyed your post. I’ll be doing a b2b on the Gem beginning Jan. 25. I’m also from western Ma. Berkshires. Have a great time

[Mlake09]

8 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

So what did you wind up doing on your day in Bermuda?

Hello! We walked over to a nearby beach, swam for a short time (it was cold and we really had to work ourselves up to it!), read for a bit, and then walked back to the ship. We stopped at a few places in Dockyard and used the free WiFi for a bit too- the internet on the ship has been really slow and mostly inoperable for the duration of the cruise- we received money back because we had purchased the unlimited for my wife to check work emails, which she can’t do. On this moment, CruiseCritic and the NYT are the only things loading but I’m not complaining since I was able to get on!

[Mlake09]

2 hours ago, Birdnutty said:

So happy you are doing this.  Too bad you didn't label your review as being LIVE, as many more folks would be following.  But maybe that's a good thing, meaning less dumb questions.  Hmmm

 

Sorry that your weather is less than ideal.  It's fun to be a little rocky, but crazy rocky can be nowhere near as much fun.  Hope it doesn't affect your stomach or your trip in any way.  If anything, it might send some people to stay in their cabins instead of being out and about, reducing the "crowd" factor.

 

Three questions:  On the days at sea, have there been any mention of Latin dance classes or Zumba in the Daily?  Lots of people, especially me, really love that.

Secondly, are there many people masking up at all?

And how was your day in Bermuda?  What did you end up doing?

I haven’t seen anything related to Zumba, but I can keep an eye out tomorrow. Today the closest thing I see is “fun fitness” at 8:30am, and “Dance the Night Away with Sabor Latino” at 11pm.
 

There are some people masking but most are unmasked. We are masking in the casino because we don’t like the smoke, but haven’t been masking in most other places. We did start the cruise off masked indoors, but didn’t stick with it.  There are a lot of people who are sick (coughing, sneezing, etc) on board though, so we probably should have kept up with it to be safe (we got covid after we cruised last April, but were good after our summer cruise in Iceland/Norway and our short November cruise to Bermuda); hopefully the boosters are doing their job!

We had a great day yesterday in Bermuda. We changed our plans due to the itinerary change and cancelled our rental car as a result, but we got in some chilly snorkeling (so chilly!) and a nice walk. It’s always nice to be outside in the warmer sun in the middle of the winter. Today started off sunny but very windy, and it’s now raining and still windy. There were no chairs out anywhere except directly around the pool today, even when it was sunny this morning, and the wind is really rocking the boat!

 

 

[Mlake09]

2 hours ago, Birdnutty said:

So happy you are doing this.  Too bad you didn't label your review as being LIVE, as many more folks would be following.  But maybe that's a good thing, meaning less dumb questions.  Hmmm

 

Sorry that your weather is less than ideal.  It's fun to be a little rocky, but crazy rocky can be nowhere near as much fun.  Hope it doesn't affect your stomach or your trip in any way.  If anything, it might send some people to stay in their cabins instead of being out and about, reducing the "crowd" factor.

 

Three questions:  On the days at sea, have there been any mention of Latin dance classes or Zumba in the Daily?  Lots of people, especially me, really love that.

Secondly, are there many people masking up at all?

And how was your day in Bermuda?  What did you end up doing?

 

[mking8288]

Just checking up on Gem's live shipcam - seeing large waves ,probably 18' to 21' on average, may higher at times and white caps, pretty large sea swells.  As noted above, cruisemapper have the GEM tracking almost on a southeast heading, pointing toward Charleston/Jacksonville to basically sail around the big Atlantic storm, before turning north at some point tomorrow as the system pull further east away from land & coastal.  That's good, smart & safe navigation up on the bridge - expect things to be worsen somewhat in the next 16 to 24 hours (sorry, reading the predictive charts on Windy App.)  

 

Our last time on the Gem was Dec. 2019 just before the Covid shutdown and satellite WiFi wasn't too bad, slow as expected but usable - actually comparatively better to the "performance" onboard these days with some of the newest & bigger NCL ships in the fleet ... if only they bring on Starlink, a win-win for all.  

 

Uploading the forecast track ... Monday morning's arrival, sunny & breezy, morning temp about 35 degree with a high of 45, not bad for mid January.  It's possible that you are beginning (already ??) to feel gale and/or strong gale force cross wind, coming diagonally across the bow & starboard side.  Ship's navigational channel (11) gives very useful real-time info as it happen, unlike the newer mega ships.  BTW, do you know about & get a chance to visit the ship's Bridge Viewing Room - it's usually open, dust to dawn, on sea days, to visit, Deck 11 Fwd Port side, unless they choose to close it for operational & safety reasons - it's real cool, we always stop in there to see the Mermaid, Robbie. 

 

Just curious as to the fleet-wide MDR Lunch Menu, which hasn't been exactly exciting for us in 2022 - not sure if they changed out & substituted things again at the beginning of 2023.  If you manage to take a screenshot & upload (post-cruise is fine) ... it will be much appreciated b/c we will be eating off that a few times soon on upcoming sea days, just trying to figure out our options and/or split among O'Sheehan's & maybe with paid SD that's open, TIA.  

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by mking8288

[SunshineGal2022]

20 foot waves would get my stomach rolling.  Are many people looking green??

[Mlake09]

1 hour ago, SunshineGal2022 said:

20 foot waves would get my stomach rolling.  Are many people looking green??

Yes they are! The sick bags are out on every stairwell and I think many people are in their rooms instead of out and about this evening.

[Mlake09]

2 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Just checking up on Gem's live shipcam - seeing large waves ,probably 18' to 21' on average, may higher at times and white caps, pretty large sea swells.  As noted above, cruisemapper have the GEM tracking almost on a southeast heading, pointing toward Charleston/Jacksonville to basically sail around the big Atlantic storm, before turning north at some point tomorrow as the system pull further east away from land & coastal.  That's good, smart & safe navigation up on the bridge - expect things to be worsen somewhat in the next 16 to 24 hours (sorry, reading the predictive charts on Windy App.)  

 

Our last time on the Gem was Dec. 2019 just before the Covid shutdown and satellite WiFi wasn't too bad, slow as expected but usable - actually comparatively better to the "performance" onboard these days with some of the newest & bigger NCL ships in the fleet ... if only they bring on Starlink, a win-win for all.  

 

Uploading the forecast track ... Monday morning's arrival, sunny & breezy, morning temp about 35 degree with a high of 45, not bad for mid January.  It's possible that you are beginning (already ??) to feel gale and/or strong gale force cross wind, coming diagonally across the bow & starboard side.  Ship's navigational channel (11) gives very useful real-time info as it happen, unlike the newer mega ships.  BTW, do you know about & get a chance to visit the ship's Bridge Viewing Room - it's usually open, dust to dawn, on sea days, to visit, Deck 11 Fwd Port side, unless they choose to close it for operational & safety reasons - it's real cool, we always stop in there to see the Mermaid, Robbie. 

 

Just curious as to the fleet-wide MDR Lunch Menu, which hasn't been exactly exciting for us in 2022 - not sure if they changed out & substituted things again at the beginning of 2023.  If you manage to take a screenshot & upload (post-cruise is fine) ... it will be much appreciated b/c we will be eating off that a few times soon on upcoming sea days, just trying to figure out our options and/or split among O'Sheehan's & maybe with paid SD that's open, TIA.  

 

Thanks so much for the updates! Yes the winds and waves are very strong…the navigation channel says winds are currently 56 knots! It is definitely something! The main dining room menus on Gem are still rotating each day. They are the same as all the last cruises we’ve been on, with a few exceptions for some substitutions. I’ll try to snap a picture of the dinner menu tomorrow but we’re eating in Cucina again (we had $100 onboard credit to Sue as a result of the itinerary change). Thanks again for the forecast info, too- I appreciate it!

[Mlake09]

Day 4-

I wasn’t planning doing a live post, however it’s been fun to track everything we have been doing! I often read the live posts, especially when I have an upcoming cruise, and I hope some of you are enjoying these updates.

 

It has been EXTREMELY windy today. It was sunny and about 68 this morning but the weather deteriorated as the day went on, to showers, grey skies, rain, and more wind. It was 56 degrees a little after 2pm. The waves were also very large today. I wish the navigation channel still said wave height, but alas. Thank you to the other poster who said they are at 22 feet. Current apparent winds are 56 knots coming across the bow of the ship. We can really feel it. I’m super lucky I don’t get motion sick, but I’ve had to watch myself to keep from stumbling, especially on the stairs.  It seems like many people are motion sick, and I walked past an unfortunate person who got sick right outside the buffet doors earlier today.

 

This morning we had breakfast in the main dining room and then went for a wobbly, windy walk. We attended our first Wines around the World event (we became Platinum during the pandemic and these haven’t been offered) which only had about 10 people total, including the two of us. The wine stewards were very friendly. After that we stopped by the casino and after a few tries on the slot machine, we were up $60! We went for another walk and also had to stop at the internet desk for a partial refund.  The internet has been a challenge this trip and many people are complaining about it. For whatever reason I’m able to log in right now, although my emails won’t download and my texts aren’t sending. We did get $65 OBC because it’s been down for so many days, and we had upgraded to unlimited for my wife’s work. After that we went upstairs to Great Outdoors for a light lunch, and spent the afternoon lounging around in our room. Since I booked this cruise so last minute, we ended up in an ocean view picture window on the 8th floor (our first in this category), and it’s been lovely. The waves look enormous from our room.

 

Tonight for dinner we ate at Le Bistro. Food and service were both wonderful. We did ask about the $10 supplement for the filet, and if it would be removed if we ordered the filet without the foie gras (we don’t like it anyways), but the supplement still applied.  We loved our wine steward, and the hostess and the waiters were all great too. We had another good hit as the casino after dinner, and now we’re tucking in for the night. The waves and wind are still really rocking the boat quite a bit. The outside areas are closed and have been since late afternoon. Lookin forward to one more day of vacation before we’re back to reality on Monday!  

[billslowsky]

On my rough winter trip I wound up laying in bed for an hour or so to ride out the worst rocking.  I am not prone to motion sickness but you bounce off the walls walking down the hallways.

[coyboy1971]

Adding my thoughts to this great thread, also live from the Gem 1/15/23

 

Last day (sea day) on the January 11-16, 2023 sailing on the Gem (NYC-Bermuda Round Trip). It's day 2 of heavy seas, high wind, and rain. This is our first time on the Gem and first NCL cruise since 2019. We are Latitudes Platinum and currently in the Haven 1 BR Suite (14514) which we have also been in on the Jewel. We love the Jewel class ships and have always stayed in either the 1 or 2 BR suites in the Haven or the DOS on deck 15. We are pretty low key and enjoy NCL's freestyle cruising and the shows. We picked this cruise because it was an easy train ride to NYC and we'd never been to Bermuda and we were excited for the overnight port (Spoiler alert: we were docked in Bermuda about 7 hours and had to cancel the overnight due to the approaching weather.) We were also excited about the 3 promoted shows for this cruise, still being advertised in the NCL app on board today: "Swing! the Musical," "Get Down Tonight," and "Blazing Boots." (Spoiler alert: there were no shows.)

 

Hits:  

 

The Gem looks great after her dry dock. Bright and gaudy has given way to elegant and soft beiges, blues, and greys. Our haven suite looks beautiful and there are more outlets than I remember before. The toned down decor in the suite looks like the more modern haven photos from the new builds. This is reflected through the ship. 

 

Our cabin steward, Jo Ann, is terrific. She's omnipresent and always greets us by name and ensures everything is perfect with the suite. Our Butler, Norman is very pleasant and promptly met our request for some almond milk in our min fridge for our morning in suite Nespresso and one day we asked for a bottle of Chardonnay around 4 pm to enjoy as we watched the angry seas from our suite. Otherwise, he and Teddy, the haven courtyard valet, seem to have their hands full with other guests. The concierge, Leo, is a nice fellow. We booked everything in advance shoreside so we didn't have much for him to do. Mainly he's kept us apprised of what we won't be doing due to the unscheduled itinerary change and bad weather. Yanique, the CD, met us the first night in the Stardust reserved seating for the Haven. We were the only guests in the area for the show. She's very friendly and funny. Overall we have found all the staff we have interacted with to be friendly, happy, and up to standards. This is a big hit because some reports had indicated otherwise. 

 

The food has far exceeded our expectations. Cagney's is especially good this trip. Magenta, Le Bistro, and La Cucina have all been great. We used our Free At Sea one free meal and our two Platinum free specialty vouchers which were in our suite to cover the specialty restaurants. Our complimentary bottle of wine was used for Cagney's, but was really a moot point because we upgraded to the premium plus beverage package which includes a wide range of very good wines by the bottle.  
 

Suite/Haven breakfast in Moderno is fantastic. The cold buffet is as nice as at a European hotel, with a wide array of fruits, cold cuts, cheeses, pastries, and hot and cold cereals. The breakfast menu is nicely updated and features terrific traditional items as well as a nice avocado toast and a dish with poached eggs, mushrooms, bacon, and bordelaise sauce on grilled country bread. Delicious! Lunch in Cagney's has some pretty good crabcakes and a brownie that's more like something from a Viennese coffee house. 

 

Regarding the beverage package upgrade, this was well with it, as we used to to get two bottles of premium waters at each meal, then took them back to the suite so we always had still and sparkling water. We also enjoyed a lot (hey, on vacation) of Vueuve Cliquot and higher end wines and bourbons, so we felt like we got a lot of value. We also enjoyed the 40% discount on the special wine tastings which were fun. Two were offered on this cruise: a "black glass" tasting on the first sea day and a wine and chocolate pairing on the last sea day. Both tastings were equally fun for beginners or connoisseurs. 

 

Our short time in Bermuda was fun. The Royal Naval Dockyard offers a lot within easy walking distance of the ship and is very accessible for guests with mobility issues. We enjoyed looking at an buying local art at the Bermuda Arts Center, shopping for clothes at the Crown & Anchor, and lunch at the Bone Fish Bar and Grill which offered terrific curried fish cake sandwiches and an authentic fried snapper sandwich on raisin bread (a local specialty). 

 

Misses:

 

Weather can't be controlled and there's no faulting the decision to leave Bermuda early rather than risk damage to the vessel being banged against the dock. The next two days at sea were among the roughest I've experienced and were no joke. On board credits were issues and refunds for missed excursions made. Nonetheless, things were kind of boring like they weren't prepared for the extra sea day. Lots of sales pitches disguised as seminars on spa treatments, jewelry, duty free liquor, and the ubiquitous art auction at sea people. (Curling up with a good book during the day was my solution.) The bar staff and pool were overwhelmed before seas got rough. Once the pools were closed and wind and rain whipped the deck, the indoor bars got pretty jammed at times. 

 

No shows. This was a big miss. Turns out they only every planned to perform the Swing musical, and we found out it was cancelled due to the wild movement of the ship and risk to the dancers, while we were at dinner and replaced by a third performance of the pretty good male vocalist we heard on night one. Oh well, lingering over a tiramisu and dessert wine was fun with no show to rush to. In the end the main stage entertainment in the Stardust was 3 nights of the singer and 2 nights of the stand up comic. So much for the marketing of Broadway style entertainment for this cruise. Safety first, and I'm sure the performers were also disappointed. 

 

Random observations:

 

Our keys didn't work after checking in at the Haven Lounge. 6 or 7 staff, a couple of trips to the security desk and back to the lounge and 30 minutes later someone came up with the idea of printing new keycards for us. Problem solved and on board. 

 

At Le Bistro there is a very wonderful double cut duroc pork chop with green peppercorn sauce on the menu. My husband found that the provided fancy French steak knife was not up to the task and asked our waiter for a  serrated steak knife from Cagney's. A hilarious parade of Le Bistro staff came to investigate this request and once the requested steak knife was provided they stood around and marveled at the ease with which my husband now sliced his hearty chop. You would think that Jacques Pepin was demonstrating the art of French meat carving. I'm sure numerous reports had to be filed and sent to Miami regarding the request. 

 

The VIP reception was scheduled for 7-7:45 pm last night. Since this is prime dinner hour, it wasn't something we could attend unless we wanted to move our dinner reservation to 8:45 pm. Strange timing. Of course, if we'd known the show was cancelled in advance...

Haven crashers... this is the first time I've ever witnessed guests who sneak into the Haven and use the pool and hot tub. They left without a fuss when they were asked by a staff person for their key card and explained that Haven amenities were reserved for Haven guests. 

 

Sailing out of NYC, there's a very diverse crowd. We enjoyed the LGBTQIA+ social hour and met some nice folks. Planning or moving this gathering to a larger venue than Malting's is a suggestion I will make on our survey. The space was often occupied by other groups and not much seating was available. 

 

Summary: overall, despite the weather and a few small glitches we had a relaxing cruise. The ship and crew are lovely. NCL could do better with on board entertainment  and responding to unplanned sea days and honesty in how they promote the shows pre-cruise as a big feature of the cruise. But I got the 5 days of goofing off, relaxing, good food and wine I was looking for, and still feel NCL offers good value for the product.

 

I feel bad for my fellow cruisers who don't have the sea legs I enjoy. There are a lot of very seasick people on board. Hopefully things will smooth out tonight and we will have a smooth welcome into NYC tomorrow. 

(Pic is the morning view that greeted me today). 

 

 

 

[Birdnutty]

Thanks for the Daily!  I enjoy reading some of the offerings that I can possibly look forward to, weather permitting.  And for you, it doesn't look like it's permitting lot. So disappointed for you.  Hope the weather clears a bit so you can enjoy the last of it.

Looking forward to the next report.

[mking8288]

@coyboy1971 and @Mlake09   Good Sunday afternoon to all onboard. 

 

Have another look at webcam & cruisemapper, sailing much closer to shorelines than usual, passed Virginia Beach on a northerly heading into MD, chartered a "better" course to bring everyone safely home.  Hang in there, up ahead and by dinnertime, things should gradually ease up slowly - forecasting still 12' to 15' waves, swell continued to be high & sea state remain rough against near gale force headwind.  Better than overnight hours & earlier this morning, apparently - helps by sailing & hugging closer the coastal water.  

 

As for those invited to the VIP Reception, I've noticed that on our last few cruises ... sometimes it's like 6:30 in the evening on a sea day - smacked in the middle of folk's prime dinner time slots and/or getting ready to rush for the 7 p.m. show.  It's not as if the GM doesn't have the broad overview of peak time, show times and yet, it's as if they schedule the cocktail hours on purpose to result in fewer attendees ... nothing evil 🙄 😳 😠 

 

Forest tomorrow in NY: sunny & breezy, low 30's overnight & high of 45 and dry, no snow on the ground.  And, you'll need to adjust to the floor or grounds not moving or shaking, and holding those handrails while out-and-about no longer a safety necessity.  Cheers.  

[cruiseat50]

Thank you to the OP for writing your review and I appreciate that even though you have had disappointment due to weather you are not blaming and criticizing NCL for the not so perfect cruise.  Yes, if there are issues with the service or other issues that are their fault we want to know about them but so many times people get on and rant that it's a horrible cruise when it's beyond the line's control.  Even still, I can understand their disappointment as I am one who doesn't do well in rough seas but Bonine usually keeps it under control.  Your optimism and good attitude is something we can all aspire to as it serves you well so that you can have the best cruise possible despite the issues.

 

[cruiseat50]

5 hours ago, coyboy1971 said:

Our short time in Bermuda was fun. The Royal Naval Dockyard offers a lot within easy walking distance of the ship and is very accessible for guests with mobility issues. We enjoyed looking at an buying local art at the Bermuda Arts Center, shopping for clothes at the Crown & Anchor, and lunch at the Bone Fish Bar and Grill which offered terrific curried fish cake sandwiches and an authentic fried snapper sandwich on raisin bread (a local specialty). 

 

Thank you for this information as that is something I was trying to find out since we will be there for a day in March before heading down to the Caribbean.  We are taking an excursion on a boat to see the famous homes and hideaways of the rich and famous but that is only a couple hours and were wondering what to do with the rest of the day.  I really would have loved to go to the famous pink sand beaches but since it's early march it most likely won't be warm enough especially for a dip in the water.  Even though I do have mobility issues I would have tried to get my rollator down to the water to take a dip but don't really want to freeze my --- off.

[Mlake09]

Last Day! 

We made the best of our last wavy, windy, cold day, but we were a little tired after a mostly sleepless night. The wind on this cruise has been really something! When I’m home I’ll try to remember to post some videos I took. Due to the weather, all outdoors events and seating were cancelled and removed, so it’s been an inside day. The hot tubs were also drained today too. We went to MDR for breakfast and had a waitress who felt so seasick that she had to leave the room- I felt so bad for her, and really grateful that the movement doesn’t bother me, and that the dot works for my wife.  This morning was much worse weather/wave-wise than later this evening- it seemed difficult for the breakfast waiters to stay on their feet, and they had to hold on when pouring water or coffee, etc. I had the French toast and it was a sweet treat as always. Yesterday I had the salmon bagel which was served with a bagel on one plate, and all the toppings on a second plate; I haven’t seen that since prior to 2020 but like it better than the open faced bagel they’ve been serving on most of my recent cruises. It’s less messy to build it myself!

 

We hung around by Maltings for a while and played some games while others showed up to find a seat to watch the Bills game. The room tvs are small and the NFL games weren’t shown on any large screens, which was disappointing to some people. We had lunch in the Orchid Garden and that was tasty. There was about a 30 minute wait to get in so when we sat down, they had the smaller menu to choose from. This is a popular spot to eat and there was always a line whenever we walked by. After lunch we walked around inside for a while, returned to our room for some down time and the rest of the football game, and then headed out for another indoor walk before dinner. We didn’t have reservations, but showed up at Moderno and they were able to get us in after someone else cancelled. We used our OBC for dinner. It was great and we also enjoyed a mojito beforehand, too. After dinner we did a few inside loops just to stretch out, and now here we are about ready to put our bags out for pickup. I was able to get a load of laundry done today so we’re going home with all clean clothes! That is a score! 

 

We’re hoping to arrive on time tomorrow morning but aren’t in a rush to get off.  Our train isn’t until 11ish so we will enjoy one last breakfast in the MDR before we depart.  Thanks all for following along- this was fun to do! 

 

Also, the internet started working again today. It’s not fast, but at least we can connect.