Thoughts on the Gem

[sawsgal]

Not good. 
 

I’m a Sapphire Latitudes member and this is the first of 3 NCL cruises scheduled for this year. This is my first post-COVID NCL trip, as we did a river cruise last year. 
 

Low points:  sharps container in my cabin is overflowing. Apparently hasn’t been emptied in some time. 
Cabin stewards clean cabin once per day…no turn down service and no towel animals; I know some enjoy them, so disappointing to not have them.  Why sell the towel animal frames if no towel animals?

Restrooms in common areas are dirty…bordering on disgusting. Saw a banana on a toilet and an apple on the floor. Passengers are to blame, but they should be addressed timely.

 

Lines for bars are ridiculous.  Not enough servers or bartenders…don’t know if it’s because of the fact that they can’t find staff or that they’re choosing not to staff appropriately.  Prepare to wait for drinks…a loooong time. 

 

Food:  cookies, salmon/lox nowhere to be found. Bang bang chicken and shrimp in Magenta inedible. No Eggs Benedict in Garden Cafe.  Options minimized. ;
 

Don’t know if these are cost cutting measures or staffing issues, but I was trying to indoctrinate two friends into cruising, and I was embarrassed that I spoke so highly of NCL. 
 

I hope this was a one off and my next voyage will be better…on the Joy this summer.

[luv2kroooz]

Welcome to post-Covid NCL, with once a day stateroom service and cheap food included, for your convenience, of course. 

We've never experienced a dirty ship, though, with dirty public restrooms. It's been about 5 years since we sailed Gem, but we truly loved the layout of the Jewel class. Hope the next cruise goes better for you.

[purplecow15]

We just got off the Gem last week. Never saw any dirty areas. Staff was constantly cleaning common areas. 
There were very good cookies on back deck every day. There was Lox for breakfast in MDR . We had eggs Benedict on back deck in morning. Never waited more than a few minutes for a drink.

As for no turn down in evenings and towel animals we never felt we needed them. Did not interfere with enjoyment of cruise. 
I guess everyone has a different experience. We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. 

[FLAHAM]

48 minutes ago, sawsgal said:

 

Food:  cookies, salmon/lox nowhere to be found. 

I was on the Gem in February.  It is a fine ship in excellent condition.  We have all known about the turn down service for months.  Smoked salmon on a toasted bagel with cream cheese, tomato, onion and capers was available every morning in the main dining rooms.  Cookies not generally available (but tiramisu, crème brûlée, ice cream and other desserts widely available) but were distributed twice to club balconies.

Edited March 25 by FLAHAM

[KyleClark]

Your experience isn't the  experience I had. I am on the last night of 5 night GEM cruise. The only thing I agree with you is their are long lines for bar service. 

[Seas2mountains]

We were on the Gem in February and just got off the March 12th-21st sailing. As mentioned by others, we did not experience what you described and know that everyone may have a different experience. YMMV

 

1. Cookies were found in the Great Outdoors.

2. Room stewards can make towel animals on request but I would not request it without providing a generous tip.

3. We rarely went to a bar for a drink with the exception of Maltings and Great Outdoors where we had a very limited to no wait. Bar servers were typically asking for our order within minutes at most lounges - Spinnaker, Atrium and Magnums. We do tip for drinks so that may have helped, too. We did see longer lines at bars on the first day after embarkation which is typical and we did see that some went to bars to get drinks in some lounges rather waiting for the bar server.

4. We constantly saw crew members cleaning common areas and restrooms. I really appreciated that one of the women cleaning the restrooms in the evening did not shutdown the restroom while she cleaned. 

We can report we experienced excellent food, service and entertainment. Many of the officers were available every evening in the Atrium at about 7pm and they also served some appetizers in the atrium at that time which was new to us.  And they were also available when disembarking at ports.

 

Our only complaint for us was how the band, Upgrade, was scheduled to play their first evening set at 10pm for two nights and we would love to have them play at 8pm or 9pm like they did on other nights.  This was unique to the Gem as we experienced earlier times for the band on other ships. 

 

We had such a fantastic cruise that I booked another one after this one and may consider canceling a planned cruise on a competitor. 

[IAcruising]

3 hours ago, sawsgal said:

I was trying to indoctrinate two friends into cruising, and I was embarrassed that I spoke so highly of NCL. 
 

I hope this was a one off

 

Sounds more and more like a one off. What did your friends say? I hope you didn't purposely point out your perceived faults. That would obviously sway their own opinion.

 

 

[debenson0723]

4 hours ago, sawsgal said:

Restrooms in common areas are dirty…bordering on disgusting. Saw a banana on a toilet and an apple on the floor. Passengers are to blame, but they should be addressed timely.

 

 

Did you let anyone from the crew know about the dirty restrooms? I have never seen anything like this on any ship but they can't address the issue in a timely manner if they are not aware.

[Asawi]

Apart from the bar sometimes being crowded I don't recognize much from when I was on Gem just before Christmas.

 

Cookies - Available every day at around 3 pm in The Great Outdoors. Should be listed as "snacks" in the dailies. OP, did you ask anyone if there were cookies somewhere? Or did you just roam around hoping to run into some cookies?
 

Once a day room cleaning - Old "news"! Unless you need assistance with a third bed or something I honestly don't get why anyone would need any turn down service anyway! If you do need assistance I guess you can request it. 
 

Towel animals - seriously? Nice, but surely the steward has better things to do! As has been mentioned, you can request them. And of course you should tip accordingly (whatever that is).

 

As for general cleanliness there was no such issues during my cruise.

I thought Gem was an amazing ship! Yes, showing her age a little, but in general very nice!

[UKstages]

regarding cookies... there are credible reports that the availability of cookies has been hit or miss (mostly miss) in the past few months. i witnessed this myself on the getaway a couple of months ago. they were removed from the buffet. you can usually get cookies on request in certain venues and they are still delivered as in-room amenities in the haven and suites and delivered to your cabin as treats from the casino. but they are largely gone form the observation lounges on most ships, from the buffet and from the casino VIP areas. you really do have to go searching for cookies, or befriend somebody in food and beverage management.

 

so, the lack of cookies on the gem seems to me to be a legit and credible complaint.

[davencl]

Was on the Gem last August.  Saw none of the issues reported. Ship is in great shape.  Wouldn't hesitate to sail again.

[Andoria]

I'm on the Gem next month and you had me worried but I feel better after reading some of the replies.

 

I don't care about cookies, towel animals, or lox. I keep my cabin clean and prefer just having once-a-day service.  I'm not a fan of long lines at bars but my alcohol tolerance is so low now that I'm fairly certain one cocktail will keep me content for a couple of hours.

 

If I think a restroom is disgusting I find the nearest worker and let them know. 

[david_sobe]

What kind of animal would put a banana on a toilet?

 

[purplecow15]

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

so, the lack of cookies on the gem seems to me to be a legit and credible complaint

We were on the Gem last week. There were several kinds of cookies on offer in the Great Outdoors every afternoon.

[Laszlo]

43 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

What kind of animal would put a banana on a toilet?

 

 

[UKstages]

1 hour ago, davencl said:

Was on the Gem last August.  Saw none of the issues reported. Ship is in great shape.  Wouldn't hesitate to sail again.

 

ship is indeed in great shape. i wouldn't hesitate to sail it again either. but august was six months ago. there have since been massive F&B cutbacks cross the fleet and NCL has undertaken a strategic plan that has devalued many components of the guest experience. i think comments and reviews from folks who have sailed recently provide important feedback and data points... these folks are better able to report on what guests are currently seeing, hearing and receiving.

 

41 minutes ago, purplecow15 said:

There were several kinds of cookies on offer in the Great Outdoors every afternoon.

 

i'm sure there were, as there have been many recent reports of cookie sightings in the great outdoors, including in this thread. that seems to be the go to spot on the ship for cookies! prior to NCL cutbacks, however, cookies were available in many places throughout the ship, not just the great outdoors.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

What kind of animal would put a banana on a toilet?

 

Towel animal?

[IAcruising]

16 minutes ago, UKstages said:

but august was six months ago.

 

If only we had more recent experiences, like posts #3, #4, #5, #6, and #9. 

 

[Greenpea2]

22 hours ago, sawsgal said:

 

Low points:  sharps container in my cabin is overflowing. Apparently hasn’t been emptied in some time. 

That is unacceptable. I hope you called Housekeeping to get that cleaned up and so they know about it. 
Cabin stewards clean cabin once per day…no turn down service and no towel animals; I know some enjoy them, so disappointing to not have them.  Why sell the towel animal frames if no towel animals?

It's been once a day for a while now--and discussed a lot here on CC. Should not have been a surprise. The towel animal thing, as well. If you request one you will get one. But they no longer just do it anyway. That's been the case for at least a year or more. Always good to check out such stuff here on CC sir you are not surprised!  

Restrooms in common areas are dirty…bordering on disgusting. Saw a banana on a toilet and an apple on the floor. Passengers are to blame, but they should be addressed timely.

This I have not experienced. Then again. I don't use public restrooms when on board. That's not good.

22 hours ago, sawsgal said:

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

19 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

This I have not experienced. Then again. I don't use public restrooms when on board. That's not good.

 

Huh? Where exactly do you go...when the stomach decides it's time?!?! 

[yakcruiser]

19 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

This I have not experienced. Then again. I don't use public restrooms when on board. That's not good.

 

As I have become older, I do not always get to choose where I go.

[IAcruising]

On 3/26/2024 at 4:07 PM, Greenpea2 said:

I don't use public restrooms when on board.

 

That is impressive.

 

[umpisoccer]

Does anyone have the Daily schedules for Boston to Bermuda?   Trying to see what shows are offered each evening.  Thank you.

[vince_g]

30 minutes ago, umpisoccer said:

Does anyone have the Daily schedules for Boston to Bermuda?   Trying to see what shows are offered each evening.  Thank you.

Was on the April 5th sailing, but keeping the daily schedules isn't my thing.  The shows on our sailing were Blazing Boots, Get Down Tonight and comedian Vince Acevedo.  There were also movies shown in the Stardust Theater a couple of nights.  

 

[vince_g]

Vince Acevedo did 2 shows, with one of them being 18+.  The movies were Dune and Guardians of the Galaxy 3.