NCL Gem 12/15-17/07 Boston Cruise to Nowhere, Random Thoughts

[buddyjo143]

DH and I are back from our first NCL cruise.

 

Quick background, he's 44, I'm 47; he cruised in the 80s/90s on Chandris (now Celebrity) and I cruised once in the 90s on RCCL; we have now cruised 4 times with Carnival.

 

He saw a great deal on NCL's brand new Gem for a two day cruise to nowhere out of Boston. This became our Christmas and 3rd wedding anniversary present to each other.

 

We have seen NCL ships in ports while on Carnival and loved the look of the ships, the colorful paint jobs, etc. We actually made our last Carnival cruise into our own version of "freestyle" cruising. We chose not to eat in the dining room and to just eat in the buffet, "anytime" we wanted to.

 

Some people hate the Carnival ships because the colors are loud and bright. :eek: I found the Gem colors really bright and I loved it. I loved the two story lobby. Even though it is dominated by a floor to ceiling screen where they show sporting events and play WII games it felt small and intimate. The coffee bar/regular bar are located there along with the internet area, shore excursion desk, purser's desk and cruise consultant office.

 

Loved the free espresso, cappuccino, latte machine in the Garden

Cafe. DH having free quadruple espresso saved us a bundle on our on board account.

 

If I never sailed before, a two day cruise to nowhere, in the winter, out of Boston would NOT be the best way to expose one to a cruise. I don't think you can get a true feel for cruising based on the experience of less than 48 hours on a ship.

 

That said, a two day cruise meant a lot of different things to the 2500 people aboard. It was a booze cruise, a gambling cruise, a Christmas cruise, family reunion cruise, girl's get away, guy's get away, birthday celebration, anniversary celebration, gambler's comp cruise...you name it, it was happening in these two days.

 

Oh, I almost forgot. It was a two day tail-gating party for the hundreds of NE Patriots fans on board who were exceptionally well behaved given the fact that they started drinking on Saturday (for a Sunday game) and even though NCL tried to broadcast the game they never could pick up the signal. No brawls, no real grumbling that I saw or heard. Folks stayed in the Spinnaker Lounge watching the Steeler's game and getting updates on the Pat's win. :p

 

Can you say Poisedon Adventure? (Did I spell it right?) While the seas were a bit rough, the captain assured us that the ship is built to handle Atlantic crossings and is very stable. Nevertheless, 20 foot seas are 20 foot seas.

When the ships lists to the left, do not run to the windows to see what it looks like. While sitting at above mentioned game from the Spinnaker Lounge on the 13th (lucky 13) deck he noticed that he could only see ocean out the port side. We had tilted so far that we could only see sky out the starboard side. So what do people do? They run to the port side to see. HELLOOOOOO, PEOPLE, come back to the starboard side so we don't tip over!!!

 

Oh, spending time in the therapy spa pool and having the seas so rough that the waves splashing out of the pool rival the waves outside! :eek:

 

Cruise to nowhere....for a cruise to nowhere we managed to sail over 400 miles.

 

Two day cruise on the brand new NCL Gem for two $748; photos $19.95; t-shirts buy two get one free; seeing crew members from the Philippines, India, etc. who have NEVER seen snow touching and playing with snow: absolutely priceless.

[ShillyShally]

DH and I are back from our first NCL cruise.

 

Quick background, he's 44, I'm 47; he cruised in the 80s/90s on Chandris (now Celebrity) and I cruised once in the 90s on RCCL; we have now cruised 4 times with Carnival.

 

He saw a great deal on NCL's brand new Gem for a two day cruise to nowhere out of Boston. This became our Christmas and 3rd wedding anniversary present to each other.

 

We have seen NCL ships in ports while on Carnival and loved the look of the ships, the colorful paint jobs, etc. We actually made our last Carnival cruise into our own version of "freestyle" cruising. We chose not to eat in the dining room and to just eat in the buffet, "anytime" we wanted to.

 

Some people hate the Carnival ships because the colors are loud and bright. :eek: I found the Gem colors really bright and I loved it. I loved the two story lobby. Even though it is dominated by a floor to ceiling screen where they show sporting events and play WII games it felt small and intimate. The coffee bar/regular bar are located there along with the internet area, shore excursion desk, purser's desk and cruise consultant office.

 

Loved the free espresso, cappuccino, latte machine in the Garden

Cafe. DH having free quadruple espresso saved us a bundle on our on board account.

 

If I never sailed before, a two day cruise to nowhere, in the winter, out of Boston would NOT be the best way to expose one to a cruise. I don't think you can get a true feel for cruising based on the experience of less than 48 hours on a ship.

 

That said, a two day cruise meant a lot of different things to the 2500 people aboard. It was a booze cruise, a gambling cruise, a Christmas cruise, family reunion cruise, girl's get away, guy's get away, birthday celebration, anniversary celebration, gambler's comp cruise...you name it, it was happening in these two days.

 

Oh, I almost forgot. It was a two day tail-gating party for the hundreds of NE Patriots fans on board who were exceptionally well behaved given the fact that they started drinking on Saturday (for a Sunday game) and even though NCL tried to broadcast the game they never could pick up the signal. No brawls, no real grumbling that I saw or heard. Folks stayed in the Spinnaker Lounge watching the Steeler's game and getting updates on the Pat's win. :p

 

Can you say Poisedon Adventure? (Did I spell it right?) While the seas were a bit rough, the captain assured us that the ship is built to handle Atlantic crossings and is very stable. Nevertheless, 20 foot seas are 20 foot seas.

When the ships lists to the left, do not run to the windows to see what it looks like. While sitting at above mentioned game from the Spinnaker Lounge on the 13th (lucky 13) deck he noticed that he could only see ocean out the port side. We had tilted so far that we could only see sky out the starboard side. So what do people do? They run to the port side to see. HELLOOOOOO, PEOPLE, come back to the starboard side so we don't tip over!!!

 

Oh, spending time in the therapy spa pool and having the seas so rough that the waves splashing out of the pool rival the waves outside! :eek:

 

Cruise to nowhere....for a cruise to nowhere we managed to sail over 400 miles.

 

Two day cruise on the brand new NCL Gem for two $748; photos $19.95; t-shirts buy two get one free; seeing crew members from the Philippines, India, etc. who have NEVER seen snow touching and playing with snow: absolutely priceless.

 

Thanks for this review - it was refreshing! Coming from what will be 2 Carnival and 2 RCCL, we have chosen NCL to try for NYE 2008/2009 and I can't wait even though it's over a year away!

 

But I just love the thought of the crew seeing snow - that would truly be priceless!

 

From your descriptions it sounds just like our style ship!