We are ON the Gem!!

[travelgurl]

Here we are on The Gem!! It’s lovely. We are having a great time. Since we have this laptop in our room, I thought maybe I’d post a little bit as we go along. I know that prior to our trip I was starving for a glimpse of a fellow cc’rs cruise on the Gem, so this is kind of a pay it forward deal…..

But first:

I booked in September and there was plenty to select from. I chose and Aft AD Suite, telling DH we booked our usual mini suite so as to surprise him. After two offers to upsell to an A2 OS and much hesitation as I was longing for an Aft cabin, I took the OS after a counter offer was accepted. I also kept this a little secret to surprise my Hubby dear. The whole week prior to the cruise, I would wake up dreaming about what this was going to be like. The day before our cruise it snowed, 10 inches!! We were glad to be leaving for warm weather!

 

Embarkation:

We drove down, arrived at 1:30 pm, and had to park the car all the way at the end of the pier. We checked our bags at the curb, contrary to what I thought I’d read: that you can bring your luggage on board with you. Only at disembarkation can you do that. We were brought swiftly through customs and check in. DH had no clue of our luck and didn’t even question a thing, he was oblivious!!;) I had to tell various people “cabin 15000” since we were changed and documents didn’t reflect it. What a difference being treated like VIP’s! We were escorted to our cabin by one of the butlers, receiving our glass of champagne upon boarding the ship. Getting up to the cabin reminded me of the TV show, Get Smart. The room key has to be inserted in the elevator to go to the 14th floor, then again to go into the OS stairs and finally to get into the cabin. Kevin looked astonished when we walked in, asking “What’s going on”?? I said “surprise”!! Well it took awhile to sink in. He thought a mistake was made and we were going to just go along for the ride!! We celebrated, drinking our complementary bottle of French champagne.

Ok I will catch you up to speed as at this point in time we are actually pulling into our first port! More later….

[Smellytoes]

Do you happen to remember what was on the main dining room menu last night??

[shrtzy3]

I'll be on the Gem March 15-22. I was wondering if you could post a daily from today etc. Enjoy the cruise!

[Smellytoes]

Oops, one more question. Could you find out when Claudio is returning from vacation?? (will he be on the ship 4/12??)

[slotaddict]

Enjoy your cruise, thanks for taking the time to post.

[SeaShark]

One more quick question...

 

Is Jenny Lim still serving as the Front Office Manager?

 

Thanks...and enjoy your cruise!

[runnerandme]

WOW, Thanks for the post. Will look forward to more...If you run into a wonderful British couple, Ian and Trudi say hi from all of us stuck at home.

 

Connie

[lastingtouch]

Hi travelgurl! Glad you're having a great time. Love the surprise. That must have been awesome to see the look on his face. I would have never been able to keep the secret.

 

If you run into Carol, from the Java Cafe' (she works 7:00am to noon) tell her Monty & Diane say hi! She's the greatest!!!! ;)

 

Keep us posted!!!

[BarbCT605]

Getting up to the cabin reminded me of the TV show, Get Smart. The room key has to be inserted in the elevator to go to the 14th floor, then again to go into the OS stairs and finally to get into the cabin.

LOL :D :D

[cmiller229]

We'll be waiting anxiously for your next post! Thanks for the posting.:D

[Ann Wolfe]

3 of us gals are going on the Gem May 16 for a 50th birthday. We are doing the Med Cruise out of Barcelona. What are the ages of the group on your ship? Any other details about the types of passengers would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[geegee1]

sorry to bombard you while you're on vacation. leaving on saturday, how were the waters on the way down?

[travelgurl]

I will look into the questions above and get answers. Claudio is on the ship now. The age range of passengers is from little bitty babies to very elderly folks. There is quite a range I must say. There are more school aged kids on than I expected but I guess there are mid winter breaks going on. Much of what I'm posting below is typed in MS Word and copied/ pasted due to being charged to use internet.

OK Part Deux: (which is from Saturday)

By the time we got to the Muster drill we were swaying but it didn’t matter much, so was everyone else!! We were in the Blue Lagoon. The drill was done in English and French. It was quick and painless. We explored a bit and since we are conscious of not gaining too much weight we wanted to check out the gym. There was a tour of the Spa and Gym which had demonstrations of some of the services/ treatments. Its really beautiful and I hope to get a chance to spend some time there. The sauna was awesome, there is one in the men and woman’s area, Its very large and has two walls of windows with gorgeous ocean views. The gym facilities were adequate. Lots of treadmills, ellipticals, free weights, nautilus equipment etc.. . Tonight we ate dinner in Magenta which had a very nice atmosphere, quiet and relaxed. The service was very good I had the parpadelle pasta with short rib ragout, Kevin had vegetarian Indian dish. Magenta is located in same area as Aqua Oasis. I dont know how long it will take me to get used to all the lights and gagets!Seas were not bad at all over night. Apparently the last trip back to NY was pretty rough so I considered us very lucky.

 

Day at sea:

We woke up to very calm seas and sunny skies. I just love the view out our huge picture windows. We ate breakfast at Cagneys. I took the advice of others here and had the traditional eggs benedict. Thanks! It was delicious. DH had the steak and eggs. Food and service - excellent. After a workout in the gym I’m off to the CC Meet and Greet at Le Bistro. I believe this was attended by most of our roll call. The officers arrived including the Captain. The told us they do read our reviews, encouraged us to bring issues to them to be rectified rather than wait, have a negative experience and give a negative review. This totally makes sense as it will also improve our experience. Prem, the HD was nice, engaging and gave me his card saying to call him for any problems/ reason..

 

So, today, people are in the hot tubs/ pools. Temp started in the low 60s rising to 67 degrees by later in the afternoon. Wind speed is 18 knots. Seas were 8ft. We went and checked out The Courtyard, Karan. offered to get us lunch while we went in for a steam and dip in the pool. There is a top deck for the Courtyard which is very nice. There are two huge hammocks, comfy loungers and double wide loungers as well.

 

DH went to play game of basketball which was against the cruise staff. Low and behold it turned into soccer as one of the hoops was completely broken off. It was much fun to watch. Our cruise director, Julie was also playing. VIP party is tonight at 7pm in the spinnaker lounge, so it’s a dress up night.

 

We ate dinner in the Garden Café tonight as we had the VIP party at 7pm. We love Indian food and there’s an Indian food station there. Prem asked us where we were eating when we spoke to him at the Party. We told him and he said we could have Indian food made for us as a good number of the chefs are from India “just give me 24 hours notice with what you want and we will get it made for you” Wow!“ We ran into some fellow CC’rs at the party which was nice. Tonight is the World Beat in the Star Dust Theater. We attended part of the show, which was very good, Great costumes. Ok guys thats it for now! I'll be back. I know this is behind real time as right now we are on our way to GSC. The weather was great today!!!! WoooH ooo:D

[LOWTYD]

Thanks for taking time to wirte all of us sitting at our desk at work...waiting......waitng for our turn! Enjoy!

[travelgurl]

I will try to answer some questions.

1.) Monty and Diane: I went to the Java Café this am and Carol was there. She is a doll. I told her you guys said hi. She says hi back.

2.) Claudio will not be on the ship in April. He seems to be a private man and was not too pleased to be questioned about his whereabouts. I told him that he must have made an impression since the person who was asking had hoped he would be the Concierge on their cruise. Quick save!

3.) As far as the Daily’s, I have no way of scanning them on the ship.

4.) I haven’t been to the reception desk since yesterday for the umpteenth time to get my room card demagnetized or reprinted Geeeeez! (So I don’t know if Jenny Lim is there. If I have to go back I will check)

 

Day Two: Cape Canaveral.: Today we had breakfast in. The butler set everything up, linens and all! We arrived about 9.30. The temp today going up to 78 according to ship navigation still on the ship at 1pm which is when I took a shuttle for 10$ R/T which you can use all day long if you like, to Cocoa beach. The public beach was crowded. I did not care for it, the sand was kind of well… brown, hence “cocoa”?? I like white sandy beaches what can I tell you. So I left there and went shopping at Ron Johns Surf Shop. We had dinner in Cagneys tonight. The Oysters Rockefeller are to die for. I had the Lamb Chops, DH had the Filet. The service was great it was a very relaxed, leisurely meal. Oops, the lamb was overcooked but the filet was perfect. I know I could have said something but I chose not to. Dinner and a bottle of wine were complementary, thanks to Prem. We went to the show which was the magic of Duck Cameron. Do not miss it. I was thoroughly entertained, everyone enjoyed it.

 

Funny story… There were some kids that tried to get us to let them up to the 14th floor and just as we were about to answer them a team of officers including Prem came around the corner so DH said to the kids “Why don’t you ask him?”:eek: OMG, their faces drained of color! These kids!! Trying to get over, pushing those limits!

So today… we arrived at GSC. Now I have read very positive and very negative reviews here on this stop. Well, you have to take anything you hear with a grain of salt. We were able to go on the first tender when its pretty quiet. I stayed until about 2:30 and I loved it. White sandy beach, hot sun and the water was clear and refreshing. I rented snorkel equipment and I even saw a stingray. I tend to focus on the positives and stay in that space best I can. DH left after about ½ hour he was cranky and not feeling too well. I made the most of it and met some really nice people. We had a nice sunset tonight and right now we are on our way to Nassau. Tonights show is Get Down Tonight, music from yes, the 70’s!! I will be checking that out I love 70’s music. OK, time for me to get ready!!

[Kingmaker_inc]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us. It is really appreciated!

 

Libby

[deb5217]

Thank you so much for your posts! I have really enjoyed your cruise right along with you. We are on the Gem 4/12. It is very nice of you to take time out of your vacation to keep us informed about the Gem. I really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your trip and I look forward to your next entry.Deb

[Jersey Cruisers 5]

Hi travelgurl,

Glad to hear that the ship is fanatic. My friends are getting married on the Gem the week of March 22 2008, and they are staying in cabin 15000. We were looking for some picture of the room and can't find any. I was wondering if you had any that you would like to share with them. They would really appreicate that.

;)

Thanks and hope the rest of your vacation is wonderful.

[angeljt]

Travelgurl,

Thanks for taking the time to post and adding to the excitement of our upcoming cruises. :D

Glad to hear you're having a great time and hope you're enjoying that OS and all that goes with it. Nice surprise for DH!

Enjoy the rest of your cruise...

Jackie

[Maryfrei]

I'll be on the Gem March 15-22. I was wondering if you could post a daily from today etc. Enjoy the cruise!

 

Thanks for the "Live from", it is so much fun!:)

 

PS to shrtzy3: here is a link to the Gem's Bahamas/Florida dailies:

 

 

http://www.esnips.com/web/NorwegianGemDailies

[hazeleyes]

Travelgurl - thanks for taking the time out of your wonderful vaction to post on the boards. I've been reading all your post about the ship, and im getting excited. :)

 

I hope you and your husband enjoy the rest of your cruise. Keep up the good work with the postings!

[Mich1121]

Hi travelgurl,

Glad to hear that the ship is fanatic. My friends are getting married on the Gem the week of March 22 2008, and they are staying in cabin 15000. We were looking for some picture of the room and can't find any. I was wondering if you had any that you would like to share with them. They would really appreicate that.

;)

Thanks and hope the rest of your vacation is wonderful.

 

I'm getting marriedon the Gem the same week! What a coincidence. Do you know what day your friends are getting married?

[Mich1121]

To further say... I'm getting married 3/24/08 Port Canaveral stop at 4pm. Wedding and cake cutting in the Spinnaker lounge.

[travelgurl]

To further say... I'm getting married 3/24/08 Port Canaveral stop at 4pm. Wedding and cake cutting in the Spinnaker lounge.

Congratulations!!

Good Morning, we are on our last full sea day. Seas are very calm and skies are blue with light clouds. According to the Ships Navigators Log, we are traveling at 25.6 knots. Wind speed is 17.6 knots, wave height is 4.9ft. Outside temp is 51.2 degrees at 8.30 am. We are just headed up the coast of South Carolina. So now let me back up a few days…to Wednesday.

Nassua, Bahamas.

We were up early today. It was very cool to see The Atlantis in the distance as we approached Nassua. I got some nice pictures of the sun beams coming down over the resort. I worked out at the gym at 7am since that damn scale we get in this room has been creeping up. :rolleyes: We had breakfast in Cagneys..I had the Lobster and scallops on toasted brioche with poached eggs. It was very good. I wanted to try something different. I really want those waffles with maple syrup but I didn’t burn enough calories, maybe tomorrow…. So we booked a room at The Comfort Suites for the passes to The Atlantis. If you go to the Atlantis, bring your credit card. I didn’t bring mine not thinking at all that I would need it for check in or for using the lockers at The Atlantis. They don’t take cash in the water park area. We had to pay for the room with cash which we were going to use in the casino (if we never showed up… they would be charging the credit card) So, I went back to the ship….as they returned the cash when I returned with the card. Anyway, once it was all settled we explored parts of the resort. We went to The Dig, the aquarium. It was very cool. Then we checked out the water park. It was a blast, like being a kid again. We went back to the hotel, showered, changed and went the casino to lose about 80$ I’m never really lucky at the casinos so we grabbed a little sushi at Nobu and grabbed a cab back to the Ship. Well, just before we are about to pull out a group of three more people got in the cab. It turned out they were on RCI Sovereign of the Seas which the Gem had been following from Cape Canaveral, RCI private island and Nassau. They asked us if we ever went on the Dawn, and when and oddly enough they cruised on the same cruise as we did, not only that, they were Cruise Critics too, from the Crazy Cruisers in 2004. Our CC group had actually gone on an excursion together in Dominica!! Ann and Remy! It IS a small world. :p I thought she looked familiar….

Tonight there was another VIP party, this time in the Villa’s Courtyard. The show tonight is Second City and there is an Island Deck party, weather permitting. It’s a bit rainy out, first rain this whole trip. I have no complaints. Tomorrow is Freeport. We have no plans. I will have to check the Daily’s maybe there is a good Spa Deal. We haven’t spent any time there yet. Good night for now!

Freeport

We stayed on the ship today. It was a lovely sunny day, a bit cooler than previous days. Many people went to the beaches and shopping. We went to the Spa which was nice as it was very quiet with hardly a soul there. We ate in the Grand Pacific tonight as it was lobster night which was not advertised in the Daily. The dish with lobster was called Seafood Extravaganza and had a lobster tail, shrimp, mussel’s scallops and fish on top of linguini. It was very good the lobster was cooked just right. We went to the show tonight. Duck Cameron, the magician was the startup act and then the comedian Ross Bennett. He was hilarious!! Try not to miss him. We bowled in Bliss and spent some time with a very nice couple we met in the CC meet and greet. The chocoholic buffet was in the Garden Café from 9.45pm to 11.30. Well, folks that is it for now. My minutes on this plan are dwindling down. I hope the next group going out on March 1st has a wonderful cruise. There are always some kinks that need to be worked out on a new ship but really nothing very glaring. Just enjoy your cruise!! The ship is beautiful, funky and I think has many luxuries. All the deck loungers have soft cushions; there are “Pod” loungers as well and really nice deck furniture. The garden café is decorated beautifully. When it is full of people it seems very crowded but if you walk toward the back it’s not so bad. The cappuccino maker is actually toward the back, if you are looking for it. It’s the second and last coffee station before The Great Outdoors. Ciao for now!

[nyflush]

Thanks so muh for posting I hope you enjoy your last night on the Gem.

You can still get the waffles before you leave tomorrow just do it they are Delish!