first report from the Gem...spring break cruise....EEK!

[kanitster]

Having only sailed on NCL and loving every cruise we have been on, I must say that this so far is going the opposite way. Our first night on board we couldn’t get a seating anywhere. Everywhere-including the buffet was mobbed. We decided to go to the casino and try later. Almost 2 hours later we tried the Blue Lagoon. There were still lines and they sent us over to Tequila’s to get in line. After about a half hour wait we were finally seated. Although we were a party of 4 and couldn’t be sat together. The way the tables were situated there was a pole and was impossible. So that was fine. We were all starved at that point and would’ve taken a plate in line…lol. My table was up against the railing right by the bar that is between the Blue Lagoon and Tequila’s. A man walked up to the bar and asked if he could have a plate at the bar. The bartender said she didn’t think so and he said I think I’ll go and ask the hostess. The bartender then turned to walk away and very loudly said IDIOT! I couldn’t believe it. If someone had told me that happened I would have said no way!! But I heard it and was shocked. Thank goodness the man didn’t hear it. We found out from the hostess that they are very overbooked. With it being spring break they have over 500 more passengers with the kids booking as many as possible in their rooms. It really shows too. Service and so slow, they even have people in uniforms cleaning tables and resetting them. As far as the bars …you can’t even get in. We tried for the Bliss lounge last night and it was wall to wall college kids and left. Star bar-mobbed-spinnaker-mobbed. Every place we went there were so many people you couldn’t hear yourself talk. It been too cold for the pool, although not for the college crowd..lol . Right when we left NY they were already in the hot tubs and pool. Today we are in Port Canaveral. We are not getting off the ship so maybe we can get into some place for a meal ;) We ended up having room service last night for dinner because we just didn’t want to deal with that again another night. Tonight we have reservations for Tequila’s. 6 was the only opening they had so we took it happily. I must say this has (even though it sounds like it) soured us on NCL. This is our 2nd time on the Gem and I blame ourselves for booking during spring break. It was for my 50th birthday but I think next time we’ll do something different and not a cruise at this time. We’ve always had the best times on these ships and our next one will be with them also. So that wraps up my first installment...more to come

[Kingmaker_inc]

I would immediately ask to speak to Prem, the Hotel Director, explain the difficulty you are having and ask for reservations now for the rest of the week.

 

I bet if you do this you will have no further problems with your dining.

 

Libby

[Vyhanek]

I think the whole problem is that they can't move people thru the dining room at a reasonable pace. This backs up the whole process.

 

We were on the Jewel a few weeks ago and it wasn't even that crowded but the same situation occurred. We would go to dinner at 6pm and it took over 2 hours to eat dinner. We were waiting and waiting and waiting for each course. Meanwhile there was a huge crowd lined up waiting to get in. They just had no ability to move people thru dinner anymore.

 

I can't imagine how the Hotel Director wouldn't know this is a problem. I think it is a big problem across NCL. They don't have the pace down for service in the dining rooms and it's backing up the whole process.

[newmexicoNita]

We had a similar problem on Princess but not quite as bad. Only the first night was it bedlom, hopefully things will improve. As for the bar tender, who is calling who an idiot. !!!!

 

I am not sure I would rule NCL out. I am anxious to read reviews from other lines this week. The middle week of March is always one of the busiest because of Spring breaks: add to that, some school districts don't get out in March, but do get out the week before Easter, well, we all know they are one and the same this year.

 

Keep us posted, I know I would rather read your comments than experience them myself.

 

Nita

[slotaddict]

Sorry you are having problems on your cruise. For all the reasons you have stated, I will never cruise during spring break.

 

I hope the rest of your cruise goes smoothly.

[Chrislynn55]

We had the college crowd last year on our March cruise on the Spirit...I know exactly what you're talking about! We just came off the March 8 sailing of the Gem and were delighted to find that we were not on the big college week sailing. It does make a difference. We still had an excellent time last year though, because we are people who make the best of any situation. Do the best you can to have fun and enjoy your vacation...it is possible!

[Cruise_More_Often]

We were on the Jewel a few weeks ago and it wasn't even that crowded but the same situation occurred. We would go to dinner at 6pm and it took over 2 hours to eat dinner.

What?? We were on the Jewel a few weeks ago -- Washington's Birthday week and the ship was full -- and we never experienced any type of wait or slowness of service in either Tsar's or Azura. As a matter of fact, service was so speedy that we occasionally felt rushed.

 

So, as with everything in life, I guess it depends upon your point of view.

[nyflush]

I would also ask to speak with the HD and let him know you would like to have a nice Birthday dinner at Le Bistro!!!! or restaurant of your choice. Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise, The Gem is a great ship with a great crew :):)

[familyof4cruising]

We did the Dawn Spring Break on the same 7 night, and we will NEVER do it again. We then did a 10 night on Spring Break the year after and then we LOVED the Dawn. A bad experience can turn you off. I am getting nervous for our Spirit during Spring Break.

[melissa6675]

We were on the ship by 11:30 a.m. and snagged some chairs by the pool to relax after a long drive. The pool area was mobbed with breakers, mostly from Ole Miss. They were raucous and loud, and a rumor floated around that one young man was denied any more alcohol on his sea pass card before we ever left New Orleans (don't know if it's true).

 

However, I did find them all to be very polite and not at all like some of the breakers we saw from the Carnival ship at our stop in Costa Maya. One of the benefits of being older is we tend to go to bed earlier, while the breakers are still the in bars. Translation: They're sleeping off the hangovers and the chairs on sea day were plentiful! One the negative side, none of them seemed to know how to play blackjack, but thought they did. I avoided tables with breakers.:rolleyes:

[snorklinbarb]

My 16 yr old niece, who is on her first cruise ever, just called from Pt. Canaveral. They are having a blast.

 

Ate at 8:30 the first night in Grand Pacific with no problems. Last night they got all dressed up and tried to get a last minute rsvn for the last seating at teppanyaki. No luck, but they have teppanyaki for the last night. They ended up at 9:00 in Orchid Garden with no crowd problem at all. No mention of 1/2 price after 9:00 in the Freestyle Daily, so they must be at full demand.

 

She's met loads of kids in the hot tubs and pools and was off to the airboat excursion this afternoon.

 

Since I'm the one who suggested a cruise in the first place, I'm relieved that they're having a good time. Then again, I don't think kids notice "the crowds" like adults do.;):D

 

Hopefully the OP can talk to Prem or the Restaurant Mgr. and get a few rsvns in the dining rooms.

[mbisson]

We found out from the hostess that they are very overbooked. With it being spring break they have over 500 more passengers with the kids booking as many as possible in their rooms. It really shows too.

 

While it does indeed sound like a not so fun cruise, I have to wonder about the quotation above. Aren't ships capacity controlled? I've heard that once a ship is filled to it's approved capacity, no one else is allowed, so I just wonder what "overbooked" means in this instance.

[newmexicoNita]

While it does indeed sound like a not so fun cruise, I have to wonder about the quotation above. Aren't ships capacity controlled? I've heard that once a ship is filled to it's approved capacity, no one else is allowed, so I just wonder what "overbooked" means in this instance.

you are right, a ship can only hold so many. In fact you may have 200 cabins, each will accomodate 4 people, but the ship is not allowed to put 4 in each of those cabins. The comment might have been taken a bit out of context or maybe what the hostess meant, they had 500 more kids then usual.

 

Nita

[maryln]

We did the Dawn Spring Break on the same 7 night, and we will NEVER do it again. We then did a 10 night on Spring Break the year after and then we LOVED the Dawn. A bad experience can turn you off. I am getting nervous for our Spirit during Spring Break.

There were 1.8 million college students on Spring break last week and over 2 million this week. Our public schools are off next week. Looks like the coast (and the ships) will be clear in April.

[JPEvans]

I did the Gem during the last week of February. My group had no issues getting a table at either the Grand Pacific or Magenta Dining Rooms. There were quite a few kids, but they seem to be well behaved. One thing I found strange. I went to Disney and the rest of my group did a short excursion that day. They decided to try the tapas restaurant in the lobby. They told me not one person was in the restaurant, the hostess would not seat my friends because they didn't have a reservation. They ended up eating in the Blue Lagoon. They said the whole time they were eating not one person went into the tapas. I still can't figure out what kind of policy that NCL has that you can't eat in an empty restaurant with out a reservation. With a full staff standing around.

 

Sometimes I wonder if cruise lines have a hard time handling things outside their "box" I've experienced things on every line, that makes me think someone is nuts. Another example on the Gem. The night of the deck party it was raining, It happens. So they moved the party into the Spinnaker lounge, which was fine, because it was raining. But the so called buffet that was supposed to be part of the deck party was moved to the back of the ship in the Great Outdoors dining area. which was fine. But all those people who went to the party inside, wanted food after the party was over, By the time all of us got the the buffet, they packed it all up. Did NCL think that all the people at the deck party that was being held in the Spinnaker lounge were going to leave in the middle of the games and walk all the way to the other end of the ship to get food. I think not.

[LOWTYD]

There were 1.8 million college students on Spring break last week and over 2 million this week. Our public schools are off next week. Looks like the coast (and the ships) will be clear in April.

Not so fast! We are still taking spring breaks (public schools) in New England mid April. :D

[flashdog_1]

I lucked out one spring break and did not see any college kids except those cruising with their parents. It was on HAL I guess the reputation for everything closing down at 9 p.m. kept them off that line!

 

I'd have been SOOOO frustrated if I'd been on Gem with the spring breakers because I love cruise food & service.

[npb1894]

Hey Familyof4,

Don't panic yet, ours is school break, not college break!!!!! That I couldn't take!

[kanitster]

We had a wonderful dinner last night at Tequila’s. After that we decided to go to Spinnaker’s. Since our dinner was so early, when we got to the bar it wasn’t crowded at all. Had a great time there. Model Magic sang the 80’s. The college crowd really got into it…lol. Unfortunately, due to currants the captain found it necessary to cancel the private island today. My husband went to get us some coffee at the buffet and he said you couldn’t even move out at the pool area. Everyone is out there. They left the breakfast out longer due to the cancellation. It’s a gorgeous sunny day today. A great day for a good book and our balcony. We were not able to get reservations for dinner tonight, as everything was booked. I think we’ll go early to dinner and see if that’s a better time to try and get seated.

[LOWTYD]

We had a wonderful dinner last night at Tequila’s. After that we decided to go to Spinnaker’s. Since our dinner was so early, when we got to the bar it wasn’t crowded at all. Had a great time there. Model Magic sang the 80’s. The college crowd really got into it…lol. Unfortunately, due to currants the captain found it necessary to cancel the private island today. My husband went to get us some coffee at the buffet and he said you couldn’t even move out at the pool area. Everyone is out there. They left the breakfast out longer due to the cancellation. It’s a gorgeous sunny day today. A great day for a good book and our balcony. We were not able to get reservations for dinner tonight, as everything was booked. I think we’ll go early to dinner and see if that’s a better time to try and get seated.

 

Sorry to hear that. Did you just anchor off shore?

[exstasie]

There were 1.8 million college students on Spring break last week and over 2 million this week. Our public schools are off next week. Looks like the coast (and the ships) will be clear in April.

 

I hope so!

 

I am going on my first cruise at the Beginning of the week and hope that it isn't too crowded.

 

Since our destinations aren't the most common ones (Honduras, Belize) I'm hoping that the crowd won't be as 'immature'...

 

But you can only hope for the best! :D

[kanitster]

When they cancelled the private island they just kept going to Nassau. We have spent 2 days here now. The pool area was wonderful today. We actually got a chair. Most went off the ship. the weather has been beautiful. I've heard a lot of complaining from other passengers complaining about service and a lot of the machines (coffe,juice,icecream..etc.) being out of order. Some are pretty fed up to the point of saying they would never sail NCL again. I feel a little bad about it myself but I'm not giving up on NCL. I've always had wonderful cruises with them and I'm chalking this up to so many more on board than usual. My husband asked and its true..again we were told there are many more on board than usual due to the college kids booking as many as possible in their rooms. the poor staff must be exhausted. But still you always get a smile and greeting from them. Tonight is prime rib night and we are going to try to get into Magenta. Tomorrow night is my 50th and we got a seating for Cagneys. So I'm very happy about that. Room service is very busy and its difficult to get through to it. Buffet is a mad house at prime time. We have learned to adapt and we do the best we can. Regardless of any problems due to the heavier than normal passenger load, we are having a great time. My husband enjoys playing poker but they have a 10 dollar table and the 5 dollar table is with them dealing by hand so I've stopped playing slots and he is playing the 10 dollar table as he doesn't enjoy being delt to by hand...he says it takes forever between hands as they have to count the deck everytime. tonight we are going to the show at 7:30...then just taking it easy the rest of the night...tomorrow is my birthday and I want to be well rested...lol...I know its going to be a long night...

Tammie

[Nickymjw1]

Happy Birthday Kathy!!! Great to see you adapted to the situation on the ship and finding ways to still enjoy your trip!

 

Have a wonderful cruise!!

[kit9172]

Kathy,

Why don't you speak to Prem ( Hotel Director). He is quoted as saying call me if things aren't going well and he will fix them. Don't let this spoil your birthday or your cruise.

[Seago2]

Oh no! I hope things improve. The college kids usually start keeping different hours- up at 1, asleep at 3, and then they get hung over and disappear for a while, and of course eventually they run out of money and start to chill out.

 

I was on a massively over-packed Spirit out of NYC last summer and it was not a great time. The kids loved it but it was like being in a sardine tin. Oh well! With kids I can't be choosy about times.:(