coyboy1971

Leo, the Concierge, mentioned the $102 during the Suite/Haven disembarkation talk. He was rather vague but referenced “the inconvenience.” Then he promptly bridged into how to use a credit voucher he had handily available in case you wanted to use the credit balance toward gratuities, especially for those folks like himself not covered by pre-paid DSCs.

I have no idea why that one posted upside down, but yes, I do think it was the meta verse's way of trying to turn some frowns upside down. 🙃

They did for us. Told us to just wait at the curb. Private car pickup on the roof.

We caught an Uber after collecting our bags. We didn't request it until bags were in hand and we found the pickup spot. (On Pier 88 where we came in this was on level 2). It was pretty smooth.

Smooth disembarking at the Manhattan cruise terminal this morning. Enjoyed our last Haven breakfast in Moderno. They were full service and it was once again terrific and highlight of our cruise. Opted for Grand Pacific MDR for dinner last night. We got one of the tables for 2 by the aft windows dead center. It was spectacular watching the wake, but felt like we were at the tiller of the worlds largest motorboat. Service and food were excellent. Since there wasn't any entertainment other than the small things in the atrium and by Magnum's we just turned in and finished packing. Norman, our butler, whom we barely saw all week was full service this morning and escorted us from our suite to the priority disembarkation line on Deck 7. This was nice, because he took us around the congested areas. (One last chance to earn a tip, too, I guess.) Bag claim was a breeze and a few minutes later we are waiting for our train home in the beautiful new metropolitan lounge at the gorgeous Moynihan Train Hall. With the bad weather, shortened port call, and cancelled shows, this is the the first NCL cruise that was just kind of "meh." The beautiful updates to the Gem, the terrific food and service in the restaurants, the truly entertaining wine tasting events, and our amazing cabin steward (plus 2 good books brought from home) were the shining points. We will probably wait and see how NCL's announcement of entertainment cuts plays out before we book again, despite that right up to the disembarkation talk, CruiseNext deals were being endlessly pushed at us. Will be following your trip reports and enjoying your pics until then. Bon Voyage!

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).

Thanks for all of the insights in this thread and others throughout the Cunard forum! I just booked the June 9, 2024 TA from Southampton to NYC on the QM2 in Queen’s Grill class to celebrate my (hopeful) completion of my doctorate in May 2024 and the crossing coincides nicely with my birthday.

Here is a recent Gem Daily posted on another social media site showing a morning “Fun Fitness Dance Class” in the Spinnaker Lounge. I would recommend stopping by the Pulse Fitness Center (Deck 12, Forward) on boarding day to find out who the leads the class and put in a request. It also looks like Sabor Latino performs several times throughout the cruise, offering a chance to get your Latin Dance fix. Have a fun cruise!

Hi @ellewoods, thanks so much for the posts! This is one of the the things we love most about sea days in the Haven courtyard. Who is the courtyard butler on your cruise? Sorry to hear that other Haven guests are taking their frustrations out on the crew. They certainly don’t deserve that as hard as they work to make the Haven experience extra special. Looking forward to our Haven experience on the Gem starting Jan. 11!

The biggest theme night on all NCL cruises is the White Hot Night party. Just pack a white outfit and you are good to go. Some people go all out and bring white feather boas, white sequin outfits, etc. I actually wore a polar bear costume on my Alaska cruise, and got my group to wear vintage sailor uniforms on a Greek Islands cruise one year. Other nights include country, 70s, 80s, 90s, and Caliente, which is Latin. I’ve seen folks bring their best boot scootin outfits to country night, and all kinds of vintage swag and flair to the other parties. Vintage clothes are always fun, t-shirts are fine. Most people just show up “as is” while others clearly (like me) will bring a bag of fun stuff just to be the life of the party. It’s freestyle cruising, so just make it yours, and pack as a little or as much as you like, and have fun.

I just booked Jan 11-16, 2023 - 5 nights on the Gem from NYC (RT) to Bermuda. Mainly doing it for the sea days and some fish & chips for lunch in Bermuda. I love the Jewel-class ships whether up to date or kitschy as heck, and wanted to make sure to sail on the Gem to complete my experience of the group. I guess instead of redeployment it was a case of rescheduling for January 2023. The cruise immediately before and after mine (Jan 2-11 and 16-25) is now being marketed as a 9 day NYC RT with ports as follows: New York,New York Royal Naval Dockyard,Bermuda Nassau,Bahamas Great Stirrup Cay,Bahamas Orlando & Beaches (Port Canaveral) New York,New York

For the May 1-8 cruise I took, there were no testing requirements and masks were optional for guests. Only the health attestation was required.

Here are the daily newsletters from the May 1-8 Basel to Amsterdam trip I just disembarked a couple of days ago. I think these will answer anything I missed in my posts. These arrive daily in the Avalon Go app around 5-6 pm the day prior, usually right around happy hour and the daily port talk.

You can walk into Breisach, Mainz, Rudesheim, Koblenz, Cologne, and Amsterdam. The other stops are in fairly industrial areas, although they ran a shuttle to the city center for folks wanting to tour Strausbourg independently.

That's probably a question best answered by the Avalon CD onboard. I believe that guests using Avalon for their hotel extension were being offered testing at their hotel.