NCL GEM Review, New England, 9-26 to 10-3 (long)

This is a long review! I'll break it up into several parts.

My wife and I had planned this trip for our 40th anniversary. We booked a mini-suite forward on deck 11 and were really looking forward to the cruise departing out of New York City. We booked flights into Newark on Thursday the 24th so we could see two things: Central Park and Ellis Island. Prior to the trip I started looking at NYC hotels, with the knowledge that lately the city hotels have had very good deals through Hotwire or Priceline at the last minute. That is generally true, but evidently not when the Pope is in town. Wow, the prices were shooting up through the roof, and I finally booked a non-refundable, pre-paid rate in Newark through Expedia. At least we could get to Liberty Park on the NJ side and go see Ellis Island easily enough. At the last minute, a family member had their condo in midtown just two blocks south of Central Park open up and offered it to us for the cleaning fee. I thought the pre-paid non-refundable amount I paid was gone forever, but now with my wife around. She was able to get the hotel to agree and put in our reservation record that they would refund the pre-paid rate when Expedia asked, then called Expedia and they processed the refund. Score!

Getting into the city on the day the Pope arrived sounded like it would be a nightmare. Our family member referred us to Carmel Limo service. While a car service is usually more expensive than a cab, they generally don't charge standing time, so he thought it would be less expensive. We paid a $42 rate, plus tolls ($14) and tip, and got to the condo's front door easily enough. Traffic through the Lincoln Tunnel was bad with a 35 minute wait to enter, but other than that we found Carmel to be great. We booked them for the return from the terminal to Newark airport.

It had been a decade or so since I walked around midtown, but I was impressed. Manhattan is pretty safe now, and the city is clean. We saw less homeless people on the streets than we do in our suburban community outside of Los Angeles. Notably absent is the smell of dog pee I remembered. We had a great evening walking around.

Friday we got up and decided to walk over to Central Park, just two blocks north. Even though we knew the Pope would be coming down Central Park West we figured Central Park would be open. Not so, as we found out when we got to Columbus Circle. The entire park was closed and fenced off.

We decided to see if we would easily walk to the port, so we headed off in that direction. At the port, we decided to see if there was a ferry to the NJ side to Liberty Park where we could get to Ellis Island. One of the bus drivers at the water taxi pier a few blocks south of Pier 88, where the Gem would dock, told us his route was still open and would get us within a block or two of the World Trade Center, where the Pope was speaking. He thought we could then walk east, and then south, and get to Battery Park where the Liberty and Ellis Island ferries are.

Sure enough, that worked, and we were able to find a nice little pizza by the slice place to get a couple of slices on the way. Unlike the last time I was there, there was no line at the ticket window, and we easily boarded the ferry and made the trip to Ellis Island (skipping Liberty Island since we did not have tickets to go up inside the Statue). We enjoyed Ellis Island, and then made our way back,found a subway and decided it wasn't the right one. A young New Yorker helped us out, going so far as to walk us up out of the subway station and point to the street to go down to find the "1" line into midtown. We boarded that subway and it let us off just a few blocks from our condo.

Saturday - Embarkation!

Saturday morning we walked up to Central Park and, being the city that it is, New York had completely recovered from the events of the past day. We walked quite a ways up into the south west quarter of the park and can see why New Yorkers love this little slice of paradise in the middle of their busy city. We headed back to the condo and set off for the Gem. It was an easy, 3/4 of a mile walk and we had only a back pack and a carry on each, so it was no trouble at all. People who like to walk, are similarly equipped with just carry on luggage, and staying in one of the two close Hell's Kitchen area hotels (there's a Comfort Inn and Holidy Inn in that area), should have no trouble walking to the port in good weather.

Embarkation was fine, and we boarded the ship at about 1:00 and the cabins were available. Our Steward, Mario, introduced himself and wished us a nice cruise (this was a nice change from the last cruise we took on the Sun, where we rarely saw our Steward). We went to the Grand Pacific dining room, aft, to eat lunch. My wife had the fried chicken and it was OK, and I had a burger and fries which I thought was good. When we went back to our cabin our luggage was there already (we had checked our carry-ons at the dock). Wow!

We attended a sail-away party organized by one of the roll call members and met some great people. Their suite was at the bow, on the tenth floor, so we had a great view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty during sail away.

We had the Ultimate Dining Plan as a promo on this cruise, so we had booked dinner in all of the availalbe specialty restaurants. Usually, we find them less than spectacular and not worth the extra cost, but if they are included. We could have chosen the drink package instead, and probably will next time, but to be honest, we don't drink that much.

Dinner that night was at Le Bristro. I had the filet mignon, which is annoyingly named something fancy in French (I'm not a fan of French restaurants in general). It was better than Cagney's presentation of the same ungraded cut of beef, and, as opposed to Cagney's horrible sides, the sides were very good (and hot). We had a specialty restaurant reserved for each night, and two nights for Le Bristro and Cagneys, so we cancelled the second night so we could sample the Main Dining Room food as well. Le Bristro is nice, probably better than Cagneys. So if its free, go for it.

Sunday - At Sea

Sunday was a sea day and we took it easy to try and recover from our walking marathon in NYC. We had a simple breakfast of coffee and muffins from the buffet, and then lunch as O'Sheehans. So it's the first sea day, and next to us was a woman complaining that the food was going to take 20 minutes to cook. Loudly. Asking for a manager. Loudly complaining to him that there is no reason her meal couldn't be ready for her when she sat down. It was a limited menu and everything should be hot and ready. I was positive she was one of the people who like to complain to have a reason to remove tips. One of the other people asked why she was so upset by a little wait and she proclaimed she had a right to "express herself". We asked a few of the crew members throughout the trip about complaints, and they told us that NCL takes these complaints very seriously. If an employee is found at fault for causing a customer to complain, it's a strike against them. Three of them and they get fired and sent home. One of our servers confided that he is very concerned about this, as he loves what he does, and his family ... wife, and children ... rely on his income to eat.

So perhaps the manager and NCL are good enough to not hold that complaint against the server or the chef. I hope so anyway. I would never complain that a place needed a few minutes to cook my food instead of serving it from under a heat lamp, so I think this complaint was a ruse. It was unreasonable. And if it is I think there's an ethical issue with endangering someone's job, their livelihood, and food from their children's mouth so you can save $13.50 a day. Different people have different ethical standards, so my personal judgement that the fake complaints to justify saving some money is a sin isn't binding on anyone else, of course. But it is my opinion. And, it was ugly to see. Thankfully, it was the only time we saw anyone, at any time, privately to us or publicly in front of other complain about anything on board.

Anyway, back to the food at O'Sheehans. My wife had the Chicken Pot Pie which she thought was very good. I had the hamburger which was OK. We arrived for our Meet and Greet promptly at 1:00, the scheduled time, just as the officers were walking out and the final announcements were being made. Hmmm .... either the time changed or the officers present went through their little introductions very quickly. We mingled for a while and picked up some "walking tour maps" for our first port, St. John's that one of the M&G participants kindly shared.

That night was Teppanaki, which we had not done on NCL (we have been to plenty of teppanaki grills in the past, but they always give me heartburn due to the amount of oil they use). We enjoyed the meal, as everything was very tasty. The entertainment value was high, as you want in a place like this where cooking the food is the show, and the NCL staff thankfully refrained from the "toss food in the customer's mouth" game we don't like. I would give this a thumb's up for the entertainment value. I did get a bit of heartburn in the evening, but less than I usually do, and the food was just as tasty as the expensive places on land we have been in. If you like Teppanaki grills, this is a good choice.

Monday - St. John's

Monday was our first port day, St. John's in New Brunswick. We grabbed another quick breakfast and set out walking one of the "walking tours" after finding a Starbucks to grab coffee and catch up on emails using their wifi. We saw quite a few of the interesting churches and the Carnegie Library there, then dedided to walk along the harborside trail to the Reversing Falls, an easy 2 mile walk. However, St. Johns was doing maintenance on the trail itself so we have two detours along busy highways before we talked to people who had "been there, done that" and related to us what we thought we would see: muddy rapids. Here's the thing about extreme tides: they really are much faster and more dramatic than the tides we are used to, but you still need the time to observe the changes. Several hours, which you don't have while in port so short a time. So we changed plans and talked to several locals, and wandered back toward the ship for the early departure time. We ate lunch at O'Sheehans again, because I really enjoyed it on the Epic. I had the fish and chips which were just OK; the fish was a bit soggy on the ends. My wife enjoyed her lunch, a Chef's Salad, which was a bit smallish to be an entree. But, if you go hungry on a cruise you just aren't paying attention so we thought it was all fine. Overall, I would say that the Gem's implementation of O'Sheehan's is a bit spotty, and not as good as we found on the Epic.

Dinner that night was at Moderno's, the Brazilian Steakhouse that shares a kitchen with Cagney's on the Gem. They have a nice salad bar. The deal with Moderno's is that you get a nice variety of meat choices served to you fresh from the grill on large skewers the servers bring around. Lamb, beef, chicken are always available. But the quality is spotty. They had two choices of filet that evening, a garlic filet and plain. The garlic was overcooked and chewy, while the plain was OK, but well done. The bacon wrapped chicken really didn't work; the bacon was soggy and mushy, and the chicken was much better if you removed the bacon mush and put it aside. A thin sliced selection of beef, probably called a London Broil or Tri Tip in some areas, was tough, chewy shoe leather. So the variety is there, but the quality is not; the steak was mostly dried out and chewier than you would like. When we ate at Cagney's and saw how they prepare those skewers, we think we know why ... the meat that is not served on each go-round is pushed up on the skewer and new meat placed at the tip, and the skewer is inserted into the oven enough to cook the new meat (with the sewer metal heating the meat from hilt to tip from the inside out). Our advice is to skip Moderno's, as it is not worth the price, unless you are really in the mood for a nice variety of meat that you don't mind well done.

Tuesday - Halifax

The weather had been magnificent up until now, and today was no exception. We wanted to see two things in Halifax, the maritime museum with the Titanic exhibit within walking distance of the ship and the Fairview Cemetery where many of the victims of the Titanic are buried. On our way toward the maritime museum we found a local cabbie tour and joined another couple from the Gem, splitting the cost, for a tour that included Peggy's Cove, the cemetery and would drop us off at the maritime museum.

We love local cabbies most of the time, and prefer small groups of people rather than the large bus tours. And we enjoyed this trip, but my, oh my .... the cabbie could talk. In addition to some nice and interesting facts about Halifax and the surrounding regions, we found out that President Nixon suppressed the evidence that hemp oil cures all cancer and all the radiologists and pharmaceutical companies should be tried for murder and put in jail, that the twin towers were blown by the US government on 9/11 with hidden explosives they put inside the building when it was built, that the Holy Grail and Cross of Christ were buried on an island ("that one right there!") and that's why the ****s set two spies ashore during the second world war, and that Harrison Ford was discovered by Steven Spielberg and put in his very first acting role in "Star Wars" when he was just a carpenter working on Speilberg's house. Avoiding the political myths, I can tell you Ford was an actor before Star Wars, which was not Speilberg's film but was George Lucas' film, and that Ford's carpenter career was paying the bills between acting jobs; here in California it is not unusual to meet any number of people who are really actors but working in *whatever* job until they hit it big. Star Wars was in 1977, and I remember Ford in American Graffiti in 1973, and IMBD has 15 roles before that dating back to 1966, when Speilberg was 20 years old and probably still a student at Cal State Long Beach. So we aren't sure that anything he told us about Halifax is accurate either. But Peggy's Cove is pretty, although crowded, and definitely a tourist trap of the first order with bus loads of people disgorging every few minutes. If there is more than one ship in port, I would avoid Peggy's Cove. The cemetery was interesting when you discounted the mystical musings that the ground shifted after burial and mimics the position of the bow, which was only discovered AFTER they buried the people, so you have to be careful not to step on the hemp oil (or something). The ride back to the port was hindered by some creative photo sharing on cell phones between the cabbie and our fellow passenger, both of whom evidently don't come from areas where distracted driving has taken any of their friends. We encouraged them to stop looking at their motorcyles on their cell phones and pay attention to the lines on the highway that were being crossed frequently. Every trip should have some excitement, I guess!

That night was dinner at La Cucina, and we thought it was very good. We had low expectations because people usually say it is the least of the specialties, but we found the pasta good. I had the meatballs and penne pasta (although it was named something else I don't recall) and my wife had the chicken parmesan. The pasta was cooked perfectly, hot but "al dente", and the meatballs had good flavor and texture. The chicken parm was good also, and the serving was large. At the lower cover charge La Cucina might be worth it, but we had heard the MDR had improved food, so we reserved judgement until we could compare.

Wednesday - Portland, ME

NCL had a mandatory immigration check before you could go ashore in Portland, so we ate a leisurely breakfast and then lunch before going through it. Portland was hit by a storm, with lots of flooding, so all of the shore excursions were cancelled, and most people were staying on ship. We doubled checked and determined we are still waterproof, so we breezed through the immigration check and walked off the boat. Windy, cold and rainy, we hoped that the weather would be bearable once we exited the "wind tunnel" walking down the pier between the terminal building and the ship. And sure enough, once out of that area, it was cold and wet, but not too windy, so we forged on. We decided to find an ice cream shop and found one that had wonderful locally made mixes. My wife had a blueberry ice cream while I indulged in a M&M Malt flavor that had a hint of malt in vanilla ice cream with the requisite miniature M&Ms in it. Delicious. We just walked the main street in Portland and bought a few little souveniers and headed back to the ship after a couple of hours.

Dinner was at Cagney's. While we like Cagney's I'm always disappointed in the side dishes since they have forgone plating them and serve them haphazardly in cold, aluminium ramkins (little pots). Like on the Sun, the green beans served in the ramkins were cold and the baked potato, while warm and almost hot, was ridiculously crammed into the ramkin like Shaq in a SmartCar. To our dismay, we found the baked potato had the texture and density of a microwaved potato ... now, I'm not saying the potatoes ARE microwaved, but the peel is soggy, the flesh of the potato does not separate from the peel without vigorous manipulation, and the flesh is dense. Where is the steaming hot, flaky flesh that allows you to joyfully eat the potato out of the skin easily? C'mon, NCL, even Outback and Black Angus chain restaurants can bake a potato. And while your Filet Mignon is tasty, it is not quite Prime quality, no matter how much you tout the branded "Angus Certified" label. I don't care if your beef is Presbyterian, give me a good USDA Prime hunk of meat and I'll be happy with the entree at least. Our recommedation: unless you love the decor and ambience, which is wonderful, save your $35 per person cover charge (including tip) and eat your steak at Le Bistro, where at least the sides are plated, and hot, and presented well and not like the Keebler Elves have dumped them into little metal pots.

Thursday - Bar Harbor, ME

Bar Harbor is a tender port, so getting ashore takes some time. The weather was iffy, so my surprise for our anniversary was cancelled (a private boat tour of lighthouses and wildlife). We bought a ticket for the one hour tour to the top of Cadillac Mountain on Oli's Trolley, which we really enjoyed. The tour guide was excellent and the views from the top of the mountain were spectacular. We grabbed a slice of pizza at Epi's in Bar Harbor on the advice of a local, and it was OK, but not comparable to a slice from a NYC pizza joint that still uses a coal fired oven to crisp the pepperoni. On the way back we talked to two musicians from the Cynthia Macloed Trio that was on board. Cynthia MacLoed is a Canadian violin / fiddle player who had been entertaining us in Magnum's Lounge outside of Le Bristro all week with her accompanying musicians Jon Matthews (guitars, vocals, harmonica) and a drummer named Jason I believe (I couldn't find his name online in any of the YouTube videos). They do one month with NCL only on the New England itinerary, so if you get a chance to see them, don't miss it. They were a favorite of ours on board, and are funny in person as well. We really like the way NCL has plenty of live music, and all of the musicians were very good.

On Thursday night we ate in the Grand Pacific Main Dining Room (aft) and had the most flavorful, most consistently good meal (from salad to main course to dessert) of any of our dining. We chose the Chef's Special that night, which was the roast turkey dinner, and some of our praise for it may be that it is definitely comfort food. And so much of a memorable experience is pure luck ... we were seated quickly at a table for two in a quiet side of the dining room near a window, at sunset, and the servers were attentive and absolutely wonderful. Is this part of the new menu experience being tested on the Gem? I don't know, but the food was wonderful. We doubt that we would eat more than once per trip in a specialty, as the experience is simply not worth the extra charge to me. My wife likes to splurge just for the ambiance you get in Cagneys, and perhaps when they go a la carte it will be worth it to just order a salad and a entree rather than their sub-standard sides.

Later, we caught the Cynthia MacLoed trio in Spinnaker for their extended set, one hour of celtic fiddle playing and another hour of their take on classic country music (which they joked was out of character for them). We loved the celtic set we already associated with them on this trip ... we thought it was funny that Cynthia remarked "Who would have thought you would be rocking out to music from the 1800's on this cruise" and she was right.

The part of the country set we saw was enjoyable (we left mid way through the set). I don't like country music, but they had a take on some country classics like King of the Road, and some cross over songs from the band America that made it more enoyable for me.

All in all, I give NCL high marks for having interesting, varied musicians on board their ships.

Friday - Sea Day

Friday was another sea day and we enjoyed more of the Gem. Like the Jade, the only other ship we have been on in the Jewel Class, it is one of our favorites. We think the size of the ship, it's connection with the ocean with a wrap around promenade deck, and the wonderful crew and talented musicians and singers are the best combination possible. At the "Ask the Officers" talk the captain was asked how long a ship like the Gem could be in service, and he said that with maintenance and a steady stream of passengers, ships last a very long time. We enjoyed the Q&A session with the officers, and also a "Cake Boss Challenge" where the head chef, an audience member, and Dan Dan (the cruise director) created a black forest cake (Dan Dan was very funny making his cake). We took in a few games, like the "Who Wants to be a Bizillionaire" that were fun "ship activities" that you would really only find on a cruise ship.

Dinner that night was at Cagney's, which was a repeat of our prior experience. At least for me. I opted for garlic mashed as my only side dish, thinking that perhaps the diabolical ramkin would not taint it, but my wife said for the first time in Cagney's in a long time, her green beans were hot and tasty. Go figure. The garlic mashed? You don't want to know.

Saturday - Disembarkment

We opted for a "Fast Breakfast" from the MDR in the morning, as we had a 12:30 flight out of Newark, and wanted to make sure we got there in time. The scrambled eggs were not very good; I am not sure how you fluff up eggs so much that they hardly resemble eggs any more. But the bacon and sausage were good, and the coffee hot, so we soldiered on and got our luggage for our self-assisted walk off. We carried the carry-ons down the stairs as the elevators were crazy with the number of scooters and wheelchairs on this cruise, and were off the ship and ready for Carmel Limo to pick us up on the lower level by 8:30. We made to the airport in plenty of time, had an empty seat between us on Virgin America, and exited the terminal to find the Marriott LAX Parking bus waiting at the curb. We couldn't have picked a better end to the vacation than a no-hassle experience at LAX. Yes, we did buy lottery tickets on the way home but our luck had been used up by LAX.

Other Notes:

Passenger Age - this cruise was, by far, the oldest crowd we have ever seen. Perhaps its the itinerary, or the time of year, but I would estimate the average age of the passengers to be over 65. We usually find plenty of couples our age, late 50's on board, and there were a few, but I felt really sorry for the few 20 - 30 year olds on board. That usual fun mix of people of all ages simply wasn't present on this trip, and I missed seeing young people and children (I think there were four on board that we saw, all traveling with their parents, their parents and their grandparents). When they asked how long people had been married, there were several couples married over 60 years. We had some great conversations with folks much older than us (the oldest we talked to were a couple in their late 90s.) But if this had been my first cruise, I would have probably considered cruising something that only "old people" do. If you're new to cruising and were on this cruise, realize that a much more lively, younger crowd is found on the itineraries to warmer climates.

We loved this trip and will definitely cruise NCL again. Nothing has changed our opinion of the cruise line, although we were worried that recent complaints about new policies might translate into a lesser experience on board. That fear was unfounded, and we didn't find this cruise any less enjoyable than our first experiences cruising so many years ago.

It is interesting to read your review as I was on the same cruise. I found the crew to be delightful and eager to help. I'm sorry you had to listen to that woman complain in O'Sheehan's. If fake complaining is a way to stiff the crew out of their tips, I think that is despicable. Or, even worse, can cause a crew member to be fired.

We, too, used Carmel to pick us up at LaGuardia on Friday and take us to the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. They also took us to the pier in the morning. Very pleased with the car service.

Fantastic review! Thank you for taking the time.

...

Thanks for the review. We did a similar trip on Princess a few years ago. I loved Halifax and Bar Harbor. We did Ollie's trolley too.

I think Canada is an older crowd too, our trip was at the beginning of the summer so I expected some families, but there weren't very many at all.

Thanks for the review. We did a similar trip on Princess a few years ago. I loved Halifax and Bar Harbor. We did Ollie's trolley too.

 

I think Canada is an older crowd too, our trip was at the beginning of the summer so I expected some families, but there weren't very many at all.

Having done the Canada itinerary 3 times, I would agree. We usually cruise in the fall after school is in session again so that would be a factor as well, but there seem to be fewer families on the Canada cruises and an older crowd as well.

Thanks for the review. We did a similar trip on Princess a few years ago. I loved Halifax and Bar Harbor. We did Ollie's trolley too.

 

I think Canada is an older crowd too, our trip was at the beginning of the summer so I expected some families, but there weren't very many at all.

That is interesting; I thought it was mainly the time of year, but a summer cruise should attract more families in that case.

The only down side to Bar Harbor was the price of ice cream! I could pay $3 a scoop in Halifax but $5 a scoop was just too much!

My wife disagrees with me about the steak in Cagney's, by the way. She thought it was great!

We, too, used Carmel to pick us up at LaGuardia on Friday and take us to the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. They also took us to the pier in the morning. Very pleased with the car service.

I thought they were great. We talked to a couple on our same flight home who did public transit from Newark. They said it was very easy, but they came in before the Pope was there (I was worried about glitches with all the security). So I was happy with Carmel even with the added cost.

We really enjoyed this cruise. Having an older crowd is not necessarily a bad thing, as we met some really fun people.

I enjoyed reading your review..... we were on the same itinerary at the same time except we were on RCI Liberty of the Seas. We also found the age demographic on our ship to be heavily skewed toward the elderly and those using scooters. We had good weather in all of our four ports and especially enjoyed seeing the Gem berthed behind us in Halifax. She's our favourite ship and we're looking forward to sailing her for a fourth time this winter. :)

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to do this great review. DH and I will be on the Gem around this time next year so your info is invaluable. :D

Thank you for taking the time to review your cruise. Sounds like a wonderful vacation.

As for the complaining women. I think there are just people out there that are not happy unless they are complaining and make everyone else miserable.

Great review! I'm really sorry if there was a mix-up with the meet & greet. It was scheduled to begin at 11:00am. And the officers came in shortly after 11 and they didn't stay for very long. It was my first time coordinating one and I apologize for any mistakes.

Great review! I'm really sorry if there was a mix-up with the meet & greet. It was scheduled to begin at 11:00am. And the officers came in shortly after 11 and they didn't stay for very long. It was my first time coordinating one and I apologize for any mistakes.

No problem; I don't think it was your fault. If it started right at 11 then maybe my timing was off. I was surprised everyone was in the room and sitting, so that's probably the case! We are usually the type to be early to these things, but I was relying on my cell phone (in airplane mode) as a watch.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thorough review. I hope to sail this itinerary next Fall, so it's a big help. I'm glad everything worked out for you in New York considering the Pope was in town. I mean, who can plan for that?!

And what a hilarious story about the cab driver. Well, at least he helped make your trip memorable!

Happy belated anniversary!

Thanks for your review..such a pleasure to meet everyone! I miss the Gem! The sail a way and meet and greet were perfect..as well as putting faces to our sign in names...HAPPY 40TH!!

Thank you for your review. We look forward to boarding her this weekend! woo hoo!

As for the complainer--- saw one ourselves years ago (I think on NCL Spirit). DH and I sitting eating our breakfast in the buffet. Woman, complaining loudly, about how the chef was cooking her eggs. Complained and complained at him, loud, and nasty. Finally a supervisor comes out, she says in a loud voice "doesn't he speak English?" to the supervisor. We are both shaking our heads at this point. Poor chef by this time has walked into the backroom and I can hear people speaking in a different language. I am saying to the hubby he is probably cursing out this ignorant woman.

When we finished our breakfast and this gentleman had come back out to his station, my husband walked over to him, shook his hand and said "thank you very much for our breakfast, it was delicious. Please do not view every American like this woman, we are all not like this." The man thanked him.

As the saying goes "you can't fix stupid"

glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Kathy

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thorough review. I hope to sail this itinerary next Fall, so it's a big help. I'm glad everything worked out for you in New York considering the Pope was in town. I mean, who can plan for that?!

 

And what a hilarious story about the cab driver. Well, at least he helped make your trip memorable!

 

Happy belated anniversary!

Thanks! We actually laugh at these weird things we seem to get ourselves into. We decided seeing how NYC handled the Pope's visit was kind of special, and we can always go back to see the museums. The cabbie wasn't bad until he and one of the other passengers were passing their phones back and forth looking at pictures of their motorcycles. Yikes! We come from a state where they fine you heavily for using your phone while driving, so it was a big surprise they thought it was fine to weave from side to side on the highway, steering with his knee while flipping through photos on the phone.

Thanks for your review..such a pleasure to meet everyone! I miss the Gem! The sail a way and meet and greet were perfect..as well as putting faces to our sign in names...HAPPY 40TH!!

That was fun! It was nice being up front for the sail away.

Thank you for your review. We look forward to boarding her this weekend! woo hoo!

You will have a blast!