ARYANJ89

In case he's still there in December, what's Alvil like?

Hi all! I've had Alvin as a CD twice on the Gem, in July 2016 and January 2017.

Alvin is entertaining and very nice, but I prefer Dan Dan's humor. Each time I had Alvin, his cruise director was Zach (not a fan). Alvin always had good activities planned.

Just off the 8/27 sailing. Had a wonderful cruise. There were some passengers who though the water was rough the first sea day going down but I didn't feel it.

On the last sea day, I decided last minute to go to the spa for a facial and massage. I don't use credit cards when I board the ship, but I do put cash to my onboard account. I didn't anticipate any other costs on the last sea day and when I booked my appointment, I honestly didn't even think of putting my cash on my onboard account. I thought I had enough left over from when I first deposited cash.

I had a nice massage and facial, but started feeling achey and tired during the session (followed by sniffles and coughing). When I was finished and went to pay, the masseuse notified me that she would have to charge me later since my card was deactivated. I told her I would take care of it. Afterwards, I immediately went back to my stateroom to sleep the aches and pains away. The spa called as I walked into my room and said I had to put money on my card at that moment. I said I would take care of it later. The manager said OK. I went to bed and received over 20 calls afterward. The phone would not stop ringing and I did not pick up. There were a total of 5 messages left on my voicemail.

Obviously, the ship won't allow you to disembark without having your account paid. I went to guest services before dinner and the line was very long (as expected - it was the last night). My honey and I decided to go get dinner first and enjoy our last dinner onboard. We were just finishing dessert when the maitre d came over and said verbatim... "Good evening! I hope you enjoyed vacation and dessert.... *pause* I am so sorry I have to do this, but the Mandara Spa and Finance Department need to see you right away to settle an urgent matter. Please get that taken care of right away. Again, I apologize for doing this."

I still wasn't feeling well, but my honey and I looked at each other and were stunned. I owed a total of $199. I found this to be pretty forward and in poor taste, especially as an avid NCL cruiser. At the same time, I was stunned and thought it was very funny that they would literally hunt us down.

Needless to say, the services were paid for. Has this ever happened to anyone? Has anyone been hunted down?!

Will Alvin be the cruise director for the breakaway in November?

He may be! Dan Dan said he was going on vacation within the next few weeks. :)

Lovely view you have! Looks close to the water. What deck? I am on Deck 8 forward port side in December.

I was on the sailing that never made it to Bermuda last year, so I am jealous.

 

So, yes everyone wants to know about Margaritaville pricing please!

Can you tell us who are the captain, cruise director, hotel officer, and food& beverage officer?

You got there just in time. Tropical Storm Jose should not impact your trip. But the next sailing...

Just off the ship on 9/3... Dan Dan was the cruise director. He is going on vacation soon. Alvin will replace him. He may go to escape or bliss.

Captain Matko (spelling may be off) is on.

I know the other ones by face, not name. All wonderful though!

Enjoy your cruise!!!

What a great review!!!

6 days til the Breakaway!

We cruise last minute deals .

Last one came out of the blue when my new PCC called on Wednesday afternoon with a deal for that Friday with a 7 day bermuda cruise @ $299pp .

 

I have no clue when the next one will come.

 

One good hurricane threat could do it .:D

Wow!!!

We were on the June 25th sailing and it was Alvin. Not sure what happened to Dan Dan. Maybe vacation??

I am sure vacation for Dan Dan. Darn! I've had Alvin for the last three cruises, lol... He is great, but Dan Dan is amazing. He'll be our cruise director again one day!

Hi all - who was the cruise director on this sailing?

Actually yes I am a frequent sailor.... I ask because I really like capatain Lars Bengsston and wasn't sure if he was coming back for this ship rotation. Not that it matters your right I just was curious on who the captain is for this sailing. Some definitely are more humorous than others and more fun to sail with. Including Cruise directors Dan Dan and Gio .

I loooooove Dan Dan!

Thank you so much!

 

I am ok with at least News channels. On one ship I was stuck with ESPN and ship's channel! That was boring.

lol this made me giggle.

can you book these prior to boarding?

I don't believe so! You can buy the thermal pass online though.

Hi! Hopefully someone can help me.

 

I know there are Spa Passes for the entirety of the 10 day cruise at $199 a person, but is there a daily rate if I wanted to go for a day? Thanks in advance!

So I called NCL. A two day is 89$, a three day is $99.. Just in case anyone was curious haha!

Hi! Hopefully someone can help me.

I know there are Spa Passes for the entirety of the 10 day cruise at $199 a person, but is there a daily rate if I wanted to go for a day? Thanks in advance!

We are cruising on the Norwegian Gem in May and I was wondering if the restaurant O'Sheehans is on this ship. Thank you in advance. :)

Yes it is! :)

Hi. I was just curious. We will be on the Feb. 07 sailing of the NCL Gem.

How will knowing the name of the Cruise Director help us?

I had a great cruise director (Dan Dan) when I first went on the Gem in August 2013 and just had so much with all the different programming. He was super funny and had such a personality when making announcements on the ship, introducing shows, when around the ship... The second time around this past August, the cruise director was blah. He wasn't engaging and he didn't offer any of the fun activities that the previous cruise director did. Was just wondering. :)

Just got back Sunday and it was Drew

Thanks!

Does anyone know who is currently the Cruise Director on the Gem? Thanks in advance! :)

We were on the Gem this last Nov. They showed the games (Thurs, Sun, and Mon) all in the atrium. It was the same on the Pearl a few yrs ago. I think it is safe to say they will show the SB. :)

Cool! Thanks!

I was on The Gem in 2011 when the Green Bay Packers played the Pittsburgh Steelers. They showed th the game on the big screen in the lobby. Lots of people were in their favorite teams' jersey. You could get your face painted. Lots of food everywhere.

 

It was a lot of fun.

So cool! Thanks so much for the response! :D

Hi all - I will be traveling on the Gem on 1/28 and I am just curious. Has anyone experienced the Superbowl on the Gem in the past, or on another NCL ship? I am wondering if something fun is done to celebrate the game.:)

Just off - was late getting in due to the tide apparently. Great vacation!

Does anyone know where Dan-Dan is? Had him as a CD on the Gem in 2014 - going back on the Gem ater in the month and don't believe he is there.

He was fantastic!

Nice review! Who was the cruise director?

I had read a lot of reviews before my trip and some the long form reviews were very helpful to me so I thought I would add my own. My self and my boyfriend (ages 29 & 35) were traveling on a vacation June 25th to July 2nd out of NYC on the Norwegian Gem. We had an Oceanview picture window cabin on the 5th deck. We had a great time. It was our first cruise and we would definitely do another soon.

 

We had booked our transportation to NYC before reading too much about cruises. We ended up taking the train to NYC the morning or our cruise arriving NYC around 10:45. After reading more horror stories about getting delayed and showing too late at the port to get through security I got a little worried but we risked it and kept the plans. Everything turned out fine but if I did it again I would plan a night in city we were leaving from just to be sure.

 

Getting through security and onto the ship too longer than I anticipated but wasn't hard, just a lot of waiting in lines. Once on the ship we gave ourselves a little walking tour trying to orient our selves and then had some food at the buffet. We then enjoyed a celebratory drink (or two) by the pool. Our rooms were ready well before we expected them to be which was a nice surprise.

 

We did the basic dining with no meals upgraded. For most meals we went to either Magenta Dining Room or the Grand Pacific Main Dining Room. If we needed a quick lunch or breakfast we went to the Garden Cafe Buffet. Food was excellent and the menus continued changing through the week. The breakfasts were good and while the menus changed they didn’t change much and you could pretty much get the same food each morning unless it was something special.

 

We found the portion sizes at the dining rooms adequate. We always got a starter, entree and dessert. I never felt that I needed more however I didn’t feel as though I had I just stuffed my face at the buffet, which was probably for the best.

 

We had received the ultimate drink package as a special offer with our booking. We were probably on the edge as to wether or not the retail cost would have been worth it based on how much we drank. I was a little confused going in as to if we would be paying a mandatory gratuity for each drink. The fine print on the email offer I had when I booked implied the package included gratuity but other things I had read before I went suggested otherwise for drink packages. We didn’t end up getting charged any extra gratuity per drink (only tax when we were in a US port).

 

Regarding onboard bars, we were a little disappointed at the beer selection. Most beers are average to low end bottles and the only draft taps we found on board were in O’sheehans and the selection was limited and nothing of great quality. I highly recommend checking out all the different bars on the ship as they each have some drinks that you may not be able to get at other locations. For example the speciality mojitos at Sugarcane are a must do.

 

Before we left we had planned that we would each get a massage. We figured it would be about 120 -150 dollars each. When we got on board we took a tour of the spa and saw that the thermal suite looked very relaxing. Not having kids and enjoying time without screaming, yelling, or running we were immediately drawn to the thermal suite since it is adults only. They only sell a limited number of passes to the thermal suite for each cruise (100) to keep it not crowded. The cost was $149 per person. So instead of getting the massage we opted for the thermal suite to have something to enjoy the whole cruise long for the same price. It was totally worth it.

 

We also entered the $500 raffle for the spa. Turns out it was several certificates for the spa totaling $500 along with some other prizes.. I ended up winning a $100 gift certificate. The restrictions is that it is for signature services only and on port days and used it for a face treatment/shave on the morning of one of the port days. There are several raffles the first day scattered around speeches of them selling some of the services on board. I found it helpful as a first time cruiser as it helped to get to know what the ship had to offer - but it sure didn’t hurt that I won a prize!

 

We went to all the shows in the Stardust Theater except the welcome aboard show. Some were better than others. Our least favorites were El Goucho on the last night and the Magika magic show. The library has daily crosswords and sudoko puzzles you can do. The nighttime activities in the Spinnaker lounge were generally really good (on occasion they were a dud but worth going to check out). We are in the early-to-bed early-to-rise camp so there were a handful of events that we opted not to try that occurred after we were asleep; so no comment on the late night entertainment.

 

One of the cabin tips I had read before our trip was to bring magnet hooks. This was a great tip, I highly recommend theses. We also brought the over door organizer based on other reviews and comments. We put it up the first day but we didn’t need it. Once we got unpacked we still had plenty of room on shelves and drawers both in the room and in the bathroom. We took it down after a day of not needing it. Granted we are two guys without a lot of traveling accessories, we found there was plenty of room in the stateroom. Our room steward, Alex, was great. He always welcomed us or wished us a good day when he saw us pass in the hallway. We tipped him once at the end of the week. Not sure if that is the convention. That was the only tipping we did on board the whole week.

 

Port stops were Port Canaveral, Great Stirrup Cay, and Nassau.

Port Canaveral - We had no interest in trips to KSC or Disney / Orlando (been there done that on other trips). We ended up planning to book a transfer to Cocoa Beach. After talking with some on the ship we figured we could get it for cheaper if we waited to get off the ship. Turns out the line to get off the ship is much shorter if you have an excursion booked with the ship. After we finally get off, we only ended up saving $2 per person for the transfer.

 

Great Stirrup Cay - The one thing we wanted to do here was snorkeling. The basic rental is easy and all day for one rate. I recommend booking in advance or early when you get on the ship so you get your group assignment for getting off the ship (they boat you from the Gem over to GSC island in groups). If you don’t have an excursion where you get your assignment ahead of time you have to get inline to get a worse number the morning of port day. The first beach you come to is the biggest and where most people stop, if you keep going there are two more that are smaller but much less populated. The snorkeling was great. the best spot we found was just off to the right of the middle beach with some underground rocks. If you get there early there are plenty of beach chairs that are under shade trees.

 

Nassau - We took our time with the morning at breakfast and getting ready, knowing it would take some time getting off the ship. We did some walking around the tourist area then decided to head back to the ship to relax in peace with most people off the ship. None of the port activities really screamed ‘must do’ for us, especially for the costs advertised.

 

For disembarking, being early risers and having packed the night before, we had plenty of time to get a leisurely breakfast at the main dining room had back to the room, grab our bags and walk off the ship with only a short line. Just make sure you get in line before they call the first group of folks not caring their own bags off. We spent the rest of the day and the night in NYC and had a great time before heading home.

I am sure all is well. My parents and little sister are on the ship -- the live webcam saw them in Nassau still at 10:30 PM last night when I checked -- camera was live and I was able to hear the island jams from surrounding bars/restaurants (so jealous)... I had to stay back cause I had law school finals!. I figured they would probably leave at midnight. I will inquire why they ended up leaving so late.

When I last spoke to them while they were in Port Canaveral, the only complaint was the cruise director (they said he was super dry - they love the famous Julie) :p They were having a great time... When they left NY, my father said that they were stopped due to the boat races ahead and that there was nothing wrong onboard.

Will keep you folks updated - for those sailing this weekend, all will be well!