Review - NCL Gem with Kids - Pros and Cons of April 7th 2018 sailing

Just back from our spring break cruise. While having been on CC for a long time, this is my first "review". Please don't expect the awesomeness of some of our great reviewers - just wanted to put a few thoughts on paper.

Background: Me (38), Hubby (52), Son with autism (verbal, high functioning, age 8), Daughter (4 going on 14); 1 hour car ride to port (we used a car service).

As some of mentioned, was a tough start as the Gem didn't arrive in until after 10 from previous cruise, so boarding was very, very delayed. My son has "special access" so we were allowed to sit away from the crowds and didn't have to stand in line. We were one of the first checked in when check in started and were one of the first on board (after Haven and suites) once they started boarding (between 1230 and 1pm). Thankfully we were prepared with his tablet and managed to wrangle some snacks for him, but it was a tough wait: no one's fault, just long. We were the lucky ones, not having to line up.

We went straight up to the Splash academy to check in. I had read about long waits, and when I called NCL, I was told to get up there as soon as possible to assure a place. As with so many things, turns out registering early had nothing to do with accessing the program or being assured a chance to go. But we got them "registered" and then went for lunch in the dining room. I will talk more about Splash Academy experience in a little bit. This was definitely a bittersweet component to our cruise.

We used tablets a lot in the dining room (with his ear phones) because our experiences for breakfast and lunch at the buffet were less than stellar: very busy and everything was cold. The "omelette/fresh egg" station always had a long line (both in buffet and great outdoors) and the morning we did use the buffet, there was no bacon to be found. My husband was very disappointed because he usually prefers buffets (this is his fifth cruise but his first on NCL). Temperature, lack of seating and lack of variety over the course of the cruise were his biggest complaints. Dining room (and O'Sheehans) on the other hand, had quick service and food was always hot (and there was always bacon). In the end, I lucked out because I prefer the dining rooms, but usually get out voted. My husband and I did have 3 specialty dinners (perk), 2 at Cagneys (day 1 at sea, and day 6 at sea) and 1 at Bistro (Day 4 at GSC). We fed the kids either in dining room or buffet around 5:30 and dropped them at camp. Our reservations were at 730 and each time I got a call from camp around 9 telling me my son was done and wanted to leave. It was good timing. All three specialty experiences were excellent. My husband ended up having the same order both times at Cagney's, he enjoyed it so much.

We had the drink package - my husband doesn't drink alcohol, but does drink soda and when I did the math, it made more sense to choose it (we did get all 5 perks when we booked) and pay the "tips" than for me to buy by the drink and him to get a soda package. Drink service was excellent at bars and in the dining rooms. Wine stewards and a few bartenders remembered us and our order by the 2nd or 3rd night. We were planning on buying the children sodas on pay per drink basis, but never got the opportunity to do so - they always asked what the children wanted and gave us the sodas using our cards. One night, my daughter and I went to a show and stopped to get Mommy a dessert martini - the bartender made her a "kid tini" (chocolate shake) of his own accord.

We were able upgrade our 250 minute internet package to ultimate unlimited for 117 dollars on the first night. Only one device on at at time. We could kick on device off when logging on another. Some of our devices were more reliable than others (iphone 5, iphone 4, two ipads). Though it offered to remember our login and passwords, it never seemed to work, and we had to reinput the info manually each time. Over all worked fine and we were able download a few things, stream some netflix and youtube and use all our apps and internet.

We did our own thing at the ports: Jetty park in Port Canaveral (2 dollars per person each way from port) and went to Saunders beach (20 dollar cab each way) in Nassau. We could have used the bus for 5 dollars each way (total) in Nassau but cab was more convenient for us at the time. We got conch salad and fritters at a spot inside the "cruise space" because our kids were fried and didn't have the energy to hold up at either the Fish Fry or Bahamian Cookin' (our original plan). We didn't use our excursion credit in either of those stops. At GSC, we rented a clamshell (which we didn't really end up using because we spend so much time in the water) and a mat. Clam shell was 35 and mat was 15. I am silver, so got my discount (10 percent) but they still gave us our 50 dollar excursion credit. (So I guess I made 5 dollars). My kids were happy with the beach time - they love the water! While we had a great time, my husband preferred the Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and Freeport stops from our last cruise (Carnival Pride) a little bit more.

Splash Academy: Pros - the kids loved it. They actually asked to go, even at times when we had no intention of sending them. The staff was funny and loving and ran a lot of fun activities. My kids loved the circus day on the last day!

Cons - capacity and lining up. There were 800 children on this cruise. 400-500 were between the ages of 3 and 12. The capacity for Turtles (3-5) was 25 children, Seals (6-9) was 50 children and 9-12 was 35 (I think - didn't pay as much attention to this as it was not the group that impacted us). Other than port days, the hours were 9-12, 2-5 and 7-1030. The evening component was obviously the most popular as was the morning and afternoon sessions the last day for the circus. In order to assure a spot, we discovered you either needed to line up 30 minutes before they opened or spend 30-45 minutes on line if you joined the line as they opened. Depending on your age group, you risked not getting a spot even if you were on line at the opening (especially in the evening). Then at pick up, it took 15-30 minutes on line to get them unless you picked them up an hour before the program closed.

I kept track and I spent 8.5 hours on line at Splash academy over the course of the week. I went to the meet and greet and had received the contact information for various officers. After the second day of lining up, I called and spoke to Alfie (Guest relations head) and Smiley (head of Splash Academy). I made sure to mention that it was not the program itself that was the problem and the staff was great but the system definitely had problems. They knew they were going to be that many kids on board: why hadn't they planned for additional staff? Turns out they had brought on more staff but are limited by space in the kids rooms. I have been on many ships that used space other than the kids club, why were they not doing that? After the speaking with them, they did put a staff member out on line, speaking and schmoozing with guests on line and trying to have the guests ready with appropriate cards etc, but while appreciated, this had no change on the number of spots or much change on the "waiting on line" time.

Because my children so enjoyed the program, we made sure we were always there early to get a spot, except for the last night, when dinner went a little long. We got on line at 710 and sure enough, my daughter could not get in to the Turtles. So in addition to a very sad little girl who could not go play with her friends she had made, there was also no waiting list, buzzer system or way to know when a spot freed up other than camping outside the Splash Academy doors. So that night, we did. After an hour, they offered us to go play in Guppies room (parent supervision) and they offered to hold the spot when someone checked out for us and the other little girl who had stayed and waited. At 9 pm, two kids checked out and they were allowed in. Because the guppy room is accessed by the pool, and we couldn't go through to the kids area, we had to go around. By the time we got to the entrance, sure enough there was another little girl crying because she couldn't get it (and an understandably mad mom, who thought we were jumping the line). In the end, someone left and all three got in, but I couldn't get over the process and how it was run. Had it not been the last night, I would have not stayed for my daughter, but she really wanted to say good bye and I didn't want it to be her last memory of "CAMP".

Again - the program was fabulous as were the counselors but the system they have in place for capacity, entering and exiting and lack of "waitlists" leaves much to be desired. There is a reason I don't do Disney - lining up is hard, especially for my son. 8.5 hours on line in a 7 day period (not including embarkation because you can't do anything about that) was a lot more time than I wanted to spend.

Only other cons we encountered on our cruise was a limited variety of activities for adults (specifically, my husband - I am happy with a drink and a book). While there were shows, they timing was tough if the kids wanted to do SA and we wanted to eat dinner (anywhere). During the day, most of the activities were either "additional cost" or "seminars" about spending money on board (shopping, spa). There was trivia but very, very busy in the atrium. My husband was definitely disappointed on this front.

We have a large family/friends trip planned on NCL Escape in 18 months, (A) because it is Bermuda and (B) because NCL has the best group perks. However, going forward, I am not sure that my husband and I will choose NCL over Carnival or RCL (or Celebrity or Princess for that matter) for our immediate family trips unless the activities and SA capacity/lining up issues are resolved. While they seem like small (first world) problems, they did impact the overall feeling of our vacation and as we are only able to take a vacation every few years, we will need to take them into account. The good news is we don't need to worry about that for another 2-3 years, so lots of time to see if they fix it.

I think that's it. As always - this was just our experience, others I am sure had a different trip all together. Feel free to ask questions. I hope that something in this, helps someone with their planning, as so many other reports have helped me.

Thanks. This is really useful, since we have kids and are cruising primarily for the kids clubs. We’ll be sure to avoid ncl ships during school vacations. My oldest loved the kids club on the star in the Baltic’s, but my family couldn’t survive a trip like that without reliable daycare.

We’ve lucked out, we’ve never been turned away. For those with future Gem cruises, if you want to eat breakfast at the buffet, it is easy to grab tables in La Cucina, or the great outdoors. We found this out the first day and it was so peaceful (fami,y of 7, hard to find seating together elsewhere).

We’ve lucked out, we’ve never been turned away. For those with future Gem cruises, if you want to eat breakfast at the buffet, it is easy to grab tables in La Cucina, or the great outdoors. We found this out the first day and it was so peaceful (fami,y of 7, hard to find seating together elsewhere).

We did eat in La Cucina. The particular time must have been busier than usual. Didn’t solve my husbands hot food problem but definitely a great tip!

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Thanks for your info. Most helpful. Taking our granddaughters in December and could I ask you how you got to Jetty park for 2 dollars? Was there a shuttle or is that what a cab charged? And what did they charge to enter the park?

Also when you said you got conch fritters at the cruise spot was that in the port area inside the fence?

PS we are just off the star in February and had a big concern over the temperature of the food in the buffet also. Warmish meatballs etc.

Thanks for taking the time to post

Thanks for your review.

OP, good review of the limitations of Splash Academy (SA) and advice to show up early.

From my hours spent in line at Splash Academy over the years, my frustration is the check in. It's not a staffing issue at check in, but rather a "needy parents" issue. Check in takes about twenty seconds if prepared or been to SA more than once. But many parents (1) want to review with staff, activities that are planned, (2) Want to know if "Freckles" is working, (3) Generally don't know where they are going, to provide an answer to the "where will you be?" question, which leads to a side family discussion of what restaurant / service area they are interested in visiting following drop off. (4) Showing up to SA without bracelet / key cards.

Just back from our spring break cruise. While having been on CC for a long time, this is my first "review". Please don't expect the awesomeness of some of our great reviewers - just wanted to put a few thoughts on paper.

 

Background: Me (38), Hubby (52), Son with autism (verbal, high functioning, age 8), Daughter (4 going on 14); 1 hour car ride to port (we used a car service).

 

As some of mentioned, was a tough start as the Gem didn't arrive in until after 10 from previous cruise, so boarding was very, very delayed. My son has "special access" so we were allowed to sit away from the crowds and didn't have to stand in line. We were one of the first checked in when check in started and were one of the first on board (after Haven and suites) once they started boarding (between 1230 and 1pm). Thankfully we were prepared with his tablet and managed to wrangle some snacks for him, but it was a tough wait: no one's fault, just long. We were the lucky ones, not having to line up.

 

We went straight up to the Splash academy to check in. I had read about long waits, and when I called NCL, I was told to get up there as soon as possible to assure a place. As with so many things, turns out registering early had nothing to do with accessing the program or being assured a chance to go. But we got them "registered" and then went for lunch in the dining room. I will talk more about Splash Academy experience in a little bit. This was definitely a bittersweet component to our cruise.

 

We used tablets a lot in the dining room (with his ear phones) because our experiences for breakfast and lunch at the buffet were less than stellar: very busy and everything was cold. The "omelette/fresh egg" station always had a long line (both in buffet and great outdoors) and the morning we did use the buffet, there was no bacon to be found. My husband was very disappointed because he usually prefers buffets (this is his fifth cruise but his first on NCL). Temperature, lack of seating and lack of variety over the course of the cruise were his biggest complaints. Dining room (and O'Sheehans) on the other hand, had quick service and food was always hot (and there was always bacon). In the end, I lucked out because I prefer the dining rooms, but usually get out voted. My husband and I did have 3 specialty dinners (perk), 2 at Cagneys (day 1 at sea, and day 6 at sea) and 1 at Bistro (Day 4 at GSC). We fed the kids either in dining room or buffet around 5:30 and dropped them at camp. Our reservations were at 730 and each time I got a call from camp around 9 telling me my son was done and wanted to leave. It was good timing. All three specialty experiences were excellent. My husband ended up having the same order both times at Cagney's, he enjoyed it so much.

 

We had the drink package - my husband doesn't drink alcohol, but does drink soda and when I did the math, it made more sense to choose it (we did get all 5 perks when we booked) and pay the "tips" than for me to buy by the drink and him to get a soda package. Drink service was excellent at bars and in the dining rooms. Wine stewards and a few bartenders remembered us and our order by the 2nd or 3rd night. We were planning on buying the children sodas on pay per drink basis, but never got the opportunity to do so - they always asked what the children wanted and gave us the sodas using our cards. One night, my daughter and I went to a show and stopped to get Mommy a dessert martini - the bartender made her a "kid tini" (chocolate shake) of his own accord.

 

We were able upgrade our 250 minute internet package to ultimate unlimited for 117 dollars on the first night. Only one device on at at time. We could kick on device off when logging on another. Some of our devices were more reliable than others (iphone 5, iphone 4, two ipads). Though it offered to remember our login and passwords, it never seemed to work, and we had to reinput the info manually each time. Over all worked fine and we were able download a few things, stream some netflix and youtube and use all our apps and internet.

 

We did our own thing at the ports: Jetty park in Port Canaveral (2 dollars per person each way from port) and went to Saunders beach (20 dollar cab each way) in Nassau. We could have used the bus for 5 dollars each way (total) in Nassau but cab was more convenient for us at the time. We got conch salad and fritters at a spot inside the "cruise space" because our kids were fried and didn't have the energy to hold up at either the Fish Fry or Bahamian Cookin' (our original plan). We didn't use our excursion credit in either of those stops. At GSC, we rented a clamshell (which we didn't really end up using because we spend so much time in the water) and a mat. Clam shell was 35 and mat was 15. I am silver, so got my discount (10 percent) but they still gave us our 50 dollar excursion credit. (So I guess I made 5 dollars). My kids were happy with the beach time - they love the water! While we had a great time, my husband preferred the Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and Freeport stops from our last cruise (Carnival Pride) a little bit more.

 

Splash Academy: Pros - the kids loved it. They actually asked to go, even at times when we had no intention of sending them. The staff was funny and loving and ran a lot of fun activities. My kids loved the circus day on the last day!

 

 

Cons - capacity and lining up. There were 800 children on this cruise. 400-500 were between the ages of 3 and 12. The capacity for Turtles (3-5) was 25 children, Seals (6-9) was 50 children and 9-12 was 35 (I think - didn't pay as much attention to this as it was not the group that impacted us). Other than port days, the hours were 9-12, 2-5 and 7-1030. The evening component was obviously the most popular as was the morning and afternoon sessions the last day for the circus. In order to assure a spot, we discovered you either needed to line up 30 minutes before they opened or spend 30-45 minutes on line if you joined the line as they opened. Depending on your age group, you risked not getting a spot even if you were on line at the opening (especially in the evening). Then at pick up, it took 15-30 minutes on line to get them unless you picked them up an hour before the program closed.

 

I kept track and I spent 8.5 hours on line at Splash academy over the course of the week. I went to the meet and greet and had received the contact information for various officers. After the second day of lining up, I called and spoke to Alfie (Guest relations head) and Smiley (head of Splash Academy). I made sure to mention that it was not the program itself that was the problem and the staff was great but the system definitely had problems. They knew they were going to be that many kids on board: why hadn't they planned for additional staff? Turns out they had brought on more staff but are limited by space in the kids rooms. I have been on many ships that used space other than the kids club, why were they not doing that? After the speaking with them, they did put a staff member out on line, speaking and schmoozing with guests on line and trying to have the guests ready with appropriate cards etc, but while appreciated, this had no change on the number of spots or much change on the "waiting on line" time.

 

Because my children so enjoyed the program, we made sure we were always there early to get a spot, except for the last night, when dinner went a little long. We got on line at 710 and sure enough, my daughter could not get in to the Turtles. So in addition to a very sad little girl who could not go play with her friends she had made, there was also no waiting list, buzzer system or way to know when a spot freed up other than camping outside the Splash Academy doors. So that night, we did. After an hour, they offered us to go play in Guppies room (parent supervision) and they offered to hold the spot when someone checked out for us and the other little girl who had stayed and waited. At 9 pm, two kids checked out and they were allowed in. Because the guppy room is accessed by the pool, and we couldn't go through to the kids area, we had to go around. By the time we got to the entrance, sure enough there was another little girl crying because she couldn't get it (and an understandably mad mom, who thought we were jumping the line). In the end, someone left and all three got in, but I couldn't get over the process and how it was run. Had it not been the last night, I would have not stayed for my daughter, but she really wanted to say good bye and I didn't want it to be her last memory of "CAMP".

 

Again - the program was fabulous as were the counselors but the system they have in place for capacity, entering and exiting and lack of "waitlists" leaves much to be desired. There is a reason I don't do Disney - lining up is hard, especially for my son. 8.5 hours on line in a 7 day period (not including embarkation because you can't do anything about that) was a lot more time than I wanted to spend.

 

Only other cons we encountered on our cruise was a limited variety of activities for adults (specifically, my husband - I am happy with a drink and a book). While there were shows, they timing was tough if the kids wanted to do SA and we wanted to eat dinner (anywhere). During the day, most of the activities were either "additional cost" or "seminars" about spending money on board (shopping, spa). There was trivia but very, very busy in the atrium. My husband was definitely disappointed on this front.

 

We have a large family/friends trip planned on NCL Escape in 18 months, (A) because it is Bermuda and (B) because NCL has the best group perks. However, going forward, I am not sure that my husband and I will choose NCL over Carnival or RCL (or Celebrity or Princess for that matter) for our immediate family trips unless the activities and SA capacity/lining up issues are resolved. While they seem like small (first world) problems, they did impact the overall feeling of our vacation and as we are only able to take a vacation every few years, we will need to take them into account. The good news is we don't need to worry about that for another 2-3 years, so lots of time to see if they fix it.

 

 

I think that's it. As always - this was just our experience, others I am sure had a different trip all together. Feel free to ask questions. I hope that something in this, helps someone with their planning, as so many other reports have helped me.

Thanks for review ,wondering what arrival time was to Port Canaveral?

Thanks for your info. Most helpful. Taking our granddaughters in December and could I ask you how you got to Jetty park for 2 dollars? Was there a shuttle or is that what a cab charged? And what did they charge to enter the park?

Also when you said you got conch fritters at the cruise spot was that in the port area inside the fence?

PS we are just off the star in February and had a big concern over the temperature of the food in the buffet also. Warmish meatballs etc.

Thanks for taking the time to post

Took a cab from the port. Was 8 dollars for four of us each way. No entry fee to get into Jetty Park if arriving in a cab. Called the cab to pick us up - same price on return. We tipped 2 dollars each way on top of rate.

Conch fritters were at stand inside fence.

Thanks for review ,wondering what arrival time was to Port Canaveral?

We arrived on time - 1ish.

Excellent, informative review, thanks!

Thanks for your review!

Thank you so much for this review!! We are cruising the Gem in early JUNE

One of my kids will go to kids club one to the teen club she just turned 13

I found your experience and tips very helpful

How will we know what dining venues serve breakfast aside from the buffet??

I thought the great outdoors was just seating area? they also serve breakfast?

Thank you for your review.

Great review, Pandot! And yes, embarking was a nightmare on Saturday. We were among the first there (having a 9-9:30 check in time) and not knowing exactly how long the ride might take from Southeastern CT, we got there at about 8:15. This also meant we were among the first through security and to the gate agents (is that what they're called?), but got a number 22 boarding pass. I thought that maybe it had to do with where our cabin was located? Who knows as it was my first cruise. What really bothered me was that nobody ever told us when we'd be boarding, we just knew it wasn't going to be on time. They only had the BBQ on the deck and O'Sheehan's open for food when we got on the boat & my kids were very hungry and uncomfortable. The lack of communication from NCL at that point was frustrating. The concession guy in the terminal ran out of food.

Regarding SA, we were never locked out - that stinks. The only day the line was super long for us was Friday during drop off in the afternoon, or pick up before lunch and it was about 30 minutes for me. My kids took advantage of SA a lot. They LOVED it. My youngest daughter would have been in the Turtles with your daughter! And my oldest with your son. They are 5 and 6.

Disembarking was pretty ridiculous as well, with probably 3/4 of the ship self-assisting off the boat (including us).

We arrived on time - 1ish.

Thanks

Thank you so much for this review!! We are cruising the Gem in early JUNE

 

One of my kids will go to kids club one to the teen club she just turned 13

 

I found your experience and tips very helpful

 

How will we know what dining venues serve breakfast aside from the buffet??

 

I thought the great outdoors was just seating area? they also serve breakfast?

The places serving bfast will be in your dailies. And great outdoors serves breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks and evening snacks

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I'm honestly shocked at the low capacity of the kids club. I cruised NCL a long time ago with just one kid at age 2.5 and never had an issue (it was summer) and most recently we cruised both Princess and DCL with no issues as to capacity. The numbers posted seem shockingly low if 800 children are sailing. I've heard that DCL will cap the number of kids on a sailing if they are maxed out in kids clubs. Crazy stuff!

The places serving bfast will be in your dailies. And great outdoors serves breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks and evening snacks

 

 

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Thanks so much!!!!