Norwegian Gem - the Memoir of a Twenty Something

[domi411]

what is the name of the lobster buffet in cape canaveral

[shazam89]

what is the name of the lobster buffet in cape canaveral

 

It's called the Boston lobster feast (http://www.bostonlobsterfeast.com/RestaurantIndex.cfm) it's actually in Orlando, so around 45-1hr drive from canaveral

[shazam89]

Great Stirrup Cay – Soaking up the Sun

 

 

December 21, 2011

 

*I don’t want a lot for Christmas, all I want…* I once again wake up by the angelic voice of Mariah Carey. It was 7:45am, I was determined to get some tennis play today before we tender to Great Stirrup Cay (GSC). I tried to be as quiet as possible when getting ready to avoid waking up the others. I wake V up, and for once she was very corporative. N and D momentary wakes up, but fall back asleep fairly soon. V and I get to the towel station to find no rackets have been rented out yet. We were happy thinking no one was on the court. When we arrived at the court, we discover we were wrong. There were two older men already playing on the court. After a few minutes of waiting, the men asks us if we would like to play doubles (doesn’t look like they’ll be giving up their spots soon). We agree and start to play doubles. We are by not good, but we were awful whist playing with the men. One of the men even manages to hit a ball out of the court, resulting in the ball rolling into the ocean! By the time the men left, there was a long line of people waiting to play. We were bummed seeing people waiting in line. Thus, we end up going for a jog along the track.

 

By 9:00am, I decided I should get in line for the tender tickets to GSC. As I walk by the pool deck (where the tickets were distributed) my jaw drops as I see a never ending line of people. You couldn’t pay me enough to stand in that long line. Frankly, I don’t think tender tickets make a big difference. I have been to GSC twice. The first time, we did not get tender tickets, by the time we were done eating and getting ready, tender tickets weren’t even necessary. There was no line when boarding the tender boat. My second time at GSC, my uncle got tender tickets for us, and we preceded to the island. While I head back to the sports deck, I find the tennis court now clear. I notify V and we were able to get 30 minutes or so of tennis play before the tennis court was taken down for the next event.

 

N and D came up to the sport deck to find us playing tennis. They tell us they had gotten tender tickets and our number will be called soon. There was no wait or hassle getting on the tender and we soon found ourselves on the boat on our way to GSC. Having heard about the renovations of the island, I was excited and eager to see the changes they have made to the island. The first thing I notice was the length of the boat ride, it was longer than it used to be (as the tender boat now circulates to the back instead of heading straight to the beach front and dropping us off). The old GSC had lots of natural trees and not so many palm trees (I heard that palm trees are not native to the Bahamas island and are shipped over by NCL. For me I feel GSC looks very manmade and lost its “wilderness”.

 

GSC prior renovations:

view of GSC from afar (lots of trees)

 

tender boat dropping us off right by the beach area

 

GSC now: (my camea died during the time in GSC, so I wasn't able to take many pictures)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=217163&stc=1&d=1325736134

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=217162&stc=1&d=1325736134

no more trees

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=217164&stc=1&d=1325736279

entrance gate to GSC

 

The first time I was at GSC (summer of 2008), there was much more trees around. I remember going deep into the woods with my uncle exploring the island. A large amount of the trees have been cut down (I am sure more will in the near future) and replaced by palm trees. Nonetheless, I loved and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather of GSC. I also love the beautiful clear turquoise beach water it has to offer. GSC definitely satisfies my beach day needs with the beautiful relaxing atmosphere as well as beach activities.

 

Our first destination when arriving at GSC was to jump into the beautiful water. The water was at just right temperature. Not too cold to the point that we shiver, but cold enough for us to feel good after being in the hot sun. This camera has met GSC last summer as well. I entered the water with my camera in order for us to be able to take some hot awesome pictures. Unfortunately, this is also the place where my “reliable” “waterproof” camera decided to die. It is ironic that my “waterproof” camera died in the water. It had served many occasions, land and water and never had a problem. I do not know why it gave up on me this particular time and day. I was disappointed and sad at the same time. I don’t think I would be as upset if I had dropped it from the top of a building or ran over it with my car. It is upsetting knowing that I took good care of it and it died on me. In result, I apologize for my lack of pictures of GSC due to my camera mishap.

[boaterette]

Nice pictures. Thanks for the review.

[Ace2012]

Loving your review! My boyfriend and I will be on the Gem at the end of February, and we're in our 20's, so it's great to hear your perspective!!!

[shazam89]

Loving your review! My boyfriend and I will be on the Gem at the end of February, and we're in our 20's, so it's great to hear your perspective!!!

awesome! i hope you and your bf have a great time! :D i have never been on a cruise with a significant other, but im sure it'll be super fun and super romantic;)

 

if u guys enjoy dancing, i recommended the dance classes n bliss for night time..

for private/quite time, the sun deck (adults only) and great outdoors (usually quite and empty) for a nice breeze or lunch

[shazam89]

We spend a substantial amount of time in the beautiful water. D and I are non-swimmers so all we could do was walk around and “attempt” to swim. I can float on my back so I did that for the majority of the time while V and N swam away. We took some beach pictures before my camera gave up on us. We are all relatively active individuals (with the exception of N), which resulted us in doing water aerobics and other water “sports” throughout our time in the water. Our most fun activity has got to be our piggy back ride/run in the water. We played rock-paper-scissors to select the teams. Its result was D and N verse V and me. There was no competition as V and I smoked them.

 

We had checked the “freestyle dailies” (sorry I have been calling it the itinerary from habit, and probably will again in the future) and wanted to participate in, yet another dancing class which was held at the music area of the island. We were a little early when we left the water. We were thirsty so we decide to head over to the food area for a drink. As we head over there, D, V and I made a horrible decision of going barefoot. We “thought” the island would be sandy enough for us to walk barefoot but we were wrong, very wrong. Our journey to the food area was very painful. The smartest one out of all of us was N, she wore her sandals! N was nice enough to not rub it in our faces, but I envied her. When we got to the food area, we notice that the water area was blocked by the long line of people in line for food. We had to excuse ourselves and cute in line in order to grab some cups of water. I like the food area, but I feel that the drink station should be situated somewhere else. If my memories serve me, I remember the fruits and drink stations were away from the hot food section. I think that would be a more clever and beneficial layout for passengers who only want fruits or a cup of water. It would also help with the overcrowding of the food area.

 

As we sip on our refreshing water, we see a few young teenage boys playing volleyball. N played volleyball all through high school and she absolutely loves the sport. She begged for us to go play with them. I was a little hesitate since I am not a volleyball player, and isn’t good. Regardless, we walk over and asked to join. They had four guys and we were four girls so it worked out perfect. We had a jolly good time goofing around, laughing and playing a few games of friendly volleyball until it got too crowded so we left. During our game of volleyball, the dance lesson nearby had begun. As we were playing volleyball, we were also following and dancing along to the music.

 

After volleyball, we had little time before V and I had to go meet up for our parasail excursion. We grab a quick bit to eat before heading over. Being a big carnivore, I definitely recommend the ribs. They were amazing! Pour on some barbeque sauce they have and you are in heaven, or at least yummy land. Other than that, the food was the usual hamburger, hot dogs, and pizza. After finishing our plates, V and I proceeded to the meeting area for our excursion. N stayed back watching the volleyball game, and D went sunbathing.

 

We sign in and are told to go to a certain area to wait for further instructions. As we anxiously wait for further instruction, an attendant comes by to deliver some bad news. With a straight face, he tells us, due to the wind, they cannot take us up for safety reasons. The guy sitting next to me was convinced that he was joking about it and was waiting for him to say so, sadly he was not joking and it was real. Our parasail excursion has been cancelled. I had barely encountered or felt any wind on the island; I guess NCL is extra careful with the safety of their passengers. We slowly and disappointingly walk back to find the others. We find N under a palm tree by the volleyball court hiding from the sun. We tell N the news and I started to cry on her shoulders. I kid about crying on her shoulder, but we were indeed sad.

 

Soon after, the limbo contest was about to start. Even though I do not bend that way, we all decide to join in for fun. The first three rounds were fairly simple. It was hilarious to see the men limbo-ing, as it was adorable with the children. By the fourth round, N and I were out, D and V remained. Sadly, they lost the very next round. The way some of these girls (and guys) bend are simply amazing, they are so flexible. The winner was an Asian girl, needless to say I was proud we were represented and cheered her on. There wasn’t much left for us to do by this time, the volleyball court was taken up and we have spent significant time in the water already. It had been a fun beach day, but it was time we head back to the ship.

[shazam89]

Once we got back to the ship, D, V, and I went to relax in the hot tub and pool. We hop onto the water slide despite the line being filled with children under the age of 10. This poor little brunette girl, who looked to be six or seven years old, looked confused as she saw us behind her. I smile at her, and she quickly looked away. She was probably thinking why were these grown ladies going on the kiddie water slide, or maybe her puzzled look was simply to our weird awkwardness. V was first on the slide and I was up next. There is a traffic light on the top of the water slide of red and green. As I approached the slide, the light was red so like a normal human being I waited. After a few long awkward seconds, I realized that the attendant let me up, which means I could go. I don’t understand why they have the light on if it is broken or if they don’t use it. I hop into the slide expecting a fast and thrilling ride. What I got was a speed of 2.5mph. With the help of my arms pushing myself forward, I maxed out at 2.6mph. There was a reason why the slide is meant for children. I did enjoy the warm water used in the slide, which was a major plus.

After relaxing in the hot tub, it was time to get ready for dinner. By the time we were all ready for dinner, we were all starving. Tonight was lobster night and you can beat we each got a lobster tail. We each order two entrees (with the exception of N, she didn’t want to look like a fatty). Aside from the lobster, I got myself the salmon. We were seated at a 5-6 people round table, which worked out perfect with our extra entrees. The lobster was just that, lobster. I actually preferred the salmon. V thought my salmon was too bland, but I like my food lightly seasoned, so the salmon was perfect for me, and it was very fresh as well. By the time our dessert came, we were all in food coma. We did not take a nap, as we had too much in store for us to do that night.

Tonight’s show features the Hypnosis Queen, Nadeen. When the hypnotist came out, I was shocked to see a twenty, thirty something beautiful female walking out, so were the roommates. The previous hypnotists I have encountered were men and not particularly attractive individuals. Having been to many hypnosis shows, I have always been fascinated as to how it works. When she asked who wanted to participate, I was too scared to volunteer. The show was hilarious and entertaining from beginning to end.

 

We headed up to the Spinnaker lounge to check out the quest game. The host tells us to break off in teams of 4-6 people, D was missing so we were only three, but we decided to grab a team number anyways. Sitting next to us was a pair of siblings (a brother and sister), they asked if they could joined. They looked creepy so we kindly said no. That would have been a horrible thing to do, off course we said yes and were happy about it. We spot Nadeen, the hypnotist sitting to our far left. V says (in Vietnamese) “we should ask her to be in our group”. If D was there, she would have asked, but N, V and myself, we are too timid to ask. I look over to see Nadeen looking our way and our teammate, the sister, talking to her. I jump in to tell her, her show was phenomenal tonight and asked if she wanted to join out group to play. Sadly, she declined and said she can only watch the show.

A little background about the quest game, the game is a scavenger hunt like game exclusively for adults. I have attended a similar game before, but I had never partaken in one before. I won’t spoil the fun for all of you, but some things I did included: wearing a guys’ pair of pants, doing a split, and taking my bra off. It was surely a risqué and interesting game show.