Is there an adult pool on the Gem? (and are kids kept out?)

[Tristan]

Also, do you think a New Year's Eve sailing out of NY for 9 days would draw a lot of children?

Schools are in session that week.

 

THanks so much.

[JohnIreland]

Is there an adult pool on the Gem?

 

Yes

 

and are kids kept out?

 

No

[aprylstar]

In Canada, the kids go back to school Jan 7. I am sailing on the Jewel out of New York during the Canadian March Break & have been doing some CC research. I read somewhere earlier this week that on the New Years sailing last year, the Jewel had 1200 kids! The Jewel, however, is 1 week trips & returns on Sunday allowing the kids to get back to school on time. I am not sure if the 9 day itinerary would be less favourable for parents. Maybe call NCL & see if they can tell you how many kids cruised this itinerary last year - if there was one :) Good luck!

 

Also, do you think a New Year's Eve sailing out of NY for 9 days would draw a lot of children?

Schools are in session that week.

 

THanks so much.

[glorialagos]

Also, do you think a New Year's Eve sailing out of NY for 9 days would draw a lot of children?

Schools are in session that week.

 

THanks so much.

 

Definitely buy a spa pass. The Gem's spa is wonderful and you will use it lots out of NYC. There won't be any kids in the spa.

 

As far as if there will be lots of kids on that sailing? Who knows. I am sure there will be some but maybe not lots. There are too many varied school calendars to say there won't be schools still on holiday break. If I had to guess? I'd say a fair number but it will not be over run with children. That's just my guess.

 

Go for the spa pass!! You won't regret it!!

[JerseyGem]

I agree with the previous poster- definitely consider paying the extra cost to use the spa for the week. Get a tour as soon after boarding as feasible; once you see the facilities, ask questions, etc, make up your mind then and there, since the spa passes do sometimes run out.

 

Children (under 18) are not supposed to be in the spa area (usually well-enforced). Of course, they're not supposed to be in the adults pool either, but that's not enforced. Nor is the bann on children in diapers being in the pools and hot tubs! This is the one complaint I have about NCL (although other cruislines also have trouble enforcing such rules), but I still cruise NCL as often as possible!

 

Will there be a lot of kids? Possibly, although you're more likely to have families with older children (since colleges don't usually start again until mid-Jan) or ones with pre-school children. We cruised the Gem this past January (10 day), and I was surprised at the number of young families and multi-generations families (of course a cruise is an ideal vacation for multi-generations).

[xenagurl]

We were on the Gem January 1st this year and I can tell you that there were PLENTY of kids. They weren't the majority but enough; I did have one run into me and he wasn't that young (7 or 8).

 

I'd consider purchasing a spa pass and if they get out of hand around you immediately make it crystal clear to the parents that you are not amused and want to be left in peace. Granted this was a 7 day out of NY not a 9 day so I'd assume that would alter it a bit.

 

If you're really looking for a cruise with less kids out of NY, I'd think about mid-January as hopefully most of them would be back in school. There will always be home schooled kids and those whose parents will take them out of school for vacation, but you'll definitely have less in the 5-17 age bracket.

 

While I wouldn't choose a cruise that I thought had a bunch of them running around, I'd not skip it. I'd simply go for the spa, and spend time in areas where there are less of them. That's what Dh and I did and we had a wonderful time, and except for the one experience above we found it easy to ignore them. Most kids like to hang out with kids and with good parenting don't run around the ship willy nilly & unsupervised but spend time in the kids clubs. HTH :)