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Norwegian Gem Extended Hurricane Sandy Cruise Review with Photos!

YankeeFan4Ever

By YankeeFan4Ever,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Wow loved the review and pics. You and your wife are class acts! One thing I learned from this is to never book a cruise in hurricane season. I know something like your cruise rarely happens, but it does occasionally. I would have been truly freaking out with those high waves. We just got back from a Bahamas cruise with the smoothest water ever. Thanks again for the review! Your future children will be lucky to have you as parents!

 

Thank you for the kind words!

 

My wife and I are not planning on becoming parents, althought we do sponsor a foster child in the Dominican Republic. His name is Felix! Hopefully we'll be able to visit him one day.

 

Here's a picture:

 

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canadiancruiser13

canadiancruiser13

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Day 6

 

St-Thomas

 

We woke up early to watch us sail into port. It was a little overcast and very warm and humid…more perfect beach weather! We had a quick breakfast, disembarked the ship and went looking for a cab. We eventually found an open air taxi and asked the driver to bring us to Emerald Bay beach.

 

My wife and I are beach bums...we like to check out as many as we can when we're on vacation. We had already been to Sapphire beach and Magen’s Bay on previous cruises so we decided to try a different beach this time.

 

Overall, Emerald beach was decent but next time we’ll stick with Sapphire or check out Coki beach. Themain advantage of Emerald bay was that it was quiet. It's usually much less crowded than Magen's bay although the sand and the water isn't as beautiful.

Emerald beach

 

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Trying to get my wife a coconut!

 

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After our dayof relaxation on the beach, we made our way back to the ship. While relaxing and enjoying some drinks at the Great Outdoors at the back of the ship, we heard the Captain announce that due to Tropical Storm Sandy (she was just a TS at the time) we would be skipping tomorrow's port of Samana and heading straight back to New York at full speed in order to get back to NYC ahead of the storm.

 

Captain Roger Gustavsen also informed us that he would keep us updated regarding the storm's path and status and that although we would definitely feel the boat rocking, he would keep us at a safe distance of the storm.

 

Obviously the mood on board quickly changed once people learned that we would be skipping Samana. Personally I was a little bummed out as well since we had booked an excursion to Cayo Levantado beach, but I agreed with the Captain that the best and safest course of action was to get ahead of Sandy.

 

Norwegian Star Departing St-Thomas ahead of us

 

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Next stop, New York! (or so we thought...)

 

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Awesome review.

 

Both my wife and I were on the NCL Star leaving St Thomas.

We seem to have the luck on our side as we sail a day or two ahead of or behind tropical storm / hurricane's.

 

Glad you hed a great and positive cruise.

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Yankees fan here.

 

So glad you are safe. Just thinking about those high seas make me nausous but I get motion sickness. Glad you have a great time even with those circumstances.

 

Thanks! We did double up on our Bonine just to be on the safe side. The last thing we wanted was to get sea sick...:eek:

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Great review! i can not believe the waves were 40-50 ft...we had 20 or 30ft waves once and that was more than enough excitement for me.

 

Reinstating the service charges...now that is class.

 

Glad you had a great time and thanks for sharing.

 

Coffeecat

 

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the review! :)

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Awesome review.

 

Both my wife and I were on the NCL Star leaving St Thomas.

We seem to have the luck on our side as we sail a day or two ahead of or behind tropical storm / hurricane's.

 

Glad you hed a great and positive cruise.

 

You guys definitely had luck on your side!!!

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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LOVED your review...LOVED you and your wife...thank you so much for sharing your story and your pics and videos.

 

You are the kind of folks I would love to find myself paired with at a dinner table on a cruise. Hope that happens. In the meantime, thanks again for sharing and for being such a kind, positive person!

 

 

Thanks for the very kind words! Life's too short to be negative! :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
fiathina

fiathina

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What a brilliant review. Edge-of-the-seat stuff, and informative, too. Myself and hubby are sailing on the Gem in May, and with every review I read (especially this one!) I'm getting more and more excited. Hopefully we won't encounter the weather you did, but even if we do, it sounds like we'll be in very good hands. Thank you so much!

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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What a brilliant review. Edge-of-the-seat stuff, and informative, too. Myself and hubby are sailing on the Gem in May, and with every review I read (especially this one!) I'm getting more and more excited. Hopefully we won't encounter the weather you did, but even if we do, it sounds like we'll be in very good hands. Thank you so much!

 

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed our review!

 

Have a GREAT cruise! :)

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  • 1 month later...
sjcruiser

sjcruiser

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Great review, photos, and videos> I agree that a vacation is what you make it, even in difficult circumstances. I also commend you on reinstating the gratuities for the extra days. Signed, ADieHardPhilliesFan (lol)

 

Happy Sailing!!!!

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going to see the world

going to see the world

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Such an awesome review. It was really neat to see how you guys made the best out of it...I'm sure some people didn't, lol.

 

I think it's pretty awesome that you reinstated the tips, hopefully others did also.

 

Also, if you have a smartphone NY waterways has an app where you can buy ferry tickets and just show your phone. :-D We love it.

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Great review, photos, and videos> I agree that a vacation is what you make it, even in difficult circumstances. I also commend you on reinstating the gratuities for the extra days. Signed, ADieHardPhilliesFan (lol)

 

Happy Sailing!!!!

 

Thanks for the kind words! :)

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