NCL Gem review JAN-02-12-2015

[murzick]

I’m not a big writer – so this is a short review of our cruise on NCL Gem from January 2 to 12 from New York.

We are a couple, around 50 years old and traveled with our 20 year old daughter and her friend. We chose this cruise because it was from New York, so we could easily drive down from Massachusetts and the timing was perfect because of college winter break. Originally, we booked two ocean view cabins on Deck 8, which I upgraded on December 30th to two family balcony cabins on Deck 9 Forward, close to the elevators. We had a great and easy accessible location and great balcony cabins. They are spacious enough and balconies are very nice. We had connected room so we could open the door between two balconies to make one big one, but we never did it.

 

We were at the pier at around 10 AM on January 2 and by noon; we were having lunch at the new O’Sheehan’s Bar and Grill. After they had announced that all the rooms were ready, we dropped off our bags and went to see us sail away and made gorgeous pictures of New York. It was cold, but it was a clear, sunny sky and the sunset was beautiful.

I made reservations for Grand Pacific for the first two nights, right after registration, while we were waiting. It was great because we didn’t have to wait any extra time. I absolutely recommend it, especially if you party is made up of multiple cabins because you make a reservation for one room number and it’s for any amount of people. I reversed more nights later on during the trip. It was easy for us because everyone know what time we ate at. We liked dining in Grand Pacific and we tried Magenta once as well; both restaurants had good service and the food was over all very good. We tried a few of the specialty restaurants, such as Orchid Garden, Moderno and the Italian restaurant and we loved them all. We normally ate between 7 and 7:30, when most people were at the show.

We went to a few of the shows at 9 PM. The kids loved Second City and I really enjoyed the Acrobatic show. All the shows were well done and interesting to see , depending on your preference and taste.

 

We had very smooth sailing the whole trip. The weather was nice for most of the cruise, with the exception of the first and last days, which were seasonably cooler than the rest of the time. But we enjoyed the great weather on the islands and three very good days at sea. We spent most of our sea days by the pool, getting tan, relaxing, listening to music and just over all enjoying the warm weather and sun.

We did independent excursions on all the islands and we have a great time. It was our second cruise on the Gem and I will do it again, if the opportunity comes.

[mizLORInj]

Thanks for sharing.

I am a big fan of the GEM too--and not having to fly to the port! :)

[tokidoki]

Welcome back! Just wondering if u saw the 3 production shows? This is my personal fav activity at night! thx

[KevinsCruising]

Thanks for the review!

 

Just curious. When you boarded the ship and had lunch at O'Sheehans, did you know if lunch was available in the main dinning room also ??

 

Thanks

[murzick]

The MDR was open for lunch for embarkation day, but on the previous cruise, we loved the Blue Lagoon so we decided to check out how it loooks now that it was redone.The new O'Sheehan's is great, it's located on deck 8 on both sides, and has much more space and an upgraded menu as well.

I like all improvements that were recently done on Gem, such as: new carpets in the hallways, the new furniture in the Spinnaker Lounge, and the updated Moderno restaurant that located now on deck 13 overlooking the pool.

Yes, Gem is not brand new ship and shows some wear and tear but she is extremely clean and the crew takes good care of her.

[KevinsCruising]

All sounds great! Can't wait to be on her on Wednesday !

 

 

Thank you,

[nep84]

thanks for writing the review. I enjoyed reading it. I have a question. How quickly was the ship out of the winter weather. What was the weather like the morning of the first sea day to San Juan? and if it wasn't in the 60's or better when did it get that high?

[Delawarealan]

thanks for writing the review. I enjoyed reading it. I have a question. How quickly was the ship out of the winter weather. What was the weather like the morning of the first sea day to San Juan? and if it wasn't in the 60's or better when did it get that high?

 

We left on Friday, so Saturday was still cool, but Sunday (2d sea day) was more tolerable. Same for the reverse trip back -- it's usually about 36 hours of winter-y weather out of New York in January.

 

Delawarealan

[Glamourgal]

Can you please tell me who the cruise director is on the Gem. Also is Leo still on the Gem...I heard from another review that he is an excellent entertainer??

[Gershep]

I was told by my PCC that I couldn't make dinner reservations for my party of four for the main dining rooms but it sounds like you did. Did you make them before the cruise or onboard. How did you reserve them? Thanks!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review.

[Studebaker59]

Jan. 2 - 12, 2015 sailing:

 

Cruise Director - Dan Dan

 

Leo, excellent singer guitarist, is still on the Gem.

[amydandrea]

LEO ROCKS !!!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

2015 Epic

2014 Breakaway

2013 Epic

2012 Gem

2011 Gem

2008 Explorer of the Seas

[johnsak123]

Was on the Gem as well

Dan Dan just doesn't do it for me

Bring back Sinan

[murzick]

Sorry for delay response I didn't have time to check messages.

it look like a lot of confusion regarding reservation for MDR .

Tre reservation can be done on NCL web site the same way as you do other restaraunt reservation or you can do on board or even before the boarding ship at the restaraunt reservation's table.

Originally I did one reservation for first night only on NCL web site but this reservation was listed ,after I upgraded our cabins.I was a little upset because I made my mind so when we were waiting to start the boarding I went to ask if it possible to made reservation and we just did it.

You can make reservation for any night and almost for any time without any problem . I did first for first two nights and later reserved a couple more times already on the ship . I like this opinion a lot ,for our family it was much easy to make our evening plan.

Have a nice cruise

[Gershep]

Thank you. I think I will try and make reservations on My NCL. I like to plan it out thou sometimes my family is not too happy with that.

[Kattus]

I've only taken the BA, but liked that you could make reservations from your room with the TV. Is this an option on the Gem? I really hope so!

[Susie51]

Thank you for your review. We were on Jewel in Dec. and Modenero overlooks the pool as well. O' Sheehans is so much nicer than Blue Lagoon and I really liked Blue Lagoon.

[CRUISERFW]

Nice review. We love the Gem will be sailing on her in 2016 for the 3rd time. We also loved Leo.