NCL Gem review 6/13 to 6/21/2015

[DeltaOne]

We’re just back from the Gem Bahamas cruise, 6/13 to 6/21/2015. Overall a great cruise with unbelievable weather. The captain remarked he had never seen the Atlantic Ocean so calm and flat for so many days in a row. Each day was sunny and 85 to 90 degrees. Light rain this morning as we disembarked at the Manhattan cruise terminal.

 

We had an aft mini-suite on deck 11. Room steward was good, no complaints about the room. Saturday afternoon we returned to the room and found it a bit warm and humid. All the mirrors were fogged up! I called the reception desk and was told there had been a problem with the air conditioning that affected a block of cabins but it should be returning to normal soon. They were right, within 10 minutes the air was cold and the mirrors were dry.

 

We had the beverage package and enjoyed ordering any drink at any time. A typical day for us was a bloody mary around 11 am, a mid-afternoon drink, a pre-dinner martini or glass of wine and sometimes a late night drink at one of the game shows in the Spinnaker Lounge. I counted our receipts two days ago — I suspect the final tally will be that we ordered close to 60 drinks during the eight days. I’d say the average drink price was around $9.

 

Getting a drink was sometimes a slow process. Most of the bars, during the day, had just one bartender behind the counter. At night there would be 2 to 4 bartenders, but with many folks asking for drinks. So one had to be patient.

 

We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet, the Garden Cafe. Many choices and the food was good. Here’s the best Gem tip you’ll get: La Cucina is right next to the Garden Cafe and has open seating at both breakfast and lunch. (La Cucina itself is only open for dinner service.) While you’ll have to get your food in the Garden Cafe, it’s a short walk to La Cucina. It was easy to find a table in La Cucina and it was quiet. Much nicer than the chaos and noise in the Garden Cafe.

 

For dinner, we ate in every restaurant except Le Bistro. The two complimentary dining rooms, Magenta and Grand Pacific were fine. Good food at both, our waiter in the Grand Pacific was excellent.

 

On embarkation day we ate lunch in O’Sheehan’s. I had the fish and chips, it was very good. We enjoyed Teppanyaki much more than expected, it was fun with good food. La Cucina was good, especially the pizza. Moderno was a mixed bag for us. A really great salad bar and then lots of meat! Sure, the meat was good, but the salad bar was the hit for us.

 

Cagney’s was a mixed bag too. We were enjoying our Cagney’s meal, it was really good. About 2/3 through our meal the captain and two officers arrived for dinner, our server was apparently re-assigned to the captain’s table. One or two other waiters tried to fill in. The problem was when we left, they didn’t see that I had pre-paid for the dinner and charged me the full price. I spoke to the person at Cagney’s front desk, she apologized and took care of the problem.

 

We ate at Orchid Garden twice. Good food that we supplemented with some sushi. The problem with Orchid Garden is that it’s right above Magnum’s and the cigar store. When a musician is playing at Magnum’s it’s hard to carry on a conversation with your table mates at Orchid Garden. And there always seemed to be a cigar odor wafting up that was unpleasant.

 

We enjoyed our excursion to the Kennedy Space Center at Port Canaveral. At Great Stirrup Cay we waited until it was open tendering (no tickets necessary) and went on over for a swim. We returned to the ship after an hour or so, it was blistering hot at Great Stirrup Cay that day. We stayed on the ship at Nassau and enjoyed the empty ship, swimming pool and hot tubs.

 

Dan Dan the cruise director is funny and does a good job. The Stardust Theater production cast did their usual excellent job. We also enjoyed shows by Sander and Alison (magic) and Duo Balskatt (think Cirque du Soleil).

 

While we had enjoyed pre-dinner drinks listening to the piano player in Magnum’s (Kevin), the music hit for us was the ship’s band Kenosis. We had heard them in the Spinnaker Lounge a few evenings, but the best was their 10:30pm to midnight rock and roll set on deck 12 by the swimming pool. The energy was over the top and the crowd was really in to the show. A great memory for me from this cruise.

 

All in all a great cruise. We missed the enclosed adults-only pool that some other ships have. We did the self walk-off disembarkation and it went okay. We were ready to go when they announced the ship was cleared, just after 8 am. We were off the ship and at our car by 9 am.

 

ps…a Celebrity ship was anchored in the Hudson River, a bit after the Verrazano-Narrows bridge this morning. Anyone know why?

[luv2swimwdolphins]

Sounds like a great cruise. Thanks for mentioning Kenosis. We actually wrote vacation hero cards for the entire band. (And Leo too) glad you had a good time!!

[shof515]

ps…a Celebrity ship was anchored in the Hudson River, a bit after the Verrazano-Narrows bridge this morning. Anyone know why?

 

The Celebrity ship is the Celebrity Summit doing cruises out of Bayonne, New Jersey to Bermuda. She was mostly like anchored awaiting ship traffic to clear to proceed to the terminal. The terminal is a little closer to the bridge then the Manhattan cruise terminal.

[Juvesgirl]

Thanks for the tips! We will be sure to check out Kenosis in a few weeks. Did you find a long wait for Orchid Garden now that it is complimentary?

[antmaril]

Thank you for your review. Sounds like you had a nice trip. I will be on the Gem in September (first time on NCL) and it sounds great. I am really looking forward to our cruise to Canada/New England.

Edited June 21, 2015 by antmaril

[Penguinrelax]

Great review!! I'll be on the gem in two weeks, can't wait!!

[DeltaOne]

The Celebrity ship is the Celebrity Summit doing cruises out of Bayonne, New Jersey to Bermuda. She was mostly like anchored awaiting ship traffic to clear to proceed to the terminal. The terminal is a little closer to the bridge then the Manhattan cruise terminal.

 

Ah, I see. Thanks!

[DeltaOne]

Thanks for the tips! We will be sure to check out Kenosis in a few weeks. Did you find a long wait for Orchid Garden now that it is complimentary?

 

My wife thought Kenosis was so-so, I liked them more. But there was really something about that late night rock and roll show on the pool deck. It was really great. Luz, from the activities staff, sang a few songs with them too. And another night Luz sang Tina Turner songs in the Kenosis tribute to Whitney and Tina.

 

We waited 15 to 20 minutes at Orchid Garden on our first visit. I was worried about wait times for the second visit, as we had decided to go to the 7 pm show and then to Orchid Garden at 8 pm. We didn't waste any time leaving the theater and headed straight to Orchid Garden, I was relieved to see the restaurant was practically empty. We were third in line and seated within just a minute or two.

[Carrickbeg]

Paul thanks for the review. Heading out on the Gem again for the fourth time in July. First time for us in the aft cabin on Deck 11. I was just wondering if you had any photos to share. I'm curious of the setup of the mini-suite on the Aft. Thanks!

[DeltaOne]

Paul thanks for the review. Heading out on the Gem again for the fourth time in July. First time for us in the aft cabin on Deck 11. I was just wondering if you had any photos to share. I'm curious of the setup of the mini-suite on the Aft. Thanks!

 

We were in an accessibility mini-suite, so the size and layout would be different.

 

I was worried about two things: noise and "stuff" washing down from the nightly cleaning of The Great Outdoors (aft on deck 12). We found no dirt/trash had washed down to our balcony. As for noise -- yes there was the occasional thump or sound of someone dragging a chair or table. But it never got close to the level that it bothered us.

[cruiseelady]

"We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet, the Garden Cafe. Many choices and the food was good. Here’s the best Gem tip you’ll get: La Cucina is right next to the Garden Cafe and has open seating at both breakfast and lunch. (La Cucina itself is only open for dinner service.) While you’ll have to get your food in the Garden Cafe, it’s a short walk to La Cucina. It was easy to find a table in La Cucina and it was quiet. Much nicer than the chaos and noise in the Garden Cafe."

Excellent tip about the La Cucina during the breakfast and lunch hours.

Thanks

 

 

[Irene7]

Glad you had a great cruise. We love the Gem and just sailed on her 5/30 to 6/7 and had a great time. The ocean was calm for us as well but it sounds like it was even calmer for you. We arrived home a little early and also did the self assist and they let us off the ship by 7:20 am and it was fast and smooth.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Irene7

[Irene7]

"We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet, the Garden Cafe. Many choices and the food was good. Here’s the best Gem tip you’ll get: La Cucina is right next to the Garden Cafe and has open seating at both breakfast and lunch. (La Cucina itself is only open for dinner service.) While you’ll have to get your food in the Garden Cafe, it’s a short walk to La Cucina. It was easy to find a table in La Cucina and it was quiet. Much nicer than the chaos and noise in the Garden Cafe."

Excellent tip about the La Cucina during the breakfast and lunch hours.

Thanks

 

 

 

Great tip! I will remember that for next time.

[Carrickbeg]

We were in an accessibility mini-suite, so the size and layout would be different.

 

I was worried about two things: noise and "stuff" washing down from the nightly cleaning of The Great Outdoors (aft on deck 12). We found no dirt/trash had washed down to our balcony. As for noise -- yes there was the occasional thump or sound of someone dragging a chair or table. But it never got close to the level that it bothered us.

 

That's great news Paul. I am very excited about the aft view. We somehow ended up under the basketball court on one cruise. Nothing can be worse than the thump of the basketball! :) Glad you had a nice cruise.

[Juvesgirl]

My wife thought Kenosis was so-so, I liked them more. But there was really something about that late night rock and roll show on the pool deck. It was really great. Luz, from the activities staff, sang a few songs with them too. And another night Luz sang Tina Turner songs in the Kenosis tribute to Whitney and Tina.

 

We waited 15 to 20 minutes at Orchid Garden on our first visit. I was worried about wait times for the second visit, as we had decided to go to the 7 pm show and then to Orchid Garden at 8 pm. We didn't waste any time leaving the theater and headed straight to Orchid Garden, I was relieved to see the restaurant was practically empty. We were third in line and seated within just a minute or two.

 

Wow, great, thanks for letting me know!

[Wvshimmy]

Glad you had a great cruise. We love the Gem and just sailed on her 5/30 to 6/7 and had a great time. The ocean was calm for us as well but it sounds like it was even calmer for you. We arrived home a little early and also did the self assist and they let us off the ship by 7:20 am and it was fast and smooth.

 

We'll be back on the Gem August 1st...love it; our favorite . Just got off the Breakaway, but looking forward to our Gem! Just wondering if anyone has updated crew list? I know there have been several changes . Sad that Jenny has left NCL and Pearly girl is not with hubby in the casino. Any names for casino hosts/hostesses? Thanks!