What to expect on a 21 day cruise

[bonvoyagie]

We are planning our first long cruise - the Panama Canal on the Gem in 2020. It is a full 21 day cruise from San Francisco to New York. We were wondering if they have different shows each night or are they repeated. Also the dining room menus - do they change or do they repeat.

Our last cruise was technically a b2b Canada and New England - Boston to Quebec and back to Boston in 14 days. The shows were the same each week as were the dining room menus.

 

[Clay Clayton]

This info is a little dated so take it with a grain of salt, but when we did our 19 day Tampa yo Vancouver cruise, Norwegian was on a 14 day menu rotation so we only had menus that repeated on the last few days. 

Mad I recall the shows did not repeat although the cast was generally the same. That memory is fuzzier than the one about food. 😂

[dexddd]

I haven't seen any info on the new menus for Jewel thread, but as Clay said, we've seen menus on BTS tours be 14 options and I want to say on one of the last trips down to 11 or 12.

[Markanddonna]

I have been on several longer cruises on NCL and RCL. They never repeated entertainment but used the performers in different ways. The ship entertainers put on a more innovative show, two or three headliners might join up for a show, but in general they worked hard to mix it up. Sometimes they would bring on a group of locals for a cultural show. These were our favorites. 

 

The ships have a two week rotation so you will see menus again.

 

RCL did a better job with programming. Last fall on a 22 day transpacific, three separate lecturers were onboard. They were all interesting. RCL also brings a couple onboard who give dance lessons. Great! NCL had no lecturers and had staff give dance lessons- vastly inferior.