LIVE aboard the Gem 12/22-1/2 Holiday Cruise

[ellewoods]

Embarkation: we left from NYC, which we have many times. Small issue on arrival was that we were parking at Pier 90 but the boat was at Pier 88. There were no porters to get luggage. We had to walk it all the one block. A small hassle for us, but if you had mobility issues I could see this being a task. We did arrive very early as we did not hit any of the anticipated traffic so this could be our issue. Check in was extremely organized.  There was a separate security line for Haven, we were immediately checked in and seated in a separate room with a small buffet of fruit and sandwiches. We were on board by 11:30. (Note: we were not scheduled to board until noon this trip as a transatlantic had come in before us. 

 

About us: family of 3. I’m the “child” at 37. Therefore, we have no use for kids club or teen activities and I won’t be able to comment on them. We have sailed NCL many times, 4 other times on the Gem. We have sailed many of the mass market cruise lines so we can compare across the industry. This is our first time in NCLs Haven and have also sailed RCCLs Star class so that is our only comparison as to a “cruise within a cruise” concept. 

 

Ship: this is our 5th time on the Gem. She is my favorite ship. She looks beautiful after the recent dry dock. Common areas look modern and clean. 

 

Room: we are in a Haven 2 bedroom family suite.  This is our first time in the Haven. The rooms remain dated looking, they could use an update. Overall good space in the family suite, the second bedroom could use an overall in the storage department, it’s an odd layout with no real hanging bar. However, for one person it’s sufficient. 

 

Haven Staff: we inadvertently wandered to the Haven before rooms were ready, when we arrived, we were met by the courtyard attendant Teddy. He greeted us by name which shocked us. He allowed us to place our carryons in our room and sneak a peek of the Haven and then we went off to explore the ship. We have met our butler, concierge, and room attendant briefly. All seem friendly. Teddy has been the most visible and helpful. He already secured us an extra umbrella for last nights adventures (details below). 

 

Ship staff: everyone we have encountered has been friendly and helpful. Exactly as they always are. I know there have been recent reports of poor service on the Gem, I have yet to see it or experience it. 

 

This is a Christmas cruise so there are a ton of children, some better behaved than others. Obviously a holiday cruise is bound to draw children and families. 

 

The weather in NY is poor. Sailaway was planned for 4:00pm. Sometime before that we were advised that we would not be leaving until the following day at 5:00 pm. We have a revised itinerary, canceling the port of call in Dominican Republic and most of the day in San Juan (now there 4:00- midnight) so in effect canceling that call as well. We were allowed off the ship last night and all day today in NYC. We got off and had an unexpected dinner with my sister so we are making the best of it. I’d rather be sailing towards warm weather but also appreciate NCL keeping us safe. Upon arrival in our cabin only our Dominican Republic shore excursion tickets were missing. This was many hours before an official announcement was made. At the time I believed it to be an oversight. Now I am wondering if they knew the update long before we were advised. 

 

I know there have been complaints about the food. We have eaten only one meal, embarkation lunch in Cagneys, on board. It was delicious! No complaints at all. As mentioned above we did get off the ship for dinner. I will update further on the food as the trip goes on. 

 

The ships wifi appears to be non existent (I am currently still using cellular data since we remain in NY). I will attempt to update throughout. Please ask any questions and I will answer what I can. 

 

My motto is always “a bad day at sea is better than a good day at work”, may have to be updated to “a bad day at sea or docked at a Pier, is better than a good day at work” 😂.  Seriously, I believe in making the best of whatever you’re given and we fully intend to do so. 

[www3traveler]

Love your attitude.

 

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[vacation44]

Thank you for the report and sorry to read about your delay.   Too bad the weather will not be great today.   Have a wonderful cruise as I agree, a bad day at sea is better than a good day at work. 

[jimbri]

Have a wonderful time.

[Turtles06]

I was sorry to read of your delay last night.  I hope you still have a fabulous cruise, and happy holidays to you and your family!

 

The Gem is also one of our favorite ships, and we'll be aboard in Jan/Feb for a B2B, so I'm looking forward to your reports.

 

1 hour ago, ellewoods said:

The rooms remain dated looking, they could use an update.

 

Totally agree.  It is a shame that NCL has not updated the staterooms.  And I suspect that they don't have the $$$ to do so now.

 

1 hour ago, ellewoods said:

We have a revised itinerary, canceling the port of call in Dominican Republic and most of the day in San Juan (now there 4:00- midnight) so in effect canceling that call as well.

 

Sorry you are missing the day in San Juan.   If this is of interest to you, you could go ashore for a nice Mofongo dinner (maybe at Raices).  🙂 

 

Enjoy your day in Manhattan, and have a great cruise!

[ellewoods]

39 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 

 

Sorry you are missing the day in San Juan.   If this is of interest to you, you could go ashore for a nice Mofongo dinner (maybe at Raices).  🙂 

 

Enjoy your day in Manhattan, and have a great cruise!

thank you for this recommendation. We may just try that out in San Juan! 

[goldmom]

Thank you for your report.  The Gem is also one of our favorite ships.  Although the Haven area is not as expansive as the newer ships, it's still a nice area.  My happy place in warm weather is the round covered loungers upstairs on the sun deck.

Glad you're not letting the delay ruin your vacation.  Have a great cruise!  Enjoy!

[Turtles06]

26 minutes ago, ellewoods said:

thank you for this recommendation. We may just try that out in San Juan! 

I was just looking at very recent reviews for Raices on Trip Advisor. Some folks think it’s not what it used to be. (It’s always hard to judge reviews.) There are some threads in the CC San Juan forum worth checking out re where to eat mofongo in Old San Juan and also where to eat near the pier in general. 
 

Our Gem cruises call at San Juan, so if you do have a meal ashore, I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to reading about it. 😊

[PATRLR]

With the storm that is hitting the northeast right now (Thursday evening into Friday), I think I'd be very happy they decided to remain in port for a day.    

[Buford T Justiice]

The bio bay luminescent kayak tour from San Juan is pretty good. 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Buford T Justiice

[ellewoods]

1 hour ago, Buford T Justiice said:

The bio bay luminescent kayak tour from San Juan is pretty good. 

That does sound fun! Unfortunately we need something with a little less activity level on this cruise. 

[Kristall]

We are on the same cruise. Now sitting in the spinnaker Lounge.

We are not from America, we are from central Europe - married couple, mid twenties to young thirties, No children.

We travel much, hopping different destinations, countries - I make pictures with my camera.

This will be our second time with NCL - the first was a cruise from Miami with the Jade.

 

Embarkation:

Security check was really fast - check in at NCL desk told me they got a problem with my card, I should visit the desk inside the ship (taking about that later).

Taxi dropped us just at the luggage carrier. We got the cheap inside rooms. So no lounge, but we didn't need one - one walk without break just to the ship.

 

Ship: First time on the Gem, second on a jewel class. Most areas look good, great. Sure if you look in the corner.. but I would say a solid 8/10 for a good looking ship, decent rooms.

 

Room: first time inside stateroom on a cruise, for normal we use balcony. To our suprise, the room got more storage for our luggage than the balcony one. Also the shower room is bigger - according to the steward this is because the stateroom spinned, I have no clue if this so class but the space is good for our three bags.

 

Staff: Well he didn't tell us his name. But after we noticed that one of our bags was missing - he started to search it. Around 9pm he found it and brought to us. A bit wet - but he was nice, still asking for a name and he just smiles.

 

Ship staff: I have seen only friendly and helpful staff here. Even at this special moment now. They seem to be a bit exhausted today, but the ship is full so.. I understand that everything needs more time.

 

Christmas cruise: like the last post, yes there are many children. We didn't know that here will be so many children. Some behave unbelievable - some good.

 

Weather NYC: poor. Just started snowing. Weather is behaving like you can view it on apps like ventusky. Just hoping we can start this evening.

 

Weather / Ports: Will Dominican Republic (was a highlight for us) was cancelled. San Juan (4pm to ... Midnight?) - like the last post wrote, is in effect cancelled-like too. The second interesting port. 

We just were a week in New York, so we didn't go off the ship last night. 

We also noticed that the Dominican Republic tickets were missing, hours before the announcement - so they knew it in advance, before it was told to us.

 

Meal: we are at the Brazilian. Garden Cafe, and tried almost all bars now.

The food is good, the people masses and their behaviour is bad. At breakfast they opened the italian restaurant, the was just not enough space for all in the garden Cafe. No complaints about the food or the service for now. 

Well.. the Caipirinha at the Irish bar is better than the one at the sugarcane. So if you see a guy in black or metal fan shirt drinking a Caipirinha - it's me.

 

WiFi: use my own.. The one on the ship just worked at the spinnaker for me, but I don't need it. 

 

If we are taking about a motto? Make the best of it. There are no bad days over all.

[ellewoods]

New update is that we are not leaving at 5. Coast Guard has the port closed. No word on when we may leave. No new updates as to how this affects our cruise. Not NCLs fault at all but do feel there has been a lack of communication. 

Ship is understaffed for a holiday cruise. Service is slow but remains friendly. Cruisers appear to be 50/50 on making the best of it and complaining about everything. 

[Kristall]

Additional information: 14 minutes ago the captain told that they hope to departure at 9pm. So 21:00. 

 

Yes the staff seems to be a bit understaffed for the full cruise.

@ellewoodsis complete right.. 🙂

[ellewoods]

Update on status: Getaway is docked next to us and also on hold here in NY awaiting clearance. Earlier her smoke stack was going but she never made movement. Below is my overall review of today.
 

Day 2

 

Woke up still docked in NYC. The Getaway was docked next to us, they came in early to avoid the anticipated storms as well. Not sure how early they came in. 

 

Another small note on the room, I have heard complaints about a water noise in the walls of this room (14008). We do hear it as well. It’s kind of soothing, like white noise, and didn’t cause any issues for sleeping for us. However, it is definitely audible at all times if this is something you think would bother you. 

 

We forgot to order coffee last night and wished the coffee was out earlier in the courtyard. However, Teddy had it set up promptly at 6:30 and we got to chat a little bit while he set up. He is definitely an asset to the Gem and I can already tell he will be a noted “vacation hero”.

 

Service in the Haven continues to be top notch. I mentioned to the cabin steward that a mattress topper would make the bed much more comfortable and he had one on as soon as he made the bed this morning. 

 

We went to Cagneys for breakfast. Quick and friendly service. Food was very good. 

 

Lunch at O’Sheehans today.  Service was not good. Slow service and not as friendly as we’ve experienced in the past. The fish sandwich was still very good. 
 
Many latitudes of this sailing. The party was packed this afternoon. Seemed very muted from prior cruises. Introduced senior staff and a cruise next promotion and then it was over. In the past they have had videos of everything coming in NCL. 

 

Lots of angry people around the ship griping and groaning. Not sure if that’s bringing the overall mood down or not. 

 

Dinner in magenta. Food was good, service also good. I believe the staff is getting a lot of grief from passengers. We turned down dessert (just didn’t want it). The waitress apologized and asked if we were turning it down due to slow service. We had to assure her that service was fine and we just didn’t want anything. 

 

Definitely still pockets of people having fun around the ship. Others being miserable. The staff is trying very hard. I hope they realize plenty of us see that. 

Cruise Director is not great. Hardly see or hear from her. When you do see her around the ship she isn’t greeting people or attempting to uplift the mood in any way. Some of the entertainment staff we have seen at events is much better and personable. 
 

Hoping to be at Sea when we wake up. Will also hit the spa tomorrow and have an update on that. 

[Kristall]

@ellewoods

I see the same thing - many people just in bad mood.. well we are now looking the karaoke and smiling 🥲

 

About the cruise director and the latitude party well we accidently.. walked in, you are right. 

We will be stay awake till we get news when it will be going to the sea - will update later.

[Kristall]

Just got the news.. We will stay in port till tomorrow morning 6am. 

Port San Juan is cancelled, everyone gets 50$ per person, 100$ per cabin credit on the onboard credit and 15% for the future cruise, added on the latitude reward on 06.01.2023.

[ellewoods]

New update. Now scheduled to depart tomorrow at 6 am. San Juan also now cancelled. 100 per stateroom on board credit. 15% FCC

[scaaty]

46 minutes ago, ellewoods said:

We forgot to order coffee last night and wished the coffee was out earlier in the courtyard. However, Teddy had it set up promptly at 6:30 and we got to chat a little bit while he set up. He is definitely an asset to the Gem and I can already tell he will be a noted “vacation hero”.

 

 

Just Love Teddy! We had him as a butler in the past, and on one cruise where I surprised my nieces with a suite, they absolutely loved him! He probably won't remember us since it was so long ago, but tell him Dianne, Kara and Kristi say hi!

[Kristall]

6:35 gem just started leaving the port.

[ellewoods]

11 hours ago, scaaty said:

 

Just Love Teddy! We had him as a butler in the past, and on one cruise where I surprised my nieces with a suite, they absolutely loved him! He probably won't remember us since it was so long ago, but tell him Dianne, Kara and Kristi say hi!

 Will do! 

[ellewoods]

Gem and Getaway both left NYC this morning. Getaway had overnighted next to us last night. Hopefully it’s all smooth sailing from here (pun intended). 

[Birdnutty]

Bon voyage!  May the seas be smooth, the temperature tolerable and your expectations exceeded.  Looking forward to your reports.

[njkate]

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Dont understand why people are so disgruntled and miserable as this was totally beyond the control of NCL, hopefully now that ship departed the disgruntled will get into a better mood.

This is NY in December, the mid Atlantic can get ugly weather wise so it’s the risk one takes booking a cruise out of NY in winter

[Laszlo]

Nice review so far. Not surprised at all the ship didn't leave until this morning. The winds were howling yesterday and last night. It would have been miserable if they left yesterday