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

[ChutChut]

9 hours ago, Kristall said:

Well what I see today, the first real warm day at sea:

 

- the understaffed crew, again. Cleaning on Deck 12 the pools. The stairs. Even or steward, does have no time..

- the washing service stopped, according to our steward the got a malfunction. So our washing bag stands..

- I hate those people who just put a towel on their chair and then leave...

 

 

Another report about the medical staff:

We were down on Deck 4 last evening, because my wife went even more sick.

After three hours (2500$) later she got the medication I asked for. 

That you need to go to their doctor and they don't sell or give away over the counter medication is hilarious. Good that our insurance pays for this.

About the staff - they got three nurses and two doctors down there, for staff and guests. In my opinion this is not enough. 

Isn't there anything positive about the cruise? I mean, you sound so incredibly negative about everything....

[ellewoods]

20 hours ago, scaaty said:

I think this thread shows how folks on the same cruise can have very differing opinions. That's why I take most reviews with a grain of salt. To me a cruise is what you make of it. Sure 'ship' happens, but you're on vacation, not cooking or cleaning. I like to just go with the flow.

This 100%. If you want to be miserable you will be. If you want to have fun you will. 

[ellewoods]

a day late due to internet issues and me having too much fun.. sorry 
Day 5

 

It’s our third sea day in a row, 5th day on the ship so I am starting to get antsy for land. I generally don’t even like cruises with two sea days in a row so it’s getting to be a lot of sea time for me. Excited to dock in St. Thomas tomorrow. 

 

Seems like the Christmas spirit left most people rather quickly. Still seeing a lot of miserable people around the ship. There is one family in the Haven who is screaming at a staff member every time I pass them. Very upsetting to see, staff has been so amazing and is really trying so hard and I hate to see them treated that way.

 

Many people have asked about WIFI on the ship, it’s very poor. There were many times it did not work at all and when it did work it was very slow and little could actually get accomplished. 

 

Skipped breakfast today, we lost an hour of sleep last night, and I was trying to make up for it.

 

Lunch we had delivered from Cagney’s to the Haven courtyard. This is a great service as you can stay in your swimsuit and head right back to the pool after. 

 

Dinner in the buffet tonight as we wanted something quick and light. Once again felt like the variety was lacking but the food we ate was good. 

 

On a crowded ship, such as this, the haven courtyard  and sundeck, really do save you. We were able to easily get spots to sit out and enjoy the finally warm and sunny weather.

 

Lots of things to do around the ship today. 

 

Tomorrow we dock in St. Thomas and have a private excursion booked. Will provide information on it if it’s good. 

[ellewoods]

 

Day 6

 

We got bounced around pretty good last night. Was expecting smoother seas this close to the first port, but it was one of the worst seas I’ve experienced.  Obviously rough seas are expected this time of year… just a note. 

 

Before bed yesterday we received information from the Concierge to meet him at 8:00 to be escorted off the ship. We had breakfast in the buffet for the first time today since we were in a hurry. Very good selection for breakfast and all delicious. 

 

Ship was cleared shortly after 8 and we were in the first group off, we were escorted through a crew door to avoid the crowds. 

 

I booked a boat charter with Custom Charters with Nate and we had an amazing day. We did some snorkeling, swam with the turtles, went to Limes Out the taco boat, and had a great ride. It was a bit more adventurous than I had expected but I enjoyed it very much still. 

 

We ate at the smoking rooster by the boat for dinner, getting on just in time for all aboard. 

 

Add me to the miserable bunch for tonight 😂. Unsolicited advice: Put on way more sunscreen than you need. I am going to be paying for this amazing day with a very painful sunburn! 

 

Tomorrow we hit St. Maarten early and I have another private tour booked. 

[ellewoods]

On 12/26/2022 at 5:54 PM, snorklinbarb said:

Since I'll be on B2B next month, the comments on subpar food and service are concerning.  Could you tell us a little bit more about that?  Any particular venues you would avoid or is this across the board?

 

For reference of comparison, it seems we were on the same 4/25/22 Escape TA together.  I thought the food and service were outstanding.  Should we considerably lower expectations on Gem?

 

I really like Gem and am looking forward to the refurb.  How did you find common areas and cabin?

Thanks.  Hope you enjoy the rest of the cruise.

This is my 5th time on the Gem. I have seen no difference in food quality or service.

 

2 differences this cruise: 1. We left two days late and people are upset by that and letting it affect the rest of their cruise. It is winter in NYC and you should expect some possibility for a delay. 2. There are a lot of people on this ship; again it’s a holiday cruise and should be expected. 
 

As to the refurb- cabins were not touched. The common areas are gorgeous, noticing alot of new carpet and new furniture in the common areas. The ship looks great. A little sad they removed the fish on the hallway carpet as that was always my “compass” but I’ve only gotten lost a few times, so I am learning. 

[Birdnutty]

So nice to be traveling with you virtually.  It is so interesting how different people have such widely differing attitudes and approaches to things. So far all of you seem to be doing OK, and even tho it doesn't sound perfect, I wish I were there too.  We're freezing our butts off up here in the NY/CT area.

 

We'll be going on the Gem in a few weeks, hitting (or not) many of the same ports as you, so I'm anticipating extra unplanned-for sea days.  Could someone post a few pics of sea day dailies so I have an idea as to what to expect?  I am not a pool sitter, nor very good at relaxing, so I'm looking for activities to keep me busy.  Any Zumba or Latin dance style classes?

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this, especially with crappy internet.  We all appreciate your time.

[Kristall]

About the question from @ChutChut. Well there are some positive things about the cruise - but if your compare this one, to our last on her sister ship, well then.. 

 

Day 5

 

The laundry machine now seems to work, our steward not. We had a talk with the information point, that here still does ignore the laundry bag, forget too look after the room (make over sign). There seem to be some Ill crew members and with a full ship, even one missing member gets a big problem here.

 

We are really looking forward for the next day - an end of the three sea days journey.

 

The WiFi is as good as it's get on the sea. But I got the complains about it, about NCL handling it:

1. Some of the repeater are not working. I tested a bit around deck 8, deck 12 and even deck 4. You really got some areas without WiFi, since the start - no WiFi in small patches.

2. NCL blocked some protocols, in their effort that one internet package should support social media, one not. 

For me - is okay. If you need better, wait till we are in port.

 

Skipped breakfast, we slept a bit longer. So just a lunch at the big outdoors. Was okay, but if you see the "sustainable cruise" shield and then how they throw burger patty's away, just to make some new for the dinner, after 15 minutes, okay.

 

Dinner was in orchid garden. Nice restaurant, good waiter. Well the food quality is the same like in the garden Cafe and everywhere on the ship. The guests, were not really able to behave like they are in a restaurant. Flying knifes and forks..

About the food quality - it's okay on the ship. The worst is the meat - compared to our home. I can just compare the food to Germany, our restaurants. What I get there - what I get here. 

 

The ship still crowded. Atrium not even usable. Spinnaker always so full, people start to verbally fight about seating places.

Well some look like they live there - sitting in pj, eating, playing games.

 

Tomorrow we have Booked excursion on St. Thomas.

 

[Kristall]

7 hours ago, Birdnutty said:

So nice to be traveling with you virtually.  It is so interesting how different people have such widely differing attitudes and approaches to things. So far all of you seem to be doing OK, and even tho it doesn't sound perfect, I wish I were there too.  We're freezing our butts off up here in the NY/CT area.

 

We'll be going on the Gem in a few weeks, hitting (or not) many of the same ports as you, so I'm anticipating extra unplanned-for sea days.  Could someone post a few pics of sea day dailies so I have an idea as to what to expect?  I am not a pool sitter, nor very good at relaxing, so I'm looking for activities to keep me busy.  Any Zumba or Latin dance style classes?

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this, especially with crappy internet.  We all appreciate your time.

 

Would really like to post pics, but no way with the ships WiFi. You got some dance classes, language classes. So that's okay.

But don't expect to much - most of them are in full lounges. The people have fun, but with a overcrowded dance floor, the risk of hurting someone rises.

[Kristall]

Day 6

 

We also got s rough night with the sea. 

 

At morning, we ate something at the great outdoors. Waiting to get the information when we can off the ship. 

Around 8:15 we heard then, that they opened up and we went down the stairs to deck 4.

We needed to wait for around 15 minutes to get off, the crowd already filled some areas of deck 4.

 

We booked a standard excursion with NCL. The downtown Shopping experience with Magens Bay. Start should be 9:15, then 5 hours fun.

Because they got so many people for this excursion (around 7-8 full taxi cars) we waited in the sun till 9:30. A short drive to Magens Bay with a nice driver - and 24 other people in his taxi, we reached Magens Bay.

Well. We already know some Caribbean beaches - so this one was like I expected it. Full of people, good music, okay. The only real downside - no working toilets. The one they had, got water problems and stopped working.

After 2 hours (exact) we went to downtown. Nice area, expensive and good shops - but my next problem.

According to the booking text, we get 2 hours, but according to our taxi driver they only pay him one. 

So after a hasty walk through the downtown, we were back at the ship, after short 4 hours.

 

Short meal at the great outdoors, were we observed the same food wasting like yesterday.

 

Later, dinner in the teppanyaki restaurant. An nice experience - funny and you are entertained for over an hour. But my advice, order shrimp. The meat, chicken and cow is really not the best quality. The other 5 guests on our table side, didn't even eat the meat.

 

Today was also the first day - wet noticed how different the crew reacts when they see you card.

This is okay for me - if you book a more expensive room, or suite, you expect that behaviour. I only ask myself now - if this is the point, why our steward on the Jade (balcony cabin) was so much better than now (inside).

 

Tomorrow, another NCL booked excursion awaits us.

[ellewoods]

[coyboy1971]

16 hours ago, ellewoods said:

Lunch we had delivered from Cagney’s to the Haven courtyard. This is a great service as you can stay in your swimsuit and head right back to the pool after. 

 

 

Hi @ellewoods, thanks so much for the posts! This is one of the the things we love most about sea days in the Haven courtyard. Who is the courtyard butler on your cruise? Sorry to hear that other Haven guests are taking their frustrations out on the crew. They certainly don’t deserve that as hard as they work to make the Haven experience extra special. Looking forward to our Haven experience on the Gem starting Jan. 11! 

[Birdnutty]

Thank you for those dailies!  It's good to know what might be happening, or not, when we get on.  

 

I'm so sorry for you about the amount of rude, obnoxious guests. They can really spoil your experience.  It's particularly alarming when they berate hard working staff for things beyond the staff's control, or just because the cruiser's in a lousy mood.  Or behave as badly as their children.    And when everyone is on edge because they've been unexpectedly stuck on the ship in less than optimal weather....  Oy.   There's still no excuse for bad behaviour.

 

I hope the CD steps up to the plate and comes up with lots of things to keep people busy.  The problem with that is that staff is needed to run all these events, and if there are some down due to sickness, things can't happen anyway.  I'm sure she's doing the best she can with the circumstances.

 

I had to laugh... since when is a tax considered "Added Value?"

[njhorseman]

20 minutes ago, Birdnutty said:

 

I had to laugh... since when is a tax considered "Added Value?"

In Europe Value Added Tax (VAT) is quite common, as opposed to the US where sales tax is common. Value Added Tax is the actual name of the levy.

 The wording on the Freestyle Daily is a carryover from its European cruising season and should have been replaced by "Sales Tax" with the start of the ship's US cruising season.

[Birdnutty]

5 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

In Europe Value Added Tax (VAT) is quite common, as opposed to the US where sales tax is common. Value Added Tax is the actual name of the levy.

 The wording on the Freestyle Daily is a carryover from its European cruising season and should have been replaced by "Sales Tax" with the start of the ship's US cruising season.

Ok, that makes sense.  Still seems to be just a little bit of an oxymoron, wouldn't you say?

[njhorseman]

8 minutes ago, Birdnutty said:

Ok, that makes sense.  Still seems to be just a little bit of an oxymoron, wouldn't you say?

No, not an oxymoron. VAT is levied at each stage of the supply chain where value is added. There's an explanation of the concept in this article:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valueaddedtax.asp

[Bonobochick]

8 hours ago, Kristall said:

According to the booking text, we get 2 hours, but according to our taxi driver they only pay him one. 

So after a hasty walk through the downtown, we were back at the ship, after short 4 hours

Let the Shore Excursions desk know about the time discrepancy so the they can credit you and/or fix that 4 hours vs 5 hours description for future cruises

[HabitualLineStepper]

On the Gem, the CD gave us many opportunities to keep eating with the low number of activities going around the ship. It was either mind/trivia games every three hours or O'Sheehans/Buffet/Bar/Personal Card Games.

[ellewoods]

6 hours ago, coyboy1971 said:

 

Hi @ellewoods, thanks so much for the posts! This is one of the the things we love most about sea days in the Haven courtyard. Who is the courtyard butler on your cruise? Sorry to hear that other Haven guests are taking their frustrations out on the crew. They certainly don’t deserve that as hard as they work to make the Haven experience extra special. Looking forward to our Haven experience on the Gem starting Jan. 11! 

The courtyard butler is Teddy and he is amazing. 

[ellewoods]

2 hours ago, Birdnutty said:

Thank you for those dailies!  It's good to know what might be happening, or not, when we get on.  

 

I'm so sorry for you about the amount of rude, obnoxious guests. They can really spoil your experience.  It's particularly alarming when they berate hard working staff for things beyond the staff's control, or just because the cruiser's in a lousy mood.  Or behave as badly as their children.    And when everyone is on edge because they've been unexpectedly stuck on the ship in less than optimal weather....  Oy.   There's still no excuse for bad behaviour.

 

I hope the CD steps up to the plate and comes up with lots of things to keep people busy.  The problem with that is that staff is needed to run all these events, and if there are some down due to sickness, things can't happen anyway.  I'm sure she's doing the best she can with the circumstances.

 

I had to laugh... since when is a tax considered "Added Value?"

The cruise director has definitely stepped it up since the first day. After hearing she was sick on the last cruise it makes sense that she was still on the mend at the beginning of our cruise. I now see her out and about quite frequently. 

[Kristall]

Day 7

 

After an easy night and a short breakfast at the garden Cafe, we went to St. Martin.

The harbour are was still, like sleeping. We made a few pictures and started on our shore excursion.

 

The excursion was a bit strange - wet visited 978 - a bar on the other side of the island. Got a few information about the historical background of the island, but again the excursion war cut short about an hour. Not only that - they even cut the program.

 

Back at the harbour, we saw that the two giant oceanliner (wonder of the seas and one sister ship) had docked - additional to the already docked Britannia. So the harbour was full - everything exclusive (like guava berry things) already sold out, except one Rum store.

 

After a short lunch on the ship, more empty because of the city we docked - we walked around, watched the disembarking process.

 

For dinner we tried the grand Pacific, I was positive shocked.

Good wine tips, good food - excellent waiter. Just a really good evening. 

 

At the evening we went to the excursion desk - who now will contact the two provider for excursion, what happened and why they changed their program.

 

Now the day comes with fast steps to an end. It was funny to see our small Gem compared to giant ships at the harbour. 

 

 

[ellewoods]

Day 8- St. Maarten 

 

We arrived early today in St. Maarten. Quick turnaround after yesterdays long adventure.

 

Breakfast was once again in the Buffet. The selection and quality of the food remains very good for Breakfast. I can’t imagine there is anything you could want that is not there. As a slightly ridiculous comment- I read specific complaints about the buffet bacon on prior cruises, I am very picky about bacon and it’s perfect every time. 

 

As to the internet, it is clearly an overuse issue and I have found early morning 5-6AM is the best time to get good access. 

 

This is our second time in St. Maarten. We wanted to get more of a tour then we did last time. Last time we just shopped and wandered around on our own. There is plenty to keep you busy if you choose this route. I booked a tour with Bernard Tours which got good reviews on this site. 1st complaint they waited until 2 days ago to tell me my tour did not get enough interest and they were booking me on a different tour. This was considered an upgrade as it was significantly longer than my booked tour and they were not charging me extra. However, we are generally not “organized tour people” which is why we had chosen the shorter time to give us time to explore on our own after. Was not at all happy with the tour, it was a disorganized mess from the beginning. You ran around a lot, on the bus and off no real time to do anything. People didn’t get back to the bus on time which delayed us and dragged out the tour even longer. My group was the first to arrive, when we got on the bus we sat near each other, 2 in one row and me in front of them. At the end a couple got on last and the driver made me move so they could sit together but that meant I was stuffed into a very uncomfortable seat, the only one in direct sun the entire time and I had constantly climb over a cooler to get in and out of the seat. I would have preferred to get off the bus and get my money back if there was no room. Bernard Tours gets great reviews on this site and I just don’t see it, one of the worst tours I’ve ever taken. 
 

we had a short visit to town to grab cheese at the Amsterdam cheese shop, the port was crowded with the P and O Brittany’s, our ship and RCCLs harmony and wonder. However the locals are so friendly and it’s great to see them thriving after the hurricane and pandemic. 

 

Dinner in the buffet again. We were exhausted after a long day and it was Mexican night! Big selection and everything was very good. The buffet was very busy tonight as many people had the same idea. What we have found works best is if we scope out a table first and then take turns getting food. Otherwise you are wandering with a full plate trying to snag a table. Tables don’t remain dirty long, as soon as someone is gone, the crew gets to work cleaning the table off. They work very hard up there and it shows. 

 

Cruise director came on during dinner and announced all the events happening around the ship this evening. Unfortunately I was too tired and headed to an early night in the cabin. 

 

Antigua tomorrow! 

[luvcruzing]

You’re probably too nice, but if the driver told me to move, I think I would have said that if the couple wanted to sit together, they should have boarded early or on time, whichever the case may be.

[EllieinNJ]

Can you describe which tour you did with Bernard Tours?  I was considering them the next time I am in St. Maarten.

[ellewoods]

59 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

Can you describe which tour you did with Bernard Tours?  I was considering them the next time I am in St. Maarten.

I had booked the Calypso Tour but they switched me to the Adventure 2 tour 

[Turtles06]

12 minutes ago, ellewoods said:

I had booked the Calypso Tour but they switched me to the Adventure 2 tour 

 

I'm really sorry you had that bad experience with Bernards.  Some years ago, based on their great reviews, we booked a tour with them that seems very similar to your Adventure 2 Tour (I've just checked that itinerary on their web site.)  We had a pleasant day.  Small van, people showed up on time, etc.   It's quite possible things have really changed [for the worse] since the pandemic (staffing, ruder travelers, etc.).  I hope you have a much better day in Antigua, and thanks again for sharing your trip with us!