Turtles06: my review of our 23 days aboard the Gem's B2B Panama Canal cruises, NY to Fuerte Amador and the return

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

We got to Magens Bay early and secured lounge chairs in the "front row."

We would have been right there with you. It's our regular go to spot in St. Thomas. 

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Mister Toad's Wild Ride

I'm usually sitting adjacent to the nonexistent door holding on for dear life. 🤣

[Turtles06]

3 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

We would have been right there with you. It's our regular go to spot in St. Thomas. 

 

I can see why!   

[njhorseman]

Just now, Turtles06 said:

 

I can see why!   

It's particularly nice when  not overrun with several hundred cruisers . You hit the jackpot being the only big ship in port...and with fewer than 2,000 on  board to boot.

[Turtles06]

1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

It's particularly nice when  not overrun with several hundred cruisers . You hit the jackpot being the only big ship in port...and with fewer than 2,000 on  board to boot.

 

I know.  When I did my usual pre-cruise research for "ships in port" with us, I could not believe that the sites were correct in showing the Gem as the only large ship in port.  But they turned out to be correct.  And one upside of skipping Bermuda is that our originally-scheduled arrival time in St. Thomas of 12pm was moved up to 9am, which made for a much better beach experience.

[Turtles06]

What time is it?

 

When you’re on a ship for 23 days, there are some niggling things you start to notice that bother you that you might just ignore on a short cruise.  For me, it was the incorrect time displayed in the elevators. 

 

We had eight time changes across the B2B as we sailed around the Caribbean and Central America going from Eastern Time, to Atlantic Time, to Eastern, Central, Eastern, etc.  Every elevator on the ship had an electronic display with the ship’s name, picture, date, and time, but not once after a time change did the time display correctly in any elevator I was on.  It would take days for the time to change, if it did at all. 

 

In fact, the night before we disembarked in New York, the elevators were still on Atlantic Time.  Late in the cruise, I happened to mention this to Guest Services, who told me that the time in the elevators is supposed to change automatically when there’s a time change.  Well, it never did.  Guest Services said they'd get it fixed.  So if you're on the Gem now or in the near future, and the time in the elevators is correct, you're welcome. 😂

 

(photo taken at 10:03am ET and ship's time, the day before arriving back in NY)

Edited February 21, 2023 by Turtles06

[Birdnutty]

7 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

What time is it?

We had eight time changes across the B2B as we sailed around the Caribbean and Central America going from Eastern Time, to Atlantic Time, to Eastern, Central, Eastern, etc.  Every elevator on the ship had an electronic display with the ship’s name, picture, date, and time, but not once after a time change did the time display correctly in any elevator I was on.  It would take days for the time to change, if it did at all. 

 

In fact, the night before we disembarked in New York, the elevators were still on Atlantic Time.  Late in the cruise, I happened to mention this to Guest Services, who told me that the time in the elevators is supposed to change automatically when there’s a time change.  Well, it never did.  Guest Services said they'd get it fixed.  So if you're on the Gem now or in the near future, and the time in the elevators is correct, you're welcome. 😂

 

 

We had the same problem.  Fortunately, I was able to change my watch and cell phone by manually telling it where we were, so it always displayed the correct time.  Sure could be maddening!

[Seas2mountains]

Thank you so much for your wonderful and detailed review of the Gem!  We are so excited to board in a little over two weeks from today. I look forward to reading more. 
 

Is it possible to add screen shots of any of the dailies? 

[vacation44]

17 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

What time is it?

 

When you’re on a ship for 23 days, there are some niggling things you start to notice that bother you that you might just ignore on a short cruise.  For me, it was the incorrect time displayed in the elevators. 

 

We had eight time changes across the B2B as we sailed around the Caribbean and Central America going from Eastern Time, to Atlantic Time, to Eastern, Central, Eastern, etc.  Every elevator on the ship had an electronic display with the ship’s name, picture, date, and time, but not once after a time change did the time display correctly in any elevator I was on.  It would take days for the time to change, if it did at all. 

 

In fact, the night before we disembarked in New York, the elevators were still on Atlantic Time.  Late in the cruise, I happened to mention this to Guest Services, who told me that the time in the elevators is supposed to change automatically when there’s a time change.  Well, it never did.  Guest Services said they'd get it fixed.  So if you're on the Gem now or in the near future, and the time in the elevators is correct, you're welcome. 😂

 

(photo taken at 10:03am ET and ship's time, the day before arriving back in NY)

I know that would drive me crazy as I am sure a good number of people might take that time as accurate.    There really is no excuse.

[Turtles06]

Ports:  San Juan x 2

 

We enjoy Old San Juan very much, and were fortunate that the Gem had a port call to San Juan on both legs of our B2B, on January 30 and again on February 13.  For these port calls, and the others that were common to both cruises, I’ll combine my entries. 

 

San Juan – the first visit

 

On each of the Gem’s visits to San Juan, we were docked right at the foot of the Old City, which made it easy to explore on foot, or quickly take a cab up the steep hills to the fortresses.  The day of our first visit was oppressively hot, and since we knew we’d be back in two weeks (and since we’d been here before), we kept things simple with a leisurely and lovely walk along the Old City walls, through gardens and past palm trees, and then through the only remaining 17th Century gate -- the big, red, La Puerta de San Juan -- into the heart of the Old City itself, with its pastel buildings, blue cobblestone streets, statues, and piragua carts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our walk, we came upon something we’d never seen before, a pigeon park!   El Parque de Las Palomas!  Hundreds of pigeons hanging out, waiting to be fed.  The gates were locked, however, so we couldn’t go in.  Not that we necessarily would have – lots of pigeon droppings, not to mention the sign warning that pigeons spread disease and mites.  🙃

 

 

 

 

[mking8288]

Great pix of San Juan & thanks ... although we've cruised there several times, it's mostly those 4 pm scheduled arrival ... can only see that much (little) as it often gets dark quickly and some of the attractions closing up.  Don't mind a full day visit or stopover there ... oh well, next time - perhaps but not a "strong" excuse to cruise just to see PR.  

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Great pix of San Juan & thanks ... although we've cruised there several times, it's mostly those 4 pm scheduled arrival ... can only see that much (little) as it often gets dark quickly and some of the attractions closing up.  Don't mind a full day visit or stopover there ... oh well, next time - perhaps but not a "strong" excuse to cruise just to see PR.  

 

Thank you.  I've seen those 4pm arrival itineraries and thought -- what a shame.  Not much to do except get off the ship and have dinner.  We were lucky on both of our calls to San Juan that we had real days there.  🙂 

[Turtles06]

San Juan – the second visit

 

The day of our second visit to San Juan (Feb. 13) began with a very early morning rain, which gave way to a stunning rainbow.  We hoped this was a good omen, and it turned out that it was, as we went on to have one of our most enjoyable port days of the entire trip.   

 

 

Before any of us could start our visit to San Juan, we had to go through a mandatory U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection in the cruise terminal, since the Gem was now back in the United States, and present our passports to a CBP agent.  In fact, everyone had to leave the ship, and a zero count had to be obtained, before anyone could re-board.  This process took a little over three hours, with guests called down by deck.  Since our plan was to head into the City, not reboard immediately, this was not an issue for us, we just needed to disembark and clear CBP and be on our way.  Because we were in a suite, we were led off the ship to a separate waiting line to show our passports to a CBP agent, and that got us on our way very quickly.  (Some folks apparently did not carefully read the information we’d been given about this, and mistakenly thought that if they got off early – at 7am – and went through the CBP process, they could turn around and reboard.  Sorry, no.  They had to wait to re-board until about 10:15am until everyone had gotten off.)

 

We emerged from the cruise terminal to find that the rain had given way to a beautiful sunny day, hot but with a refreshing breeze.  Our plan was to visit El Castillo San Felipe del Morro, one of the two huge fortresses built by the Spanish to defend San Juan and the island.  To save time and our knees, we took a cab up the very steep hill, directly to the fort.  We’ve visited El Morro before, but it’s always interesting to explore this fortress, situated right at the entrance to the harbor on a hill overlooking the beautiful water.

 

 

In anticipation of visiting the fort, we’d brought our National Parks Senior Passes with us on the trip, which give us free entry to all NPS sites, including El Morro.  (Best 10 bucks ever spent!)  Oddly, the ranger at the entrance insisted that we show him not only our passes, but also a photo ID that had our respective signatures on it.  What?  We’ve never, ever, at any NPS site, been asked to show anything with our passes but a photo ID (and often not even that), never anything with a signature.  Indeed, the back of the NPS pass says “valid photo ID required,” it says nothing about a signature.  Nonetheless, the ranger would not accept our Global Entry Cards as proof of our identities – good enough to get us back into the U.S. from abroad but apparently not into El Morro!  Had it not been for the fact that we were carrying our passports with us because of the CBP inspection (we typically leave our passports in the cabin safe when we go ashore), neither of us would have had an ID with our signatures with us that day.   

 

Finally gaining admission to El Morro, we proceeded to have a wonderful time walking through the fort, looking out over the beautiful water, and, of course, photographing the iconic images associated with San Juan, the garitas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After visiting the fort, we did something we’ve never done before -- we walked down the long, grassy hill and followed the wall along the ocean, bringing us to several points overlooking the Old San Juan Cemetery, with its striking white graves and tombstones.  Quite a sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By now, it was time for lunch, and a quick Uber ride brought us to Raices, where I’d had my first mofongo lunch many years ago; I've wanted to go back ever since.  Fortunately, we’d arrived just before the local lunch rush; by the time we left, it was so crowded that people were being turned away.  I had a delicious skirt steak mofongo, but I have to admit that my wife’s fish tacos might have been even more delicious.   It was a wonderful lunch, and a great way to cap off our visit to San Juan.

 

 

 

Our sailaway had originally been scheduled for 6pm, but the delayed arrival of the harbor pilot pushed that back.  This was unfortunate, since an on-time departure would have had us sailing by El Morro lit up by the setting sun.   Still, we had a beautiful evening sail out of San Juan, passing the Celebrity Apex, and, as we left the harbor, El Morro.

 

 

 

[EllieinNJ]

We were in San Juan in November on the Enchanted Princess.  We decided to walk to the other fort, San Cristobal because it looked so close on a map.  No one mentioned it was uphill all the way and was exhausted when we got there.  We, too, had the senior federal park passes and they let us in with no other ID to show them.

[Turtles06]

All-board for our Feb. 13 departure from San Juan was 5:30pm.  Shortly after, we heard the call over the PA system for specific passengers to call Guest Services, usually the tip-off that we're about to have some pier runners.  I happened to be standing on the promenade deck waiting for sailaway, and there they were.

 

 

 

[luckyinpa]

if filet is gone at teppanyaki then id never go back. thats sad. just raise the darn price . keep the quality. why cant people do this? whats next no filet and eggs in haven. oh wait they did that already

[Turtles06]

In-person muster drills

 

As I already knew from Cruise Critic, NCL had recently returned to in-person muster drills, having used e-musters since the re-start, and indeed we had in-person drills on both legs of our trip.  The first was a debacle.  Starting about half an hour before the drill, the Cruise Director announced numerous times that there’d be a mandatory muster drill at 3:30pm.  The announcements prompted many guests to head to their muster stations pretty early. 

 

As we’ve usually done about ten minutes before a muster drill, we went down to our muster station (in this case, the Stardust Theatre) so that we could get a seat.  UNLIKE any other muster drill in which we’ve participated, however, the doors to the Theatre did not open until the start of the drill.  As a result, hundreds and hundreds of guests were crammed into the passageways on both sides of the ship, probably backed up all the way to Guest Services.  When the doors finally opened, there was added chaos, because crew members had directed many guests to the wrong side of the ship for their specific muster stations (e.g., A1, A2, and so on) within the Theatre.  This had guests climbing all over the seats trying to get to the other side of the Theatre.  Once inside, there was constant talking – the safety announcements simple could not be heard over the incessant din.

 

The muster drill on leg 2 was entirely different.  The Cruise Director made one announcement in advance.  The doors to the Stardust Theatre had been opened early, people were sitting quietly, and you could hear a pin drop.  I have NEVER experienced a drill so quiet.  I’m sure having the crew better organized since the first muster helped, as there was no chaos when guests were able to enter the Theatre.  In any event, I hope this kind of muster drill has continued.

 

I know some people occasionally ask whether, if you're on a B2B, you must attend the muster drill on the second leg.  Yes on the Gem (and I suspect all ships).

[GeezerCouple]

On 2/20/2023 at 2:47 PM, Turtles06 said:

 

 

On 2/20/2023 at 2:47 PM, Turtles06 said:

 

 

I like the color of the carpeting, and it's probably reasonably forgiving.

 

But yes, about the bubbles instead of the little fish, why couldn't they have made them slightly tear-dropped shape.  That way we would have a fighting chance of noticing a 'pointer'.

 

GC

[Turtles06]

The sky just after our first sunset, on January 26.  I sure miss these views when I'm back on land.

 

 

 

[Turtles06]

Ports:  Taino Bay, Puerto Plata X 2

 

The Gem was scheduled to dock on both legs of our B2B at Taino Bay in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.  However, for some time over the past year, because the NCL Escape had run aground last March in Taino Bay, most NCL ships had not been calling there.  Sometimes the ships would dock at nearby Amber Cove, or would have a sea day, or go to another port (like Nassau).  So until our cruises grew near, there was a bit of a question mark about whether the Gem really would make it to Taino Bay, but we did, both times.   

 

 

 

Our first visit (Jan. 31)

 

On our first visit to Taino Bay (we had a tour scheduled for the second one), we wandered through the Taino Bay "cruise port," which is a complex of swimming pools, shops, food huts, and bars, all contained within high, secure walls intended to keep cruisers in and locals out.  It’s somewhat like a private island but on the mainland, and without all the bells and whistles.   (The facilities are being expanded though.)  If you want to leave the port, and you’re not on a ship’s excursion, it’s a bit of a maze-like walk through the complex to find your way to the exit.  (I really don't think they want you to leave.)  As soon as you step one foot outside the gate, a lot of people will be trying to sell you tours and taxi rides.  For those who are wondering, it’s close enough to walk into the center of town, and there are “tourist police” around.  We didn’t take that walk, so I can’t assess the comfort level of doing so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout much of the complex, there were tropical birds just hanging out along the walkways in their own little thatch huts

 

 

 

 

 

And there was also this:

 

 

It had been a pretty long walk just from the Gem to the end of the pier and the entrance to the Taino Bay complex, and the hot sun did not help.  On our way back to the Gem, we discovered there was a free shuttle service – little three-wheeled tuk-tuks being driven back and forth from the ship to the entrance of the complex.  Please tip the driver.  🙂 

 

Getting back on board, we enjoyed the rest of the as a “ship day," working out, having lunch, and spending a good portion of the afternoon on our balcony, as the weather was splendid and we had a beautiful view of the water and of the fort just across the bay (which we explored during our second visit to Puerto Plata).  Late in the day, we noticed a cruise ship sailing from Amber Cove, some distance off to our west.  It was the NCL Dawn.  Small world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Turtles06

[Turtles06]

A great sign outside one of the bars in the Taino Bay complex.

 

[mking8288]

Love those pictures and you know, aside from the long walk on the pier under the hot sun (without a hat & sun protection) - I can see cruising to both/either Amber Cove and/or Taino Bay - both being much closer to Harvest Caye ... and forget GSC as tendering there remains a 50:50 deal.  The "free" (tips only) taxi-bike shuttles making it much more accessible friendly ... as a matter of fact, my right knee was acting up again last month, gosh.  

[Mrdell]

Beautiful pictures… would you happen to know if there is any wi-fi available in the Taino Bay area?

[Turtles06]

44 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Love those pictures and you know, aside from the long walk on the pier under the hot sun (without a hat & sun protection) - I can see cruising to both/either Amber Cove and/or Taino Bay - both being much closer to Harvest Caye ... and forget GSC as tendering there remains a 50:50 deal.  The "free" (tips only) taxi-bike shuttles making it much more accessible friendly ... as a matter of fact, my right knee was acting up again last month, gosh.  

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

If we'd known how lovely those pools were, we'd have taken our towels and bathing suits.  🙂 

[NikiPinkston]

Loving your review! Some of these ports are on our bucket list, so really appreciate the great narrative and photos.