Live from the Gem - March 10-21, 2023 NY to Bermuda to Caribbean to NY

[Seas2mountains]

Hello - sorry for the delayed update.  We are having a lot of fun on the cruise but also blame the SLLLOOOOOWWWW Wifi for the delayed updates.  (More on Ink 48 later on as we did have an issue.)

 

We left Ink 48 about 9:30am and it was a super easy and short walk from the hotel to Pier 90. Street level is where all the people getting off of the Gem and Getaway were hanging out waiting for transportation. While the porters seemed to be collecting luggage on the street level, for some reason we didn't completely trust them to get the bags on the ship when it looked like there were so many bags in the area for those getting off the ship, so we took our bags with us on the large freight elevators at Pier 90. The woman operating the elevator asked why we didn't drop our bags but we said we were told to bring them upstairs so she didn't argue with us.

 

Several porters were there when we got off the elevator and we felt a little better as everyone on this floor was definitely departing. We waited until a little after 10am until they ACTUALLY called for people by check-in times and asked to CONFIRM the check-in time really matched on the paperwork. This is our 19th cruise on NCL and it is the FIRST time they have ever checked our check-in time.

 

It took a little bit of waiting in line to get through security even though we were within the first 20 people going through security. Once we got through security, we looked for the Haven signs and they confirmed we were on the list with our Suite and we were allowed to enter the Haven/Suite lounge.  We did not get breakfast as sleep was a little more important for us and we knew we would get food and plenty of it very soon after boarding. We were happy to see many different appetizers and more than your typical breads and fruit but some sandwiches including some mozzarella and tomato sandwiches. 

 

Leo the concierge greeted us and welcomed us. He gave us our current restaurant reservations.  I had written out on a paper the reservations I wanted to add or change. He asked to keep the paper and I agreed.  Magically, those reservations were made quite quickly! 🙂  Leo also answered questions including the question about Bermuda.  He did tell us about the change and additional time we would get in Puerto Rico.

 

We got on the ship around 11:20am and were among the first 10 people to board the ship - yeah - my husband likes to be among the first when possible. We have been the first and second on the ship a few times. I have no idea why but I go along with it as it makes him happy. Lol. The things we do for love. 

 

We were escorted to Cagney's for a wonderful lunch and we had excellent service by Leah. We enjoyed a cocktail with lunch. I'll post photos later. Our rooms were ready by 2:30pm but they had warned us earlier that they might not be ready until 3pm. We found our luggage in the hall and got all items unpacked before the Muster drill at 3:30pm.  Muster drill was a little irritating after having no muster drills during the past post-Covid trips but it went fairly fast. We really liked getting a nap in when there were no muster drills.

 

The ship left fairly close to the planned departure time of 4pm and it was a little after 4pm when we left. While it was cold outside, we bundled up with our parkas and enjoyed watching the Newark shoreline until we passed the statue of Liberty. Our normal ship tradition is to spend the early afternoon in the hot tub before most people get their luggage as few remember to put swimsuits in carry on luggage. It was way too cold for us so we waited until 5pm to go to the spa (photos provided later) to get in a hot tub and the thermal spa. It was a quick dip as we had reservations at Cagney's at 6pm.

 

We had a wonderful dinner at Cagney's (photos later) and enjoyed hearing the amazing Nathaniel in the atrium and the beautiful voice of Tania in Magnum's until we called it a night. We took advantage of FAS+ where the P+ got us 4 bottles of San Pellegrino and flow water for the room. We also enjoyed the P+ wines at Cagney's and in the lounges. 

 

We can tell that there are fewer bar servers but we did get served fairly quickly last night.  Today was not as quick and the bars that were open were all swamped.  With it being a little cold outside, many guests are hanging out at bars taking advantage of their FAS drink packages. We were happy see many people giving tips to the bartenders who were working so hard and did not get a break.

I will update on our Saturday at sea next.

 

 

 

 

[Seas2mountains]

Embarkation at Pier 90 and Haven/Suite boarding area.  

[Seas2mountains]

Haven/Suite lunch at Cagney’s. It was delicious!  
 

Soup de jour was Corn and shrimp 

Appetizer - plain shrimp without the Shrimp Louie dressing and veggies.

Caesar salad

Shrimp Scampi

Salmon

 

One new thing is they offered burger and chicken sliders when we entered Cagney’s. They were also handing out cheese or something on toothpicks in the atrium when people were boarding. 

 

[Seas2mountains]

Thermal spa 

 

 

[Seas2mountains]

Fitness center

[cruiseny4life]

16 minutes ago, Seas2mountains said:

Embarkation at Pier 90 and Haven/Suite boarding area.  

Wow! You had quite the spread. That's about double what we've seen in NYC for Haven guests. Looks like a tasty breakfast snack since you passed on that to get to the pier.

[www3traveler]

Could you please post a list of the current Senior Officers?

Thank You

 

 

[Seas2mountains]

Our non-Haven 2 bedroom suite.  We are being spoiled. We were very blessed to get the upgrade from Club Balcony Suite. 
 

The best parts are getting breakfast at Moderno and lunch at Cagney’s . 

[Seas2mountains]

[Seas2mountains]

Sail away from NYC Pier 90

 

Docked next to the Getaway. 

[Seas2mountains]

Wonderful Dinner at Cagney’s 

 

 

 

 

[Seas2mountains]

Breakfast at Moderno 

 

Almond croissant - only at the Haven or Suite breakfasts 

 

The little famous hashbrowns taste like the bigger ones. Yeah - they have them. Hope they do T run out. 

[Seas2mountains]

Lunch today at Cagney’s. 

[Seas2mountains]

[Seas2mountains]

Afternoon treats. Yum! 😀

[Seas2mountains]

P+ Gin worth trying. Otherwise $19. 

[YVRteacher]

You have Paquito!  Lucky you!!!!

 

Please say hi to the bartender named Ali from Yvonne.

 

Looks like the food on the Gem is fabulous.

 

I thought they converted all the suite bathtubs on the Jewel class ships but I see Gem still has bathtubs.

[Wvshimmy]

58 minutes ago, Seas2mountains said:

Hello - sorry for the delayed update.  We are having a lot of fun on the cruise but also blame the SLLLOOOOOWWWW Wifi for the delayed updates.  (More on Ink 48 later on as we did have an issue.)

 

We left Ink 48 about 9:30am and it was a super easy and short walk from the hotel to Pier 90. Street level is where all the people getting off of the Gem and Getaway were hanging out waiting for transportation. While the porters seemed to be collecting luggage on the street level, for some reason we didn't completely trust them to get the bags on the ship when it looked like there were so many bags in the area for those getting off the ship, so we took our bags with us on the large freight elevators at Pier 90. The woman operating the elevator asked why we didn't drop our bags but we said we were told to bring them upstairs so she didn't argue with us.

 

Several porters were there when we got off the elevator and we felt a little better as everyone on this floor was definitely departing. We waited until a little after 10am until they ACTUALLY called for people by check-in times and asked to CONFIRM the check-in time really matched on the paperwork. This is our 19th cruise on NCL and it is the FIRST time they have ever checked our check-in time.

 

It took a little bit of waiting in line to get through security even though we were within the first 20 people going through security. Once we got through security, we looked for the Haven signs and they confirmed we were on the list with our Suite and we were allowed to enter the Haven/Suite lounge.  We did not get breakfast as sleep was a little more important for us and we knew we would get food and plenty of it very soon after boarding. We were happy to see many different appetizers and more than your typical breads and fruit but some sandwiches including some mozzarella and tomato sandwiches. 

 

Leo the concierge greeted us and welcomed us. He gave us our current restaurant reservations.  I had written out on a paper the reservations I wanted to add or change. He asked to keep the paper and I agreed.  Magically, those reservations were made quite quickly! 🙂  Leo also answered questions including the question about Bermuda.  He did tell us about the change and additional time we would get in Puerto Rico.

 

We got on the ship around 11:20am and were among the first 10 people to board the ship - yeah - my husband likes to be among the first when possible. We have been the first and second on the ship a few times. I have no idea why but I go along with it as it makes him happy. Lol. The things we do for love. 

 

We were escorted to Cagney's for a wonderful lunch and we had excellent service by Leah. We enjoyed a cocktail with lunch. I'll post photos later. Our rooms were ready by 2:30pm but they had warned us earlier that they might not be ready until 3pm. We found our luggage in the hall and got all items unpacked before the Muster drill at 3:30pm.  Muster drill was a little irritating after having no muster drills during the past post-Covid trips but it went fairly fast. We really liked getting a nap in when there were no muster drills.

 

The ship left fairly close to the planned departure time of 4pm and it was a little after 4pm when we left. While it was cold outside, we bundled up with our parkas and enjoyed watching the Newark shoreline until we passed the statue of Liberty. Our normal ship tradition is to spend the early afternoon in the hot tub before most people get their luggage as few remember to put swimsuits in carry on luggage. It was way too cold for us so we waited until 5pm to go to the spa (photos provided later) to get in a hot tub and the thermal spa. It was a quick dip as we had reservations at Cagney's at 6pm.

 

We had a wonderful dinner at Cagney's (photos later) and enjoyed hearing the amazing Nathaniel in the atrium and the beautiful voice of Tania in Magnum's until we called it a night. We took advantage of FAS+ where the P+ got us 4 bottles of San Pellegrino and flow water for the room. We also enjoyed the P+ wines at Cagney's and in the lounges. 

 

We can tell that there are fewer bar servers but we did get served fairly quickly last night.  Today was not as quick and the bars that were open were all swamped.  With it being a little cold outside, many guests are hanging out at bars taking advantage of their FAS drink packages. We were happy see many people giving tips to the bartenders who were working so hard and did not get a break.

I will update on our Saturday at sea next.

 

 

 

 

Really enjoyed Tania on our recent cruises. 

Very low key, amazing voice. 

Nice gal; this is only her second cruise contract. 

Look for an amazing server in Magnums; Mildren. 

She's a sweetheart. 

Crew all were outstanding on our January/February cruises. 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

[www3traveler]

Dhruv Bogati from Nepal is on board as Head Mixologist (Head Bartender).

[Seas2mountains]

9 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

You have Paquito!  Lucky you!!!!

 

Please say hi to the bartender named Ali from Yvonne.

 

Looks like the food on the Gem is fabulous.

 

I thought they converted all the suite bathtubs on the Jewel class ships but I see Gem still has bathtubs.

Yes, we do have Paquito! He did a great job at The Newlywed, Not So Newlywed Show tonight. It was hilarious, as usual. 
 

Do you know which bar we might be able to find Ali? 
 

The mini suites still have bathtubs and did not get converted at dry dock at the end of 2022. We got upgraded to a 2 bedroom non Haven and I think the bathtub will stay as it’s like the design of 2 bedrooms on the Breakaway class Haven 2 bedrooms. 
 

Did you make it to LA for your cruise? Have a great time! 

[Seas2mountains]

On 3/10/2023 at 8:15 AM, cruiseny4life said:

Sorry to hear you will not be heading to Bermuda, though you probably had an idea this would happen. Instead, you'll have another sea day and a few extra hours in Puerto Rico, arriving at Puerto Rico at 7 AM after three sea days in a row. Personally, I'd be ok with the sea days, but understand you may not feel the same way. 

 

Thank you for photos of some yummy NY slices! They look great. I'll have to try it out since it's such a close skip away from the pier. 

 

Ink48, I like the hotel. It's right in the center of Hell's Kitchen so makes for an interesting wander late at night. I, too, was stunned by those mini bar prices and the pleasure kit. We didn't purchase anything from there. I'm thinking Ink48 is hoping the party people will not care at all about the price when they stumble in. I do like Ink48. The price is alright, it's so close to the pier, and the employees were all very polite when I was there. If I weren't cruising, I think I'd stay in a different hotel, but it's good for a cruise.

 

And, I'm going to have to try 44andX! That menu looks great. For me, the prices aren't much more than I see here in Central NY, but there's definitely some Manhattanflation going on there. And, I'm glad you had a nice time with your nephew! Great way to get started on your vacation! 

 

I hope embarkation goes well today and you had a nice, yummy breakfast close by the hotel. If you are looking for a nice baked treat, try out Sullivan St. Bakery. Just walk half a block down 47th and you'll be there! 

We are really happy with the extra sea day as we knew today would have been cold and windy in Bermuda. Instead, we have an extra warm and sunny day at sea. 😀

 

Ink 48 was great for the location to the pier and how close it was to our nephew. We are reluctant to stay again and recommend it but with some concerns. I’ll share those sometime in this review. We would probably choose a different hotel next time. You are right about this being a hotel for partiers. 

 

We do recommend 44 and X and hope you get to try it! Thank you for the yummy bakery suggestion. 
 

 

[Seas2mountains]

13 hours ago, www3traveler said:

Could you please post a list of the current Senior Officers?

Thank You

 

 

Yes, I will post it later today. 😀

[Seas2mountains]

For @www3traveler

 

Is this helpful? 

[Seas2mountains]

It’s an absolutely gorgeous sunny sea day. The kind where every deck lounge chair is taken and everyone is so happy to be in the hot sun after a challenging cold and snowy winter. 
 

 

[bostoncruisegal]

20 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

Our non-Haven 2 bedroom suite.  We are being spoiled. We were very blessed to get the upgrade from Club Balcony Suite. 
 

The best parts are getting breakfast at Moderno and lunch at Cagney’s . 

 

I am looking at this room type for a future cruise, but with 4 adults.  I had 2 questions:

 

~Does the master bed split into 2 like most staterooms?

~I know it doesn't come with 4 chairs, but can you fit 4 on the balcony?

 

Thanks!