Norwegian Gem

I will be going on the Norwegian Gem in December. Never been on that
ship... Any hints as to what I can expect. I'll be leaving from New York.

Hel

On Oct 6, 3:41*pm, "Gaga6" wrote:
I will be going on the Norwegian Gem in December. *Never been on that
ship... Any hints as to what I can expect. *I'll be leaving from New York.


I've not been on the Gem ... but have been on sister ships ... a very
nice ship easy to get around in ...The others have nice decorations
and color schemes ... So this should also ... The Spinnaker Lounge on
these ships is simply the best place to relax while cruising during
the day ...(There may be a bingo game to wake you for a bit ... but
you can ignore that easily ...) ... the view up there is fantastic ...
and it tends to have a very open airy feeling ...

Make sure you understand what freestyle cruising means ... and even if
your first choice of dining may not be available ... there'll be
several others to choose from ... You can plan to eat before or after
either of the 2 shows presented ... then next day do it
differently ...

If you've cruised traditional ... you won't get the familiarity that
you get and enjoy there ... that is given up to get flexibility ...
although you can make reservations at the same table in the same
dining room with the same waiter if that is what you want ...

I enjoy an NCL freestyle cruise over the others ... because of the
relaxed feeling it gives ... on a ship with the majority of the people
also looking for that same relaxed feeling ... Mostly still working
couples with kids gone or on their own ...

Hi Hel,

We were on the Norwegian Gem for Christmas last year (her inaugural
sailing out of NYC--or any US port for that matter) and will be on her
again for Christmas this year!! She really is a "Gem"--lovely ship
and very well laid out. Do be prepared for some very bright colors
(especially in the Atrium area and in the top-forward lounge) and some
rather oddly shaped furniture (especially the chairs in the top forwrd
lounge).

She has lots of restaurants to select from--be sure not to miss
Trattoria, which is magnificently decorated and really takes one
"home" to Italy during your meal. The Teppanyaki Room is also much
larger than on the other NCL ships, with four grills all going at
once. The Asian Restaurant is also very large and easy to get
reservations for with a wonderfully diverse menu. Cagney's is as
tasty as any steakhouse, but not as nicely decorated as on the Dawn or
the Spirit.

Our favorite area on the ship was "Bar Central" just below the Asian
restaurants. Lots of seating, and all sorts of bars lined up that
sort of run into one and another--easy to get your favorite drink, and
lots of seating and service. Oddly enough, the mjusic from one bar
does not interfere with the music from an adjacent one!!

The big yellow twisty slide on the top deck above the pool is also
lots of fun, and there are a number of "bed" loungers nearby for
plenty of comfortable space to stretch out and nap, then wake up and
take a dip!!

The port selection is standard for NCL NYC sailiings:

Port Canaveral--great for Disney World and Sea World, but be prepared
for long lines at the Kennedy Space Center. Just an outing to the
beach is also good fun, and much cheaper than the other excursions.

Great Stirrup Cay: NCL's private island, and a fabulous stop!!
Terrific snorkeling and a wonderful beach just to relax with great
facilities--and you can use your on-board sign and sail card for
drinks. Take an early tender to avoid the crowds that come over later
in the day.

Nassau, Bahamas: Always wonderful for Paradise Island, shopping or
snorkeling. Last time out, we tried a local restaurant, and were very
impressed with the food and service.

Freeport, Grand Bahama: The port is a bit far from most of what you
might want to see or do, but the excursions take travel time back and
forth into account. We did the Rainbow Reef snorkeling lat time out,
and had a wonderful time with some great local shopping at the end of
the tour.

We never finished our review of the ship or this trip--sorry that this
is just a brief summary of the highlights. Let us know if you have
other questions that we can help with!

Enjoy your voyage!!

PegNDerek



On Mon, 6 Oct 2008 15:41:39 -0400, "Gaga6"
wrote:

I will be going on the Norwegian Gem in December. Never been on that
ship... Any hints as to what I can expect. I'll be leaving from New York.

Hel

Thanks for the great information. I'm really looking forward to it. Too
bad our trip just ends short of Christmas... Otherwise we could have met.
:-)

Hugs,
Helen

"Peg Caldwell-Ott" wrote in message
...
Hi Hel,

We were on the Norwegian Gem for Christmas last year (her inaugural
sailing out of NYC--or any US port for that matter) and will be on her
again for Christmas this year!! She really is a "Gem"--lovely ship
and very well laid out. Do be prepared for some very bright colors
(especially in the Atrium area and in the top-forward lounge) and some
rather oddly shaped furniture (especially the chairs in the top forwrd
lounge).

She has lots of restaurants to select from--be sure not to miss
Trattoria, which is magnificently decorated and really takes one
"home" to Italy during your meal. The Teppanyaki Room is also much
larger than on the other NCL ships, with four grills all going at
once. The Asian Restaurant is also very large and easy to get
reservations for with a wonderfully diverse menu. Cagney's is as
tasty as any steakhouse, but not as nicely decorated as on the Dawn or
the Spirit.

Our favorite area on the ship was "Bar Central" just below the Asian
restaurants. Lots of seating, and all sorts of bars lined up that
sort of run into one and another--easy to get your favorite drink, and
lots of seating and service. Oddly enough, the mjusic from one bar
does not interfere with the music from an adjacent one!!

The big yellow twisty slide on the top deck above the pool is also
lots of fun, and there are a number of "bed" loungers nearby for
plenty of comfortable space to stretch out and nap, then wake up and
take a dip!!

The port selection is standard for NCL NYC sailiings:

Port Canaveral--great for Disney World and Sea World, but be prepared
for long lines at the Kennedy Space Center. Just an outing to the
beach is also good fun, and much cheaper than the other excursions.

Great Stirrup Cay: NCL's private island, and a fabulous stop!!
Terrific snorkeling and a wonderful beach just to relax with great
facilities--and you can use your on-board sign and sail card for
drinks. Take an early tender to avoid the crowds that come over later
in the day.

Nassau, Bahamas: Always wonderful for Paradise Island, shopping or
snorkeling. Last time out, we tried a local restaurant, and were very
impressed with the food and service.

Freeport, Grand Bahama: The port is a bit far from most of what you
might want to see or do, but the excursions take travel time back and
forth into account. We did the Rainbow Reef snorkeling lat time out,
and had a wonderful time with some great local shopping at the end of
the tour.

We never finished our review of the ship or this trip--sorry that this
is just a brief summary of the highlights. Let us know if you have
other questions that we can help with!

Enjoy your voyage!!

PegNDerek



On Mon, 6 Oct 2008 15:41:39 -0400, "Gaga6"
wrote:

I will be going on the Norwegian Gem in December. Never been on that
ship... Any hints as to what I can expect. I'll be leaving from New York.

Hel

I was disappointed with the Gem. I loved the Dawn, but the Gem made me
rethink my position on the whole NCL cruiseline.

My problems with the Gem:

1) No movie theater, or movies on the stateroom cabin, unless you
wanted to pay something like $12 for a rental. This rental fee is
waived if you are in a cabin with a concierge. The TV reception was
spotty at best.

2) The buffet was an overcrowded nightmare - difficult to find a
table, and there were no trays so that you could manage easily, and
not enough staff around to help with anything.

3) Poorly staffed - my cabin steward was difficult to find at best.
The rock climbing wall was staffed by one person - by the time he got
the releases signed and the person's equipment on them, it was 45
minutes until the first person got on the rock climbing wall. Plus
they were blasting really nasty hip hop music - all about playas and
'hos' - not the kind of music I want my kid exposed to. When they had
the nintendo wii game available in the atrium, the person showed up
late, didn't know how to work the darn thing, and there were no sign
up sheets so that we could tell what order the kids showed up - not a
lot of happy kids.

4) Unless you were in a cabin with a Concierge, it was difficult to
get reservations for the restaurant you wanted. People were lining up
at 7 am to make their reservations, since those in the non concierge
cabins were only allowed to make reservations the same day or the next
day. I had a friend in a suite, so one night I went to Cagney's with
her - the place was half empty, probably because they were saving
tables for the people in the suites. They might have changed this,
since there were so many complaints.

5) The buffet on the private island closes promptly at 2 - if you want
so much as a glass of water after 2 pm you have to pay for bottled
water.

I left the cruise feeling that NCL had nickeled and dimed me to death
- they were even charging to shoot a game of pool. At this point, the
only way I would sail NCL again would be either not the Gem or a
sister ship, a different itinerary ( I also didn't like the
itinerary), or in a concierge cabin.

Most of what you describe here sound very much like "new ship start up
problems", which the Gem certainly was the last time she was sailing
out of NYC/US ports. She is now not quite a year "old", and with the
implementation of the 2.0 program, we have heard nothing but good
things about her, especially from those sailing her European
itineraries.

Our TV screen was all pink and turquoise when we were on her last
Christmas--odd, but tolerable for the Scandia System, which is all we
ever have the set tuned into. I haven't heard of any cruise line
charging for movies unless they are the....ehem.....x-rated ones! As
far as I know, they now have a "movie channel"--as they do on the
other ships--where you can see the broadcast of your favorite at one
point or another without charge.

Avoid the buffet on any cruise--always a nightmare, especially at the
most popular times for meals--and Americans tend to eat early. The
Gem did have a nice selection of buffet "stations" to try to minimize
lines, and a children's seating area, which we always
applaud--although we never ate any meals here. We did like the new
style of having cutlery and condiments on the tables so as to avoid
trays--especially wet ones!!

Staff problems are much better now that she is an "experienced"
vessel--at least I certainly hope so!! Our steward at Christmas was
exceptional--no problems at all, and he attended to our odd requests
for extra pillows and bedding for me (Derek is a cover thief!!), plus
every day ice and an extra box of Kleenex next to the bed for my
perpetually running nose (in the winter time) without any troubles.

Yes, the reservations system for dinner is not the best. Someday
maybe they will make it possible to book on line (as per shore
excursions) in advance of your voyage for at least one meal. We are
lucky to be highly experienced NCL cruisers now (Number 14 coming up
this Christmas), so we do get Concierge service. I still insist that
the best way to make any dining reservations (without help from the
front office) is to use the telephone, especially from your cabin--the
earlier in the day, the better--and you can always go back to sleep!!

We always take the earliest possible tender over to Stirrup Cay so as
to avoid the crowds and get in the water early for good snorkeling. I
don't think we have ever been on the island beyond 2 pm!! I should add
that we have never done the overnight on Stirrup Cay, which includes
the special beach dinner.

The itinerary is not great, but for us, just the thought of being at
sea and getting out of town over the holidays is worth it!! And, we
do like the addition of Freeport, Grand Bahamas which was "new" to us
and gave us a new snorkeling site that we really enjoyed. Of course,
as New Yorkers, you just can't beat the idea of cabbing across town to
hop on the ship without having to worry about flying or being delayed
by bad weather. We did have a storm at sea on one Christmas/New
Year's sailing--on the Dawn for Christmas in 2004 when we ran right
through a Nor'easter--40-50 foot seas were no fun at all, but they
only lasted for about 10 hours, and when you consider that we have
sailed a holiday voyage out of NYC every year forthe past 6 years,
that record is not too bad!!

Bestest,

Peg





On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 06:13:08 -0700 (PDT), nekochan
wrote:

I was disappointed with the Gem. I loved the Dawn, but the Gem made me
rethink my position on the whole NCL cruiseline.

My problems with the Gem:

1) No movie theater, or movies on the stateroom cabin, unless you
wanted to pay something like $12 for a rental. This rental fee is
waived if you are in a cabin with a concierge. The TV reception was
spotty at best.

2) The buffet was an overcrowded nightmare - difficult to find a
table, and there were no trays so that you could manage easily, and
not enough staff around to help with anything.

3) Poorly staffed - my cabin steward was difficult to find at best.
The rock climbing wall was staffed by one person - by the time he got
the releases signed and the person's equipment on them, it was 45
minutes until the first person got on the rock climbing wall. Plus
they were blasting really nasty hip hop music - all about playas and
'hos' - not the kind of music I want my kid exposed to. When they had
the nintendo wii game available in the atrium, the person showed up
late, didn't know how to work the darn thing, and there were no sign
up sheets so that we could tell what order the kids showed up - not a
lot of happy kids.

4) Unless you were in a cabin with a Concierge, it was difficult to
get reservations for the restaurant you wanted. People were lining up
at 7 am to make their reservations, since those in the non concierge
cabins were only allowed to make reservations the same day or the next
day. I had a friend in a suite, so one night I went to Cagney's with
her - the place was half empty, probably because they were saving
tables for the people in the suites. They might have changed this,
since there were so many complaints.

5) The buffet on the private island closes promptly at 2 - if you want
so much as a glass of water after 2 pm you have to pay for bottled
water.

I left the cruise feeling that NCL had nickeled and dimed me to death
- they were even charging to shoot a game of pool. At this point, the
only way I would sail NCL again would be either not the Gem or a
sister ship, a different itinerary ( I also didn't like the
itinerary), or in a concierge cabin.