Norwegian Gem Review

A GEM of a cruise!

Review for Canada & New England Cruise on Norwegian Gem
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ggTexasGal
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Sep 2013

We flew into (and stayed in Hampton Inn) Newark on Thursday, September 26th. Easy to use AirLink and NJ Transit train into Manhattan. We enjoyed remarkable, mild, weather and did LOTS of walking!

Using a shuttle service to get the Port of Mahattan, on 9/28, we arrived early, checked-in our luggage and took a huge elevator up to the security waiting area. Despite our carry-ons with "PRIORITY" tags and our paperwork with "Suite" number and information, we kept being asked "Are you VIP?" We obviously were on their printed list, so we found the question to be insulting after the third time! Finally, we were through security and directed to a desk where the actual check-in took place. I hope that what took place i our processing was a computer glitch, but after some lengthy paper shuffling, our photos were taken and we told to wait in the VIP lounge (where there was not a light on, no NCL representative, a set-up of food and drink, but "hot" things had no electric power. Eventually, Carlos (the concierge) arrived and started answering questions for others whom had arrived following us. Around 11ish, we were escorted by Carlos toward Embarkation. Only to find out at ship's security that my room card/ID card had my husband's photo (as did his)! This caused a complete hold-up in the security line, until Carlos told them he would handle the problem once he got all of us onboard. We were escorted to the Concierge Lounge (AKA: Star Bar) and I was then escorted down to the front desk, where they retook my photo. Overall, I felt rather embarassed by being "singled-out" in this situation! Next we ate an excellent meal in Cagney's and had just finished when they announced that "ALL Staterooms are now available!" We decided not to wait for our Butler to escort us to our room, so we headed right down to it. And as we had expected, it was lovely!

The mandatory boat drill was the usual... everybody talking when they should have been attentive.

Cabin Review

Having been on the Jewel, in basically the exact same stateroom last year, we knew we were going to enjoy this room. We were not disappointed! The best thing that I noticed immediately was NO bench at the end of the bed (we had asked for itto be removed from our Jewel suite... dangerous)! Our room steward was excellent. We rarely saw him, but we did not "need to." Not only was he hard working and thorough, when we did see him, he was a pleasure to speak with! The butler, Theodore, was quite obviously busy with other suites, but always pleasant when we saw him.

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