Norwegian Gem Review

Norwegian Gem, Canada and NE - a Gem amongst cruises, simply superb

Review for Canada & New England Cruise on Norwegian Gem
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Magickpyggie
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Oct 2013

We had been looking forward to sailing on the Norwegian Gem, having last sailed on her on her inaugural cruise in 2007. This time instead of our Mini-Suite we are Platinum Latitudes in Suite 10000 and we had booked this cruise as we wanted to sail out of New York and past the Statue of Liberty. We are quite seasoned cruisers now, and all I can really tell you is that we had a truly wonderful experience from beginning to end.

We got a taxi from our hotel and quickly passed through Check-in and were in the Star Bar by 1130. We had sailed with Carlos Zarate three times before and it was fun to watch him take a couple of steps past my wife before turning round and recognizing her, followed by our usual "man hug” greeting! Into Cagney’s for lunch and we were soon making friends with Marlon and Orlando and the rest of the delightful Cagney’s team. The rooms were announced ready early and we were soon settled in and meeting our Butler, Teodoro Barrete and our Room Steward, Miller and it was obvious that this would be an excellent cruise. We always dine in our Suite on the first and last night and Teodoro soon had a menu for us to choose from, and we enjoyed a meal from the Grand Pacific having enjoyed our departure from New York which included a display from an incoming Fire Boat, see images on our Flickr site. The following morning on our sea day we intended to go to the Meet and Greet arranged by JaJa, but my DW misheard me and went to Le Bistro while I attended the M & G at the Bliss Lounge and met Jenny Lim and Julie Valeriote and other members of the crew. Lunch at Cagney’s was followed by the first Latitudes party in the Spinnaker lounge, followed by a Meet the Senior Officers in the Haven and dinner in the Orchard Gardens. On Monday we docked at Halifax and did a couple of turns on the Hop on Hop off bus and were back on board for lunch as it was Thanksgiving Day and Halifax was shut! That evening saw another Latitudes event and following our rather poor experience on the Star in June it was great to be at a properly run party, although David Ward needs to review his jokes and stories!

Tuesday was St John and we walked ashore and had a very pleasant coffee before walking back to the pier and had a nice lunch at Paddy’s Bar. Good service and nice food.

Cabin Review

Suite 10000 is an excellent Suit due to the large lounge area and the outstanding views, Highly recommended we suffered no motion at all, and had great arrival and departure experiences.

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