EMBARKATION: Wea rrived at the Manhattan terminal around 11:30AM and the Latitude boarding was prompt and efficient. We were welcomed aboard by our familiar concierge Ruth from Austria whom we were happy to see again. After a fine lunch we went to our attractive aft facing mini-suite well prepared by our cabin attendants Joel and Joemar from the Philippines who provide us with excellent service throughout the cruise. Our sailaway was exemplary due to the unusually warm 70 degree late March weather. New York is one of the most impressive ports to sail in and out of. We decided not to dress for dinner but go to the Garden Cafe. We were surprised by the fine variety of food available especially the salad bar which included shrimp and mussels daily. Our luggage arrived promptly in our cabin and it was a positive welcome to the Gem.

SEA DAYS: On Sunday morning, I took an early swim in the adult Tahitian pool which I had to myself because the water was a little cool. I enjoyed my early morning lap swim in the pool every day of the cruise. At 11AM I had arranged a meet and greet in the LeBistro restaurant with the Gem senior staff for our cruisecritic roll call group. We received a warm welcome by affable Hotel director Filippo Bertuzzi from Italy and his fine staff. They addressed any problems we may have had and answered our questions. It was good to put a face on people we had exchange views with on the roll call in the months preceding the cruise. We formed a trivia team for the Progressive Trivia competition which our our "cruisecritic" team number one at the endo of the cruise. I want to thank Gary, Ruth, chris & Rachel for joining me in trivia which was a lot of fun and very fruitful.

ENTERTAINMENT: The best performer in the Stardust Theatre was hpnotist Brenda Kaye, very humorous and entertaining. Her seminars during the cruise were very popular. We found the production shows to be very contemporary with World Beat the best of the three when they focused on the music of Europe. We felt that at least one of the production shows could have featured more music from Broadway which the many older passengers could better relate to. The same was true in the Spinnaker Lounge where a group called Next Stage played mostly rock music nightly. Even teir tribute to the Beatles ignored their mellower classics, Yesterday, Michelle and Imagine. We were very disappointed that there was no big band night in Spinnaker's with the show band. Previous NCL cruises have always had at least one big band night which was always well attended. There were two fine guitarist/vocalists Randon and R J Red appearing in Magnums Champagne Bar but they were so similar in style that they should not have been on the same ship at the same time. We enjoyed pianist/vocalist Laurie Anne Gardner in Magnums who was very versatile and strived to honor requests. Pianist Dmtro Kremonov, playing familiar standards in the atrium, was a welcome change but he performed only one night. Read more