Yo Ho Ho, My family, fiance'/his 7 year old niece and my 10 year old daughter, just returned from a 9-day Eastern cruise on Gem. Since it is hard to pack all the great things about our cruise into one review, I'll list the highlights and tips.
1. Embarkation: $13.00 cab ride from Port Authority. We arrived at Port 88 about 11:00 a.m. We boarded without incident at about 12:20.
2. As soon as we stepped foot on the ship, I asked if there was a spa representative in lobby, and I was immediately directed 5 steps over to spa table. We purchased 2 spa passed for the 9 days at $139 per person. (Be careful.....they charged us for body scrub and pumice stone $28.00 which I didn't notice at first, but the next day had it removed).
The whole entire staff has targeted every age group and made it a wonderful experience:) The Gem was an enjoyable vacation from the moment we stepped on board.