We flew cross country from San Jose, CA to NYC mostly for the experience of sailing from New York. I had not been to Grand Stirrup Cay or Port Canaveral and had more exploring to do in Nassau. Prices in New York, this time of year, have me saving my money for an extended trip sometime in the future. So it was a red-eye in and a plane from JFK directly after the cruise.

The embarkation and disembarkation looked worse than they where. When I arrived at the port (about 10:30 a.m.), lots of folks were still leaving the port and it wasn't too clear when heading into that flow was appropriate. But NCL employees ushered me in and the rest of the embarkation process went fine. I'm lucky enough to be a Platinum Latitudes member so I get to go on with the first group. Behind the haven folks, no doubt. Disembarkation also went reasonably well, with the easy walk-off folks being called about 7:45 a.m. and the first group after about 8:40 (or so). Walking off would have been faster but for a couple cruises in a row I've managed to NEVER use the elevators. But carrying my luggage down the stairs would have been a bit much so I can't walk-off.

So, I'll start off with the minuses. The Gem on this voyage certainly had the dirtiest windows I've ever seen on an NCL ship. This was my cruise #9 on NCL. Our cabin window (which was blocked by a lifeboat) was filthy. The windows in La Cocina (the overflow area for the Garden Cafe breakfast and lunch), were very dirty. The windows in the Thermal Suites were better--probably at least having been some attention paid to them in the last month. The windows in Le Bistro and Cagney's were better but not really clean. Read more