Cabin Review

I would book our starboard-side club balcony cabin, again. It was a good size and in a good location, near the elevators. It was quiet except when the children were running up and down the halls. Unlike our previous cruises, we didn’t unpack our suitcases the entire trip, though the room itself has plenty of storage. There is a small desk area with an uncomfortable stool where there is a hair dryer, two outlets for U.S. plugs, and one European outlet. If you need a cpap machine or similar, you will need a 6-foot extension cord. We brought a power strip that did not have surge protector, because surge protectors are incompatible with ship wiring and can cause a fire. We had two phones and a laptop to keep charged. The small but new TV was in this area, and it’s a good idea to keep the TV on Channel 12, the bow camera, at all times so you can hear ship-wide announcements that are not broadcast in the cabins but are broadcast on channel 12 and public areas of the ship. Captain’s announcements are broadcast in the cabins, though. There was a divider built into the room between the very comfy bed and the couch, which pulls out into a bed; we didn’t notice the divider on our previous Gem cruise. There was a minifridge that included a container of water; you need a specific drink package to get containers (cardboard bottles) of water without paying extra. On the way back from Bermuda, when the seas were rough, our cabin was less rock-and-roll-y than I heard other cabins forward, aft, and/or higher were.

The bathroom had clearly been redone at a refitting the Gem had undergone since we were last on it, and it looked fresh. The shower was also a good-sized tub, but I can see that less mobile people would struggle to lift a leg over it to step into the shower. There is body wash and shampoo in containers on the wall of the shower and the toilet is in a small room off the bathroom. It’s nicely done.

All-in-all, the room was great. Upon request the first night, our room steward brought us bath robes, a mattress topper, and an extra roll of toilet paper. My wife asked for a coffee machine, but it never arrived. We saw our room steward twice the entire cruise, which was much, much less than our previous cruises and less than we preferred. He did a good job making up the room around our schedule, though, and we left a tip each day.