Wonderful Family Vacation

We had such a nice time on the Gem....sad it's over!

We got to the pier at around 10:30. Check in was quick and easy. We had a little wait and boarding began at 11:30. Lunch at the buffet was a little crowded but delicious. The cabins were ready at about 12:30. Lifeboat drill was at 2:30 and we set sail at 3 with a nice sail away party with a band and barbecue by the pool.

We found when eating at the buffet if you walk all the way to the back of the ship is another smaller buffet called the great outdoors. It is very nice there. Much quieter and plenty of seats and a view of the beautiful ocean. The food on the Gem was excellent. We ate breakfast everyday at the buffet. They have everything you could think of including made to order omletes and Belgian waffles. We ate just about all dinners at Magentas. Food was excellent and all waiters were so friendly. They have 5 meals that stay the same every night and 5 that change every night. We loved the strip loin steak with an onion ring and fries. We also had short ribs with Cajun fried shrimp, chicken parm with spaghetti, shrimp scampi with linguini, a complete turkey dinner all were excellent and the desserts were very good too. I think they had 5 to choose from the chocolate volcano cake, strawberry napoleons and cherry truffle were a few we had and again all delicious. We also had a couple lunches at O'sheehans. They have bar type food and it was very good. We had the chicken pot pie, chicken wings, mozzarella sticks and spinach dip with tortilla chips all very good. The food onboard was very good my only complaint would be that they didn't have lobster tails in the main dining room other than that you won't go hungry.

We had beautiful weather. In port canaveral we did the shuttle to Coco Beach. It was $13 a person and ran every 15 -30 minutes. It was a little too hot to go to the beach so we did some shopping and went back to the ship. We really enjoyed being on the ship while docked because it was like our own private ship. All the hot tubs and pools were empty and plenty of deck chairs. The private island is absolutely beautiful. We basically ate lunch there and did a little shopping again because of the heat. The captain who is very funny said he went to the island for 12 minutes because that's all he could take.  In Nassau we didn't get off the ship. We have been there a couple times and just really enjoyed the ship when everyone  was off. That really changed when we started sailing home. The pools and hot tubs were so crowded. We were very happy to have had them all to ourselves

We did a lot of gambling in the casino. All the dealers and casino staff were so friendly. most of the tables had a $5 limit and lots of penny machines. We had lots of fun but didn't win any money. We also played bingo which was not as good as on other ships. Not because of the staff...they were wonderful but it was expensive. Packages ranged from $39 to $69 and prizes ranged from $100 to $400 they never had a huge jackpot. Wouldn't do that again. 

The captain was very funny. His announcements still have us laughing. We can't wait to go again.