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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:00 am | 1st Post |
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Can’t believe it’s been a week since our cruise and we cannot wait to do another cruise again!
This cruise was the funnest time we ever had I think on a vacation.
We’ve been to the Bahamas and Mexico on an all-inclusive and we really had a good time. We went to Vegas about 2 years ago and we thought that was a great time — even though it was hot, hot, hot!!! But we loved the Grand Canyon and we loved the shows and visiting all the Casinos and we had a blast.
Mexico memories were great — swimming with the Dolphins and swimming in the caves in Xcaret. Our Sandos resort in Playa De Carma was big and beautiful with tons of activities BUT HOT AS ANYTHING! We experienced it once and that is enough for us.
We've also done the usual Disney and Universal when the kids were younger, but cruising is just so much better. It's just a relaxing and enjoyable vacation.
That is what we loved about cruising. We were never hot and we never broke a sweat except for when we were headed to beach. The ship was over the top with their decor — I felt like I stepped into Alice in Wonderland World
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THIS IS A PIC OF THE BACCHUS DINING ROOM… The theme was literally ALL GRAPES!!! I have to admit the decor is over the top to say the least... but oh well...
Attachment: bacchus.jpg (Downloaded 114 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:13 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:02 am | 2nd Post |
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However, we had the best memories on this ship and we at times felt guilty we didn’t bring our kids to experience everything as well. We know they would have had a blast… oh well…
HERE IS A QUICK RECAP:
Best memories on the ship — LOTS!!! Karaoke, Frankie and Johnnys Lounge dancing to the band called “MUSIC UNLIMITED”, Frankensteins Club the night they had Motown and Disco, CASINO — wish it was bigger but it was fun either way… hanging out at the bar and making friends was pretty cool plus on the last day I scored 1500 pts and was able to get free drinks the whole night, HANGING OUT ON THE BALCONY — the views were amazing — ESPECIALLY WHEN WE PULLED INTO PORT and we woke up in the morning and pulled our curtains to see the most beautiful, and amazing views from our Balacony, it was like a postcard! We got dressed up for Elegant Night and got professional pictures taken — FINALLLY!!!!! and last but not least the Carnival Legends Show on the final night of the cruise which my husband got to sing Elvis Presley live on stage with the dancers and band from the ship! AWESOME MEMORIES!!!
We loved the Mad Hatters Lounge– they had Karaoke and the Punchliners Comedy Club there and it was so much fun!!! We loved it all!
Ports we visited –
PUERTO RICO – Out of the 3 ports we visited, Puerto Rico we saw and did the least. We didn’t get there till 4pm and we did a quick bus tour for $10/pp which took us around Old San Juan and we got off to get a few pics. It was OK. Nothing spectacular. We ate at Genesis, not the best honestly. I wasn’t that hungry either, we ended with a night at the Sheraton Casino – spent $40 then went back to ship. We took a great picture of the ship as it was docked in port in Puerto Rico.
Attachment: pr.jpg (Downloaded 113 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:42 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:04 am | 3rd Post |
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As we were headed back to the ship after we left the Sheraton Casino in Old San Juan, my husband took this wonderful picture of our ship docked at port....
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:07 am | 4th Post |
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Picture from our Balcony as we were pulling into port in Puerto Rico... Love the view!!!
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:10 am | 5th Post |
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ST. THOMAS – This was the nicest of all three islands. The mountains and scenery was just stunning. We took the Skyline to take pics then took a cab to Megans Bay Beach that I read online was the nicest. However, for the two of us to do this, it cost $8/pp each way and then $4/pp to get on the beach — so that was with a tip $50 for a day at the beach. Oh well — It was a beautiful beach and we got some great pics and really got to relax and enjoy.
Attachment: stthomasaerial.jpg (Downloaded 108 times)
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:14 am | 6th Post |
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This pictures saids it all...
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:17 am | 7th Post |
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WHAT IS AMAZING ABOUT HAVING A BALCONY, IS WAKING UP AND WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR CURTAIN, THIS IS THE WHAT YOU SEE ... This picture was taken from our balcony when we woke up in St Thomas
Attachment: p1000469.jpg (Downloaded 103 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:33 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:21 am | 8th Post |
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GRAND TURK/CAICOS –
It is beautiful. First thing that makes it different from St Thomas is there are no mountains. It is all flat. But the beachfront is rockin! Margaritaville is a lot of loud getting drunk people. Not that it’s not good but they are sure partying it up in there.
What is awesome about this port is you literally walk down the gangplank and you are already on the beach it’s that close. Music you can hear while still on the ship.
The entire beach front is lots of activities, bars, restaurants. But the beach is rocky and it drops when you enter the water in some places.
It was nice getting off the boat and just arriving at the beach. No money to spend on taxis to the beach like we did for St Thomas. That was a definitely a cost savings. Margaritaville was expensive. We bought a beer and a Banana Daquiri and it cost with a tip $20. So that was the end of our drinks LOL.
Margaritaville is owned by Carnival and it has a nice size pool with swim up bar, DJ playing music and getting the crowd going with games and a flow rider. We stayed a bit just to take videos and pics and have one drink but our main time was spent on the beach.
We had to walk to further to get away from the crowds and get a chair. We loved the fact that we just got off the boat and were on the beach.
The port is nice and decent shopping and all. Sun was hot as anything though. We got sunburned but didn’t burn. Thank goodness we put on lots of lotion and Sunburn spray so we had no burn at all. It was a good day out.
But not as nice as St Thomas.
Attachment: grandturk1.jpg (Downloaded 93 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:52 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:25 am | 9th Post |
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I did like the convenience of getting off the boat and just walking onto the beach. Although like I said the beach was not the nicest, what was also nice for anyone who was interested were lots of activities right there on the beach such as horseback riding, banana boat and other water sports....
Attachment: grandturk2.jpg (Downloaded 99 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:32 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:37 am | 10th Post |
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Margaritaville was pretty crowded, but too much loud music and lots of games being played. Not really our cup of tea... we just went to check it out quick before we headed to the beach to relax...
Attachment: margaritaville.jpg (Downloaded 92 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:47 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:02 am | 11th Post |
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KARAOKE AND KARAOKE LIVE SUPERSTAR –
We had a great first night. My husband did his KARAOKE… they have a live band but we missed them and he just did regular karaoke… he was nice and drunk so he let his inhibitions loose… first Billy Joel – I Like the Way You Are, then he came up again for my pick – Kenny Rogers – Thru the Years and THEN A THIRD TIME (boy he was on a roll) and this time it was stupid, old, out of date and dead Frank Sinatrana – New York, New York! I really can’t stand that song and I wanted something more up to date like Journey but now he wanted to sing an old farty song…
The next night, they were having Karaoke Superstar Live which mean you get to sing karaoke with a live band. My hubby sang finally with a live backup band and was chosen to sing Elvis in the final show on the last day of the cruise called "Carnival Legends". He was picked to sing “Jail House Rock” and "Hound Dog" and was so happy. He tried to chicken out the next day because he was nervous about memorizing the words and singing on stage, but I made him do it anyways, and he was really glad he did!!! IT WAS GREAT MEMORIES!!!
Attachment: elvis_mike.jpg (Downloaded 86 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:36 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:10 am | 12th Post |
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Carnival Legends was the singers who sang during karaoke nights. Laura, the karaoke coordinator, picked out the singers who were the best during the cruise and asked them to perform on the final night in her Legends Show. There were 8 cruise guests who participated. My husband being one of them...They all did a fantastic job and it was a great way to end the final night of the cruise!
Attachment: p10006152.jpg (Downloaded 85 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:38 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:23 am | 13th Post |
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Frankensteins Club - MOTOWN AND DISCO...
First Sea Day -- Frankenstein club was having a Motown/60s night. Wow was that fun! we got there at 10:00 and stayed till 1 in the morning. We met some really nice people who were sitting next to us. They started the night with such awesome music such as “Play that funkin music white boy” then went on to other classics by the bee gees then michael jackson, and I forgot who else then as the night went on they upped the music to more current today which was still fun to dance and listen to. We had a great time. It was so much fun!
I had the coolest drink that night--it was a chocolate martini. II thought it was $6.50 a glass, but that was actually my husbands beer. My drink was $11/glass and I had quite a few of them that night!
The next day we stayed in and slept and relaxed all day in our room and with the balcony room it was just nice.
Attachment: frankensteins.jpg (Downloaded 82 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:38 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:33 am | 14th Post |
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Frankensteins Club was really cool looking. We only went there 2X since we were busy doing other stuff. But only when they playing our type of music. We found another lounge called Frankie and Johnnys that had this fantastic band and they played great music that was more to our generation. Music they placed was a great musical range such as, O'Jays, Temptations, Journey, Michael Jackson, etc. This was awesome and we loved going there after Karaoke or the Casino a couple of nights. Loved the decor in this place!
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:46 am | 15th Post |
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This was our favorite lounge on the ship...we loved coming here at nights after Karaoke or the Comedy Club or the Casino... We just hung out and had some drinks and danced to wonderful music by these great musicians!
Attachment: p1000507.jpg (Downloaded 76 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:54 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:51 am | 16th Post |
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Madhatters Lounge is where mainly Karaoke and Punchliners Comedy Club took place. I absolutely loved the decor of the place! The theme was obviously right out of Alice in Wonderland and they did it perfect! It was so nice and cozy and relaxing. We loved it here!
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 04:53 am | 17th Post |
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This is the main entrance to the Madhatters Lounge. It is located right next to the Phantom Theater and also near Frankie and Johnnys. Great location.
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 05:04 am | 18th Post |
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Mr Lucky's Casino -- OK I have to admit my husband and I do enjoy spending time in the Casino, having some drinks at the bar and playing slots.
As for the casino itself, I would consider it on the small side. Not too big and there were nights that it was empty and other nights it was packed. Especially the last night of the cruise, it was packed! I guess everyone was trying to get there last licks in! I found the slots to be the tightest on the last night (hmmmm)... but we didn't do too bad. We actually left at 2:30 in the morning and still had $250 dollars left... we won some decent winnings here and there through out the cruise and it kept us going... decent variety of machines but still a small casino. One thing to note: when you acquire 1500 points drinks are on the house in the Casino! And, of course, I reached 1500 on my last night of the cruise. So at least I got free drinks that night! But either way, we enjoyed our time in the casino and talking to other cruisers. My husband had a great time at the bar with his new friends!
Attachment: casino.jpg (Downloaded 69 times)
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 05:24 am | 19th Post |
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FOOD -- I don't have much to say about the food because my husband I barely got to enjoy any of the food on the ship. We stayed up every night and the only thing open was Pizza -- which I find absolutely ridiculous that with all the money we are spending that we had nothing else to choose from! So every night we ate PIZZA and stuffed our guts. Then we went to bed and didn't wake up till late morning and was not even hungry to eat breakfast --- Needless to say we never ate Breakfast Buffet the entire cruise!
Lunch there are two options: Comedy Brunch or Buffet. We tried the comedy brunch -- it was horrible. I ordered the steak with eggs and I did not like the steak at all. And they gave us some weird biscuits that were so light and airy it wasn't worth the calories to eat something that had ZERO flavor.
We had no choice but to eat lunch buffet every day and it was OK. Carving station was pretty good. I enjoyed the reuben paninis. Chinese station was always a long line, so I usually skipped it. Sampled here and there... ehhh... it filled us up. Loved my cheesecake and chocolate mousse one day...
As for dinner, only ate dinner ONCE! We were still full from lunch buffet that we could not stomach another meal so that is why we got stuck eating Pizza every night at 2 or 3 in the morning and never having an appetite for breakfast the next day. It was a vicious cycle!
As for my one dinner, it was in the dining room and it was superb! We both ordered the onion soup followed by beef short ribs. It was delicious.
We promised to go and eat dinner again in the dining room because we paid for it -- but we never made it there again.
MY CHEESECAKE AND MOUSSE...yummy!!!
Attachment: cheesecake.jpg (Downloaded 68 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 05:47 am by memoryblogger
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 05:34 am | 20th Post |
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BINGO -- I think the only thing we got to do was go and play Bingo.
The card cost $20 for one sheet of 3.
There was also a Powerball bingo on the last night... We didn't play that.
I think the grand prize was $5,000 if you covered the whole board AND OF COURSE NO ONE WON THAT, then they had $3,000 and still no winner... and then someone finally won $1,000. Sounds like a ripoff. They should have still given away more money if there was no winner of the $5,000.
We entered the sweepstakes for $20 to win a free cruise... Some other lucky passenger WON the FREE CARNIVAL CRUISE!!! Lucky!!! I'm jealous! :)
This was definitely a fun ship and we did not get to experience many things because we chose to do what we enjoyed and fitted our lifestyle. I am so glad we did this cruise. It looks like my next cruise will be on the Norwegian Gem next summer. Already booked a balcony for us. I would def have done the Carnival Splendor but was not thrilled about going to the same place again and plus their price was actually higher than that of the Norwegian Gem (that's surprising???)... so hopefully, all will be ok and we will be able to do another cruise next summer! CAN'T WAIT!!! I just hope we have as much fun as we did on this ship!
Attachment: bingo.jpg (Downloaded 66 times) Last edited on Mon Sep 17th, 2012 05:49 am by memoryblogger
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Sea Breeze
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Posted: Mon Sep 17th, 2012 03:30 pm | 21st Post |
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| Thanks for taking time to share your pictures and for your review. It has been a while since we have cruised on Carnival. Happy to see that Carnival will be sailing out of NY .Nice to have other options now.
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nhrich
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Posted: Wed Sep 19th, 2012 12:26 pm | 22nd Post |
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| Great review, thanks for sharing, and welcome to CTT.
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Rich, ACC
Carefree Vacations
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http://www.carefree-vacations.net
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KerCar
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Posted: Wed Sep 19th, 2012 06:54 pm | 23rd Post |
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| Great review! Welcome to CTT!
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Kerry
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memoryblogger
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Posted: Fri Dec 28th, 2012 02:01 pm | 24th Post |
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Hello KerCar -- I see that you indicated NCL Gem Sept 2012.. Can you let me know how your cruise was, since I have us booked for August-Sept 2013 and would love to get some insight on the enjoyment factor. My husband really wanted us to go back on Carnival since we had a great time but I thought it would be redundant to visit the same ports.
Not really thrilled about the ports the Gem is visiting (Florida, Bahamas), but hopefully we will enjoy.
I like to know what you thought of the musical entertainment, casinos, etc...
THANKS SO MUCH AND HOPE YOU SEE THIS AND REPLY!
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KerCar
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Posted: Sat Dec 29th, 2012 03:02 am | 25th Post |
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memoryblogger wrote:
Hello KerCar -- I see that you indicated NCL Gem Sept 2012.. Can you let me know how your cruise was, since I have us booked for August-Sept 2013 and would love to get some insight on the enjoyment factor. My husband really wanted us to go back on Carnival since we had a great time but I thought it would be redundant to visit the same ports.
Not really thrilled about the ports the Gem is visiting (Florida, Bahamas), but hopefully we will enjoy.
I like to know what you thought of the musical entertainment, casinos, etc...
THANKS SO MUCH AND HOPE YOU SEE THIS AND REPLY!
Hi MemoryBlogger-I've been on the Gem twice and really enjoyed both trips. She is a great ship and I'm sure you'll have a blast! Norwegian does a great job of having something for everyone on their ships. I don't normally spend much time in the casino, so hopefully someone else can chime in. There are plenty of fun activities, day and night. The food is great. With freestyle dining, you get to eat your meals whenever you like instead of being confined to a specific dining time like on some of the other cruise lines. It sounds like this might work out better for you and you might actually get to eat a few more dinners this time around! Good luck planning! There are several members who are more knowledgable about the Gem than I am, so hopefully they'll post some more info for you.Last edited on Sat Dec 29th, 2012 03:03 am by KerCar
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Kerry
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