Author: Ashleigh Page 90 of 94
A photographer I follow on Facebook recently posted about an Alaskan cruise he took. He said it was a fun family vacation but it wasn’t great for photography. This got me thinking about why I love cruising:
- Value – For one price you get luxury accommodations, transportation, great food, and world-class entertainment
- Multiple Destinations – Go island hopping or visit several European cities and only unpack once
- Relaxation – Days at sea with no set plans? Count me in
Cruising does not allow you to get as deep into a location or give the flexibility to catch sunrises or sunsets in port. I have to say, there is something about a catching one from the ship! And I love how cruising gives you a taste of a location without having to commit; if you don’t like a port, you can get back onto the ship. If you fall in love with a location, you know where to plan your next trip!
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! If I’ve convinced you, there are many sites to browse cruises, but I recommend Priceline Cruises.
When I am in Grand Rapids, one of my favorite places to visit is Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Meijer gardens is a very unique in that it is a mixture of nature and art. As you walk the winding paths of the sculpture park, you see interesting works modern tucked behind beautiful flowering trees and gardens. This photo was taken in the sculpture park from underneath B-Tree II, a sculpture by Kenneth Snelson.
For the plant lovers, the gardens are made up of several distinct areas: the shade garden, the Japanese Garden, and the Farm Garden. The Japanese Garden is the newest addition to the park and features unique Japanese landscaping including bridges and lanterns, surrounding a central pond.
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To plan your visit to Meijer Gardens, visit www.meijergardens.org/.
Sailing under the Verazzano Bridge on the way back into New York Harbor.
So far I have reviewed the ports from my cruise: Port Canaveral, Great Stirrup Cay, and Nassau and I’ve reviewed the dining. All I’ve got left is the ship itself. The Gem debuted in 2007 and can hold over 2300 passengers. It is considered a mid-sized ship, but there is so much going on that it feels like a much larger ship. Whether you’d like to lounge by the pool, practice your golf swing, or go on a scavenger hunt with the family, there is something for everyone to do on sea days.
We had an obstructed ocean-view cabin on deck 8. It was on the smaller side but it wasn’t uncomfortable for the two of us. If there were any more people, it would have been crowded. There was a lot of storage built into the cabin so things weren’t lying around and getting in the way. I think next time we would pay a little more for a full ocean-view or a balcony.
There are a lot of entertainment options on the Gem. There are big nightly Vegas-style shows, Second City Comedy shows, and numerous musicians around the ship. We’re not into Vegas-style shows so I can’t speak to the those, but the Second City shows were hilarious! I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time! We also really enjoyed the piano and guitar players on the ship. On the last night they had a huge jam session where all the ship’s musicians came together and even let musically-inclined passengers join them on stage.
The crew was great! The food was great! We loved that you weren’t seated with strangers at dinner. There was a lot to do on the ship. Overall, we loved the Gem and can’t wait to sail with NCL again in the future!
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To book your Norwegian Cruise Vacation visit NCL.com.
Norwegian Cruise Line specializes in “Freestyle Cruising” which means no assigned dining times or dining rooms and a more relaxed dress code. The Gem has 11 dining venues. 6 of these are complimentary: Magenta, Grand Pacific, O’Sheehans, Orchid Garden, The Garden Cafe, and The Great Outdoors. The Gem also has several specialty, for-fee restaurants: Cagney’s Steakhouse, Le Bistro, Moderno Churrascaria, La Cucina, and Teppanyaki. I would definitely recommend getting reservations for the specialty restaurants ahead of time unless you don’t mind dining late. You can make reservations for the specialty restaurants online before the cruise, but you have to pay at time of booking. If you don’t want to pay for your food months before your cruise, I recommend booking right when you get on the ship to get the most ideal times. And personally, I would book times on the later side since you’ll probably have a bigger lunch than you’re used to. Unless you have a big group, there is no need to book the complimentary restaurants ahead of time.
Magenta and Grand Pacific are the main dining rooms with rotating menus. Grand Pacific is the more formal dining room but even though they shared menus, we found the service to be better in Magenta. In Magenta they refilled our bread and brought coffee with dessert without having to ask for it. Speaking of dessert, you have to try the Warm Chocolate Volcano!
O’Sheehans is the Irish Pub that is open 24 hours a day. It has a limited menu, but is good if you want to avoid the crowds (especially on embarkation day) or eat at an off time. O’Sheehans definitely had the most restaurant-like feel to it and there was never a wait. The fish and chips were great!
Orchid Garden is the Asian Fusion restaurant that recently got rid of its cover charge and because of that, was the busiest of all the restaurants. This was the only restaurant we ever had to wait for and personally, it wasn’t worth it. The dishes were unusual but they were OK. Service, on the other hand was not so great. I would most likely skip the Asian restaurant on next Norwegian cruise.
The Garden Cafe and Great Outdoors are the buffets on the ship. The Garden Cafe is the main buffet and The Great Outdoors is the al fresco dining option. On sea days, The Garden Cafe was always packed! You could always find a table, but it was crowded walking through. The Garden Cafe typically had shorter hours and a more limited menu. We ate most of our meals in the main dining room because we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of the buffets.
Cagney’s Steakhouse is Norwegian’s Signature Steakhouse and it was PHENOMENAL! It has the highest cover charge of the signature restaurants and it was worth ever penny. Everything I had was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The servers were attentive but didn’t hover. My only complaint is we dined at Cagney’s on my birthday and they brought out an anniversary cake and sang an awkward anniversary song to us (we also celebrated our anniversary on this trip but I brought the card that said we were celebrating my birthday on this day). Our server caught the mistake and asked to sing Happy Birthday to me by herself but I declined. I’d had enough singing for one meal.
Moderno Currascaria is an all-you-can-eat Brazilian Steakhouse where gauchos bring the various dishes around on skewers. This was a meat feast (vegetarians may want to skip this one) serving everything from lamb chops to garlic marinated beef and chorizo sausage. There is also a salad bar with soups and all kinds of different salads. I made the mistake of going up for two trips to the salad bar and I couldn’t even try everything they brought around. I was so disappointed! I think on my next cruise, I will skip lunch on Moderno day.
Le Bistro is Norwegian’s French Restaurant and of all the specialty restaurants, it was my least favorite. I had the filet which came with a pepper sauce that I didn’t care for. We had the chocolate fondue for dessert and I was disappointed that it was cold, and honesty they didn’t give us much fruit. I have heard a lot of good things about Le Bistro, but I just didn’t care for it. It was not worth the cover charge to me.
Teppanyaki is a hibachi-style restaurant and it is the most difficult reservation to get. I have heard a lot of good things about Teppanyaki but I didn’t try it. The same goes for La Cucina, the Italian restaurant, which is also very popular.
Overall, the dining on the Norwegian Gem was great! If you’re looking for a cruise that has a dining focus, you can’t go wrong with Norwegian. I loved that the dining was restaurant-style and we didn’t have to sit with strangers. And unlike the other cruise lines that have “your time dining”, you rarely have to wait for a table.
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To book your Norwegian Cruise Vacation visit NCL.com.
When our ship stopped in Nassau, we had no plans, we just wanted to see the city. We walked the streets for a bit and decided to take the ferry over to Paradise Island (previously Hog Island, but the name was changed when celebrities began showing interest In it) to check out Atlantis. By lunch time it was too hot for me so we headed back to the ship to cool off. This port stop really proved to me that my next summer vacation needs to be somewhere cooler. Alaska, perhaps?
Standing on the lido deck of a cruise ship really provides an interesting perspective for photography. It gives a higher vantage point to look towards the city or out at the sea.
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