What can we say about shipboard life? Being in a suite is definitely a bonus that we enjoy. We love our butler, Peter, for his company more than his “butlering.” Whether fleet-wide or just the Gem, they’ve added a few little nice touches like special port information guides from ‘your concierge” (the aforementioned adorable Gian) and of course all the perks are nice. Our room steward, Cheldon is probably one of the best we’ve ever had. He is always thinking ahead, and fixing things around the cabin that we aren’t even telling him about (I mean really, the guy has enough to do without worrying about the screeching toilet door – we just deal with it – but no – Cheldon obviously heard it and sent maintenance to fix it). There are a few other things he has fixed (or will fix throughout the cruise) and we just can’t be any better taken care of than that. Oh, and one day we we on the balcony hanging out, barefoot, while he was cleaning and he insisted we have our slippers and went into the closet and got them for us. Totally, amazingly sweet. So, that part of life aboard is excellent.

At this point, though, I think we would be remiss if we didn’t talk a little bit about the Coronavirus here. While all is well aboard the Gem, the virus is starting to make the news and affect different things in and around the world. We knew about it before we left of course – and were actually sort of shocked when we found out that flights were still going and coming from Wuhan out of SFO on the days we were there – but now, things are beginning to heat up, and even our ship is not immune. A few days ago, the corporation determined that they needed to step up sanitizing on all ships, so we went into a semi-code red situation where we aren’t allowed to serve ourselves from the buffets and hand sanitizer abounds. It doesn’t really affect us all that much, because we don’t eat in the buffet – either the suite dining for breakfast or lunch, or the main dining room, but it has got to be nightmare for others. Beyond that however, it is life as normal aboard the NCL Gem.

Of course, the Diamond Princess disaster is not yet known, and things will get significantly more intense – but for now, all is well. There is a contingent of Asians aboard, a big group of whom are Chinese speaking, but for now, there isn’t anything amiss with our health and we are continuing on as normal. No angst or aggression, while everyone is aware, no one is hyper-aware, at least not yet.