Norwegian Gem

Hey yeahhhhh

Our family group decided on the Norwegian Gem in March out of New York which meant we didn't need to get airfare. This saved us a lot of money and we got a good deal on the cruise.
When we first saw the ship we thought she looks really beautiful. Everything was clean and well taken care of.
The cabins were a little small especially since we had four people in our cabin. The couch could become a double bed but that takes up a lot of the free space in the cabin.
Lots of activites going on during the day like bowling, Bingo, Nintendo Wii and also workshops and seminars. A lot of these had extra costs involved and Bingo I found really expensive.
The food in the main dining rooms was okay but nothing great or what we were hoping for. All the better restaurants you have to pay extra for. We tried some of them but not sure they are actually worth the extra cost.
Shore excursions were expensive so we tried in most ports to do our own tours. We were often able to negotiate better deals with taxis in most ports.
Word of warning if you take a cruise out of New York. The weather is cooler so it is not as nice outside as it would be on other cruises. Next time I would take a cruise out of Florida instead.
The Norwegian Gem looks good but after my cruise it leaves you with wanting more. We didn't appreciate all the extra costs onboard and found what was included wasn't up to par.

I just returned from a 7 day cruise to the Bahamas on the Norwegian Gem. We choose this sailing because it was sailing out of New York which is where we live.
The whole idea of Freestyle is kind of lost on me as you have to pay to eat at any of the decent restaurants. There are only a few that don't charge.
The entertainment was barely watchable and we got up and left from a couple of shows. Maybe we are used to shows on Broadway but these were just bad.
Overall it looks like Norwegian cuts back on everything and tries to get every extra dime they can out of you. I know we paid a good price for the cruise but next time we will go with a different cruise line. The Norwegian Gem was definitely not a gem.

We were charged everyday for all tips for our room steward and the restaurant waiters however it seems like they still expect us to tip them. The first time at each restaurant, we receive decent service. Then towards the middle and the end of the trip we had to wait a long time for someone to come to take our order or to refill the water. We ended up going to the buffet since the experiences at the restaurant is so frustrating. Then I got food poisoning when we are returning back to NYC. I complained to the front desk about it and the person has absolutely no reaction. He didn\'t even offer to make it up for our horrible experience.

We took a Med. cruise in 2008 on the Norwegian Gem - never again. Our balcony room was filthy, never cleaned properly the whole trip, upon arrival found previous people had left their rubbish on the balcony floor, still there when we left a week later!

Ordered well in advance, and confirmed by N. Gem, special food requirements due to health issues,no problem they said, of course the food never materialized, spent a week eating raw veg!!

Offered compensation of a few hundred dollars \'off our next trip\' as if!!

Just returned from another Med. cruise with another company - pure bliss - NCL could learn a thing or two believe me.

Have warned all our friends - never travel NCL.

Beware.

This was our 10th cruise and this was our second with Norwegian. We like that we are on a brand new ship.
We choose a balcony cabin which we really enjoyed. We felt it wasn\'t that big but was comfortable. I loved being able to just step out for some fresh air. The cabin was a little dusty and needed a good deep down cleaning which I guess isn\'t done.
The lineup for food was long in the mornings as everyone was rushing to get their breakfasts. The line for omelets was very long. They could have used some more servers.
The shows were entertaining and I had no complaints.
Overall a good cruise but I wouldn\'t call it great.

I will never ever travel between Christmas and New Years again. Every kid and adult off of school and work was on this ship. NCL did not seem to have enough staff to accommodate the number of travelers which affected service tremendously. Could the economy have an affect on NCL and the staffing of the ship?

Cons:
*Fountain soda vs can soda: If you get the soda package be prepared for flat fountain soda. Why cant NCL just roll the cost of the soda into the bottom line price?
*Freeport Bahamas: If you like container ships and container ship yards this port is for you. Why bother? 4 hours at this port is not enough time.
*Garden Cafe' (buffet): If you dont like mass amounts of people clawing their way for food like it was there last meal, this eating area is not for you. Not to mention the waste of food. If your not sure you like the choices you made take smaller amounts.

Pros:
*Entertainment: The stardust theatre is beautiful and the shows are pretty good.
*Casino: Other than smelling like smoke when you leave the casino the casino provides a variety of games and the staff is very helpful.
*Cagney's: Probably the best choice of restaurant on the ship.
*Blue Lagoon: Great buffalo wings except for the blue cheese dressing that has the texture and consistency of milk.

I feel that the bar and restaurant staff were not as pleasant as the rest of the ships staff. I am wondering if the 10 months per year, 7 days a week and 10 hours per day has an influence on their attitudes?

For NCL's sake and the sake of future cruisers, I am hoping that my mediocre experience was solely due to the timing and the mass amounts of travelers. My first experience on the NCL Dawn back in 03 was not nearly as bad as this one.

This was our 4th NCL cruise and it won't be our last. Our cruise was sailing out of Barcelona and we had arranged everything ahead of time ourselves. A taxi was cheaper and faster for us to go to our hotel the Montblanc which we thought was a good hotel. Alot of Norwegian Cruise line passengers were staying there. We loved Barcelona but watch your valuables. We heard of some other having their passports stolen.
After a few days in Barcelona we were ready to start our cruise on the Norwegian Gem. The ship itself is beautiful and we loved our balcony cabin and the location on the 9th floor.
The food was okay but not the best all the time but the service was very good. Some nights it was hard to find something that I would like to eat and I am not a picky eater.
My favourite stops was Malta where we did wine tasting but Sorrento and Naples were also good. We really enjoyed walking around Pompeii.
I hired a cab in Rome and they did a wonderful job.
The entertainment onboard the Norwegian Gem was good. There were 3 musical productions and the cast was so full of energy and talent. The magician was absolutely amazing I still can't figure how he did some of those tricks.
The negatives would be the extra costs for the alternate dining restaurants. We liked dining there but the extra costs really do add up. The food overall was average.
Overall we loved the ship and the crew and were so glad we sailed on the Norwegian Gem.

This was our second cruise but our first with Norwegian. I had 2 children a boy age 14 and a girl age 12. The flight to Barcelona went smoothly and once we arrived we gave our luggage to the NCL rep and the next time we saw it was in our room. Good service that way and efficient.
Checkin was very quick and no sooner than we arrived we were on the ship. The room and bathroom was clean which I was happy to see as I tend to be fussy on this.
The kids loved using the soda card and the buffet was great for them. They just ate when they wanted and didn't have to bother me for money.
The restaurants were good though we found that the covercharge for the specialty restaurants was not worth it.
The kids program wasn't good as they really didn't offer much for my kids and they were just bored. One of the major downsides of this cruise. Though they didn't have many kids onboard which might have been part of the problem.
Overall a good cruise and my family really enjoyed themselves.

Worst cruise ever. after 9 cruises, this has definitely been the worst experience we have had in cruising. horrible service, disgusting food, not real free style, not enough public places(set up for profitability and not comfort). Port of calls are barely giving you much time. All in all, Norwegian never again.