Smithers35321

Having sailed on the Epic and Breakaway I knew the Gem would slightly older and not as spectacular. With that in mind I was pleased with the overall cruise experience. Likes: - Mini suite stateroom was great. If you can swing Haven accomodations do it. We have before and its tough going back! - Overall staff were very gracious and helpful. No complaints there. - Wife loved the Spa and especially the Thermal Room (upcharge of $139/week). If it's peace and serenity you crave this is your ticket. - Love FreeStyle dining. The variety and even the process of jockeying for reservations is kind of fun. One should anticipate these charges in advance if you plan to take advantage of specialty dining. If not the main formal dining room is great anyways (Grand Pacific). - The Grand Pacific dining room. Had fantastic meals and service here breakfast, lunch and dinner. I strongly recommend this over the other included more casual dining options (Garden Cafe and Magenta- see below) -Entertainment overall was superb. The comedy shows and others were all fantastic. Norwegian has far fewer of the typical musical productions that I persoanlly do not care for. Dislikes: - The Garden Cafe. This is the buffet restaurant common to most all cruise ships. It did not meet my expecations. The traffic flow was poor and crowded. It could have been cleaner. The floors were slippery and curiously wet always. I quickly figured out a much better and vastly more pleasant breakfast and lunch could be had in Grand Pacific. -Magenta dining room. We had a very poor first night meal here- food, service and atmosphere. We went there because they allow shorts and we were too lazy to dress up. It seems the quality of this restaurant is less then all others. Put some pants on and go to Grand Pacific. - Running track, like on many cruise ships, runs through high traffic areas and not ideal. Use the treadmills or run carefully. Overall...we had a blast and were happy.