Cruise to Nowhere Cruise Reviews

The Gem is new, clean and ultra-luxurious. I loved the theatre set up with its comfortable excellent viewing seats from any area and its great entertainment. Our state room was an inside cabin but well designed for maximum efficiency and included very comfortable, well padded beds. I slept like "a rock" even with the huge 12-foot swells caused by the northeaster the area was undergoing. The food in the dining rooms was excellent, although the crew sometimes seemed new to the job. I got the "wrong" dessert one time but it tasted great. Wine service at dinner, however, is lacking. One evening the wine was delivered with the meal instead of before it and one party received the wrong wine. Another time the wine never came at all. Apparently, the wine stewards come from too far away to service properly. Overall, I loved the ship and its accommodations plus the fact that it left from BOSTON. Would go on the GEM again without question. Taking it in the winter during a storm was quite an adventure. The crew who usually serve tropical drinks on a warm water trip were out shovelling snow on the top deck and building snowmen! What FUN! I actually saw two people in the jacuzzi on the icy deck and would have enjoyed that experience myselfl. The Thermal Bath offered by the onboard Fitness Center would have "topped off" my trip, unfortunately, it was too popular overall to accept any more reservations. Maybe next time I'll plan better and have that experience as well! Great job, GEM crew. A good holiday time was had by all. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

This ship is spectacular!

This was my first cruise. I am glad I picked this boat. It was a very good experence.

Beautiful ship, staff was wonderful, helpful and friendly - this trip is a wonderful way to de-stress around the holidays.

I've been on 3 other cruises. This was my first with NCL. Their "freestyle cruising" certainly has appeal in the advertisements, but it doesn't work out so well in practice. So you'd like to eat dinner whenever you choose, and sit wherever you want? Ok, but the restaurant is full when you want to do that because everybody else wants the same thing. If you have an assigned time and table, at least you know you won't have to wait. Oh, you can make a reservation ahead of time, but exactly how is that freestyle? The poor experience started at the terminal, where people were milling about with no NCL staff to guide them or even answer questions such as "how much longer will this take?" There wasn't even any indication of where and how to check luggage, so I toted my own onboard. That was certainly "freestyle" and there was no offer to pick up the luggage on departure either. Yes, I was "free" to leave at will and not wait for the bags, but I was also "free" to carry them on a long tour of the ship because they had blocked off certain stairwells to make the exit line longer.

The ship is beautiful. Very stable even with the rough seas of December. The staff were always friendly and available to help if needed. Cabin was comfortable enough for the two of us. The balcony is definately a must. The food and service was great. Embarkation and debarkation went very smoothly.

THE SHIP WAS BEAUTIFUL THE WAVES AND WIND WERE NOT.

This being my first cruise I wasn't sure what to expect. I do know now that I would never even attempt a cruise during a Nor Eastor. That was insane, very rocky. It actually ruined the second day of the cruise. We made the best of the situation, but it seemed to be a bit much by Sunday night. We did enjoy the entertainment on the ship, that also helped to get our minds off the constant rocking. I definitely couldn't wait to get off the ship.

My wife and I wanted to check out Anthem of the Seas on a short cruise to see what it was like and this seemed like a good opportunity. We were considering going on Anthem later in the year with the kids, but wanted to see what it was like first before we brought them along. 

The first thing you need to know about the new, bigger RCCL ships is that they do everything different. Reservations for everything. I guess they have to when there are so many guests onboard. Maybe if this was the first way I ever cruised I would be okay with it, but it wasn't how I always cruised. So, if you do not make all your dining and entertainment reservations early... well, you are out of luck. 

The ship was woefully understaffed.... especially at the bars. Service in the restaurants was okay; not great. While the Bionic Bar is interesting... that interest fades pretty quick. It takes most people forever to decide on a drink and then it gets put in a queue to be made. Hopefully the cup doesn't fall over and the drink gets poured into the cup. Honestly, the Bionic Bar had a lot of interest the first day and after that... there was hardly anyone there. It is very gimmicky. 

For a big ship, it was a very rough cruise. I've been on a lot of small boats and big ships and this ship had a lot of motion. I think that, because it was the cruise to nowhere, the ship went very slow. That probably accentuated the slightly rough trip. 

We have definitely been on better cruises than our Anthem of the Seas cruise. That is disappointing to us because we have loved cruising on RCCL in the past. The next time we cruise RCCL, we will go back to the Freedom class ships. 

 They don't have many of them,  usually only in the winter, I go every year, best weekend getaway anywhere !  Rock of ages is fantastic, ship is amazing, food is phenomenal . 

Overall we had a great time. A few things that were not so great.

The cost was a bit more than we expected after we realized there were very few things that are actually included other than the buffet.

The connection options on the boat are awful for staying in touch with land. We have kids staying at grandma's so that was a bit unnerving.

The return was too early for us...it docked at 7:30 and wanted us off the boat by 9:30 Sunday. So be careful if you are partying too hard on Saturday night. 

The Escape was a great ship. There were alot of choices for bars and restaurants. Although some of them closed too early, like Margueritaville. I saw the Million Dollar Quartet show which was very entertaining. Also the Dueling Pianos were great fun.

I was in an inside room, which was small to me. The color decor was mostly brown throughout the whole ship and the room and I thought it use a bit more color. The way to turn the lights on in the room was you had to keep your keycard in there so one person is without a keycard if you ventured out. The best cocktail I had was at the Sugar Mojito Bar-get the raspberry guava one. I really enjoyed the waterfront seating. It was very relaxing.

Very nice but unfortunately the weather was so bad no outdoor activities were available.  That was disappointing.  At your Guest Service Department "David" was very helpful. I will say that the experience was so much better than Carnival Cruises.

We will be sailing Norwegian again.

Nathan Atwood

SHOULD NOT TAKE THIS 2 DAY IN THE WINTER. LOST  the USE OF 2 OUTSIDE DECKS. EVERYONE CONFIDE TO THE INDOORS.  CROWDED. FOOD WAS OKAY.

ROCK OF AGES WAS RAUCHY AND CAMPY. I did like the music and some of dance # BURN THE FLOOR WAS GOOD And enjoy the restaurant and dinner there. Like the Irish pub and able to take out food from there. to you room. Rooms were small no draws. Could not see 4 people in my cabin for a week. We had 2.                                          

Loved the New Orleans jazz group Cooking Band.

Really not enough time to find your way around.

I really enjoyed everything, but the smoke in the casino made it impossible for me to do anything in or near it. I will always make sure there is no smoking on any future cruise. It was very disappointing.

Over all the service is good, but toilet is not working properly, although they fix the the first day, but the second day had the same problem. The service came quickly to the call.

Had the pleasure of enjoying the new RCCL ship the Quantum of the Seas, This ship is aesthetically beautiful, the color schemes and the decor throughout the ship are very pleasing to the eye. The size of this ship made you feel like you never left port as not once did it feel like we were out at the open sea, so anyone afraid of rocking this ship was the smoothest i have ever experienced. The entertainment was good, went to Mama Mia, which was a great evening, really Broadway quality, not a lackluster performance, recommend it highly. The comedian was very funny and provided lots of laughs. Starwater, the other production show on te ship was not for me, many people i spoke to liked it, i found it rather boring and walked out after 20 mins. Was able to experience IFly, which was a great experience, with wonderful instructors, a fun experience for anyone young or old. It was too cold to try any of the water activities. The food overall was good, not great. I enjoyed the Cafe 270 and the Grande for dinner, very good, the buffet is a typical; buffet, not to my liking, (i dislike buffets) and very crowded, hard to find seating if you are not there early for breakfast and do not split up as a family as you will have a hard time finding each other. Many venues throughout the ship to grab a quick dessert or slice of pizza, very convenient and good quality. The casino allows smoking and the air is filled with smoke, if you are a non smoker it is tough to bare, it will help you not lose money i guess, they could have done a better job of filtering the air in the Casino. The cabins, i had an outside with a balcony, were a decent size and comfortable, with flat screen TV's. All in all i like the new Quantum and would recommend to someone looking for a large ship with lots to do.

Quantum of the Seas  proved to be a wonderful experience. I really enjoyed checking in because it went so quickly.  We tried I-FLY and it was an amazing experience sky-diving simulation.  Our balcony was great. The stateroom was loaded with storage. The food was delicious and elegantly prepared. We enjoyed the shows and the bumper cars, and the NorthStar. I highly recommend this ship. It is beautifully designed, there's lots of restaurants and there are lots of activiities to participate in. We were never bored! All the bartenders  made great martinis! The ship is just gorgeous.

Was on my first cruise ever, and what a treat it was to go on the Quantum!  I don't have anything to compare too, so I guess that would be my downfall of this review.  But on boarding was easy!  The transfers from Newark were there right away, and then checking in to get on the boat was only a 5 minute process!  Once on board I was able to bring my bags right up to my room where there was an envelope that had my sea pass band and card right in it.  LOVED the balcony and wish I could of taken advantage of it, but will certainly book a balcony in future cruises.  The room itself was nicely decorated and seemed like it had enough room for two people.  I loved that everything was brand new!!

The first thing we all did was to look around!  It was nice to have the ship Wifi, so I was able to text people that had Iphones with out being charged.  We got a drink down at the indoor solarium.  It was nice in the cold weather to be able to be warm and have a tropical feel, and if we were daring enough to use the hot tub or pools.  We also went down to the sports complex and tried the bumper cards, it was the perfect time because there was no line.  I was just in awe how they could do all of this on a ship!  Dinner the first night was at Silk, one of the specialty restaurants.  It was good, service was Ok, and they seemed to be very busy, as we didn't see our waiter hardly ever.  Next was Mama Mia in the theater.  It was a great production!  It was nice that it was the whole thing and not an abbreviated version.

The next morning was dining at the Windjammer buffet.  It seemed very typical of a large buffet and I was able to find tons of stuff to induldge in!!  We then spent the day just looking at all of what the ship had to offer!  The NorthStar and Ifly would of been nice to try, but the waits were too long and I didn't want to waste time in line when I could of been eating or seeing the sights.  We grabbed coffee at Starbucks and just walked around!  We grabbed pizza at Sorrento's and I then lounged in the Solarium for a few hours.  It was AWESOME to grab a chair in the front of the room and just watch the water going by with a frosty drink in my hand.  That afternoon might of been the only downfall of the day, my card or my wristband was unable to unlock my room.  After 3 attempts down at customer service, the poor lady down their followed me up to my room and waited for the maintenence guy to come and fix it.  I get that technology has it's kinks, but it just took about 90 minutes to fix and missed out on a few things because of it.  Dinner that night was at the American Icon Grill.  Food was good and was excited to try everything.  But again the waitstaff was hardly around and felt like there was a long time in between courses.  We did a few clubs that night and decided to forgo our restervations at Starfall when we heard not so good reviews in our group.

My favorite part was probably the bionic bar!  Being able to be so in control of your drink and to have cool robot bartenders make your drink was awesome!!  I loved watching each and every one being made.  It might be because I'm the daughter of a robotic engineer, I can appreciate all that goes into that.  SUPER cool!!!

All in all I would really enjoy going on this ship again, in a warmer climate to be able to take advantage of all that it has to offer!

Myself and my daughters 21 & 16 had been on many cruises in the past but never with Norwegian.A family member

had taken a cruise with this line and gave it such great reviews I decided to try it for myself.  I must admit the boarding process was awful. As I stated previously myself and my daughters have gone on many cruises in the past but I have never experienced such displeasure boarding a ship.  The wait time and the way in which the boarding was conducted was very disorganized.  Once we were on board (3 hrs later) we found the ship to be a great experience.  If not for the boarding experience I would have given this a 3-4 star rating. The only complaint my girls had besides the wait was the ice cream.  They say its not as good as other cruise lines and they didn't like the fact that they could not get it themselves.