a Gem of a ship!
Norwegian Gem Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 8
Helpful Votes: 322
5 Night Mediterranean: Croatia & Slovenia (Trieste Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 07, 2023
Ship: Norwegian Gem
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
The itinerary was a great selling point of this cruise as you visited lesser known ports in the area. Each new day brought a new port and new places to explore whilst not being over tiring. The itinerary fitted well with NCL's freestyle attitude to cruising.Embarkation
The main hold up for embarkation was the security checks carried out by Italian port authority staff.
Embarkation from NCL side was easy, despite checking in online the app wouldn't work but staff found my booking easy enough and issued my cruise card.
Safety video was watched in advance & all that remained was to go to muster station to have card scanned. All very simple & crew were very pleasant.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
This was a 5 night cruise and I didn't eat in the same place twice on purpose.
Made it a point to try all the free dining venues - Grand Pacific is easy enough to get a table quickly in but you may have a wait for the smaller venues.
O'Sheehans was a late first night stop and the food was good although it all came at the one time.
The service in Orchid Garden was fast but I was a little disappointed with the portion sizes. Nice food although I wasn't given either a knive or chop sticks to eat with, just a fork.
Choices in the buffet are good (there's also smaller grab & go buffets outside of both ends of the main buffet) but at peak times it's extremely difficult to get a table to eat at.
For my speciality dining I chose Cagney's steakhouse. The food was excellent and the service was good.
Overall the relaxed approach to dining is a benefit of sailing with NCL.
A big downside though is coffee. Only place outside of buffet to get a coffee is the Starbucks. You even have to pay for a coffee in the dining rooms as it's Starbucks. Not good NCL.
Onboard Activities
This was a port intensive cruise with a port call every day of the cruise. Having said that I did treat one port stop as 'mini sea day' having been several times before.
Overall I would say I sometimes found it a struggle to find something to do on the ship during the day. It seemed like the was just one thing going on at any one time. Other cruises I've been on have offered much more choice & variety of daytime activities.
It's one cruise I don't really recall seeing the activities team around the ship much.
There is only the one pool area on the ship and 4 hot tubs around it which means you have to be selective if you want to use either of these facilities.
Entertainment
If this review was for the theatre shows by the onboard team then it would a high 5 star rating. All 3 of the evening shows (Get Down Tonight, Blazin' Boots & Swing!) were great and the singers & dancers gave it everything to deliver them. The smaller shows were 45mins and Swing! was just over an hour long!
The shows all featured live musicians too which was a pleasant change.
The speciality act was a singer but I didn't go to her shows, although I did hear some rehearsals & it sounded ok.
The musicians onboard were a usual mix of styles & were good enough to wile away the hours to.
Compared to other cruise lines there was a lack of karaoke events & the choice of available songs can only be described as a bit weird. NCL should have a look at what the likes of MSC are doing & providing for karaoke & copy them.
Service and Staff
In general all the staff were very friendly, they all said hello to you in passing and were eager to serve you in the various locations onboard. There seemed to be an emphasis on the speed of service too.
My room steward was very friendly and took time to have a quick chat no matter the time of day whilst still carrying out their duties.
Service was good on the whole albeit at times the staff were overrun with guests wanting served but they managed to get things done nevertheless.
Ship Quality
NCL Gem just received a makeover 6 months prior to this cruise and you could tell that some of the onboard areas had been the focus of the revamp.
The central atrium was very modern in feel as was what I call the secondary attrium at Magnums champagne bar.
The photo shop was bang up to the minute also.
Ship layout is fairly easy to navigate although you have to get used to how to access the main dining rooms.
Nice to have sitting areas along the deck 7 corridor where you could sit & relax.
Talking of deck 7, great to see that Gem has a full wrap around promenade deck.
Not sure if room could be found for the kids clubs elsewhere on the ship which would allow a bigger buffet but that's a minor niggle (no pun intended).
Everywhere seemed to be clean & tidy. Didn't see any maintenance issues but then just had a refit so hope they would have been dealt with then.
Cabin / Stateroom
My cabin was on the lowest possible deck, number 4, however, that wasn't as big a problem as I thought it might be.
It was clean, well maintained and comfortable.
On the down side it was small and in double bed mode the cabin table blocked a walk around one side of the bed.
Bathroom was a good size and the shower had a glazed screen not a curtain which was good with room to move in it.
A severe lack of plug sockets though, only 2 USA and 1 European socket. None of them near the bed.
Ship tip
Bring American socket adapters if you're not American! Enjoy the laid back vibe. Definitely catch the production cast shows. Maybe watch a movie in the atrium with added free popcorn! Don't be afraid to mix up your dining of an evening & breakfast in the dining room for added relaxation to start the day.
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Ports of call
The city centre is just a 5 min walk from the cruise dock and it's compact enough that you can see most things within a few hours.
Narrow streets interconnect little sun trap squares and there's a couple of great churches to see.
Wander down into the city market area and experience all the food on offer.
Do a bit of shopping in the main pedestrian street with some well known brands available.
Some really imposing churches and buildings in the city centre core from multiple faiths.
It's worth climbing the hill to visit the fortress and church of San Guisto and pay to go up the bell tower (only €2) as the views over the city are fabulous.
Wander through the park or the old town maze of narrow streets.
Enjoy people watching whilst having a coffee in one of the many cafes or grab a bite to eat.
There's more to Trieste than simply getting on or off your cruise ship!
Compact little town with an interesting history. The centre is just an elevator ride and a 2 min walk from the cruise dock.
You can see evidence of Venetian control of the town in all the main historic public buildings.
Take time to wander the streets and try some Slovenian wine!
The same charm as Dubrovnik but without the jaw dropping prices and a church on every street corner so it seems!
Great harbour walk and views from the castle are to be seen so well worth the hike up the hill.
Been before and the old town just oozes charm.
Walking the walls is expensive but something you should do at least once (preferably on a sunny day).
Go up the cable car for a great view of the town.
Don't be afraid to explore the port of Gruz if you only want to do a bit of shopping & relax with a coffee.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was as easy as it gets.
Walked down to security, a scan of my cruise card and I was off the ship.
Plenty of areas to sit waiting to be called if you were picking up luggage from the terminal.
Only thing I'd say was it was a bit early to start the disembarking process being at 6.15am.
Traveler Photos
