Good, but could have been excellent.
Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas
7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 02, 2014
Ship: Norwegian Gem
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 10099
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 10 years ago
Review summary
My husband and I were slightly apprehensive to cruise Norwegian because we had previously cruised with Celebrity, which was outstanding, and Royal Caribbean, which was perfect for us. We only chose Norwegian because it left from a close port, NY, and we had already done the two summer cruises that leave out of Cape Liberty, so we wanted to try a different route. However, we are unlikely to book Norwegian again as we didn't 100% care for the Freestyle Dining experience as we felt the service was quite awful. At the same time, we felt badly for the servers at dinner because it was obvious that they were extremely overworked and had very little help. It was unreal to me how they had to fill our water, bread, get our drinks from the bar, take orders and serve our food. We did have a few good servers, but overall our nightly dining experience was lacking the personalized experience that we have been awarded on other cruise lines.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Get to dinner around 6 p.m. in the Magenta dining room. Anytime after that gets kind of crazy and you will wait a long time for service.
Ports of call
Port Canaveral, Florida Did not visit port
Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas