first "vacation" cruise

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 34

Overall rating:

5 out of 5
Norwegian Gem

9 Night Eastern Caribbean (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 21, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 4535

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

 Having cruised with the US Navy for four years, my expectations of being on the ocean were as expected. as for my first time on a commercial cruise ship, i would definitely do it again. i spoke with many experienced cruisers as well as read comments from various web resources prior to our trip. we hoped for the best, planned for the worst, and we were very pleased to say the least. The only frustrating part was that some of the port visits just seemed to short.

I believe there are a very wide range of factors that affect peoples reviews including but not limited to their standard of living, expectations, prior experiences and so on  however, perhaps the key question is... "was it worth the money?"

 We (wife and I) paid approximately $1140 for the tickets, $150 for insurance, $250 gratuities, $360 to park at the pier, $300 on  two shore excursions, not counting cab fares, water taxis, souvenirs etc... YES IT WAS WORTH IT.

 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

n/a

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

if you want to go from deck four to deck twelve (or vs/vs), take the elevator. if you want to go from the front of the ship to the back (or vs/vs) take deck seven "outdoors" we ate most meals at the garden cafe

Ports of call

New York, New York

5 out of 5
shows, museums, etc visit their site...nyc.gov/ visitors

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5
not enough time to "explore" however San Juan has a Walmart if you forgot anything

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
great shopping opportunities and excursions

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5
airport beach and shore excursions

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

5 out of 5
"the baths" are beautiful but port visit was to short to enjoy
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1 Comment

glomarrone    9 years ago

Nice to read that you got your money's worth on your cruise.  Keep on cruisin"  Gloria

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