our 4th cruise on the Norwegian Gem

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

jeffyc

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 0

Helpful Votes: 66

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

Verified Review

10 Night Eastern Caribbean (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 02, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11136

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

We love the Norwegian Gem. We've been on the ship with our friends, 4 years in a row. Service is excellent. Crew members are happy, friendly and caring. Ports are great, food is very good and entertainment gets better every year! There's lots of activities on the onboard and the best part is the size of the ship. Easy to find your way around and it never feels crowded.

My only complaint is beware of "run of the ship cabins". Our experience has been, they assign the worst cabin to those choosing run of the ship. This year we booked a run of the ship mini suite. Usually we book a balcony cabin. This year we upgraded to mini suite (run of the ship). Huge mistake! You'd think NCL would appreciate loyal repeat cruisers? Nope! They assigned us the WORST cabin. All night long and early morning (before 5am) we heard college kids playing basketball on the courts above us. My husband even video taped them. After a few nights (3) of NO sleep we complained. Security was sent to stop them and guest services was wonderful. They changed our cabin on day 4 when someone left the ship for a family emergency. From then on our cruise was wonderful. The crew members are hard working, friendly and will do whatever they can to make your vacation wonderful. It's definitely not the crew on board NCL should be concerned about, but the SUPERVISIORS who WORK outside the ship in their offices who are rude and nasty.

The Norwegian Gem is a great ship and we highly recommend it!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

Terrible cabin! Noise late at night after 11pm from the basketball courts. Basketball was also played starting before 5am. All we heard day and night was the ball bouncing over our heads! My husband video taped it and security was sent to stop it. After a few days and nights of no sleep, we complained to guest services. They were very sympathetic and said if a cabin became available they would change ours. They did change our cabin on day 4 when someone left the ship. Our new cabin was great as was the rest of our cruise.

Ship tip

Cagney's Steakhouse is amazing. Order the Porterhouse Steak, the best you'll ever have. Dining room and buffet food was very good. Pastry Chef made the best desserts we've ever had on a cruise. O'Sheehan's service was extremely slow, not the waiters fault. I think the kitchen was overwhelmed.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

New York, New York

5 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

3 out of 5

2 Comments

misssuzier 8 years ago

They do a couple deck parties ... I would say in the ones I have done they are a little laid back ..but the fun is what you make of it.. I have seen some party it up groups but never out of control.. Even with the drink package .. I have not encountered any obnoxious drunks .. Just those having a good time without being annoying

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kldnqnd 8 years ago

we always hear comments about how bad Norwegian is. is it a party atmosphere or mellow and laid back? do they do deck parties?

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