Nice trip but some disappointments

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 67

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Gem

6 Night Canada & New England (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 29, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9528

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The itinerary on this trip makes for a nice week.  All three ports are very walkable. In Halifax, we enjoyed a walk along the boardwalk and then up to the Citadel.  There's a mall along the way where there is a dollar store and drug store in case you need to pick up any necessary items and souvenirs.

 

We walked backed to the boardwalk and took a ferry over to Dartmouth.  The ferry is free for seniors until about 3 pm.  There we enjoyed a lobster roll at Evan's, which is inside the ferry terminal and recommended by a local tourist information person. 

 

In St. John, it is an easy walk to the Reversing Falls. From there you can walk to the downtown area and the City Market.   It is a few blocks from there to the Jewish Heritage Museum, which is a gem of historical information.

 

Portland has many sights to see.  We walked to downtown and enjoyed Remy's, a Maine department store chain.  We had a great fresh lobster meal at the Porthole.

 

The ship itself is fairly nice. The entertainment was decent.  The thermal spa is smaller than NCL's larger ships, but still a great place to relax. 

 

Our biggest disappointment was in the food. NCL has changed its menus since our last trip last September. The specialty restaurants now charge ala carte, there are extra charge items in the main restaurant as well. Favorite items have been eliminated.  When we dined at Le Bistro, it wasn't only us who were wondering why the rack of lamb was taken off the menu.

 

One final comment:  We encountered fog for a good part of the trip.  The fog horn blared every few minutes. We discovered you don't want to be on the sun deck in front of that horn when it blows. 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Menu changes and ala carte charges made the food less appealing than past NCL cruises

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
The cabin was decent although the balcony could have use some work. We are platinum latitude members. We booked this cruise in September. Up to a week before cruise, NCL was offering deeply discounted cruise fares. We asked about an upgrade but were given the runaround than very unreasonable terms for an upgrade. Made us feel a bit unappreciated for our loyalty.

Ports of call

New York, New York

5 out of 5

Halifax, Nova Scotia

5 out of 5

Saint John, New Brunswick

5 out of 5

Portland, Maine

5 out of 5
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