If your looking for good food and service look elswhere

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 15

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Gem

10 Night Eastern Caribbean (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 08, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 11591

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

I have been on 3 cruises prior and loved the food. First time on Norwegian, on my honeynoon, and it was disappointing to say the least. Buffet was equal to bad cafeteria food, scrambled eggs consistency of loose oatmeal, they put muenster cheese and tomato on top of raisin bread and signed it as tomato, mozzarella on a baguette. Steak order medium-rare came out well done and like leather. Cake were very dense. Their  "american bar" which is like Applebee's can't make artichoke dip, they used a cream sauce as the base; tasted like cream only. List goes on. Service was spotty, sometimes would be served promptly other times your waiting 10-15 min for water. Photo was the worst service, they disregard you and make excuses as to why they can't help when they can very easily once management is part of the equation.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
No pride taken in the quality of the food they are serving

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
Things we wanted to do everyone wanted to do and there wasn't enough room in the venue.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
The onboard entertainment was good, the people the got for the other night were so-so

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Housekeeping was great. Service everywhere else is a crapshoot.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Too small for the number of people onboard. They were painting in public areas during the day.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Our Stewart was great, room was clean but the stateroom is too small for the bed, nobody could walk aroind to the side of the bed.

Ship tip

If your looking for good food and consistently good service, look elsewhere.

Ports of call

New York, New York

3 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

3 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

3 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

2 out of 5
Don't bother with a tour of the island, nothing tp really see

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

3 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 15

5 Comments

Tennisman42282    7 years ago

Excuse me but the buffet is the only place I eat and many others too on cruises..and every time I go on the gem and I have 3 times the buffet food has been great..don't like it then don't cruise

BAK1061    7 years ago

We were on board right after you, and the food was very good, though a bit salty.  We only hit the buffet a couple of times this trip.  When we did, the food was excellent. 

jleslie48    7 years ago

for the life of me I cannot understand why anyone would go on a cruise vacation and eat at the buffet which is nothing more than than a cafeteria.   

glomarrone    7 years ago

Sorry to read that your cruise did not live up to your expectation.

ntamberino    7 years ago

I gave this 2 stars not 4

Other reviews of this sailing