Many Room Issues

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Caribbean

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 49

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Gem

Eastern Caribbean

Sail date: December 11, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 10043

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Room, was smaller than we were told. Ship was "over capacity because 2 days prior to sailing they had a sale and people paid 1/2 of what we did for better rooms. Our room issues couldn't be addressed or resolved due to no rooms available. 

 

Customer service was rude and unhelpful. As I said we paid basically for 2 cabins what other people paid for 4 and theirs was not interior but ocean view and balconies. After 4 Cruises with Norwegian it left a really sour taste in my mouth. 

 

Now onto the ship, after cruising on the Breakaway, Escape and Epic before, we were completely let down. Everything closed way too early, playing big chess on the deck and was being told by 4:30 that it had to be shut down, move to rock climbing also shut down etc..

 

The food was also a let down from other trips, not much variety. Also the dining room was way too small.

 

The one saving grace was the stops on the islands which were great. I tried to contact Norwegian Customer Service to no avail. Never got answers to my emails and they are always closed when I get out of work so I have no chance to talk to them by phone.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
Do not try to accommodate more than 3 people in this room. Even 3 is cramped.

Ship tip

Wake up early and go to bed early since most things are closed in the evening...

Ports of call

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 3

5 Comments

xenexprime    7 years ago

Concerns were brought up to Cruise Director and everyone that could have, they weren't even logged according to After Cruise Guest Relations rep, Ship was at "over capacity" was the term used by Guest Relation "Supervisor" on the ship, it's not my own term. Room booked was a "Family Interior" which was of larger dimensions than a Normal Interior according to the website. Instead, we got a normal Interior room. My comment on my Epic Cruise about pricing before was regarding CheapCruises.com and their offers, not NCL. Ever since I have booked directly with NCL but thank you for taking everything out of context. I have continued to sail with NCL as I like their cruises but that doesn't mean my concerns about what I experienced are not valid. People can read them and be aware and maybe not suffer same issues or they can disregard them and move on but it doesn't mean what I experienced didn't happen or I have a bias against NCL as I still cruise with them. I just got back from a 7 day Cruise on the Breakaway which was great last week so take it as you wish. I don't have to justify my experience to anyone.

laurie1270    7 years ago

I was able to get the lower price every time I saw it went down

bups    7 years ago

Yeah I'm not falling for this review. This person seems to be angry because last minute cruisers got a better deal. Suck it up.

esm54687    7 years ago

Follow up: I just read your January 2015 Epic review complaining about the price you paid for that cruise as well...... maybe time to get a new travel agent if you keep paying more than everyone else

esm54687    7 years ago

Sorry you had a bad experience and it wasn't the typical NCL cruise you're accustomed to. - just a couple questions: * the room dimensions are clearly described on NCL's website and many other cruise information sites so that shouldn't have been a suprise.... an interior is always small * a ship is never "over capacity" because it can only fit the number of people on board that can fit in life boats. Maybe you meant "at capacity" so your expectations should've been dealing with the max capacity * if this is your 4th (maybe 5th including this one) with NCL then you are well aware of sales and cruise incentive programs to fill unoccupied staterooms..... not unlike airlines, hotels, theme parks, restaurants, etc...... you are on this app so you are familiar with upsells, etc that allow pretty substantial upgrades at a fraction of the cost of the actual full fare (now you appreciate how Haven passengers feel paying 10,000 and the people in the cabin next door paid 7,000) * the Gem has a smaller passenger capacity than the Breakaway but you compliment that ship?? * I've never seen chess closed except during bad seas for safety reasons.... you mentioned "had to be shut down" so was it weather related. * before leaving the ship, did you bring your concerns about how Guest Services treated you to the Sr Management (Hotel Director)..... I've found them very responsive if given the chance to resolve an issue.