overly crowded cruise

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 37

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5
Norwegian Gem

7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 26, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 11618

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

It was ok, not sure that I would ever go on another one. Just not for us. It was too crowded and on a hot day at sea you want to be able to hop in the pool, not even our 12 year old son and his friends would go in it.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
The restaurants were good the buffet was horrible

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
The pools on this ship were very small and crowded, we did not go in them the entire week and the kids pool was tiny, the paint was chipped and looks dated. The fitness center was too small for the amount of people on the ship there was not a machine available on several occasions.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
The entertainment was good, there was always a band or dj by the pool and the shows in the theater were very entertaining

Children's Programs

Our daughter is only 2 1/2 and the kids clubs are not available to her but the baby room is just that, there is not a lot for a 2 year old to do to keep them busy so bring your own toys!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
The ship was kept very clean and it was easy to get around the ship

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
The cabin was a decent size and there was a lot of storage for clothes, toiletries etc.

Ports of call

New York, New York

4 out of 5
We left out of NYC and it was easy to park and easy to board the ship

Port Canaveral, Florida

1 out of 5
There was nothing to do at this port, we have a 12 yr old and a 2 yr old and we traveled with friends and their kids of the same age all of which wanted to go to the beach. Coco beach was dirty and it cost $100 to take a shuttle to the beach. The shuttle that we originally booked through Norwegian was cancelled so we had to take a private shuttle.

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

5 out of 5
This was a great day at he beach the one piece of advice that I would give is to rent a cabana, this was not something hatbwas told to us prior to going so we sat under umbrellas but if you have a cabana you get waiters services and shade. This was our first cruise and so we did not know all the small details of what options we had for certain ports and the customer service reps that we booked through and spoke with on several occasions to book our excursions and reservations were not very forthcoming with the little tidbits of information

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5
This was another great day, we went to blue lagoon island for the day and did the dolphin encounter and beach day which was amazing I would absolutely recommend this to everyone!

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Once again with everyone on the cruise it was too crowded and everyone was crammed into a small space at the pool area. My husband got food poisoning from the buffet by the pool and was out of commission for the last days of the trip.
Was this review helpful? 37

3 Comments

Other reviews of this sailing