Overall this was a wonderful trip. I would recommend NCL as a choice for your cruise and will be sailing with them in the future. I learn from my own mistakes. They weren't anything the fault of NCL, just learning experiences of my own.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
The lines were very long. There were plenty of stations without agents on them. If their staff was fuller, the process would have gone quicker for the passengers.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
I have nothing bad to say about the food on the cruise. I love their Freestyle offering of being able to eat when you want to without being formally seated with people you don't know. My personal favorites were their Magenta Restaurant, which is complimentary and their Le Bistro, which is their French restaurant this is a specialty location that requires an additional charge, but well worth it, especially if you have the Specialty Dining Package.
Magenta Main Dining Room
5 out of 5
EXCELLENT in every way. Service was impeccable, food was delicious! Try the bananas foster dessert - SCRUMPTIOUS
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We didn't participate in many "activities" We purchased the unlimited Thermal Spa package that was worth every penny if you enjoy a spa experience. The pool was nice, great drink service around it too. Due to rough seas the pool was closed for most of the "at sea" days which was disappointing but understandable.
Spa
5 out of 5
Purchase their Unlimited Thermal Spa package! They limit it to 100 people per sailing and the price is better to purchase online before you leave.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We only saw the Swing performance, but throughly enjoyed it
Children's Programs
My kids are adults and did not come on the trip
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Props to the entire staff we interacted with on the ship!!! Our Cabin Steward, Rody, was amazing, any request was addressed in a matter of minutes and our room was always fresh and clean. We looked forward to the "towel animals" after dinner every night.
Another favorite was our waiter Breinly(sp) at the Magenta Dining Room. I always appreciate a great server, he is beyond great!! We visited the Magenta 3 times during our cruise, both the food and service were outstanding!
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
My understanding is the Gem was remodeled just a few years ago. I sailed on the 11th voyage of Royal Caribbean's "Sovereign of the Seas" over 30 years ago and that ship seemed more elegant and updated than the Gem did last week. It was clean and everything and well maintained, no complaints, but average in my opinion. If you want a luxurious ship keep looking.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was very roomy and had a decent amount of storage. We were able to completely unpack our luggage and had no problems with space. We pushed our luggage under the beds and had plenty of room.
Ship tip
Their onboard app is not the best. My sister was unable to load it on her phone and that lmited our ability to communicate throughout the trip.
We had 250 free internet minutes. Their system requires that you officially "log out" after you use it. If you don't it eats up your minutes like crazy. After we learned that we were logging out but literally 1 minute later the system showed a login and ate up valuable minutes without usage. Their internet tech was not very knowledgeable and frustrating to work with. And he was rarely at his desk when he was supposed to be.
We took the zip lining excursion in St. Kitts and I loved it. I am not a very athletic person and have limited mobility due to a bad knee and fused ankles. The attention I received from "Baby Boy" was incredible. He assisted me with every aspect of the event and I am very appreciative of the time and attention he gave me.
The event was organized from start to finish. I thoroughly enjoyed St. Kitts
In St. Lucia we took the aerial tram over the rain forest. This was rated a 1 in the level of activity, It was more of a 2 in my opinion. It involved a very steep walk up to the tram and then a very steep walk to get down. There were no railings to hang on to and that was challenging for me. The guide was great and very knowledgeable and the scenery was beautiful.
The event was organized from start to finish. I enjoyed St. Lucia
Barbados is beautiful, Here we went on the Atlantis Submarine excursion. This was a little disappointing, obviously the sub has both port and starboard sides. In our trip the people sitting port had much more to see than the starboard side. We were hoping on the return of the trip that starboard would get to experience the same as port did on the way out, but we were not as deep on the return and there was nothing good to see. If you take this excursion make sure you board the sub in the first half of the group!
MISERABLE! This port was added to replace one that was damaged in the hurricane last Sept. A total waste of time. The French are snotty, nothing was in English, stores were closed, city smelled like raw sewage!!
NCL uses a color coded system to disembark. The colors are picked by the passengers, but it didn't seem that many understood the process. The sorting of the luggage by color seemed efficient, we got through customs pretty quickly although there were only 4 stations open to process a ship of almost 2500 passengers. That could have been better. I chose the airport transfer to get to LGA for a 4:30pm flight. The airport is only about 30 minutes away from port, but it took 2.5 hours to get there. The driver missed his exit for the tunnel and it was St. Patrick's Day in NYC, he stayed on 42nd street and did not detour to avoid severely crowded streets. Many people on the bus missed their flights.
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