Great cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 41

Review summary

So we have been on numerous cruises out of NYC. And theyre always smaller older ships. Based on the reviews I had read on the Gem I wasn't sure what to expect. But we wanted the ability and ease of being able to drive to NYC from PA and save on airfare. I must say we were pleasantly surprised. The ship had been refurbished and had many of the same amenities that the larger NCL ships have. Overall we had a nice time. I believe a vacation is what you make it. We have young children and they had a blast with the kids club. The downfall of the older ships is that they don't have all the cool water slides that the new ships have. So one of my biggest complaint on this cruise was the amount of 8-12 year old unsupervised children. All times of day and night at the pool - jumping off the end of the pool. Almost landing on my daughters heads and other innocent passengers. They would swear when you asked them to stop. It was so bad that my 12 year old would go and try to find someone from NCL to get them to stop. They need to post big signs that say no jumping. As soon as the worker would walk away they would start jumping again. Clearly the parents didn't care. But as I told several of the NCL workers when they told me they can't do anything about it ".It will become your problem when one of your unsupervised minor guests hurts my minor child." It was a big problem. And NCL needs to put someone out by the pool all the time. My other big complaint was our room! So I have to take responsibility for this but I assumed we would have two beds for my husband and I that would be pushed together and either two bunks or one bunk and a sofa. But NO - the fourth bed was a trundle bed that pulled out from one of the adult beds! In over 20 cruises I have NEVER seen anything like this! It was a nightmare. I was so afraid we were going to trip getting up in the middle of the night. Also every bodies dirty feet were all over it. And the room was already tiny. When that bed was out it left us with only a tiny amount of space to get ready. We couldn't push or pull it out because the room steward locked it in place. I will NEVER again stay in a room like that. My husband and I couldn't put our beds together. And I didn not see that anywhere on NCL's website when I booked it. But you better believe for any future cruises that will be the first question I ask! Other than those two issues we did have a good time and it was a nice change of pace to cruise on a smaller ship

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

New York, New York

Port Canaveral, Florida

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas

Disembarkation

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