Not too bad

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Bnc62683

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 42

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 04, 2018

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 11647

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Overall the cruise was fair. I think the buffet food was pretty good. The one thing I loved the best about the buffet was the chocolate cake. The chocolate cake they had there was rich and creamy and fudgy. I loved it but I'm a chocolate lover who likes that rich, sugary chocolate to begin with. The pools here are kind of small and the water slide is not exciting at all. The night shows they have here are pretty good. I enjoyed tim Kaminsky's show the most. The activities on the cruise are kind of lacking. Sometimes they put the best things to do at the same exact time and you have no idea which to do and then the times after that, there is nothing to do. Like at 1pm, they will have like 2 or 3 good things to do but then by 2pm and 3pm, the activities get boring again until 7pm again. So to me between 2 and 7, there wasn't much to do but to play bingo. The people who clean your room on this ship was very nice and did a good job and I loved my towel animals! The guest service was ok,not too bad except when I had a problem with my credit card company, it was on a Sunday and they didnt even give me one business day to call my credit card company to fix things before they put a hold on my room key to charge things. So I had to complain to guest services because I didn't think it was fair of them to not allow me to charge things with my room key even though they knew for a FACT that I had to talk to my bank about it. They knew it for a fact because they let me call my bank from the desk there. But I dont think that guest services had much to do with that, I think it was more of the finance department who did that to me. So I wont fault guest services for that one. The people in the art gallery were very nice and fair. I liked them, I bought a piece of art from them that I fell in love with and the people there were super nice. Mika who is in charge of shopping at the ports was super sweet but she is a dangerous person to know because she tells you all these good things and makes you want to shop. So shes dangerous to my wallet! Lol. The washy washy happy happy people in the dining room area are so nice and friendly. The excursion choices weren't too bad. I would say to not go to Disney world for a ship excursion due to time restraints. If you want to go to Disney world and have fun, go to Disney world on it's own vacation, not on a cruise ship excursion. I went to three restaurants in here teppanyaki, moderno and la cucina and they were all awesome. I just wish la cucina (Italian food restaurant) gave me more pasta for my entree but it was pretty good pasta. The stateroom was pretty small but it was ok for me because it was just me and my teenage daughter sharing the room. So we were not too too cramped on top of each other. I appreciated the trip in whole because I think everyone on these cruise ships work very hard to make sure that the guests are happy and some of them don't get to see their families for months at a time. So they deserve as much love as you can offer them.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Ship tip

Not much to do so bring cards to play or something like that

Thumbs up

Ports of call

New York, New York

3 out of 5

This isn't about the one excursion they have for NYC but this is about the port in general. When checking in, the lines are really long and when you pick your time of "check in" then you should get here like an hour before "check in" time because it will take you an hour just to get to the front of the line to "check in".

Thumbs Up 2

Port Canaveral, Florida

4 out of 5

Did the orlando eye and wax museum and aquarium package. It was ok. Wasn't exactly the most exciting. But I figured it was a good way to get out and about. I would not recommend anyone to go to Disney world because by the time you get There, you would only have 4 hours to enjoy yourself before you have to head back to the ship. So this was a good time killing excursion for you to see some stuff and keep the kids busy.

Thumbs Up 2

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

5 out of 5

Went on the wave runners. Had a good time and the guy (I think his name was benson) was really helpful to me because I never rode one before. So he was super patient with me. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it wasn't really a "tour" it was just that they took you to another area far out and let you get out of your waverunner and dip in the water over there and let you hold a starfish. It was fun though riding the waverunner in general. I had fun.

Thumbs Up 6

Nassau, Bahamas

4 out of 5

Went to see the sea lions here and took a picture with the adorable sea lions. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it was so short. I felt like I was only there for about 30 to 40 minutes taking pictures with the sea lions and watching a few tricks that they did. The sea lions were adorable but I wish I had more time on this excursion.

Thumbs Up 4

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

4 Comments

arlene71 6 years ago

I also traveled with just my (pre)teen daughter and felt like there wasn't much to do during the day except eat and we ate a lot! But relaxing wasn't a bad thing.

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BillTeg 6 years ago

For other readers, I would say it's best to have a back up credit card just in case. Also notify your credit card and debit card banks of your travel plans and destinations so they don't put a hold on your card for unusual purchases (or if outside your home area or outside the country)

Thumbs Up 1

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esm54687 6 years ago

NCL shouldn't float you a loan if you didn't have things worked out with your bank for securing incurred charges.... why didn't you put cash as a security deposit until you could call your bank? What would've happened if NCL did allow you to charge to your room and your credit card company didn't extend credit??? NCL suppose to take IOUs now??

Thumbs Up 2

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jbmanuel 6 years ago

Good review

Thumbs Up 0

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Other reviews of this sailing

it was really fun and I had a good time but there weren’t many kids activities and the ones that they did offer were always already filled up. Plus my sister and I weren’t in the same age group and it’s hard for us to talk to others

Nice Caribbean Cruise

My trip on the GEM was awesome. The food was so delicious. The service was TOP NOTCH. The band 976 KONNECT WAS EXCELLENT. They made my vacation a memorable one. I love the NORWEGIAN. SEE YOU IN NOVEMBER 2018 ON TBE. GETAWAY.