Excellent Trip with Lots to See

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 8
Helpful Votes: 105

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5
Norwegian Gem

18 Night Panama Canal (New York To Los Angeles)

Sail date: January 04, 2020

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 8619

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Great Cruise I would recommend it to anyone who has the time. I would also like to say when you hear 20 days it seems like a lot. Believe me, it went fast would do it again but, there are too many other places that I have not seen yet.

Embarkation

4 out of 5
Very good. However, they did not seem well setup for Green Card holders. I found that hard to believe.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
The best from a total of 5 cruises.

Grand Pacific Main Dining Room

5 out of 5

The primary location for dinner. Very good service and excellent food.

Garden Café

4 out of 5

Excellent for a quick bite. The crowds are crazy.

Cagney's Steakhouse

3 out of 5

Not up to par. The quality of the meal and service does not support the price.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
They were ok but not as much as I have seen on Carnival.

Shore Excursions Desk

5 out of 5

They were very responsive to our needs.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
The entertainment was excellent. If there was a downside it was the sets for the production cast shows was not of the quality I have seen on other Ships

Spinnaker Lounge

5 out of 5

The best place on the ship for a quiet moment and wonderful views in the daytime.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
The Cruise Director was below par. All other members of the crew were wonderful and done an excellent job.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Clean Ship. Steward was excellent.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
The room was very nice for an Interior Cabin. It is located on the port side of the ship near the stern of the ship.

Ship tip

Most all excursion were from the port side deck 4.

Ports of call

New York, New York

5 out of 5
So much to see.

Kralendijk, Bonaire

4 out of 5
Very small but also very nice for one day.

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5
Lots of choices and many different activities.

Santa Marta, Colombia

3 out of 5
Its nice but not someplace I would like to spend more time.

Cartagena, Colombia

3 out of 5
Nonstop hustle to purchase from individuals as well as vendors onshore. The excursion guide seemed to be in on it and just pushed it and pushed it. The guide was not up to par.

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5
One complete day of wonder after wonder. Highly recommend it.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

4 out of 5
Good guide and very interesting in San Jose.

Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua

3 out of 5
I learned a new way of telling how a country is doing. Look at the pets. The looked very hunger here.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

4 out of 5
Antigua was very interesting. Also, we saw one of the many volcanoes having small eruptions and spewing smoke.

Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Mexico

2 out of 5
One passenger had issues and had her purse stolen. Military and police everywhere.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

4 out of 5
More to see and do here we kind of done our own thing. Nice visit.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

5 out of 5
Best stop in Mexico. Plenty of reasonable options when you get ashore no need to book from the ship.

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

4 out of 5
Interesting but it convinced me to stay away from LA. Not my kind of town.

Santa Barbara, California

5 out of 5
Beautiful would like to have stayed there longer. I will put that on my list of places to go. They provided a bus downtown for .25 cents best deal around.

San Francisco, California

4 out of 5
Arrived early morning in San Francisco the Golden Gate Bridge is a sight to see as well as the harbor.

Disembarkation

2 out of 5
Lots of problems with the Cruise Director on the announcements. Once of the ship we had booked transportation with NCL. They did not have enough buses.
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