Good Trip

Item: Norwegian Gem
Rating: 3.4
Author: CPaoletti

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

CPaoletti

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

3.4 out of 5

Verified Review

9 Night Greek Isles: Santorini Mykonos & Croatia (Trieste To Athens)

Sail date: May 22, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11654

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 11 months ago

Review summary

Good experience, but some of the admin related to purchased packages was a negative

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

All the dinning was great. There was a big lack of consistency and understanding between restaurants and bars and the use of our extended dinning and drink packages. Rules seemed to change from place to place. Consistently we had to have a uncomfortable billing discussion in there not being an understanding that we had 4 specialty dinning meals for each of the 4 members of out party. Also there was never the same answer on what wines we could order in our P+ package. it made those events very uncomfortable as we had to have discussions with managers.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

See above on the comments about billing issues with dinning. The wait staff was always outstanding. There seemed to always be only one bar tender at the great outdoors and there would be a long line in the early evening

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

There are some tired areas of the boat, like the theater seats, which worn out. The fold our coach/bed is very tough to take for nine nights

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Nice size and kept clean. The fold our coach/bed is very tough to take for nine nights

Ship tip

Make restaurant reservations early.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

TRIESTE (VENICE), ITALY

3 out of 5

We had to make reservations to do an activity on our own. With Venice cancelled so late, the boat did not have other options lined up. Earlier notice and we could have used the "wasted" day better and found excursions

Thumbs Up 0

Venice, Italy

1 out of 5

This was cancelled very late. We had been to Venice last year, so not as big a deal for us, but its kind of false advertising to say this is a Venice Cruise. The work around to take a 2 hour RT bus for a short stay in Venice was not worth the value.

Thumbs Up 0

Rijeka, Croatia

4 out of 5

A town just figuring it out, but a good stop to just walk around. Not a lot of options

Thumbs Up 0

Split, Croatia

5 out of 5

Great stop

Thumbs Up 0

Kotor, Montenegro

4 out of 5

Interesting place. We did a cruise around the bay and then to a "beach". the resort area did not seem to know a crowd was coming and was very under staffed.

Thumbs Up 0

Dubrovnik, Croatia

5 out of 5

Corfu, Greece

3 out of 5

Corfu was very rough unless you were in the main area of the fort and town

Thumbs Up 0

Santorini, Greece

3 out of 5

Beautiful, but way too crowded. We did an independent tour and got off the beaten path and away from crowds. That place needs to do something about the congestion with their cable car and upgrade that thing.

Thumbs Up 0

Mykonos, Greece

4 out of 5

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

3 Comments

Other reviews of this sailing

A bumby start but generally excellent

wonderful cruise except Venice visit