First TransAtlantic Cruise

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 5
Helpful Votes: 44

Overall rating:

4.6 out of 5
Norwegian Gem

15 Night Transatlantic Eastbound (New York To Rome)

Sail date: April 15, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Absolutely loved the refurbished Gem blue/gray tone’s beautiful. Loved food quality on buffet and choices. Staff was great. Passengers super friendly felt like family. We enjoyed progressive trivia the host was funny you could tell he loved his job. Favorite cruise so many great memories made l

Embarkation

4 out of 5
Fairly easy New York embarkation. We were there early had to wait for people to get off even though it was 11 am

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Cagney's Steakhouse

5 out of 5

Delicious and great service

Great Outdoors Bar

5 out of 5

Love the view from this area.

Moderno Churrascaria

5 out of 5

Love this never go away hungry. Grilled pineapple excellent skip dessert and just get pineapple.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Ports of call

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

4 out of 5
We had a afternoon arrival so by 5pm seemed like stores were closing not much to see. Headed back to Cathedral area. Then headed back to ship via shuttle bus. Too long a walk from port otherwise

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

4 out of 5
Booked a Shore Excursion through ShipMate and paid in advance to go to Florence. Shipmates did not get our names to vendor. They said cancel and book directly with them. I balked at that because you are required to cancel 24 hours in Advance. Eventually they let us on the bus since we had printed out all our paperwork and showed our reservation and payment. After that Florence was wonderful but crowded. But that is all of Europe these days. The ride back was good but it was funny when bus drivers had to fight with port authorities to let bus through. Hads waving and rapid Italian on both sides. Quite the show but we made it.

Malaga, Spain

5 out of 5
Loved this port. Took Hop on Hop off bus. Went to Malaga fort/ castle so cool great views of city. Tried to make it to Botanical gardens as well on another line but pick up returns were not going in afternoon. So we had a nice scenic ride is all. Later we heard of a group of people having to take a taxi back because they were not aware of the HOHO schedule for Gardens. We took the HOHO to Cathedral area beautiful.

Ponta Delgada, Azores

4 out of 5
Small port but fun to explore. Very steep however. Be sure to get passport stamped it was not emphasized by ncl or port authorities. When we finally left Europe via Iceland they were not impressed with Ponte Delgada said they see it all the time. Luckily we had documentation of the cruise.

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

4 out of 5
Not much to see took public train to Rome. Stayed 3 days and loved it.

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5
Loved Barcelona. Used Metro to get around. Saw outside La Sagrada and two other Gaudi buildings. Strolled Arch de Triumph park and enjoyed Sangria outside the Cathedral.

New York, New York

5 out of 5
Love sailing past the skyline and seeing Statue of Liberty. We had excellent weather. ❤️

Cannes, France

3 out of 5
Small town just walked the coast saw the film festival area. Hiked the hill to Cannes sign and Cathedral. Then back to ship.

Lisbon, Portugal

5 out of 5
So much to see loved Lisbon again steep hills. We navigated the metro. We were there on Sunday so some venues closed. Get the custard pie/tarts.

Cadiz (Seville), Spain

4 out of 5
Cute small town nice to see but would prefer landing in Gibraltar.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
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7 Comments

dtorg1955     11 months ago

Was there pickleball on the Gem?

Ladyjunecliff    1 year ago

Thanks for your detailed review. Nice itinerary

Cruiselovers70    1 year ago

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

javawoody    1 year ago

Thanks for the detailed review

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

Tuck45    1 year ago

Hey, Is it okay to give tips in US dollars for the excursion staff?

cruising2004    1 year ago

Great detailed review and an amazing itinerary! Thank you for sharing your experience.

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