What a fabulous itinerary on a lovely ship!

Item: Norwegian Gem
Rating: 4.9
Author: AimeeRuthN

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review

AimeeRuthN

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 13

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5

11 Night Mediterranean: Italy Greece & Egypt (Rome To Istanbul)

Sail date: October 01, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9576

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 months ago

Review summary

Dream cruise for my husband and me on our 30th wedding anniversary on a truly wonderful ship with outstanding itinerary

Embarkation

2 out of 5

No fault of Norwegian’s——the port of entry is run by the Italians and it was pretty hectic. Big building filled with hundreds of people. When you first walk in you don’t even know there is a girl handing out number cards. We finally figured that out, got our number, and it was the rudeness of the passengers that appalled me- how pushy some were, even those of the “greatest generation”, the boomers, literally PUSHED PAST me once our number was called. And since I was not rude and pushy, I counted SIXTEEN people who had gotten between my husband and I. So that sucked. But again, no fault of Norwegian or the port authority——this was just poor manners on behalf of the humans lining up to board.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Food wasn’t the point of our itinerary or trip, so we were more than pleased with the main dining rooms and buffets and the complementary restaurant choices. Plenty of healthy choices for breakfast every morning (which we ate at back of ship outside on deck 12), far too much food for lunch and dinner every day, with a pasta bar, Asian bar, salad bar, American grill bar, tons of attractive little desserts, ice cream, crepes, fresh bread rolls, handmade pizzas, meat and cheeses. The employees were ALL VERY polite and VERY helpful. I paid for the unlimited soda package and while they don’t have Coke Zero, they do have Diet Coke on tap, which you have to show your card for and ask someone to pour for you, every time you want some. Which I kind of found disappointing but it worked, nonetheless.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

This ship is great—-ALWAYS plenty of deck chairs because if the ones on same level as the 2 pools and 4 outdoor hottubs are full, you just go up a flight of stairs and there are hundreds more, and then one MORE level up and there are even more and it is really quiet up there too. I love the jogging track on deck 12, and also the promenade on deck 7, which you only have to go around 3 times to get a mile in. We love the Crossword puzzle and Sudoku given out in library each day, love the Spa, thought Deal or No Deal was super fun to watch, enjoyed the matinee showing of the movie Where the Crawdads Sing. There was plenty more to do but we just didn’t do all there was to do, by choice

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

I find the staff on board the Gem, at every level, extremely professional, positive.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

I slept so well every night. Love having a balcony. Had great views the whole trip too.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Disembarking was SO EFFICIENT and smooth that we ended up with FIVE hours to spare at the Instanbul airport because we never dreamed it would all go so fast and easy.

Traveler Photos

9 Comments

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