Disappointing

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 22

Overall rating:

2.8 out of 5
Norwegian Gem

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

Sail date: October 01, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10662

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

In summary…. Don’t waste your money. This was our first , and last NCL cruise. After cruising 6 other cruise lines that were less expensive we were expecting at least the same or better experience from NCL. That simply was not the case. Great ports… lame ship.

Embarkation

4 out of 5
Embarkation was quick and efficient.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Cagney's Steakhouse

4 out of 5

Great steak! The only reason it lost a star from me is that specialty drinks are only available at specific bars around the ship. So I could not get my preferred drink with dinner.

Teppanyaki

5 out of 5

Great experience. Chef was very personable and friendly.

Garden Café

2 out of 5

The food was good for the first few days. Aside from the daily additions (Mediterranean, Mexican, etc) the buffet quickly became monotonous.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
There were very few shipboard activities that were not a ruse to present a sales pitch for art or spa treatments and numerous other things the ship was trying to sell.

Entertainment

1 out of 5
Very disappointing. There was a 4 person singing group that was ok, and a magician that was great, but for an 11 day cruise not having nightly shows of good quality is unsatisfactory

Service and Staff

2 out of 5
Most all the staff we encountered were great. However the staff appeared to be woefully undermanned, with some staff running between roles or just being late to open or begin an activity.

Ship Quality

2 out of 5
Cleanliness was good, but the rooms and ship were far too small for an 11 day sailing in comparison to other cruises we have been on.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ship tip

Don’t waste your money on the internet. We paid hundreds of dollars for “premium” internet and instead of streaming speeds they advertised we had difficulty simply loading a basic webpage.

Ports of call

Rhodes, Greece

4 out of 5

Port Said, Egypt

2 out of 5
Just duplicate excursions from Alexandria

Taormina, Sicily

4 out of 5

Limassol, Cyprus

3 out of 5

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

5 out of 5

Zakynthos, Greece

3 out of 5

Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt

4 out of 5

Istanbul, Turkey

4 out of 5

NAPLES (POMPEII), ITALY

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Quick, efficient and almost on time
Was this review helpful? 9

9 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe     4 months ago

Thanks for sharing

bubbles60    1 year ago

Sorry you did not have a good time. The itinerary sounds wonderful. We have been on the Gem several times and loved it. We find the free at sea benefits work great for our family.

jallaway    1 year ago

AFE8, NCL has "free at sea" which is anything but free. The reviewer also said he was suckered into an expensive Wi-Fi package, so yes, he probably did pay a bunch for his Cruise. My last NCL Cruise was a bucket list Cruise for 11 days but they really socked it to me for the cost.

AFE8Ret    1 year ago

Six cruise lines less expensive than NAL! I'm curious as to which ones that is!

cruising2004    1 year ago

Sorry you were disappointed with your cruise.

ddme    1 year ago

The itinerary sounds like this should of been a great cruise. Sorry you were disappointed with NCL.

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Oops sorry 😞 thanks

javawoody    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your experience

snowmum    1 year ago

Interestingly another post from the same cruise couldn't have been more opposite to your findings. I often wonder why this happens, I can only think it is expectations at the outset. Sorry your cruise was less than stellar.

Other reviews of this sailing