Excellent Cruise

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 9
Helpful Votes: 92

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5
Norwegian Gem

10 Night Mediterranean: Greece Turkey & Egypt (Istanbul To Athens)

Sail date: November 01, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10104

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Another excellent cruise with NCL the refresh of the Gem has been very successful, the only disappointment was that there is no longer a decent single malt scotch whisky available in the drinks package.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Extremely straight forward embarkation in a very spectacular new cruise terminal in Istanbul.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
The food was consistently delicious with faultless service in the restaurants and bars. Very disappointing that the only single malt whisky available on the drinks package was Glen Turner, extremely disappointing and not what I expected from NCL.

Cagney's Steakhouse

5 out of 5

Excellent food and service as always.

The Great Outdoors

5 out of 5

Best place on the ship to sit, but beware of soot on the seat cushions.

Sugarcane Mojito Bar

5 out of 5

Great mojitos, a shame that the bar is only open in the evening.

Maltings Beer & Whiskey Bar

5 out of 5

Staff excellent, disappointing single malt scotch whisky in the drinks package.

Le Bistro

5 out of 5

Still the best restaurant on the ship, superb food and service.

La Cucina Italian Restaurant

5 out of 5

Great Italian food, very disappointing that the Osso Bucu is now a lamb shank rather than veal.

Grand Pacific Main Dining Room

5 out of 5

A great venue for breakfast, lunch or dinner

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Didn’t do anything, but they looked good.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Singers/bands in bars and lounges were great, but the main shows were not as good as usual and we had seen the main shows some time previously.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The staff were exceptional in all areas, universally friendly and attentive. The only exception being the Finance Desk which I fed back to the General Manager but got no response.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
The Gem had been remodelled since our last cruise on it, a very successful refresh of all the public areas.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Spotless cabin with an attentive steward.

Ship tip

Drink in the Maltings Whiskey Bar.

Ports of call

Istanbul, Turkey

5 out of 5

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

5 out of 5

Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt

5 out of 5

Alanya, Turkey

5 out of 5

HERAKLION, CRETE, GREECE

5 out of 5

Rhodes, Greece

5 out of 5

Mykonos, Greece

5 out of 5

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Very straightforward, taxi queue was long but good availability of taxis - make sure that the taxi driver uses the meter, ours claimed that the fare was 3 times what it said on the meter.
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7 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe     1 month ago

Thanks for sharing

24MyLuckyDragon    1 year ago

Love the NCL/ GEM! First cruise ship I sailed on with NCL & still memorable after 15+ cruises. Thanks for sharing. Happy cruising 🤩⚓️😎❣️‼️

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

bubbles60    1 year ago

Love the positive review!

john203    1 year ago

The Gem being one of the smaller ships does so much more for thier cruise customer's.It ranks high on cleanliness and food is always up to par

javawoody    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your experience

cruising2004    1 year ago

Sounds perfect! Thank you for your review.

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