Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews - Reviews

nothing special--did exact cruise a year ago and service was a ton better then--same for the quality of the food

My husband likes to find value cruises and as Panama Canal trips to this was good. We also liked that it ended in NYC as we wanted to stay there a few days. We would not go on the Gem again but like Norwegian because of the perks they include in the room packages if you buy at the right time.

Would not take again. Many much better cruises. Communication was terrible. NCL dropped the ball on this one.

So would I cruise again with NCL? The answer is no and here are the reasons why: 1. Food. It wasn't good. As described, it had no taste. The menu resembled a Denny's menu. Quality of the food wasn't good. The red meat was unchewable. Waffles were like cardboard. Quantity and variety was good but what good is that if there's no taste? 2. Shipboard officers. They were a sullen and unfriendly group..I'm talking about the line officers who steer the ship. The captain was remote and unseen. He made daily 10AM announcements that amounted to nothing. What he said was found on the shipboard TV screens, e.g. course, speed, water temp, etc. The guy should have been up and around every once in a while for the passengers to see and he wasn't. Unlike other ships when the captain addresses the passengers in the theater, this guy didn't do that. In short, he was a ghost. The other officers were not much better. The hotel service officers ran the gamut from friendly and helpful to seemingly harried and overburdened. You never knew what you would get when you asked one a question. In one instance, I couldn't chew the meat served to me. When I alerted one of the hotel service officers in the dining room and I told him, "I can't chew the meat." His response was, "Well, did it taste good?" Are you kidding me? Did it taste good? I couldn't chew it. 3. Excursions. Be careful when you book an excursion. Read every description even if you don't plan on going on a specific tour. Why? Because there are tidbits of valid and important info strewed throughout. Example: as described, the length of the bus rides to a specific town might be found in one description but not the one you might be interested in. One description talked about the beautiful sunsets from a town but we left at 3:00 in the afternoon so there would be no sunset. 4. The excursion desk was not a great help. When we had a 90 minute bus ride to Leon, Nicaragua, I complained that we weren't aware of the length of time in transit to which the desk rep told me, and I quote, "Everyone knows that Leon is a 90 minute bus ride." I asked who everyone is to which she said, "you need to research your tours," to which I said, I did by reading your description of the tour...and that's why you need to read all descriptions because in one solitary one, you'll find that the bus ride to Leon is 90 mins long...but that warning wasn't in the description of the trip we took. 5. Rather than having Curacao and Manzanillo on the schedule, replace them both with a stay in Panama City and lengthen the time Costa Rica 5. Finally, I don't want to say that everything on the cruise was bad. There were a lot of good things but when I totaled the good and bad, the overall score was bad and that's why I wouldn't return to NCL. For the cost, I fully expected better quality in all facets of the experience. I really think that NCL has to revisit its business and hotel service paradigm, make some major adjustments and retrain its people.

Great cruise. I highly recommend it.

Lots of good things - lots of mediocre or poor ones. Great weather, especially in mid-winter. The Duplicate Bridge games organised by Ian were terrific. The Canal itself was "once-in-a-lifetime."

This was our 3rd cruise on NCL GEM and 23 cruise overall. It was fun to be on the ship during Holidays and we enjoyed this cruise a lot. Food and some entertainment could be a bit better, but we had very reasonable expectations and had a lot fun catching up on some beach and family time. I would recommend this ship if dates and itinerary work for you and price is right. And especially if you live in the NY area and do not need to fly.

Overall good ship, not great, although since a smaller ship the crowds never seemed too bad. Overall the energy and vibe of the staff was not up to NCL standards. The ports were all good but the quality of excursion offerings were not as good as other NCL cruises, with most being tailored to very large groups. On board activities were below other NCL standards we have been on, with minimal variety (pretty much just the standard shopping, bingo, and trivia everyday for 11 days). The photo department was much better with several monitors and individualized binders of your photos, which is much easier to find and review photos than other ships we have been on.

So my only issue with this cruise was the food. It was really bland and not good as far as we were concerned. I will most likely not cruise this line again because of the issue. I expect everything to be at least good but the food was really quite bad.

Everything went wrong, it was hard to get good food and drinks. Inconsistent food service, bartenders who ignore you, over crowded pool, service charges everywhere, hidden fees, must I go on? Cruise another line.

Enjoyable and relaxing the food was great in the specialty restaurants

Pros: excellent price, 11 days, 6 ports, 2 full days at sea going and coming (great for de-stressing), special food needs were accommodated. Buffet was nicely organized with good variety. Cons: dining room service was slow and a bit disorganized at times. Italian food in the mdr was mediocre. Overall: would do it again!

All in all we had a great time. I found that a lot if the wait staff in the Buffet did understand english very well when you asked them for something so I had to track down a supervisor or Matre'D to get what was needed. The specialty restaurants were very good and had good service. I was a little disappointed that I didn't see my cabin Steward till 9pm on the 1st night. I feel he should had made quick introductions to each room prior to getting heavily involved with one guest for an extended time. After that he turned out to be very good.

wife had broken desert glass she didn't notice until half empty. all we got was sorry,no follow up are nothing. I had a piece chicken with blood coming out got the same thing sorry. terrible

The cruise itself was fine. The boat is getting older and it shows in some areas. The main issue was with how awful the technology onboard is. Want the beverage package? Write it out on a sales slip from 1990. Same at the shops. Then they triple charged for drinks. Had to fill out more paper slips to get it fixed. We had the soda package and they billed us for soda. Took THREE trips to customer service to get it removed. Then they cancelled our excursions without warning. Nightmare to get back on them. Having done my most recent cruises on RCCL, it just seems like NCL is stuck in 2000 in terms of onboard technology and customer service. Will be cruising on RCCL from now on when it's an option.

NCL Gem is our favorite ship! The staff is so friendly and accommodating. They keep everything extremely clean. Main Shows are like off broadway quality The lounge performances are also enjoyable Food and drinks great Doesn’t matter which port you visit the Gem is a wonderful experience

Will definitely be going back to Bermuda on a longer cruise than 5 days, and would not mind being on the Gem again except that next time will get a balcony room. Hopefully they’ll have better musicians then.

Get there as early as you can and start your cruise early. We took Yankee Trails Bus service down from the Albany, NY area. We were down at the port by 10:30am. Since we tagged our luggage, the next time that we saw it was around 1:30pm outside our stateroom door. We were on board and had our first drink in our hand by 11:30am. We had lunch and then took advantage of some to the tours that were offered. Our stateroom (8526) was ready around 1pm. The luggage showed up about 1/2 hour later. We unpacked and were able to get 2 of our large suitcases and one carry on under the bed. I had purchased an over the door shoe holder and it fit nicely over the outside of the bathroom door giving us extra room for toiletries, sunscreen, first aid kit, medications, etc... Loved the PrivaSea balcony which gave us extra protection from the extreme weather conditions we experienced through the cruise. Bed was comfy and much bigger than expected as it was more like a king size rather than a queen. All of our meals were either buffet style or at the complimentary restaurants. All meals were good and you could eat as much as you wanted to. Enjoyed several of the scheduled on board activities. My favorite was The Perfect Couple. The only let down of the cruise was when my husband's 2 tank scuba diving excursion was canceled due to a lack of interest/participation. We had purchased 2 passes for the Mandara SPA VIP Thermal Suite online before the cruise which saved each of us $29. That was one of the main highlights for us. We felt pampered and it was so relaxing. It was perfect because we were not able to take advantage of the outdoor pools and Jacuzzi due to the extreme weather conditions. The spa was not overly crowded. We had towels and bathrobes available along with refreshments. Finally, the view off the spa was amazing. Bermuda was very nice, but the weather played a factor on the first day. On the second day, my husband and I were able to visit Horseshoe Bay Beach and do some shopping at the Dockyard before heading back onto the ship. In all, we had a wonderful time and will definitely cruise again with Norwegian Cruise Line.

My 26 year old daughter and I had a "Gem" of a cruise experience. The shows and food were excellent. There was plenty of things to do. We enjoyed the ports. At Port Canaveral we booked an excursion to the Orlando Eye, Madame Tussaud's and an aquarium. There was just the right amount of time to enjoy. The private island was beautiful and we had great weather. We have been Nassau before so we decided to book a day pass to the Hilton though Resorts for a Day. It was the right choice-very relaxing. There was a nice beach, pool and plenty of chairs both in the shade or sun. The Gem is nice size ship. There are lots of activities and choices in the evening of lounges to enjoy some music. Hope you get to enjoy this ship someday too!!

It was the lowest rating we have given of our 17 cruises. The drink prices were unreal if you didn't have the drink package ($13 after mandatory tip per drink). The food was very basic and the main dining didn't have the usual "special" entrees most other ships have and were very slow service. They held some of the big activities in the one large bar instead of the Show hall which caused standing room only most times. The private island was great along with the lunch they served while there.