Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This is our second time back to Gem, just like come back to my home. Very comfortable and relax plus thoughtful, I believe I will come back again!

Food was very good in the regular dining rooms and specialty restaurants. Food was ok in buffet. Buffet area was what you may expect.... crowded, hectic, busy. Shows were great! Plenty to do on the ship other than the crowded pool area. O’Sheehans was a great breakfast choice as well as late night... 24 hours.

Friendly staff, excellent food, great entertainment!

I enjoyed every minute . Great people !! especially the HAPPY HAPPY WASHY WASHY GIRLS!!! :)

So we have been on numerous cruises out of NYC. And theyre always smaller older ships. Based on the reviews I had read on the Gem I wasn't sure what to expect. But we wanted the ability and ease of being able to drive to NYC from PA and save on airfare. I must say we were pleasantly surprised. The ship had been refurbished and had many of the same amenities that the larger NCL ships have. Overall we had a nice time. I believe a vacation is what you make it. We have young children and they had a blast with the kids club. The downfall of the older ships is that they don't have all the cool water slides that the new ships have. So one of my biggest complaint on this cruise was the amount of 8-12 year old unsupervised children. All times of day and night at the pool - jumping off the end of the pool. Almost landing on my daughters heads and other innocent passengers. They would swear when you asked them to stop. It was so bad that my 12 year old would go and try to find someone from NCL to get them to stop. They need to post big signs that say no jumping. As soon as the worker would walk away they would start jumping again. Clearly the parents didn't care. But as I told several of the NCL workers when they told me they can't do anything about it ".It will become your problem when one of your unsupervised minor guests hurts my minor child." It was a big problem. And NCL needs to put someone out by the pool all the time. My other big complaint was our room! So I have to take responsibility for this but I assumed we would have two beds for my husband and I that would be pushed together and either two bunks or one bunk and a sofa. But NO - the fourth bed was a trundle bed that pulled out from one of the adult beds! In over 20 cruises I have NEVER seen anything like this! It was a nightmare. I was so afraid we were going to trip getting up in the middle of the night. Also every bodies dirty feet were all over it. And the room was already tiny. When that bed was out it left us with only a tiny amount of space to get ready. We couldn't push or pull it out because the room steward locked it in place. I will NEVER again stay in a room like that. My husband and I couldn't put our beds together. And I didn not see that anywhere on NCL's website when I booked it. But you better believe for any future cruises that will be the first question I ask! Other than those two issues we did have a good time and it was a nice change of pace to cruise on a smaller ship

We had a wonderful time celebrating our 30th anniversary and sharing our friends wedding. The crew could not be any more helpful. Our cabin steward greeted us with a smile no matter what time of day. The entertainment was excellent. The only caution I would give is if you like fancy drinks or coffee, ask if they are included in your package so you don't get a surprise in your bill on the last day.

I did not think the staff overall was nearly as friendly as in other cruise shops except in the dining room. We had to call repeatedly for towels, etc. The food was better than I’ve had in other cruises especially in the specialty restaurants. Not enough th time in Bar Harbor with slow process to get off the ship. Shows were not great except the comedy show was entertaining. Movies played at odd / late times and in a crowded lounge area.

Our cabin had toilet flushing problems on day 1 as did our relatives in cabin 8051. My main complaint is the entire hallway where we walked to the elevator smelled liked SEWAGE the entire trip!! It was disgusting. Towards the end of the trip, I mentioned to another person in our party that it still smelled in the hall since day 1 and their comment was " I'm getting used to it!" So repulsive. Other than that, all employees of the ship were very very friendly and took care of us very well. It was an overall nice cruise but the stench was gross. I also believe I left a purse in my cabin and I wrote in to lost and found and haven't heard anything about it. So sad about that!

Excellent crew and service. Deck 11 is horrible for cabins, pool, sundeck, children play area above and VERY noisy.

Ship and staff itself were very pleasant, off shore excursions not so much.

We had a great time on our first Norwegian Cruise. We have been on other cruises, the staff made this a great trip. We will sail with again.

Reviews I had read were both good and bad, but I didn't expiecne anything bad. We had a great time and we are planning our next one.

Overall a wonderful cruise. Ports were nice and offered something for everyone to do from hiking to whale watching to shopping. St. John's was just ok and did not offer much to do. Food was wonderful but service in specialty restaurants was sub par. Room steward was great and we will definitely be cruising NCL and the Gem again!

The NCL Gem is not one of the big new ships, but there is still plenty to do. The weather was too cold to swim so all the bars were full. We ate all dinners in the specialty restaurants. NCL should visit these ports during the summer months

Great cruise, love the staff. Would recommend to family and friends.

The room was nice and the service was good, but i felt the ship was older and there was less fun activities than other Norwegian ships i have been on. I also felt like the buffet was extremely small and limited. It was always pretty crowded.

I needed time off from my job. This cruise was great to unwind and simply enjoy.

This was our first cruise and we had a great time! The staff was amazing and provided great service to make sure we had an amazing vacation! The only thing we feel like needed improvement was the DJ, he played the same music almost every night and it got boring because we knew what he would play next.

The Gem is a small, older ship. There is no center hub. What they have is small. Entertainment was on opposite sides of the ship. Restaurants are not in one central place. Also, the pool area on the lower deck was ridiculous everyday because they had a BBQ. We were unable to put out chairs because the room was needed for the BBQ. And the smoke was out of hand. It made it very uncomfortable for us to breath.

In general the cruise was excellent. Staff and services are readily available and contribute to making the overall experience excellent.