Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Absolutely amazing cruise. Except of sea sickness on first days and adaptation to different climate zone, we really enjoyed the trip. There were a great amount of activities on the ship for every taste and budget.The weather had permitted to stay outdoors and get the sun and water baths, all while listening to favorite bands.Evening program exceeded all expectations as well - there weren't a day where Stardust have not offered a spectacular event, Bingo at Spinnaker kept in tension all ages, and Paradise Lotto intrigued public no less. We especially liked Fitness club events and grateful to Dan Pfeiffer for his energetic explanations and involvement in our lives.We look forward to book a new trip at NCL in the near future!

The delightful entertainment on this trip was due in part to the lovely people who staff the activities.  The abundance of music made every hour a party.  We particularly enjoyed the band, Souled Out.  Leo and his Guitar was a delight. 

This cruise didn't meet our expectations at all.  The food wasn't good (particularly Garden Cafe was awful), the service was only okay, and there were too many issues on board.  There was a norovirus outbreak that sickened myself and over 130 passengers.  We were denied access to St. Maarten due to the outbreak.  The pools aren't heated and the hot tubs weren't hot.  They also completely botched my birthday surprise cake - they knocked on my door, woke me up, and handed me my cake 9:30pm "happy birthday" and the dude was nearly half way down the hall when I looked up.  So much for setting up balloons and garland in my room BEFORE boarding the ship.  We also didn't get our $75 on board spending credit (even though I made arrangements through and filled out the forms) and the NCL staff was unwilling to assist in obtaining it when we were out to sea - "call ".. Uh, no phone service.  Wines by the Glass weren't good at all.  So many hidden service charges and fees.  I don't recommend cruising with NCL.

Despite the gastroenteritis virus outbreak during this cruise and not porting at St. Maarten, we managed to have a pleasant vacation. This was our third Norwegian cruise and the food and entertainment were fabulous as usual. We were lucky to have great weather especially at the 3 out of 4 ports scheduled. Norwegian only refunded us $9.76 per person for missing the port of St. Maarten and we are trying to get our $50 shore excursion credit back that we lost. The crew did an awesome job trying to contain the virus which directly impacted this vacation. We are thankful we did not get the virus as the officers on board enforced that anyone with the virus would be confined to their cabins and had to surrender their room card keys!

EVEN THOUGH THE SHIP WAS FULL, THE STAFF WAS VERY 

EFFICIENT AND FRIENDLY.  THE COMEDIAN, TIM KAMINSKI, WAS

EXCELLENT.  HIS POSITIVE SENSE OF HUMOR WAS SO UPLIFTING

DURING THESE VERY CYNICAL DAYS.  EVEN NOW AT HOME I

I REMEMBER HIS SHOW AND FEEL BETTER

confined in our room for 2  days because of Nero virus no fault of the ship but  lost 2 days  and 2 days of specialty restaurants that were include in our cruise. 

Our trip was ruined due to filthy conditions of the ship. A norovirus outbreak left us missing islands and deathly sick. We will never cruise again and would appreciate a refund.

The Gem is a comfortable and clean cruise liner. We have 6 people in our group and all said the food is great in all restaurants throughout the cruise. The fitness center is equipped with different exercise machines to suit everyone's physical requirement. There are many shore excursion selections to choose from with detailed description of each. The cruise staff members are very friendly. Our party of six really enjoyed the cruise.

I really have the outlook that there is no such thing as a bad cruise but this cruise came close to changing my mind.

There have been many changes on NCL.  There seemed to be less crew and the restaurant staff was less friendly.  The restaurants and buffet were generally dirty and for most of the cruise there was no enforcement of hand washing.  There were exceptions we had some great waiters - Shaik M. Harris, Samir Shaik, and Gina Batacandolo.

There was an outbreak of Noro that the captain blamed on drinking water in San Juan.  Many people were sick on the ship and we were turned away from St. Maarten.  The staff would never say how many people were sick but it was a very large number.

The entertainment on the ship was excellent.  Great shows especially Tim Kaminski.  However, this though great didn't overcome the issues with cleanliness.

Given this, we will think seriously about cruising with NCL again.

I booked NCL based on great reviews about it. IT was a great ship, great service from all the employees. Food were great in all of the dining options, although the some of the foods at Garden Cafe were a bit greasy. We had a great time until we were not allowed entry to St.Maarten due to a number of passengers contracting what they suspected to be a Norovirus. Thank God, my family were spared. Last night at sea headed home was a bit rocky, all for us skipped dinner due to the boat being at its roughest at sea as we hit a cold front. The captain was very good in keeping passengers updated with information. Cruise Director and his staff were amazing. Shows were all a delight and truly an enjoyable experience. Our kids enjoyed the Splash zone for both their age groups. The passengers were friendly and approachable, I made quite a few friends. We saved our deposits for 2 future cruises in the next four years. Love NCL and despite the incidence of GI issues, the staff onboard were truly dedicated in isolating the case. Also, there was an emergent health issue that arose and seeing the number of staff trained on rescue and immediate who responded were commendable! Our room exceeded size and occupancy expectations - it was pretty large for a family of four. 

nice ship,crew was excellent,food very good,entertainment overall fair,comic very good,jersey boys very good,second city fair at best. could use a second location for expresso bar. 

Very nice cruise ship, wonderful room, stuff always ready to please, food better than I expected, I was never bored. Overall I wasn't disappointed. But if you enjoy smoking a cigarette, even electronic, it is only possible in selected areas, not as at used to be: right side smoking, left not or vice verse. So all the smokers stuffed in that little outside bar, that I finally found, smoking, drinking, laughing out loud and l had meet wonderful people, who like many, feel discriminated.

I found the cruise to be very relaxing. The crew were very pleasant. The  food was fantastic. Almost everything was perfect until one night my husband and I went to see a show at the theater and they close one section only for The Haven reserved group. The Theater is for everyone on the boat The Haven Group already have their space and all the amenities that comes with the The Haven package. I found that very disturbing and very unpleasant. Clean that bad part and is super great.

Very disappointed  in quality of food and it's flavor and portion size, I know you can ask for another but at that point why bother. Food came out cold soup warm not hot espresso machine broken for 3 days. On this ship 4 yrs. ago much better.

This cruise would have been great except for the fact that I got sea sick after a

few days on the GEM.  After this illness past I got sick....had to visit the medical

dept.  Dr. Nikouc Bogdan and nurse Roland Tupal  took great care of me.  I was

diagnosed with the flu. I could not have been more pleased with their care.  I felt

I was in a big medical center.  I was quarantine for 2 days until I left the ship. I

certainly want recommend them for an commendation. They were both very

professionable.  You should be very proud of your Employees.  I also Had a great cabin steward Jose; he was very polite and helpful.  My cabin no. was 9045. 

Sincerely,

Maureen Harris

We had a great time. Everyone worked hard to make our trip nice.

We did notice a slight downward tick on quality since our last cruise. It seems like some belt tightening only repeat customers would notice, and they have. It was a common subject of conversation among repeat Norwegian cruisers. In simple terms "the shine is off the apple". The big disappointment was the restricted "unlimited premium dining". We took it up with the front desk where the acronym on the room key was explained where it was limited to five times. None of our documents showed that.  There is no one other than a Norwegian employee would know what the acronym would mean. This issue was discussed with management to no avail. We were made to feel like we were interrupting them. Very disappointing. 

After three happy cruises I guess It is time to shop around.

We were very pleased with the itinerary. We chose an inside cabin to make it affordable given the Canadian exchange. The Beverage package and upgraded meals were a true bonus. The food in the dining room was OK but service in the dining room was slow. The service in the upgraded restaurants slow but expected given the volume of food served. The quality of the food was excellent at Cagneys and Le Bistro. The variety of entertainment was very good. The Four seasons tribute was excellent. We chose not to participate in a lot of activities as we wanted time to do nothing but read and relax. There was a lot of sea time to do this. Leo the entertainer in the lounge area was wonderful.

We just returned from our Feb 21, 2016 sailing on the Norwegian Gem and had a wonderful time.  The staff were all sooo friendly and accomodating!  Our stateroom steward, Richard, was always totally thorough and made sure our room was always stocked with plenty of towels, ice and anything else we needed(like wine glasses.)  Our initial first few days were a bit rough and windy, but everything went according to plan on board.  We did have an out break of influenza on board, so the staff had to go into super clean mode and everyone had to be served by the staff  for the buffet and constant "washy washy" mode was instilled by all staff to all the passengers.  I guess my only complaint was the very, very slow service in the dining rooms.  We are seasoned cruisers and I have never waited  so long for service and between courses as I did on this ship.  It all seemed a bit disorganized, with our servers constantly changing between every course.  Really strange!  The food was awesome when we did get it, but service was very slow!  Everything else was awesome!

First, it was and is the same food over and over and really you got frustrated with r hat and personal to me Elvis or alvin he need to be main full to treat everyone with respect and courtesy .not only the people that he likes. Other than that I do liked the cleanliness, and  organization that they have when you arrived to the ports and all the staff is really nice with everyone. And it you drink a lot of water bring your own water cap and you can just fill it up, st Thomas beautiful beach magens the name  we did a short excursion all the island are beautiful

We've taken 3, 5, & 7 day cruises with awesome service, shopping & entertainment.   We had the hopes that a 10 day cruise would have loads of things to do.  There was 2 shops & 2 jewelry stores on this cruise with the same sale every day 2 shirts for $20.  The staffing for restaurants and lounges were very inadequate on this cruise.  We would have to wave staffing for drinks at the lounges & restaurants.  Waiter/Waitress were not concerned with their service for cruisers.  The food choices were the same each night, very little changed on the dinner menu.  The entertainment was the same music every day, I feel they should have had a different set of music every other night.  Our room steward was awesome always making sure the room was cleaned and supplied with fresh towels.