Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We had a great time on this cruise once we made friends.  Apparently the ship seems to have a problem seating us with others who also want not to sit alone.  Only when we complained did they accommodate us.  Otherwise, we would sit at a big table and right away they would remove the other settings so no one could sit with us.  We did this cruise last year and it was the same problem.  We were told that no one wanted to sit with us at the time we were there.  However, conducting our own survey, we found that not to be the case.  We spoke to others at big tables and they were told the same thing even though they too wanted to sit with others.  Not sure why this is a problem both last year and this year.  

the room is dusty and stinky and expect to spend at least 1.5 hours at the restaurant as the service was extremely slow.

Be sure the skip the Orchid Garden for Asian food or you will be very disappointed.

Also, this is the first cruise line that don't clean up the room every day and we only get 3 towel animals on a 10 night cruise.

Overall, the price is reasonable and the food was great. There were not too many kids activities on the ship. The average age on our cruise was 44.

Our room was 8100 and the smell was pretty bad. We requested for a room change and of course we didn't get one.

Overall vacation was great because of the Island tours, very scenic and booked locally not via cruise line.  Extremely disappointed with the terrible cruise services, for e.g. cruise slide was closed for entire trip which our kids were looking forward to and daily activities had 'family dodge ball' listed for 2 pm, we showed up but no one from cruise staff showed up with balls. On our way back to NY, Cruise captain decided to speed up with maximum speed causing tons of people to throw up including my 9 yr. old that ruined our entire day.  This was our 6th cruise with NCL and their on-board services quality has gone down drastically.

The length of this cruise, the ports, and the cruise line were all wonderful.  The only reason for 4/5 was the slight dip in service due to a very new staff on the ship.  Some wait time times at restaurants, even when seated, were longer than usual.  We also had to remind staff to provide us with our latitudes benefits (chocolates at night, discounts, etc).  However, aside from needing some assistance the crew was wonderfully friendly and accommodating.  The entertainment, even in some rough seas, was amazing.  

LOVED CASUAL DINING 

LOVED  GARDEN CAFE.  MUCH IMPROVED OVER PREVIOUS TRIPS

GREAT CABIN STEWARD

DININGROOM STAFF SLOW AND HARD TO UNDERSTAND, CONDIMENTS PRESENTED AFTER THE MEAL WAS WELL IN PROCESS.

SOME OCCASIONS MEALS NOT HOT

NO MOVIE THEATER

CASINO TOO SMOKEY TO STAY IN AND WE CAN TOLERATE SOME SMOKE

TWO GOOD SHOWS OUT OF TEN DAYS

POSITION OF TOWLET IN BATH VERY INCONVENIENT

Positives: (1) Cleanliness, friendliness and efficiency of all personnel; (2) Good food in dining rooms

Negatives: Food in buffet area was not as good as in past years, some major football games not shown (e.g-Jets vs Giants, Army vs Navy, and college football championship games), internet prices are excessively high.

Overall Assessment: 4 Stars - Very Good

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Booking- we asked a couple of times if the amount we were paying covered all the costs (tips, taxes, fees, etc.) and confirmed they were. We paid off the trip before departure, and again confirmed there wouldn't be any hidden fees. We were told we had paid in full except for any souvenirs or excursions.  By the time we docked at the end of the trip, there was  $300 in hidden fees. It was incredibly frustrating and unprofessional of our rep to mislead us like that.

The Gem- the staff was amazing! The ship was clean and recently refurbished. Might not be the best for kiddos.  The kid's pool was closed for a bit because of rocky seas and the slide was closed for the entire trip. Also, there's no longer a bowling alley  (but the lounge is beautiful ). Second city was great for entertainment too.  The trip itself was incredible, but I'll think twice aboutusing cruises only. 

This cruise was very disappointing.  The Gem just came out of dry dock with lots of changes.  Here are the most egregious:

--  They got rid of all of the funky, fun furniture and replaced it with what looks like it should be in a doctor's office.

--  They cut back on activities; there's very little going on.

--  No more prizes for winning contests. 

--  Much of the staff aloof and rude. 

--  Staff sneezing in the buffet room without covering their mouths.  I came home with a bad cold.

--  Really awful entertainment.

The best part of the trip was the guy who cleaned my room.  He was awesome. I won't be sailing on the Gem again; that's for sure.

The cruise was a lot of fun. There was a lot to do especially at night. I was not able to go to the casino due to the strong cigarette smell. They really need some type of  ventilation system.  They white party was nice but I expected more and was only for an hour.  Besides that everyone was really nice on staff. I met a lot of nice people on the ship.

Have cruised three times on this ship and this has been the worse. Waiting to eat after being seated in main dining room, coffee to strong to drink. People with drink packages drinking way to much and causing trouble. Teens on this cruise runing around cursing very loudly. Buffet food cold. Entertainment staff was very enjoyable. Shows were good. Cruise was to pricey for what you get.

We took this same cruise last year and loved it.  But we were very disappointed with this year's cruise.  Last year we had gone to 6 ports and this year 21/2 ports.I don't understand why Tortola's port was picked. I feel that this island is a waste of time, as we only was on the island for 41/2 hours.                                     We have traveled on Norwegian Cruise line many times, and I feel this cruise did not measure up to your standards.

I have been cruising since 1995 and in that time maybe one or two negative things about the cruises. I was on the Norwegian Gem in 2014 with my wife and had a great time. On this cruise there was ten family members including my wife and I thinking we were going to have a fantastic time. I have to say I was very disappointed to see how downgraded the Gem was. They removed mostly everything on the ship. They took out the bowling, The pool top deck, miniature golf, rock climbing was open once or twice the whole time, pool table gone and the worst thing, they did not informed the passengers I was looking forward to having a good time with my family.   

I took this cruise with my boyfriend and we had a lot of fun. We opted into the specialty dining package and really enjoyed dinner at Cagney's Steakhouse our last night. All the regular dining options were also nice. We preferred the desserts in the main dining rooms Magenta and Grand Pacific and the usual fare in the Garden cafe buffet area. 

Our room was cleaned thoroughly twice a day by our friendly room attendant. We checked out many parts of the ship, from the casino, to the hot tubs, to the basketball court and more.

Throughout the trip, we went to the showtime performances. The house performers and singers were energetic and entertaining (although the performance "World Beat" really left me wondering who chose it. It featured a musical "taste" of different cultures that mostly just painted broad stereotypical strokes over musical sounds from countries like China, India/Middle East Region?, somewhere in Latin America, and the entire continent of Africa referred to as a homogeneous unit in which NO musical reference was attempted, but just Toto's "Africa" played while young men and women danced in cheetah print loin cloths. Not the best pick in 2015.) 

All the other performances were more politically correct and actually really fun! A cirque act livened up the end of the trip, and Second City comedy had my boyfriend and I lolling. 

We went to several cocktail tastings and the bartenders were always friendly and knowledgeable. Probably why we went to three different tastings!

We also hung out in the arcade and played some games there. A little pricey, but fun once we got the hang of them.

The shore excursions we chose were SO GOOD! We swam with sea lions on St. Thomas and visited the Virgin Gorda Baths off of Tortola. Tortola was by far the most beautiful island and I wish we had had more time to enjoy it there.

Only thing my boyfriend and I hoped for were more activities on our back-to-back sea days for young adult couples like us to do. Most of the activities involved either sitting in the smokey casino, bingo, shuffleboard, or seminars that were overly sell-y. It was difficult to even find other people our age (late 20s) onboard. I would love to go on another cruise from NYC since we live here, but we wouldn't know what to do with all our time stuck on the ocean.

Overall, we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed our little escape!

I had a flood in my room I had to pack up and change rooms and I was disgusted that gratuities are so painful to reverse  I was charged gratitutiesfor specialty dining and then an automatic 13.50 a day  I wanted it adjusted and they refused I was told I had to do it on shore

Mini-suite clean but very small compared to other cruising line. Specialty restaurants (we took 5 of them)  so and so. Don't try Italian food anywhere  even in La Cucina. It is always strange.!

Passenger Desk servive very poor. They just want to get rid of your questions.!

Good shows and a very good cruise Director (not intrusive and no bla bla.

Clientele eager to get the fullest plate possible and a lot of left over!

That was our 16th cruise, first and last on this company 

From start to finish, other than the weather being decent and beautiful islands and meeting great people on board, very dissapointing. First they lost my boyfriends' bag until ,after many times going to guest relations, and checking with housekeeping until nearly 11pm on the first night. Then having a room directly under the casino and complaining to guest services and them telling me the ship was filled to capacity and they could not offer me a different location. Dinner is the main dining rooms, except for the poor excuse for a Thanksgiving Dinner, were adequate but nothing phenominal (sometimes the food was better at the buffets). Had a bad dinner experience at the Majenta and complained at guest service again. They sent Michael from the Majenta and he promised to make up for it if we came back. Went back next evening and he gave us an excellent server and a bottle of wine.... finally some recourse.... but not making up for the overall experience. Poor food choices, limited entertainment after 10 pm and in case of inclement weather, guest relations attitude as if you are bothering them.

The cruise ship was recently renovated and was always kept thoroughly clean. The food, both in the common dining halls and especially in the specialty restaurants, was always very good and complimented by positive service. The excursions were well organized by the ship and logistics were always easy - we also lucked out and the two snorkeling experiences were fantastic, as we saw many sea turtles, sting rays, and even one barracuda.

However, there were two items that prevented this from being a 5 star review.

1) The cruise directors were clearly targeting the senior and family demographic on the ship, but seemed to have left out the young adult demographic. I went with my girlfriend and we made a few comments that the planned activities never seemed to be very interactive for 20-30's crowd.

2) The weather was poor for almost all but 2 days. While this was not the ship's fault, the outside activities that were cancelled left huge gaps in the day with not much to do. Simple planning for back-up activities inside would have made a huge difference.

good experience on ship. 99% crews are nice and helpful. A few crews are not.

good island destination, but too short for that.

half day for tortola is waste of time. the local is not for short walk (bad road condition).

Everything was great....after we left port.  The employees that run the scanning machine were terrible.  They were sitting on the belts, dropping the "F" word....it was terrible.  But the experience on the ship was great.  Unfortunately this was the 3rd terrible experience....so we will never use the manhatten port every again

We have been on many cruises before with ncl. All extremely fun with many things to do. Seems like all they want now is to get you on the ship so they can charge you for everything and make a killing off you. Found this cruise to have very little things going on for active crowds. Many young people expressed that feeling also.