Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I was impressed as a first time in the cruise. My children were very excited. My wife loved the entertainment. I enjoyed the variety of food, very organized, a lot of choices. The room service excellent and polite. I definitely I will recommend this cruise to my friends and relatives.

Had a excellent time, The staff on Norwegian Gem went out of their way to make it a pleasant trip. Love Norweigian Cruise Lines.Food is very good. There was one thing regarding the Bowling Alley. We had 2 children with us and they wanted to bowling but it is a first come first serve. Also the times were not the best as they have different times for the Adults and children so they couldn't bowl when we were going to bowl. We had to let them bowl only 1 game the whole cruise.

This was my first experience on Norwegian Cruise Line. The quality of food and services on the ship was great. The speed to disembark the ship at each port was quick and smooth. The only adjustments I would like to see are related to accessibility. Announcements heard in the room so I don't have to open the door when I want to hear the announcements if I am in my cabin and captioning on all TV's both inside the cabins and at bars, etc.

From start to finish this was a wonderful experience. It was my first cruise and I expected it to be good. However, it exceeded all my expectations and I would fully recommend Norwegian for a wonderful warm cruising vacation. The mini suite we had was most comfortable and was serviced immaculately everyday by a very hard working housekeeping team. Great shower water pressure by the way. The food was plentiful, great variety and it was always service with a smile. There were many great options for meals with specialty options for added variety. The entertainment was first class. Wonderful shows and great production particularly for the main Showtime events. There was always plenty to do onboard with many quiet time opportunities for those who want to take it easy. Exercise was also well catered to with a gym facility and the jogging track on deck 12. The port stops were well managed and again lots of interesting shore excursions. The Norwegian private island of Great Stirrup Cay was amazing and swimming in the beautiful blue sea is a must. The staff always emphasised a team or indeed a family attitude and that trickled down into making the 7 day cruise an amazing experience. Would I travel on a cruise again with Norwegian? Absolutely yes! Two thumbs up.

Excellently catered to. Well rested, well entertained vacation. From check in to dis-embarkation NCL crew members planned and executed a very smoothe program. Staff was always at your service and willing to help with a smile.

I liked this cruise. Its great for families with children of all ages. My kids, nieces and nephews loved Tree Top. In two words "free babysitting" until 10:30 pm except for port days and during meals. The Gem has the best cruise director. He is so much fun. The food was good. The staff was polite and hard working. Didn't like how SOME supervisors treated the waiters. I had a great time. I enjoyed the shows and parties. The kids had a ball. I will recommend Norwegian cruise line.

Years ago, we took our two high school age boys on a cruise for three days with NCL. They were treated royally and were amazed with the food , the fun and the freedom to roam the ship with kids their own age. My younger son never followed his curfew but we found him and brought him back to our cabin in record time. This ship was tiny in comparison to our trip on the Gem. Because so many years had past , and because this was our first experience with Free style cruising we lowered our expectations. Were we wrong. The food was top notch . Yes, some days at the two main dining areas we were handed a beeper but only long enough to order a drink right next door. Our waiters were pleasant and always attentive . It was a joy to eat there. We tried one specialty restaurant with mixed results because the dish did not agree with me . No fault of the chef. The entertainment was the best in the business. We have traveled on three other cruise lines but this week was the best. The in house performers, The Gem performers were absolutely delightful in their gleaming costumes and top notch dancing . They also offered skits for the little ones. Aaron Shaw 's voice was so special we bought his CD to enjoy at home. A former marine , his voice is a cross between the three great tenors and Josh Groban and Michael Bueble. The grand finale for the food was the Chocoholics night out and was presented in the Garden Cafe amid chocolate dragons, a bust of King Tut and an amazing chocolate tree; along side spun sugar sculptures of swans , circles , animals and amazing artistic shapes and colors. I thought this night would be gone because of the poor economy and was delighted at this wonderful presentation . All guests were too! Few people complained , yet some did . I watched them complain to an officer walking by. We had art sales, a hypnotist who offered seminars besides a popular comedian, the Nickolodean players and plenty of jewelry , perfume and purse sales as well as liquor sales to attend. The service was always attentive and tables were always bussed as quickly as people left the area. I would say that I am happy that I did not listen to the reviews of a few disgruntled guests . I am happy that we tried free style cruising and would most certainly go again in the future.

Difficult to deal with dining room staff because the couldn't speak english enough to understand what they were saying, as well as some of them had an attitude when dealing with us. We got sick on the cruise, a lot of germs, as the ship was very crowded. We were supposed to get $50.00 sign on spending for the cruise, they cut it down to $25.00. We sailed with them before, and expected to be treated better.

This is my 4th time on the GEM! And looking forward for the 5th. Do I need to say more? The ship is beautiful in art decor stile with hint of humor in it. Very comforting and funny. The food is good. Service is excellent!. But as most of us we sailing for the sun and the ocean!

this was the most out of control cruise no one was following direction we ended up with five bottles of wine to try and fix problems a free dinner at bistro and choc covered stawberries and chocolates still didn't hep 9 days of my life we will never get back been on 38 cruises on all other lines nerver had such such a bad cruise / staff untrained and very scary no comment cards not surprised

My husband and I are long-time cruisers.........having traveled on the "Norway" seven or eight times, and in the years since on Norwegian and other cruise lines. The Norwegian Gem is a beautiful ship overall and that's the best thing I can say about it. Entertainment was good. Food was ok and the night before disembarkation the food was good. Staff was ok with a few exceptions where they were great. The embarkation process took over an hour and we arrived early. Our cabin bore traces of the previous tenants, which I cleaned up. We chose a mini-suite balcony, mid-deck which was a nice size except the BEDS were well WORN! Change the mattresses, please. We laid in grooves on the bed for nine nights. It used to be much nicer service with the cabin stewards when they depended on our tips! I very much disliked the casino slot machines as there was really no chance of winning anything. We will not take this trip again.

We liked sailing from NY but it took 1 3/4 hours to board ship. We did not like the free style dining. We prefer to sit with a group of people ad get to know them. We did sit with two couples- one where my husband sailed on a shore excursion with the man, and the other where we shared a table so we would have to wait less time for a table. We did not like having to wait 20-30 minutes for a table in the main dining roomss. We did have nice conversations with people who shared our table for breakfast. We do not think the food was as good as on other lines. We have sailed with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Holland America. On every other cruise there have been a couple who held Bridge classes. There was no priest to celebrate Mass (we are not Roman Catholic, but we were gone 2 Sundays). Also, no Protestant minister to conduct a Service on Sunday. Therre was a charge of $55 to take a tour of the ship- not on the one cruise where my husbant took a tour. We did not like the fact that there were so many specialty restaurants where you had to pay extra for the food. Their library did not have many current books in it. The other cruises we have been on had as part of their information a paper with the daily news. The acoustics in our cabin were poor. We could hear the TV from the cabin next to us, as well as people talking, as well as cabin doors closing. The shore excursions we went on were good, and one thing we had not experienced on other ships, although they may have had a similar program was a very good explanation of a number of shore excursions with photos included.

Food-was never temperature hot. always luke warm or barely room temperature Service- was excellent. all the staff was extremely helpful and nice cleanliness- always very clean activities-the whole ship was closed down for the night by like 10p pools-no adult pool and too many kids in jacuzzis all the time and they close them early. ports were all excellent except Samana Dominican Republic. Norweign could have definitely chose one of there private islands and it would have been

3/7/13 I highly recomend norweigan cruises. My compannion and I had a great time. Your staff went above and beyond to accomadate us. Had a great time at your casino your cashiers were proffesional and curteous,could'nt ask for more. Entertainment super we enjoyed your commedian his show totaly good for all ages. would recomend anyone going on a cruise to consider norweigan cruise line. Sincerely Anita Morales&companion Gennaro Petronella

This is my 7th cruises, Norwegian is my first time. I like the entertainments each night. Food is terrible, I did not enjoy it. Specialty restaurant, especially chinese food is horrible, don't recommend it. Services is slow, after a few meals at the diner my kids beg us if they could go eat at the buffet at least is faster.

I had a great experience. It would have been exceptional but there were 2 downfalls...1st..too many kids and rules not enforced, for example, not being allowed in the front row of the theater, not being allowed in the adult pool(s). I also believe more rules should be put in place...Not allowed in Bars after 8 or 9pm. Not being allowed at the 9pm show....2nd too many sales trying to be made. If I goo for a massage, hair cut or pedicure....I don't want to have to listen to a hard sales pitch for products. I just want to relax.

Our family of 6, including my 94 year old mom who suffers from dementia, booked the Haven Garden Villa for nine days. It was really a magnificent suite with its own indoors and outdoors, living room, dining room, stereo, bar, hot tub, steam room, upstairs outdoor deck, access to the Haven pool, which was made all the better because of the staff perks that came with it - a lovely involved concierge and butler who paved the way for us from start to finish. No lines, no worries. We had special parties, met the captain and crew, saw the engine room, the bridge, ate in private areas of the French restaurant, Le Bistro, had reserved seats for the shows, took a limo home with a van that followed with our luggage. We felt pampered all the way. The service was excellent, the staff the same. The housekeeping was exemplary - spotlessly clean. Some cons - The food could be rather hum drum at times and we had to wait so long for our dinner that we missed two or three 9 pm shows. We finally learned to go to the Garden Cafe, load up our plates and bring them back to our dining rooms for a dinner in our own Villa. The butler set up the dining room table and cleared most professionally. The activities were the usual ho-hum - lots of classes in things that they want to sell you like jewelry and art. Lots of “risque” and silly game shows. Duty free shops, jewelry and souvenir shops to browse through. But there were activities that provided opportunities to tell your own jokes and sing your own songs. The audiences were appreciative, especially when the singers were kids.The lounge singers were nice though and the entertainment staff did try to get a laugh from us. The casino was the smoke filled sad lonely place that it usually seems. Some of the shows had spot lights that shown throughout the audience. This was blinding when the lights hit your eyes. I had to close my eyes and listen to the singer instead of watching him too. What would I have liked more of: Educational activities - learning about the ship, nautical stuff - knot tying for instance, astronomy, the geology of the islands we were visiting. I’d also have liked a special lounge with soft music, free drinks, some entertainment and an opportunity to meet other suite guests just to sit and chat. The Celebrity Silhouette had that and it was great. I would have gone back to talk with this group more than once, but unfortunately this lounge didn’t exist. By the last few days of the trip life was pretty boring. Overall however, I think Norwegian tried to go out of its way to keep us happy, safe and involved.

Enjoyed the cruise very much. The accommodations were very good, the service was quite friendly and helpful. I found the cleanliness of the cabin on arrival to be less than stellar however. There were black hairs in the tub and dust on the several of the surfaces. This was remedied when it was pointed out but it should not have happened in a mid ship balcony cabin. Food was for the most part above average except for one meal that fell short in the dining room that I reported in my review to NCL ( fatty steak with fried fast food type shrimp - quality very poor.) Overall, the cruise was quite good.

The good- The ship is beautiful, very clean, well staffed, and has great activities and entertainment. The bad- The food is terrible, the buffet is strictly cafeteria food, and very bland tasting. The two other free restaurants offer the exact same menu each night, serving very small portions, The first night I ordered the steak & lobster tail, the lobster tail was extremely small, and the steak was not cooked to order. When I asked if they could cook my steak more, they microwaved it, if you ask for more food, you can sense that they really do not want to give you any extra. The only place to get a really good meal is to pay for one of the specialty restaurants. I actually lost weight on this cruise, whats wrong with that picture.

Had a wonderfull time all around. The food and servicice at the buffet was exceptionally good. The entertainment deserves a five star review. Housekeeping was great. Everything was clean and fresh every day. Love it. The service at one of the main dining areas needs improvement, but I am certain that it will be addressed by management. Love the boat, the people, the service, love it all. Will definetly take another cruise on the Norwegian Gem.