Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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We had a great time. We loved using the spa. The only thing I was surprised about was that you had to pay for a lot of things that you normally never had to pay for.

We love the "Free style cruising" concept and had a great experience on the Gem. The itineraries, food, and tours were the best we have ever had on NCL and the employees were all pleasant and accomadating.

The ship was beautiful and our room was the best. I especially liked the bath tub and the bed was very comfortable.

The staff was great. Everyone was very friendly and attentive. There was a good show every night and the view from our balcony as we pulled into each port was amazing. They had both and adult and kids pool and hot tubs.

Our planned cruise was totally disrupted by the unfair decision that was made by the ship authority

Freestyle cruising is a great option for people who want a flexible schedule and to operate on their own. But beware of the "free" in freestyle. We just sailed on the Norwegian Gem and racked up a significant tab in ancillary charges. We started in the main dining room which has no additional cover charges. We found the menu to be sparse, the food bland, and the service slow. As a result we decided to book reservations in one of 6 specialty dining rooms, but the cover charges alone added $150 to our daily tab. We believe that Norwegian cruise lines intentionally downgrades their main no charge services so passengers will be motivated to use the for charge restaurants. Watch those movies in your room as well. Where most cruise lines have one or two movies for free, the Gem charges $11.95 for any movie you might watch.

The ship is beautiful and very well maintained. The staff are all very courteous and always willing to help. From the check in process to disembarkation everything went very smoothly. The champagne welcome was great getting on the ship, it really set the mood. The stateroom was very well maintained and it was adequate for three adults. There is plenty of storage space and the bathroom is a decent size (better than other cruise lines). We embarked around 12:30pm and were basically able to go to our cabin by 1:00pm. The cabin staff especially Roy on 8 aft was great. He went out of his way to accommodate our needs. The amenities were good such as the fitness center, pools, hot tubs, sports area, but sometimes seemed overcrowded. We made good use of the game room in our down time and there were plenty of different board games and cards to keep us occupied. The food for me was very average The Garden caf had great variety, but was always crowded and VERY hard to find seating. There are no trays on the ship, but if you need help carrying food to your table, the staff are more than willing to do so. The Magenta served the same food as the Grand Dining room. So if you dont want to get dressed up, but want whats on the menu go to the Magenta. The average wait time to be seated was no more than 15 minutes, but we were late eaters. We liked to eat after 7.30pm. I felt like there was sufficient variety of free food not to pay for any of the specialty restaurants. The excursions can be expensive, but are a very safe way to sightsee. Do your research before you go, and if you are going to take the ship excursions, book them online before you go as they get more expensive by the day while on board. For example an excursion went from $59 on the Wednesday to $72 on Friday for a Saturday excursion. We took the Rome on your own tour and got around Rome by Subway for 4 euros. We started at the Vatican and worked our way back to the Coliseum. You can not see everything! So pick what you really want to see. Four shipmates got lost and the tour bus did wait for them, otherwise they would have missed the ship. We were mislead by one of the excursion staff about Naples, and Villa Franche Sur Mer. He had just joined the cruise on the Sunday. Be careful of the gypsies, pickpockets, and street vendors! They are everywhere tourists are in Italy. The tour guides are very good about pointing them out. An older couple was robbed in Rome. Their passports were taken. Just be sensible and be aware of your surroundings. Please note when the Captain states they will be pulling up anchor at XX time, he does!!!! The ship does not wait for anyone unless a ship tour is delayed!

Overall our impression of the Gem was excellent. My wife and I are both retired Naval Reserve officers and my wife is a recreational sailor, so a clean and professionally handled ship is important to us. We have sailed twice before - on Carnival and Costa during the past decade and probably view NCL as a brand we will come back to. Service was better by far than Carnivale, better than Costa but food on Costa was better. The Trans-Atlantic itinerary was wonderful, and the ship handled up to 15 and 20 foot swells well. The Reception Desk was a weak spot some of the staff simply had not been provided the right information. Our biggest complaint was at the very beginning and needs to be directed both at and at NCL: For various reasons NCL doesnt provide real baggage tags or welcome aboard kits to clients. We were supposed to check our baggage using ridiculous e-document luggage labels as in cutting them out and stapling them to our luggage. It took several calls about four to NCL as to how we would get a porter to put real luggage tags on our baggage, and indeed I had to cajole ours to do so. Freestyle Dining is like in Dickens the best of times and worst of times. We really liked not having fixed times or having to dress up!! However, about half the restaurants are specialty (read premium extra price. ) And the rest arent really open whenever you want to. There is no 24-hour buffet just the Blue Lagoon with about 6 items unchanging on the menu and room service which was adequate, but wasnt what we really needed. But, the crew was attentive and friendly; the Gem was classily fitted out in art deco and other decors reminiscent of the great liners of the mid-20th Century; and our cabin was great. The Captain renewed our wedding vows for us off Antibes as this was our 25th Anniversary cruise which was a very much appreciated going the extra mile to take care of us. It was a great cruise, despite the minor complaints.

I have cruised many times before and I have to say that this was the first with Norwegian and probably one of the best. I took my kids (11,13,17) and it was their first cruise. They had a blast!! Kids program is beyond excellent. Food is delicious, but shocked that most restaurants had a surcharge. Good thing is you don't need to eat at these places, bad news is that they were great and you should give some of them a try. Brand new ship and very upscale.

Overall impression of ship was excellent. Rooms Nica and large, wonderfully maintained by staff. Choice of dining experiences was great.

Very clean and the efficient design of the ship was impeccable.

The ship, the staff, the restaurants, everything was great. This ship is gorgeous, Norwegean cruise line is doing a great job. I can't imagine taking a trip in any other cruise line. The only problem I had was the room next to me, they had a whole bunch of kids going crazy, banging on the walls, drinking and screaming all night. I went to the customer's desk about 4 times. On my fifth time, the customer service representative told me that I should take care of my own business because those kids were in vacation just like me. That was a blow to me. I still think Norwegean cruise line is the best, but this incident really made me think twice. We went to bed on normal time every night around 10 or 11 and around 1:30, 2:00 they wake us up every night, screaming, swearing, fighting, they even smoke marijuana. I never knew you could do that. Our last night at the ship I had to call security because they were fighting. They had to come and take them away. The bottom line is: The ship was great, everything was nice, but I wasted my money, because my wife and I didn't get one good night of sleep.

The ship was big common areas were average bad layout

The Norwegian Gem is a nice ship, the Gym was really nice but I did not like the fact that if you wanted to use the whirlpools and saunas you had to pay $75.00 extra for the week or $22.00 per use and no indoor pool. Something that I did not expect. I was on the Norwegian Dawn 2 years ago and it had a heated indoor pool and whirlpool and sauna and steam room available at no extra charge. I was very disappointed to not see the same on the Gem. Having mentioned the Norwegian Dawn I want to say that I had a terrible time. The food was lousy, the service was terrible, and entertainment was awful. When I booked the Cruise on the Gem I mentioned this to the BJ's agent and she assured me that NCL got their act together so I booked this cruise. I am happy to say that overall most everything was good. The food was great, service was great and entertainment was excellent. The downside was the Whirlpool and Sauna areas as mentioned above and also the kids program was non-existent for 10-year-old kids. In my opinion most areas on the Gem seemed much smaller than on the Norwegian Dawn probably to make room for the Giant Garden Villas on the Private 14th floor of the ship. The Gem did have some cool new things like a rock climbing wall and a full basketball court that doubles as a tennis court. 4 Bowling lanes inside one of the nightclubs Down side $5.00 per person per game and on the sun deck areas there were big round cozy rattan tanning beds to lay on. The pool areas were nice with an adult pool and childrens pool. I recommend the Gem it lives up to its name.

The ship layout was confusing and hard to navigate. The staff was unaccomidating and very rude. Don't expect a friendly smile from anyone! If you didn't order an alcoholic drink or leave extra gratuity, expect to be treated very poorly! Also, the public bathrooms were always dirty. I would walk all the way to my room, just to use the bathroom.

if you are going to splurge for a mini-suite make sure it isn't located directly under the main buffet hall. and be prepared to spend alot more cash to be able to enjoy a descent meal at the specialty restaraunts. you have to pay extra for just about everything.

We are veteran cruisers, not hard to please, love being on the water. This ship was such a let down. Crew seemed to either not know anything, not care, or just were very rude. Cabin stewards were the only smiles we got all week, they were excellent. We were a family of 6 adults and one infant. Getting a meal was a feat in itself. I think the Freestyle concept is misleading, it was a chore to get dinner unless you ate at the Garden Cafe buffet. This trip will be our last on NCL.

Please do yourself a favor and steer clear of this ship. With the exception of our cabin stewards, the crew ranged from indifferent to rude. Almost every interaction was a horrible and fustrating experience. Our luggage got destroyed - we found this out by seeing it broken with its contents laying in the elevator bay. Had I not seen it there, I wonder, if it would have ever been deliver to us or would it have been left there. We lost electricity for a few hours and my fatrhers is on a oxygen machine. Our concerns regarding his well-being and relocating him to an area with electricity was basicly ignored. You need to set your alarm to wake up and make reservations for the next night's dinner - you actually need to physically go to the reservation desk at this time, as they will not answer the phone. Their private island does not have nearly enough chairs to accomidate the number of passangers that it drops there. I could go on and on with examples. Just do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a vacation on another ship and not a week of rudness and fustration aboard the Gem.

ship is very modern, clean and staff is very good