Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Excellent itinerary for the season and starting Port. Older ship which shows it's aging in many places. Mixed entertainment from mediocre to excellent. Super tiny interior cabins. Excellent kids club and food in dining room.

We had a good relaxing time. The pool could have been a bit warmer, and cleaner. The poolside waitstaff was lacking (2 or 3 max) so you often had to get your own drinks. The waterslide wasn't fast... to the point that we got stuck half way down and had to push ourselves for 20-odd feet. The casino needs doors. The whole ship and stairwells smell like cigarettes because it pours out of the casino wide open into the rest of the ship. Avoid floor 6 forward if you're a non-smoker. A non-smoking vessel would be something we would be interested in. Lorena, the cruise director, was very good and fun. Captain sailed a good ship. we relaxed and were not left wanting for anything other than more time aboard. As my first cruise, we booked our cruisenext on board and will be back. If I were to do it again and had a choice, I would avoid PR, USVI, and Antigua. An overnight in st Kitts or Barbados would have been nice. It really was annoying to have to be back on the ship by 4 or 5 every day as we felt like we were rushed and didn't get to see everything we wanted to. It was either beach OR shop/walk around down town, we couldn't do both. We were a bit disappointed in the crowd - mostly disabled/obese people and seniors who all but live on ships (1000+ cruises some of the people we met!). Being a newlywed couple, we were hoping to have some more people our age on board but I guess the time of year dictates that. Not the ship's fault at all.

My cruise was a vacation given to me from my big sister we had an amazing time and will be looking forward to an Alaskan cruise with NCL because of the ease of it all.

Overall the cruise went very well and the staff and entire crew were very helpful and I rate the crew outstanding I do not recommend going back to St Lucia or Antigua anymore. I also recommend taking out travel insurance when booking a cruise

Had a great vacation. Would definitely go on this shop again.

It was a good trip. Best parts 1. We started the trip while it was snowing in NY. 2. The captain did a slow, 1 mile pass of the the Pitons which are two mountainous volcanic plugs, volcanic spires on St Lucia, which lasted the entire evening. The water was dead calm, no wind, and at low speed it was silent outside. It was awesome. GREAT CREW as is my experience so far with NCL. A cruise is what you make it. I love just being on the sea so I have very low expectations as long as the ship is moving, and having a balcony does help. If wall to wall activities is your thing you may want to try a bigger ship.

Here are the items that seriously hurt my overall experience. Casino. Though some issues raised we're addressed some remain a mystery. Best examples would be the Card in the Slots. They use to give you a Casino Card. Good for many reasons. They discontinued this practice for unknown reasons. Free drinks VIP Status. Worthless with a drink pkg. Why not offer me a Specialty Dinner or a Drink Card? The first night of the Cruise was rough on the Ocean. Two folks had damaged or broken wrists from falls. @ 11:30 my phone rings, I was in a sound sleep. I thought it was my cousin calling to go to Casino. It turns out it was Security. No apology for the call just an abrupt individual saying we need to seal your porthole. Never explaining why just closed and sealed the porthole. This occurred over 4 days cutting off my outside view. I paid extra for that and it was removed, no explanation why. I called it to the attention of Guest Services and it remained closed no explanation why, and a bottle of wine was sent to my room and several pics of Chocolate. This last item was of a more serious nature. The first night my shower backed up. Couldn't shower that morning. However my cousin s shower backed up on second night. His backup was Sewerage. They sent the room attendant up. Luckily he brought an air freshener. An engineer followed and the got the Sewerage back down the drain. Shower was not cleaned till.next morning. He should have been removed from the room. Next morning shower was sprayed by Steward with a Clorox bottle. This is unacceptable. However they sent him Choc Strawberries and Champagne. This is the main reason for a poor to fair overall rating. While the minors were worthy of high marks, The cleanliness of room, (sewerage, port hole, the hair in my food, the unheard of Casino items, and the repetition of Entertainment made this cruise Fair at best.

The Gem is our Favorite cruise We always book a Suite because there are great perks.

We had an interior room on Carnival last year that was much bigger than our oceanview on Norwegian. On Carnival we had Guy Fieri burgers, a NY style deli and a very good taco station right by the pool. The first day at the pool on Norwegian I got a burger by the pool and spit it out it was so disgusting. I had pancakes in the main dining room that were so hard that I could tell they were microwaved. Dinners were better but we also ate in special restaurants three times.

Had a lot of fun. Embarkation was a breeze. Disembarkation was a headache just dealing with the long lines. Felt there wasn’t enough family activities to do in the ship. Kids were bored but they did enjoy their time at the splash academy. Staff was great. Food was pretty good. A bit crowded at the garden cafe but that’s to be expected.

This must be the single MOST boring itinerary that I have ever experienced. Imagine two seas days to get to ugly Port Canaveral, a day at colorless Stirrup Cay, a day in same-old Nassau, and then two more sea days returning to NYC. Better to have spent my money staying in NYC, eating at great restaurants and seeing sights worth seeing

The ship itself was perfect size for my husband and I. If your wanting to just relax and enjoy the sun and beautiful views this ship is for you. We are no longer big drinkers so we weren’t all about the party scene. But everyone seemed to be have a good time on the gem. As far as cosmetics of the boat we don’t waste time looking for flaws. 😁

Waited three hours in line to get on. Food was fair to poor. Captain said seas were too rough to go to great stirrup cay yet other boats tendered. Waited to get off of boat.

Had a great time. Was kind of crowded. I did find places to relax, like the Great Outdoors. Nice place for a drink, eat and catch some sun. Spinnaker Lounge was a great alternative when the weather didn't cooperate

Our worst cruise ever! Never again taking Norwegian. Be prepared to wait 3 hours before getting on the ship. That’s only the beginning. The cabin bathroom had several unaddressed plumbing issues. The ship is not large enough for the number of passengers they take on which made going to the buffets worse than Walmart on Black Friday. We could never get a table to sit at meal time. They skipped over Stirrup Cay despite the weather being perfectly sunny and calm. At the last minute they claimed the tender boats would have trouble. This was strange since other cruise ships could be seen stopping there that day. The food and entertainment was mediocre at best! Disembarkation was almost as bad taking over 2 hours. Norwegian seems to be very disorganized and was a big disappointment from our experience.

Room was nice , drink package was worthwhile. Very disappointing and feel we were deceived about the stop at their private island and they refused to do anything about it.

This was our first and last cruise with and NCL. The ship itself was dark, dingy, and far too crowded. It was overrun with very, very rude Asian passangers. Food and staff was mediocre at best. Same bland, cold food every day at the buffets... if you could even get to the food. Missed a port of call that we were very much looking forward to… Something we found out later that NCL is known to do! Disembarking was a nightmare! Royal Caribbean and Carnival will have my business from now on.

Only my 2nd Norwegian Cruise , May try another cruise line next time. But want to commend the staff they are exceptionally friendly and a lot of my complaints are not the staffs fault

This was a very enjoyable cruise and was 12 days with only two sea days so really got to see many ports of call. Norwegian is a very accommodating line and many staff were very pleasant and helpful during the entire cruise.

I will never cruise NCL again. I have sailed on carnival, princess and celebrity and all three were so much better than NCL. Food was very generic and cold. Went to the suite lounge for food and was not impressed at all. Took forever to get my beverage that ordered. Ordered room service twice and both times. cold. and incomplete (no condiments. etc) Fries but not ketchup. fish but no tartar sauce. The room was not as described and much smaller than pictures and description. Very small balcony and no tables to sit at on patio or in room. Pre-ordered items for the room but did not receive them. On board activities very limited and do not keep you busy. No indoor pool/spa for guests (it was rainy most of the trip) so could not relax in spa/pool. Overall, poor value for the money and would never sail with NCL again. Would go back to princess or celebrity in a heartbeat. I did not choose NCL as my family chose it and I went along with them. I think they could have gotten a better deal on another cruise line. Their so-called specials are very limited. hotel (they give you only one choice and you can get better deals plus it is not entirely free, it is discounted). the airfare is booked 90 days out and again, you get a discount. we got cheaper airfare by booking it ourselves. the dinner package gives you 4 specialty dinners. and the unlimited drinks are not truly unlimited we were told $25 shore excursion per person but they only gave us $25 per room. Very misleading ad. When we cruised celebrity they truly treated the suites special. Afternoon tea and sandwiches. treats at night turn down service with chocolates. breakfast in room we sat at a table on the balcony and food was hot and tasty. Never had any issues on the cruise and wish we had taken this trip on celebrity instead. Even princess would have been a great choice. My friend warned me about NCL when she had taken the panama cruise earlier in the year and warned me that she was disappointed, but it was too late to change cruise lines.