Norwegian Gem

I have always wanted to go on a cruise and I finally took the plunge, so to speak, this past summer. Now there are pros and cons to cruising and I would be happy to talk to anyone about that off site. Just PM me and we can chat. I did not love everything about the cruising experience but absolutely adored many things too. However, with that said it really is an amazing experience either way that you have to go through at least once in you life.
Everything is right there for you to do a stone’s throws walk away. Shows, food, million dollar art paintings, whales, frolicking dolphins, pool, music, games, fun, cheesy shows in the nightclub and water, water, ocean water gazing for hours on end! (AWHHHHHHHHH!) You name it you got it. It is almost too much with all the things you can do. Just be forewarned a lot of the activities are really just ways to get you to buy something. That class titled, «Amazing Free Spa Hour» is really a sales pitch for buying stuff.
The port is amazing! Leaving from NY was just thrilling, a dream! That in itself was five stars, worth the entire price of the cruise! An unforgettable moment for me for personal reasons. Sailing right under the Verrrazano bridge so close you could almost reach up and touch it sent shivers through my spine. Glorious. And it was such a beautiful day the day we sailed out of port. Picture postcard perfect. NY port probably will spoil you for any other American port. Long beach just does not seem so appealing anymore. Ha!
We chose the Canadian/​Maine cruise because my friend wanted to avoid a beach trip. It was amazing. I love Canada and have always wanted to see Maine. I can’t say enough about the wonderful people I met and the places I saw. I was pretty tired by the end of the week though. Cruising is exhausting so beware if you are handicap or elderly. There is a lot of walking.
I am not sure why anyone would rate this a one star and say they were inconsiderate. I was totally spoiled on my trip. I could go on and on about the service but let’s just say they are there to spoil you and they did. One staff member knew my name day two after only meeting me for two minutes my first day in port. Magic I say? With 4 thousand people I was pretty impressed. It is all about how you treat people. You get what you give. Yes, there are lots of people on the cruise so bring your patience. They are busy. However, with a little proper planning I never had too much of a problem and was treated so amazingly.
The staff are from all over the world so the global aspect for me was right up my alley. I hung out with the staff and chatted hours on end with all of them. I also met some fellow AZ Peeps. My Wildcat young friend even was relaxed enough to not throw me over board when I wore my Sun Devil gear. Small world happenings occurring everywhere. If you are not social you might not enjoy a cruise too much.
Norwegian has an open cruising concept. This means you book your activities and meal times when you want to go with no reservations needed. You can book reservations which I did not do. You can also upgrade to their fancier meals and restaurants for a fee which I did not do either. While I have no experience with the other more traditional type of cruising where you have to have set table times, I think open cruising works out better for me and my personality. This would be a preference thing. For me, I loved being able to eat when and where I wanted off schedule. I will try a traditional the next time so I can compare and contrast the two. I have friends who swear by both and won’t budge in their opinions Ha!
The shows, and art gallery where my favorite things to do on board. The art auctions are crazy great! I learned a lot about art and saw some magnificent pieces. Collectors can get great deals on cruises. I even bought a print. (A cheap one mind you)
So in a nutshell, the Gem price is reasonable for what you get, and there is a lot of fun, food and drink.
I did want to mention one of the negatives is the food. If you are a foodie you might think the food is not that great. I kept hearing how great cruise food was for years and years. I was looking forward to eating all that great stuff and I was really disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high. It was not awful, pretty good but nothing I had stood out as excellent except maybe one or two meals. (with exception to the service of course. Service was always stellar) if you do go on the Gem avoid the cafeteria and eat at the sit down restaurants instead. With that said, the café was good for late night tea, ice cream or pizza. You might even consider paying the upgrade to eat at their fancier places. This I heard was very good.
Happy sailing.

I took this cruise to the Bahamas last week with my family and friends, we had a lot of fun, be bought the package with the drinks included and it was the best option we did. I saw people that did not buy it, and they paid a lot of money buying drinks there at the cruise. It has all kind of entertainment, pools, bars, restaurants, casino, theater, disco, bingo, any way, you don’t have time to get bored.
For kids, they have programs, and best of all, they take care of them until late at night for a small fee. The duty free stores, are good, and they have stuff that you do not find here in the U.S. At a very reasonable prices. Overall it was a very nice experience and I will do it again and again.

Terrible Service, horrible food, completely inconsiderate.
Cruise on Royal Caribbean, there’s no comparison.

Best way to describe a cruise, it’s a hotel on water. My trip was to the Bahamas with a stop at Port Canaveral, their private island Great Stirrup Cay and then the Bahamas. This was my second Norwegian cruise and I remember liking the Norwegian Dawn more, but this was forever ago and it was my very first cruise so my opinion may be biased. Cruises are very convient for a specific type of clientele, it’s great for seniors and great for families with younger kids. Seniors enjoy the cruise because they can roam freely on the boat and then enjoy so so food that their taste buds won’t mind. Families like the cruise because they can let their younger kids run around the boat and not have to worry about them going anywhere because where they gonna go? As someone in their thirties, I didn’t feel this cruise was catered towards my age group, I felt sandwiched between the youngins and the farts and kinda forgotten. White people made up most of the boat and the boat definitely cateres towards them. And damn do white people love their sun.
Food:
–Cagney’s steakhouse, which is a specialty meal, was the best meal on the boat. Bone in ribeye and lobster and shrimp linguine were excellent.
–Teppanyaki was my second fav specialty meal but it is super popular so book very early or even before boarding the ship. It was actually really worth going. Land and sea was great, lobster was salty and scallops so so. Beware of the little screaming kids
–The unlimited dining package at $ 119 is worth the investment esp for the two above restaurants
–Moderno, the Brazilian restaurant was terrible, all the skewers were dry and flavorless
–I heard the Chinese restaurant was terrible from Chinese people and even white people, bad sign
–Breakfast buffet has rush of people but a table at La Cucina is always open, so grab your food at the buffet and find seating at La Cucina
–All the included meals have the same food in every restaurant just different décor, the menu changes every night
–Grand Pacific dining room is usually the better option but you have to dress classier especially for men at dinner time. Waits are less because people don’t want to dress up.
–Magenta had really slow service
–The best consistent items for the included meals were the burgers and dogs
–Overall, food was just OK, nothing really outstanding
Entertainment:
–Shows for the most part at Stardust were good, my favs were the 70’s and Duo Balskatt which was like a Cirque show
–Shows at Spinnaker lounge were good, Dan Dan was a great host
–Wifi is crazy expensive $ 25/​day for unlimited daily, .95 per minute, 100 mins for $ 75. 250 mins for $ 125
–Casino is worse than reg casinos. Poker is 10% rake with $ 25 cap. Slots are less likely to payout. The blackjack table pays out 6 – 5 for blackjack
Final notes:
–Last day before disembarkation sucks, there is nothing to do
–Self checkout when disembarking, carry your own suitcase since it will be quicker
–Bring a walkie talkie
–Middle of the boat and the higher you are are less rocky. The front and the back sway
–Great Stirrup Cay was nice to get nice beatifiul blue water and the nice beach
-«What the heck?»
-«Happy happy, washy washy»

I don’t understand how there are ANY good reviews on here regarding the food, it must be a joke or a scam because me & my husband just took a 7 day cruise out of NY to Port Carnaval and Bahamas and we starved for 7 days. The BEST thing we had the entire trip was chicken fingers and we had to pay for it. If your into low grade knock off buffet food than enjoy! If your normal like we are and enjoy something with taste that wasn’t left over from lunch and now being served for dinner, save your hard earned money and go elsewhere! I’ve cruised carnival before and it was nothing like this! We practically almost disembarked in Florida because we were that unhappy. Not to mention the boat has much of nothing to do. Two small pools overrun with children, the bar staff is incredibly slow and most the staff is pretty rude. The TV in the balcony room we had was so small, for those with bad eyes like me … Well it’s glasses time! You would think you pay more for a balcony room & it would at least come with a normal sized TV or relevant movies not just repeat Grease and Dirty Dancing for 7 days. I mean come on! DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS POOR EXCUSE OF A CRUISE SHIP. I even fell down the stairs one night (I was wearing flats) because it was wet and there was poor lighting and the stairs have slippery metal on the edge … And the doctor who saw me was so nasty because I woke him up after hours (it was 10). Isn’t that what you get paid for?! I mean I work in the medical field and there is no excuse for that! Pathetic. Ruined our one year anniversary … will def not EVER sail norweigen. By the way they charge each person in the room 15 $ a night to tip their staff meanwhile anything you eat or purchase or drink
Comes with a tip already alsooo… so get ready to spend big on tips for people who don’t deserve it. We did.

We recently came back from a cruise to Bahamas (6 of us) on Norwegian Gem. And I really wanted to give this cruise 5 stars but there were also some «cons» to it as well.
So for the food, cleanness of the ship and amenities and the service — overall 5 stars. The food was to die for and the amounts of it were enormous (tons of great food ²⁴⁄₇ everywhere you looked). And I’m talking good food like grilled and smoked salmon, not some cheap bar food. The cruise artists were great and the cruise director Dan Dan was very funny and kept everybody well entertained during the entire cruise.
As for the prices and quality of the drinks, internet on-​board and the planned cruise route — 1 star (so the average for the whole cruise is 3 stars).
The drinks contained no alcohol and the price of an average drink in any bar on the ship was $ 10 and the beer was $ 6 (I recommend to bring your own liquor to the ship… just try even though it’s not permitted).
And the internet? What a scam!!! The ship cheated us with the usage of it. We purchased 100 minutes for $ 75 and logged in 3 times for approximately 9 – 10 minutes each log-​in and when we tried to log in the 4^th time on Thursday to check our emails, the system showed us that we have 5 minutes left in our acct instead of 70 minutes, even though we logged-​out after each use! Really? They better fix that system or soon no one will buy their internet service.
Also, I thought that the ship will stay 2 days on the island — Nassau, Bahamas but it basically stayed there half a day and left the Nassau Wednesday at 5:30pm. So there was not enough time to do anything. Not enough time to go for attractions in Atlantis Water Park… etc. We only went snorkeling and when we came back at 3pm there was not enough time to do anything else because we had to be back at the ship at 5pm.
If the ship stayed there for 2 days — Wednesday and Thursday or at least a day and half and left on Thursday at noon instead of Wednesday at 5:30pm, that would be a different story.
So I can say this cruise route is incorrectly planned. They need to re plan it.
But since the food was so good and it was plenty of it and the rooms janitors and the cleaning crew was so nice and wonderful to us I am forced to balance my rating and give this Norwegian Cruise Line 3 stars. After taking all aspects of the cruise under the consideration, I think it’s a very fair rating.
Next time we will probably try Norwegiam Breakaway which suppose to be the largest ship out of all Norwegians or the Royal Caribbean as we want to see more than just 2 islands while cruising. I also heard the Carnival Cruises are bad and a waste of money (due to many recent stomach bugs and noro-​viruses outbreaks there due to non cleanness).
So if you don’t care about drinking and don’t mind paying the high prices for alcoholic beverages and you can buy your own internet on your smartphone from your cell phone carrier beforehand to save money, you should try Norwegian Gem.

Loved it, 8 day cruise stops in Florida and the Bahamas. Everyone was super friendly and welcoming. Happy happy washy washy!

Took the 7 day trip to the Bahamas with my boyfriend during September 2014. Honestly we kept sleeping in as we decided to get the room with no windows — that was a mistake as majority of the time we slept in. So note to all of you — definitely try to get something with a window! They do have chargers on the boat though service was usually never there — so just left the phone on airplane mode.
Boarding at Manhattan was not as bad — so much faster than the airport. Me and my boyfriend had just wore a duffel bag and a luggage to pull on and it was a lot faster than having to load it.
Night time was definitely chilly so bring a sweater if you decide to venture out during the fall. We wandered around the boat at night as we slept so much. Most of the time we got absorbed in watching the shows that they had — some movies, some being the game shows that they did on the boat.
The beginning was quite a festival with the food. It was awesome having a selection to eat. Though after 7 days — we ended up going to the restaurant a lot which had specials every day. The buffet was endless. Staff was very accommodating and nice. Always greeted us with a washy washy — with the hand sanitizer that they sprayed on our hands.
We had did the stingray excursion at the Great Stirrup Cay. Totally wished we brought a Gopro camera like another couple. It was a amazing experience walking among the stingray and even holding one up. Their tails are poisonous so try not to step on them!
On the day we got to the Bahamas… it rained. Had originally signed up for the dolphin excursion and we ended up being refunded as it was raining quite hard! Due to a bad fall I had when we were attempting to find out if it was cancelled we retired back into the room for most of the day. And only ventured out near the afternoon to explore what was nearby. The best place to buy anything is in the market wihtin the church though it was a bit alarming to wander in there as almost everyone there tries to sell you what they have that looks identical to their neighbors. I was a fan of the the wood figures. They were beautiful but do not know if someone crafted them by hand.
Though it rained on our trip, we did wander around the boat and took quite a series of funny pictures near the end. The sunsets were the most beautiful. It is probably a better idea to go on the cruise with another couple so someone could take the pictures but ours still came out pretty well!
Overall fun experience. Bring more clothing! It gets so cold at night if you are on the outside of the ship.
Oh and a side note, maybe bring a cage. Another night we explored, a giant dragonfly got caught on my shirt when we were trying to enter back into the ship. Should have not been freaked out as it was the size of a small child. And that I wrung my hand in panic and it disappeared into the darkness.

Had an awesome time on the Norwegian gem, wonderful staff and shout out to the Cruise director Dan Dan for making the time on board extremely entertaining. Highly suggest you book a cruise

We took a 7 day trip to the Bahamas last week. Overall, it was pretty good with a few bumps along the way.
The boarding process was simple for us at Manhattan Cruise Terminal. We didn’t need to check in luggage and the entire process probably took half an hour. It was comparable with getting through checkin at a crowded airport.
Our interior room seemed smaller than the interior rooms than the other cruise lines we’ve been on but the bathroom here was also definitely larger. Still, the toilet was situated at an odd angle such that I would not have been able to sit comfortably if it I was larger.
We ate at the Grand Pacific, Magenta, and Garden Café/​Great Outdoors (buffet areas). The quality of the buffet food was mixed in our opinion. While the Asian style foods were great and we could see them constantly cooking more, the other food options are sometimes not so great. We do have to praise them on the freshness of their salad greens though.
The food quality in the Grand Pacific and Magenta dining rooms tend to be consistently good but the service may vary. Sometimes, we would have to wait quite a while after being seated in Magenta before we were handed the menus. We would be annoyed if we haven’t already satisfied our hunger at the buffet prior to visiting the main dining rooms. One night, all we ordered were starters and desserts as we already ate our fill at the buffet.
The quality of the shows were varied for us. We enjoyed their partially scripted version of The Second City but their 2 unscripted versions (family friendly and adult) did not appeal to us as much. I would find the Sander & Alison Magicka more impressive if not for all the talking and videos. We really enjoyed their Get Down Tonight and World Beat music shows.
For the bumps we’ve encountered, our stateroom attendant is friendly but there were occasionally issues. We discovered that our bedsheets had an old blood stain and when the attendant removed the sheet, he seemed to have forgotten to bring in replacements. Fortunately, a quick call to the help desk brought in 2 new bedsheets within 10 minutes. One of the new bedsheets had a large old oil stain but we didn’t care anymore as it was late at night. The next day, the attendant replaced the sheets with better ones. Another issue was when he took away our used beach towel but forgot to replace them. A quick word with him in the morning resolved that issue quickly.
When we arrived at Cape Canaveral, we didn’t visit the port and instead, chose to explore the ship while it was uncrowded. It was pretty relaxing without the crowd.
The NCL private island, Great Stirrup Cay, was pretty good. We had to get a number from the Spinnaker Lounge and but the wait for the tender wasn’t long. Something to note is that some of the tender boats are not wheelchair accessible and the passenger must be able to climb down the steps.
Nassau was pretty decent. When we left the ship, took a taxi van ($ 4/​person) driven by «Big Momma» to Atlantis Paradise Island. After spending a morning there, we took a water taxi (also $ 4/​person) back to Nassau. While the water taxi was something to try once, we think we’ll stick with the taxis next time as the wait for the boat was long and confusing (due to other boats such as the Booze Cruise). Downtown Nassau was what I expected a tourist trap to be.
Disembarking in NYC took awhile with most of the time spent waiting in a long line stretching through the deck of the ship. After waiting through at least half an hour in line, passing through customs took less than 10 seconds.

Wen on a cruise from nyc to Florida to Bahamas best cruise ever first cruise as well great experience loved the washy washy girls so many good shows going on the casino is awesome I recommend a balcony room that is what I had so many parties as well a different one every night
The buffets were awesome really liked the food we also got a birthday package which was really cute they decorated our cabin and we had a cake included in the package did many excursions I recommend doing as many as you can they were amazing!
The staff on the boat was so nice! The boat was also very clean it was awesome to walk around the decks at night each stop was so awesome we had enough time to do so many things and shuttles were provided to get us back to the boat they also left towel animals on the bed every night a different one which was so awesome to find a little animal waiting for u when you came back to your room at night
Can’t go wrong with the drink packages best way to go! Very sanitary purel stations everywhere on the boat hands down best vacation I have ever been on I feel cursing is the only way to vacation!!!

I went on a 7 day cruise from New York City to the Bahamas last year on the Gem. From my perspective, a cruise ship has a little of everything. As such, it will never be the best at any one aspect. For that reason, I would predominantly cap out a rating for a cruise at ⁸⁄₁₀. For my trip on the Gem, I would rank the food at 8, entertainment at 9, and service at 8. It was a great time and I would do it again.
For my detail review of the Gem, please go to

I sailed around NY 4÷4÷2014 and the only complaint that I had was that Expedia aka Norwegian Cruise Line CS was very confusing and miss informed. Each CSR told our party of 7 different information making our whole sign in difficult and time consuming. When I tried to complain Expedia blamed NCL and visa versa. Finally after 1 hour in half I spoke with a knowledgeable CSR at Expedia then tried to give the complain directly to NCL and that CSR says they don’t control how and what is being told to us by a third party whom they hired. hmmm!!! At least, I complained but with no resolution.
The cruise was wonderful all the waitstaff were polite and helpful. The activities and atmosphere were the greatest ever!!! I thoroughly enjoy the total cruise and the room was amazingly clean and prepared for us as the guest. I will definitely cruise with NCL, maybe just book direct from now on!

Had a great vacation but be prepared to pay for water, it’s not included in the beverage package. All the staff is great but a bit overworked, not sure if they abide by labor laws. This is great for a family vacation, would not recommend for a young 20 something’s couple, the nightlife isn’t anything special. Nassau was great. Wish we had more time there. Overall, decent/​pretty good vacation

Just came home from our 1^st family cruise on the NCL Gem to Florida and the Bahamas. We love everything on the cruise. The food, the shows and the various activities. We highly recommend this cruise to friends and family. My younger one love the housekeeper William. He really does a good job of cleaning up our messy room everyday. The cruise director DanDan is so funny. We are looking forward to our next cruise and most likely would be another NCL one.

Lots of Upselling, Microwaved food, and bed bug infestation.
I am understanding of a certain amount of up selling. Paying for internet, paying for drinks, this is standard and expected. But Norwegian cruise lines takes upselling to a whole new level. EVERYTHING IS A UPSELL. Everything is an additional charge. I bought a bottle of water on the cruise ship and was told that I could not refill it at the gym. They said I had to purchase another bottle of water even though there was a free water fountain in the gym.
The food looks nice but its all microwaved. The only dish that isnt microwaved is the steak and thats probably why its the only good tasting item on the menu.
The worst thing of all was the bed bugs. On our cruise ship there was 90 reported incidents of bed bugs. I got off the ship 1 week ago and I AM LITERALLY WRITING THIS REVIEW WHILE FURIOUSLY ITCHING MY LEGS. F**K NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES!!!

This is an older cruise ship. We went on Christmas week, a 7 day cruise out of of NYC.
Here’s something to consider, when you leave from NYC in December?
IT’S COLD AS BALLS!
I was sitting in the hot tub with ice forming on my head!
I would never, let me say it again, I WOULD NEVER sail out of NYC after October. You lose days with the cold weather.
Billy Salts out!

I took a one night cruise to no where from NYC on 1÷10÷2014 to celebrate my bday and it was a blast. Embarkation was a breeze, rooms were ready early and very clean, food was better than average and they had a great selection of drinks. My favorite being the watermelon pinch.
They had a comedian who was not that funny but the two nightclubs made up for it.
Everyone who works on the ship was very nice and they do a good job making sure everyone is having a good time.

Just sailed 1−10−14 for one of their overnite cruises and had to say room was very clean staff was nice and had a great time
Drink prices not bad food was good and a perfect little get away only complaint or if you can call it one is that is was two short whish they would offer a 2 day cruise
Would recommend

Sailed near the end of June, 2013 with my family. It was our first cruise so we didn’t go in with a lot of expectations.
Embarkation — if you set up your personal information online, the wait time is close to none on the day of embarkation — so sign up online, you will avoid the long lines! Also, you can print your luggage tags so you can just drop off your suitcase once you arrive outside the pier. They will deliver it to the front of your cabin. Going early never sucks, they let you go aboard the ship once you check in. They also have an area where you can take a group picture preceding boarding the ship.
Once we got on the ship, we went to our cabins and unpacked. We got a balcony cabin and a windowless cabin across the room. Both rooms were very nice. Then we made our way up to deck 12 where they had a BBQ going.
Food — They have a buffet on deck 12. The food here isn’t bad. The chocolate buffet near the end of the cruise was amazing! Remember to bring your cameras! I will post some pictures. The Magenta (included) was really nice, had some awesome steaks. The Blue Lagoon (included) is a nice place for a late snack since it’s open 24 hours. For a fancier option, the Grand Pacific (included) requires formal clothing before entering. My family really liked the Magenta because it’s kind of casual and kind of formal — a good mixture
Crew — so friendly! One of the best services I’ve ever encountered. If you need anything they will help you. Also, they always smile! :) The stewards/​stewardess were friendly.
Entertainment — They give a pamphlet with the next day’s iteneary on it. They really try hard to keep you entertained. During the second to last day, you can tell that there is going to be a White Party because people start wearing white early on in the morning. They also have a theme song here that will stick in your head even after the cruise — other words, very catchy.
Excursions —
We didn’t get off in Port Canaveral because my family wanted to relax on the ship. In addition, it was too much of a hassle to get to the tourist area.
We did get off at Great Stirrup Cay. We had to board a smaller ship before arriving on the island. The water was so blue, so beautiful. Once you get there, there’s barely any shade. So the best option is to get a cool drink and then JUMP into the water. There are some rocks near the shore but when you swim/​walk in more, there’s none left.
And we went snorkeling in Nassau! It was our first time and it was AWESOME! We went with the seahorse company and it took around an hr to get to the spot. The ride there wasn’t bad because of the view and the breeze. There were three sailing boats in total so it was extremely helpful in on getting back on the ship. The waves look so small from the ship but it will carry you out if you’re not careful. So wear a safety vest (small green ones). If you don’t know how to swim and still want to go snorkeling, don’t worry! The non-​swimmers were given huge orange vests before they went to the water. Just don’t go too far from the ships. The fishes and corals were such a sight. Definitely go snorkeling! Back on the island, shops range from low-​end to high-​end prices (brand names). To buy a memorable gift, I brought some handmade soap from the brand My Ocean. It was pricey but the soaps in there were so nicely packaged! I’m a sucker for pretty things.
Disembarkation — Done in less than 10 mins.