Just back from a great cruise on the beautiful NCL Gem. This cruise was a trip with my mother who is 78 and I am 53. I got this cruise from my local casino and only had to pay port charges and taxes - so it was very reasonable. I was very pleased with the ports visited - we were extremely fortunate to only have one day of rain and it was only a half day to boot.
Embarking was a bit of a mess. There were multiple ships leaving Manhattan at the same time and it was raining - there was no movement along 12th street at all. I had my cab drop me off at 48th and 12th and we walked across the street - saved a ton of money by doing this. Dropped off our bags. Took the elevator to security and waited over 45 min to get through. After that long wait - we were able to walk right up to the NCL counter and check in. It was close to 1:30 by the time we were on board, so we went right to the Garden Cafe Buffet for lunch.
I was pleased with the food. We ate 4 nights at the complimentary restaurants - Each of my main entrees were very good - steak, roast beef, lamb chops and turkey. Service was good - we always try to eat early to beat the crowds - so we were seated by 5 to allow us to make the 6:30 show. Two evenings we ate at the buffet and one evening at Blue Lagoon. Plenty of choices and the food was good.
I liked where our room was located - close to the Blue Lagoon and the evelators