We traveled to the pier from Long Island by sharing a limo with a nice couple we met on the CruiseCritic.com roll call. We made good time until we hit the mid-week Manhattan crosstown traffic. Unfortunately, another large cruise ship was using the same terminal this day which delayed arrival and departure from the area. With two cruise ships sailing on similar 10 & 11 day Caribbean cruises out of New York in January, you would think they would schedule them on alternate Wednesdays and Saturdays? The terminal has been refurbished considerably since we last used it. Boarding did not begin until about 1PM to to late disembarking passengers. Once boarding of Latitude members began, it moved swiftly and we were on board about 1:30PM. We promptly made a reservation for dinner in Cagney's steakhouse that night at 5:30, a half price offer that continued at 5:30 throughout the cruise for the specialty restaurants having a cover charge. We normally go to the main restaurant for lunch after boarding to avoid the chaos at the buffet. However, when we studied the menu at the Grand pacific restaurant, we found it very limited, mostly sandwiches and hamburgers and not the interesting entrees we had enjoyed in past NCL boardings. Hopefully, this will be improved in the 2.0 upgrading now underway in the NCL fleet. We had lunch at the Garden Cafe and it was very good. After lunch, we went to our cabin, an aft facing mini-suite on deck 11. It was ready, very clean and we were please with it. Our cabin attendants introduced themselves and they provided us excellent service throughout the cruise. Due to the cold weather, the lifeboat was thankfully held indoors in the Grand Pacific dining room. SHIP DECOR: The new Gem uses vibrant colors throughout and the atrium has a huge ice sculpture suspended from the ceiling just below deck 8. Most passengers commented favorably on the atrium though we preferred the more sedate and soaring atrium of the Dawn with its glass elevators. The huge screen in the atrium could be disconcerting at times but was much appreciated for the weekend NFL games. I did find the pool area a big improvement over the Dawn. It had two large pools, one for adults only and the other with a huge slide for children. I especially appreciated the nets being removed early in the morning so I could swim laps in the adult pool before my breakfast. The Stardust Theatre is elegantly beautiful, among the finest we have seen on any cruise ships. The design of the carpeting matched that of the huge stage curtain. Access to the theatre was best made from deck 7 to avoid going through the smoky casino on deck 6. The Bliss Lounge was truly unusual and many passengers were confused as to its function? One passenger said it looked like a bowling alley in a brothel? I understand it was very popular bowlers and younger adults at night. The Spinnaker Lounge was always a favorite place for us on NCL and we enjoyed this one even though it could get a little rocky in rough seas. In conclusion, the Gem is a beautiful ship, designed and built well by obvious craftsmen in the country of my parent's birth. SHIPBOARD RECREATION: Considering our cruise had four sea days, there were more than enough shipboard activities to keep us occupied. Team trivia was very popular, held several times a day by a dashing Romanian named George. Prizes were awarded at the end of the week according to how many times you attended and won. It was a lot of fun which I especially enjoyed with my team from our CruiseCritic.com roll call. My wife is not into trivia but she really enjoyed the fitness classes held by Ihad and Heather and the dance classes of Joel and Marie. Excellent instructors in both categories. There could have been more no fee aerobic classes, especially on the sea days. Ballroom dancing was an activity in which the Gem really excelled. The excellent Gem Show Band performed almost nightly in the Spinnaker Lounge providing any time of ballroom dance tempos the passengers requested. They did double duty playing in the Garden Cafe, Great Outdoors and for dancing under the stars poolside. Their afternoon German oom-pah and Irish music was very popular. A very talented and versatile group of musicians that we enjoyed throughout the cruise. Last but certainly not least, we were delighted to find a musician we had enjoyed on previous NCL cruises was now on the Gem. Pianist/vocalist extraordinaire Ariel Jacobe performed nightly to adoring audiences at the grand piano in bar central. He could have used a microphone as he sings as well he plays as we found out when he performed a Frank Sinatra tribute in the atrium one evening. We listened to him almost nightly and he never failed to play our favorites. Overall, we found the recreational activities, dancing, fitness classes, trivia, musicians, deck sports between passengers and crew etc. to be universally popular and appreciated. A really fun cruise. DINING VENUES: The new 2.0 NCL dining upgrades are still in the process of being implemented throughout the fleet. We found Cagney's to be the outstanding venue for Breakfast and Lunch as well as Dinner. Gracious Maitre 'D Laura, who we remembered from the Dawn always made us feel welcome saw we received the best food and service. We held our CruiseCritic.com dinner at La Cucina and even though we had a large group, we all received excellent personal service for each of our requests. I found the Fruit de Mare on both pizza and pasta to be delicious. We found Tequila, the Gem's Tex-Mex restaurant to be not quite as good as we enjoyed at Salsa on the Dawn. This restaurant would benefit from a 2.0 upgrade. The main restaurant menus could also have more variety and I am sure they will improve as the 2.0 upgrades are implemented. On several nights they offered some of my favorites, duck, rack of lamb and tiger prawns with lobster ravioli. However, on some evenings when the menu in the main restaurants, Magenta and Grand Pacific, failed to attract us, we did something we had never done on previous NCL cruises. We had dinner at the Garden Cafe, the "buffet" we had had formerly frowned upon for dinner. Here we found the greatest dining improvements. They had table cloths, candles on the tables and excellent entrees available nightly. We really enjoyed dining there several nights during the cruise and appeared many other passengers did also. Overall, we found the dining options varied and uniformly good and we look forward to the upgrades now being implemented. PORTS OF CALL: We are beach people and enjoyed sunning and swimming at the various islands. I enjoy snorkeling but unfortunately, my Powerboat snorkeling excursion was cancelled due to lack of interest. We enjoyed the beaches but found that Cane Garden Bay, a former favorite on Tortola had deteriorated considerably since our last visit. The rest rooms were inadequate and filthy and the bus ride there is an adventure I can do without. SUMMARY: We would not hesitate to sail the beautiful Gem again in the future. We will always be grateful to NCL for bringing year round cruising to New York, no more flying from. Special thanks are due to NCL's ace Hotel director Klaus Lugmaier who welcomed us aboard with his fine staff at our CruiseCritic.com meeting and assured we all had a wonderful cruise. Captain Hilden was always in evidence throughout the ship, mingling with passengers and dining them in the Garden Cafe. The entire staff was superb. A most memorable cruise.