The Good the Bad and the Ugly on cruising with NCL's GEM.

First about us; 60ish with 3 cruises on the Princess, 3 cruises on Royal Caribbean and 1 cruise with Carnival. We thought we'd try NCL Free-Style Cruising and picked the GEM as it was a new ship and leaves from of NYC which is only an hour away for us. OK here goes:

THE GOOD: What a great crew from the Captain down to the deck hands. Everyone was pleasant and went out of their way to say "Hello" or "Good Day". Arrived at the pier at 10:45AM, breezed through ticketing and by 12:45 was on the ship enjoying Lunch. TIP: Do not go to the buffet but go to the Grand Pacific for lunch. Your stateroom will be ready after that. Met our room stewards and gave them a tip up front and asked for extra towels, our cabin to be made up whenever we went out and have the concierge make reservations for us in Cagney's and Le Bistro at the times we wanted. Done. Read more