The Norwegian Gem is a beautiful ship, one of the nicest on which we've sailed. It was easy to navigate the ship. The restaurants were nicely placed in various areas. We enjoyed Magenta as our main dining room; very good service and food and nicely decorated. We only had breakfast once in the Grand Pacific but also great service and food. We were very pleased that Orchid Garden, an Oriental restaurant, was complimentary and a nice option from the main dining room and buffet. The buffet did have a nice selection of meals, although as is typical, it was quite crowded during mealtimes, although we usually we able to find a table. We also liked O'Sheehan's, which was open 24x7 and was a great place to watch football on a huge screen downstairs in the main reception area; great bar food, always freshly popped popcorn, and breakfast available.
Several bars were available, our favorite serving great and creative martinis. The Spinnaker Lounge on the 13th floor was a great place to read a book, watch the world go by, or play bingo and trivia with the staff. The shows were great, except for the illusionists, who were too busy trying to sell their CD and talking to put on a decent show. Dan Dan, the Cruise Director, was by far the bright spot of our week. He was engaging and very funny, and kept us laughing every time we saw him. His staff was also great, and we so enjoyed doing activities with them. This was one of the best, if not the best, cruise we have been on. The Canada and New England locations were low key but really nice. Great job, NCL Gem!
This was a great cabin! It was small but manageable, with a very comfortable bed and plenty of room to store clothing and personal items. Nice balcony with two chairs and a table. The best thing I have to say about the room, though, was the shower. It was large by cabin standards, with very hot water and great water pressure. The bathroom itself was a bit larger than I've ever had in a balcony cabin. I think they may have taken a bit of room from the cabin for the bathroom, which was fine with me, as I have always found the showers on a cruise ship claustrophobic. The room was very quiet and in a great location for the stairs/elevators, far enough off that area to be quiet but close enough that we didn't have to walk far to get there. I highly recommend this cabin!