We are both in mid 30th. We have been on two cruises before - Holland America's Noordam ( 11 nights) and Cunard's QM2 ( 4 nights). So I was comparing everything on NCL Gem with two previous trips even thought it was only 1 nighters. We drove to the port 40 min from central NJ and paid $ 30 for parking (last time it was $ 24 per night). I found ship very cramped and boring. There are no open spaces, no wide halls. And whatever space was available in mini atrium, it was taking by photographers. We ate dinner at Magenta and breakfast in Grand Pacific Dining room. Food was nothing special at all. I checked buffet on the Deck 12 and discovered that food for lunch and dinner was totally the same. Lunch was extra crowded but for dinner hardly anyone was there. Show at 9.15 was just OK. After that we went to White Party. Female entertainment staff (who was dressed in white with angel wings) hardly was engaged with the dancers. The men from entertainment group were just standing around. I also didn't like the music so we left pretty soon. I though it will be crowded since pretty much nothing else was going on after the show, but only about 100 people showed up and half of them actually danced. We had inside cabin which was tiny. I can't even imagine going on 7-10 night cruise and have inside cabin especially with kids. I booked this trip by using some points. So at the end we got a good price. If we would stay one night in NY, saw the show and ate few times out, we would pay three times more. I don't think we will be cruising with NCL any time soon at least not on GEM. I would probably try another ship if the price is right.