This was our first cruise with Norwegian and were pleasantly surprised. Our group consisted of my Wife and I, along with our 2 children and my mother and father. It was February school vacation and was the perfect chance to get out of the cold northeast.

Embarkation: The Gem was delayed arriving by an hour. We had arrived early to the cruise terminal, so once the ship was cleared to board (around 12:30 pm), we got on fairly quickly. We were able to put our hand luggage in our rooms and head up to deck 12 for lunch. It was really packed, but understandable being the first day.

Ship/Public Spaces: The ship was in good condition. All of the dining rooms, specialty restaurants, bars and lounges were looking good. Our favorite was the Spinnaker Lounge. It was a great spot to sit back, relax and sight-see as we cruised through NYC. Watching the sky-scrapers sail past us, waving goodbye to Lady Liberty, and ducking under the Verrazano was great! While everything was looking good, taking the elevators took forever, and were constantly full. Also, we didn't care for the "flow" of traffic around the ship. There were bottlenecks all over the ship and it was annoying having to go up and around to get to a dinning rooms because you couldn't walk straight across a deck. We really prefer the Royal Caribbean ships as the best in class. Read more