My husband, 2 daughters and I recently returned home from a 10 day cruise on the Norwegian Gem. The cruise left New York on March 12. Good stuff first:
Embarkation-
The embarkation process went fine. It was organized and the employees were friendly.
Our Cabin was right above the Stardust theatre so it was a little loud.
The pier was easy to find. We drove so we left our car parked there. Be sure you look online for a discount coupon. My husband randomly checked and it saved us 100 bucks!
We took a cab to Isla Verde and set up in front of the Courtyard Marriott. Waves were kind of big. Pretty water. People at the Marriott were nice.
We went to Magen's Bay along with half of the ship. Magen's Bay is gorgeous and worth the crowd. We took a cab, $8 per person. We did have a bit of a hard time finding one immediately because they wanted only large parties.
We took a cab to Cane Garden Bay. Everything there was maybe a little run down but the beach was pretty. This beach was also very crowded because of the ship.