Norwegian Gem Review
NCL Gem NYC to Florida, Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau - Week of 7/23/16
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our 3rd year in a row on the same boat with the same destinations (Port Canaveral, Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau). We chose the cruise primarily because we like the convenience of leaving and returning to NYC and we like the Gem. In all honesty, the only stop worth getting off the boat for is Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegian's private island).
Port Canaveral is a huge waste of time, as there is nothing in the general area worth doing or seeing, although Cape Kennedy is interesting if you have never been there before. There are several shore excursions available to Disney, Universal, Sea World etc. but the ship arrives in port at 1pm and leaves at 9pm. All of the Orlando theme parks are an hour bus trip each way leaving you just 6 hrs maximum at the theme parks. It just isn't worth bothering to go to them. We wouldn't have even gotten off the boat in Port Canaveral, but we had relatives in Fort Lauderdale who drove up to spend the day with us in the area, which was nice, but we drove around the entire Cocoa Beach area and there just isn't much there to do or see.
Great Stirrup Cay is beautiful and well worth getting off the boat, but the way in which they issue tender tickets from the ship to the island is just horrible and ridiculous. Unless you are a gold latitudes passenger or are in a suite you have to line up on the pool deck (deck 12) at approx 9:15am on the morning of arrival. They don't begin handing out tender tickets until 9:45am. The line stretches entirely around the main swimming pool and all the way back up the other side. We were the 5th people in line this year (having gone thru the same process the past 2 yrs). Even still, we were given tickets with #7 for tender boarding, which means all of the gold latitudes and suite passengers got tickets numbered 1 - 6. The system for issuing tender tickets is horrible and there is just no reason for it. NCL, you need to fix this and stop creating completely unnecessary lines for your passengers. There is absolutely no reason why tender tickets couldn't be issued at passenger check in prior to boarding.
Cabin Review
Mini-Suite with Balcony
Our mini suite was wonderful and spacious. The location on the 11th floor forward was perfect too. We were directly under the spa treatment area, so there was absolutely no noise above us at all. The bathroom is much larger than the regular balcony bathroom and there is an actual tub (not a jacuzzi). I took a bath right before bed 4 of the 7 nights we were on board. The tub is a little shorter than a standard sized tub. My only complaint with the tub is that it is "V" shaped from top to bottom, and narrows to about 12" direct under the shower so you cannot spread your feet apart more than about 6" when you take a shower. It was a little dangerous and I would caution anyone who might be at all unstable. The balcony in the mini suites is about twice the width of the balconies in the regular balcony cabins. They only have 2 standard chairs and a small table on the balconies, but there is room for 2 large lounge chairs or 4 regular chairs.
The storage in the mini suites is fabulous too. We had 2 large suitcases packed full of clothes etc. and when we finished unpacking all of our things we had drawers that were still empty, which we ended up using for dirty laundry.
Port Reviews
Port Canaveral (Orlando)
There is just really nothing of interest to do in the Port Canaveral area, and the theme parks in Orlando are too far away and with a maximum of just 6 hours to spend at them they just aren't worth it.
Great Stirrup Cay
The island itself is beautiful and well worth getting off the ship for, but this year the lagoon section of the island was completely closed for renovations, which was a big disappointment.
Nassau
There is just .no reason to get off the ship if you have been to Atlantis already. Nassau is dirty and the locals are pushy and want you to give them money
New York (Manhattan)
We got on the ship in NYC