I planned this cruise for a long time and as the months became weeks then days, I found myself .... smiling more often.  I think everyone does on a much awaited cruise.  Well anyway, this was going to be a celebration of our 15th year anniversary and my 40th birthday.  We usually sail with our 2 kids (D 10, S 4) but this time it was just me and my hubby.  Thanks to my Mom and Dad for looking after the kids while we go on vacation.  This is our first time on NCL and we cruised on Princess four times, Disney once and Carnival twice.  Let me just start by saying that the GEM is beautiful!!!!  I was worried when I booked NCL because of the reviews I read on cruisecritic.  However, the itinerary was perfect, the price was great and the service was beyond compare.  I liked the fact that it starts and ends at the same port and that it was only 7days.  To me it was perfect because I didn't have to be away from the kids for a long time.  We originally booked a balcony but 2 weeks before we sailed I saw an opening for an aft penthouse suite on travelocity for a very good price.  I also read that the suite came with extras so I called my TA to upgrade.  I love love love the suite.  We had Alex our concierge and Andres as our butler.  I think our NCL experience went up another notch because of these extras and the room was wonderful too.  Alex made sure our dining reservations were always for a table next to the window.  Plus, I think because Alex made the reservation we never had any problems even if we were late, there was always a table waiting for us.  I mentioned this because other people were either told to wait or had to sit with other groups.  Andres, our butler, gave us the best service.  If you are lucky enough to get him as your butler, you will have the best time.  I told him that when I'm back at home making breakfast I will remember him.  From the moment we met him at the registration desk until the last day, he was very accommodating.  After checking in, and I should add was a breeze, Andres took our hand carry and led us through the building into the ship to our room.  It was about 1pm and people were waiting in the lobby area because their rooms were not ready but we bypassed all that.  In our room, Andrew acquainted us with the amenities plus chit chat about the Philippines since we came from the same country.  Let me tell you about the suite, the espresso machine was heavenly that my hubby was making coffee probably 5x a day!  The room was very spacious, lots of cabinets, big flat screen tv with a choice of DVD (I needed this because there's only a few channels in English), our own wireless phone to use everywhere on the ship, spacious bathroom with tub, thick towels, nice furniture indoor and out on the balcony.  But the best feature of this room was the bed.  I was in heaven and felt like the bed was hugging me.  The pillows were wonderful too and you get a pillow menu to choose from.  My only complaint about the room was that you feel the vibration of the engine some nights (not too bad, I'm just a light sleeper) and by the middle of the week, there was soot on the balcony from the smoke exhaust.  By the middle of the week, they gave us an advisory that they were going to clean the balcony while we were off shore.  I didn't notice the soot before that but I did notice it the day after they cleaned.  I think next time I would go for a suite elsewhere because of the soot and vibration.  Being in the aft though protected the room from the wind if you want to leave the sliding door open.  Another perk of the suite is being able to eat at Cagney's for breakfast and lunch.  Andrew would bring our Cagney's breakfast and we'd eat by the balcony.  Lunch at Cagney's was also nice, they had enough selections for the whole week.  We loved the colossal shrimp cocktail which was truly colossal.   We were so spoiled that we didn't go to the buffet anymore.  I think the only time I went was to have ice cream or their crepe with a scoop of ice cream, yummm.  I thought the buffet area was chaotic with everyone trying to get their food.  It was nicely laid out, even better than at Princess ships, but of course with the number of passengers this cannot be avoided.  As for the specialty restaurants, we tried La Cucina, Le Bistro and the Sushi bar.  We loved them all but would go to La Cucina again anytime.  This place had a $10 cover charge as opposed to $15 for the other two and I thought that for the price the food was excellent.  Le Bistro was okay and the Sushi bar was awesome, all you can eat sashimi/sushi.  The other restaurants we didn't try had a cover charge of $25 plus another $10 (if I remember correctly) if you get lobster.  I thought that was too much.  As for the main dining rooms, I agree with the other reviews that they tend to make the food less appetizing to sway people to the specialty restaurants.  I thought that the food at Princess or Carnival was much better.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed every night.We decided to take tours offered by NCL even though they were outrageously expensive.  We wanted to relax on this cruise and didn't want to be worried all the time.  I heard a lot of horror stories of being left and then having to find a way to get to the next port that I decided going on our own might be more expensive in the end.