My husband and I chose this cruise, because, we won it in a raffle on our previous cruise. We needed to do Thanksgiving week so that my husband would have enough time off. The Gem was beautiful! It was by far the best Norwegian ship I have ever been on. The decor was beautiful, the layout easy to navigate, and everything was super clean. Our room was very nice and things were being fixed before we even noticed they were broken.

We dined in both main dining rooms, the buffet, the Great Outdoors, Sheehan's (sp?), the Oriental Garden (I think that is the name.), the Brazilian Steak House, and LeBistro. The food in the main dining room was good. It is not up to the standard of Princess or Celebrity, but it was good for a Norwegian ship. The buffet was good and very typical of the buffet at all of the ships that I have been on. The Great Outdoors was listed under 24-hour dining, but it was only open until 11:30 pm. It had good late night snacks, but it would have been better if it would have stayed open later. We wanted snacks after dancing at night and there was nowhere to get them except for room service (limited menu with no snacks) and Sheehan's (sp?) where you had to sit down and dine and the food was not very good, especially the nachos. The Oriental Garden was a nice complimentary offering to the main dining room, but the sushi was not very good. The Brazilian Steak House and LeBistro were our absolute favorites. They were worth the extra money.

Overall, the service was amazing. Everyone was very kind and helpful. There was only one time in the main dining room where we thought it took a really long time to get to eat. Our room steward was ok, but we have had much better on other lines. We were constantly having to call and ask for things that should have automatically been replaced each day. Read more