Norwegian Gem Cruise Review by ellygirl65

EMBARKATION: Was a breeze. They had a separate line for balconie and suites and from the time the cab dropped us off until the time we made it to the lobby it was about 15 minutes. Very smooth. As we entered we were given champagne and orange juice and a girl was playing piano. She was so good we sat and listened to her before exploring the ship. There is a huge screen TV in the lobby and it is very impressive !

CABIN: It was quite adequate and because of the balcony it felt much bigger. As the cruise went on we were hardly there any way so it really didn't matter. We had to attend a lifeboat presentation just after that and that's when the the tiredness set in ! Had to go to sleep for a while and may I say that the bed was very comfortable. Unfortunately we had very noisy neighbors, but that was not NCL's fault of course. The walls seemed kind of thin, but no different to any other hotel we have been in.

ENTERTAINMENT: That night we went to the Welcome Aboard show and a very nice young man was the Cruise Director. I think his name was Brent and he was great. We were on a river cruise last year and the Cruise Director was annoying; not this one. He even went out of his way to make us feel welcome a few days later when we had a question. We weren't that impressed with the shows; especially the Los Locos and music show. Vegas is not our thing and a couple of the singers were just out of tune in the production shows. We loved the Second City comedy from Chicago and our favorite show was a girl called Margie Hobbs. Earlier in the cruise we heard her in one of the lounges with her partner Sam and her voice is incredible. She also sat down and played piano as well as she sang. We followed them in the daily program wherever they were. Because we love music we gave all of the shows a look and we were very impressed with the big band and even went to their jazz night. This was a highlight of our cruise.

PORTS: We went ashore every day and were tired when we left but we wanted to see it all. We took an organized tour to Rome but every other day we made our own arrangements. Tip for everyone - it is cheaper and better if you just do it yourself. We researched everything really well before we joined so we were fine. Malta is especially beautiful and we caught the bus up the hill for just one euro, so it was worth it not to have to walk up there. Naples is just crazy busy but fun - be careful crossing the street as they don't obey any traffic signals ! Cannes was a bit of a disappointment and was not as pretty as we would have hoped but all of those yachts are really amazing. We went to the leaning tower of Pisa on our own. We caught the train and because it is close by (about 30 minutes) we weren't worried about getting back to the ship on time.

FOOD: this is where I write WOW ! Every meal we had was wonderful and the buffet was great. Something for everyone and very well presented and prepared.

CONCLUSION: This was our first NCL cruise and we were very impressed. We loved not being told that we had to eat at 8.30 and could go at any time. Once we had to wait, but we are late eaters so the restaurants were not busy later on. The ports were fantastic and the crew we WONDERFUL. We will definitely cruise this line again and maybe we'll bring the kids next time !