Readers of this review should bear in mind that this is my first review. While my first, my spouse and I are veteran travelers, and moderately experienced cruisers with 7 cruises. I am also a retired USN sailor, so I may have a different take on some things that may be of value to those considering this cruise and line. Planning: We chose this cruise because we live in upstate New York, had a family event in the city the weekend of departure and wanted to test NCL, which we had cruised years ago, and the embark/debark process in NYC. We have found Celebrity much to our liking, but the lack of a cruise from NY at this time left us with NCL. For those concerned about the traffic and parking, the Manhattan cruise location is simply excellent. Well marked for drivers, prepared for inflow, I cannot imagine it being any better done. The downside is the cost, $30 per day, but the convenience is unbeatable. NCL was well prepared for embark and we experienced no problems getting onboard. Our stateroom was as expected, clean and neat. Bed was very comfortable even considering our last trip in Celebrity Solstice Concierge class in March. Gem is a new ship and in excellent material condition. The deck crew was active throughout the cruise painting and touching up. Lunch the first day was a madhouse, with the layout of the cafeteria to be a great part of the problem. In order to accommodate the specialty restaurants, Gem's design on many decks, has limited fore and aft travel of passengers to one corridor as opposed to the customary 2. This forces all through traffic into one passage resulting in overcrowding. Plus the passageway meanders so passengers and crew are constantly dodging each other. This pattern was commmon on most of the common space decks.This was even more of a problem as the ship had a large number of older and handicapped guests using wheeled vehicles.On a postive note, the aft outside dining area was very large with plenty of seating. Having the smoking area right outside the A/C boundary was very unpleasant for non smokers. This section could easily made more pleasant for all by just reversing the smoking/non smoking sections. Sailing on a bitterly cold day(35 knot north wind and a 3.5 kt ebb tide, Gem struggled getting out of her slip even with the help of a tug. Well done to the Captain and crew for a challenging seamanship problem. The sail down the Hudson was excellent despite the weather. The expected heavy seas appeared and the bad weather stayed with us for the next three days. During that time I realized that the ship was not making the 20+ knots she needed to cover the distance needed to make San Juan by the port time. I also noted that she was only producing propulsion from one screw. Gem uses propulsion from a diesel electric plant that powers 2 Azipods which are electrically powered units that can turn in any direction. More and more ships have them, and they are wonderful because this engineering is what makes the higher speed of this ship(25 kts) possible. When they do not work, this ship maxes out at about 17 kts so you can see what this will result in over a 3 day transit. Not common, but possible, and if not fixable will result in lost port calls. We were fortunate that NCL determined what the prolem was, flew spares and techs into St Thomas and they had it repaired halfway through the cruise. I thought the Captain did a masterful job informing the passengers and resolving the problem. BTW the bridge viewing area on deck 11 froward portside is excellent and old salts hangout there! Some passengers were concerned about safety. My feeling was that we were never more than a day away from a tug, and the ship was making plenty of electricity, so all hotel services were fine. Ships are complicated things and passengers should understand that before they cruise. The shows on Gem were excellent. First class entertainment, as good as I have seen at sea. Kudos to the dancers and performers working in the bow with the ship moving a great deal during 15 ft seas. Service is a challenge on Gem. My wife and I have come to conclusion that Freestyle cruising is NCL's clever way to reduce staff in critical areas and force passengers to eat in the buffet area, or pay for specialty restaurants. Lack of staff was particularly noticeable in the MDR, and quality of service was spotty. That being said, good service stands out, particularly Maureen in the MDR and Rolando, the bar server. The lack of a wine steward was noticeable, and the level of training of some servers was low. Food quality was fair to good but menu choices were limited and not up to the level of RCCL or Celebrity. These are challenging times for all businesses, but cruising is all about service.We did notice a decrease in the level of service on our last X cruise, and I am hopeful that it will be resolved. Small errors were common on this cruise that we had never experienced on any line before: miss poured drinks, confused card charges and the wrong room card being give back, servers no knowing how to serve soft ice cream. Small things that give a good indication that the staff is newer and not well trained at this point. Ports and excursions are the typical Caribe fare. Missing San Juan was not a problem for us as we have seen it, and it is a good place to spend a day. Antigua and Tortola are well worth the visit and the baths on Virgin Gorda are excellent. Our trip back encountered bad weather yet again for the last two days with heavy seas. i have spent a fair amount of time bouncing around off NC and VA( the VACAPES to sailors, and know that January is mostly cold and windy with heavy swells, but I do not think that we will take this trip from NY again in the future. The trade-off of airport hassles and adding an extra day on the front end in FLL or MIA versus the potential of 4-5 poor at sea days on the transit seems to be in favor of dealing with the airport at this time. Conversely, this trip later in the year, March through late November would likely be fine. Regarding Gem, it is an excellent ship with a few layout problems. As for Freestyle cruising, I'm not sold. Too much transfer of service to the customer. The idea of paying extra for food i have paid for doesn't make sense, especially for menus that did not change. To the credit of NCL they have identified their demographic well, because people do seem to like it to some extent. All in all I would give the trip a "C+" the service a "C", the ship a "B" and the embark/debark port a "B+"