Norwegian Gem Review

Disappointing- far cry from Princess and Holland America

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Gem
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blondie1234
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Jan 2010

We are veteran cruises that go on two cruises yearly. We usually cruise Princess and have done cruises to Bermuda, Mexico, Tahiti, Hawaii, Europe and Panama Canal. We originally wanted to go to South America but those cruises sold out early this year so we booked this one. I live literally a few blocks away in Manhattan and wanted to see what the Caribbean was all about as well as we liked the proximity of leaving from NYC. I have been on NCL before to Bermuda and Hawaii.

About the ship: I won't post much about the nice parts of the ship since I assume that is elsewhere. But I would note that I was disappointed with Norweigian. The ship is a nice ship and I think the food is pretty good. There are plenty of dining options - I personally liked the Blue Lagoon which serves food 24 hours (though just things like cheeseburgers, wings, etc.). We usually ate in the Grand Pacific - the first few nights the waits were long and if you did not arrive by 5:30 you have to wait 40 minutes in line if you want to eat 6 or 6:30. That seemed to change later in the cruise as more I guess used the specialty dining.

Overall, think it was alot more disorganized than Princess or even other Norweigian cruises I went on in the past (hawaii and Bermuda). There seemed to be nothing to do on sea days except if you wanted to drink expensive drinks or go to art auctions. The first sea days back and forth are very cold so you can't go outside really and they just have the usual cruise activities (bingo, dancing class, etc.). We basically just slept on sea days and ate. NCL simply does not offer the "finishing touches" that a Princess or NCL offers. On Princess, they have alot of movies available in the stateroom - here, there was virtually nothing to watch on tv except CNN. Princess offers movies under the stars on many ships; NCL offers virtually no movies and the movies they do offer are late at night. You could buy movies for $11.95. No things like afternoon tea and the buffet closed at 2:30 - you had to go outside to get food between 2:30-5:30 which wasn't a problem in the caribbean but was annoying in the cold weather at sea.

Cabin Review

Cabin O

8594 and 8100: Listed as obstructed view but not really. In 8594, you see a partial lifeboat but can still see out of the window. In 8100, you see a stairway. Both rooms are sideways from a normal room - the sides of one of the beds is along the window and the rooms are long north to south not east to west - more rectangular in shape than others. 8100 is a handicapped room and was much bigger.

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