We sailed on April 9 from NYC to Florida and Bahamas. This was my 9th cruise, My Fiance's 3rd cruise and our friends' 1st cruise, which they ended the cruise saying they would not consider booking a cruise again. I have cruised on 2 Carnival, 1 Celebrity, and 5 Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean still beats out all others.my fiance and I booked this cruise in February for a quick getaway conveniently out of NYC. Our friends booked 12 days before the sail date. Because of an unfortunate accident the Monday before we set sail, we had my fiance taken onto the ship by wheelchair, we arrived around 11:45 and we were on the ship immediately, no waiting for disabled people, which I found very helpful, but hopefully will not have to use that amenity in the future. We were taken to the buffet on the 12th floor, I found the buffet to be quite small for all the passengers on board. As on Royal Caribbean, the Windjammer had 2 sides to the buffet and aside from the typical hamburger and hot dogs there was a few different choices each day; on the Gem it was the same food everyday, but food was descent. We hung out by the pool deck until our room floors were called. We booked a Mini Suite on the 11th floor. The room was a tiny bit bigger then the regular balcony room, but nothing you would consider a "suite", still suitable for 2 people and the balcony was wider then the regular balcony which gave more room to move on the balcony. Our luggage was delivered very fast, I do not know if that was because we got on the ship earlier then others, but it was nice to unpack earlier in the day before the ship set sail. The first night we booked dinner at Tepanaki. The food was very good, hibachi style cooked at your table. The cooks are entertaining and the portions given are well worth the $25/person. Later that night we hit the casino where I found the staff to be the nicest. All the dealers were very personable and pretty much all of them remembered the gamblers throughout the week.The 2nd day we were at sea, but still a little too cool to lay out by the pool. We called room service for breakfast, we found the room service people who answered the phones to be very rude. Everyday we would call they would say, "there's a long wait" and the food would be there within a half hour, seemed more like they just didn't want to be bothered with taking our order. I later made an appointment at the spa to get a facial. I met with the spa consultant who was very nice, you are paying for a 50 minute facial, but they talk to you for a few minutes about your skin before your facial begins and then talk to you for a little bit about buying there products after your facial, which in all, I felt the facial was cut short due to the "talking". However, I did enjoy the facial, but the downside, they try to sell your products afterwards. I was given a index card with 5 facial products that were "guaranteed" to cure any problems I had; these 5 products totaled to about $300. When I refused the offer, I felt as if I was being hounded, telling me that if I continue doing my normal daily cleansing for the rest of the week, the facial would be useless and I need to use their products. I did NOT buy the products in the end.That night we tried the dining room for dinner. We did not know we needed reservations for the "freestyle" dining room. We showed up, pretty late in the night and were given a pager that will light up when the table is ready. We sat at a bar for a few drinks and after 40 minutes the pager did not go off, we went to the dining room where they said, "Oh, this one is dead, your table has been ready, sorry about that" so we wasted time sitting around. Service was slow in the beginning, my appetizers and meal were fine, but I ordered something very basic, whereas the rest of my party, were not happy whatsoever with their meals. The baby shrimp appetizer was exactly that, the shrimp were so small we laughed about it. The salads were not nearly enough to satisfy someone for an appetizer and the steaks that the guys were given, they compared to a HungryMan frozen dinner, which does not say much for that. We gave Bliss a shot that night, a lot of younger kids in there. Being only 25, I felt old in there, many kids 16 years old or so. As for all the other cruises I have been on, they were always strict about checking IDs at the front door to make sure everyone was at least 18, I was told on this ship they let any age in until 12 and then check IDs, but before that, you have a lot of younger kids around. We again left Bliss later that night to go to the casino. The next day we were in Port Canaveral Florida, we booked the air boat to see the alligators. If you are looking for an over exciting excursion, this is not for you. Although I enjoyed seeing the alligators and other animals you get to see after the air boat ride, the half hour on the air boat goes very quick and there is no guarantee you are seeing alligators. After the air boat we boarded the ship to lay by the pool. That night we ate at Magenta which is also a included dining room, we went to Magenta late and were the last diners, the food in my opinion was very good. No complaints that night, after reading the daily newsletter everyone receives in their room, I realized that you must wake up the next day and proceed to the Spinnaker Lounge at 7:30 to receive your tender number to get off the ship at Great Stirrup Cay. I was shocked by this! Every other ship I have been on never had this and there was never a problem getting off of the ship. Early Tuesday morning I woke up at 7am and arrived at the Spinnaker Lounge around 7:20, the line to get tender numbers was wrapped around the lounge and yet I still received number 9. We were told tender 9 would leave around 11:45, we however left around 11:15, so it worked out, BUT I was not happy with the way they dealt with the tender situation. I felt as if they took time away from vacationers to wait on line at 7:30am, which no one wants to do on their vacation. When we arrived, GSC was beautiful, very crowded by the time we got there. We had to find single lounge chairs not being used and bring them to an empty space we found. We rented a big, round float for $26 and the day was very nice. The construction, did not bother us at all, honestly, we did not hear a thing. It looks as if they are really trying to improve their private island and I'm sure it will be even nicer when they are done. We later boarded the ship to have lunch and relax. That night we had dinner at Cagney's Steakhouse. I am very picky when it comes to meat, I ordered the 10oz filet mignon which was delicious! For $25/person this was very well worth it. You can order whatever you want and the food takes a little longer to come out, but you know it is cooked fresh and is great when you receive it. That night we tried the show. We saw Second City which was an improv group from Chicago, they were very funny. We enjoyed them very much and later we went to the Spinnaker Lounge for the comedian, who probably would have been funnier if we were able to see him. The Lounge was so crowded there were no seats to be found, except for in the wayyy back. The chairs were very comfortable, but we only could hear him, which took away from the show for us. The next day was Nassau, Bahamas where I have been before and knew not to buy the pass to the Atlantis. We took a cab to the Atlantis for $4/person, walked through the Atlantis, which since 2 years ago they are more strict. We were not able to walk through the front lobby where you can see the aquarium. You are pretty much restricted to the casino and high-end shops. From our last trip to Nassau, we knew of a public beach behind the Atlantis and Rui (hotel next to the Atlantis). More cruisers have apparently heard about this beach because it was a little more crowded, but nothing that isnt tolerable, more then enough room between beachers. The locals try to get you to buy everything and rent everything you can imagine, but you can always talk them down in price on everything. This is where they have the coconuts, for $20/person they cut open a coconut for you, put in whatever mix you want, which we chose pina colada and then they give each person a bottle of rum. A small bottle, but big enough that for 4 people we wound up giving 2 bottles away as we were leaving. Def worth it! That night we chose to eat at the Asian restaurant, which is located in the same area as Teppanaki. The food was very good there also and a lot of food is given. For $15/person, you cannot go wrong. We also had sake bombs, which were fun and they give you about 5 shots worth of sake for each person for about $7. That night we went to the Hypnotist show, which is entertaining because you know people are faking it, but that's about it. I don't see that being realistic, essp. when people are falling off chairs and sometimes forgetting to do what the hypnotist asks them to do. Off to the casino again..The next day we were able to lay out by the pool during the day, which was crowded. The pool waiters are very good and keep your drinks flowing. That night we decided to try the buffet for dinner, we found a lot of people chose the buffet for dinner, the food is OK, however, its the same as the lunch food! There may have been a couple of differences, but that was it. Since later that night was the chocolate buffet at 10pm, they closed the dinner buffet fairly early. Friday during the day it was way too cold to lay out. So we just lounged around the ship. Another thing I did not like, you had to wait in line at a certain time on Friday to pick up your liquor you bought in the duty free shop. Usually, from my experience the liquor is delivered to your room. I expressed my opinion about this when I got to the front of the line, where I was told, "have you really been waiting on line that long?" I said, long enough. I felt it was an inconvenience for cruisers and took time out of your last day to wait on line. That night we went to a dancing show, which was nice if you like those sort of shows, we enjoyed it. We then had reservations at Cagney's Steakhouse again, we thoroughly enjoyed their food and service. After dinner we went to the comedian show and singer/comedian, George Solomon and Bud Anderson. Bud Anderson was the same comedian we saw earlier in the week and George Solomon, I'm not really sure what he was. He sang and made a few little jokes here and there, but he really did not have a very good singing voice. After that show, Second City was in the Spinnaker lounge for an adult show, they were hysterical. We liked their show the best out of the other shows. We then ended our last night in the casino.We chose to do the self walk off the boat and carry our own luggage, from the beginning to end it was about 30 minutes, so not too bad, if you decide to do that, wasn't too bad, but a lot of walking if you have a lot of luggage or heavy luggage.Throughout the trip we went to Blue Lagoon one night for the 24 hour dining, my food was good, but others in my group were not thrilled. We also paid $6 for 2 coffees at the java cafe, once again, mine was descent, my fiance took a few sips and threw it out, the lady took about 10 minutes if not longer to make our coffees. Getting a bottle of wine or a few drinks and hanging out by the pool at night in the big, comfortable chairs is nice also, some lounges at night are completely dead and we also found that not until the last 2 nights, the casino was dead also! Hardly anyone in the casinos at night during the 1st 5 days of the cruise. Overall we had a nice time, I felt as if they try to push you towards the specialty restaurants by making their free dining small portioned and nowhere near as good taste wise. The taking time out of your day to wait in line for things really threw me off, I was not practically happy with that and some staff was just not friendly. The other ships I have been on give you envelopes at the end of the cruise to put your amount of money for tips, this ship takes out $12/day/person automatically, although you can have this changed in the beginning of your cruise, I think people just find it easier and go with it, including myself and I believe the staff takes advantage of this knowing they are getting tips either way. We tipped extra at the specialty restaurants, but for drinks, we did not tip extra, unless it was the same guy everyday who remembered us. 15% gratuity is added onto every drink bill automatically and we bought singles with us on the ship to give $2 to the person who delivered room service, we ordered room service pretty much everyday at some point of the day. In the end, we had a nice time and the cheap rooms were worth it, but for 1st time cruisers, this may make or break it for them, as it did with my friends. We have been on other cruise lines and in our opinion, Royal Caribbean just has it better all around, besides for the casual dress for dinner every night, RC tops NCL. Will I take NCL again to get away? Sure, but for a long anticipated vacation away with friends or family, I would choose Royal Caribbean.