Just recently returned from our cruise to Bermuda aboard the Gem. Prior to this cruise, I was looking for reviews of the Garden Villa Suites but couldn't find much. Hopefully this review will help other in the same position. Lots to cover so it may be a little long. There were 4 of us, my wife, myself and two college age kids. We have stayed in a suite before but decided to try the top suite this time.We did the "drive and park" at the pier. Did this on a Jewel cruise last year and found it very convenient. Unfortunately due to a Military event, we had to park one pier over from where the ship was docked. We ended up right at the end of the pier as well so were as far away from our ship as you could get. Not the end of the world but it was a bit of a hike from the car to check-in and the same heading back. If we hadn't over packed (again) it might have been easier. We dropped off our luggage and headed to the VIP check-in. In my opinion they've crammed way too many check-in positions along the whole counter. When you only have 2-3 feet to fit all the guests in your party, plus carry on luggage, some with strollers and wheelchairs, etc, it's just too crowded. It might have just been that the woman serving us was confused and had no personality. The guests/staff on either side of us where laughing and joking . They came in after us and left before us. All we got was yelled at for having an arm in someone else's picture. Maybe if we had more room, that wouldn't happen! I'm not sure why they don't do the VIP check-in in the VIP lounge. As soon as you check in they take you there anyway. The room is huge and there is hardly anyone in it. They always have food and drinks set up but I've personally never seen anyone ever partaking. By moving it over to this area, they free up space for the regular guest check-in which allows them to spread out as well. It also decreases the unnecessary foot traffic crossing the floor especially when it's crowded . I could care less whether I get on the ship 15 minutes earlier, but I think it would make processing all guests more efficient. Once we got to the VIP lounge, we met Ryan the Concierge. He introduced us to Roy our Butler. Roy immediately escorted us onto the ship. My wife was last in the line and we didn't realize until we were in the atrium, that she was stuck at the security check-in. Her card didn't work, which was a sign of things to come (will comment on the cards later). Roy had to escort her over to the service desk to get her card replaced. We eventually ended up at our suite. Roy gave us the opportunity to have a quick look around and ask any questions. We had to make our liquor selection right away. This suite includes 6 bottles of alcohol (plus a bottle of champagne). I asked if we could let him know a little later, but for some reason you can't. They have a list which you select from but you can try and ask for alternatives. We got what we asked for. They also allow you to choose a bottle of wine or 6 bottles of beer as a replacement for 1 bottle of alcohol. They showed up in our room a little later. The living/dining room is quite large. Each has seating to accommodate 8 people. The bar area has 4 stools. This area is where the Lavazza coffee maker and fridge are (as well as a little sink). We were very happy with the coffee maker. This one functioned with pods. You could make different coffee types, or tea. Roy kept a huge supply of pods so we never ran out. He kept the fridge filled with soda (Pepsi bands), milk (white and chocolate). We always put the extra orange and cranberry juice from breakfast in there as well.The desk in the living room has a laptop available for use. They need to update it as it looks like early (maybe mid) 2000's vintage. There is also a Bose radio/cd/dvd player which provides the surround sound and DVD player for the flat screen TV. They also have speakers outdoors in the dining area of the patio. We really appreciated this feature. They provide an assortment of cd's to play and recorded music stored on the Bose player. We brought our own selection of jazz cd's and didn't use theirs. There is also a recliner in the living room which is also a massage chair. Has it's own remote control! They have also included a baby grand piano in the living room. It has a player/recorder feature so you can play it yourself (and record if you wish), or use the player feature to have it play automatically. We had fun with it.The outdoor patio is two levels. There is seating, tables and lounges on both. The top level also has a hammock. They came every morning and put cushions out and they were put away when we got back to the room later in the evening. I guess you could ask them to be left out if you planned on using them later in the evening. The dinning area which is covered, actually only seats 6. The hot tub was filled and ready to go immediately. Just to be clear, the hot tub is cleaned and filled every week for the new guests. The water is always heated. Although we did find occasions when it was hotter than on other occasions. The hot tub in the Owners Suites on the 15th floor, requires filling and draining by the guest as the water is not continually heated. We got a lot of use out of our hot tub. The patio also includes a steam room. Not sure if the staff turned it on and off daily but it always seemed ready to use. The guest didn't have to do anything but sit down. The 3 bedrooms were at least as large individually as a balcony cabin. The 2 smaller had their own bathrooms with tub/shower combo, separate sink and toilet area. Each room has a flat screen TV and DVD player. Also a fridge. The balcony for these two rooms are quite large. Again bigger than a standard balcony. Both had two chairs and tables. The master bedroom also had a TV, DVD player and fridge. Funny the way the TV worked though. To turn the TV on or change the volume, the remote had to be pointed at the TV. To change channels, it had to be pointed at the sensor in the ceiling. Not sure why it is set up this way??? There is a small TV over the tub in the adjacent bathroom, although it was not working properly. The bathroom is quite large with lots of marble tiling. The tub and shower are both large enough for two people. There are two sinks and makeup/dressing table as well. A walk-in closet is also provided which is more than large enough. Both the bedroom and bathroom have sliding door access to the patio area. Each of the 3 bedrooms also has 2 safes in them. We spent quite a bit of time in our suite because it was so large and had so many amenities. The wall of windows in the living room overlooked the pool deck so we could always see what was going on. There is a reflective material on the windows so during the day you can see out but can not be seen (from the outside). At night there are electric blinds which can be raised for privacy. They have done away with the DVD library and now have pay-per-view movies. After asking, we were told we could we could watch 7-10 movies. The charges will be added to your account and removed later. Between the four of us we watched 8 movies. 7 were free and we were charged for the 8th. If you feel like watching TV, this is the only real choice as the standard channels offered, is pretty poor and lacks variety. You can also bring your own DVD's. I was concerned with a suite so large that staff might end up constantly coming and going but that wasn't the case. You can maintain a level of privacy if you wish because each bedroom as a card reader and the standard security deadbolt. There is also a doorway between the foyer and the hallway to the living. We always kept it open but you could close it limiting access to that area. Roy came in every morning and set up the dining room with a "pre-breakfast" (coffee, juice, pasties, fruit). He did this at the agreed to time while we were still sleeping. Didn't hear him at all. He also dropped off afternoon/early evening snacks every day. We had more food than we could eat. Luckily there is a scale in the bathroom to keep track of the "snacks"! And if there are particular snacks that you prefer, let your butler know (or they may pick up on it themselves), and you will get more of it.It took me a couple of days to figure out where all the light and blind controls were. Quite a few of the light are theatre dimming style (gradually dim). There are many 3 way switches as well. It's probably worth spending a bit of time initially trying to figure out what controls what and how.We ate breakfast and lunch in our room (on the patio) once each. Service by Roy was right on. We ate dinner in a few of the specialty restaurants. In order of quality from best to worst; La Cucina, Teppanyaki, Le Bistro, and Cagney's. We had 1 lunch and 2 breakfasts in Cagney's as well. Food and service in La Cucina were both very good (excellent Ossobucco) . The same with Teppanyaki. Plus the chef was quite funny. The difference between my top 3 rankings was small but Cagney's was inconsistent and not as good as it should have been (in both food quality and service). It would take too long to describe everything that happened in each so I won't bother. We ate one breakfast in the Grand Pacific. Food quality was good and service was excellent. The rest of the time we just picked up snacks in one of the buffet style areas around the ship. This food was as expected. It's pretty hard to keep a hamburger patty very hot or fresh when it was cooked 20 minutes ago and then left sitting in a pan under a lamp. The same with scrambled eggs, toast, etc. But that is expected so I don't have a problem with that.The entertainment on the ship was very good. At least the shows we saw. Dave Heenan was very funny. I'm still laughing at his "buns of cinnamon" joke! There is a separate balcony area on the 7th floor specifically for suite guests. This pretty well guarantees a seat if the show is busy. Personally I like the balcony view of the stage but some find it hard to see.The ship is very nice, and appears to generally be in good shape. There always seemed to be staff cleaning something. The crew are very friendly. Always saying hello as you pass by. Of course Roy our butler and Gigi (and her assistant who was never introduced to us) our room stewards, were very friendly. Always stopping to chat or ask if there was anything we needed. Ironically, they held a Suites get-together which includes Senior Officers and some of the ships entertainers. None of them seemed to mingle much (different from in the past). The only person that actually came over and spoke with us was Jill the Cruise Director. Ryan (the concierge) arranged a tour of the kitchen area for my son and myself (he's a chef and I'm an avid cook) with the Executive Chef, Hans-Peter. My wife asked Ryan if he could arrange it as she thought we might find it interesting. After that, when Chef saw us a around the ship, he would stop and talk. Of course asking how the meals were. We didn't utilize Ryan's services for much other than this tour kitchen tour. We made out own reservations, etc. We did ask him to verify a dinner reservation for us as there seemed to be a technical problem. There was no mention of a chocolate buffet, which lead me to ask him if they were having one and if he would be arranging early access for pictures, etc. He told me there would be but early access wasn't really required. He did say that he had a few other guests that he was taking in anyway, so we could join them. Seemed odd to me. Generally, he wasn't sending out invitations to events as we had experienced previously. On our last cruise as an example, we found an invitation in our cabin almost everyday to something the Concierge (Adrian) had a arranged. Not this time. My big problem with Ryan was during disembarkation. We got to the VIP area relatively early so we were close to the beginning of the line. Ryan told us to wait until the end when everyone had gone and he would escort us down. Maybe this was a perk of the Garden Villa?? Not sure or maybe he just knows a short cut. So they finally start letting everyone off. We wait for 10 minutes as everyone files past. No one left and no Ryan! We ended leaving on our own. Not that I care because this is what we had expected to do anyway. However we wouldn't have wasted 10 minutes waiting for the rest of the line and then probably another 30-40 minutes of extra compounded delay in baggage and customs because of all the additional people now in line. The funny thing is that the Garden Villa guests are entitled to limousine service back to the airport. We didn't even utilize this service but got stiffed on the ship. Lastly, you have access to the courtyard. Never very many people in there, including in the pool. The nice thing about the pool is that it is fresh water as opposed to ocean saltwater as in the main pools. They have a treadmill, stationary bike and a couple of free weights which I never saw anyone use, except for myself. No need to go to the main gym. They also have a stream room and hot tub. Didn't use these as we had them in our suite. We saw a few people eating in the courtyard over the course of the week but we didn't. They will bring meals from the menus if you so desire. During the day they have juice, coffee, water and a snacks available (it's help yourself). Roy saw us grab some M & M's once and after that he kept a bowl in our room filled with them.The following are some of the negatives in my opinion.Be careful with the water temperature. Not sure if the whole ship is the same way. We found the water got too hot in all showers and it could not be turned down. We actually asked them to adjust it (which was done). However after a few days of use, we could see it was better but still too hot. You just have to be careful (and be the first to get a shower). Also noticed a funny odour in the two bathrooms associated with the smaller bedrooms. A little bit like fish and little bit like sewage. It was there all week.I know they want you off the ship early on the last day so they can prepare for the new guests however, maybe they are a little too anxious. We found sometime during the last night, our hot tub was emptied and not available for use any longer. They also took away the flower arrangement and fruit bowl during the last evening while we were out. After breakfast, we went back up to our room to wait until our disembarkation time. We planned on having a coffee while waiting. Nope, coffee maker already dismantled. As far as I knew, we were still "paying" guests. We didn't even attempt to use the bathroom....just in case they shut off the toilet! :)This is the first NCL ship that I haven't seen the BIG sell taking place. Usually, they push all the packages, wine, soda, etc. Constantly taking photos including in the restaurants. Lots of advertising for special dinners; i.e., Jazz Brunch, The Best Of All, etc. We didn't see any of this on the GEM. Not that I want to be constantly bothered, but I did want to attend the Jazz Brunch. We didn't find out it was even held until a few days afterwards. As I previously mentioned, we didn't hear anything about the chocolate buffet in advance. There was 1 small line in the Daily for this event on the day it was scheduled. This is different than our experience on other NCL ships. If your interested in any of these events, you might want to ask the first day so you don't end up missing something.We had a heck of a time with our room keys (cards). We all had to have them replaced 3 or 4 times each. It was actually getting to be quite annoying. On one occasion while trying to settle our tab in Cagney's, they were unable to process the charge (with my wife's or my card). The server and then the Maitre'd spent 20 minutes with no luck. He finally called Ryan to get involved. Ryan brought us new cards. They actually processed the charge manually....all $13.00 of it!. The meal was already covered so the only charge was for a cappuccino and daiquiri. They should have just waved the charge considering all the inconvenience. Couldn't take it out on the servers, so we left a big tip on the table regardless.Generally speaking, the Garden Villa is a great room. There are a few things that NCL should replace or repair. You could spend all your time there if you wanted and not miss much. Do get out and see Bermuda though. The island is beautiful and the people are super friendly.