Norwegian Gem Review

NCL GEM to Bermuda - Sept 04, 2011 - Meh

Review for Bermuda Cruise on Norwegian Gem
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butters22
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Sep 2011

I was excited about going to Bermuda as I've never gone before, unfortunately with the hurricane we were told once we arrived in NYC that we were going to Florida and the Bahamas. I was disappointed since I've been to both a few times already but I'd rather not ride into a hurricane. I was travelling with my sister and she's never been to the Bahamas or on a cruise for that matter so she didn't mind the change. I've gone on Carnival a few times and had fun, this was my first time on NCL.

I know it wasn't their fault that the storm came but why is Port Canaveral a stop? Does anybody know? It's depressing and there's nothing to do there. We took a taxi to Cocoa Beach, it was nice out for about an hour then it rained so we went to a few stores (which have seen better days) and then back to the ship. The next day was Great Stirrup Cay which is NCL's private island. It looked really pretty but it was super hot, there was zero shade. Also, the beach area was a giant rock formation. I banged my knee and also hurt my foot in the rock pile you had to climb over to get in the water. It was completely ridiculous. I was so stressed out that once I got out of the water I stayed on the beach (which was really just a dirt patch - no real sand). I know they said the island is under going renovations but how about closing it until it's fixed? Made no sense. So after we leave GSC at 6pm we're told there's an extremely sick passenger so we'll be in Nassau by 10pm that night (we were originally told 8am the following day). I had no problem with this but then why not let us off the boat once we arrived in Nassau? I would have rather gone out on the island then stuck on the boat with nothing to do - I swear everyone was in bed by 11pm on this ship. In Nassau we went to Paradise Island and the Atlantis, paid the $120 to go down the slides and use the pool. I thought it was kind of expensive but we both wanted to do it.

Overall the food was terrible. I found nothing that I liked. In comparison to Carnival the food quality was sub par. The eggs were made of some weird powder, they tasted fake to me. I was disappointed in the food. Everything else was decent, the room was nice and the staff was friendly enough.

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