Been on gem 7 times 5 times suppose to stop at island . My god weather was good no waves wind just a little not bad saw royal carib ship stopped and was sending passages on to there island ..i feel you should take the stopping at to maybe stopping at ... It really stinks you save all year for what ????do not think i will be sailing with you guys anymore ...also telling everyone i know not to also ......my room had a bad lock on safe was told to live with it ,it is an old safe.. Flush did not work right ... Told them i was 80% disable got no help on or off ship ... I always had a great time on board that is why we always go this time was really bad .... MAYBE THEY SHOULD GET BACK KEVIN SHEEHAN SO OVER ALL WE WERE NOT HAPPY Read Less

Very sad because this was my third time cruising with Norwegian but this ship was over crowd .. they were lots of angry people screaming, It was impossible to have access a wheel chair for an older person. There were passengers with no manners at the garden cafe. They just crossed you and do not care. Served lots to food to waste Many on the ship’s staff felt our same frustration. But nothing they could do about it. Gem arrived to Cape canaveral very late so no time to go to The orlando attractions. Then the private island was canceled also so we only have one day at Nassau. The shore excursions like scuba diving also canceled. Long lines for embarking and to left the ship. Very disappointed The.bars and restaurants good but 45 minutes waiting to be seated at the Magenta Sabor latino and some of the great staff made these 7 days a little less awful and bearable Even the jacuzzi water was cold and crowded pools Read Less

This was our second cruise with NCL and really enjoyed it. Embarkation went as we thoguht it would, everyone is arriving basically at the same time, so you would expect to wait. Disembarkation went very smoothly for us. We picked the smaller ship because we just wanted to relax. My only issue was since it was a smaller ship and we left at the tail end of the noreaster, you were able to feel a lot more movement than on the bigger ship (we were on the breakway last year). We enjoyed playing Deal or No Deal and Bingo. The shows were outstanding. We mostly ate at the main dining rooms or specialty restaurants (dining package). We both enjoyed all of our meals. The buffet is smaller and it was hard to get a table for breakfast (the main buffet in only open till 10:30 for breakfast) and there seemed to be several very large asian tour groups that took up most of the tables. We enjoyed the Airboat tour in Florida and Nassua by land and sea. Unfortunately, we were not able to stop at the Grea StirUp Cay because of the wind and seas, which was a bummer. We were docked in Nassau overnight but by 7:00 p.m., as didn't feel comfortable going out on our own, so we enjoyed just listening to music sitting on our balcony. The Ship overall if nice, as long as you like the smaller ship feel. The cruise director and staff were great, we enjoyed all the shows and activities that we participated in. Our room steward Julius was the best! Read Less

We chose this cruise last minute for a quick, less expensive getaway from NYC so we didn’t need to fly. We usually cruise with Azamara and now I know that Az is more suited for our tastes. Embarkation was a disaster as was debarkation. Truly horrific. The cabin was good. Very clean. The staff was mostly friendly but many of the dining room staff were trainees and really weren’t trained properly. The food is horrid except in the specialty dining restaurants. Nothing was hot and everything was bland. Service is spotty. The Garden Cafe is a mob scene. People were like vultures and the food, with the exception of the pretzel rolls, was gross. The barbecues on the pool deck were pretty good. The entertainment was superb. All the shows in The Stardust Theatre were excellent as were the Webb Band (boy, can that girl sing) and Justin Golan is extremely talented and hilarious! The spa is lovely as is the fitness center. There is a lot of drinking and many people were inappropriate in their behavior. That ultimate drink package encourages alcohol abuse. The pool deck was total mayhem, with screaming kids and crowds. We stayed on the sun deck which was a bit less chaotic. The ship smells like cigarettes and cigars. Since smoking is allowed at one of the pool bars, in the casino and in the cigar bar, the odors waft all over. Even the library smelled of cigarettes. I DESPISE smoke and that is enough to keep me from going with NCL again. We didn’t stop at Great Stirrup Cay because the Captain claimed the sea was too rough to tender. In my opinion, this was a total sham as the sea was totally calm. I hear they do this all the time. If a ship has a private island, they should build a dock so tendering isn’t an issue. There were a lot of activities but many involved gambling. Not our thing. We didn’t do the ship excursions. Luckily, we had nice weather in Florida and took an Uber to Jetty Beach for a chill day. In Nassau, we took a $4 per person taxi and spent the day at Atlantis beach which was lovely. Back on the ship, there was a totally crazy woman passenger who kept screaming and she actually cursed me out for no apparent reason. None of the staff did anything about it. Some of the other passengers were really loud and were very impolite. We usually like to share a table at dinner but we avoided doing so because we were afraid we’d be seated with people who don’t know how to behave themselves in a dignified manner. In summary, this cruise was a major disappointment. We will only go on a smaller, more boutique style line in the future. Read Less

Embarkation was poor long lines, long wait because we are platinum we were able to go first. The disembarkation was horrendous long lines for at least an hour and a half. we almost had fist fights between the guests. Not enough staff to direct you and let you know what is going on. Another disappointment was not being able to go to their private island. They claimed it was dangerous. No winds Seas were calm and in the distance we can see Anthem of the Seas docked and tendering people to their island. We don't know the true story but the fact that it was not safe was BULL. The food was good the service excellent, the entertainment was very good two excellent bands one latin which was new so we were happy lots of good music. For some reason the did not have the not so newlywed game or the quest game we were disappointed. We are thinking of going Royal Caribbean more often now. Read Less

My travel companions and I (we were a group of 4 in two cabins/ 2 people in each cabin) chose this cruise for the itinerary, price and the fact that we had never before sailed on Norwegian and wanted an opportunity to try the Norwegian cruise line. Unfortunately we were extremely disappointed with just about the entire experience. Specifically, 1. Cabin steward never came by to introduce himself. 2. Bathroom floor not cleaned for several days 3. Dirty glasses left in cabin for several days 4. Food in all dining areas (Magenta, Grand Pacific & Garden) constantly cold had to ask the waiter to make certain food brought to us was hot. 5. No waiter service in Atrium/lobby area 6. Housekeeping never cleaned tables in Atrium/Lobby area, we sat in lobby area 2 times an each time dirty empty coffee cups and glasses were left on table from previous guest for an hour and not removed until we complained to Guest Services. 7. Toilet in cabin stopped working twice!! 8. Shower hose in my sister's cabin broke while she was taking a shower. 9. Toilet on very weird angle, literally when you sat on it you had to twist your body so as to face the shower...strange...peculiar, but mostly very uncomfortable. 10. Bartender in club Bliss was clearly drinking and trying to cover it up by sucking on lemons which he grabbed from the garnishment dish with his bare hands as a staff person in a suit looked on unconcerned. 11. Waiter in Bliss lounge never came over to take drink orders and never cleaned the tables. The waiter did however go behind the bar to cover for his friend the bartender who was drinking liquor he poured into plastic cups and then went into a back room to drink. 12. Over a 7 day cruise only saw one lone housekeeper wiping down one stairway rail..on other cruise line housekeeping crew are out in numbers and constantly wiping, washing and cleaning but not on Norwegian. 13. Freestyle dining was a disaster, as a party of 4 we were not allowed to make reservations so for the 3 times we showed up at Grand Pacific/Magenta we had to wait to be seated one time we were given an electronic buzzer to alert us when our table was ready just like eating at some cheesy chain restaurant. 14. At one dinner time in Pacific or Magenta (can't remember which one) we were seated right next to table where waiters were depositing dirty dishes but that's not the worst part, the absolute worst was the right next to the dirty dish table was the "clean" table were our waiter was sorting our meals...talk about yuck we had to sit near dirty dishes and then watch as our food was inches away from literal garbage. 14.Day before debarkation went to Guest Services to ask a question about luggage tags and the Guest Services crew person acted like we were bothering her, which maybe we would have understood if she had been busy, but she was just standing there doing nothing . 15. After disappointing meals in Grand Pacific/Magenta we ate most of the rest of our meals in Garden (buffet) where we had to wait or hunt down seats after which we had to beg someone to clean the tables and supply silverware. 16. During meals in Garden housekeeping crew came over, while we were still eating our meals, and asked that we move our feet so they could clean/sweep under our table. We were appalled but also confused because why they didn't seem to mind interrupting our meal to clean under our table we had to beg someone to clean the top of the table before we could sit down. 17. Crew person designated to spray hand sanitizer at entrance Garden dining area was a woman who appeared to be of Asian descent. Each time when we entered she would say "Washee, Washee" which to us sounded like some play on an Asian stereotype. Even though the crew member was Asian it made us very uncomfortable...why on earth does Norwegian allow the obvious use of such negative stereotypical phrases. 18. Every cruise line I've been on including Carnival, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean supplied bath robes...but not Norwegian, we were unpleasantly surprised to not have bath robes when we checked the closest in our cabin. 18. Given how health conscious everyone is trying to be these days we were disappointed yet again at breakfast when my sister asked for lactose free milk only to be told that they had run out. 19. There were red biohazard containers in our cabin bathrooms (which we did not request none of us use any kind of disposable needles) which the cabin steward did not remove...seeing the red containers was not only unsettling it was downright creepy. 20. The lighting in the cabins was so dim you could barely see anything including no extra lighting around the vanity mirror how on earth are you supposed to apply makeup or do anything! Read Less

When I made the reservation for my friend and I and our husbands, I mentioned to NCL agent that we are celebrating my 44 year anniversary. Big year right? Who can say that these days! The agent told me they will send us a cake with a card to celebrate our special occasion..We were left empty!! Our mattress was so uncomfortable that my husband and I received back pain. One week later, we are still experiencing pain..... We tried the food at different restaurants and everything we were served was very cold. Also, the menu was same every night. Overall quality of the food within the Buffet was unacceptable. The ship had over 2000 passengers and all of us could not be accommodated in the dining halls. There were not enough tables to sit and this left us all wandering around to find a table to sit. It was a very uncomfortable experience for all of us. All PA announcements were not clear and we could not understand the anything said. This is worrying in times of emergency. WIFI was part of my package at the time of reservation and I was not able to use it. I personally went to the front desk asking for help but no one knew how to do it. Let’s just say I’m a veteran. I’ve been on 20 cruises in my life and overall this was the worst experience I’ve had to date. Both my husband and I along with our friends were disappointed in taking Norwegian. I chose this cruise to celebrate an important anniversary and it did not meet any of our expectations. I will not recommend this to anyone especially those who want to celebrate an important occasion. Read Less

Went to guest relations five times during this cruise regarding my account credit vs a balance they were showing. Each person told me somethng different. On the last night of the cruise, I was told to spend a certain amount of money in order not to lose non refundable credit. However, the next day, my account was then showing a balance. That fifth person I tried to talk with on Saturday, had me in tears. Then 2 other people got involved. After having to return merchandise I bought in order to not have a balance, I finally asked to speak with the head of the department. Alfie was great and she did give me some onboard credit, but I could have certainly done without all the drama while I was on vacation. Regarding other aspects of the cruise, I got charged for an excursion I missed because of health issues. I understand it is their policy to charge if you don’t give a 48 hour notice, however I think they could take the reason for missing the excursion into consideration. It wasn’t like I just changed my mind. I COULDN’t go, and my health reasons didn’t give me a 48 hour notice. Food was great! Only had one night of slow service with cold asparagus and bloody medium well steak. Cabin steward was good. My rating for service was strictly for guest relations. All other service, except one night of dining was great. I miss the days when there was good service at guest relations. They used to care if you had an issue, now it seems like they don’t care if they give you the wrong information or jerk you around. My opinion based on my experience.... Read Less

I chose this cruise for it's itinerary, and because I'd heard and read only positive reviews. While the cabin, cabin steward and ports of call were all great, those aspects of the cruise were overshadowed by the bad food. The buffet lacked any variety or pizazz, and everything tasted bland or bad. The main dining rooms also carried bland or downright spoiled food, as did the specialty dining restaurants. We were served spoiled, canned crab (crab cakes), mussels that were inedible and bread/rolls/croissants that literally turned to dust when touched. While some of the staff expressed concern (most were laissez-faire about it) it was obvious they weren't empowered to do anything about it. The on-board internet was also bad; very low bandwidth made it unusable. The on-board entertainment was mediocre at best (wouldn't pass the first test of American Idol!). This was our first, and sadly our last Norwegian cruise. Read Less

We had taken many cruises on the Disney Cruise Line but we hadn't tried any other lines or taken a northern cruise and this one did not disappoint. We did Halifax, St. John, Boston, New Port, and New York City. The Gem is an older ship, but very well maintained and not as big as some of the newer additions. The excursions were good, well organized and worth the money. I especially enjoyed the tours of Acadia National Park and, the one of the Vanderbilt mansions in Long Island. Our guide was super and the houses were exquisite. Our stateroom was good, with adequate space and very hard working staff. I enjoyed the live music, especially the guitarist, Angel. The passengers seemed to be a lot more friendly than on a Disney Cruise and we certainly didn't miss the plethora of children to be endured on the DCL! . On the other hand, the embarkation and debarkation processes were not handled as well as Disney, and the immigration Process was very poorly executed. The one show we attended was not up to Disney's standard, the food was only fair, except in the specialty restaurants for Italian food and the restaurant, Cagney's for steaks, etc.; and we missed the split bathrooms offered on the DCL. But all in all it was a lovely, if cold, cruise and we were very glad that we took it. Read Less