We decided to book a Holiday cruise this year for the fist time ever. It was amazing! From the moment we walked onto the ship there were beautiful gingerbread houses and Christmas trees everywhere. It was beautiful! This is our second time on the Gem and she looks just as beautiful as ever. I was worried because I had read reviews saying that she was not in great shape. I did not find this to be the case at all. The ship was fully booked and there were a lot of kids with it being the holidays which was great for our 10 year old. She didn't want to go to the kids club as much as she has on other cruises but i think she is just at an age where she isn't into it which was fine with us as there were always lots of kids by the pool for her to play with. The kids club always looked full and like they were having a great time. The pool area did get busy on sea days and we witnessed a few fights over chairs but we always managed to find a spot to sit, even if it was just sitting along the side of the pool. I still don't get these people who put their towels on chairs to save them fist thing in the morning and then not return till later in the afternoon and then get mad if someone had taken their chair???!! Anyways, this happens on all cruise ships so nothing new here.

Food was pretty good and some days really good in the included dining rooms. We did not try out any of the specialty restaurants. There was never a long wait for a table either which was great. Christmas eve they did Christmas carols in the atrium which we loved. Christmas dinner was fantastic, we were very happy to enjoy a turkey dinner. No lobster night on this cruise so not sure if they no longer have it which was a little disappointing but not a huge deal. We saw a few shows which were good and spent lots of time in the atrium or at the piano bar where there was always something going on. The kids party out by the pool one evening was fun as well. We had an issue with a lot of creaking in our room that they tried fixing every day and then we got a phone call that we were being moved up to a balcony room which was amazing and so unexpected. We have never booked a balcony but i think from now on we will! It was fantastic. They also brought up chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine which was so nice. We bought the drink package for the first time. I was a little worried when i read through all of the rules which stated that we would each have to get our own drinks and one at a time and knowing beforehand how busy the cruise was going to be i pictured my husband and i taking turns to go wait in line to get a drink the whole cruise but it didn't turn out like that at all. They allowed one of us to order 2 drinks on one card and there was never a wait and we could pretty much order anything off of the menu so it was fine. Not sure if i would get the package again though as i feel like we might have drank more than we normally would had we not had the package, not that that's a bad thing! The white party was really good and New Years eve they really went all out. Was so much fun! The crew are just terrific and always smiling. We figured for them to be away from their families during the holidays can't be easy but they were all just great. On the last day we decided to carry our own bags off and were told we could start leaving at 8 a.m. I was ready for a huge line up of people crowded into the atrium trying to get off of the boat so when we finally got our stuff together at around 8:30 we were shocked to get an elevator right away and were out of the ship in about 3 minutes! Customs was super quick and we were checked into our hotel in NYC just after 9 am. Hope to get another chance to enjoy this ship again.