Norwegian Gem Review

11/9/2007 - Norwegian Gem Western Med. Cruise

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Gem
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tomk3212
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Nov 2007
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside

We sailed on the Gem out of Barcelona on 11/9 on a 12 day itinerary. This ship is brand-spankin' new and our sailing was only the 4th cruise for this ship, the second on this particular itinerary. What attracted us to this particular cruise was the itinerary, the newness of the ship and the price. We've sailed on NCL four previous times and on Celebrity once so we're not newbies and we absolutely love NCL's Freestyle Dining and the whole Freestyle experience. In short we thought the Norwegian Gem was a real "gem" of a ship & a worthy addition to the NCL fleet. I will try to structure this review based on the rated categories.

We had around 2300 fellow pax on our cruise & it was a VERY international mix; 840 Germans, 730 Americans, 150 or so each Brits & Canadians and the balance French, Spanish, Scandinavian and others. Major ship's announcements had to be made in FOUR languages. Average pax age was late forties. There were less than 20 children under 10 years of age.

Food - the only restaurants we DIDN'T dine in were Teppanyaki, the Sushi Bar & Cagney's (DW is not a big Oriental or steak-person). There are two main restaurants, both on Deck 6 aft & mid-ship; the Grand Pacific and Magenta, resp. Magenta is a tad more "cozy" than the Pacific and is only open for dinner. We ate at both for dinner and in the Grand Pacific for lunch most days. We can honestly state that we didn't have a bad meal in either throughout the cruise and the food & service was excellent in both venues. There wasn't a "lobster night", per se, but one evening we had a "seafood combination" choice which featured a half of a lobster tail and other assorted seafood goodies. The beef choice was prime rib that evening.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Inside

Cabin IB
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