Recently, my husband and I sailed to the Bahamas aboard the Norweigian Gem. We had never been to the Bahamas and we wanted to go there on a newer ship. Last year, we went to Bermuda on the Norwegian Majesty, which is a very old ship. The food on the Majesty was ordinary to poor but better than the food we had on the new ship, the Gem. (I will discuss that later). First, we boarded in New York. Parking was easy, but the lines at embarkation were long. We were put in the lattitudes line (for previous Norwegian guests) but it was longer than the other lines. After complaining to several people, we were finally put at the front of the line and went though the ID process. A vendor was selling sodas for a dollar near the ship boarding ramp, so we purchased several cans because we knew that they would cost a fortune on the ship. Champagne was given to us as soon as we boarded (I guess they knew that we were tired and angry from standing in those long lines). We went to our room which had a balcony. The room was small but nice. It was very clean but not exceptional. We ate our first meal in the Grand Pacific Ballroom, which in my opinion is the best free eatery on the ship. The hamburgers that were served at the main dining room on the 12th floor tasted like rubber and looked like burnt hockey pucks! Also. beware of the powdered eggs...yuck! The food on the ship is awful. It's substandard. Nothing was very good or exceptional. We ate breakfast one morning at Le Bistro. We were shocked to receive frozen toaster waffles; however,the lamb chops and steak were good and if you wanted to, you could have had sturgeon. The ship is beautiful, but it's hard to meet people because of the "free style" design. On the cruise, we took great excursions: one on a pontoon boat on the Banana River in Florida. We saw dolphins and manatees...very nice. Another was in Nassau, to the Pirate Museum and shopping sites. In Freeport, the Highlights excursion took us all over the Island with an unscheduled visit to the beach. The weather was perfect except for the rough seas that cancelled the trip to the Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegians little Island). We loved the Bahamas, but hated the food on the ship. This could have been a wonderful cruise. Having lousy food everyday spoiled it.