Norwegian Gem Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,589 reviews

Fair and Balanced

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Gem
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TheBearAK
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Mar 2016
Cabin: Mini-Suite with Balcony

Terminal - Because of a illness on the previous cruise, the ship had to be “sanitized” before we could board. This is a good thing, however, their version of sanitize and mine are two different things evidently. Anyway, the boarding terminal got extremely crowded while waiting and at one point they shut down the card key process due to the terminal reaching capacity. Once they finished sanitizing they started the boarding process and it seemed to go smooth after that. However, luggage was delayed as well and most people didn’t get their luggage until after 9 PM.

Okay, that aside, once we were in our stateroom, we soon discovered a lot of things missing. Basically everything had been removed and only towels replaced. Not a major deal, but you do expect the room to be made up fully.

Because of the illness breakout on the previous cruise, they were very insistent on washing hands and instead of the buffets being self-serve, they had a server at each station. The problem was that often the server was also the cook and the cook could not fully keep up with the demand, specially breakfast. Example: scrambled eggs were often very under cooked. Most cooked items were colder than what they should have been. I happen to come across one of the chefs that seemed to be in charge about day 5 and I voiced my concerned about cold food and from that point on it got better.

Cabin Review

Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin MB

Cabin was fine, although when we got in there, there was no information packet, no coffee maker and no robes.

Port Reviews

San Juan

The driver was pretty good at pointing out various attractions, but seemed to be almost complaining about the state of the economy/disparity between rich/poor.

Other than that, it was great to see the city.

St. Thomas

Yawn, tourist trap. Yeah, I expect it to be, but this was extreme.

St. Maarten

I really liked this tour. Got to see quite a bit of the island.

Tortola

Short on time, we really didn't do much, quick shopping and got back on the ship.

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