This was our 3rd cruise with NCL (we were on the Dawn out of Boston twice. We've been on 6 cruises overall). Out of the 6th cruises we've taken, this one was rated the lowest. First of all, the intinnary changed. About 5 or so months before our cruise, we recieved a notice from NCL saying that they were doing renovations on Stirrup Cay & would be closed so they would be rerouting us to Miami. Needless to say we were not pleased. We already were going to Port Canaveral (more on that later) & didnt want to make another stop in FL. Not sure why NCL couldn't wait until after our cruise to close down the private island since for the next month or so the Gem was going to Canada. We wouldn't have minded getting rerouted for weather related issues however this wasn't the case. Stirrup Cay was one of the main reasons why we wanted to take this cruise since we heard amazing things about it. We talked about not going on the cruise however we decided to go anyway.

The Gem itself is very nice....although since it was recently renovated, we were expecting to be wowed...we were not. Overall, I would rate the ship 4 out of 5. The ship was clean & we always saw the maintenance staff out & about fixing, painting & doing something around the ship. The renovated areas were nice & modern & had a sleek look to them.

Food - the food was ok...not great. Compared to the Norweigian Dawn, we felt the food was not as good & the variety at the main dining rooms (Magenta & the Grand Pacific) were lacking. The Garden Cafe's food was a bit better HOWEVER the design of the Garden Cafe on the Gem is horrible. On the Dawn & the Breakaway, the buffet room is spread out over 2 sides of the ship. On the Gem, the Garden Cafe is only on 1 side of the ship. It was incredibly overcrowded with all the people crammed onto 1 seconds side. Even the staff cleaning the tables seemed to have a difficult time maneuvering around people. It was challenging getting a table inside the buffet room if you didn't go early or late enough. The Gem does have additional seating outside of the buffet, however, that was a long walk to the main buffet lines. Read more