Norwegian Gem Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,589 reviews

7 Day Cruise - Always a Pleasure NCL Even with 3 Days of Rain

Review for the Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Gem
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Ken and Audra
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Nov 2016
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside
Typical architecture in Old San Juan.  Wouldn't you love to live in thi
Baja Vega Beach.  They don't want you anywhere near these rocks if the
Docked in Grenada we booked a Speed Boat snorkeling tour.
Petit Piton in St. Lucia
Taking a mud bath as part of our tour in St. Lucia through Stanis Taxi.  Th
The Century Palm fully bloomed (which means ready to die after 50 plus year
Some poor soul lost their sailboat on Dickenson Bay.  Get your drinks from
My favourite picture from the entire cruise!
Visiting the rainforest (10 minute walk to a wat

We always fly in at LEAST one day early for any cruise and it has saved us from missing a South America cruise. Two of our four other cruise mates for this cruise learned this "rule" the hard way and missed a full day in San Juan and the Sea Day; picking up the ship in Grenada 4 flights later. We explored Old San Juan with a private driver, who picked us up at the airport, and stayed at Hotel Milano (reasonable rate in the middle of Old San Juan). Had we of known our hotel was right there, we would have walked and saved the money by only getting an airport transfer. Hindsight is 20/20. Live music was everywhere outside at night and we really enjoyed the vibe. We hired the same company to pick us up the following day to take us to the amazing beach at Playa Puerto Nuevo in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Check out the videos on YouTube and you will see what I mean! It was a calm day so we didn't see much for waves but, were able to climb to the top and sit in little "craters" filled with water. We used Puerto Rico Shuttle Van Private Day Tours and had Francisco Sr. day 1 and Gabby (loved her) on day 2.

To the ship by 3:30 p.m with our carry ons for a 9 p.m. departure. This was our 7th cruise; 3rd on NCL and we visited: Puerto Rico, Grenada, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, and Tortola. We had rain the entire sea day and for most of the first 3 ports with small breaks throughout the day. We didn't let that ruin our days but some people were just plain cranky. We took some time to explore the ship, meet the bartenders, spent time in the hot tub, took in more shows than we normally would and even made it to the disco! The ship was recently re-furbished and it is beautiful; loved the size of our shower.

We didn't do any of the a la carte restaurants but, they were always busy (except a few people told us La Cucina was terrible). They loved Cagney's the most. Many had the unlimited dining package. We opted for the drink package. We generally only take in comedy shows and some of the adult game shows and typically avoid the musicals. We've seen several on other cruise ships and they are just not for us. It is all personal preference after all. Hey it's Freestyle cruising! Dressing up on formal night is always fun and we spent most of our time in martini bar with the piano bar next to it. Loved "M' and "KK" and another sweet young lady (but, I can't recall her name off the top of my head). We were in the pool a couple of times; which is salt water. There were more kids than we'd seen on this size ship before, however, our last two cruises on NCL ships were for 2 weeks each to the Mediterranean and South America.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Inside

Cabin IA

We typically only sleep and get changed in our cabin on caribbean cruises so don't spend the money on higher class of cabin. In South America we splurged on an aft balcony to see the glaciers, from the comfort of our cabin, on both sides while gliding down the fjords. It is always nice to have a morning coffee on your own balcony in the morning with room service when you do get a balcony cabin though :)

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