This is our fourth cruise with NCL, second on the Gem. We are not fans of "freestyle cruising" but this was one of the only options out of NY to a warm location over the holidays. Compared to a western Caribbean trip on the same ship in 2008, some things were better, some were worse. We weren't greeted with champagne this time! On the plus side, the recent refurbishment looks good. The dining rooms are elegant, public areas are attractive. Some staff are very friendly and helpful, including our cabin steward and Mr. Riyaz in the dining room. Leaving from Manhattan is convenient and getting on and off went smoothly. We were able to enjoy our balcony more this trip since they now restrict smoking there (a constantly smoking neighbor last trip kept us away).

Dining: Our party of four was typically seated immediately at dinner (we had frequent waits with a pager on the last trip), although on several evenings we were placed at tables for six, which spread us out and made it harder to talk. I found this trip much less friendly to vegetarians than other NCL cruises. O'Sheehan's has no vegetarian entree (I ordered a green salad, which came 10 minutes after my husband's bangers and mash, then we went to the Grand Pacific so I could get something more filling than lettuce). The main dining room has only one vegetarian entree at lunch (the menu doesn't change). Dinner always offered one option, although one night that was a tomato starter and a tomato entree. I did find out that some of the other dishes could be vegetarian (e.g. shrimp pasta, hold the shrimp). Several entrees in Orchid Garden are or can be vegetarian. The dress code info in the newsletter varied, and one day it said a dress code applied to Le Bistro and the Grand Pacific, but in fact there was no apparent dress code in the main dining rooms, with t-shirts, shorts, gym clothes, and ball caps seen on different evenings. The afternoon scones used to be very good, but on this trip were cold and dense, not warm and light.

Cabin: We were in a mini-suite. It looked nice although I kept snagging things on the peeling velcro of the sofa-bed-skirt. The small TV was fixed at an angle that made it uncomfortable to watch from either the sofa or the bed, and the resolution rendered ship information barely legible. The only bathroom amenities were a bar of soap and wall-mounted hand soap, body wash and shampoo. The towel animals made us smile. Read more