We just returned Saturday from our 11 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Gem. Overall cruise was GREAT! Embarkation was easy; walking on the ship was not as impressive as I've had in the past. No big deal. Ate buffet lunch. Went to pool deck to hang out and wait for our cabin. Cabins were ready mid afternoon. We went in to discover a dirty washcloth in our cabin. Gross! For some reason we set sail almost an hour late. Our luggage didn't arrive at our cabin until late evening. Dinner was great in the main dining room. We then had 3 full sea days before our first port. Just a preference but I think next time I cruise I won't take one with so many sea days all at once. If you have rough seas that's a long time to wait before land. And in this itinerary you do get rough seas. I'm not sure if it was the ship or just the seas but the Gem didn't handle rough seas very well. Our last sea day, dishes and glasses were crashing, etc. I spent the entire day in my room after that anxious for land.

Ports were great. We went zip lining in St. Thomas. Loved it. St. Maartin, we took a taxi to the Butterfly Farm and then because they were having trouble with their phone and couldn't call us a taxi to go to Orient Beach, they drove us over. Not a huge distance but in the heat and we had walked a ton already, we wanted to ride. Orient Beach.......very interesting. I wish I had brought my snorkels here as there were fish everywhere. We found conch shells but the ship confiscated them. :( Would I do Orient Beach again? Maybe, but I think I would try to explore other places. Peurto Rico, we walked to the fort and just walked Old San Juan. Tortolla, there really wasn't much time for anything, we just walked around the pier shopping area. We had great weather all week!! Can't complain about that.

If I could suggest anything to NCL it would be to invest in a little better toilet paper. Seriously, the toilet paper was the worst I have ever seen in my life. LOL. Food in the main dining rooms and Cagney's Restaurant (the only specialty restaurant we did) was excellent! Buffet was typical buffet, nothing to write home about. 95% of staff were super friendly. We witnessed a couple of bartenders on edge but I can imagine the people they have to deal with. Most of the time my husband could not understand the wait staff as most spoke very poor English but it worked out in the end. If you have any questions about the Gem, I'd be glad to answer anything I can. Thanks for taking the time to read.