We have given Norwegian Cruise Line several tries. Our first experience was with the Gem, we felt it was dirty and run down. Chefs and waiters were rude. The employees seemed to hate their jobs. The second time we heard the Gem had some repairs done so we gave it another try. Yes it was fixed up but the staff still seemed to hate their jobs. It didn’t have that upbeat feel we have experienced with other cruise lines. On the Gem the food was great. Rooms weren't that clean. It’s an older ship so some wear and tear is expected. But dust under beds, shelves… not part of wear and tear. The entertainment was good on the Gem. We thought maybe some of the problems were just that ship. So we tried a newer ship Norwegian Breakaway in July 30, 2017 to Bermuda. We traveled with family, no kids and stayed on deck 9. The carpets in hallway had large stains. The shelf in our cabin had dried dirt splattered all over it. Restroom wasn’t cleaned very well. Our steward didn’t smile, was rude and cold. Other stewards were friendly as you walked pass them. The App is too hard to navigate and didn’t work a lot of the time. Internet kept logging out and was really slow. The waiters in the Taste and Savor dining rooms were extremely slow. I had to get up and ask for our dessert menu. Total time for dinner was 2 ½ hours, water glasses not refilled and the variety of food was just fair. A lot of the restaurants you have to pay for. Every time you turned around there was a fee for something. There was only one staff member on the whole ship that impressed us and she was in the Manhattan dining room. Her name was Edna. The Chefs in the Breakaway Cafe were friendly compared to the Gem.

The Breakaway is a newer ship but the areas to entertain the customers are so much smaller than the Gem and yet more people on the Breakaway. It seems they put more cabins in and took away from the entertaining areas. Having to worry about making reservations to see shows was very disappointing!! We learned from reviews before we left that people were not able to see shows because the theater was too small for the amount of people on board. So we got on the ship by 11 am and went straight to the box office. But other customers that weren’t informed had missed shows. The Bliss night club was very tiny! The speaker system in atrium is terrible. Whether you sat in the front row, back seats or upper deck the sound was muffled. Theater seats are terrible!! There is a bar or something built into the seats (We tried several different seats on different nights) that jab you in the tail bone and make it impossible to sit up straight. You have to slide down on your seat or sit at the edge and cramp your legs up. We always loved seeing shows on other cruises and definitely other cruise lines. But after two shows we didn't want to go to shows because of the seats. The service was very slow when trying to get drinks throughout the ship. Fat Cats didn’t have a bar and there was only one waitress going to another area of the ship to get drinks for all the tables. This is supposed to be a night club so drinks are kind of expected. Balcony rooms are roomy. The pricing is penny pinching. They charge different prices for balcony rooms.... depending on where it is on the ship etc... It could be as many as 6 or more prices. Limited places to find non-alcohol drinks like ice tea...I told 2 people in customer service that I was putting all this on cruise critic etc... I had already made notes on my phone as to what I was going to post and I had them read it. Instead of saying something like we are sorry or we are aware of some of these problems and are working hard to fix… they just pointed to an area where you can right down your complaints and they didn’t seem to care less. So over all very disappointing!