We chose this cruise because of its port, we wanted a carrebeian cruise but also wanted to spend time in New York so we chose the Gem to get what we wanted. I was not impressed with the welcome partly because we arrived late in the afternoon and they were rushing to get people on board then delayed leaving port for 1 1/2 hours. My wife and i are experienced cruisers, have sailed with carnival, (too much of a party crowd), Princess, Royal Carribian, Holland (my favorite) and 23 years ago Norwegian on an older ship, i hated it because it had flies in the buffet and dining rooms. This cruise was close to it the food was LOUSY, the buffet and dining rooms both had lousy food, the staff was courteous but did not go out of their way to make u feel welcome. It seams to me that they did this on purpose to drive people to the pay restaurants, talking to other cruisers who had eaten at the pay per view they reported the food was great, some were retuning Gem cruisers who also said the food was lousy. They loved to play this game called button, button who's got the button, only they did it with the buffet. If u were a late riser u couldn't go the buffet because they rolled it up at 10 am and then u had to find where the put remnants. Either aft or midships but it was very limited. They did the same with lunch, why it took 2 hours to prepare for lunch or dinners is way beyond me because of how lousy the food was. We booked this cruise thru RCI and they got us an upgrade from a balcony to a mini suite, that was the only highlight of the cruise. According to Norwegian on their web site when booking a mine suit u get 250 min of free internet. When went to front desk to get that, she told that it was not included and did so very rudely saying basically (tough luck) u dont get it. I also asked her not to take out gratiuties that i would pay cash at the end of the cruise, same response as the internet (tough we already have ur money and u wont get it back) It would not have cost them a dime to give us internet. We enjoyed our time as couple together and the cabin steward was friendly and helpful, best employee we encountered on our cruise. For first time cruise u would probably enjoy this ship and cruise because u dont have a reference point, BUT i will never again cruise norwegian the free style sure as heck aint free and it lacks value big time. Also they wanted $80 for tour of the ship engine room, bridge etc, every other ship gives that service for free. They are very good at extracting money from passengers but do provide service in return. The entertainment was below expectations in my opinion the best preformer was Sean a one man show with a guitar. Ports are what they are one is not a lot different from the other the only thing i wanted to do was a zip line which i had fun because of the activity.