I have been sailing with NCL since 2002 and am currently a latitudes platinum member. This was the third time sailing on the Gem out of New York, sailing past the Manhattan skyline is second to none and NY is probably, imho, one of the best cities to sail out of or into. I prefer the smaller ships in the fleet...less crowded and more lounge space than the larger monstrosities that NCL has built recently (Breakaway being the worst designed ship I have ever set foot on).

Embarkation was a breeze, priority access and from start to finish was on board in about 20 minutes. The cabins are still getting prepared which is fine...took a walk around and enjoyed views of the New York skyline then went to the buffet for a snack.

The cabin was on deck 8 (8584) close to the atrium. Plenty of space and comfortable. This is an obstructed view cabin which is fine for me...I am not one to stay for long inside preferring to be out walking or going to the pool. There were some negatives on this cruise associated with this cabin...the first sea day had a crew member lustily performing maintenance with his mallet on a life boat at 6:30 in the morning...definitely an unwanted wake up call. Called the front desk and a supervisor came to our cabin to witness and hear for themselves the racket being created...he called someone and after a few more minutes...blessed silence. Later in the day a memo was delivered to the cabin stating repair work will be done between 18:00 and 21:00 on the lifeboats...no such luck....the next day the hammering started after 7:00 and the day after that at 7:30...Called the front desk on both occasions and the noise stopped...somewhere in the communication process with the actual workers there was a failure in getting the information across...18:00 and 6:00 are not the same...sigh Read more