Norwegian Gem, like all other Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ships in the fleet, espouses what it calls "Freestyle Cruising." This means that there are no set dining times, and you may dine in either of the two free main dining rooms (the larger Grand Pacific or the smaller Magenta), or in one of the free specialty restaurants (such as Orchid Garden or O'Sheehan's Bar & Grill), or in one of the up-charge specialty restaurants (such as Cagney's Steakhouse or Le Bistro). The up-charge restaurants have either a $25-30 cover charge, or are priced a la carte. When one books a cruise, sometimes specialty dining packages are offered as an enticement, and it would be wise to snag one of those packages if one books NCL.

Freestyle Cruising also means there are no dress codes on the ship and in most of the dining rooms and restaurants, except for Le Bistro and Cagney's, which ask gentlemen to at least wear long trousers and a collared shirt. Jackets for men are never required. This lack of dress codes draws an extremely casually-dressed crowd. This would be delightful if one enjoyed seeing men dressed for dinner as if they just cleaned out the garage. Or there was the woman at dinner in the very high-class Le Bistro wearing a wrinkled red t-shirt with some freakin' message on the front. If that's the atmosphere you like, well, good luck with it. I missed not having a set dining time with the same servers every night. And I don't mind putting on a jacket. But to each his own -- freestyle. I found the casualness, well, just too damn casual.

Unfortunately the food in the main dining rooms and in the buffet-style Garden Cafe (there is nothing garden-like about it) is just so-so. I stopped going to the main dining rooms after the first three nights of my 10-day cruise from NYC to Quebec City. The food was mediocre and the service seemed to be provided by waiters still in training. One evening I ordered bratwurst with sauerkraut. I asked for some mustard for the bratwurst and you would have thought it was the first time the staff had ever heard of such a thing. Finally one of the captains (who are always on their cell phones, talking to who I don't know) came over and said they could give me some Tabasco sauce for the bratwurst! No, I said, I want mustard, and preferably spicy brown mustard. Eventually they located an individual-sized bottle of Dijon mustard. I made do, trying to pep up the very bland sausage on my plate. No spicy brown, I'm afraid. Appetizers, entrees, and desserts may sound very appealing on the menus, but what is brought to the table is often disappointing. The food tends to be bland, which is probably pleasing to many of the more mature passengers. Read more