Norwegian Gem Review
Rating by category
Additional details
DH and I had a cruise booked June 2020. It was cancelled, this was us finally making up for it. To be honest I am glad that we waited, apart from a few staff members wearing masks, there were no enforced social distancing measures.
We added a day in Bologna to the trip which made the arrival in Italy easy. There was then a 4 hour journey to Trieste. This was further Faffed up by long delays on the Bologna-Trieste route. We were told it was due to mechanical difficulties. It was a nuisance to arrive after dark I would not be surprised if they did not move the embarkation port again for this sort of itinerary.
Boarding at Trieste was easy enough. We arrived at the port about 10.30 and were asked to wait. We had assigned check in times but they were not checked. The hardest part of check-in had been the self check in at home. I had to make two calls to my cruise consultant and ended up being told that I could do everything at the port. Was it the App or was it me? It really was hit or miss. So we were on the ship and getting brunch in the buffet at 11.15. We were able to stay in the same table without being asked to move. Rooms opened at 2.10 pm.
Cabin Review
Inside
We were trying out an internal as a way of going through retirement (retired last September). I did not like not being able to step out of bed and into fresh air. It may work for many, but not me. It also seemed as if the bed was too big for the cabin, This made it difficult to get around the bed to make it if the steward had not visited by the time we wanted to sit on it (no seating in the cabin). I got used to doing my own turn down service, ie dimming the lights before we left for the evening
Port Reviews
Dubrovnik
This was my second time in Dubrovnik. Last time was in September 2019, this time it was less hot and felt less busy. We had walked the walls last time, so this time we took the Cable Car up and explored the town. There would have been plenty of time to add a boat trip from the port in town, particularly if we had left earlier in the morning (we left the ship around 10.15 am)