Due to Hurricane Irene, our 8/28 cruise on NCL Gem left on Monday instead. We traveled with a group of 15 family members ranging in age from 11 to 71. The cruise was to Bermuda, and NCL did one sea day less on the way there. They also gave small refunds which they didn't have to do. The crew was fantastic.....very outgoing, friendly and eager to please. The food was phenomenal....and they were super with honoring special requests. I felt the cabins are small compared with RCCL. However, we had less smoking on the balconies around us which was pleasant.....this is something I think the industry needs to deal with....group the smokers together so that those of us that don't enjoy smoke can enjoy our balcony.
The gym was okay......functional.....but not so nice that it made you want to really go work out.....it was crowded with machines and the view was okay....it is shoved to the side of the ship. The shows were okay, and if we missed a show, we didn't feel like we were missing anything. We did hear that NCL is making all the shows "in-house" which should improve the quality. We paid the $55 (apx) for the ship tour which was great....although a bit rushed because of a group behind us. The BEST thing we did was pay the $89 per person at embarkation to use the spa facilities......this was soooooo relaxing and included indoor hot tub, thermal pool with lounge chairs with air bubbles and a very high pressure shower which was great to massage the back, shoulders, neck and head.....the spa also included steam, sauna, personal spa tubs, relaxation area and showers that were larger than the one in the cabin.....we didn't have to fight or search for chairs; there were no children, and it was quiet......the best deal on the ship!
Our major complaint with this cruise (and the reason we would do RCCL next time) is that we are a family of basketball players (especially 3 teenage boys) and the ceiling on the basketball court is lousy. It is a net that droops so that you can't shoot the ball properly. This would be an easy fix for NCL by building a simply lightweight arch to support the ceiling.....and it is really really too bad that it will prevent us from choosing NCL over RCCL.
The cabin was small. It was reasonably quiet (except for the occasional rowdy teens running up and down the hall). The storage was adequate. Bed was comfortable. We were finally able to enjoy a balcony as we weren't surrounded by smoking passengers which was great. Cruise ships should really group smokers in one section where they won't effect the non-smokers.