Caribbean Norwegian Gem Caribbean Cruise Reviews

third and last time on the Gem The service entertainment and especially the specialty restaurants have gone down hill. Found many of the staff to be rude and avoiding work. The house band only played Latin music. The gem band was very good the few times they played, most of the entertainment was lack luster. I paid extra for the specialty restaurants, on 2 of the 3 I went to, the buffet ...

Chose this cruise to get away from the cold. Embarking was very well done as was debarking. The ship itself is in excellent shape. The other guests were not sensitive for the needs of people with disabilities and sat at designated handicaped tables in the buffet during the entire cruise. Service was the best ever on a Norwegian ship never a negative thought. The public areas of the ...

Background We are a couple in our early 70’s who have been on about seven cruises, most with Norwegian, but also with Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. We had a balcony cabin, Deck 9 midships on the starboard side. We traveled with another couple, also seasoned cruisers. This sailing elevated us to Latitudes Gold status with Norwegian. We secured what we thought was an excellent ...

This cruise had a great itinerary that started by leaving from NYC (no flying for us) and doing some really good ports including Turks & Caicos, the Dominican Republic, Curacao, Costa Rica, and a full transit of the Panama Canal. Then I learned from CruiseCritic (not from NCL!!) that Grand Turk and Curacao were replaced by Bermuda (which we missed anyway, due to weather conditions) and Catalina ...

This was our first cruise and we booked it sort of at the last minute because it was cheap and some friends were going. We were told it was a weird itinerary - NYC to Bermuda, just a half day in Bermuda, then on to Nassau, Great Stirrup Cay and a long day in Port Canaveral (7 am to 1 am). We were also told it would be cold in Bermuda and the seas would be rough in January. But everything turned ...

Before the expansion and widening of the Panama Canal, there were dozens of cruise ships built sized just like the NCL Gem. These were Panamax vessels, the biggest ships that could go through the original locks. They were all a bit over 90K tons, around 965’ long, and sailed with around 2400 guests and 1100 crew. They were big enough to support two- and three-story main dining rooms, several ...

Chose this cruise at last minute because it departed and returned from New York City, no fly for us. Needed a respite from winter. And price was right. This was our first NCL cruise since an ill fated cruise on the NCL Star which blew an engine, modified our itinerary and we received no consideration for ruining our once in a lifetime Southeast Asia cruise. Boarding was easy, no wait. ...

Embarkation: No problems in Manhattan, took the train to manhattan, and $20 for a cab to the port. One of the fastest initial embarkations i've ever had... I say initial, because at Port Canaveral, all passengers were required to disembark and sit in a waiting area for several hours with nothing to do, especially if you had a late morning excursion. With hours of mindless waiting (in a Royal ...

About the Reviewer: I’m a middle-aged American male who traveled solo this trip. This was my 31st Norwegian Cruise Line voyage and my 55th cruise overall. I have sailed primarily on NCL with a handful of cruises with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, MSC and Carnival. This was my eighth cruise back after the pandemic restart and my fourth back with Norwegian Cruise Line. My previous cruise was on the ...

We chose this cruise for the holidays as a family of 8 and for the itinary. Gem is a smaller ship and was ill equiped for a Xmas- NYE+ cruise. We never left the port of Manhattan for 2 days , one for "high waves" and the other because the NY Port Auth. said we couldn't. ( not sure that was true but I degress). The ship was cold in NY, The heat was not up to the task. It was bitter ...