"We used to buy a three or five bottle wine package for a discount, but no more.Chose this cruise at last minute because it departed and returned from New York City, no fly for us...."Read More
intrepidone
10+ Cruises
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Age 70s
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1-10 of 193 Norwegian Gem Cruise Reviews for Fitness to Bermuda
I've been on 20+ cruises and this is my 7th NCL cruise to Bermuda. So many of the fun aspects of cruising have disappeared in NCL's most recent exercise in corporate greed. I think it's time for me to take a break from NCL. So many passengers I spoke with informed me that Royal Caribbean and even the newer Carnival ships are a much better experience than this NCL Gem cruise.
* First of all, ...
Well I am Sapphire level on NCL. I have also cruised with many other lines but because of my level I typically pick NCL. This is the very first time in over 45 cruises in total that we did a suite. We had a forward facing balcony suite. The room was amazing until we read the sign “balcony only available when in port” and the other sign “curtains must be closed at night”.
None of this was ...
We especially love the Gem for the outstanding crew and staff, this is our second trip to Bermuda on the Gem. What a friendly group who gave outstanding service at all times. Our first time was before the pandemic.
We were in a Club Balcony and we very happy to see it had not been totally updated, the changes to this type of cabin on Pearl was terrible, (closet hard to open, doors ...
This was a transatantic from rome to new york. i did this cruise last year on ncl epic and didn't much like it, but i've been on the gem and other gem class ships and you were never in doublt you were on a ship, no matter where you were. it looked like a cruise ship, smelt like a cruise ship everyone knew. the giant floating shopping centers don't appeal to me. i don't want to have to board ...
We have cruised on other lines before, and this was our first experience on NCL. We are now huge fans! First of all, I loved the Gem - the ship is perfectly sized for me. It was easy to get around, and there were lots of areas to sit and hang out with a book and a drink. My favorite was the Spinnaker Lounge early in the morning with a book and a cup of coffee (you can get coffee right around the ...
We chose this Caribbean cruise as it sailed from New York and we wanted to spend 3 days before joining the ship. Also the drinks package and speciality dinning for 2 nights was a factor.
First the good points: The staff are super friendly and we had good service on the whole. Cagneys and Moderna speciality restaurants were superb. The complimenary Asian restaurant was also very good.
Our ...
I won't reiterate what so many others here are saying, all the detailed step-by-step comments. I'll just fill in where I think I can add to what everyone else has already said:
The crew is very overworked. Surprisingly, almost all of them still seemed to want to be as helpful as possible. I wouldn't have had the grace. But still, their collective efforts can't fix everything. Bar staff often ...
11 nights sailing the Eastern Caribbean on the Norwegian Gem was my very first cruise experience. I kept my expectations low, but I was pleasantly surprised. Obviously, I have some pros and cons as a first-time cruiser so let's start with the embarkation experience from the NYC port.
Embarkation:
NCL should list the pier number for NYC embarking cruise ships in advance. When I called ...
The departure from NYC was convenient and went well. Having sailed several times with Norwegian we were quickly disappointed with the cleanliness of the rooms. Cup rings and greasy spots on furniture and bad smelling old bedding. Not a good start coming out of a pandemic. The staff was professional but seemed to have a lack luster attitude. Rooms are no longer serviced for turn down since the ...
The Ncl ship used to be good to travel in. However my recent experience (March 2023) was a total disappointment. See below some notably drastic changes we experienced before, during and after the trip to 5 ports from nyc:
1) kids ages 5 and under were in one of 4 hot pools without parent supervision
2) this ship used to have 2 hot pools on upper deck and those are now gone
3) the ...