Norwegian Gem review by Patricia

Reviewer Profile

Age: 51-65
# of Cruises Taken: 8
Destination: Bahamas
Sailing Month: Apr 2008
Stateroom Type: INTERIOR
Cruising with Children: No

DINING:

STATEROOM:

ENTERTAINMENT:

N/A

SPA/FITNESS:

N/A

CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES:

N/A

PUBLIC AREAS:

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:

Comments By Patricia
We did enjoy the time away from the cold snowy winter that we've had this year, and the Ports in New York City, are within driving distance, or are just a quick flight away. We also enjoyed not having to take too many "dressy" clothes for dining, however we feel that the Freestyle concept, although good in theory, needs some work. The ship itself was fairly well layed out, and brightly decorated, (to the point of being a bit tacky in fact), and our "inside" cabin, albeit on the small size, was fine for our needs, with good storage. The cabin was not always consistently maintained, but our room steward was friendly. All in all , for the most part, we had no complaints there. We did take some issue however, with the many smoking areas, the major one being the Casino.. It fairly reeked of cigarettes, and consequently, we spent no time in there at all.. although we had to pass through it on occasion. The atrium wasn't as grand as we are used to on other ships, and at times, was fairly congested and noisey. They had a wonderful and talented piano player, Selwyn in the evenings, who was often surrrounded by the photo people, taking the ships formal portraits.. This was extremely distracting, and it was very difficult to hear him, on more than one occasion. He would have been better suited, and far more appreciated, if he had been located in a quieter, and more passenger friendly, area. In fact, there were very few "quiet" areas on the ship at all, where one could sit and have a drink, or even a simple conversation, with a friend.. Many of the restaurants on board are "pay as you go", and required reservations, which had to be placed at 7AM. As a result, most of our meals were taken in the Garden Cafe, Buffet restaurant, which had a nice area at the rear of the ship, called the Great Outdoors. We did notice, to their credit, that the Gem had a few reserved sections for wheelchair passengers in the buffet, as well as a childrens section.. a nice touch.. However, the buffet restaurant does not have trays, nor even platter size plates, which makes it difficult to gather and balance food and a drink, in one trip. Many passengers found this to be annoying. The food on the Gem was acceptable, but nothing fancy or memorable, as on other ships we've cruised on.. As for improvements, there are too many to mention, but one of the major things that struck us, was the sad state of the Private Island, "Great Stirrup Cay".. It definitely needed major renovations and updating. It was tired and quite shabby looking, and very crowded. Someone from NCL, should visit some of the other Private Islands in the Bahamas, for example, the beautiful Princess Cays! Another area needing attention, is the TV reception, which was poor to fair at best. We felt that NCL was nickel and diming the passengers once again, particularly, since there was no movie theatre on board, and you had to pay for the movies that you wished to see. There was also a charge for bowling, and to play pool as well. We also did not notice many, if any, poolside games, to involve the passengers on Sea Days, and the featured "Chocoholic" display, one evening, was a varitable free-for-all, with seemingly no organization at all. As I mentioned, the idea of Freestyle is good in theory, but NCL needs to listen to the wants and needs of the passengers a bit more, and take heed of what they are saying. We heard a lot of grumbling on this ship. To allow the passengers to have a more relaxed dress style and dining time is good, but to charge them for what other ships provide "free of charge", is not. We are not sure that we would take another Norwegian Cruise in the near future, as the "cons", seemed to outweigh the "pros", on this ship.. However, a holiday is a holiday, and we made the best of it.. We think we'll stick with Princess and Royal Caribbean from now on.

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