NCL Gem Food

So I am curious about the food on the Gem. I have read many posts on both cruise criticand other websites and there are such conflicting posts. I am not expecting the food to be from a MichelinStar restaurant but I am also not expecting it to be from a soup kitchen. I am not really a food snob and eat at bothfancy and not so fancy places. For themost part people say the food is good, not great but at least edible. I have read posts from people that have traveled on the exact samecruise and one will state that the food was excellent and the other will saythat the food is un-edible. Iknow NCL is not a top of the line luxury cruise line and I am fine withthat. I haven’t sailed in many years andI am not expecting the exceptional pasta you got at every meal on the SSOceanic but I do hope to have a good meal or two.

I think you pretty much are going to get the same answers that you have already read in other places. If we are talking MDR's, some dishes will be a home run, some will be okay and with some you will say "shouldn't have ordered that". The good thing is that you can always try something else.

Between the MDR's, buffet and some very good specialty restaurants chances are your jeans will be a bit tighter leaving the ship than they were when you boarded.

We've always found the food to be "pretty good" Not fantastic, but not bad. Presentation is usually really nice. Lets put it this way. Have you ever had someone build up a movie to you to the point you see it and think "I didn't think it was THAT great." I would not get your expectations up and you may be presently surprised by how good the food is. ;-)

Have been on the gem multiple times. I would say the food is good. But everyone has their different tastes and preferences, so something I may say is fabulous, you may say was awful. But remember, in the MDR and buffet, you can eat different dishes at every meal, so if you don't like one, try another. I can tell you, neither DH or I ever went hungry on any of our 13 NCL cruises!

Cruising as a whole - whether it's on the Gem or the Jewel or the QM2, etc. - is and should be the overall vacation experience, meals are part of the formula but not entirely. Taste & preference are personal and highly subjective.

Sail with an open mind, a great vacation cruising is up to you. NCL sourced its food from the same vendor in different ports where provisions are loaded - if it isn't to your personal liking ... it's probably just one of the junior chef's "fault" and not a likely conspiracy.

Our goal is to try to, not, gain weight during our cruises - small portions and avoiding the buffet are our secrets. Okay, maybe we will do it once or twice.

Cruise food is cruise food. Across the ship, the galleys have to produce 3300 covers per seating. Some items hold very well. Some probably won't taste as good after being held for an hour. No difference on any ship on any cruise line. We've had bad meals in the Queen's grill on Cunard.

NCL has tried to upgrade their menus (sometimes for the worst) for the contemporary cruiser every couple of years. For example, on the lunch menus, gone from fish sticks to poached salmon. Chicken noodle soup was replaced with Pho.

If you want a steak and baked potato, you can always get one. People rave about the chicken wings, I prefer a grilled chicken breast with a sauce.

You will get as many opinions as there are people on the ship.

Stop reading reviews and start getting ready for a wonderful vacation.

The food on the Gem was good and some was really good. I only had one meal I didn't care for and that was the lamb dish in LeBistro. The hamburgers out by the pool were surprisingly juicy and the French fries were outstanding if you like that kind of thing. I had spaghetti as a side dish in LaCucina and it was excellent.

It is all in what you are used to and like. The barbeques on deck usually had some type of rice dish with shrimp in it and then some kind of meat like pork chops. The pork chops were good. The molten lava cake with ice cream was excellent. I think Celebrity has a slight edge in their food but I was very happy with the food on the Gem. I did notice there were a couple of cutbacks. No more sprinkles, chocolate chips or self serve chocolate sauce by the ice cream.

Love the molten lava cake! I thought the food was pretty good, I stuck with mostly fish, chicken and steak, didn't really like the pasta dishes in the MDR. I thought the prime rib was great, and I never order it. Liked the smoked salmon tartare, but I love smoked salmon and avocado. We are a family of 7, so would order some extras and share, to try different entrees (5 teens, little went to waste). On previous cruises, we'd slow down as the days went by, but my crazy kids (all very active and slender) ate more each night, really enjoying experimenting (and I'm a pretty creative cook). And they still managed a trip to Osheehans late at night.

We find most of their food to be good. I am a big dessert person and I find their desserts to be lacking.

We were on the Gem in June. Food was good to very good. We ate at Le Bistro, Cagney's and teppanaki (sp?). We only had one breakfast in Garden Cafe. Breakfasts in the Dining Room were all very good. We wished there was more variety in the Dinig a Room for lunchut had the Caesars Salad every day. Excellent. Food is very subjective but we were very pleased overall?

Sorry for all the typos. Hit post by mistake before proofreading.

The first post by Breezy Kate and Joe answers it well.

thanks for all the responses, i myself will make do and be happy with anything because hey i will be on a ten day cruise. My husband tends to bitch and moan more than i do but i will just tell him to have another beer or glass of wine and all will be good in the world. :)

thanks for all the responses, i myself will make do and be happy with anything because hey i will be on a ten day cruise. My husband tends to bitch and moan more than i do but i will just tell him to have another beer or glass of wine and all will be good in the world. :)

You will be on a cruise. Of course, make yourself happy. Do not worry about the selection of food. If you do not like the option of food in the Garden Cafe, you can eat at another place like the Osheehans. You would not go hungry and for most cruisers, they gained weight :eek:. You are not forced to finish all your food. :) Enjoy your cruise!

Check out some of the menus (google 'ncl gem menus")

Keep in mind that if none of the entrées is of interest you can order three appetizers. You can even order three appetizers per person and two entrées. The only downside that I found on Norwegian are the MDR lunch menus which get old fast.

I think the food tastes pretty good, but I am talking about the buffet. I don't even bother going to the main dinning rooms because the service is way too slow. If the food was amazing I would go but I find the food not so great in the dinning room. I do enjoy the food in the buffet though.

The food on the Gem was good and some was really good. I only had one meal I didn't care for and that was the lamb dish in LeBistro. The hamburgers out by the pool were surprisingly juicy and the French fries were outstanding if you like that kind of thing. I had spaghetti as a side dish in LaCucina and it was excellent.

It is all in what you are used to and like. The barbeques on deck usually had some type of rice dish with shrimp in it and then some kind of meat like pork chops. The pork chops were good. The molten lava cake with ice cream was excellent. I think Celebrity has a slight edge in their food but I was very happy with the food on the Gem. I did notice there were a couple of cutbacks. No more sprinkles, chocolate chips or self serve chocolate sauce by the ice cream.

The removal of the self serve chocolate sauce and chocolate chips was a lousy cut-back for me. However, it did save me lots of calories.

I thought the food was fine, some dishes were amazing and some where ok. You can check out my pics and reviews of eat meal over here, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2509690&highlight=gem

First let me say that my wife and I enjoy good food, and regularly eat at some of the most expensive restaurants in NYC. While NCL's food is certainly not top of the line, I still find it pretty good. Been on 8 NCL cruises, and can't really say I have ever had a bad meal.

So I am curious about the food on the Gem. I have read many posts on both cruise criticand other websites and there are such conflicting posts. I am not expecting the food to be from a MichelinStar restaurant but I am also not expecting it to be from a soup kitchen. I am not really a food snob and eat at bothfancy and not so fancy places. For themost part people say the food is good, not great but at least edible. I have read posts from people that have traveled on the exact samecruise and one will state that the food was excellent and the other will saythat the food is un-edible. Iknow NCL is not a top of the line luxury cruise line and I am fine withthat. I haven’t sailed in many years andI am not expecting the exceptional pasta you got at every meal on the SSOceanic but I do hope to have a good meal or two.

I do restaurant reviews for an on line site . I dine at between 75-100 restaurants a year .In my opinion food on the GEM in the MDR is not good ,however,it is very good in the specialty restaurants.

This last cruise i found myself having breakfast in the buffet and either sitting in the Great Outdoors or La Cucina where it was never crowded. There was a large variety and it was good. I am not a food snob and I make my living as a chef. I can't understand the complaint! Enjoy your cruise.

We were on the 10 day last year, and the meals we ordered in the MDR were good. My husband is picky and he only chooses foods that he is familiar with. He had no complaints at all.

On ocassion, we dined in the buffet for breakfast and lunch, and we were satisfied with the choices there as well. We watched our portion sizes, did lots of walking, used the stairs, so didn't gain weight. LOL.