My Freestlye Review - 10-9-10 Gem

[jbone07]

My wife and I just returned from the Gem Greek Isles sailing last week and got our first taste of Freestyle cruising. This was my wifes 4th cruise and my 8th cruise all on Carnival and RCCL, so we have a decent basis for comparison.

 

Based on my reading on CC prior I was not quite sure what to expect since there are so many different opinions.

 

What we liked:

1. The freestlye concept. It was so nice to not have a schedule to adhere to and not have to worry about bringing the appropriate clothes to fit in. We found the dress to be very casual with many people wearing jeans. The weather was fairly cold, so we did not see many shorts.

 

2. The ship. This boat was very well appointed and the room design was excellent. We had an interior room and it was plenty big including the bathroom, which had the first shower we have seen on a cruise that comfortably fits 2. The decor is very nice and I would rate the design above RCCL and Carnival

 

3. The staff - we found this to be comprable to other ships.

 

4. Specialty restaurants - this boat has 8 surcharge restaurants and we ate at 2 of them. Both were excellent!

 

What we didn't like:

 

1. The food in the main dining room. We found the food to be very bland and the menu to be very basic. One chicken, fish, beef and pork dish each nice. The food was not terrible and we are not fussy people, but it left some to be desired. We talked to other people on the boat and the concensus was the same.

 

2. The embarkation process. We got to the port around 1:30 and breesed through the check in, however we had to wait about 40 minutes for them to call our number to get on board. Not sure why they were not boarding as people arrived, but maybe there was something we are not aware of. I have never waited AFTER checking in to board the ship.

 

All and all we had a great cruise and really enjoyed NCL. Would we cruise NCL again, ABSOLUTELY. Would I pay more just to cruise NCL, probably not. Cruising has become a commodity and price/itiinarary are the key factors and we did not feel NCL was different enough for us to become loay to their brand.

[llam]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review it is alwyas helpful reading others experiances.