Norwegian Gem to Bermuda Review from 5/29 sailing

[Magic2875]

First cruise on NCL. Was not a horrible experience, but not the best either.

 

Pluses:

Boarded easily on Sunday arrived around 11:30 and boarded around 1. Glad we weren’t much later because lines really began to form after we went through registration. Went directly to Grand Pacific dining room for lunch. Lunch was good, chicken breast sandwich with provolone was delicious. Had obstructed view cabin 8066 on deck 8 which is one of the “sideways” cabins. If you are looking for a good obstructed view cabin this one is for you. One of the tenders is located just outside the room and doors to tender opposite window so you have a decent view through the tender and plenty of sunlight. Cabin was fairly spacious, was surprised that the shower on board had great shower pressure! Cabin steward Melody was great, anything we asked for we had immediately! Great towel animals too.

Dinner at the specialty restaurants Teppanyaki and Cagneys were both really good, although our table at Teppanyaki seemed to have a substitute doing the cooking – did not do any real tricks – chefs at table next to us were really putting on a great show for their diners though. Service great at both restaurants. Also liked the fact that waiters were always available to order drinks but you did not feel that they were pushing them on you, even on the pool deck.

 

3 days in Bermuda were nice, transportation was good. Highly recommend the 5 hour Bermuda Island tour on day one - gives you a good overall view of the Island so you can then go back to places you would like to spend some more time. Tour guide Wayland was hysterical!

Minuses:

Food in the non-specialty restaurants was sub-par. Have cruised on other lines with much better food (Princess, Disney). I agree with others who have posted that the service is lacking in those restaurants. Spent a lot of time sitting around waiting for each course. First day thought that the breakfast in the buffet was really good – unfortunately it never changed and got sick of the offerings by the third day. Also not a fan of the open layout in the buffet – mass pandemonium. Lack of lines turned into a free for all – rude people! Was not a fan of the food for lunch/dinner for the buffet either – also seemed to be the same day to to day.

 

Hard to find snacks in the evening - Princess and Disney both had small cafes where you could get pastries, gelatos, etc in the evening. Missed being able to sit down at night and have a nice snack and cup of coffee (at no charge).

 

Also had to agree with those that feel that NCL “nickel and dimes” you to death. Not much to do unless you were willing to spend additional dollars. Buy cards for “Deal or No Deal’, buy cards for Bingo, come to our art auction. Chamilia beads offered for sale in the Port O’call store – I collect them, they were 3 times what I pay for them at home or more – I pay $30 - $50 dollars for the beads depending on type of bead - here they were $120-$150 for the same beads I had bought at home. Buyer beware!

 

Poolside chair hogs!!!!! Towels were placed on chairs before 8am all chairs were taken. This should not be allowed

 

Overall - not the worst vacation I have ever had, but not the best either.

[greenpepperburger]

We were on this same cruise a week before, the 5/22 sailing. It was our first cruise ever. We never had a problem with service in the MDR. Also never felt that we were "nickel and dimed" - we knew what was free and what wasn't and if we wanted to do something that was extra, we paid for it. If we didn't want it that badly enough to pay for it, we didn't. Also never had a problem getting food at any time of day - room service and the Blue Lagoon were always available to us. Sorry you didn't enjoy your experience as much as I did!

[Sailaway Girl]

On the same sailing. Great review.

Not hard to find late night snacks at all. Late night snacks were always available in the Blue Lagoon. You can sit down and have coffee, cheesecake, pound cake with strawberries, wings, soup, burgers, salads and much more.

As far as nickel and diming there is free entertainment in the Stardust lounge, and most of the lounges at night.l I am also a long time Princess cruiser and you have to pay for Bingo there too and it's not cheap and they also hawk the art auctions offering free champagne..

Now the chair hogs - my balcony faced the pool and you are sooooooooo right. If you were not out there by 8:00AM you were out of luck. All seats had towels on them but no people. Also happens on my favorite Princess ship but Princess pool staff will remove things after 30 minutes of no use.

[andychris]

we are going to be in one of those rooms in august. how many people did you have in yours? we are 4 and hope its not too tight. how was the room?