Review NCL Gem Florida and Bahamas 6/2/12 - 6/9/12

[Solo1959]

This is my review of my first cruise on NCL. I sailed on the Norwegian Gem 6/2/12 – 6/9/12, seven nights from New York to Florida and the Bahamas.

The bottom line: This was a very nice cruise. I had a great time. The food was excellent. The shows were excellent. The ship was beautiful. I will certainly sail on NCL again.

I can compare this ship/cruise on NCL with those I have taken on Carnival and HAL. My cruises on all three were excellent. Each cruise had its own strengths and weaknesses. What one cruise did better here, the other cruise did better there. Added together, all of the cruises were excellent.

The categories that interest me are the areas of service, food, Lines, and entertainment. NCL, like the others, was strong in some, weak in others, but generally they provided an excellent vacation.

My next post will be the negatives, but these would not stop me from sailing on NCL another time. With these negatives, I still had a great vacation. If you are not interested in the negatives of my cruise, kindly skip my second post. Here are some of the good points of the cruise.

Food.

MDR. Food opinions are subjective. I found the food and service in the MDR on the GEM to be exceptional. The menu items were varied and delicious. The service was attentive, friendly, and very good. There were no lines, no waiting for my meals. I would simply walk up, be seated, and be served right away. I would rate the MDR food on the Gem to be the BEST between the MDR food on Carnival, HAL and NCL. The food was tasty, prepared beautifully, and I liked the nightly specials. My favorite dessert was offered nightly, the Lemon Sorbet. It was the best.

Buffet. Again, between HAL, Carnival, and NCL, the clear winner by leaps and bounds is NCL on the Gem. The variety of foods was unbelievable. They offered many different items at the various stations. For breakfast, they went so far as to offer two choices of bacon, crispy or, my preference, soft. On other cruises, the bacon was so overcooked it would shatter. On the Gem I was able to get soft chewy bacon that I could cut with a knife. All of the buffet food was great. The cold cuts were very high quality. Many items were available to be prepared to order. There was a pasta station.

In addition to offering the best quality and variety at the buffet, I did not find any lines for food. This is a huge ship with thousands of passengers, but there was no waiting for anything at the times I was there. And I was always able to find a table. Excellent food, great variety, no waiting, and plenty of seating. This is unique. This is good. And I only found it on the Gem.

I had heard good things about the Pretzel rolls on the NCL buffets. I wanted to try them, but couldn't find them. So I asked. The person I asked was the buffet manager. He did not simply point me to them, he brought me first to the person who makes them and introduced the chef and told me these are his specialty. He told me that he wanted me to know the man who made them. Only then did he take me to the pretzel rolls. Yes, they were good. The manager takes great pride in his buffet and it is well earned. The Gem takes first prize in the buffet.

Entertainment

The Gem had specialty entertainment that was superb. NCL put together a top notch group of people to provide the entertainment on this ship. First, they offer Nickelodeon for children. I do not believe that NCL advertises this enough. It is great. It is not in-your-face everywhere you go. Families would love this. Also, there was a kids club on Deck 12. It was loud and busy all the time, but that made the rest of the ship peaceful. The Gem did a great job of keeping the children occupied. On the Gem was Second City. The show was a series of vignettes, short humorous skits. There were a couple of belly laughs, a few guffaws, and one or two... eh. But it was really good. I was so happy to see the program they offered on this ship. Another show, Donovan and Rebecca, an acrobat show, was one of the best performances I have ever seen anywhere. To be honest, at first I expected the show to be a loser. And it started slow. But the performers built up the energy so that at the end everyone stood to give them an ovation. Donovan and Rebecca are amazing. Also, on the ship was offered circus classes: plate spinning and juggling. They did a nice job keeping people entertained on the Gem.

Stateroom

I was in a mid-ship balcony stateroom. I acknowledge that the room was quite small. The room was beautiful, colorful and well appointed. The bed was by far the most comfortable of the beds I had on any previous ship. I liked that in my room was a coffee maker. Plus, my room on the Gem had two electric outlets. Despite the small size, I would rate this to be the best room I have had on a cruise.

Spa

I had two massages in the Spa. They were excellent. Very relaxing. I recommend them.

Excursions

Despite changing the times (see my next post), I enjoyed the excursions. The Waverunner at Great Stirrup Cay was a lot of fun.

The Segway tour in Nassau was also very good. It is important to know that this is not a tour where they issue you a Segway and let you off by yourself for a time. Rather, it is an escorted instructional supervised opportunity to ride the Segway. The two fellows who ran the excursion were great. They spent a lot of time telling us about safety, how the cruise line insisted on certain safety procedures, giving hands on one-on-one instruction and giving us a tour of the local area. It was my first time on a Segway. You start off very able to operate the device, but by the end of the tour you feel very comfortable using it and want to buy one. They made us wear a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads. The Segways were altered for safety to allow a maximum speed of seven mph. But it was fun, easy, exciting, and a tour I'd like to do again. They include a lot of the history of Nassau and the Bahamas. They were funny and friendly.

Earlier in the day in Nassau I visited the Pirate Museum on my own, not as an excursion. It is a very short walk from the ship. It was good; it was cute; but it was short. It wasn't so much a museum where they maintained artifacts of pirates, it was more like a Disney venue or a fun house. You walked through a mock-up village where a pirate ship was docked, they had plaques all over describing what you were viewing. You then walked onto the pirate ship, they had displays of all the different pirate things on the ship. It takes a good 15 minutes to walk through and look at everything, about a half hour if you stop and listen to the audio track playing at each display. It was worth the $12. Once. As you would expect, it ends at the Gift Shop.

My Favorite Spots

There is a piece of paradise on Deck 12. The Great Outdoors is an aft bar/grill/seating area. I wish I could live here. They offered food, drinks and ice cream in a scenic canopied outdoor patio. You could sit and watch the ship's wake, or see panoramic ocean views. Even get a tan.

The exterior Promenade on Deck 7 was also wonderful. In addition, unlike Carnival, NCL placed lounge chairs here.

Bliss Lounge had bowling alleys. The Spinnaker Lounge had a pool table. There was a rock climbing wall, basketball courts, shuffleboard, two large swimming pools, hot tubs, a kid's pool, a golf tee, a bridge viewing room, a jumbo television screen in the Main Lobby.

Seafood

I saw many flying fish and several dolphins. But these are common sights on my cruises. On this trip I saw three whales! At 5:45pm on the final night of the cruise, I saw three whales from my balcony. This was a first for me. I am so excited. My score card now can list:

Flying fish

Dolphins

Sea Turtle

Shark

Whales

I don't know what else I should look for.

Cagney's Steak House

As bad as my Le Bistro meal was (see my next post), my Cagney's meal was wonderful! The food was excellent. The service was fantastic. The NCL website offered a promotion of a free bottle of wine for couples at the specialty restaurants. At Le Bistro I was told in no uncertain terms that I could not get anything because I was eating alone, and I was made to feel embarrassed to have asked. At Cagney's I did not bother to ask, but the waiter told me that I was entitled to a glass of wine with my meal, it was included as an alternative to the bottle because I was by myself. I didn't even ask, and he offered me the free wine which I expected at Le Bistro. This was very smart. It was certainly fair. And I thank the waiter for doing the right thing. Just for the record, the cost of my martini at Le Bistro was refunded so ultimately I incurred no charge for a drink. The steak was perfect, the meal was perfect. I loved it here.

These were some of the very positive parts of my cruise. My next post will describe some of the bad things. If you do not want to hear negatives, please skip my next post.

[Solo1959]

This is a continuation of my above review of my first cruise on NCL.

In this post I would like to describe the negatives of the cruise. If you do not care to hear about the negatives, kindly skip this post.

Service. I would have to say that the overall service on this ship was poor. The staff were very friendly, they smiled, sang, and danced, but did not provide an acceptable overall level of service. Some examples:

1. Stateroom service was lacking. The steward was very polite and friendly. He responded to all of my requests. But he did a poor job of maintaining my room. There were two nights in which he did not provide turn-down service. And there were another two nights which he did not leave me the next day's Freestyle Daily newsletter of activities. And I only received two towel animals during this trip. Now, towel animals are not the reason I cruise. They are cute, but I've seen them all and once I look at it, I then ignore it until I see the next one tomorrow. But since I leave my room clean, there is little else for him to do in the room. But I do have an expectation that my room will be maintained twice daily and that I will receive the newsletter every night. That did not happen. This is why stateroom service is rated low. I did not complain to anyone about this. It didn't ruin my trip. My room was never dirty. But it was unacceptable.

2. Le Bistro service was very bad. I must counter with saying that eventually, my money was refunded and the Executive Chef provided me with a plate of chocolate cover strawberries. They tried to make this right. And I appreciate it. But after speaking with other guests and with a waitperson who all shared similar stories, yes, even a waitperson from Magenta Dining room, I am choosing to comment on the experience.

Le Bistro is a top-end extra-fee restaurant on board. First and foremost, the main meal was very tasty. I ordered the Coq au vin and the onion soup. But, the bread was cold and stale, hard and crummy. This should not have happened. My reservation was for five thirty when the restaurant first opened. Everything should have been fresh if not still warm. My bread at the other restaurants for the remainder of the cruise was soft, fresh and delicious.

A first waiter seated me, poured my water and actually told me, "Ice water is fine, you don't want anything else." I corrected him and requested a martini and also a diet Pepsi. A few minutes later, a new waitress came to the table and told me she would bring my bar drinks. She only brought the martini, I had to ask again for the Diet Pepsi. The martini was served with no olives, no garnish, just a glass of clear liquid. I was very disappointed with Le Bistro.

Additionally, I made this reservation expecting free wine. There was a promotion on the NCL website offering a free bottle of wine per couple for 5:30 and 6:00 reservations. I printed the coupon expecting some consideration even though I was by myself. Perhaps even one glass of the house wine. But the waitress told me that I was not entitled to anything. Yes, I know that the special was for couples. I am not saying that I deserved anything. I just thought it would be a nice gesture if I were offered something up to a glass of house wine. But I received nothing.

 

During my meal, there were a total of five tables being served in this dining room. Service was so slow, that, although I did not complain, the waitress apologized to me for the long wait for my meal. After I finished, she brought me the dessert menu. It was filthy and had caked-on dirt on it covering some of the writing for the menu selections. It wasn't just a smudged discolored menu, the menu items were covered with caked-on dirt. At 5:30pm on night one of the cruise. No one else had used this menu yet. She should have never offered me that menu especially since there were so few tables being served. It was disgusting.

Her service was poor as well. She came from behind me, reached over my right shoulder to serve me my food, and startled me the first time she did this. She should have approached the table, given me an opportunity to see that she was coming, and never reach over me from behind to serve me over my shoulder. When I received my dessert, orange sherbet, it was very disappointing. I received basic standard typical orange sherbet And it was bad. It had chunks of ice in it as if it had thawed and was refrozen... a couple of times. The food in the main meal was very good, but the service was poor. I do not believe it had a value of twenty dollars over and above the cost of the main dining room meal that I did not eat.

Hard stale crummy bread, dirty menu, slow service, poor bar service, chunky bad sherbet, reaching over my shoulder all made this a hard to forget dining experience.

3. Shore Excursions poor service. Excursions are exactly the same on all of the mainstream cruise lines. They use the same vendors. The prices are within a dollar or two of each other. So why do I put NCL at the bottom of the list? It is because pre-scheduled and pre-paid excursions had their times changed without notice. I can not imagine how they could think to do this. I made my shore excursion reservations over the internet on the NCL site prior to leaving on the cruise. And I selected the times for the excursions.

The time for my Waverunner Excursion was moved from 11:30 to 10:30. That was not a big problem but it was done without consulting me. The ship did arrive an hour earlier than scheduled. But I should have at least been told that the time had changed.

The worst of the changes was in Nassau. I had scheduled the Segway tour for 10:30 in the morning. My plan was to walk around Nassau in the morning, take the Segway tour, and end on the beach where I could spend the rest of the day. When I checked my ticket, I saw that the time was changed to 2:30pm. Yes, had I reviewed the ticket when I received it, I could probably have changed the time back to what I scheduled and paid for. But I didn't look at the ticket. I should not have needed to verify the time. It should have been the responsibility of NCL to call it to my attention. Before the trip, when I was planning excursions, I wanted to do two of them, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. But no afternoon excursion was available. Had I known the Segway tour was available in the afternoon, I might have planned something else additional for the morning.

On one Carnival cruise to Halifax, I had a scheduled excursion at 10:00am. I received a notice the evening before in my room informing me that the 10:00am tour was canceled, that they took the liberty of rescheduling me for the 9:00am tour, but that I could cancel if the time was inconvenient. Carnival got it right. NCL dropped the ball on this one. I did not think to check the tickets when I received them. They were in the cabin when I boarded. I simply placed them into the safe.

I advise anyone who pre-purchases a NCL tour to carefully check the time printed on the tour ticket and try to arrange to have the time corrected if it is in error.

4. Friendliness of Staff? I am listing this in the negative column even though I generally liked the staff.

A. One afternoon as I was returning to the ship from port, an officer saw me, smiled, and said, "I'm so glad you are back. I hope you had a wonderful day. Thank you so much." On the surface, it sounds nice enough, but who the heck was he? I never saw him before. I doubt that he had seen me before. How glad could he have been that I came back to the ship? What was he glad about? That I didn't defect to Port Canaveral? That I didn't bring a stow-away with me? That he had actually seen me on the ship before, had been stalking me, and was waiting for me to return? I don't get it. The "friendliness" seemed insincere and forced. I imagine it is in the NCL Handbook that staff must be friendly and welcoming. But a pleasant smile, or a "Good Afternoon," would have been better received. Yes, it is better than the alternative, cold, nasty, rude people working, but they should strive for a more natural approach.

B. On Carnival and HAL, the staff call me by my name. I have no idea how so many people know who I am. They have a system, I am sure, and it is almost magical. The waiters and stewards know because they are assigned to me, but staff walking around the decks also know my name. On NCL with Freestyle, there was no opportunity for anyone to know my name. So the contradiction. I do not like forced phony warmth, but I do enjoy it when staff calls me by my name. I do not want to develop long term relationships with 99.99% of the staff. I have met the occasional staff person in my travels that I still maintain contact with. A waiter here, a bartender there, a drummer from a band, that sort of thing. But it is by mutual choice. I don't know. Maybe hearing my name makes the greeting feel more personalized, as if the staff person took the initiative of noticing me, making an effort to know who I was, and then greeting me. I missed this on the Gem.

C. I admit that I was eaves dropping on the conversation at the next table. The waiter was speaking to the people about tipping. He said that the automatic tips were helpful, but that it was customary for people to leave an extra tip at the table if they appreciated the service, but that any extra tips were completely at the discretion of the diners if they were pleased.

He then spoke about his daughter. He said that she just turned six months old. Awww, how cute. Then, he mentioned how sad he was to be back, this was his first cruise following his vacation and he had to leave his daughter behind. He had been home for the previous three months. And that he works for nine months. Nine months on, three months off. Six month old daughter. First day back. Is my math wrong? If it takes nine months to make a baby, and you are home for three months and work for nine months, then after your vacation, the baby is either newborn, one to three months old or between nine and twelve months old at the beginning of your new contract. You can add or subtract a month on either end for unusual circumstances. The only age the daughter could NOT be is six months old. I don't think this guy has a daughter. I also don't think he was just back from his vacation. My waitress from the night before told me about how much she liked this waiter and how good he is. If, as he said, this is his first time on the Gem and he was on vacation for three months until this cruise, how well could my waitress have known him. No, the whole story was probably a lie. And I think it was a way of extracting additional tips from the table. I don't like it when people lie poorly. Flatter the people, pretend you enjoyed serving them, or pretend that their kids were cute. Provide great service. But don't tell stories that make no sense. The people at this table left extra cash for the waiter.

So I see a problem with Freestyle. With traditional dining, on ships with pre-paid gratuities, people do often tip their waitstaff extra at the end of the cruise. With Freestyle, you do not have regular waitstaff. The Freestyle waitstaff lose out on many of these extra tips. So at least this one staff tries to drum up tips by asking for them. To be fair, it is possible that he is the only waiter in the history of Freestyle to do this.

D. I was not offered wine with dinner in the specialty restaurants Le Bistro and Teppanaki unlike everyone else who traveled as a couple, and waitstaff went so far as to take away the wine menu from every table every time I was seated. At dinner in Teppanaki, after the other diners were served their bar drinks, I had to call for the attention of the bar waiter to be given an opportunity to request a drink.

E. Teppanaki. Let me say first off that it was a nice restaurant, the food and service were OK. I finally ate dinner at Teppanaki Thursday night. I had a reservation for lunch at Teppanaki on Thursday. I showed up and sat there like a jerk. I was the only one there. I did not want to do that at a table by myself, and they didn't want it either. They arranged for me to eat at 5:30 for dinner. It was good. Not great. The chef was not Japanese, but he was very funny. He made a lot of noise banging the spatula on the table. He did one or two tricks. It was not nearly as good as the way they do this in a land based restaurant. And the extra fee was $25 which is the same as or more than the charge at a land based restaurant. The food was good, but it was just shrimp, scallop and fried rice made on a griddle. In other words, it was not special food, it was the performance that should make the difference, and the performance was not as good as at local restaurants. And compared to local restaurants, the price was the same plus the cost of the main dining room meal I did not eat. I do not recommend this on the ship. It should be a great experience, and I suggest everyone tries it, but try it at a local restaurant close to home. The price will be the same and the performance should be better. Le Bistro sucked; it was horrible. Teppanaki was no big deal and it was costly. Cagney's was very good.

Those were the negatives of this cruise. And keep in mind, none of these negatives will keep me from cruising NCL again. They are areas that NCL can improve on. And the bottom line of the cruise was that I had a great vacation and a wonderful time on a beautiful ship.

[Solo1959]

This is a continuation of my review of my first cruise on NCL. Here I would like to offer some degree of comparison with my cruises on HAL and Carnival.

My first impression of the ship Norwegian Gem was that it was beautiful; it looked brand new, and it was spotlessly clean. Unlike the Carnival ships, however, the outside deck, especially deck 7, was not impressive. It lacked a wood deck being a plate metal floor. The forward portion of the deck was enclosed, but undecorated - simply a bland white unfinished metal. The Carnival decks were all wood and the forward section of the promenade, especially of the Spirit Class ships, was upgraded into an whimsical enclosed lounge. Not so on the Gem. I much prefer the beauty of the Carnival ship on the outside promenade deck. On the HAL Veendam, the decks look very nice, but they, too, are sheet metal in the Lido area, but at least that metal is fashioned such that it appears to be wood planking. Only if you accidentally drop something on the deck and stoop to pick it up and touch the deck with your finger can you tell that it is not real wood. I place Carnival in the top spot, the Veendam in second place, and NCL in the number three position. As a positive, the Gem did have lounge chairs on the promenade deck 7. The interior public spaces on all three was top notch, all equal. Yes, I know that HAL is known for its art work, and Carnival is lambasted for what is called flashy and over the top. Truth is that they did a beautiful job on all these three lines. None of these ships were bad. They were all beautiful. These differences are so nuanced as to make no real difference in my enjoyment of the cruise.

I preferred the main showroom on Carnival because the seating was more comfortable. The seats all had a table, there was room to walk to a center seat. On NCL the seating was like at a movie theater. The seats were individual, the seats folded up when you stood, and it was cramped. There was no table to place your drink. The best was on HAL which in addition to the good seating also had tables set up in front of the stage. That was the best of the best. But it is impractical to do on a large ship such as the GEM or a Carnival ship. It worked well on the smaller Veendam.

The best ships were the Carnival ships. I like the wooden decks. I like the highly technical showrooms. I like the big atrium and the glass elevators. I like the NCL and HAL ships equally. HAL's Veendam did not have a wow factor, but it was beautiful and well appointed. The NCL ship did have the wow factor but didn't have the detailed finishing touches found on HAL or Carnival.

The Carnival Spirit Class ships were by far the nicest of the four different Carnival ships, the HAL Veendam, and the NCL Gem. They were big, lavish, had a huge atrium with glass elevators, wood decking on the outside promenade and by the aft pool, a cover for the pool when the weather was inclement, large staterooms, a nicer stage in the main showroom, and a cute, distinctive whale tail funnel. On their Spirit Class ships, the promenade circumnavigates Deck 3 and is enclosed in a whimsical lounge in the front portion of the ship. The Gem and the Veendam were absolutely beautiful ships, and I have no complaints about them, but they were a step beneath the Carnival fleet that I have experienced. On all three I did get a good sense of being at sea. There was plenty of open deck space and there were amazing views.

As a smoker, I appreciated the many venues where smoking was permitted on the Gem on the promenade deck 7. Areas were clearly marked where smoking was permitted and sufficient ash trays were provided. On Carnival, smoking is limited to the starboard side of limited outside decks. And on the Glory and Victory, on the deck 3 exterior promenade where smoking is permitted, there are no ashtrays. HAL pretty much allowed smoking anywhere outdoors which might bother someone not smoking. NCL kept the Cigar Lounge which is a nice place to go to smoke when you are indoors. I do have a complaint about the Gem. It has to do with vaping. The internet assistant saw that I had one and told me, "please do not use that here. I know it is just vapor, but the smell bothers me." I asked her what it smells like, and she didn't answer but just walked away. If vaping is not permitted she should have said so. She should not have lied to me about the smell. It doesn't smell. And she should not have proactively told me not to use it.

The bed on NCL was the most comfortable. My mattresses on Carnival were sunken-in, not flat, and way too soft for my taste. The bed on HAL was decent, but I thought my NCL bed felt like being at home.

Room sizes are important. Carnival rooms are very big. HAL rooms are a close second. But the balcony room on the Gem, even though larger than inside or outside, was very small. Despite this, I thought my room on the Gem was my best. As I review the deck plan, I notice that my room accommodates three people. And as I looked around the room I could not see where the third person would sleep. On closer inspection, I saw that the sofa unfolds and opens up to a bed. This I do not like. It would make the entire room into one bed - wall to wall bed for three people. Three people would be sleeping next to each other. The sofa is right next to and touches the bed. You would have to be very cozy with the third person in the room because you will be sleeping together. I cannot think who I would ever want to sleep 3 to a bed with. If there were a bunk bed, or the bed was positioned in a different direction, it would be tight, but it would be better than sleeping three in a row. Well, it could be interesting.... I had the opportunity to poke my head into inside rooms across the hall from me. These rooms were very small. I do not know if I would be comfortable in an inside or outside room on the Gem.

Ice cream. I love the soft self-serve ice cream. This is not available on HAL. HAL offers scooped ice cream at certain times of the day. Carnival offers unlimited ice cream 24 hours a day all over the Lido Deck. On NCL, there is soft serve, but they only offer it with a cone and it is not available 24 hours. No dishes or spoons are available. You have to hunt down a spoon from someplace in one of the buffets, and hold onto it because spoons are hard to find. Then, you have to fill a coffee mug if you do not want to eat a cone. NCL offers scooped ice cream during meals. Carnival offers a sundae bar on sea days at 3:00. HAL offers only hard scooped ice cream and only at certain times of day. Carnival wins this contest. I can not imagine this being a deciding factor in which cruise to take. Carnival has 24 hour pizza and ice cream. NCL has a 24 hour table service comfort food restaurant. On HAL you need to go to Room Service during off hours, but the room service will bring meals, not just pickings. No one wins or loses on this one. All three are different. You learn what is offered and go with the flow. I don't know, could this be the deal breaker? NCL comes in second place, with ice cream during much of the day, and hand scooped ice cream at lunch and dinner. On HAL, they offered hand scooped ice cream when the buffet was open, but then you have to suffer without ice cream until the next day. One day on the Gem I was on a mission to get ice cream. By the time I had given up, I burned so may calories walking around looking for it that it almost wasn't worth it anymore.

Private Island. HAL and Carnival use Half Moon Cay. NCL uses Great Stirrup Cay. OK, the swimming area at Great Stirrup Cay can be rocky and the Half Moon Cay swimming area is much more sandy. That being said, both islands are equal. NCL is a little newer, their having just finished the new cabanas in the past week or two. Other than that, both islands are paradise. There is so much to do. Although excursions are offered, there is no need to spend money to enjoy the day. The beaches are free and there are free lounge chairs aplenty. Both islands serve a delicious B-B-Que lunch. The only advice is that if the choice is a cruise with the private island or the other cruise is without the private island, be sure to take the cruise with the private island stop. I have never sailed on Disney, but the better feature of the Disney island is that there are no tenders. The ships dock right on the island. Carnival/HAL and NCL I am certain are considering this. It is neither easy, cheap, nor environmentally friendly, but if it were possible to do, the cruise lines should strongly consider this option.

The Production shows on NCL were exactly like Carnival, and same quality as HAL, but different style. I am not finding as much live music on the Gem as on Carnival or HAL, and the music I am finding, though good, is not as good as on Carnival or HAL. Carnival music was Latin, cover bands, pop, HAL was piano, slow dance band, and orchestra. Very different styles, but equal quality. Here not as much and not as good. But still not bad!

One show was "Get Down Tonight" with the Gem production staff. It was wonderful. These shows are one of my favorite parts of my vacation. The dancing was wild and acrobatic, the costumes were pretty, the music was live from a six piece band, the singing was fun. All in all a great show highlighting music from the 1970s. How does this compare... I believe the show tonight was one-for-one exactly interchangeable and equal and and completely the same as the shows on the Carnival ships. If I were to find any difference at all, it might maybe be in the design differences between the Carnival theaters and the theater on the NCL Gem. The Carnival theaters are much more technologically advanced. They have movable stages and the stage is very deep. The Norwegian Gem stage was less deep and fixed. This difference would not change the quality of the singing dancing and costumes, but might limit the presentation of certain shows. I am convinced that the performers would be able to walk onto the Carnival stage and the Carnival performers could walk onto the NCL stage and pick-up the show easily. It is the same thing.

On the HAL Veendam, the production shows were quite different. They were not loud and flashy like the show last night. They did not have the pyrotechnics and technological thrills of the Carnival shows, but they were in a different class. They were more intimate. They showcased the talents of the individual performers. They seemed in my opinion to have a little more class. They were also excellent. The shows on all three lines were superb. I liked the shows on all of the ships. Carnival and NCL are basically the same. HAL was from a different mindset. These shows are one of the reasons why I enjoy taking a cruise. And they are all good.

The entertainment on all of the ships was exceptional. Main production shows. Although I absolutely love the high energy technological extravaganzas offered on NCL and Carnival, the shows on HAL were different. They had more class. They highlighted the talents of the individual performers. I do not wish to subtract from the production shows on the other lines, but HAL was different and when forced to choose, I pick HAL. Overall entertainment around the ship: This goes to Carnival with NCL as another top choice depending on who is cruising. On Carnival there was live music all around the ship all the time. There was a cover band, a Latin band, a jazz musician, a vocalist. They were talented and entertaining and high energy. Carnival also offers the Comedy Club. On NCL, if you are traveling as a family with children, NCL is a great choice. They offer Second City, Nickelodeon, a circus school, and many family activities. On HAL, the entertainment around the ship was more subdued. It was all excellent quality, but not as high energy. The fly on shows were the best on NCL. One of the shows, an acrobat show, was one of the best performances I have seen. To be honest, at first I expected the show to be a loser. And it started slow. But the performers built up the energy so that at the end everyone stood to give them an ovation.

On the Carnival Glory the last two times I sailed, there was live music on the Lido deck during sail-away. Last year it was a four piece cover band from the Philippines. They were EXCELLENT and I follow them on Facebook. On the Gem it was a DJ playing recorded music, and a staff person was on the deck getting people to dance. Earlier in the day there was a live band, but it was not nearly as good as the bands on Carnival. On HAL the orchestra played at sail-away. Gotta give credit to HAL on this.

Great breakfast buffet on the Gem. They offered anything you could possibly desire. One big difference between NCL and HAL is that NCL charges $2.95 a glass for fresh squeezed orange juice. On HAL, it is free and standard fare. It's what you get when you ask for orange juice. It was not available on Carnival.

The staff on the Gem is very friendly. So also on Carnival. Both lines are equal in how helpful and friendly staff are. They do not seem to know the word "no." Except maybe the waitress in Le Bistro. How does this compare to HAL? Honestly, HAL is in a class by itself. It seems that on NCL and Carnival, staff do not associate with passengers. But on HAL, certain staff including the entertainers, sales people in the shops, officers, bartenders all will sit with you, you can buy each other drinks. It seems on HAL that the friendliness is more sincere because the staff will stay with you and socialize. On Carnival and NCL they are friendly and polite in passing. HAL is a different world as far as relations between staff and passengers. This does NOT mean that staff on NCL and Carnival are unfriendly. No, they are wonderful. But the line is hard cut between the two groups of passengers and staff unlike on HAL.

More comments about the food. NCL has the buffet down to a science. There are no lines. And there are plenty of available tables to sit at. And the food selections are amazing. Carnival buffets are excellent, too. But there are long lines for the Mongolian Wok, the Burrito Bar, the Deli, the omelet station. At one time there used to be a variety at the buffet. One was Rotisserie, one was International, one was Asian, etc. Now many of the stations serve the same items. The Carnival buffets are amazing, there is a decadent amount of food. It is all very good. I have no complaints except for the lines at certain stations. The HAL buffets were also excellent and they served the MDR food at dinner. And the quality of the fruit and cold cuts was on another plane. But I think I give preference to the way the NCL buffets are run.

As far as the food - the main dining room and the buffet, I would rank NCL to be the best. The buffet on HAL may have had higher quality cold cuts and fruit, but the main dining room food was at the bottom of the three. Second would be Carnival. Third is HAL. But they were ALL very good. To say one was at the bottom is no disgrace. The worst was perfect. But on NCL, the buffets were well organized. There were no lines. There was plenty of seating. The variety of foods was unsurpassed. The Main Dining Room food was of high quality and there was excellent service. On Carnival, I enjoyed the traditional seating. The Main Dining Room was was delicious and there was an attention to detail that made the experience so much better. For example, a side order of green beans was stacked and tied together with perhaps a chive. It was beautiful and detailed. I also loved the dancing waiters. These are Fun Ships and the spirit carries into the dining room. The buffet on Carnival, although excellent, has been reduced to one menu that is the same at many of the buffet stations, but there are other venues such as Mongolian Wok, Deli, Fish and Chips, Burrito Bar, but there were long lines for these selections. On HAL, I personally did not care for the main dining room food. Some was bland, some was overly salty. But the buffet was excellent. All three were good. NCL was the best.

Finally, Cruise Directors. The cruise director on the Gem is the much heralded Sinan. I am not a fan of cruise directors. In my own personal very subjective opinion, the cruise director should plan entertainment events, schedule music, games, shows, host some shows, etc. and that's about it. I do not personally care for cheerleader-type entertainers. I know that I am on vacation. It is not necessary for the cruise director to continually shout, "You're on vacation!" and get everyone to shout that they are having a good time, then look disgusted and say, "I can't hear you," so that everyone cheers louder. I find that to be annoying. Sinan, like most other cruise directors, is the cheerleader type. I am sure he is a nice guy. I have no doubt that he competently schedules entertaining events, but I do not want to hear him tell me that I am having fun. I don't want him to ask the audience to respond by cheering, "Is anyone here on their honeymoon? ... How about celebrating an anniversary? ... Any one here celebrating a birthday? ..." Enough already! almost EVERYONE here is celebrating something. Put on the band, give the comedian a chance, let me see the ventriloquist or the magician or juggler. Why do all cruise directors all do this, on all lines, on all ships, since I started cruising in the 1960s? Obviously because almost everyone else DOES like this. I am alone here and I know it. I do not like the cheer leading and their telling me that I am having a good time. If I were having a good time, and the cruise director kept telling me that I was having a good time, I would change to having a bad time. I just plain do not like it. But I know that I am alone in this world I live in.

So, finding all cruise directors otherwise equal, who among them stood out, not considering the part that I do not like. Perhaps the guy on this cruise. Sinan. I do not know if he has an input into the production shows or the fly on performers. That might all be arranged centrally by NCL main office. I don't even know if he has input into the musicians and performers around the ship. Sure, he can have them fired and replaced if he sees that they are not good or are not a good fit for the company, but I think he is issued a cadre of musicians, production staff and fly on performers and it is then up to him to utilized them around the ship. But Sinan was visible. He performed on stage. He was always out and about on deck. He did a nice job as the host of Deal or No Deal. It is either he or the NCL main office that did such a good job here. Since he is the front man, the on-board face of NCL entertainment, I have to give him the credit for a nice job.

The service on HAL was the best, Carnival a close second, and NCL was low on the list, maybe a five or six out of a possible three. On the Veendam, the staff pampers you. Their warmth seems genuine. They are helpful, will carry your food at the buffet and serve you. They offer personalized attention. It is a world above the service on the Carnival and especially NCL. Next would be the staff on Carnival. They, too, were very personable and friendly. I still do not know how so many Carnival staff learn our names. I maintain a friendship with and email contact with people from Carnival. They do treat you very well. It is not so much the service on Carnival as the eagerness to please and be friendly. But even on Carnival, waitstaff in the buffet come to the table and pour iced tea, lemonade, coffee, etc. so you do not need to forfeit your seat. They don't simply greet you with a smile and a hello, they use your name. To be fair, service on NCL was generally good and most of the staff were very nice. But on NCL, only one staff person greeted me by name. And the problems I identified all relate to service on the Gem.

My next post will be a summation of the cruise on the Gem.

[Solo1959]

This is a continuation of my cruise on the Norwegian Gem. I want to give my final thoughts on the cruise.

I miss being on the Gem. NCL did a nice job of giving me a great vacation. The food was great, the ship was great, the ports were great, the shows were great, the room is beautiful, the buffets were unsurpassed. I will definitely consider cruising on NCL again and even the Gem which was a nice ship. Yes there were glitches; it was imperfect, but I had a relaxing fun enjoyable time. I wound up breaking almost exactly even in the casino. So I spent a great deal of time playing roulette and having much fun. I met some very nice people. I had fun on the excursions. All in all, this vacation was a win for me. I loved the balcony room.

NCL needs to improve in a few areas. All of them relate to service. The room steward, the Le Bistro waitress, etc. If they fix what is wrong, they could be the top cruise line out there.

OK, here is my ranking. All of the cruises I have taken have been excellent. The best were my cruises on the Carnival Glory 5 nights to Canada. Next would be the first two of my Carnival Miracle cruises to the Eastern Caribbean. This cruise on NCL Gem is equal to the cruise on HAL Veendam to Bermuda. Then my last Carnival Miracle cruise. Next is the two night nowhere cruise on Carnival Pride, followed up by the four night Carnival Victory cruise to Halifax, NS. I am scheduled for another Glory cruise to Canada in September. I did not choose the Miracle cruise this time because after three times on the same cruise, I thought it would be played out. That's why I selected this cruise on the Gem. And I am glad I did. I had a great time.

[xenagurl]

I really enjoyed your review. Very detailed and interesting. :)

 

You cracked me up about "cheerleader" cruise directors. I happen to love it/them, but I still thought how you wrote that was great. I literally laughed out loud. :D

 

Just a note, if "vaping" is that steam that comes from e-cigarettes. It does have a scent. (At least some do) I started smelling from it once before I even knew what it was. It does smell better than traditional cigs, but it has a scent that I assume probably irritates some people.

[Laszlo]

Great review, I agree 100% about the cruise director. We all know why were there we don't need to be reminded.

[callmebetty]

I love That you broke it up into sections!

My hubby and I are still trying to figure out the waiter baby math :)

We encountered a similar situation with our butler, ironically on the last night of our last cruise when he actually took the time to speak with us!

We are going to give the gem a a try and I plan to write my review in section like you did...

 

Thank you thank you thank you for taking the time to post!

[Hopes4]

Waiter arrives home, jumps into bed with his wife and creates a baby.

3 months of vacation - heading back to work - wife is 3 months pregnant.

6 months into his 9 month contract, wife gives birth.

9 months - contract is over - go home to see 3 month old baby.

3 months of vacation, baby is now 6 months old - go back to work.

 

Seems possible to me.

[mommyto2girls]

I cannot believe you completely left out how much fun the Casino was!

 

Andrea

[Solo1959]

You cracked me up about "cheerleader" cruise directors. I happen to love it/them, but I still thought how you wrote that was great. I literally laughed out loud. :D

I know, it's just me [and at least one other guy who replied].:)

[Solo1959]

My hubby and I are still trying to figure out the waiter baby math :)

OK, OK, Hopes4 in the next post uses "new math" and proves it can be done.:rolleyes:

[Solo1959]

Waiter arrives home, jumps into bed with his wife and creates a baby.

3 months of vacation - heading back to work - wife is 3 months pregnant.

6 months into his 9 month contract, wife gives birth.

9 months - contract is over - go home to see 3 month old baby.

3 months of vacation, baby is now 6 months old - go back to work.

 

Seems possible to me.

Funny, I thought I ran through the possible combinations. No doubt, yours works. He is a daddy!

[Solo1959]

I cannot believe you completely left out how much fun the Casino was!

 

Andrea

Andrea! It's you! Wasn't that a blast? I had so much fun there. I was up, I was down, then further down, then way up, by the time we left, I was about even. I am amazed, I had a small casino budget and it lasted me the entire week. You were doing good, too! I loved the new guy and also Simba. They were the best. Welcome home! Hope we sail again sometime.

[mommyto2girls]

Andrea! It's you! Wasn't that a blast? I had so much fun there. I was up, I was down, then further down, then way up, by the time we left, I was about even. I am amazed, I had a small casino budget and it lasted me the entire week. You were doing good, too! I loved the new guy and also Simba. They were the best. Welcome home! Hope we sail again sometime.

 

Yes it was a blast..I was definitely up by the time we left. We are suffering some post cruise depression but other than that we are counting down our next NCL cruise. It was fun having you as my roulette neighbor every night! Hopefully the new guy wil understand payouts by the time we are back on the ship New Years Eve!

[vivavegas]

Welcome Back! Great review! Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise!:)

[boopsahoy]

I agree about the "cheerleaders" and also love the Gem casino. Great report!

[Coastalbreezes]

Great review! I agree with you about the bottle of wine...what difference does it make if one or two people drink it?!

 

Tracy

[Maryfrei]

Nice review, thanks!:)

[emcelh]

Great review! I agree with you about the bottle of wine...what difference does it make if one or two people drink it?!

 

Tracy

 

Not sure what promotion you're speaking of, but might it be a bottle of wine included with 2 cover charges paid. OP was alone.

[johnsak123]

WOW what a comprehensive review. I must say on many occasions I agree with you. Especially the BS story the waiter was telling to get a tip. I traveled with two friends who shared a cabin and I in my own cabin. We both shared the same butler who laid a BS story on them real thick to get a bigger tip. he never once mentioned to me any part of the story he told my firends. He knew I wassnt going to buy anything he was selling. I will say that I think your comment A under friendliness of staff is a little ridiculous. The guy was just being nice and how you interpreted it is in your mind. Of course I am not saying you are wrong but whether sincere or not he was trying.

Either way thanks again

BTW I just wanted to add that I on one occasion I sailed by myself and I think NCL doesnt take into consideration that people travel alone. There were no specials for a single diner at the specialty restaurants and for the first few days wherever i went and requested a table for 1, I got an awww you are alone with a puzzeld look of pity on their face.

[chill6x6]

Enjoyed your review as well!

 

The sad story syndrome issue... Here's the way I handle it. IF the dining room waitstaff/cabin steward does an exceptional job, they get an exceptional gratuity regardless of a sad story one may or may not tell. If they don't, they get no extra gratuity. PERIOD. I really have no way of knowing if sad story is factual or NOT. I DO know the average cruise line personnel has had a rougher go of it than I have.

[yoyocruiser]

I really want to thank you for your review. It was balanced, fair, and most importantly gave very concrete examples and level of detail. The detail is what is really helpful as opposed to the opinions many people post. I did not agree with some of your concerns--but what was so helpful to me is that you gave enough detail that I could then decide--for myself--whether or not that factor/situation would bother me or impact my cruise. For example--your sense that the staff person who spoke to you was very insincere. What was great was you very specifically gave the reasons you thought the staff person was insincere. Now from your description I was able to say "Gee, that would not bother me at all." Which by the way--does not detract at all from the fact that it bothered you. I just love that you gave enough descriptive detail so that the information could be interpreted in terms of how the situation would have an impact on me. Overall it provided a high validity and value to your review. Also, your comaprison of lines was excellent--I only sail NCL for a variety of reasons, but honestly, you gave one of the most detailed comparisons I ahve ever read. And again--it was very descriptive with full reasons given for why you felt the way you did (therefore a reader could again decide if these same criterai would be important to them.

 

I also just want to say in general that for the sake of solo travelers I really wish the cruise lines would make more of an effort to meet their needs--and especially nto to make them feel awkward or uncomfortable. They really did it right in cagney's when they jsut poured you asmall glass of wine--I mean small gesture--but it made you feel comfortable and appreciated.

 

Again, thank you so much for yoru review.

[turning40withMickey]

Very thoughtful and detailed report, Tom.

 

Glad that the casino treated you better after the slot pull! ;) We had better luck with the slots later as well, and came away happy.

 

I will say that our cabin steward was incredible, he DID know our names right away and always spoke to us by name, and was quite a visible presence. He straightened the cabin several times a day, left impressive towel animals each day, and was one of the hardest working individuals I have ever encountered! I had several conversations with him, and discovered that he was taking care of 17 cabins each day. He had no sad stories, but interesting conversation and both my husband and I were very impressed with him. I think he may have been the exception on this sailing, as our friends were not very happy with the lack of attention they got in their balcony cabin, either.

 

I agree with yoyocruiser that your cruise report is very detailed and comprehensive! THanks!!!

[Solo1959]

Thank you all for your comments. This was my first time on NCL. I had heard very mixed stories about the line and I admit I was a bit apprehensive. I am very happy I took this cruise, and I hope to cruise on NCL again. I did have a great vacation on a beautiful ship with great entertainment and delicious food with a nice group of people sailing. Plus, I saw whales! Most of my comments related to things I heard about before the cruise, some of the mixed comments, and I wanted to place my own interpretation on them.

 

I also just want to say in general that for the sake of solo travelers I really wish the cruise lines would make more of an effort to meet their needs--and especially nto to make them feel awkward or uncomfortable. They really did it right in cagney's when they jsut poured you asmall glass of wine--I mean small gesture--but it made you feel comfortable and appreciated.

Thank you very much for your reply. Cagney's did right when they gave me the wine. If I were to buy a similar bottle locally, the bottle might cost $15, NCL gets it for probably half that. One glass costs them very little. But it earns them good will and good reviews.

 

Very thoughtful and detailed report, Tom.

 

Glad that the casino treated you better after the slot pull! ;) We had better luck with the slots later as well, and came away happy.

 

I will say that our cabin steward was incredible, he DID know our names right away and always spoke to us by name, and was quite a visible presence. He straightened the cabin several times a day, left impressive towel animals each day, and was one of the hardest working individuals I have ever encountered! I had several conversations with him, and discovered that he was taking care of 17 cabins each day. He had no sad stories, but interesting conversation and both my husband and I were very impressed with him. I think he may have been the exception on this sailing, as our friends were not very happy with the lack of attention they got in their balcony cabin, either.

 

I agree with yoyocruiser that your cruise report is very detailed and comprehensive! THanks!!!

Thank you! FYI, even though we lost, I loved the slot pull. I am going to see if we can arrange that in September on the Carnival Glory. It was a lot of fun and it is a good way to get to know each other. The M&G was so well planned, I really appreciate it. It was nice meeting you.

[jayjaykaykay]

Hey Tom,sorry you found some things lacking on the Gem

I have to say,the Segway tour was the most fun I've had in a long time,especially when Peter and the other instructor let us try the one's without govenors on them!Hope to see you at sea again sometime. Happy travels:)