Norwegian Gem cruise review

[Canadian cruiser452]

Me and my wife drove down from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (9 hour drive) and stayed at the Holiday Inn - Fort Lee who offers a park and cruise package for $160. The taxi to and from the port is $70, so we still saved quite a bit of money by not parking at the port ($400). Our ports were San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts, in that order.

 

We arrived at the port at 12:30 and were on the ship within an hour, so embarkation for us was fast and smooth.

 

Our cabin was on deck 4 exterior with a port hole, which turns out was a bit of a blessing because while the ship rocked for the first few days heading out, then again returning back to NYC, we hardly noticed the rocking on our deck. Michael was our steward who did a really excellent job in maintaining and cleaning our cabin - at each port we decided to buy him a small food item - something different that added a touch to him for the hard work he put in.

 

One thing we did when we booked the cruise was to make our dinner reservations, which guaranteed our dinner sitting at whatever time we selected. During the cruise we noticed quite a few other passengers having to wait close to 30 minutes to be seated, so we highly recommend making the reservations (I would also bring a copy of the reservation confirmations in case there was a conflict, but that was not even necessary - everything was done smoothly).

 

We did pre-reserve at Cagney's (the steak restaurant) as well as at Teppanyaki's which was the only restaurant to have at least three sellouts each night of the cruise. I highly (to the nth degree) recommend the Teppanyaki - the food is excellent and is made in front of the guests by a chef who puts on a really great show for the guests. The steak at Cagney's was pretty good just the same.

 

The Pacific and Magenta dining rooms, when I first saw online pictures, appeared as if they were designed by members of the CNIB, however, in reality, the design and appearance were pretty nice. Both restaurants are on the same deck and offer the same menus, so if you are not able to get into one, the other may be available. As well, we had a different dinner during the cruise which I thought was somewhat impressive considering it was a 12 night cruise (I did expect some repetition before the cruise started).

 

We ate lunch a couple of times at the buffet, choosing to make salads with grilled meat. The salad vegetables changed everyday providing us with a variety, but we also ate several times at the outdoor bbq on deck 12 which offered really good grilled meat, vegetables and a variety of salads. Lunch was also available at the Pacific dining room which was also really good.

 

We ate most breakfasts at the Pacific dining room which had a repetitious menu, but the only dish we repeated was the eggs benedict which was really good. Other than that, we had a different breakfast each morning.

 

We chose to eat this way because the portions are controlled at the restaurants, whereas at the buffet, it is pretty much a free for all, although the food was really good compared to Carnival cruises.

 

One other thing we did pre-cruise was to research the various ports looking for different excursions and researching the various excursions. We did 3 excursions on our own, and 3 through the ship, but I must caution that if something occurs during an excursion we did on our own that delays our return to the port, it was possible the ship could have left without us. Also, at some islands the locals can be extremely pushy towards visitors, so be careful where you go on your own (for this cruise, do not do anything on your own at St. Lucia - the taxi fares are insane and the locals deceptive to visitors). As a second cautionary note, when visiting other places, do not look lost, but rather have a look of self-confidence and self-assuredness.

 

At San Juan we walked to San Cristobal fort (20 minute uphill walk), followed by a walk into old San Juan for some shopping and a bit of dining. The fort closes at 6pm now, so arriving at the port at 3pm and disembarking by 3:30 allowed us plenty of time to visit the fort. The excursion on our ship was a sightseeing tour of San Juan followed by shopping in Old San Juan, but due to traffic, the people who took this excursion were not able to do very much shopping. On top of that, they did not visit the fort - they just drove past it. This is definitely an excursion you can do on your own.

 

At St. Thomas we walked to the sky ride which was not even a 10 minute walk from the port (amazingly, a taxi driver offered us a ride there!). This excursion allowed us to take some really nice photos of the area and we enjoyed a really neat parrot show run by a woman I nicknamed Mrs. Parrot. From there we took a taxi ride on our own to Magen's Beach and were able to spend more time there than those who booked the excursion through the ship (just make sure you leave at least 90 minutes before the ship is to depart).

 

At St. Maarten we did a scenic tour through the ship. We were able to learn about the French and Dutch sides of the island, then went to a beach for a couple of hours (farther down is the topless area if anyone is interested in that sort of thing!). One excursion I was interested in doing was ziplining at Loterie Farm - this one is not mentioned on the NCL website, but in the end, we did not feel like doing this. Some of the locals mentioned it is pretty good there, I just do not have any first hand information on this place.

 

At St. Lucia we did the Diamond Falls and Botanical Gardens excursion through the ship. As a disclaimer, people are not allowed to stand under the falls anymore so if you see that picture, know it is false advertising. It is a 90 minute drive there and back and we could only spend 1 hour at the Gardens, but it would have been nice if we could have spent more time there. As a secondary caution, I did find out it costs $160 by taxi to go there if you want a 'private tour', but there is no difference between the private tour and the ship tour, so do this through the ship and you will save quite a bit of money.

 

At Barbados, we visited Andromeda Botanical Gardens, which is not listed on the NCL website. It is a less than a 30 minute walk to Fairchild bus station or you can take a cab from the port there. Yes, Barbados does offer public transportation which is extremely safe and even walking to the bus station, we felt completely safe (although I was nagged by a taxi driver wanting to know why I knew where I was going, but had never visited Barbados before - it is called RESEARCH!). If you go by taxi, only go as Fairchild Station - it will save you a truckload of money compared to taking the taxi all the way to the botanical gardens. Bus fare return is less than $5.00 U.S. so it will be a lot cheaper than by taxi - just make sure you leave in time before the ship leaves - it is a 45 minute bus ride and roughly 40 minutes walking back (the return bus terminal is a bit farther back, but you can see Fairchild Station so it is easy to walk back, or again, take a taxi back to the port - your choice. The gardens is really nice and I highly recommend going there - you will be impressed.

 

At St. Kitts we did the train ride and scenic drive through the ship - it cost $10 less per person not including cab fare if you did this on your own - as well, we were delayed in returning back to the port due to a malfunction on the train, but NCL did reimburse us a bit so we were okay with that. The train ride was still really nice, we took a lot of pictures and the scenery was really spectacular.

 

As for nightly entertainment, we saw most of the shows which were really entertaining and done extremely well. We especially enjoyed the second last night on the ship in which the entire crew came onto the stage to thank the passengers for choosing the Gem. We were touched by this, and it allowed us to see the faces who behind the scenes worked very hard and were very professional in making our cruise really good. The entertainment at Spinnaker's lounge was a lot of fun, very entertaining and could be crass at times (watch out for the Quest challenge - you will laugh your heads off!).

 

Both me and my wife were really impressed with this cruise, the staff and how well organized everything was, and we cannot wait to go on another NCL cruise.

 

I think I covered everything, but if I missed something, I will add it in later on.

[carribbeanmic]

Thanks for the great review, we are leaving on the Gem Jan 2. Two questions for you, what time are the main production shows? and do they have a retractable roof for the swimming pool?

[jam&tea mom]

We've sailed the Gem twice, definitely no retractable roof for the pool. We've enjoyed the production shows but I can't remember what they were. The Gem has a great crew and we hope to sail again on her.

[Lime in]

We went in dec on the 12 day cruise.

The show was 7:30 pm for first night. The other nights had 2 shows and they were 7 and 9 PM. Shows were pretty good and lasted about 45 to 60 mins.

[CruisinMaterial]

Thank you for the awesome review! Some crew friends transferred to the Gem I know so I'm happy you had an amazing guest experience on the ship. :)

 

Thank you for your tips in port. Going off the beaten path is what I do now when I go to the Caribbean since I've been to some of these islands so many times. Your tips and research are quite helpful. Barbados is a very nice island. I've only been twice but the locals are SO friendly!

 

Thanks again and happy holidays. :)

[3DBeach]

Thank you for sharing a great review.

 

 

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[UandMe4Ever]

Thanks for the great review, we are leaving on the Gem Jan 2. Two questions for you, what time are the main production shows? and do they have a retractable roof for the swimming pool?

 

Hi, the Embarkation day, only one show I believe it was 7:30. All other shows are 7 and 9 p.m. and run only about 45 min. The last show also is 1 showing about 7:30...(or the one before that, I'm not sure).

 

We didn't go to all shows, as they didn't interest us much. However, the Acrobats are not to be missed!!! The Lounge entertainment was Leo, guitar player, was better than most shows!!! Sorry.

 

Food is subjective. Extremely SALTY!!!, Be careful if you have issues.....Not a great variable menu, but not bad. We preferred the old menu much better.

 

Aside from these facts, you will have a great cruise.

 

Stay safe.

[UandMe4Ever]

Thanks for the great review, we are leaving on the Gem Jan 2. Two questions for you, what time are the main production shows? and do they have a retractable roof for the swimming pool?

 

Hi, the Embarkation day, only one show I believe it was 7:30. All other shows are 7 and 9 p.m. and run only about 45 min. The last show also is 1 showing about 7:30...(or the one before that, I'm not sure).

 

We didn't go to all shows, as they didn't interest us much. However, the Acrobats are not to be missed!!! The Lounge entertainment was Leo, guitar player, was better than most shows!!! Sorry.

 

Food is subjective. Extremely SALTY!!!, Be careful if you have issues.....Not a great variable menu, but not bad. We preferred the old menu much better.

 

Aside from these facts, you will have a great cruise.

 

Stay safe.

 

PS There is NO retractable roof on the Gem...

[sparks1093]

Thanks for the review. We can't wait to sail the Gem again and if we could snag this itinerary it would be twice as sweet.

[hollyboop]

My husband and I were on the same 12 nite itinerary on the Gem 12/1. We had no fears for our safety on any island. We got off the ship and on each island took a taxi to a beach. Often we knew where we wanted to go, but on St. Kitts we took the suggestion of the taxi driver and went to Cockleshell Beach. We had no desire to have to adhere to a schedule set up by someone else. Most days we left the boat around 10:30 am and had wonderful beach days. Why spend extra money for excursions if you want relaxing beach days? The Gem is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew. Enjoy!

 

 

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[Canadian cruiser452]

One comment I have about shopping at the ports is the stores advertise that shopping is duty free which is not entirely true. As a Canadian, when I am coming back into Canada from abroad (including cruises) and I am bringing back goods that cost more than the allowed duty limit, I will be subject to tariffs at the border, regardless where I purchased the goods. I am not sure if this is the same for Americans, but this might be good to know, or be aware of.

 

We did most of our shopping at stores within the island where prices were much cheaper that at port stores, we also wanted to have better odds of keeping our money on the islands and doing more for local economies rather than at port stores where the money will go to a multinational with little promise the money will benefit the locals (I only saw a couple of local workers working at port stores at the 6 ports we visited) - the rest were East Indian origin (and no, I am not being bigoted, just observant).

 

As an example of price comparisons, at St. Kitts I could have purchased Appleton rum for roughly $11 U.S. compared to $20ish U.S. at port stores.

[dlynn0366]

Thank you for your review, we are also from Ottawa and cruising the Gem Mar/15. We are flying into NY though the night before as driving is not an option seeing as one of us would not make it to the port. I've only seen commercials for the Amazing Race but do believe we would qualify based on the drama that takes place when a couple gets lost :) Several times we have flown out of Montreal so we could get a direct flight to Miami to catch the Epic & this year did direct Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale just to miss the drama of getting into the Montreal airport.

[Canadian cruiser452]

Thank you for your review, we are also from Ottawa and cruising the Gem Mar/15. We are flying into NY though the night before as driving is not an option seeing as one of us would not make it to the port. I've only seen commercials for the Amazing Race but do believe we would qualify based on the drama that takes place when a couple gets lost :) Several times we have flown out of Montreal so we could get a direct flight to Miami to catch the Epic & this year did direct Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale just to miss the drama of getting into the Montreal airport.

 

Have you considered flying out of Syracuse? It's a 3 hour drive from Ottawa and it will save you quite a bit of money compared to flying out of Montreal or elsewhere in Canada because of the airport taxes. For our cruise from Orlando that is what we did. We took a delta flight from Syracuse to Atlanta to Orlando. There is even a park and cruise package with the Ramada Inn at Syracuse that includes a shuttle to and from the airport, but you would need to check with the hotel to see if they still do that.

[tokidoki]

Welcome home! We r big fans of the nightly entertainment in the theatre, just wondering if u remember any of the production shows by name and u mentioned something about acrobats? thx!!!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review of your cruise.

[Susie51]

Thank you for you review. I appreciate the advice you shared with us.

[Canadian cruiser452]

Welcome home! We r big fans of the nightly entertainment in the theatre, just wondering if u remember any of the production shows by name and u mentioned something about acrobats? thx!!!

 

They were a French couple, married to each other and they did perform with Cirque Soleil at one point. If that is the show you are talking about, that was one of the best shows during the 12 day cruise, and I highly advise not to miss this show. At the end of the show we were just speechless with a huge WOW!

 

There was also a classical guitarist which I enjoyed since I play guitar, but I did notice several people leaving mid-performance. There was a juggler which we missed, a comedian who performed a couple of times, the Second City troupe did a performance and the cruise ship performers did a few shows which were really entertaining. A trio of women performed twice doing a tribute to Motown which was also entertaining. However, I am not sure if it is the same performers/shows from one cruise to the next.