gem reviews

[markf]

Would  like  to hear some  reviews  from the  Gem that returned a day late.

Not so much about the last day but  the  crusie  in general--food, enetertainment  etc..

 

[amberjohn]

Not sure if this will help but it's our review from 2017:

 

[Rhea58]

Entertainment was varied:    juggler, comedian, Broadway type shows etc

Take this cruise annually for last 8 years and food has deteriorated quite a bit

Friendly crew and good cruise staff

[markf]

thanks--going  soon  I am  not  expecting to be  wowed!!

Chose the  cruise  due  to being in NY, less than an hour  to the pier  

Dissapointing  to hear the deteriration as  NCL was  our go  to  cruise--now it  is  MSC  in the  YC , but  we will deal with it!!!

[Rhea58]

Same for me - no airfare.  The Reuben sandwich in O'Sheehans is really good

[Sandysandy]

I was on that cruise too.  3rd time on the Gem, still a good looking ship.  Food has definitely deteriorated over the years.  Had the drinks package for the first time and would do so again.  Friendly staff but need more servers out by pool area. I found a lack of entertainment and music by the pool or it ended early.  I liked that you could just walk in 1 minute before a show and still find seating as opposed to not even being able to get a reservation on larger ships.

[NH Cruisers]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 6:51 AM, Rhea58 said:

Entertainment was varied:    juggler, comedian, Broadway type shows etc

Take this cruise annually for last 8 years and food has deteriorated quite a bit

Friendly crew and good cruise staff

For the last 8 years all we hear is how the food is deteriorating from many reviews on these boards.  How can there be anything left?

[hladygirl]

We have found the opposite. We have found the MDR food getting better and better each cruise over the last ten years. Found the specialty dining quality lacking last cruise in the fall 2018.

[hateswaterloves2cruise]

Food is definitely subjective.  We ate in Cagney's 3 times and every meal was delicious.  Prime rib and filet mignon was outstanding.  We were very disappointed in LaCucina.  Menu has changed and the items we ordered were so-so.  Best thing there was the tiramsu dessert.  LeBistro was good and for some reason Moderno did not do it for us this time.  We ate at Grand Pacific once and the other main dining room 3 times.  Good service and food was certainly edible.  I really don't expect gourmet food on a ship serving 2000+ dinners each night.  Loved the Great Outdoors.  Had the drink package and never had a difficult time getting drinks.  Even though we are 5 hours from NYC it is still easier to sail from there unless we have gone to Florida for vacation.  Thought the crew handled the extra night very well.  We'll be back!!

[Von & John]

Our first Norwegian Cruise was on the Wind in 2006.  We enjoyed the food & Beverage.  We have never stuck with one line & select our cruises mainly by Itinerary, Timing & Value.  We enjoy Celebrity, Princess & NCL.

 

For us, we believe NCL food hit rock bottom on our 2009 NCL Dawn Cruise.  It was so bad, we had determined we would not cruise NCL again.   Then John started reading about the Ultimate Dining Plan you could buy (before it was included as a perk).  We thought we'd give it a try in January 2011 we cruised on the Jade.  Twelve Nights in the Med & 12 Nights of fantastic food in the Specialty Restaurants!!!  We then decided we'd cruise on NCL again, as long as we purchased the UDP. 

 

We mixed in a few Celebrity & Princess Cruises over the years and enjoyed our food on the Epic (2014) & the Spirit (2015).  At that time the UDP was unlimited & covered the length of the cruise.

 

Returned to NCL this past year on the Jewel Transpacific (2018).  We heard the quality of MDR food had improved - so we only bought a -Meal Plan for the 19 Nights we were on board.  We enjoyed the 7 meals we purchased.  However, except for the fantastic meal in Moderno - the Specialty Dining Meals were not quite on the same level as they had been in the past.  The good news...  Tsars (MDR) had definitely improved & we enjoyed the majority of our other dinners there... 

 

Bottom line - in our opinion the Specialty Dining quality has slipped some - but still enjoyable.  However, the Main Dining Room food quality has improved substantially since the 2009 NCL Dawn Cruise.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Von & John