NCL Gem 5/4-5/11: The Good, The Bad....the Better Than I Expected

Disclaimer: this was my first NCL cruise! :)

I was very nervous going into this. We have cruised on either brand new or pretty new ships, and I knew the Gem was slightly older (although refurb'd). That, combined with a new cruise line, made my anxiety level a bit higher.

However, I made the right choice!

Embarkation: Meh. I think this was the longest I'd sat in line on any cruise embarkation day. The kicker was that the Gem sailed at 3pm, so we all needed to be on by 1. Let's just say that didn't happen. We made it on and into the MDR with five minutes to spare for lunch service, and there were a LOT of people behind us. However, all the NCL reps we encountered during the process were both friendly and helpful.

MDR: My biggest disappointment of the cruise. Because of the specialty restaurant offer of booking three online prior to the cruise, we didn't even get into a MDR until several days into the cruise. We tried dinner twice there. I found the offerings uninspiring, although my salmon was perfectly fine the first night in Magenta. The second time we tried Grand Pacific, and my steak (ordered medium) came out well done. If the waiter had ever come back to check, I would have sent it back, but he didn't. I would have dealt with medium rare or even medium well, but well done, blech. So I'm giving a thumbs down for the MDRs on the Gem. :(

Garden Cafe/Great Outdoors (buffet): I was pleased. The Great Outdoors was one of my favorite places on the ship, full of sun on our sailing. Thanks to all here on CC who recommended the pretzel rolls and the crepes. We had the crepes twice, and my husband (who is typically extremely focused on his diet) could not control himself with the pretzel rolls! Otherwise, offerings were what I would expect. We ate there every morning for breakfast and every day for lunch. I would suggest to anyone who likes oatmeal or muesli at home to try the muesli in the buffet. It was fantastic. I wish I could get that recipe.

After the MDR disappointments, we did the buffet for dinner on our last night. They had roast turkey on the carving station that was simply wonderful.

Biggest disappointment: no beverage service in the buffet . There is a small area near the front labelled "Bar." Not that I wanted to wash down my eggs with a Jack and Coke, but even the coffee cart was hard to flag down in some spots. This is one thing I'd love to see changed in the future with the Gem: get the drinks brought to the table by a server. It's hard to navigate the busy buffet and snag a table and get your drink. Hubby and I took turns camping at the table to make sure we didn't lose it. I did see tables cleared by accident by the staff. Oops.

Specialty Restaurants: We tried Teppanyaki, Orchid Garden, Cagney's, Le Bistro and the Italian one, whose name is escaping me right now.

Teppanyaki: I'm drooling just remembering it. Not for the fried rice (I've had better at a Hibachi) but my filet was mouthwateringly delicious. And huge. I seriously couldn't finish it. And the green tea cake for dessert gets a big thumbs up.

Orchid Garden: Gah. No. The only redeeming piece of this lunch was the sushi my husband had. My char siu with noodles was bland. The service was horrible (took 20 mins to get a ginger ale), and there were only a few tables occupied. So go for the sushi, but skip the rest, IMO.

Cagney's: We enjoyed it. However, I thought the steak at Teppanyaki was far more memorable. The biggest thing for me at Cagney's was the bread. Yum. Extremely friendly service, though- they were excellent.

Le Bistro: Okay, totally overshadowed by all the naked breasts on the wall. We actually started calling it the Breastaurant. We sat right next to one and I was totally distracted, haha. Didn't care for the appetizer, but the filet was wonderful, really very good, and the waiter did bring out a plate of the pork tenderloin for us to try, which was also excellent. Do try this out, even if you are not a traditional fan of French food. And we had fondue for 2 for dessert. What's not to love? Oh, right, all the naked breasts. But hey, that might be a plus for some of you. :)

Italian: Husband LOVED this. I thought it was just okay. The pesto served with the bread at the beginning is excellent. Service here was also kind of meh. I watched my dinner plate sitting on a sideboard next to my table for 10 minutes before someone actually put it in front of me, by which time it was tepid. :(

We did the Presumed Murdered lunch and enjoyed it very much. I would recommend it.

We made a reservation for the Jazz Brunch but unfortunately, not enough people signed up and it was cancelled.

Activities: Highlights of our trip included Leo (guitar and vocals, usually at Magnums). Wow. I discovered Leo halfway through the cruise and wish we found him earlier. He was wonderful. Do go see him if you are on the Gem before August! We loved the Second City shows, although the adult one on the last night was particularly memorable, Dan at Quest....best quest we've been to. I was crying with laughter. I saw more of people's bodies than I wanted to, but wow, was it a great Quest. :) We enjoyed Jeff Harms' comedy and the aerial show of Duo Volygi (I may have misspelled that), as well, in the main theatre.

We caught a bit of Aubrey Grant unplugged in the atrium....wow, does that man have a voice. Lovely.

Can't rate the kids clubs because we left ours at home for the week, although every morning we laughed at the entry on the freestyle for the "Under 3 Zoo." One of us would inevitably say, "Want to go pet the under 3 year olds and feed them peanuts?" because we really missed our kids this week although we had a great time. :)

Pool area was lots of fun, great music. We actually did not get off the ship at any of the ports, so we had days that were easier as far as getting chairs than others. However, we were fine going up a level for a lounger and looking over the pool area, and we were always able to get a lounger somewhere.

Disembarkation was quick and smooth. Not NCLs fault but I was kind of appalled that there is no seating in the Manhattan terminal. Like, none. Our bus wasn't due until 1pm and we were off by 930am. We visited Grand Central Station and had early lunch and were back in plenty of time for our bus.

Yes, I plan to cruise NCL again. It was lovely just packing a carryon suitcase. I had tshirts and shorts, one skirt and one sundress and I think I had to recycle the skirt once (didn't realize one of the MDRs was "dressier" than the other).

Thanks, NCL...we had a wonderful time!

Thanks for the review. How long did the embarkation process take?

Hmm. I know we got there about 1130. There was a ton of traffic in NYC (not sure if it was an abnormal level or not), so the bus had to do the whole seek alt route thing.

I don't recall the exact time, but I can tell you there was 5 mins left of lunch service in Grand Pacific. We were almost the last people seated. I feel like it might have been 1:30? and we went straight to the MDR once on board.

Thanks for the review. We will be on her in 19 days!

Thanks for the review and in particular the buffet info. We sail on Saturday.

you guys will have a great time. As far as tackling the buffet, we had next to no trouble getting a beautiful seat when we walked our plates down to the Great Outdoors. You'll just have to get up to get coffee and come back. Trying to snag an indoor table can be tricky. Our sailing was sold out; maybe yours will be a little lighter.

Definitely visit Leo @ Magnums. He's particularly excellent with the James Taylor tribute. :) On our sailing, the seating was taken pretty early, so you may want to do a walkby. He had mentioned a very slim crowd for him on the previous sailing so I suppose it's all to your tastes, anyway. Have a wonderful cruise!

Thank you for your review --- We hit all the specialty restuarants enjoyed them all and in the one mdr I went to was perfect -- prime rib dinner "excellent" --- buffet could have used an up grade on the food since my last time on Gem ( a year ago)

We were in the haven so our breakfast and lunch was in or brought to us from Cagney's great perk ---

Embarkment was a breeze, signed in then to the waiting area all done with in minutes arrived about 10:20 am ----off to The Star Bar deck 13 then in to Cagney's to have lunch.

any questions ask away

We will be on the Gem in three weeks :), is there a movie theatre on the ship- if so, what movies did they show??

Thanks

We will be on the Gem in three weeks :), is there a movie theatre on the ship- if so, what movies did they show??

Thanks

Not really, just the stardust theatre. They usually have live performances there but showed The Avengers one late night.

Are shown in the grand atrium huge screen ---- nice set up

you guys will have a great time. As far as tackling the buffet, we had next to no trouble getting a beautiful seat when we walked our plates down to the Great Outdoors. You'll just have to get up to get coffee and come back. Trying to snag an indoor table can be tricky. Our sailing was sold out; maybe yours will be a little lighter.

 

Definitely visit Leo @ Magnums. He's particularly excellent with the James Taylor tribute. :) On our sailing, the seating was taken pretty early, so you may want to do a walkby. He had mentioned a very slim crowd for him on the previous sailing so I suppose it's all to your tastes, anyway. Have a wonderful cruise!

We sail in 12 days and my aunt and uncle (who are treating us) chose the Gem over the Dawn to Bermuda just to see Leo again! This will be my 3rd time on the Gem and it's always great :)

We will be on the Gem in three weeks :), is there a movie theatre on the ship- if so, what movies did they show??

Thanks

avengers one night, definitely... they showed Mortal Kombat in the Atrium once, I laughed. Brought back memories. :)

We sail in 12 days and my aunt and uncle (who are treating us) chose the Gem over the Dawn to Bermuda just to see Leo again! This will be my 3rd time on the Gem and it's always great :)

I love it! We should find the Leo fan club. A huge portion of my onboard charges were from Magnums.... :o

WE sail on Saturday the 18th. Can't Wait!!

Thanks for your review and your forthright descriptions of the Food. :):):):)

Thank you so much for the review! I'm going on the Gem on the same itinerary in September and am very excited. I was wondering which specialty restaurants to try and your review definitely helped me decide (definite YES on Teppanyaki!)

Why didn't you try Moderno. I thought it was great

Tons of delicious food. Very tasty and the service was great.

I said it once I will say it a thousand time IMO skip Teppenyaki. Nothing there struck my fancy except for the friend rice.

We didn't do Moderno because it 1) wasn't part of that pre-sail online booking deal (which really was the only reason we booked le bistro) and 2) we did want to try the MDRs. So, when all was said and done, we kind of ran out of time. I've also done the Brazilian Steakhouse thing before and i'm kind of meh on it. It probably wouldn't have been a fair review anyway!

Funny that you loved the fried rice. I thought that was the weakest part of the meal. My filet was out of this world, though. Everyone's tastes are different! Maybe next time I will take your rec. and give Moderno a try. :)