Gem - Pros & Cons

Just booked a group cruise on the Gem for March 2019! What can you seasoned Gem cruisers tell us about the ship?? Hard to navigate, good hang out spots, adult section, etc.??

I was just on the Gem for the first time earlier this month. My only previous cruise experience was on the Escape in February, so it was hard not to directly compare the two.

Pros:

- Fantastic live music every day in various areas of the ship

- The "bar area" with Maltings/Shakers/Magnum's was a great place to get specialty drinks and hang out to listen to live music

- Spinnaker Lounge was a great place to check out the view, relax in peace and quite in off hours, and a good venue for entertainment

- The theater is beautiful

Cons:

-Smaller balcony rooms (sorry, can't provide info on other stateroom catefories

-Very "broken up" deck plan: some places you could only get to from forward elevators, some only from aft, no large central hallway on public decks

- Crowded dining: line formed every night outside Magenta... had to eat in shifts in the cafe to get/hold a table... specialty restaurants were all booked up by the end of the first day

- Small casino

- Times when it wasn't possible to get food: O'sheehan's closed down between breakfast and lunch and the Cafe was so small that it was also fully closed in the transitions between breakfast/lunch and lunch/dinner... so there were a few times that we had to scrounge for food outside at the Great Outdoors mini-buffet

Don't let the cons deter you, though. We still had a great cruise! We concluded that we prefer the larger ships, but if price, timing, and itinerary line up for us to take a smaller ship again, we won't hesitate.

Been on Gem several times, the above poster hit it on head pretty good. Don't forget the aft deck eating area, very nice, think its called garden café. The cons are minor. Nice ship for middle age and above, not the hustle of larger ships like breakaway

Been on Gem several times, the above poster hit it on head pretty good. Don't forget the aft deck eating area, very nice, think its called garden café. The cons are minor. Nice ship for middle age and above, not the hustle of larger ships like breakaway

I think the challenge on my specific sailing was that we were doing Canada & New England the first week of June and some days were VERY cold (like 40 degrees). So when the only food available was outside at the Great Outdoors or Topsiders, it was miserable.

I can see that but on a carib cruise, early Am or Evening the aft deck is great.

Have they changed the hours for O'Sheehans? It used to be open almost 24 hours except for a couple of hours early in the morning.

Have they changed the hours for O'Sheehans? It used to be open almost 24 hours except for a couple of hours early in the morning.

They are still "open" 24 hours, but don't allow new people to be seated while they do their switch over from breakfast to lunch. We got turned away on two separate days around 11:00 for that. The people who are still there finishing up their breakfast don't get shooed out and they still receive service from the waitstaff. But they won't seat anyone for lunch at that time.

Just booked a group cruise on the Gem for March 2019! What can you seasoned Gem cruisers tell us about the ship?? Hard to navigate, good hang out spots, adult section, etc.??

I will be on Gem November 26th and then again March 18th. Are you going on March 8th or 18th?

I have been on Gem many times, and it's my favorite NCL ship. Have done the mega ships, but prefer medium size.

Gem does a very good job with food. Was on Dawn in May, and the food at Bamboo was not as good as Gem's Asian restaurant, Orchid Garden. The Great Outdoors is a really nice area. The awning really comes in handy in the Caribbean.

Deck plans are not really that bad, and a ship map will be helpful the first couple of days.

JamieLogical - thank you so much for your opinion!! It kind of sounds like the Dawn (which we were just on in May). I prefer the smaller ships over the mega, but the layout of the Dawn was annoying with only being able to get to certain areas !!

Vince_g - We were originally going on the March 18th cruise but switched to the 8th because of work conflicts with a few people in the group! We enjoyed the Bamboo restaurant on Dawn so I'm excited about trying the Orchid Garden on the Gem!

I had credit card size deck plans made for everyone last cruise! Maybe I'll do that again!

Thank you all for your thoughts! Keep them coming!

We love the Gem! Bali Hai is a nice place to sit and watch the pool activities (it is smoking). The Great Outdoors is a nice buffet alternative to the main buffet (always found bacon there in the mornings). We learned that the gym has a refrigerator full of cold towels, great to grab if you are sunburned or hot, it was always full.

You will get stuck at the dining room if you take the aft elevators to the casino deck (it's 6 or 7).

Don't miss the poolside BBQ on sea days.

We are venturing to the Escape in February since the gem moves to Boston and we are a bit nervous to leave our happy little ship!

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They are still "open" 24 hours, but don't allow new people to be seated while they do their switch over from breakfast to lunch. We got turned away on two separate days around 11:00 for that. The people who are still there finishing up their breakfast don't get shooed out and they still receive service from the waitstaff. But they won't seat anyone for lunch at that time.

Thanks. I've probably never gone during that time. For me that's too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. I love the Gem and all the Jewel class ships though. We always preferred the aft dining room over the one mid- ship (Magenta) Nicer atmosphere. You have to go to deck 7 aft then down 1 deck to get there though (guess you discovered that from your comment about the deck plan.

Thanks. I've probably never gone during that time. For me that's too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. I love the Gem and all the Jewel class ships though. We always preferred the aft dining room over the one mid- ship (Magenta) Nicer atmosphere. You have to go to deck 7 aft then down 1 deck to get there though (guess you discovered that from your comment about the deck plan.

The two times we encountered the issue, we were trying to grab an early lunch on port days so we could get off the ship and explore and back on before dinner without having to pay to eat a meal in town. We are both early risers and do breakfast early and lunch around 11:30 most days. So lunch at 11:00 isn't super early for us.

Blazin Boots was one of the better shows. I recommend it if it's playing. Saw Elements on the Dawn in May, and that was fantastic.

Blazin Boots was one of the better shows. I recommend it if it's playing. Saw Elements on the Dawn in May, and that was fantastic.

Ooh! I second this. Blazing Boots was a lot of fun.

Thanks. I've probably never gone during that time. For me that's too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. I love the Gem and all the Jewel class ships though. We always preferred the aft dining room over the one mid- ship (Magenta) Nicer atmosphere. You have to go to deck 7 aft then down 1 deck to get there though (guess you discovered that from your comment about the deck plan.

We also prefer Grand Pacific Dining Room over Magenta. Really nice if you get seated next to the big aft windows.

I was just on the Gem for the first time earlier this month. My only previous cruise experience was on the Escape in February, so it was hard not to directly compare the two.

 

Pros:

- Fantastic live music every day in various areas of the ship

- The "bar area" with Maltings/Shakers/Magnum's was a great place to get specialty drinks and hang out to listen to live music

 

 

Most excited about this!!! I hope it's the same in March. We found on the Dawn after a certain time there was really no other music besides Bliss Lounge - which wasn't the greatest!

We returned from the Gem a couple weeks ago, like Jamie says "it was cold".

We loved it. Casino was a nice size for a ship that size. Loved Swing. We got thermal spa passes and the spa was great.

Don't miss the signature crepes every night for dessert in the buffet.

Only drawback was the line for the main dining room for meals. But they give you those buzzers that light up when your table is ready and we just went and had a pre dinner cocktail. Never waited more that 15-20 minutes for dinner. And loved the Grand Pacifica over Magenta dining room hands down.

Lots of great entertainment.

My only issue is I had the worst cabin steward ever in over 100 cruises.

Everything else was great!!!

We returned from the Gem a couple weeks ago, like Jamie says "it was cold".

We loved it. Casino was a nice size for a ship that size. Loved Swing. We got thermal spa passes and the spa was great.

Don't miss the signature crepes every night for dessert in the buffet.

Only drawback was the line for the main dining room for meals. But they give you those buzzers that light up when your table is ready and we just went and had a pre dinner cocktail. Never waited more that 15-20 minutes for dinner. And loved the Grand Pacifica over Magenta dining room hands down.

Lots of great entertainment.

My only issue is I had the worst cabin steward ever in over 100 cruises.

Everything else was great!!!

Thank you for sharing!! I LOVE crepes and will make sure I don’t miss that!!!

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Are the doors on the Gem magnetic?? I think they are louvered from what I could tell in some pics??

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Are the doors on the Gem magnetic?? I think they are louvered from what I could tell in some pics??

 

 

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They are metal and kind of "fake" louvered on the outside? They aren't louvered all the way through, so you still have privacy.

Edit: Quick search for a video turned up this one. You can see at the very beginning that the door is louvered on the outside, but later you can see that it is just flat metal on the inside:

We returned from the Gem a couple weeks ago, like Jamie says "it was cold".

We loved it. Casino was a nice size for a ship that size. Loved Swing. We got thermal spa passes and the spa was great.

Don't miss the signature crepes every night for dessert in the buffet.

Only drawback was the line for the main dining room for meals. But they give you those buzzers that light up when your table is ready and we just went and had a pre dinner cocktail. Never waited more that 15-20 minutes for dinner. And loved the Grand Pacifica over Magenta dining room hands down.

Lots of great entertainment.

My only issue is I had the worst cabin steward ever in over 100 cruises.

Everything else was great!!!

I wonder whether you had the same one we had last September. He was so bad that, when I detailed the problems in an email to NCL, they sent OBC for our next cruise in an amount greater than our daily gratuity. That was our first cruise, and I was trying to clean parts of the room myself without proper supplies. Everything else about the cruise was lovely.

Just returned from a week on the Gem. My advice is to research and plan!!!

Not sure if you have sailed on NCL before or not. I had not and the Freestyle Dining really threw me for a loop! Really meals/food on the Gem were a major source of frustration and I wish I had done more research before the cruise.

First, the ship's layout is a bit convoluted - and even worse in my mind was inadequate signage and difficulty getting information. The ship has A LOT of restaurant options but I often struggled to get an adequate meal.

First, breakfast - I love breakfast and think it's a meal cruise ships do well. But I am not an early riser and so missed out on too many. There really weren't a lot of options (Garden Cafe Buffet, Pacific dining room and some limited choices available for free room service. All close at 10 am, even on sea day and if you miss it, good luck as you're not eating until lunch. As for the meals themselves I give high marks to the Garden Buffet, plenty of yummy options from good melons & other fruit to great sausage to multiple omelet stations (which keeps things moving) to a wide selection of breakfast carbs, large cereal selection (more limited from other sources), lots of bread products and sweets. But finding a table can be a challenge and the seating is area ia long and narrow and you can end up quite a ways from the buffet itself. The mornings I could make it I was very happy with what I got to eat. The free room service options are limited but I liked the fresh fruit bowl and mini-crossaints were great. The coffee not so much. Had breakfast one in the Pacific dining room - very disappointing!! Service was so slow and much of the food exactly the same is the buffet.

Just returned from a week on the Gem. My advice is to research and plan!!!

 

Not sure if you have sailed on NCL before or not. I had not and the Freestyle Dining really threw me for a loop! Really meals/food on the Gem were a major source of frustration and I wish I had done more research before the cruise.

 

First, the ship's layout is a bit convoluted - and even worse in my mind was inadequate signage and difficulty getting information. The ship has A LOT of restaurant options but I often struggled to get an adequate meal.

 

First, breakfast - I love breakfast and think it's a meal cruise ships do well. But I am not an early riser and so missed out on too many. There really weren't a lot of options (Garden Cafe Buffet, Pacific dining room and some limited choices available for free room service. All close at 10 am, even on sea day and if you miss it, good luck as you're not eating until lunch. As for the meals themselves I give high marks to the Garden Buffet, plenty of yummy options from good melons & other fruit to great sausage to multiple omelet stations (which keeps things moving) to a wide selection of breakfast carbs, large cereal selection (more limited from other sources), lots of bread products and sweets. But finding a table can be a challenge and the seating is area ia long and narrow and you can end up quite a ways from the buffet itself. The mornings I could make it I was very happy with what I got to eat. The free room service options are limited but I liked the fresh fruit bowl and mini-crossaints were great. The coffee not so much. Had breakfast one in the Pacific dining room - very disappointing!! Service was so slow and much of the food exactly the same is the buffet.

We ate breakfast in la cucina every morning, it’s an overflow area of the buffet, always plenty of tables. Plus, right by the Great Outdoors, where there is always food, even in between meals, and a great place to sit and relax.

Just returned from a week on the Gem. My advice is to research and plan!!!

 

Not sure if you have sailed on NCL before or not. I had not and the Freestyle Dining really threw me for a loop! Really meals/food on the Gem were a major source of frustration and I wish I had done more research before the cruise.

 

First, the ship's layout is a bit convoluted - and even worse in my mind was inadequate signage and difficulty getting information. The ship has A LOT of restaurant options but I often struggled to get an adequate meal.

 

First, breakfast - I love breakfast and think it's a meal cruise ships do well. But I am not an early riser and so missed out on too many. There really weren't a lot of options (Garden Cafe Buffet, Pacific dining room and some limited choices available for free room service. All close at 10 am, even on sea day and if you miss it, good luck as you're not eating until lunch. As for the meals themselves I give high marks to the Garden Buffet, plenty of yummy options from good melons & other fruit to great sausage to multiple omelet stations (which keeps things moving) to a wide selection of breakfast carbs, large cereal selection (more limited from other sources), lots of bread products and sweets. But finding a table can be a challenge and the seating is area ia long and narrow and you can end up quite a ways from the buffet itself. The mornings I could make it I was very happy with what I got to eat. The free room service options are limited but I liked the fresh fruit bowl and mini-crossaints were great. The coffee not so much. Had breakfast one in the Pacific dining room - very disappointing!! Service was so slow and much of the food exactly the same is the buffet.

Everything you complain about is of your own doing, to knock the ship is a bit of a stretch.

Everything you complain about is of your own doing, to knock the ship is a bit of a stretch.

How is it the poster's own doing that the layout of the ship is confusing and there is inadequate signage?

How is it their own doing that cafe seating area is long and narrow and it can be hard to find a table?

How is it their own doing that service was slow in Grand Pacific for breakfast?