Back from the Gem in Europe - Honest Review

[AstoriaPreppy]

We’ve been back about a week from the 13 night Adriatic, Greece, and Italy sailing on the Gem, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on the ship, the itinerary, and our experience. There don't seem to be many Gem reviews on CC these days, so I wanted to provide some coverage so future passengers know what they're getting into. This is a longish review, so apologies in advance for rambling. 

 

My husband and I have been on the Gem two times prior to this sailing (2013 & 2018), so we’ve experienced all iterations of the vessel (mostly positive changes). Full disclosure: we’re not loyal to any one line, sailing on every mass market and premium line depending on pricing, itinerary, and timing.

 

In this case, we booked this cruise because of the itinerary, with a new port every day. We also had some CruiseNext certificated that had been extended multiple times by NCL and needed to be used.

 

Overall, we had a positive experience, with a few snafus that I’ll mention below.

Itinerary:

 

The cruise was slated to start in Trieste, anchor in the lagoon and tender passengers in Venice, and then sail over to Ravenna, before bopping down through Croatia and Montenegro, through a bunch of stops in Greece, before heading back over to Sicily, Naples, Livorno and ending up in Civitavecchia.

 

Of course, this all changed multiple times in advance of the cruise: first, NCL abandoned the 90 minute tender boat rides into Venice, and suggested they’d replace them with 2.5 hour bus rides into the city from Ravenna. They rejiggered the ittineray, removing Venice entirely and sending us to Ravenna a day early on 15 August (Assumption of Mary) with a new port of Split, Croatia replacing Venice. Of course, someone at NCL was notified that everything in Italy essentially closes for Assumption, so we were instead rescheduled to visit Rijeka, Croatia on the 15 Aug, with Ravenna on 16 Aug.

 

On boarding, we discovered that the busses from Ravenna to Venice were canceled, meaning anyone who didn't stop in the city pre-cruise would miss out. Although disappointing, we realized this was likely and spent two days there prior to boarding. In the end, because of all of the ridiculousness with itinerary changes, NCL credited all guest with $121 in refundable OBC to their account, essentially a port charge and taxes refund for missing Venice entirely. 

 

Most of the ports were as-described, and we had a good time in most of them, with the exception of Rijeka and Zakynthos. Rijeka doesn’t really have much to see (and things were closed for Assumption), and Zakynthos was hampered by NCL screwing up tendering, a pretty poor downtown area, and truly awful shore excursion experiences for many guests. Corfu was also a bit of a miss, and seemed aimed more at Albanian day-trippers taking the ferry over than cruise ship passengers.

 

Also: (in true NCL style), the line changed our embarkation dock in Trieste the morning of boarding without notifying passengers. Trieste has an amazing downtown cruise terminal a 10 minute walk from the train station. Per our cruise docs, the Gem would NOT board from this terminal, and instead would embark at the industrial port south of downtown, requiring a transfer/taxi…. which most passengers booked in advance knowing the industrial port wasn’t walkable or accessible from public transit. We were shocked when our shuttle arrived in Trieste to discover that NCL had misinformed everyone with the Gem was tied up at the downtown port, and everyone had spent way more time/money than needed on a pointless transfer. (As I said, very NCL).

 

Ship:

 

We found the Gem to be relatively well-maintained. Our balcony stateroom was fine, but the rooms are starting to show their age (and have not been renovated like some of the other Jewel class ships). Water pressure in the shower was a bit low, but adequate. I still find the standard Jewel class bathroom setup confounding: the shower/sink/toilet divider setup means squeezing into an oddly-angled toilet cubicle… it’s turns a relatively large bathroom space into a claustrophobic contortion experience.

 

NCL recently did a gut renovation of the bar central (Magnums/Shakers/Maltings) area, along with Le Bistro. We really liked these changes… the old Le Bistro was like dining in someone’s idea of a classy 80s French restaurant, and both of the areas were brightened with more neutral, modern colors and lighting. The Spinnaker was also renovated, with more lounge seating outside of the main sofa area to expand capacity.

 

The rest of the ship was similar to our last sailing in 2018, post-renovation.

 

 

Dining:

 

Our MDR experience was good, with only one major service issue (no food after 45 minutes). Notably, shorts and casual wear were explicitly ALLOWED in the aft MDR for dinner (Grand Pacific). We enjoyed this, and hope this becomes a fleet-wide change… especially after a day of blisteringly hot temps in Europe while touring, putting on pants for dinner was not top our list.

 

Our biggest issue with the MDR was absolutely insane portion sizes. We’ve sailed on 30+ cruises across many lines, and never experienced such large portions… one night a cuban chicken dish was offered that consisted of an entire half chicken (in addition to included sides). Pasta dishes were almost overflowing, including an asian “noodle salad” appetizer that just was an entree-sized bowl of noodles. On top of this, the servers/kitchen seemed confounded at requests for half orders, or smaller portions. That said, the food was generally warm and well-prepared, if a little under-seasoned. Notably, the complimentary asian restaurant on the Gem was mobbed… we’ve never been on an NCL ship where the venue was packed from opening to close.

 

Specialty dining was generally very good. We dined in Le Bistro and Cagney’s, and both food and service in both were very good. As I mentioned above, the new Le Bistro is a welcome change from the very dated impressionist painting vibe from the prior iteration.

 

Our only major dining issue came when we tried to dine in Teppanyaki with an 8:30 reservation time. We showed up at 8:25, and were told by the restaurant host that the grill was “just being cleaned.” We were directed to the attached bar, where we waited, and waited, and waited. At 8:53, the restaurant manager showed up, and apologized and said that the table was just “finishing their dessert.” At this point, I walked over to the teppanyaki window and saw that the entire room was filled, and none of the tables were even eating dessert yet. At that point, we decided to cancel the reservation, leave, go to guest services to lodge a complaint, and then to eat in the Grand Pacific. Of course, this started a chain of panicked responses and we were flagged in the system immediately. The MDR manager came over to check on us, double check what happen, and then directly teppanyaki restaurant manager to rebook us several days later (when there were no reservations “available”).

 

Eventually, the teppanyaki restaurant manager came to our MDR table with our new reservation for later in the cruise, along with a detailed explanation: apparently a party with a reservation of six showed up with eight people, and demanded to be accommodated earlier in the evening. Inexplicably, the restaurant manager decided to do this, which meant that every other reservation after them was thrown off… it was a major screwup on their part, and completely not acceptable. Other than getting a reservation several nights later, there was no other compensation or apology offered.

 

Shore excursions:

 

The shore excursions we did through the line were generally fine, although when issues came up, the shore ex staff didn’t seem really invested or engaged in problem solving. We did an on your own excursion in Dubrovnik where we were given a map in German and no information on how to return to the ship… eventually we figured out we needed to get back on the cruise line shuttle bus. Our guide in Ravenna to see the Byzantine mosaics was excellent, but we skipped two of the five sites listed in the description, including the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. When we pointed out these issues to the shore ex staff, we were met with a shrug and no compensation.

 

This was especially notable during our port stop in Zakynthos, Greece. The entire port seemed unprepared for a ship: tenders ran behind schedule from the start, with some tickets not being called until noonish, and there wasn’t really anything of quality walkable from the ship.

 

We booked the NCL excursion “Shipwreck Cove Beach Tour,” and it was absolutely the worst excursion we’ve ever taken, on any line, ever. We started with an hour long bus ride to a port (our guide was reading off notecards, and didn’t seem to know what she was doing). At the small boat port, multiple busses were overloaded on to what can best be described as a modified tender. Once the seats ran out, passengers were left sitting on stairs and on the floor of the boat. We stuck were inside, with the windows above eye-level, so we were unable to see anything for most of the excursion. We then started an awful 45 minute ride to shipwreck cove, stuck inside the boat with no ventilation or access to the outside. Multiple passengers started vomiting, as the boat started to take on water, drenching the people sitting on the floor of the aft deck. Eventually, we reached the cove, and rotated for 5 minute while we attempted to get pictures from inside the boat (the outside spaces were packed with people). We then turned around and drove 40 minutes up the coast (with no narration), before stopping for 15 minutes to allow people off the boat to swim. To make matters worse, while we were swimming another NCL excursion pulled up in a boat that was open, with plenty of seating and no enclosed space… apparently the boat quality and passenger load was completely luck of the draw and bus number. We then went back to the marina to wait another 20 minutes for our guide to find our bus, to take the hour long trip back to to the cruise tenders.

 

By the time we made it to the shore excursion desk to complain, they had already complied a large list of people who had had issues, and said they were “negotiating” with the provider to process some level of refunds for the 100+ people on our boat. As of disembarkation morning, we had not received any sort of compensation or apology for the experience… and assume we won’t get anything.

 

 

Entertainment:

 

The other thing I’d mention is that the entertainment on the ship was definitely… mixed, and budget cuts were absolutely noticed in the main theater. The party band, Hot Wire, did multiple sets most nights in the Spinnaker. They were generally excellent. The reggae/pool band was New Generation, and were less good. They performed most nights in the Bliss nightclub, before the DJ took over for late nights. Lounge performers (piano, Randon the guitarist) were generally very good.

 

Full disclosure: we enjoy going to shows in the main theater on a cruise. Even if we leave, we appreciate the variety of acts and talent presented. This became an issue on the Gem, especially on a longer cruise.

 

There were only two production shows for the 13 day cruise, Blazing Boots and Get Down Tonight. Neither of these are great shows (especially compared to 2023 main theater shows on other lines), but at least they were something. The licensed broadway production of Swing: the musical, was cut by NCL in July, which meant the rest of the time would need to be filled by fly-on entertainment.

 

During the 13 day cruise, there were three (3)  fly-on entertainers: Martin Kaye, a piano/singer guy, Glenn McNamara, a Rat Pack tribute guy, and a popera quartet called Ancora. For what we can only assume were budgetary reasons, every fly-on performer had to do two nights in the theater, meaning there wasn’t a lot of variety.

 

Kaye was very good, but had a habit of over-performing. His Elton John tribute show ran almost 55 minutes as he spent countless time doing flourishes to remind us what a great piano player he is (he needs to edit).

 

McNamara did a fine job with his Dean Martin act, but we skipped his Michael Bublé tribute. Ed note: why are there so many Bublé tribute acts proliferating across the cruise line universe? For an artist known mostly for his covers, it seems like a weird exercise in branding... but this is the third one we've seen on a cruise in as many voyages across multiple lines.

 

The real stinker was Ancora, a pop-opera quartet. First off, the sound mix in the Stardust was awful; I grew up going to very very loud nightclubs and concerts, and this show was painfully and confusingly loud. Secondly, the performer were… bad. Off-pitch? Oversinging? Cheesy? Yes, yes and yes. We made a hasty retreat for the exit after one of the quartet performed Heart’s “Alone” in a key that can best be described as "incorrect." We did not return for their second show.

 

The repeat acts became an issue because if you didn’t like a performer, you’d immediately have to X off their second night of shows in the theater… it absolutely decreased the variety of entertainment on a smaller ship with fewer options.

 

With only 8 nights of entertainment scheduled for a 13 day cruise, the cruise director got creating in filling the other nights in the Stardust. Some nights, they’d just show a movie in the main theater as the show (James Bond, Coco). Some nights, the theater would just be dark (no entertainment, which was a first amongst all cruises for us). One night, knowing they needed *something* to put on the stage, they had the reggae band do a Motown tribute, which would be fine if it was in the background on the pool deck, but not as a main theater show.

 

Notably, we found cruise director Emma Dalton to be one of the weakest we’ve ever had. She seemed deeply uncomfortable in her role, often appearing exhausted, disengaged or just going through the motions. I get that this can be a grueling job, but there's some expectation of being convincing at enjoying your role. While absolutely working on a limited budget for main theater programming, she certainly could have been more creative (staff talent show, guest talent show, anything). Oddly (and unlike many cruise directors we’ve encountered in the past), she seemed to actively dislike speaking with guests or public speaking in general. While you’d see her walking through the ship, she never stopped to speak with anyone… it was noticeable and strange. At the latitudes party, both she and the senior officers sprinted out of the room immediately after their introduction, leaving only the Cruise Next woman to socialize. Especially compared to the other lines where officers are out and regularly engaged with the passengers, the Gem's officers were MIA for the entire voyage. 

 

Crew:

 

The crew onboard seemed hard-working and generally efficient, although a large number ended/started their contracts in Kotor, Montenegro. Occasionally, service could be exceedingly slow, especially in the Bar Central area in the evening. There were also random head scratchers... after we asked for shots and Michelob ultra, one server brought us shots and two glasses of merlot. Still, things like this were the exception and not the rule.

 

We did find guest services to be more dismissive on this ship than any other mass market cruise line. Their initial response was almost always "you've done something wrong" and not "how can I resolve your issue." One night on returning to our room at 1:30 am, we discovered that our air conditioner was broken and our room was blisteringly hot. On calling guest services, we were told “That’s how air conditioners work, they shut off when they get to the correct temperature.” After explaining the room was hot, the guest services phone rep asked if we could just deal with it, or needed someone to take a look at it. Later in the cruise, our air conditioner started spewing out black soot onto our bed, and again guest services asked if it was a real issue and if it actually required maintenance to investigate. The only guest services person we interacted with us who was concerned and not accusatory off the batt was the one who was shocked we hadn’t been seated for dinner at teppanyaki after 30 minutes of waiting.

 

Disembarkation:

 

This was another very odd operational decision from NCL. First, our room steward didn’t leave us any disembarkation information… we had to go to guest services and request opening times for food, etc.

 

There were three color luggage tags (outside of NCL transfers) with the earliest disembarking at 7:15ish and the latest scheduled to be called at 8:45. We picked late disembarkation. At 6:45 am, cruise director Emma came over the PA system saying the ship had been cleared, and walkout disembarkation could commence. At 7:03 am, she announced that the first luggage tags had been called, and around 7:15 announced that all three of the publicly-available luggage tags had been called (including 8:45).

 

She then spent the next two hours exhorting passengers to leave via the PA system… it was like nothing we’ve ever experienced on a cruise. This included suggesting that massive lines were expected after 8 am, reminding us that there were no lines at 7:15 am to get off the ship, implying that anyone still on the ship would be forcibly ushered off around 8:30 am, and telling remaining guest that everyone else had left and we were basically the only people left.

 

As we’d scheduled a pickup from the port at 9:30, we had a leisurely breakfast in the Grand Pacific, and then decided to find a quiet spot to hang out until 9. We were shocked to find that the public areas of the ship were *packed* full of people… apparently we weren’t the only people who had planned to hang out until 8:45 when we expected the luggage tags to be called. Although the ship had an official “everyone off by 9 am” policy listed, there were hundreds of people still on the ship, many waiting for their NCL transfers to be called.

 

Conclusion:

 

All taken, we had an enjoyable time on this cruise, a number of snafus notwithstanding. Our biggest misses ended up being evenings in the Stardust theater. The entertainment really left something to be desired: compared to almost every other aspect of the cruise, the budget cuts were very apparent here. Having a screening of Coco in the main theater is not what I’d consider acceptable evening entertainment, and having even one or two more fly-on performers would have helped to round out evenings on the ship a bit more. Our shore ex experience was also mixed, with onboard staff often unwilling or unable to address issues... we're still waiting for a partial refund of the nightmare excursion that will never come.

 

That said, it wasn’t enough to dampen the great ports and amazing sights spent on land, which was our primary reason for booking the trip. Please feel free to ask any questions if I've left anything out!

[davencl]

    We were on this cruise too.  Your review is well done.  My comments,  Ancora was as you described. Individually the singers sounded good, together they did not harmonize well.  Yes the sound mix was off in most cases.  Generally vocals were too low and instrument too loud.

   The trip to shipwreck cove, you have my sympathies.  We lucked out and were on the top deck.  The boat was grossly overloaded(to put it mildly).

   We did this trip for the itinerary and really enjoyed the entirety of the experience.  We had booked Venice two days prior so the deletion of that port did not affect us.   We hadn't prebooked transport in Trieste so embarkation from downtown was a bonus for us.

  Generally lack of entertainment was not an issue for us as we spent most all of our days on shore excursions.

   We liked the GEM overall and would book again if itinerary matched our needs.

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by davencl

[www3traveler]

1 hour ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

We’ve been back about a week from the 13 night Adriatic, Greece, and Italy sailing on the Gem, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on the ship, the itinerary, and our experience. There don't seem to be many Gem reviews on CC these days, so I wanted to provide some coverage so future passengers know what they're getting into. This is a longish review, so apologies in advance for rambling. 

 

My husband and I have been on the Gem two times prior to this sailing (2013 & 2018), so we’ve experienced all iterations of the vessel (mostly positive changes). Full disclosure: we’re not loyal to any one line, sailing on every mass market and premium line depending on pricing, itinerary, and timing.

 

In this case, we booked this cruise because of the itinerary, with a new port every day. We also had some CruiseNext certificated that had been extended multiple times by NCL and needed to be used.

 

Overall, we had a positive experience, with a few snafus that I’ll mention below.

Itinerary:

 

The cruise was slated to start in Trieste, anchor in the lagoon and tender passengers in Venice, and then sail over to Ravenna, before bopping down through Croatia and Montenegro, through a bunch of stops in Greece, before heading back over to Sicily, Naples, Livorno and ending up in Civitavecchia.

 

Of course, this all changed multiple times in advance of the cruise: first, NCL abandoned the 90 minute tender boat rides into Venice, and suggested they’d replace them with 2.5 hour bus rides into the city from Ravenna. They rejiggered the ittineray, removing Venice entirely and sending us to Ravenna a day early on 15 August (Assumption of Mary) with a new port of Split, Croatia replacing Venice. Of course, someone at NCL was notified that everything in Italy essentially closes for Assumption, so we were instead rescheduled to visit Rijeka, Croatia on the 15 Aug, with Ravenna on 16 Aug.

 

On boarding, we discovered that the busses from Ravenna to Venice were canceled, meaning anyone who didn't stop in the city pre-cruise would miss out. Although disappointing, we realized this was likely and spent two days there prior to boarding. In the end, because of all of the ridiculousness with itinerary changes, NCL credited all guest with $121 in refundable OBC to their account, essentially a port charge and taxes refund for missing Venice entirely. 

 

Most of the ports were as-described, and we had a good time in most of them, with the exception of Rijeka and Zakynthos. Rijeka doesn’t really have much to see (and things were closed for Assumption), and Zakynthos was hampered by NCL screwing up tendering, a pretty poor downtown area, and truly awful shore excursion experiences for many guests. Corfu was also a bit of a miss, and seemed aimed more at Albanian day-trippers taking the ferry over than cruise ship passengers.

 

Also: (in true NCL style), the line changed our embarkation dock in Trieste the morning of boarding without notifying passengers. Trieste has an amazing downtown cruise terminal a 10 minute walk from the train station. Per our cruise docs, the Gem would NOT board from this terminal, and instead would embark at the industrial port south of downtown, requiring a transfer/taxi…. which most passengers booked in advance knowing the industrial port wasn’t walkable or accessible from public transit. We were shocked when our shuttle arrived in Trieste to discover that NCL had misinformed everyone with the Gem was tied up at the downtown port, and everyone had spent way more time/money than needed on a pointless transfer. (As I said, very NCL).

 

Ship:

 

We found the Gem to be relatively well-maintained. Our balcony stateroom was fine, but the rooms are starting to show their age (and have not been renovated like some of the other Jewel class ships). Water pressure in the shower was a bit low, but adequate. I still find the standard Jewel class bathroom setup confounding: the shower/sink/toilet divider setup means squeezing into an oddly-angled toilet cubicle… it’s turns a relatively large bathroom space into a claustrophobic contortion experience.

 

NCL recently did a gut renovation of the bar central (Magnums/Shakers/Maltings) area, along with Le Bistro. We really liked these changes… the old Le Bistro was like dining in someone’s idea of a classy 80s French restaurant, and both of the areas were brightened with more neutral, modern colors and lighting. The Spinnaker was also renovated, with more lounge seating outside of the main sofa area to expand capacity.

 

The rest of the ship was similar to our last sailing in 2018, post-renovation.

 

 

Dining:

 

Our MDR experience was good, with only one major service issue (no food after 45 minutes). Notably, shorts and casual wear were explicitly ALLOWED in the aft MDR for dinner (Grand Pacific). We enjoyed this, and hope this becomes a fleet-wide change… especially after a day of blisteringly hot temps in Europe while touring, putting on pants for dinner was not top our list.

 

Our biggest issue with the MDR was absolutely insane portion sizes. We’ve sailed on 30+ cruises across many lines, and never experienced such large portions… one night a cuban chicken dish was offered that consisted of an entire half chicken (in addition to included sides). Pasta dishes were almost overflowing, including an asian “noodle salad” appetizer that just was an entree-sized bowl of noodles. On top of this, the servers/kitchen seemed confounded at requests for half orders, or smaller portions. That said, the food was generally warm and well-prepared, if a little under-seasoned. Notably, the complimentary asian restaurant on the Gem was mobbed… we’ve never been on an NCL ship where the venue was packed from opening to close.

 

Specialty dining was generally very good. We dined in Le Bistro and Cagney’s, and both food and service in both were very good. As I mentioned above, the new Le Bistro is a welcome change from the very dated impressionist painting vibe from the prior iteration.

 

Our only major dining issue came when we tried to dine in Teppanyaki with an 8:30 reservation time. We showed up at 8:25, and were told by the restaurant host that the grill was “just being cleaned.” We were directed to the attached bar, where we waited, and waited, and waited. At 8:53, the restaurant manager showed up, and apologized and said that the table was just “finishing their dessert.” At this point, I walked over to the teppanyaki window and saw that the entire room was filled, and none of the tables were even eating dessert yet. At that point, we decided to cancel the reservation, leave, go to guest services to lodge a complaint, and then to eat in the Grand Pacific. Of course, this started a chain of panicked responses and we were flagged in the system immediately. The MDR manager came over to check on us, double check what happen, and then directly teppanyaki restaurant manager to rebook us several days later (when there were no reservations “available”).

 

Eventually, the teppanyaki restaurant manager came to our MDR table with our new reservation for later in the cruise, along with a detailed explanation: apparently a party with a reservation of six showed up with eight people, and demanded to be accommodated earlier in the evening. Inexplicably, the restaurant manager decided to do this, which meant that every other reservation after them was thrown off… it was a major screwup on their part, and completely not acceptable. Other than getting a reservation several nights later, there was no other compensation or apology offered.

 

Shore excursions:

 

The shore excursions we did through the line were generally fine, although when issues came up, the shore ex staff didn’t seem really invested or engaged in problem solving. We did an on your own excursion in Dubrovnik where we were given a map in German and no information on how to return to the ship… eventually we figured out we needed to get back on the cruise line shuttle bus. Our guide in Ravenna to see the Byzantine mosaics was excellent, but we skipped two of the five sites listed in the description, including the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. When we pointed out these issues to the shore ex staff, we were met with a shrug and no compensation.

 

This was especially notable during our port stop in Zakynthos, Greece. The entire port seemed unprepared for a ship: tenders ran behind schedule from the start, with some tickets not being called until noonish, and there wasn’t really anything of quality walkable from the ship.

 

We booked the NCL excursion “Shipwreck Cove Beach Tour,” and it was absolutely the worst excursion we’ve ever taken, on any line, ever. We started with an hour long bus ride to a port (our guide was reading off notecards, and didn’t seem to know what she was doing). At the small boat port, multiple busses were overloaded on to what can best be described as a modified tender. Once the seats ran out, passengers were left sitting on stairs and on the floor of the boat. We stuck were inside, with the windows above eye-level, so we were unable to see anything for most of the excursion. We then started an awful 45 minute ride to shipwreck cove, stuck inside the boat with no ventilation or access to the outside. Multiple passengers started vomiting, as the boat started to take on water, drenching the people sitting on the floor of the aft deck. Eventually, we reached the cove, and rotated for 5 minute while we attempted to get pictures from inside the boat (the outside spaces were packed with people). We then turned around and drove 40 minutes up the coast (with no narration), before stopping for 15 minutes to allow people off the boat to swim. To make matters worse, while we were swimming another NCL excursion pulled up in a boat that was open, with plenty of seating and no enclosed space… apparently the boat quality and passenger load was completely luck of the draw and bus number. We then went back to the marina to wait another 20 minutes for our guide to find our bus, to take the hour long trip back to to the cruise tenders.

 

By the time we made it to the shore excursion desk to complain, they had already complied a large list of people who had had issues, and said they were “negotiating” with the provider to process some level of refunds for the 100+ people on our boat. As of disembarkation morning, we had not received any sort of compensation or apology for the experience… and assume we won’t get anything.

 

 

Entertainment:

 

The other thing I’d mention is that the entertainment on the ship was definitely… mixed, and budget cuts were absolutely noticed in the main theater. The party band, Hot Wire, did multiple sets most nights in the Spinnaker. They were generally excellent. The reggae/pool band was New Generation, and were less good. They performed most nights in the Bliss nightclub, before the DJ took over for late nights. Lounge performers (piano, Randon the guitarist) were generally very good.

 

Full disclosure: we enjoy going to shows in the main theater on a cruise. Even if we leave, we appreciate the variety of acts and talent presented. This became an issue on the Gem, especially on a longer cruise.

 

There were only two production shows for the 13 day cruise, Blazing Boots and Get Down Tonight. Neither of these are great shows (especially compared to 2023 main theater shows on other lines), but at least they were something. The licensed broadway production of Swing: the musical, was cut by NCL in July, which meant the rest of the time would need to be filled by fly-on entertainment.

 

During the 13 day cruise, there were three (3)  fly-on entertainers: Martin Kaye, a piano/singer guy, Glenn McNamara, a Rat Pack tribute guy, and a popera quartet called Ancora. For what we can only assume were budgetary reasons, every fly-on performer had to do two nights in the theater, meaning there wasn’t a lot of variety.

 

Kaye was very good, but had a habit of over-performing. His Elton John tribute show ran almost 55 minutes as he spent countless time doing flourishes to remind us what a great piano player he is (he needs to edit).

 

McNamara did a fine job with his Dean Martin act, but we skipped his Michael Bublé tribute. Ed note: why are there so many Bublé tribute acts proliferating across the cruise line universe? For an artist known mostly for his covers, it seems like a weird exercise in branding... but this is the third one we've seen on a cruise in as many voyages across multiple lines.

 

The real stinker was Ancora, a pop-opera quartet. First off, the sound mix in the Stardust was awful; I grew up going to very very loud nightclubs and concerts, and this show was painfully and confusingly loud. Secondly, the performer were… bad. Off-pitch? Oversinging? Cheesy? Yes, yes and yes. We made a hasty retreat for the exit after one of the quartet performed Heart’s “Alone” in a key that can best be described as "incorrect." We did not return for their second show.

 

The repeat acts became an issue because if you didn’t like a performer, you’d immediately have to X off their second night of shows in the theater… it absolutely decreased the variety of entertainment on a smaller ship with fewer options.

 

With only 8 nights of entertainment scheduled for a 13 day cruise, the cruise director got creating in filling the other nights in the Stardust. Some nights, they’d just show a movie in the main theater as the show (James Bond, Coco). Some nights, the theater would just be dark (no entertainment, which was a first amongst all cruises for us). One night, knowing they needed *something* to put on the stage, they had the reggae band do a Motown tribute, which would be fine if it was in the background on the pool deck, but not as a main theater show.

 

Notably, we found cruise director Emma Dalton to be one of the weakest we’ve ever had. She seemed deeply uncomfortable in her role, often appearing exhausted, disengaged or just going through the motions. I get that this can be a grueling job, but there's some expectation of being convincing at enjoying your role. While absolutely working on a limited budget for main theater programming, she certainly could have been more creative (staff talent show, guest talent show, anything). Oddly (and unlike many cruise directors we’ve encountered in the past), she seemed to actively dislike speaking with guests or public speaking in general. While you’d see her walking through the ship, she never stopped to speak with anyone… it was noticeable and strange. At the latitudes party, both she and the senior officers sprinted out of the room immediately after their introduction, leaving only the Cruise Next woman to socialize. Especially compared to the other lines where officers are out and regularly engaged with the passengers, the Gem's officers were MIA for the entire voyage. 

 

Crew:

 

The crew onboard seemed hard-working and generally efficient, although a large number ended/started their contracts in Kotor, Montenegro. Occasionally, service could be exceedingly slow, especially in the Bar Central area in the evening. There were also random head scratchers... after we asked for shots and Michelob ultra, one server brought us shots and two glasses of merlot. Still, things like this were the exception and not the rule.

 

We did find guest services to be more dismissive on this ship than any other mass market cruise line. Their initial response was almost always "you've done something wrong" and not "how can I resolve your issue." One night on returning to our room at 1:30 am, we discovered that our air conditioner was broken and our room was blisteringly hot. On calling guest services, we were told “That’s how air conditioners work, they shut off when they get to the correct temperature.” After explaining the room was hot, the guest services phone rep asked if we could just deal with it, or needed someone to take a look at it. Later in the cruise, our air conditioner started spewing out black soot onto our bed, and again guest services asked if it was a real issue and if it actually required maintenance to investigate. The only guest services person we interacted with us who was concerned and not accusatory off the batt was the one who was shocked we hadn’t been seated for dinner at teppanyaki after 30 minutes of waiting.

 

Disembarkation:

 

This was another very odd operational decision from NCL. First, our room steward didn’t leave us any disembarkation information… we had to go to guest services and request opening times for food, etc.

 

There were three color luggage tags (outside of NCL transfers) with the earliest disembarking at 7:15ish and the latest scheduled to be called at 8:45. We picked late disembarkation. At 6:45 am, cruise director Emma came over the PA system saying the ship had been cleared, and walkout disembarkation could commence. At 7:03 am, she announced that the first luggage tags had been called, and around 7:15 announced that all three of the publicly-available luggage tags had been called (including 8:45).

 

She then spent the next two hours exhorting passengers to leave via the PA system… it was like nothing we’ve ever experienced on a cruise. This included suggesting that massive lines were expected after 8 am, reminding us that there were no lines at 7:15 am to get off the ship, implying that anyone still on the ship would be forcibly ushered off around 8:30 am, and telling remaining guest that everyone else had left and we were basically the only people left.

 

As we’d scheduled a pickup from the port at 9:30, we had a leisurely breakfast in the Grand Pacific, and then decided to find a quiet spot to hang out until 9. We were shocked to find that the public areas of the ship were *packed* full of people… apparently we weren’t the only people who had planned to hang out until 8:45 when we expected the luggage tags to be called. Although the ship had an official “everyone off by 9 am” policy listed, there were hundreds of people still on the ship, many waiting for their NCL transfers to be called.

 

Conclusion:

 

All taken, we had an enjoyable time on this cruise, a number of snafus notwithstanding. Our biggest misses ended up being evenings in the Stardust theater. The entertainment really left something to be desired: compared to almost every other aspect of the cruise, the budget cuts were very apparent here. Having a screening of Coco in the main theater is not what I’d consider acceptable evening entertainment, and having even one or two more fly-on performers would have helped to round out evenings on the ship a bit more. Our shore ex experience was also mixed, with onboard staff often unwilling or unable to address issues... we're still waiting for a partial refund of the nightmare excursion that will never come.

 

That said, it wasn’t enough to dampen the great ports and amazing sights spent on land, which was our primary reason for booking the trip. Please feel free to ask any questions if I've left anything out!

Did you find any staff on any level that stood out?

[davencl]

1 minute ago, www3traveler said:

Did you find any staff on any level that stood out?

For us there were a couple.  Our room steward, she made towels animals every night.  Was very surprised.   One bartender in the deck 13 bar, she made the best mai tai's.  Not sure why her's were better than others in the same bar.

[Travelling2Some]

Thanks so much for your detailed review  We have been considering booking something very similar but two out of our last three on NCL had the same issues.  Entertainment lacking, misleading or absent information and last minute itinerary shifts that did not have a believable reason.  Our next two are on other lines, so we will see after that. 

 

[Momo6000]

Thanks for the very helpful review. We will be on the Gem next month and I haven’t seen many reviews about this ship.

What is the outlet situation in the room? Is it set up for US plugs and were there enough for you?

What bar/lounge did you enjoy the most?

We have reservations at Le Bistro so happy to hear the food/ ambience are nice.

Have you heard anything about Moderno? We also have reservations there one night. 

[mskaufman]

Not a lot of reviews that complain that the MDR portions are too large.

[AstoriaPreppy]

21 hours ago, www3traveler said:

Did you find any staff on any level that stood out?

 

There were a few that we appreciated, and tipped additionally. Overall though, the staff was more focused on providing efficiency, not personalized service. This was especially notable with the bartenders who are just constantly cranking, so it's understandable. One of the other issues seemed to be the huge turnover of staff in Kotor. The day we boarded, we met a stellar bartender in O'Sheehan's, who remembered our names, and would ask about where the other was if only one of us ran into him. He left the ship in Montenegro, and we got a ton of newbies still trying to figure out the beats of service on the Gem. The service was rarely bad, but it wasn't as warm as you'd find on most other lines.

 

20 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

Thanks so much for your detailed review  We have been considering booking something very similar but two out of our last three on NCL had the same issues.  Entertainment lacking, misleading or absent information and last minute itinerary shifts that did not have a believable reason.  Our next two are on other lines, so we will see after that. 

 

 

We went in with clear perspectives on the pros/cons of NCL, but the main theater entertainment (or lack thereof) was shocking. Thank goodness they forced the party band (who was excellent) to do multiple sets in the Spinnaker each night, which really help save the evenings onboard. 
 

22 hours ago, davencl said:

    We were on this cruise too.  Your review is well done.  My comments,  Ancora was as you described. Individually the singers sounded good, together they did not harmonize well.  Yes the sound mix was off in most cases.  Generally vocals were too low and instrument too loud.

   The trip to shipwreck cove, you have my sympathies.  We lucked out and were on the top deck.  The boat was grossly overloaded(to put it mildly).

   We did this trip for the itinerary and really enjoyed the entirety of the experience.  We had booked Venice two days prior so the deletion of that port did not affect us.   We hadn't prebooked transport in Trieste so embarkation from downtown was a bonus for us.

  Generally lack of entertainment was not an issue for us as we spent most all of our days on shore excursions.

   We liked the GEM overall and would book again if itinerary matched our needs.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad to know we weren't out in left field with some of these perspectives. We also did Venice pre-cruise, and are glad we did. And to be clear, as bad as the vomit boat to shipwreck cove was, it in no way ruined our trip... if anything, it became a fun joke as word spread on the Gem about the excursion: "oh, you were on that boat?" 

 

15 hours ago, Momo6000 said:

Thanks for the very helpful review. We will be on the Gem next month and I haven’t seen many reviews about this ship.

What is the outlet situation in the room? Is it set up for US plugs and were there enough for you?

What bar/lounge did you enjoy the most?

We have reservations at Le Bistro so happy to hear the food/ ambience are nice.

Have you heard anything about Moderno? We also have reservations there one night. 

 

We were in a family balcony, so our TV was located near the closets (not near the balcony door). There was one US plug near the balcony door table area, and another near the small area beneath the TV. The hairdryer was hardwired into the wall near the balcony door outlet, so it didn't take up plug space. There was one euro plug in the large space where the drinking glasses are stored, near the closet. There is also the standard bathroom plug, but that's low power and only designed for charging/using an electric razor. 

 

We really enjoyed the redone Bar Central space (Magnum's, Shakers, etc). O'Sheehan's has a bar that we discovered is usually deserted, so it's a good spot when everything else is packed. 

 

Moderno got mixed reviews on our cruise... we didn't go, so don't have first-hand experience this trip. 

 

13 hours ago, mskaufman said:

Not a lot of reviews that complain that the MDR portions are too large.

 

We've never been on a cruise where the MDR servings were so consistently oversized. I can see getting a half chicken at Boston Market where you have leftovers, but I've never experienced this on a cruise line. It was especially notable with pasta dishes; I ordered a linguini and shrimp main one night, and received almost 4 cups of pasta... the portion was actually incomprehensible.

 

Even weirder was the service staff's insistence that this was just how it was: there were no half portions, appetizer sizes, or any downsizing. I tried ordering six wings in O'Sheehan's, half BBQ and half chili, and the server was baffled, telling me repeatedly that they only came in servings of six and I needed to get 12 wings.  

Edited September 3, 2023 by AstoriaPreppy

[Turtles06]

@AstoriaPreppy Thanks for taking the time to share your detailed and balanced review with us. My wife and I love the Gem, we have sailed on her many times, most recently for 23 days this past January and February, back to back cruises from New York to Panama.

 

Overall, we had a great time.  One really good thing surprised us — Cagney’s, which we have always found to be inconsistent in the quality of the food and/or the service. But on these recent cruises, Cagney’s was excellent, both the food and the service. So much so that we wound up eating there four times.
 

We too were disappointed by the lack of entertainment in the Stardust Theatre.  NCL used to have terrific production shows and quality guest entertainers. That was not the case earlier this year.  It’s disheartening to read that this is still the case on the Gem.

 

I’ll have to disagree with you about the redesign of Le Bistro. Yes, the original was fussy. But at least it had character and warmth. We found the redesign to be too bright, sterile, and monochromatic.  But this is all subjective. 😊

 

We’d happily sail on the Gem again. 

 

 

[Cruising Lynne]

14 hours ago, mskaufman said:

Not a lot of reviews that complain that the MDR portions are too large.

I do not understand this complaint either. They have to make the portion large enough so that larger men and teenage boys also get enough to eat. Smaller people or older people that can not eat as much do not need to clean their plate. I know it can be wasteful, but they try to make a portion that accommodates most people. It is hard for them to make special orders when they are making so many meals at once. 

[Cruising Lynne]

To AstoriaPreppy. Thank you for posting your review. I am glad that overall you enjoyed your trip.

 

 I agree that a movie in the main theater at showtime does not count as a show. Movie screenings should be in addition to live shows. Maybe a matinee or shown before or after the main stage show.

 

I have also been on excursions where one bus or boat is packed, and the other has plenty of room. Very disappointing. NCL excursions should contact the tour operators to remedy this. Last year we had a nature tour on a boat in Bar Harbor Maine. They would not let the people booked through NCL on the until tourists from a local hotel were on. Of course they got all the good seats outside in the front and back of the boat. We were stuck inside with limited visibility. It was not the kind of boat that let you walk around. It is something that I try not to let annoy me, but we had purposely gotten there early to get good seats. So I was annoyed. Luckily we were seated at a table with some really nice people which made me feel a little better. 

[AstoriaPreppy]

20 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

@AstoriaPreppy Thanks for taking the time to share your detailed and balanced review with us. My wife and I love the Gem, we have sailed on her many times, most recently for 23 days this past January and February, back to back cruises from New York to Panama.

 

Overall, we had a great time.  One really good thing surprised us — Cagney’s, which we have always found to be inconsistent in the quality of the food and/or the service. But on these recent cruises, Cagney’s was excellent, both the food and the service. So much so that we wound up eating there four times.
 

We too were disappointed by the lack of entertainment in the Stardust Theatre.  NCL used to have terrific production shows and quality guest entertainers. That was not the case earlier this year.  It’s disheartening to read that this is still the case on the Gem.

 

I’ll have to disagree with you about the redesign of Le Bistro. Yes, the original was fussy. But at least it had character and warmth. We found the redesign to be too bright, sterile, and monochromatic.  But this is all subjective. 😊

 

We’d happily sail on the Gem again. 

 

 

 

We were also surprised at Cagney's... it can be so hit/miss, and absolutely delivered on food and service both times we dined there. 

 

Also, I hear your points on Le Bistro, we seem to be in the minority of people who like the redesign. 

19 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

I do not understand this complaint either. They have to make the portion large enough so that larger men and teenage boys also get enough to eat. Smaller people or older people that can not eat as much do not need to clean their plate. I know it can be wasteful, but they try to make a portion that accommodates most people. It is hard for them to make special orders when they are making so many meals at once. 

 

From our experience, generally cruise lines offer smaller servings than shore-side restaurants, knowing people often order multiple apps and mains. This is the only time on 30+ cruises where finishing a single main dish was often impossible because of sheer volume of food on the plate... I can not overstate how large these servings were. 

 

19 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

I have also been on excursions where one bus or boat is packed, and the other has plenty of room. Very disappointing. NCL excursions should contact the tour operators to remedy this. Last year we had a nature tour on a boat in Bar Harbor Maine. They would not let the people booked through NCL on the until tourists from a local hotel were on. Of course they got all the good seats outside in the front and back of the boat. We were stuck inside with limited visibility. It was not the kind of boat that let you walk around. It is something that I try not to let annoy me, but we had purposely gotten there early to get good seats. So I was annoyed. Luckily we were seated at a table with some really nice people which made me feel a little better. 

 

That tour sounds awful, especially since you planned ahead. I think the hard part is that we were sold (and other passengers received) a sea/sun day, and instead got stuck inside what one person called a "turbo lifeboat 😂." It's likely the provider was over capacity and just wanted the NCL money, so they put us on boats they should not have used for this excursion... still, frustrating that NCL acknowledged the issue, promised a resolution, and the did nothing. 

 

For context, here's what the other NCL excursion boats looked like: 

 

Here's what we ended up in: 

 

[Cruising Lynne]

What a difference between the two boats. NCL should have reimbursed you a percentage of your cost for the excursion. They should also adjust the description of the excursion.