Norwegian Gem Cruise Review: A Travel Advisor’s Honest Take on Sailing NCL from Jacksonville
🌴 My Honest Review of the Norwegian Gem (Dec 12–16, 2024)
By Chris Martin • Certified Cruise Counselor • Jacksonville, FL
I recently sailed on the Norwegian Gem for a 4-night cruise to the Bahamas, sailing roundtrip from my hometown of Jacksonville. I’ve been waiting for NCL to finally homeport here so I could check it out firsthand, experience the product myself, and be able to confidently tell my local clients what to expect.
And after this trip? I’m glad I went — because there were definitely some surprises.
If I had to describe the overall experience in three words:
➡️ Decent, Average, Good service
Not bad… but not exactly blowing me away either.
⚓ Embarkation: A Surprise I Wasn’t Expecting
We purchased Priority Access, because normally with most cruise lines, that gets you:
A priority line into the terminal
Priority through security
Priority check-in
Priority boarding
But on Norwegian Gem in Jacksonville?
You don’t get priority for any of that… until the very last step.
You stand in the same long line outside with everyone else.
You go through the same general security line.
You wait in the same queue inside the terminal.
The only “priority” we received was during the final check-in moment — and that’s it.
It wasn’t anything like what Carnival, Princess, or even Margaritaville at Sea offers. Definitely not what I expected from NCL.
🚢 First Impressions of the Ship
The Norwegian Gem itself is cute, clean, and has a nice modern décor. Muster check-in was incredibly fast and easy, so that was a plus.
The layout is straightforward and easy to navigate — I had the ship figured out fully by day two.
The vibe onboard?
➡️ Upbeat, friendly, and welcoming crew energy.
They were warm, helpful, and great to interact with.
🛌 Stateroom — Oceanview, Deck 5 Forward
The room was clean, nicely decorated, and had everything we needed. The bathroom was surprisingly well-designed with a good-sized shower and a sliding door to create a “water closet” area — though you can’t really use it with the door fully closed unless you’re the size of a garden gnome. 😅
The biggest downside?
➡️ The TV was tiny.
It felt like a computer monitor. Coming straight off Margaritaville at Sea (yes, seriously), their TVs were way larger.
We did experience a lot of rocking in this location, especially on the last sea day — but to be fair, the waves were pretty choppy, and forward cabins usually feel it more.
Our cabin steward was fantastic. No complaints there.
🍽️ Dining — Hits & Misses
We ate in the main dining room once and it was very similar to Carnival:
Good food
Good service
A bit slow toward the end
Cagney’s Steakhouse was the standout.
The rosemary bread alone? 10/10.
I had the filet mignon, truffle mashed potatoes, and sautéed mushrooms — all delicious.
Their “housemade steak sauce,” however… tasted like sweet and spicy ketchup. I’d skip that.
We also visited the 24/7 pub, which had good, fast service — just tiny portions for the sides. My breakfast came with breakfast potatoes, and I’m not joking… there were maybe five potato chunks total. Five. I counted. 😂
Buffet
This was the biggest letdown.
The buffet had rotating themes (Italian, Mexican, Asian), but the actual food variety didn’t rotate much at all.
Same salad bar.
Same pizza.
Same burgers and hotdogs.
Same dessert types except a few nightly changes.
Dinner did have a nice made-to-order crêpe station, though.
Finding a seat was hit or miss, and they often closed the main buffet early and funneled everyone into the back buffet, which crowded it even more.
🎭 Entertainment
We only made it to one show — Blazing Boots, a country-pop themed production — and it was genuinely great.
Vocals ✔️
Dancing ✔️
Effects ✔️
Entertainment overall felt similar to Carnival.
☀️ Pool Deck & Outdoor Spaces
The main pool deck had:
2 pools
2 hot tubs
Live music or DJ
Line dancing
Fitness classes
Good energy
Everything looked clean and well maintained.
Deck 7 also had a very nice outdoor promenade for relaxing and taking in the ocean views.
Sea day crowds were typical — buffet lines backed up, but nothing out of control.
💆♂️ Casino, Shops & Extras
The casino was very congested and had a strong stale-smoke smell. Not somewhere I wanted to spend time.
The shops were standard cruise-ship shops with the usual deals. Nothing special to report.
⚓ Shore Excursions
We visited:
Freeport, Grand Bahama
Great Stirrup Cay
I stayed onboard at Great Stirrup Cay because my travel partner wasn’t feeling well.
Garden of the Groves — Not Recommended
Uneven walking paths, lots of trip hazards, bees everywhere (someone got stung), painfully slow lunch service, and a too-long shopping detour… not worth the price or time.
💜 Service
Service across the ship was great.
The crew was upbeat, friendly, and very accommodating.
This was definitely one of the highlights of the cruise.
🍹 Drinks & Bars
I didn’t explore the bars much beyond Starbucks, which was great. So nothing major to report here.
📶 Wi-Fi & Mobile App
Wi-Fi was fine.
The NCL mobile app, however, is… rough.
It’s not user-friendly, buttons weren’t linked properly, and you are constantly routed back to the home page instead of where you were. Carnival’s app is much easier to use.
🧭 Who This Cruise Is and Isn’t For
Great for:
✔️ Families
✔️ Couples
✔️ Solo travelers
✔️ Travelers who want a simple, casual getaway
Not great for:
✘ Budget travelers (pricing felt high for the value for overall cruise, excursion and priority access)
✘ Luxury travelers (product isn’t elevated enough)
🌟 What Impressed Me
Friendly, upbeat staff
Nice modern décor
Clean ship
Great specialty dining
Smooth muster process
🚫 What Fell Short
Priority Access that… wasn’t actually priority
Embarkation & debarkation chaos
Limited buffet variety
Small TV in stateroom
Unimpressive excursion in Freeport
✔️ Final Verdict
Would I sail Norwegian again?
➡️ Yes.
This was my very first NCL experience, and while it wasn’t perfect, I’m not judging an entire cruise line based on one sailing — especially a short itinerary on an older ship. I’ll definitely try them again on another ship to get a fuller picture.
