Curious about a cruise itinerary? Read below to learn about our experience on a seven-day cruise to Bermuda on Norwegian Cruise Line's ship, The Gem.
Day 1: Fly from Phoenix, Arizona to Boston, Massachusetts. (This overnight flight was not my favorite, but I did manage to sleep on the plane.)
Day 2: Take the Norwegian airport shuttle (included in our package) to the dock. Board the ship. Eat lunch at the buffet. Sail away. Eat dinner in the main dining room.
Day 3 (Sea day): Get up and run on the treadmills in the ship gym that faced the ocean. Enjoy a buffet breakfast at leisure. Read on the top deck. Eat lunch at the buffet. Nap. Sit down for dinner at the free O'Sheehan's Irish Pub restaurant on board. Watch the Blazing Boots country music show (not our favorite, due to the music and to the provocative dancing, but the talent level was definitely there).
Day 4 (Bermuda Day 1): Run on the gym treadmills. Enjoy breakfast in the main dining room. Disembark mid-morning. Take the complimentary shuttle to St. George's. Tour the unfinished church. Walk to Tobacco Bay beach. Eat lunch at a restaurant in the harbor. Reboard the ship. Eat dinner in the main dining room. Chill for the evening.
Day 5 (Bermuda Day 2): Run. Grab a quick buffet breakfast. Purchase ferry tickets to Hamilton, the capitol city. Tour the free Society of the Arts People's gallery at town hall. Take a two hour walking tour with the town crier. Shower away all the sunscreen. Enjoy dinner in the main dining room. Take a sunset catamaran cruise (an excursion splurge).
Day 6 (Bermuda Day 3): Run on the gym treadmills. Breakfast in the main dining room. Grab a quick lunch from the buffet. Go on a catamaran excursion (at an extra charge) to snorkel, paddle board, and ocean kayak. Return for main dining room dinner and a show from comedic pianist Tom Franek.
Day 7 (Sea Day): Run. Breakfast at the buffet. (The main dining room was packed!). Play Scrabble. Attend an interesting and information Q&A with the captain and chief engineer of the ship. Watch a comedic battle of the cake masters. Lunch at the buffet. Nap. Shuffleboard. Dinner in the main dining room. Catch "Get Down with It," a 70's music show with more great vocals and dancing.
Day 8 (Bar Harbor, Maine): Run. Breakfast. Go through an hour long immigration line (NOT fun!) Lunch at the buffet. Get off and enjoy walking through town. Return to ship for dinner in the main dining room. Attend the Broadway cabaret show. (Though we did not know most of the songs, the harmonies and vocals were great!) Get ice cream at the buffet and watch the sunset one last time.
Day 9 (Boston, Massachusetts): Run on the outdoor jogging track on the top deck. (It was windy, but the ship gym was closed.) Breakfast in the main dining room. Self-carry our luggage off the ship (to make things faster). Skip the airport transfer and book our own Boston experience (since our flight left in the evening). Day 10: Arrive home at 3 am in the morning!
Reflections on our cruising experience:
The Norwegian Gem is the smallest (and possibly oldest) ship on which I have cruised. [It was built in 2007 and refurbished in 2022 (Travel Weekly, n.d.)]. As such, it lacked some of the amenities of larger, more modern cruise ships (fancy pools, extra entertainment, etc.). I did not really miss these, as I went on the cruise to spend time with my husband, not indulge in onboard experiences. Our cabin was very small, though, even smaller than I remember on other ships. Storage (in the form of drawers and open shelving) was adequate, but we needed to put our largest suitcase under the bed lest we have no walkway. In the bathroom, the toilet was set so close to the wall that we had to sit sideways to use it. Not ideal! Additionally, our room was located at the end of the hallway, and apparently crew worked behind it, as we heard numerous mechanical noises, including what sounded like a skill saw, and later, something crashing into the wall. The room was insulated fairly well from the theater above it, though we still heard some noise during performances. Overall, the room left a bit to be desired.
The staff on the ship, however, was excellent! So kind! We enjoyed some of the fun we saw them having, including singing while delivering coffee at the buffet. We got to know a few more staff. more personally as we saw them around the ship.
I noticed a lot of attempts by the cruise line to be eco-friendly. I appreciated this. As far as I saw, they basically eliminated single-use food plastics. Trash cans did not have liners to eliminate plastic use there. Napkins were fabric, and therefore washable. There was no plastic silverware that I saw. Overall, I had no issues with these provisions.
Most things on the ship ran very smoothly, with the exception of immigration (before exiting in Bar Harbor) and disembarking. Those had very long lines and people were very grumpy. With as smoothly as everything else went, though, I wonder if there is any better way to do these things. Surely the cruise line would if it could?
The food was pretty good, but not excellent all of the time. Most all of the buffet food needed salt. The Irish pub was pretty disappointing. The fish and chips seemed to come out of a bag. The French fries were definitely bagged and underwhelming. I think the blue cheese on my burger came from blue cheese salad dressing. Main dining room food was much better than the restaurant.
Entrees in the main dining room were creative and innovative. Most meals had about double the protein and half the vegetables I would prefer, however. I could have asked for more vegetables, but I did not want to be that person asking for all of the food to be changed. With that being said, the waiters were very accommodating when I occasionally asked for a change.
We enjoyed the shows to the extent that they were free. We missed the first Tom Franek show because it was billed as comedy. After talking to some other people, we learned that it was more music than comedy, and so we chose to attend the second show. I am glad we did! I think that the ship could benefit from rewriting that show's description. As for the other shows, they did try to have something for everyone, but the shows did not blow me away. I would have preferred a lot more costuming and formal dancing versus the provocative stuff they had. (This may be more of a comment on culture than the shows or performers, however.)
We really enjoyed our excursions, specifically the Restless Native catamaran sail and snorkel. (The sunset cruise was cool, but coming from Arizona and its beautiful sunsets, underwhelming). In the future, we might try to book our own excursions if the place is safe, as we learned from others that this saved a lot of expense. The downside of booking private excursions is that the ship will not wait for you to come back (which they will do if you book through them), but if we gave ourselves enough margin, I think we could make it work.
In the future, I would also book our own airfare. Even if we had to fly in a day early and spend a night in a hotel (as I did on my Bahamas cruise), I think we would fare better. Due to our late flight, made later by flight delays, we arrived home at 3 am the Saturday after our cruise. Not ideal in the least! If we booked our own airfare, we could book our own port transportation, too. In my opinion, the fees we got charged for that were more than what they should have been. (I know, since we paid for an Uber on the way back.) Convenience does have its costs, though.
I really liked this cruise itinerary overall. Having nearly three days in Bermuda was awesome! Many cruise ships only stop for one day in each port. We enjoyed the chance to explore the island quite a bit on our three day Bermuda stop, and definitely noticed how little we got to do in Bar Harbor (since it was only half a day).
Having 150 minutes of free internet was helpful in planning activities in Bermuda (though we tried to mostly stay disconnected). We definitely did not need the drink package they offered. (It was far more expensive than the few specialty drinks we ordered.) We also chose to decline the specialty dining package. (All of these were "included" in the cruise package, but incurred additional fees, if selected.) The Norwegian cruise app they offered was far more helpful than expected, offering the daily schedule, information about meals, etc. I would use it again in the future.
All in all, we had a great experience and want to sail again. While I would like to return to cruise a Royal Caribbean again, I would not be disappointed to sail with Norwegian either. The company overall seems like a good one, and a change of ships might be all we need to improve on the few problem spots.
Reference:
Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Gem Ship Information. (n.d.). Travel Weekly. https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise/Norwegian-Cruise-Line/Norwegian-Gem
