eh24fan

The casino was open while you were in port??

I don't believe beer is allowed to be brough on, but I believe a bottle of wine per adult 21+ is allowed.

The article I read mentioned he was having the time of his life, drinking, gambling and socializing. As sad as it is, I'm willing to bet this gentleman wasn't simply "leaning over" the balcony railing as it was written in the article. The whole "passenger fell off the ship" headline is ridiculous. You don't just fall off a ship willy nilly. You are doing something you shouldn't, you jump or you are pushed.

I would always choose 8 days over 5. We've cruised the Miracle, Pride and Legend - my kids ages were 10/3, 17/11, 21/15 - never were they bored. But, my kids don't require constant stimulation/entertainment either. Neither of them spent time in the kids clubs on any of those cruises because they just preferred to hang out with us or other family members. There are pools, slides, games, etc.

We were on the Legend in May. The parking lot process was bogged down by people who did not have their luggage tags on their luggage. We only waited about 20-30 mins, but quickly found out the issue when the gentleman directing cars told us what was going on. He asked if we had our luggage tags on already and thanked us when we said yes. As far as getting through the embarkation, that was slightly chaotic at the point where you show your VeriFly or paper documents, then it was quickly through security and we waited about 2 minutes for a check in to open up. We were on the ship within 15 minutes after entering the building. One thing that stood out to us was how kind people were in the terminal! As for the cruise itself, we noticed the food portions weren't as large as in the paste and the menu wasn't super exciting. We never went hungry though! We did the steakhouse one night and it was really good. We had never been before, so it was a new experience for our family. The Playlist cast was awful. There were 2 people that could carry a tune, the others - yikes. We agreed the ship is showing her age and given the "pause" had expected they would have taken that time to do much needed work and upgrades. We cruise because we enjoy cruising and don't need all the new bells & whistles, but the Legend definitely could use some love. The debarkation process is just inefficient. The hurry up and wait drives us bonkers. However, once we were off the ship, we were on the road home within 20 minutes. We like cruising from Baltimore because it's so convenient for us. The itineraries are boring though. We can't decide what to do next because the idea of flying in this current travel situation is unappealing and expensive. We aren't interested in sailing out of NYC for a number of reasons. So we've talked about Bayonne, but again, crappy itinerary unless you want to go for 2 weeks, which we can't do with our vacation time allotments. Driving to Florida - again, wasted days off. LOL So...we have nothing booked right now.

Baltimore is incredibly easy to embark/disembark! Waiting to drop off luggage/park was the longest and that was only about 20 mins when we sailed May 15. We had a 12:30 check in time, arrive around 11ish to park? Once we went to check in, they were holding people who were early, but we walked in, they scanned our Verifly, sent us through the scanners, then waited about 5 minutes for a check in person and then walked on the ship. We were onboard by 1pm. So easy! Getting off, we did have a wait, but that's because we weren't carrying off our luggage, but once they called our number, we walked off and were in the car in less than 30mins.

On our 2 cruises out of New York, we encountered the most insanely rude, entitled people. It was ridiculous. Rude people are everywhere, but WOW!

We sailed on the Legend in May. We purchased a brand new box fan, slapped luggage tags on the box and checked it with the rest of our luggage. The porters didn't bat an eye and the fan was delivered to our room with our luggage. Not a word was said to us about it not being allowed. We packed non-surge protected extension cords that allowed us to use the one plug in the room for multiple items. I'm so glad we had it because our room was warm and stuff the whole week!! Then on debarkation day, my husband carried it off with our other carry on stuff.

Our steward was too! Nelson somehow managed to sneak in there and out when none of us were in the room, despite my 15yr old sleeping later than us. LOL Cruising is definitely different than it was pre-COVID and the cutbacks were happening even prior to the COVID. I've tried to explain the "elegance" of cruising in 1992 when I first went, but my husband and younger son can't grasp why you would want to go again knowing the dress up requirements back then LOL

The ships are understaffed, so they are working hard to keep up. Once a day room service by the steward was no issue for us - they have too many cabins to take care of and in all honesty, we are adults and perfectly capable of cleaning up after ourselves. In the dining room, we saw no issue with using the same utensils - why dirty another fork? That's just more work for the already limited staff. If you wanted more bread, just ask for it. We did a few times, no issues. With the menu, we either used our phones or asked for the paper menu, which was quickly given to us. The workaround for checking in for meals? Choose set dining times. Most cruise lines are now relying heavily on their apps as the majority of people have smartphones and it allows them to work more efficiently. Is it a pain to have to schedule things on your phone? Sometimes...but we really liked being able to check in for breakfast on our phone and being able to do something else while we waited for the "your table is ready" notification. COVID brought on a lot of changes, including lower staffing levels, that have changed cruising. Some of it, we embrace because it's much easier...like the new muster drills, the app, etc. Some of it kind of stinks, like fewer activities and the testing stress. We just roll with the punches and make the best of it.

We were on the Legend 05/15-05/22 and agree with most of what you've said above! Embarkation was painless and easy. It took no time at all to part, go through the embarkation process and board the ship. We didn't stop the whole time. LOL Baltimore has that down! The singers...wowza they were terrible. There are 2 that we thought were ok, the rest should stick to dancing. My son and his girlfriend had gone to the welcome aboard show (we skipped it) and made me go to the show another night just to see my reactions. I didn't realize that was their goal at the time. It was, something. We had early dining, so no issues there for us. Although, we did feel the food wasn't as good as it had been on past cruises, pre-COVID. We didn't do the buffet except for breakfast one day and that was enough. Breakfast is weak on the ship overall. We love sailing from Baltimore because it's an easy drive for us (Sussex County, Delaware), the port is easy to navigate and efficient. However, we do wish there were better itineraries. That's the problem with trying to do 7 days out of the mid-Atlantic. I think they could make St. Thomas or something happen but choose not to in favor of Freeport. They've GOT to drop that port. Even the staff was making fun of it as port stop. Everyone we spoke to was either not getting off at all, getting off for a quick walk around the immediate port area or complaining about the lack of excursions and the ridiculous prices for the lackluster excursion options.