Seabourn Legend rides off into the sunrise

While this won't be a review/commentary on the absolute last Legend cruise it will cover the previous two (its last Caribbean and TA jaunts).

With that being said it's way past time to ward off potential wee beasties (and imbibe some black gold and excellent Irish coffee that I won't be able to obtain on St. Patricks day).

Now for a wee bit of luck

A bit of bloody for fortitude

And finally an Irish Coffee for some energy, longevity and a bit of fun

Leprechauns I tell ya, can't trust them to watch your drink while going for the camera.

Love the Buena Vista in SF, a great spot .. We will be in New York for St Pats Day .. and we are boarding the Legend in St Thomas USVI ..

Flying from Australia tomorrow .. see you soon ..

Allan & Robyn

The new American Express Centurion lounge in SFO was interesting. At 9pm on a Friday night it was near capacity. Finding a place to sit was a bit of a challenge and getting something to drink other than iced tea or water was a bit of a wait. The salad appeared to have been sitting out for a lifetime. The hot foods of the night were fried chicken (which was 1/2 moist and tender + 1/2 stingy died shoe leather) and what appeared to be udon noodles. Besides the bar and buffet line they a wall of wine dispensers.

The food was a step up from what United and Delta currently offer and the price was right ("free" for Platinum members) but it was too crowded for me and more importantly hell and gone from Cartagena.

It would be nice if when they expand airports they would add shuttles between terminals as well as more moving sidewalks (as well as keeping them up and running).

I need to thank United for putting a filter on their internet connection. Who knew that a news aggregation site was "Mature Humor".

It seems Cyril King still requires the around the airport walk to reach baggage claim. The fans aren't quite cutting it in the a/c department. Luggage delivery is glacial I wonder if I can borrow that chill.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

So far I've found nine other sailors in the Marriott. I wonder how far in the early direction I can push the 1400 boarding time.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

Waiting in a slow

Long line not a stellar start.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

Well darn. It seems CC won't take my picture.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

While the check in line was longer than I cared for I have to be thankful I wasn't behind that guy. There was one person who demanded his passport back immediately and wouldn't have it any differently. I heard he did an amazing job holding up the line. When I entered my room I thought someone had stolen a sink. Small now moot difference between the Legend and Pride.

After checking in and meeting my stewardess (first time with no canapé - as requested) it was up to the Sky bar to count down to the drill. So far I've only seen two crew members I'm familiar with. It's nice to be back.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

That was the wettest drill I've been through. Thankfully they don't wait for stragglers. Cool wind in my hair. Almost time for sail away. My pre ordered sangria is amazing.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

Deja vu. Speedy and Christina and Raleigh and Darlene. Welcome home. I blame the squirrels for any errors I make.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

nostalgia.

Can you please find out from Speedy & Christina where they will be headed next and give them our best (from their Seattle friends who will miss them terribly !)

Wishing you a excellent trip. We'll look forward to your posts.

I'll ask. Hopefully it'll be Odyssey.

Sent via squirrels and a rotary phone

on the Sojourn in September ! They are simply the best....as an old Seabourn-ish song goes.....

Enjoy !

I was cursed by the magic opposite ends of the terminal and airport genies. I got to spend more time than I cared to walking around SFO and EWR. STT was the usual old school stairs followed by a walk around the airport to reach baggage claim. A bit of a taxi ride later and I was dropped off at the Marriott Frenchmans reef.

Check in was problematic. It was about 230pm and my room wasn’t ready. It seems “normal” check in is at 4pm. Considering the number of flights that arrive in STT before and around noon this makes no sense to me. The resort grounds were very nice but as I was only there for the night (and only checked in after 4) I didn’t really have much chance to avail myself of any of the amenities they offered. Both days there were a number of people complaining about their non functional air conditioning. Mine worked but sounded like a freight train.

Dinner was at Havana Blue, a restaurant a short shuttle ride away from the main hotel. The server did the annoying routine of announcing the specials of the day sans price. Of course this prompted me to ask for the price of every special. The proclaimed “Best Lobster deal on the island” was a $78 tail. Other than not openly giving out the prices the server was fine. The food was OK but suffered from sticker shock. The only real negative was my petit fillet which seemed to be about 25% sinew.

Over the day I was at the Marriott I found about a dozen other Seabourn passengers. We ended up sharing a taxi to the ship. Embarkation involved standing in a long, long line. I’m not sure why they can’t give you a number, tell you to have a seat and wait for your number to be called. After I was checked in there was a passenger that stopped the whole process by demanding his passport back. Right now.

The muster drill was the same as usual only wetter. The weather cooperated for sail away. Dinner was nice but I felt like I was banished to Siberia. I guess I’m not a fan of the corners.

A final note on day 1: I’ve spent a lot of time in St. Thomas before this trip. I had a wholly new and unique experience at the Frenchmans reef. I was eaten alive by mosquitos. I’ve never had that problem on the island before.

Breakfast this morning was interesting. There was no garnish on the plate and there was no offered selection of pastries (they were on the menu but unlike on previous cruises weren’t brought table to table). It’ll be interesting to see if this is a new standard. I cut my breakfast short after listening to a loud irate passenger rip into two crew members because he felt the chef wasn’t turning food out fast enough. Perhaps in the future he’ll avail himself of room service (or the Verandah).

While trying to catch up on much needed sleep (I was over 48 hours into the hole) I was rudely interrupted. A half dozen times. To the wonderful sounds of “testing 1, 2, 3”. Oddly the CDs announcement worked without issue. We were in Marigot today moored in 10’ of water next to the Sea Dream. While it was too rough for us to deploy the Marina the Sea Dream had no such issues. The CD implied that this was the only chance to deploy the Marina - which I found a bit off as last year on the Pride we deployed the platform in Guadeloupe. The transit waterways seem rougher this year than last.

Lunch today was in the Sky Grill. Something new (to me at least) were the bowl of chips (actual corn chips this time - not fried pita!) and dips (not-spicy guacamole, sour cream, bland salsa) that were brought around to guests before the Sky Grill opened. While I still feel the hot dog buns have too much bread, this time around they didn’t fall apart. Also, for the hotdogs how about a generic ballpark yellow mustard? Dijon has its uses but IMO not on hot dogs. In addition to the salads they had a selection of pre-made sandwiches on mini-baguettes (again this was new to me).

Besides my missing sink (the horror!) I found another difference between the Pride and Legend. The Pride had a box near the Sky Bar that contained binoculars. I don’t see anything similar on the Legend.

Tonight was a formal night and there weren’t many tuxes. There weren’t many dark suits. It seemed to be a good bit lighter colored suits and ties (except for those that had light suits and no ties). Definitely less formal than my previous Seabourn cruises. At least everyone complied with the dress code.

I had dinner with Raleigh and Darlene (two of the entertainers on board) it was nice to have dinner with staff in a small table. It was nice to spend time with people I’ve met on previous voyages.

Antigua -

Second day of breakfast without garnish. I asked and it seems that they are no longer garnishing the plates. Cost cutting? As I didn’t eat the garnish and found it wasteful I don’t mourn the loss. I’ve heard whisperings that the Duos may be moving onto the bigger sisters. I need to follow up on this.

My attempts to find Guinness on draft have not surprisingly failed. Oh well, I’ll have to come up with something else for St. Patricks day.

As an aside, the Pride really didn’t want to go to Windstar. Besides the ship refusing the leave Funchal it seems it started a stack fire prior to the handover.

It was quite a shock to disembark the Legend and see we were next to a P&O monstrosity, which was next to a large MSC ship which in turn was next to the Freedom of the Seas. I think those three ships tripled the population of the island. Needless to say the port was a zoo. I went out looking my Guinness on tap. After a fruitless search and being queried for the nth time about taking a tour of the island my limited patience was gone and I returned to the ship.

Sail away was delayed a bit today. I was given some sad news during dinner. While they will still make the classic flambé dishes they will no longer do them table side on the Spirit/Legend. Apparently this change went into effect this past summer. Something to do with “safety and security”.

Dodged the block party yesterday. Spoke with Speedy and it sounds like unless Corporate changes its mind (or catches too much flak from passengers) the duos/bands from the little sisters are done with the Spirit/Legend.:(

Thanks for your updates on the Legend! Would you ask if Speedy and Christina will be staying with the Legend all the way to the turnover in Rome? We are on the last cruise from Barcelona to Rome and would love to see them again. We will also message corporate advocating for them to be offered positions on the larger ships.

Thanks much!

Travel hop,

We are also on ( there is a roll call but little activity) the Last Legendary cruise. We will be joined with a number of people who were with us on our September Legend cruise, Look forward to meeting you.

Speedy says that they'll be on until Rome/Cit.

Yea!!!

hoping that the entertainment gurus at HQ will understand how much they will be missed. We, of course, have called & written but since they all have advanced degrees in what people want, maybe we don't really know what we want until they tell us what their focus group came up with. If not duos & combos on board, what are they planning, Big Bands? Cake decorating contests? Passenger talent shows? Movies? More lifeboat drills?

I heard rumors at one time that Oasis might be going to Celebrity...any truth? They will be missed!

Good news for us on the last of the little sisters cruise to have Oasis and Speedy and Christiana as a Swan Song!! We have been fortunate to cruise with them on EACH of our Seabourn cruises the last several years and we love them!! Great musicians and entertainers. I will have to go and join the roll call - Look forward to meeting the fine folks on board!

…John

From what I've gathered so far:

Some groups have been offered other jobs within the Carnival "family" others not so much. It sounds like the corporate level "thinking" is so long and thanks for all the fish. It seems they don't understand that this is the 21st century and that passengers become "friends" (facebook or otherwise) with staff and follow them around. In simpler terms the software (eg: staff) is getting dumped by a corporate office that doesn't understand how interconnected people are today.

In brighter news there will be a guest Captain boarding tomorrow. No news as to whether or not he'll be bringing his hammer;)

I have reason to believe it will be Captain Eric Anderssen.