Jump to content

"LIVE" - Legend of the Seas - Panama Canal 12 November 2013


PCWalton1
 Share

Recommended Posts

After 14 months of planning Marie and I are about to embark on our longest cruise yet. 15 days on Legend of the Seas transiting the Panama Canal as we travel from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to San Diego, California.

 

Other than the Mexico ports this will all be new territory for us. It will also be a bit of a shock as we go from the largest in the fleet Allure to the second smallest (Legend is 3 feet longer than Splendour :p). Not just the difference in size, the focus of this cruise swings from the ship back to the ports which is what we like anyway.

 

 

 

 

10786394655_7b8ca0eab6_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will be doing a combination of private tours and ship tours for this cruise. For Cartagena and Colon I set up private tours for eight of us. In Cartagena we are using Claudia Vidal’s tours and in Colon we are using Robtad’s Tours with Roberto Whitaker. Both tour companies come highly recommended both here on Cruise Critic and other travel review sites.

 

In Puntarenas, Costa Rica we are taking the Costa Rica Coffee Plantation Experience through the ship. The coffee co-op that the tour goes to sell most of their coffee green beans to my company (Starbucks) so I thought it would be fun to go here. The director of our Starbucks agronomy office in Costa Rica is planning to stop by the co-op while we are there to visit. It will be great to meet up with some of our partners in origin.

 

 

In Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala we are taking the ship’s Antigua Self-guided tour and plan to hire one of the guides in Antigua to take a walking tour of the town.

 

In Cabo we are on our own which is the way we like it. Just going to do like we have in the past, walk around to shop, eat and drink (not necessarily in that order :D).

 

 

 

10787175855_836c424d74_c.jpg

BAGS ARE PACKED!!!:D

 

We fly out on Alaska Air tomorrow morning. Our flight leaves around 8:30 in the morning and we arrive Ft. Lauderdale about 5:30. When we first booked this flight the only direct flight Alaska Air had Seattle/Ft. Lauderdale left about 10:30 PM and arrived about 6:30 the next morning. That was the flight we used back in May for Allure and we flew in the morning of the cruise. We figured on the off chance we missed the boat we could pick it up in Nassau the next day. An inconvenience, but not a huge one. However, Marie hated the flight as she can’t sleep on the planes so was dragging the first day.

 

 

Well a few months back, Alaska Air contacts us to let us know that have changed their flight departure from 10:30 pm to 8:30 am. :eek: Marie was ecstatic since she can get a night’s sleep. I was good with the change too as it makes it a lot easier to check in to the hotel at 6:30pm instead of 7:30am. But because they made such a drastic time change, Alaska Air gave us each $200 credit for a future flight. We have already used that up for our May 2014 Explorer cruise to Bermuda. We will be flying Seattle to Newark for $164 each, round trip. Love it. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone for your kinds words. I will try to make this fun for everyone. :D

 

 

We are the reverse of your cruise so we are very excited to read your posts. Have a great time. Linda

 

Linda,

I originally signed up on your M&M as I miscalculated and thought your cruise started after Thanksgiving. Marie would have killed me if we had booked that cruise. :eek:

Also living on the west coast it just makes it easier to get home doing the westbound.

 

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone for your kinds words. I will try to make this fun for everyone. :D

 

 

 

 

Linda,

I originally signed up on your M&M as I miscalculated and thought your cruise started after Thanksgiving. Marie would have killed me if we had booked that cruise. :eek:

Also living on the west coast it just makes it easier to get home doing the westbound.

 

Bill

 

Which ever direction I'm sure we will all have a great time..... I do have a request if possible can you let me know how you find the cabins re storage. Closet an drawers, I've always found the space adaquate but I've read pistes saying lack of drawers and the need to bring hanging organizers to hold clothing. Hope you find lots if adventures awaiting you. Linda

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For our pre-cruise stay we are at the Hampton Inn on Sterling Road. Last year for my 15th anniversary with Starbucks I received "bean points" that I could use for various things such as travel. I used the bulk of the points for an oceanfront room at the Westin in Ft Lauderdale back in June after our Allure cruise.

 

But I did have enough points left to book this Hampton Inn which is fine with me. It is fairly close to the harbor, shuttle service from the airport and to the cruise terminal, and free breakfast. Works for me. :D

 

 

10788689955_683d0cdd32_c.jpg

 

 

 

We received an email a day or two ago from royal Caribbean that stated the following:

 

We are contacting you with important information regarding your upcoming sailing on the Legend of the Seas. The ship will be arriving to Port Everglades on November 12th from a season cruising abroad. This means there will be a required U.S. Coast Guard inspection, full crew immigration, and full guest immigration. Because of this, check-in will take place between 12:30 PM and 3:30 PM as published in your cruise documents. Please do not arrive at the cruise terminal prior to 12:30 PM. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and look forward to welcoming you onboard.

 

We were originally planning to head to the ship around 11am, I like getting that first lunch on board before the crowds hit. After reading this email I asked here on CC and from the feedback I thought maybe we should wait till 12:30.

 

Nah, 11:30 sounds better. :p

 

 

10788842336_e1ffe5c7a1_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway we could find out menus in Mdr on your cruise have family cruising l o t s soon and looking to see what are on the evening menus and if they are differently at night or rotate half way in cruise.:)

 

 

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk 2- Please excuse any errors.

 

This is another area that is the complete opposite of our Allure cruise back in May. On Allure we never ate in MDR the entire cruise. For Legend we will be in the MDR every night except one night in Chops. Just can't pass up a chance at Chops. :)

 

I will do my best to post menus from MDR as I am looking forward to seeing how they vary them for 15 days.

 

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you let us know what is open for lunch on embarkment day? We hold to eat at the Park Cafe. Also...will you be trying their roast beef sandwiches? If so...let us know if they are ad good on Legend as they were on Allure (that is if you tried them on Allure :d). Some have said on these boards not as good on the smaller ships. Also...can you see if they have the little bags of Lays potato chips at the Park Cafe. They sure went great with the sandwich or salads!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is another area that is the complete opposite of our Allure cruise back in May. On Allure we never ate in MDR the entire cruise. For Legend we will be in the MDR every night except one night in Chops. Just can't pass up a chance at Chops. :)

 

I will do my best to post menus from MDR as I am looking forward to seeing how they vary them for 15 days.

 

Bill

 

Thank u and have a wonderful cruise look forward to seeing it thru your live post.

 

 

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk 2- Please excuse any errors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which ever direction I'm sure we will all have a great time..... I do have a request if possible can you let me know how you find the cabins re storage. Closet an drawers, I've always found the space adaquate but I've read pistes saying lack of drawers and the need to bring hanging organizers to hold clothing. Hope you find lots if adventures awaiting you. Linda

 

Ok, Will do.

 

That bring me to the subject of our cabin. For the first time since 2010 we will have an inside cabin. :eek: A little tough to handle especially since our past 3 cruises have been JS. But the $3000 difference between what we have and any balcony was the difference between going or not. I am ok with it for this cruise for several reasons. I don't need it for the ports as we will be off the ship. During the canal transit I have no doubt I will be all over the ship so I can live without it there too.

 

The time I will miss it will be the at sea days as I love to sit with my Kindle and read. But when we were on Splendour last year I did a lot of my reading in the solarium even though we had the balcony. Also Marie loved the last time we had an inside as she could take a nap any time she wanted, just shut off the lights. :D

 

 

The good news about the cabin is I kept an eye on the price and it was well worth it. We are in a K cabin which at one point was at $1549 per person. But through a series of senior and military discounts we ended up at $869 per person. $58 a day for your cabin, meals, entertainment? Who said cruising is getting too expensive? :D:p

 

 

 

10789219696_b5a41403a4_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay!! Bill is cruising through the Panama Canal. Would love to be on this cruise. I guess I'll just have to sit back and enjoy it from my couch!! Looking forward to it!!

 

Love your reviews and all the picks so I guess it's time for me to pay it back. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So excited that you are going to be doing this review! We will be sailing on the November 27th cruise from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale! Can't wait to read your reviews and get information for our trip! Have a great cruise and safe travels!! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, Will do.

 

That bring me to the subject of our cabin. For the first time since 2010 we will have an inside cabin. :eek: A little tough to handle especially since our past 3 cruises have been JS. But the $3000 difference between what we have and any balcony was the difference between going or not. I am ok with it for this cruise for several reasons. I don't need it for the ports as we will be off the ship. During the canal transit I have no doubt I will be all over the ship so I can live without it there too.

 

The time I will miss it will be the at sea days as I love to sit with my Kindle and read. But when we were on Splendour last year I did a lot of my reading in the solarium even though we had the balcony. Also Marie loved the last time we had an inside as she could take a nap any time she wanted, just shut off the lights. :D

 

 

The good news about the cabin is I kept an eye on the price and it was well worth it. We are in a K cabin which at one point was at $1549 per person. But through a series of senior and military discounts we ended up at $869 per person. $58 a day for your cabin, meals, entertainment? Who said cruising is getting too expensive? :D:p

 

 

 

10789219696_b5a41403a4_b.jpg

 

I will keep all this info in mind on future cruises we also like sitting on the balcony away from all the chaos that's sometime around the ship

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you let us know what is open for lunch on embarkment day? We hold to eat at the Park Cafe. Also...will you be trying their roast beef sandwiches? If so...let us know if they are ad good on Legend as they were on Allure (that is if you tried them on Allure :d). Some have said on these boards not as good on the smaller ships. Also...can you see if they have the little bags of Lays potato chips at the Park Cafe. They sure went great with the sandwich or salads!

 

Will do. Maybe not the first day but I will definitely be indulging in those roast beef sandwiches. They were good on Splendour, Radiance and Allure so I hope I find the same here. :D

 

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...