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Carnival Legend 12/10/06 Review


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Background

 

My husband and I cruised on Carnival Legend on the 12/10/06 Southern Caribbean itinerary (Martinique, Barbados, St. Maarten). It was our 12th cruise overall (7th on Carnival) and we celebrated our 25th anniversary while on board. We booked this cruise through our regular agent at a well known cruise agency approximately ten months prior to the cruise date. Since it was our anniversary cruise, it was just the two of us this time. I’m 45 and Mark is 47.

 

Embarkation

 

We drove to the port from our home in Orlando the morning of the cruise, dropped our luggage off with the porters and parked in the parking garage at approximately 11:40 a.m. From the minute we walked into the terminal, the short line was continually moving until we reached the check-in counter. Incidentally, there was no line whatsoever at the VIP check-in (three more cruises and we will be Platinum and can use that counter) and there were two or three employees working at or near that counter.

 

It seems that they really have embarkation down to a science at this port, and we noticed several differences here. The Carnival photographers were stationed before the check in line, not just before the entrance to the ship. We received our sail & sign cards at the time of check in, without having to go through a separate line afterwards. We didn't go through Security until after checking in, rather than the other way around. We had eight bottles of champagne in our carry on bag (although I didn’t know it. I thought we had seven bottles, but my husband sneaked in a bottle of Dom Perignon as an anniversary surprise for me after I packed the other champagne in our wheeled tote bag). We were pleased that security personnel were aware of Carnival's policy allowing wine and champagne to be carried onboard as we were not questioned or even slowed down. My husband was especially glad they didn’t say anything, as he was afraid they’d blow the surprise.

 

Embarkation was definitely the quickest, easiest experience we've had to date. The second best embarkation we had was also at this very same port -- the only two times we've cruised out of Port Everglades. I couldn’t believe how easy it was this time.

 

We were on the ship just minutes past noon, enjoying lunch less than 30 minutes after parking our car! The doors leading to the cabin areas were closed with a note on it advising guests that cabins wouldn't be ready until 1:30, so we took our carry on bags with us to the Unicorn Cafe (casual dining area on Lido deck) for lunch. We were surprised to see that there were a large number of people already onboard -- so many that we had a little bit of trouble finding a table. The line for the Asian buffet was the shortest, and had several items that looked good -- and turned out to be quite good -- so that's what we had for lunch the first day.

 

Cabin

 

When we entered our cabin for the first time, there was a beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses waiting for me (ordered through Carnival by my husband). There was also a bottle of sparkling wine, with no card, but we later found out it was compliments of our TA, along with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, which arrived a couple hours later with the card. The cabin was spotless (and was kept that way by our very efficient cabin steward, Henry, and his assistant throughout the entire cruise), and the beds were already pushed together and made up as one bed. I think this is the first time we haven't had to ask our cabin steward to put the beds together. The new "comfort bed system" is very nice -- I loved the pillows.

 

We booked a BL (balcony guarantee) and were assigned to (category 8H) cabin 8216 on the Panorama deck. We found out our cabin assignment about a month prior to the cruise when I e-mailed our TA and asked if they had our docs yet. The cabin was in a good location, just one deck below the casual dining venues and pools. Whether we were inside our cabin or out on the balcony, we didn't notice any noise whatsoever from the deck above us. We really enjoyed spending time out on the balcony and loved the soft, fluffy robes so much that we bought two ($39 each) to bring home with us.

 

We overpacked as usual, but there was plenty of storage space in our cabin and bathroom for everything we had. Our luggage fit easily under the bed. We had a soft-sided collapsible cooler for our champagne, and Henry kept it filled it with ice throughout the cruise. Everything in our cabin was in very good condition and worked properly (safe, shower/sink drains, doors, drawers, TV, etc.). There were one or two light bulbs around the mirror that were burned out, but I never thought to mention it to our steward, so I'm sure he didn't know or he would have had it taken care of promptly. The carpet was clean and in very good condition.

 

Entertainment

 

We attended several of the shows at night and a game show one afternoon and thought they were all pretty good. The production shows on the formal nights were well done and entertaining. I thought the cruise director, Brent Mitchell, and his staff did a good job overall. We chose to skip “Big Band” night and “The Village Idiots” jugglers. With the exception of the Lobby Bar, we found most of the lounges to be very quiet at night. We didn't spend any time at all in the Piano Bar -- it was dead every time we walked past it. The Lobby Bar and the casino were just about the only places that were hopping at night. The deck party held the night we left Barbados was also pretty lively, but other than that, the Lido Deck was fairly quiet after dark.

 

The Legends show on the last night was pretty entertaining. We went to Karaoke one night and saw how the performers for the Legends show were selected, so we weren’t expecting much. Some were talented, some were not, but it was still fun to watch.

 

Fellow Passengers

 

The passengers, on average, were much older than on any other cruise we've been on and this probably contributed to the quiet nightlife. I believe there were several large groups of older passengers onboard. One lady we spoke with told us she lives in a retirement community in South Florida and was cruising with a group of 160 retirees. Most of them seemed to be enjoying themselves, but some of them had little regard for their fellow passengers. This was most noticeable anytime there was a line for something, whether it was a buffet line or a line to get off or on the ship -- some of them just didn't want to wait in line with everyone else. I've never seen more people butt in line or push in front of other people as on this cruise. Some were just downright rude. I'm sure the time of year has something to do with the age of the passengers; there were very few children on the ship. The week after our cruise was Christmas, so I'm sure it was probably a whole different atmosphere that week. In any case, I’ve never seen children on a cruise act as rudely as some of the elderly passengers we saw this time around.

 

Food/Food Service

 

We had breakfast and lunch every day in the Unicorn Cafe, never made it to the Truffles dining room for any of those meals. We actually went to Truffles once or twice and looked at the lunch menu, but decided to eat at the buffet instead.

 

Breakfast was pretty typical Carnival fare with a decent variety of food. The line for made to order eggs and omelets moved fairly quickly, and they had some delicious, fresh salsa available. I was a little disappointed to see they have replaced their hash brown patties with breakfast potatoes, but they were OK, just not always as hot as I'd like. One thing I'd like to see Carnival offer is hot, fresh, made to order waffles once or twice during a cruise. I don't usually eat breakfast at home, so I was kind of tired of it by the end of the week. I didn't find anything that was really great, but nothing was bad, either.

 

One morning I heard an older man demanding that a crew member go get him some pineapple. He was really rude, yelling that they were standing around in the back when they could be bringing out more fruit. The crew members remained professional and got the man his pineapple. Unfortunately, that rude man was only one of many on this cruise.

 

Lunch was average to very good. Throughout the week, we sampled food from the "taste of nations" lines, the Asian line, the deli, the grill, the rotisserie, and the pizzeria. I've always liked Carnival's pizza, and the calzones were even better than I remembered. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the food I had from the Asian line was nicely spiced, something that's often lacking with cruise food.

 

A few times we had to search for a clean table, but for the most part the tables were bussed and cleaned quickly. Every crew member we came in contact with in the Unicorn Cafe was courteous and helpful, and it was nice to see them frequently walking around with a rolling cart offering refills on juice or iced tea. Something that was offered at breakfast that I’ve never seen on a Carnival cruise was “Passaguava” juice. It was very good (and was delicious mixed with coconut rum!).

 

Truffles Dining Room

 

Unfortunately, this was the most disappointing aspect of our cruise. The food in Truffles was very inconsistent and ranged from poor to delicious. The appetizers and salads were good almost every night, but the main dishes were either not good at all or just average the first several nights. I believe it was the first night that I had the NY Sirloin Steak, and it was just OK -- not much flavor and not really tough, but not all that tender, either. It was missing that nice grilled flavor you expect from a steak. One night our waiter told us the beef selection (I think it was the roasted prime rib, but I’m not positive) was only available cooked medium well, as the chef had prepared it all that way. I prefer medium rare, but had my heart set on it, and we both ordered it. I should have known better, but it was so overcooked and tough, neither Mark nor I could finish it. Mark had the lobster one night and said it wasn't bad, but tough. There were also a few entrees our tablemates or people at the table next to us ordered, but didn't like. In addition to beef selections, I heard complaints about the veal as well.

 

On the other hand, during the last few nights of the cruise the food was much better! It was almost like there was a different chef onboard. Prime rib was on the menu again, and was absolutely delicious. Go figure. It felt like we were finally getting the type of dining room food we have come to expect from Carnival. We had great tablemates -- a couple from Atlanta who were also celebrating their 25th anniversary. It was their first time on Carnival and it was a shame that we felt like we should apologize for the poor food quality the first few nights.

 

Service was only fair the first few nights, but improved as the week went on. Richard, our assistant waiter, seemed to be on top of things and kept our water glasses full and offered bread frequently. By the third night, he remembered that we wanted iced tea and brought it without us having to ask. Richard was always pleasant and responded quickly to any requests made of him. Our head waiter, Hector, acted frazzled, forgetful and seemed to want to rush us the first couple of nights. We had the late seating (8:15) and arrived on time each night, but he acted like he wanted to take our orders as soon as he handed us the menus One night I ordered two appetizers -- he brought the first one, then brought out our salads. He then remembered I ordered a second appetizer, so he grabbed my salad plate away just as I was about to take a bite, and brought out the other appetizer. I never did get the salad back, but our tablemates said it tasted too fishy, so I didn't ask for it either. Sometimes he brought out food for just three of us (there were four people at our table), then went on to serve other tables before bringing the last plate to our table. He often reached across me to serve the person sitting next to me, or to remove her empty plate. None of this is a big deal, and certainly not worth complaining about, just not the service we are accustomed to on Carnival. At first, Hector wasn't very friendly, but warmed up and calmed down later in the week. I'm wondering if he was stressed because people at his other tables were complaining about their food.

 

Regarding our fellow passengers, one thing I noticed is that there were A LOT of people wearing jeans to dinner. Overall, people seemed to be much more casually dressed than on any of our previous cruises. I only noticed shorts once or twice in the dining room (which are not “allowed” by Carnival, but I never saw anyone turned away), but jeans were definitely a popular choice that week. I've never worn jeans to dinner on any cruise, but I admit that this time I did wear a pair of white jeans with a nice top on the last night after seeing how casually the majority of the passengers were dressed. Most of the people around us were dressed very nicely on formal nights. Those were the only nights I didn't see jeans in the dining room, or at least no one near us was wearing them.

 

Wine Tasting

 

This was held in the Golden Fleece on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 12 and cost $15 per person. We tasted five or six wines and the sommelier was very knowledgeable about wine and gave us a good presentation. One thing I thought was a bit odd, though, was that this tasting was called a “food and wine pairing”, but the foods were a piece of lemon, slice of lime, tiny bit of salmon, a small pile of salt, etc.

 

Golden Fleece

 

We ate at the supper club on Tuesday, December 12, the actual date of our 25th anniversary. We made our reservation at a table they had set up in the atrium on the day of embarkation. We asked to see the menu for the dining room for that same night before making the reservation, but no one was able to show it to us. They advised us to ask the Maitre 'D in Truffles when we went to dinner the first night, but we went ahead and made our reservation for Golden Fleece and decided not to worry about it.

 

We were seated promptly upon arrival at the table closest to where they were grilling the food. It was amazing watching them prepare all the plates of food. The ambiance, food and service were all wonderful. It was our first time dining at any of the Carnival supper clubs, and it was well worth the money. I had baked onion soup and filet mignon -- both were excellent, and the Caesar salad was delicious. Mark had lobster bisque and surf and turf. He also had lobster bisque in the dining room, but said there was no comparison between the two. We enjoyed a bottle of wine with our dinner, and the sommelier recognized us from the wine tasting she hosted that afternoon.

 

During the time we were in the supper club, I'd say only about half the tables were occupied. I don't know if that's normal or not, but it seemed pretty quiet in there. We noticed both the captain and the cruise director were there that night. One couple came in and were refused admission because the man was wearing jeans. He insisted that no one told him he couldn't wear jeans and said he didn't have any other pants with him. He argued for a few minutes, but they did not let him in. When we made our reservation, the sign read "elegantly casual" and the hostess said "dress is smart casual; no jeans, no flip flops." I don’t know how much clearer they can make it so that everyone understands there is a dress code, and it’s a fairly relaxed one at that.

 

Art Auction

 

We never attended one of these on a cruise before, and I guess we didn’t technically attend one this time, either. The first sea day was cloudy and raining off and on, so we decided to check out the art. We arrived, registered, and drank champagne while previewing the art. We left before it actually started. There were several more art auctions throughout the cruise (almost every day it seemed), but we didn’t make it back for one, even though we received a couple invitations in our cabin for “private” art auction receptions.

 

Captain’s Cocktail Party

 

Again, we saw lots of people pushing ahead of others to get inside the door at the Follies Lounge. When we walked in, we sat in the very back row on the aisle. We were immediately approached by a cocktail waitress with a tray of drinks. We both chose to drink champagne and Mark tipped the server the second time she came by. We were never without a drink in front of us. The servers with the hors d’oeuvres came by often; I thought some of it was pretty strange food, but the meatballs and chicken were good.

 

It was a pleasant surprise that the drink and food service continued during the presentation given by the cruise director and captain, and also continued longer than I thought it would. The last captain’s cocktail party on the last several cruises we’ve been on were 45 minutes to an hour long. The late seating party started at 6:45 and we were there (and drinks were still being served) until just minutes before our dinner time of 8:15.

 

Past Guest Party

 

Once again, held in the Follies Lounge and was very similar to the Captain’s Cocktail Party with almost as many people attending. We sat in the same place, had the same wonderful cocktail waitress who recognized us immediately, and she brought us more champagne than we needed (but of course we had to drink it anyway)! We had both received individual invitations in our cabin a day or two prior to the party and had to hand it over to get in, but were not required to show our gold sail & sign card as is the current procedure on some ships.

 

Beverage Service

 

Because we brought our own champagne onboard with us (and drank it all on the balcony), we didn’t buy all that many drinks on the ship. We did enjoy a drink or two before dinner at the lobby bar several nights and all were good. We had a Caribbean Breeze (good, but small for the money) and a pina coloda, but the best drink we had was “Kiss on the Lips” – we had several of these! I had read about this drink on Cruise Critic, but forgot about it until I saw the bartender making one. YUM!! I now have a new favorite cruise drink. :) On the second formal night, they had a special bar set up in the atrium lobby for “Ice Martinis” for $4.75, all different flavors. We both had a “Bananatini”. It was unbelievably strong (but smelled really good).

 

Ports

 

Martinique

 

This was our first time in Martinique and found it to be a very picturesque place. We never take island tours, because we typically prefer to do something on the water when we visit ports, but decided to take the tour here so we could see the volcano. I'm not sure if they ever made an announcement that we were cleared to disembark (if so, we never heard it), but we headed down to the gangway so we didn't miss our tour. It took so long to get off the ship, I was afraid we were going to miss the bus anyway. I think everyone was trying to get off the ship at the same time (and some people just pushed ahead of everyone else like they were the only ones who had somewhere to go).

 

Once we finally made it off the ship, we had a hard time finding out where to go; there was no one holding a sign on the pier as we expected – maybe it was because we were running late. It looked like there were several buses doing the island tour and all but two pulled away just before we got to them.

 

The first stop was at a church and we had about 10 minutes to walk around and take pictures. We then went to the De Paz Rum Distillery for what was supposed to be a 20 minute stop. We were actually there for about 40 - 45 minutes, then had to sit on the bus while our guide went back inside to round up a couple of stragglers. The view from the bus window was pretty and our guide was funny and entertaining, but it seemed like a really long ride back to the ship. The disappointing part of the tour was that we didn't get a close up view of the volcano. We saw it (or think we did -- there were several peaks in the vicinity) way across the water while the bus slowed down so we could get a look. Oh well, it was a pretty island, but if we ever go back, we'll snorkel or do something different.

 

There are a couple of shops at the terminal that we walked through before getting back on the ship. I didn't see any bargains here, but some people were buying bottled water to take back on the ship. The liquor and perfume I looked at here were all priced higher than on the ship. We wished we'd had time to walk around in town, as it looked interesting from the bus window. Prior to our cruise I’d read a lot of comments about how rude the people of Martinique are to people who don’t speak French, but we didn’t come across anyone like that. We were, however, in a controlled environment because we were on a tour.

 

Barbados

 

We really enjoyed Barbados and wished we could have stayed longer. We were in Barbados 6:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. There was a lot of construction going on at the dock, so we had to take a shuttle bus from the ship to the terminal (lots of shops there). We had some time to kill before our tour, so we then took a shuttle from the terminal into Bridgetown. I think we only had to pay two or three dollars per person. It was around 8:00 when we got off the ships, so not everything was open yet. We walked around for a bit – it’s really pretty when you get a block or so over from the busy streets where the shops and businesses are and see the waterfront area.

 

Our shore excursion here was another one booked through Carnival – Tiami, Sail, Turtles & Beach, and we loved it! The catamaran and crew were great. I’d say there were about 30 or so people onboard, not counting the crew – plenty of room for everyone and not the least bit crowded. Our first stop was to snorkel with the turtles and we were there for about 45 minutes. The turtles are huge and will swim right up to you.

 

After snorkeling, they bring out the rum and beer (sodas and juice were available the entire time) and they are not stingy with it! There was someone constantly pouring refills, and when we got to the beach they even brought drinks out to us in the water.

 

I believe the name of the beach we visited was Sandy Lane Beach – the catamaran pulled right up near the beach so we could walk right off into shallow water. One of the guides pointed out the resort where Tiger Woods got married. The sand was probably the softest I’ve ever felt, and had a slight pinkish tinge to it. The water was gorgeous – a beautiful clear blue and so refreshing. Paradise! I’d love to go back to Barbados again one day.

 

St. Maarten

 

This was the only port we didn’t have a shore excursion booked and we didn’t do too much other than walk around and visit the shops in Philipsburg. It was our second visit to St. Maarten, and it’s one of my all time favorite ports. The island is just beautiful and the people are always so pleasant there. Although we didn’t get there this time around, Orient Beach remains one of the nicest beaches in the Caribbean that we’ve visited to date.

 

We took the water taxi from the dock into the downtown area (unlimited rides for $5 per person). Our first stop was to visit the Guavaberry Emporium to taste samples and buy a couple of guavaberry colodas – just as delicious as I remembered! As we visited several other shops, I was somewhat surprised to see that guavaberry liqueur was slightly cheaper everywhere else. Of course, no one had the extensive inventory or selection the Guavaberry Emporium has.

 

I wish I could remember the name of the shop where we bought our liquor! We looked at prices in several shops and prices were much cheaper than in the U.S. We bought two one liter bottles of Absolut Vodka for $6.95 each, two one liter bottles of Absolut Peppar (great for Bloody Marys) for $5.95 each (saw it everywhere else for $8.95 and we would have gladly paid that – it’s $24 at home for a 750 ml bottle!), and one bottle of Chambord for $15.95. Carnival sells Absolut for two bottles for $19.95.

 

Incidently, we bought eight bottles of Cruzan Rum (raspberry, banana, mango and pineapple) onboard the ship. They had a tasting the first night of the cruise and we ordered ours at that time. The price on the ship was four bottles for $27.95. We were handed a flyer with liquor prices while in St. Maarten, and they were selling the Cruzan Rum there for about a dollar less per bottle. Carnival guarantees the lowest price, and I had no problem getting them to adjust my price once I showed them the flyer and my receipt in the shop onboard the ship the next day. (I figured the eight dollars I just saved could go towards paying duty since we were now way over our allotment!)

 

Debarkation

 

We decided to do self-assist for the first time and carry our own luggage off the ship. All our luggage has wheels except our garment bag (which we’ve decided to remedy before our next cruise). We had two suitcases, a wheeled tote, and the garment bag. We had extra space in our luggage (we put our dirty laundry in the now empty tote that we used to carry champagne on the ship), so we packed all our newly acquired liquor in our luggage, rather than having to carry the boxes.

 

Our liquor purchased in St. Maarten was placed in our cabin while we were at dinner on the last night. There were two boxes from Carnival that contained six of the eight bottles of Cruzan Rum we purchased from the ship. I had to call the Pursers Desk to tell them we hadn’t received all our rum. They pulled up our sale information and called the gift shop manager, who then had our remaining two bottles delivered to our cabin within minutes. It was just an oversight and they were apologetic.

 

On our last cruise (Carnival Glory) anyone who had gone over their liquor or duty free allotment had to report to a specific place on the ship very early on the morning of debarkation with their customs declaration form to pay any duty owed. At the debarkation talk on the Legend, they announced that any duty owed would be paid to the Customs official in the terminal.

 

Anyone doing self-assist was advised to be on the Promenade Deck (but not in the Atrium area) by 7:30 a.m. We decided to go down early (about 7:10) because we were afraid we might not be able to get an elevator if we waited. There was already a pretty good sized line snaking through the casino, so we went to the end of the line and were able to sit down in the chairs in the casino until the line started to move off the ship at about 7:50 a.m.

 

We had to have out in our hands our sail & sign cards, passports and Customs Declaration form. We used our sail & sign card one final time to leave the ship and then went to the first line in the terminal to clear Immigration. The agent looked at our passports and we were then on our way to the short Customs line. We only had about $100 worth of purchases (mainly Carnival souvenirs including robes, ornament, cups, etc.), plus the 13 bottles of liquor totaling $90 and all was clearly stated on our declaration form. The Customs agent looked over our form, and said “thank you, have a nice day.” No duty was charged, a nice surprise.

 

We were out of the terminal by 8:15 a.m. – a quick, painless debarkation.

 

Misc. Overall Impressions

 

We could tell the water was rough in Ft. Lauderdale before we even set sail, because we could see whitecaps in the far distance. The ship moved a lot more than almost any other ship we’ve been on (the exception being Celebration during a tropical storm). The water was obviously rough the first several days and quite windy, and even while we were docked in St. Martin, the ship was moving quite a bit. We’ve never been on a ship that rocked while tied down in port! Fortunately, we weren’t bother by the movement in the least – no seasickness whatsoever. One of our tablemates wasn’t so lucky, and she didn’t feel well the first couple of nights. Even though it was pretty rocky, there was no vibration in the dining room where we were sitting, as we’ve experienced on a couple other ships. After leaving St. Maarten, the water was much calmer on our way back to Ft. Lauderdale than it was when we were heading south.

 

The decor of the ship was definitely not one of my favorites, but Mark really didn’t like it at all. He thought it was too dark and didn’t like the urns. (What’s the story with that? Are they really urns, or are they supposed to be trophys, which would be more in line with the Legends theme??) He thought they looked like they were made out of cheap plastic and would have looked classier if they were shiny and looked more like trophys.

 

I know a lot of people prefer the layout of the Spirit class ships, but I really prefer the Conquest or Triumph class ships. I like the bigger, wider, tiered Lido decks offered on those ships. I’ve never been on a Carnival ship yet that I wouldn’t go on again, and the Legend was no exception. Honestly, though, it just wouldn’t be my first choice.

 

All in all, we had a very nice cruise. It was a very special celebration with my husband, with surprises from him throughout the cruise (red roses, engraved Waterford crystal champagne flutes, Dom Perignon and a beautiful diamond ring – all arranged by him before the cruise without me knowing about it!). We really enjoyed our time just sitting out on the balcony sipping champagne and we brought home some truly wonderful memories of our 25th anniversary cruise.

 

The Legend was very clean and well maintained throughout the ship, and I didn’t see any stained or dirty carpets (as recently reported before our cruise). It was nice to see a paper dispenser on the back of restroom doors so you didn’t have to touch the door handle not knowing if the person who exited before you had washed their hands or not.

 

Now it’s time to plan the next Carnival cruise with our kids!

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The decor of the ship was definitely not one of my favorites, but Mark really didn’t like it at all. He thought it was too dark and didn’t like the urns. (What’s the story with that? Are they really urns, or are they supposed to be trophys, which would be more in line with the Legends theme??) He thought they looked like they were made out of cheap plastic and would have looked classier if they were shiny and looked more like trophys.

 

I know a lot of people prefer the layout of the Spirit class ships, but I really prefer the Conquest or Triumph class ships. I like the bigger, wider, tiered Lido decks offered on those ships. I’ve never been on a Carnival ship yet that I wouldn’t go on again, and the Legend was no exception. Honestly, though, it just wouldn’t be my first choice.

Beth - Nice review! I think the "urn" theme is supposed to be Grecian urns, from Greek mythology. I wasn't crazy about them either, but there were other areas I liked - I thought the Unicorn Cafe was well done, as was the Firebird Lounge.

 

I think I prefer the Triumph/Conquest class layout better too (and I know DH prefers it as well). The outside deck 3 area on Legend was very nice, though, and I really liked the aft pool area - since there's no magrodome there, it's much more open.

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Incidently, we bought eight bottles of Cruzan Rum (raspberry, banana, mango and pineapple) onboard the ship. They had a tasting the first night of the cruise and we ordered ours at that time. The price on the ship was four bottles for $27.95. We were handed a flyer with liquor prices while in St. Maarten, and they were selling the Cruzan Rum there for about a dollar less per bottle. Carnival guarantees the lowest price, and I had no problem getting them to adjust my price once I showed them the flyer and my receipt in the shop onboard the ship the next day. (I figured the eight dollars I just saved could go towards paying duty since we were now way over our allotment!)

 

I was quite surprised to find out that Cruzan Rum is bottled in Lake Alfred, FL. A small town about 35 miles east of Tampa. You drive by the place and you get this faint smell of rum.

 

Awesome liquor prices though! I need to stock up on my next cruise in April on the Legend.

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Very nice review, we were on the same one and had basically the same experience. The first day the excessively rude retirees were annoying but once I got into more of a cruise mindset they just made me laugh.

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I think I prefer the Triumph/Conquest class layout better too (and I know DH prefers it as well). The outside deck 3 area on Legend was very nice, though, and I really liked the aft pool area - since there's no magrodome there, it's much more open.
I liked that aft deck area, too -- usually a nice breeze back there. We had no problem ever finding a deck chair, but I wonder if it might have been more crowded if there was a younger group of people onboard. We either sat on the aft deck or the deck just above the main pool area.

 

I was quite surprised to find out that Cruzan Rum is bottled in Lake Alfred, FL. A small town about 35 miles east of Tampa. You drive by the place and you get this faint smell of rum.

 

Awesome liquor prices though! I need to stock up on my next cruise in April on the Legend.

That's too funny -- I thought it was from St. Croix. I'll have to look and see what it says on one of the bottles. We first bought Cruzan Rum on the Glory -- much cheaper on cruises than we'd pay for it in Orlando!

 

Very nice review, we were on the same one and had basically the same experience. The first day the excessively rude retirees were annoying but once I got into more of a cruise mindset they just made me laugh.
We just learned quickly to stay out of their way! ;) They were pretty rude to each other too. A man was yelling at a woman in the Atrium area one night because she touched his cane. No idea what that was all about.
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Beth

Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a thorough review.

I have two questions. Can you tell me which nights were formal? Also, do you remember what night rabitt was on the menu? I think that's one night I'd rather go to the Golden Fleece.;)

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Beth

Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a thorough review.

I have two questions. Can you tell me which nights were formal? Also, do you remember what night rabitt was on the menu? I think that's one night I'd rather go to the Golden Fleece.;)

Formal nights were the first sea day (second night of the cruise) and the first sea day after visiting the three ports. I'll have to look at the menus this afternoon when I get a chance and see if I can remember which nights were which!
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Cruisemom2,

Awesome review. We went on the Miracle out of Jacksonville right after her maiden voyage and experienced the exact same crowd. We noticed the rudeness when people started pushing ahead of us to get through security. I think you got it right...little regard (or total disregard) for other passengers. However, there were upsides...never had to worry about getting up to the back deck at 8am to get our chairs. Heck, you could have your choice of 200 chairs at any time during the day. No lines for the late night buffets or pizza. No lines at the bars in the lounges after 7pm. We did have to listen to our neighbor playing his trumpet everyday on his balcony. He was traveling with his rat pack tribute band that gave impromptu concerts throughout the ship. Kinda strange.

 

Question for you...we are flying in on 1/12 to Orlando, staying at WDW and then driving down Monday morning to Port Everglades for our 1/15/07 Legend cruise. What time did you leave Orlando to make it to the port at roughly 11:30am. What route did you take? We are not very familiar with driving in FL and I want to make sure we get this right. Thanks so much! Glad you had a great anniversary!!

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From Orlando take the toll road to 595 and then 595 right to the port. I can't remember how long that section took but I'd guess 4 hours would be plenty (others could nail that down more I'm sure).

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Formal nights were the first sea day (second night of the cruise) and the first sea day after visiting the three ports. I'll have to look at the menus this afternoon when I get a chance and see if I can remember which nights were which!

 

Beth, thanks for the info. If you can figure out which night the rabitt was served I'd really appreciate it.

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Your Review was very well written, detailed, fair & balanced, and very informative.

 

However, most impressive was your impeccable spelling. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see :

 

" hors d'oeuvres " instead of "whore-derves" and

 

" Caesar " Salad instead of cesar, cezar, "seize-her" or similar malapropic corruptions.

 

Thank You

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Thanks for all the nice comments!

 

Beth, thanks for the info. If you can figure out which night the rabitt was served I'd really appreciate it.
I've looked over the menus, and to tell you the truth, I'm just not positive which night they had rabbit. If I had to guess, I think it was the day we were in Barbados which was the fifth night of the cruise. I know there wasn't much on the menu that appealed to me that night, and we were hungry when we went to the Mexican buffet on the Lido Deck at 11:30 that night.

 

The toll road WERA is referring to is the Florida Turnpike. From Disney, you can take I-4 to the Turnpike. We can usually get to Ft. Lauderdale from Orlando in about three hours if traffic is good. It won't take too much longer from WDW.

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