Carnival LEGEND at Mahogany Bay - Review LONG!

We sailed the November 29th cruise on the Legend and visited Mahogany Bay in Roatan, Honduras on Friday December 4. According to the locals, we were the third ship to visit since it opened. Weather was beautiful, sunny, and in the mid 80s. A far cry from the deep snow and sub zero temperatures we are experiencing since we returned home!

The ship was in great shape and we would not hesitate to sail her again. Crew very friendly and the food was great. Several reviews have already been posted by others of the ship. This review will focus on Carnival's new pier and beach in Roatan.

This will be a rather long review with a lot of pictures, so bear with me as it will take time to post it all.

Above is what you will see when approaching the new pier.

There are two piers, so two ships can be in port at the same time.

The new beach area is easily visible from the ship. We had three adjoining balcony cabins on the port side, so has a very good view. The ship "backed in" to the port.

My son-in-law and I debarked as soon as the ship had clearance, so were some of the first off the ship. After walking through the entrance shop, there is a very large shopping area. Not all of the shops were open yet and some were still under construction.

The above was one of those not open yet. Those that were open included Diamonds International (of course), Pirana Joe, Fat Tuesday, and some of the typical cruise port shops you usually see. I didn't see anything unique, as far as shops go. Inventory in the shops I did go in was a little sparse yet. A T shirt shop that I grabbed a T shirt at did not yet have working cash registers or bar code scanners, so everything was done by hand. Clerks all spoke very good English.

More to come.............

Of course, one of the highlights is the new "ski-lift" to take you from the shops to the beach. It isn't that far to walk and the path is nice, but we just HAD to ride this! AN all day pass was $5 per person and you can ride as much as you want. You will get a wrist band:

Getting on an off is easy. they don't move real fast. The view is well worth the $5.00

Pictured below is the pathway to the beach for those that choose to walk:

Carnival Photographers will be at the beach end ready to take your picture (Imagine that............) as you get off the chairs:

Next up.................The beach!

Looking forward to your review. I was just on the Legend in November and I loved Roatan. I would enjoy going back there someday and I'm looking forward to your review of the new port and more pictures.

Soft, white sand that has been well 'manicured' and LOTS of loungers and chairs.

We didn't see any of the above rules violated while we were there, but there were not a lot of children on this cruise that we saw.

There are an ample number of places in the shade if the sun is not your thing.

There is no charge to use beach chairs or loungers. There are toys and floats for rent:

And toys:

More to come............

A caution to anyone going here..............If you decide to park yourself in the shade, bring insect repellant! The sand fleas will eat you up! This was not an issue in the sun, however.

There are nice bathrooms and showers available:

Play areas and stuff for the kiddies:

There are several areas where you can wet your whistle. Every bar has the same prices and there is ample seating in both the bar and pavillion areas:

Remember, we got here EARLY. That is the reason for few people in photos.

Drink prices were reasonable, considering...................

Bar staff were a fun bunch, too.

The local beers are pretty good. I had a "few"....................

Next: What's underwater..................

Let me start out by saying that if you are an experienced snorkeler, this will be a huge let down. This is by no means a reef!! However, for a beginner or a young child, this is a good place to learn. while there isn't much to see, the water is pretty calm and shallow in many spots.

The swimming area is cordoned off with buoys and if you stray beyond, a dude in a kayak will shoo you back inside the area. There is also a pier beyond the cabanas (more on those later) that you can walk out on. At the end are ladders to get into the water. If you snorkel beyond the pier, outside the cordoned off area, a guy on the dock will yell at you to get back inside. I know about both from personal experience!!

Anyone who is running Windows Vista should get a kick out of the above shot. Look like your desktop, a little bit? (Minus the shipwreck and swim buoy)

Water was nice and warm, by the way. Now, a few shots from UNDER the water:

There is a lot of "silt" that has washed into this area and a lot of swimmers will cloud the water quickly.

There are also a lot of conch in this area. At least for now. We saw a LOT of people taking these, coral, and sea urchins with them as souvineers. It won't be long before there will be nothing to see here but grass and a few fish if they do not get this under control.

When you pick up a conch from the sea floor, it will retract deeply into its shell. I can imagine how many did not know this and had some very smelly luggage by the time they got home!

Next up: the waterfront and the cabanas for rent

For those that have been to Half Moon Cay and enjoyed a cabana, these are very similar. $195 per day for up to four people. Carnival did a good job of keeping them private, too. Only one was rented when we were in port and Carnival would not let me in to look at an empty one past the yellow tape to take any pictures. Pulling "the platinum card" didn;t work either...........

From the rear:

Below is the only shot I could get from the front:

Notice at the bottom of the picture below the sand. that is concrete and runs the length of the cabana area. You have to cross that to enter the water, then step down. Seemed very odd to me. But, was a good place to sit while putting on my fins. The yellow caution tape is a little tacky, in my opinion. If you want to keep the general cruiser population out, find something a little nicer!

Would a cabana be worth it?? Not for us this trip since there were seven of us in our group. I'm not sure if you get the same extras with it as you do in HMC.

The landscaping is nicely done, just about everywhere.

All in all, this was a very relaxing and inexpensive day at the beach. On the way back, I took some more shots from up in the "Magical Flying Beach Chairs"

Seems like I've seen loungers like that somewhere else???????????

Someone is always there to assist you in getting into the chairs. You are not "on your own" and will stop them if necessary.

Sure, this is a typical cruiser tourist trap and some will resent it or just flat not go there because of it. But, if you are looking for an inexpensive day and/or have children that want to play in the sun and sand, this is about as safe as it gets. NO ONE gets in here that doesn't belong here.

We also found all of the staff and workers here to be very friendly and attentive. Upon arrival, someone will ask you how many and if you want a sun or shade lounger. They will even make sure it is clean before you sit down! Everyone spoke very good English. Especially a gal working at one of the bars I discovered came from Atlanta Georgia! She was not a Carnival employee, either.

For those taking non-ship tours, you will have to walk out the gate at the back and up a somewhat steep incline for about a half block to meet your taxi or group. They are not allowed inside the gated area. We did see taxis dropping people off right at the gate at the end of the day, though.

There are a lot more pictures and if interested, you can see them all here:

http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/cruisetobeaches/Roatan/

I was so anxious to hear about the new beach/pier area! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

Thank you for the beautiful pictures and review!!

Beautiful pictures. Thank you very much. Enjoyed your review as well. Did you happen to take a picture of the hill that has to be climbed to get to the non Carnival tours? If I alreaday asked this on another post, I'm sorry.

Great job with all the photos

while I enjoyed the old cruise pier area since i like to see how the locals really live My GF didnt like the way the local girls were eying her when we went into a bar away from the peir for a few local beers :eek:

It looks clean and safe so that should make her want to go again:)

Thanks for the wonderful review! Did you go outside the port area at all?

Beautiful pictures. Thank you very much. Enjoyed your review as well. Did you happen to take a picture of the hill that has to be climbed to get to the non Carnival tours? If I alreaday asked this on another post, I'm sorry.

Took pictures of just about everything else, but not that. sorry.

Thanks for the wonderful review! Did you go outside the port area at all?

My original plan was to check out the new port area and then go to West Bay to check it out. But, our time in this port was short and I decided to just chill out and relax. Four ports in a row tends to wear one down and this was our last port.

Thanks so much for the review and beautiful pics. We are going in Jan. and can't wait now.

It looks awesome. Can't wait to visit there. Thank you.

Thanks for the great review and all of the incredible pictures!!

Just wondering how the new beach area overall (and snorkeling in particular) compares to Tabyana Beach?

Thanks for the pics.....can't wait to be there in the spring!

What a helpful picturesque review for all the curious cruisers. That was great!

Thank you!

Great Pictures and comments. We are looking forward to Roatan in April

Yes, yes... thanks so much for putting this together as so many have been waiting for info about this. Question...

So the magic chairs take you from the ship right to that beach? We have an independent excursion booked in Roatan and they have already told us where we need to walk to, but I thought it might be fun to fly over to where we need to be in those chairs. Will they get us a bit closer to where we need to be, or should we just walk it? Thanks!

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for posting them. It looks like this area will bring two advantages to Roatan. First, a very easy access beach area that many will want to take advantage of. And secondly, maybe some people will not venture to the West Bay area, making it less crowded. A win-win situation for cruisers.

Is it possible to walk very far away from the large groups of lounge chairs to a more private area?