LEGEND March 20-30,2015 REVIEW w/lots of photos

Hey CC family!

I just got off of Legend's final Caribbean itinerary... likely forever for RCI. Once Legend completes it's 3 Panama Canal sailings and heads off to Asia/Oz, I feel she will be gone from North America forever, never to return and she may follow the path of Splendour being sold off within the next couple of years. I guess this review will be more so for the Oz/Asian contingent on this forum so they can see what they can expect.

I came back to a monster 12 hour workday yesterday :eek::eek: and photobucket is super slow this morning, so bare with me as I try to get my photos prepared to share with you all over the week ahead. I going to stick more so with the ship rather than the ports of call this time, and hopefully I can do proud DarthGrady, LMaxwell, Trainman and many others who have provided superb reviews and info about Legend in the past.

Here are a couple of teaser photos for now, the 1st above from St Thomas (Havensite pier), and secondly the view of St Thomas from my aft D1 stateroom 6628. Stay tuned! :D

Photo reviews are the best :) Thanks for taking the time to share.

Thank you! Looking forward to your review, I'm thinking of booking Legend this year.

Looking forward to your Review. We were on with you and had a great cruise!

Awesome! Can't wait for the rest.

Subscribing as would love to see more. Hope you had a wonderful cruise.

I can't wait for the rest of your review. We are on the Ensenada to Honolulu trip in six weeks.

Paul

Ditto.....keep them comin.....:D

Look forward to reading your review regarding the Legend as we are booked on her from Hong Kong to Brisbane in November :)

Looking forward to lots of info - we are on Legend from 11 June from SYD to SIN.:)

Looking forward to your review also. We were on with you and enjoyed every minute. Great weather!

I'm looking forward to your review.

We are on the Legend in 12 days so looking forward to your review

Hello CC friends,

I do apologize for the delay. Another 12 hr work day yesterday and it doesn't look like I'll have any relief today or through the weekend either. Pls be patient with me and hang in there. The photo review will be heavy on day 1 when I do my traditional walk all over the ship before the crowds gather, so much of the first day will be pics with little commentary. As I go through the days on board I'll comment on things like Chops, Izumi's, the staff, bar service, ship condition, DL/CL, etc. If you have any specific questions, fire away and ask... when I log in this evening I'll try to the best I can to answer.

Here's a few pics to keep you going for now. Thx everyone! :)

Looking forward to your review, we'll be on her in September.

Let me start off by saying that I was really interested in seeing how I felt throughout this cruise having just come off an extremely memorable Quantum sailing. I truly hope Merion_Mom sees this review as well and chimes in the odd time as she sailed Legend a couple of days after getting off of Quantum, and then got back and Quantum a month'ish later again... so the contrast/comparisons are very vivid and likely some different views being a more experienced cruiser than me.

As a side note, 3 yrs ago I did Liberty b2b with Majesty and had a blast with the downsize of ships and different experience... In 2013 I went from Oasis down to both Rhapsody and Vision a few months later, again great experiences. I must say this sailing had me reminiscing about Quantum and some of my other sailings. Not that is was bad cruise, don't get me wrong.... I can equate my cruises like pizza!... you know, pizza is always pretty damn good. Even when it's not the best ever it still does the trick for a fix. Then every once in a while you try a new pizza from a new place and it's "the best ever". So this cruise wasn't that "best ever" but it was good nonetheless.

I arrived a Terminal 18 (Oasis Terminal) as that's where Legend was docked at approximately 10:45am... pretty much empty and we walked right in up up the gangway.

Seriously, from curb handing over luggage to the porters and standing inside deck 4 in the Centrum was maybe 15 minutes tops... and of course the second I walked past the greeters, drink package desk, etc I took my first photo looking up at the Centrum

I was in my happy place, I was home. And as always, I was on a mission!!! It was go time to walk around all the public spaces of the ship and explore before all the crowds get in. So since I was staring directly at the R-Bar on deck 4 at the bottom of the Centrum those were my first few shots as I began my ship tour.

Entering the ship on deck 4 port side, on this side is also the entry from the Centrum through to the Schooner Bar. Here you'll find all of your daily trivia which was heavily attended on this sailing with several being standing room only. I did not hang out much here at all, and the piano player was not as well attended as some of the other sailings I've witnessed. This Schooner Bar is definitely smaller and shaped differently than even Vision/Rhapsody and there are quite a few differences as you walk around the ship with her larger sisters.

Through the Schooner Bar you go and you enter into the Casino Royale... My pictures don't do it justice, in fact I feel my pictures on this cruise aren't as good as my last couple of reviews which I'm really proud of so I hope you still enjoy them. Back to the Casino. Here I'm standing with my back facing the Schooner bar entry

Heading forward and out of the the Casino you enter into the forward elevator and stairwell landing in front of the "That's Entertainment" Theatre. I have tons of photos of various artwork and the hallways just to remember the public spaces, how the landings looked, etc so I won't bore you with that... let's get right into the theatre. Like Majesty, this theatre is a non-balcony theatre. The site lines are great from afar as well as in front. I also sat to the side one evening and thought to myself how excellent the seating is, but beware... the sound on the side was beyond horrible. Going back to dead center did the trick the next night so there's my first tip for those of you who enjoy your nightly shows.

The theatre's sound man came down to ask us to leave as they were about to do some technical tests, so we quickly left as I taken the few photos I was after. I headed out to deck 4 starboard to check out the viewpoint and size of the deck. I can tell you there were a couple of sea days I went down there late in the afternoon and I was surprised to see all the chairs and loungers were packed, so many fellow cruisers enjoyed this deck and being so close to the water.

Entering back into deck 4 I walked past the bank of elevators from starboard to port, and went back through the Casino towards the Centrum. If you check the deck plans, you'll see this port side of the Casino stretches all the way through to the Centrum whereas starboard is cut off by the Schooner Bar. I found it much much easier to navigate through the Schooner Bar after shows... and even easier yet to head out onto deck 4 outside and then back in at the Centrum. Another surprise: I can actually breathe in this casino! I was not smoked out everytime I walked through so that was a great thing.

Your review is getting me excited to go on the cruise, even more than I already was. I also read your Quantum review. Before that review, I wasn't even thinking about a Quantum sailing. Keep the pics coming!

I have nothing but good things to say about the MDR service and quality here on Legend!

Making my way out of the casino and through the Centrum to the bottom level of Romeo & Juliet Dining Room, I really enjoyed to look and feel of this dining room better than both Vision & Rhapsody, it seemed more open/airy and had a great design against the windows on top level deck 5 with balconies facing the windows. I had MTD and dined early for the most part, with great views as the sun was setting even though I was never seating right against the window. The lighting even when it got darker was great in the room as well.

All except once, I had Sunil and Cherylee as my waiter/assistant waiters at table 88 deck 4 of MTD... first class service. There was not one dinner that was more than 1 1/2 hours, water glass always filled, empty plates not left in front of me more than a couple of minutes. Head waiter Aysun from Turkey was also superb, got to know her well enough through the cruise and in the Windjammer as well... awesome service, always talking to people and her staff.

I also wish to mention that like my Serenade cruise in Sept where I raved about the MDR quality, here on Legend the MDR quality was also excellent. Is Royal listening to our wants/needs regarding the "lack" of dinner quality the last few years?? Maybe! I payed close attention to the appies and entrees, not one did I feel it lacked or deserved only an average rating. Kudos to the Culinary staff and Hotel Director.

Leaving The Romeo & Juliet Dining Room from deck 5, we walked through the Centrum and right past Guest services. There were many people so I didn't feel the need to take photos at this time, nor of the excursion desk on the other side (also with a line-up) so I went directly around to the other side and the entrance of the Shops on Board. Here looking into the Centrum is this really cool globe. I should've asked more about this artwork but I never did.

And below I am facing into the Shops area with that globe & the Centrum behind me. I tell ya, this place was a zoo a couple of times with the "sales" lol! Hell, even I bought a few things at the $10 sale!!! Actually they had a buy 4 get one free so ended up with 3 new ties I had never seen on any other ship plus 2 belts for $40... not bad. The watch sales were standard, as were the t-shirts.

There's some great "classic" artwork on this ship rather than the newer more abstract type you see on the newer ships. Here's just a sample... lots of canvass, oils, sculptures, etc

Your review is getting me excited to go on the cruise, even more than I already was. I also read your Quantum review. Before that review, I wasn't even thinking about a Quantum sailing. Keep the pics coming!

Your welcome.... tons more coming!! And to all of you who have already posted, thank you for your kind words. Hope you all enjoy :D

Heading up the stairs from deck 5 to deck 6, here's a view of the Centrum and elevator areas that you'll see on each deck. Directly ahead you see a small deck which has a view into the Centrum, to my right and left would be entries into the cabin hallways

And here you can see my gf placing here finger on the right side of the photo where our cabin is, 6628 aft D1 balcony!!!! More on this later...

Looking back where I had just walked from towards the staircase, and the second photo looking directly ahead into the Cebtrum... deck 4 R-Bar at bottom, deck 5 with the globe center (excursion desk line-up left) and deck 6 straight ahead where the photo studio is

I walked past Cafe Latitudes & the Library without a photo as again there were many cruisers hanging out waiting for cabins to be opened up, and made my way around the Centrum to the photo shop

We decided that we'd try to get to our cabin... it was about 12:45, but the hallways firedoors were closed. In fact, we didn't get to our staterooms until 1:45pm as they had coast guard on board this morning for an inspection. When entering the terminal we were handed a paper that said we may have a delayed boarding but we got on right away thankfully, however I guess staffing was an issue fir the inspection so staterooms were delayed... no worries, onward and forward with the ship tour!

Thanks for this! We board Legend on the 14th & this is just what I needed to keep me going until it's time to pack & head to the airport............

Making our way up the decks, we arrive at deck 8 to get a quick glimpse of RC Online and the Loyalty & Future Cruise Desk on the port side

And here I took a shot both up at the Centrum aerial apparatus as well as down into the Centrum