Legend on a shoestring - May 6 cruise

Life has surely gotten in the way of getting a review written since our return from the Legend. But I have finally gotten the time to write one up so here goes.

We generally do not cruise on a tight budget. Oh, we are penny-wise, but not to the point of counting. But this time, we had some surprise expenses (big ones) happen this year so we found ourselves trying our best to keep our expenses down. We budgeted $50 a day for our port days, this does not include Roatan (I'll get to that in a bit). We had enough OBC to cover our tips and buy the least expensive wine package, and we had a bottle of vodka purchased before the cruise for the room. I brought on tonic and bloody mary fixings.

Tampa is a 3-hour drive from our house, so on Sunday, May 6, after bidding farewell to our dogs, our cat, our bird, and our 9 chickens, we got on the road to Tampa around 7:30. We dropped our bags at the terminal at 11:00, parked in the parking garage and were in the line by 11:15. Turning the corner from the parking garage, we took this picture.

The line went incredibly fast and it was weird, we were right in a pocket just after the first rush, but before the second rush. I could look behind us and see the line bottle-necking, but we kept moving. 20 minutes after getting in line, we were onboard and heading for the Lido deck for lunch.

After a leisurely lunch, we went to see if the room was ready and it was.

About us: We are John (aged 60) and Kate (aged 57). John is British and we live in St. Augustine, Florida. We have been married 16 years, and he is my best friend.

We mixed a vodke tonic, sipped it and then had a nap until muster drill. A bride and groom were right next to us during the muster drill and their little boy was dressed up in a tiny captain's suit. So cute. The bride was beautiful but a bit a of "woo woo" girl, but her happiness was infectious. The muster drill was painless. We took a walk around the ship, but watched the sailaway from our balcony.

We, of course, watched the ship go under the bridge. This is a must. It is amazing. No pictures, but we do have a video, which I'll post at the end.

We went to dinner at that point. We had chosen YTD for the first time. I really liked the freedom. The wait was negligible and you could indeed do whatever you were in the mood for. You could choose to eat with a group, or choose a table for two and we did both throughout the week. We had brought a glass of wine with us, and ordered our wine package. I'm not a stickler for detail about what we ate, but MOST of the time the food was decent to very good with occasional ughs. If I didn't like it, I politely asked for something else and there was never a problem. All of the soups were great, the salads very good, the beef dishes seemed the best of the proteins.

Our first towel animal:

The moon was beautiful on the first night:

Subscribed.

Love the picture of the moon!

More More More- I can't wait to read the rest of your review and see the pics. DH and I are sailing the Legend in November. I am already packing - in my imagination. FOR NOW:)

Monday - Fun Day at Sea

Different for us. We had no DOD's, played no Bingo, had decided our sea days were free days and were not going to spend money.

I had room service coffee on the balcony while my husband slept in, and when he got up, we had our first omelette of the cruise. The ocean was already getting that incredible carribean blue hue and I could sit on the balcony and stare. We read, we ate, we took walks, we napped, we relaxed. It felt great to have the whole trip in front of us.

We never went to see any of the shows, or any of the comedians, that's just not us. We went to the piano bar a few times, and it turns out the pianist and my husband are both from Blackpool, England, which was really small world.

My husband and the pianist:

First elegant night attire:

It was on that first elegant night that I did the silly pictures. Here's a link in case you missed it.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1637895

I think everybody who goes on the Legend should do this.

Cozumel. Tuesday.

A gorgeous day.

We got off the ship and walked around the port area for a while. Some pictures:

Nice review! Looking forward to reading more!:)

I think this picture is obligatory isn't it?

Great review so far!!:D

6 days and we will be on the Legend again! :)

It was a gorgeous day, but very hot. After walking around a while, we went back on board, grabbed sandwiches and lemonade and ate a quick lunch, donned bathing suits and coverups, grabbed our snorkeling gear and took off for the taxi stands.

We grabbed a taxi and asked the guy to take us to the Money Bar. $8.00 for the trip. We did not tip him and I'll tell you why. He cursed at us, and beat the side of his car in frustration because we were not going to be a big fare for him. He would not speak to us at all, just kept cursing us. I was getting a little afraid. The Money Bar isn't far, but it's too far to walk. It is beautiful and the snorkeling from right there is free and amazing. We were actually snorkeling where some boats were bringing people to snorkel and we just swam there from the bar.

The Money Bar:

Before:

During:

After: (ain't this fetching?)

After a really wonderful swim, we sat at the table and drank a few beers and ate some chips and guacamole and salsa. Excellent. A most excellent day. $21 was the tab. Walked across the street where there were taxis waitng, $8.00 plus $2 tip to get back (he was a nice and friendly cab driver). Total cost of day: $39. Under budget! Yay!

That little dot is my husband snorkeling:

Sitting on the balcony watching the Elation folk boarding:

Bye bye Cozumel (that's the Money Bar in the distance):

Thanks for the review....our group of 41 will be on the Legend in August!

Belize on Wednesday.

How on earth can this trip be almost halfway over? We JUST got here!

We looked and looked for something fun and cheap to do in Belize and NOTHING appealed to either of us. Either too strenuous (zipling, cavetubing) or hot and boring (long bus rides), or going to a little beach island (that's not really seeing Belize, is it?)

So my husband opted not to even get off the ship. I, however, rode the tender to the port area just to have 2 Belikan beers ($5) and to buy some Marie Sharpe's hot sauce (2 for $5). I walked around a bit and then came back. I was only gone two hours. so it was another relaxing sea day for us. Today we went to the pool for a while, bring along our vodka tonics.

Since today had only cost us $10, I decided to buy one of those knock-off Pandora bracelets that were on sale in the gift shop for $25. It was a mob scene! People were buying handfuls of them.

But they are pretty.

Thursday. Roatan.

This is the one day we knew we'd go over budget and we didn't care. This was our third try to get to Roatan and by golly we had finally made it. On the two previous attempts, we had reserved a Victor Bodden private driver for a tour. This was something we really wanted to do. But to be budget-minded, we booked the Fun-and-Sun tour for $25 each and toured with 3 other couples. Our driver was Kenny, and he was fantastic. He told us some history of the island as he drove us around.

Beauty:

What a great review! Keep it coming! We are budgeting as well and it's great to see how people can cruise and stay on budget! Love all the pictures as well:)

Great review and I was on the same week you were. Looking forward to hearing your point of view.

We went to Bodden's house to pay up and to play with the monkeys which was included in the tour. A monkey crawled right down my shirt! (there's a video, which I'll post a link to at the end).

From there we went to the Mayan Princess Resort and bought day passes for $10 each. This is on West Bay Beach right next to Bananarama. We snorkeled the reef, swam in the water, split a $10 cheeseburger, just so we could say we had a cheeseburger in Paradise and a couple of local beers. Wonderful and amazing. With a tip to the driver, today we spent $100. Totally worth it. I know. I know. We could have gone to the Carnival owned beach for free. But darn it, I wanted to actually SEE this island. It spoke to me.

A gorgeous pool at the resort that I had to try:

Second elegant night:

It can't be Friday already. Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island.

We tendered over in the morning cause I was out of tonic and wanted to get some more. We took a walk around, found a liquor store, bought the tonic ($2.00) and took a few pictures.

What Brit can resist a photo by the yellow submarine?

I look really miserable, don't I?

Back to the ship for lunch. We donned our bathing suits and coverups, grabbed our snorkel gear and headed back to the tender.

We walked to the Eden Rock dive shop, rented a locker ($5) stuffed our stuff in, and swam out to the reef. I have done a lot of snorkeling, but I have never seen fish so tame. They swam right up to you and peered into your mask. I figured they are used to being fed by snorkelers. Amazing stuff.

The dive shop is great. There's a shower. A place to rinse off your gear. A clean restroom. You can rent snorkel gear here, if you don't have any. And there is an easy entry ladder into the water.

Total cost of day: $7

We, of course, watched the ship go under the bridge. This is a must. It is amazing. No pictures, but we do have a video, which I'll post at the end.

 

We went to dinner at that point. We had chosen YTD for the first time. I really liked the freedom. The wait was negligible and you could indeed do whatever you were in the mood for. You could choose to eat with a group, or choose a table for two and we did both throughout the week. We had brought a glass of wine with us, and ordered our wine package. I'm not a stickler for detail about what we ate, but MOST of the time the food was decent to very good with occasional ughs. If I didn't like it, I politely asked for something else and there was never a problem. All of the soups were great, the salads very good, the beef dishes seemed the best of the proteins.

 

Our first towel animal:

 

The moon was beautiful on the first night:

WOW!!! The seas look like GLASS!!!!! Gorgeous picture!!!!:D