Back From 3/11 Legend Cruise

[Coolcruise02]

We are back home after a wonderful cruise on the Legend. Will write a brief review and will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

 

We flew down a day before and stayed at the Radisson Bahia Mar on Seabreeze Blvd. The room was very nice and the hotel is in a great location on the beach.

 

We left for the port around 10:30 and were on board around noon. Met with some Cruise Critic friends after the muster drill. We were upgraded from an oceanview to an obstructed balcony on the Upper deck. Had a good view over the top of the lifeboats that come to the top of the balcony railing.

 

Enjoyed two days of beautiful weather during our two sea days before reaching the port of St. Martin. We shared a taxi to Orient Beach and were dropped off at Pedros which is the dividing line between the semi nude and totally nude beach areas. Rented chairs and umbrella for $5 each with two free rum punches included.

 

Our next port was Barbados on Tuesday. We walked to the terminal and took a taxi to town for $2 each. We wanted to go to Crane Beach and a taxi driver offered to take us there and back for $80 but we wanted to take the city bus. He attempted to discourage us saying it would be long, difficult and hectic but we plunged ahead. Asked directions to the bus terminal which was a 10 minute walk. A very friendly terminal employee changed our $3.00 into 4 bus tokens for the trip out and back for the two of us. The bus was packed with standing room only and got more crowded as each stop was made and more people got on than got off. You may end up holding luggage or packages if you are lucky enough to be seated during the ride. It took about an hour to get to the beach. We mistakenly got off at the Crane Beach Resort and they wanted $25 each to walk thru the hotel to get to the beach. We turned around and walked on to the public access. Be sure to tell the bus driver you want off at the public access which is a short ways down the road. The beach is gorgeous but the water is more suited to surfing than swimming with lots of big waves. There is a cliff walk at the right side of the beach that you can walk out and get some beautiful pictures. Saw some monkeys in the foliage behind the beach. Caught a bus back to Bridgetown with a ride of about 45 minutes.

 

Wednesday found us at the port of Martinique and another perfectly sunny day. Walked off the ship and caught a taxi to town for $3 pp. We then caught the ferry to Point Du Bois for $6 pp round trip. You buy your ticket from the boat driver and be sure to hang onto it for the return trip. Off of the ferry you go to your right to the beach area a couple minutes walk. There are hotels and resorts lining the beach but you can use the beach anywhere from what we could discern. The area we were in was a bit rocky in the water but there were lots of fish to see if you were snorkeling. The ship was leaving at 2:00 pm so we caught the 12:30 ferry back to Fort de France. We walked back to the ship (15-20 minutes) doing a little shopping and sightseeing along the way. The scenery arriving and leaving the port of Martinique is beautiful and we took lots of pictures.

 

We relaxed with 2 more beautiful sunny sea days before arriving back at Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Highlights and Observations: We really liked this itinerary with 3 ports and 4 sea days which is perfect for us. The ship was immaculate and the food was delicious. We particluarly liked the deli sandwiches and goat cheese pizza. The drink selections and their locations beats any ship we have been on hands down. It is so nice to be at the pool and have a good selection of beverages handy. We also enjoyed dancing to the music of Blue Martini in Satchmo's lounge. The only downside to the spirit class is the fact that you can't walk completely around the Atlantic deck promenade as it ends near the front of the ship on both sides. It would be very nice if there were some benches or seating on this deck as we like to watch the ocean from down low. There is very little traffic so it is a nice quiet place to relax.

 

Going Home: Our green color tags were called around 10:00 am. Caught a shuttle to the airport for $7 pp for our 12:45pm flight. There were seven ships in port along with spring break traffic so the airport was packed with lines snaking out the door onto the street. We entered doors to the right of the crowd and walked right up to the kiosks for electronic ticketing. I guess the line was for people waiting for counter service. It was a long day of travel home with several airport delays and snafus but it gave us time to reflect on our wonderful cruise on the Carnival Legend!

[Coolcruise02]

It should have been Point du Bout not Point du Bois in Martinique.

[herb]

glad to hear that you had a wonderful time on the Legend. Seems that everyone returning from a cruise on the Legend has had a positive experience. This makes us more and more excited as our day to sail SLOWLY approaches. :D

[katgar]

Hey Tom and Rebecca! I don't think we ever saw you after we met! We frequently ran into Pat and Bob, in fact spent many moments with them. We ran into Marjie and her crew quite a bit, it was her daughter Kelly that won the Legends Karaoke Contest! Met and saw Barb a few times. Also Ed & Val and Liz a couple of times. Didn't meet Kelly and her group or Chetter, Buddy or Janet. (I think that's everyone that was on our roll call!) Also spent a lot of time with a couple from Virginia, but found we ran into a lot of the same people, even though we didn't know names.

Embarkation was quite easy, we arrived at 11:30 and were whisked away and on board just before noon! We teased Gary that it payed to have him along with the w/c! Although Carnival has no priority policy for w/c's, it seems the port and Carnival employees at the port do take care of those who need assistance.

Debarkation was terrible for us, next time we will definitely book a limo or the like in advance. We were outside a long time before we snagged a shuttle, and his idea of curbside drop-off was a car-width from the curb, leaving the suitcases in the road and driving off. I had to walk in the road a couple of car lengths to get to a curb cut-out for the wheelchair!

All in all it was fantastic! As soon as we boarded I felt at home, having been on her last year. The weather was great, and as before, crew were friendly and glad to help, we even had the Maitre'd and asst. pushing Gary inside from the deck one night before dinner!

I could go on forever, so I'll stop. Can't wait for the next one!

Kathy & Gary

Carmen & Thelma

[Coolcruise02]

Hi Katgar,

 

I guess we must have been at different places at different times thru the week. I agree that debarkation was messy. We finally walked across the street where most of the RCI passengers had already been picked up and got a shuttle to the airport which was another messy situation between the 7 ships in port and spring breakers. It was a great cruise though all in all!