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The Legendary Journey - Carnival Legend July 17-24, 2011

pomm1972

By pomm1972,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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pomm1972

pomm1972

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AKA Pommee's cruise with the newbies or Carnival Legend 2.0 or Who in their right mind books trips to Central America in July or Who in the right mind books a cruise to Central America in July for a 2nd time or Carnival's drinks on us program really does exist and why they should have it forever and on every ship.

 

If you can tell from my multiple titles this is gonna be crazy long. So if you like short reviews, move on. If you like long reviews, buckle up buttercup (anyone else miss that commercial?). If you like food porn, sorry I didn't take any food pictures but there will be a few drink pictures, and of course an obligatory beer picture at each island. A little tradition of mine.

 

If you want fun times (capers for us veterans) unfortunately I don't have them. I was saving them but my cabin mate in cleaning frenzy started throwing them away.

 

What you will find here is hopefully an enjoyable review. I have read many leading up to this cruise specifically the Legend and for other Carnival journeys. People have put the time in, here is my way to pay it forward. I just hope mine measures up.

 

I have cruised on other lines (RCCL and Celebrity once each) and choose Carnival because IMHO its a better product. That its a better value is just a bonus.

 

I'll start here with highlights and a few areas where I think it could have been better. As you may have deduced from the multiple titles. I did this same cruise 2 years ago, on the exact same week give or take a few days.

 

The Food:

 

The best I have had on any cruise. I liked it a lot 2 years ago - had many of the same dishes. This time the presentation and food was a step above. Not sure who the chef was, but he made many dishes which I have seen before and tasted before presented in different ways. My favorite entree was the Short Rib with Sesame Eggplant. IMHO, the sesame eggplant could be a separate dish, are you listening Carnival? Put these two together you have an amazing dish.

 

I also tried Carnival's award winning Basa Filet. My waiter, from the Ukraine, said it is the best dish of the cruise. It was good. The best, I don't think so. Its a pan seared Basa filet (a hearty whitefish akin to haddock or cod). Its a fresh clean tasting mild fish (read: not fishy) braised in a martini tomato sauce. Tasting the fish alone without its base of a potato cake, its bland. Bring it together its a tasty treat. I highly recommend it.

 

The only lowlight on food was on Lido buffet the first day for lunch. I hated it. I'm fussy about chicken, it was a dark meat chicken and vegetable dish. My cabin mates enjoyed it though. The vegetarian noodles and spicy beef dish were excellent.

 

Anytime dining:

 

Never again. The ability to go anytime you want was great. The service very uneven. This is not a reflection, necessarily on the staff. I say this because they are obviously understaffed. We had three different staffs during the time we were there. For those of who haven't cruised in a little while or who have never cruised before on Carnival, Carnival now works the dining room with a three person staff. There is a head waiter, a waiter and an assistant waiter. You are almost always served by the head. He also takes your order for the main dishes. Dessert menu is brought and is sometimes served by the waiter. I don't think we ever saw the asst. waiter.

 

Arsenio's team, was the most consistent, although unpolished. He was from the Philippines. He was nice enough, but never smiled. When putting plates down he slammed them. His waiter was great, always had a smile on his face.

 

The Ukranian's (sorry I have to call him that but I forget his name - if I remember it later I will refer to him as such) service was the worst on the first night we had him and the best when we had him the 2nd time on the 2nd cruise elegant night. The first time we had him was the only time we had a wait. The wait I want to say was 30 minutes or so. His team was definitely having trouble keeping up. My sister recalls him being very loud with someone on his team. I didn't hear it. Well they got it together the 2nd time. When we had it the first time, we said we hope we never got him again. When we were seated in his section again, we were dreading it. Well at least my sister would try escargot for the first time. Well were we pleasantly surprised. It reminded me of a set time dinner seating. Oh how I missed them. He smiled, was very friendly and even made the escargot joke. For those of you who have never heard the escargot joke. Its goes something like you better hurry eating them before they crawl away. My niece, who's 12 said, ewww gross they are still alive?

 

Here's a perfect comparison between the two nights. We ordered espresso and cappucino before dessert. Bad night it came as we were leaving. We asked during our dessert again about the drinks. We were told they were still making them. Great night it was there just before the dessert came.

 

Okay more to come later. I'll post next once I get all my pictures on photobucket.

 

In the interim feel free to ask any questions and I would be more willing to answer them.

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karonijo

karonijo

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Give us more...give us more.. :D LOL . We leave in October...I love reading all about the Legend. I have heard soooo many good things about the crew and the overall experience. Love to see lots of pics too ;)

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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AKA Pommee's cruise with the newbies or Carnival Legend 2.0 or Who in their right mind books trips to Central America in July or Who in the right mind books a cruise to Central America in July for a 2nd time or Carnival's drinks on us program really does exist and why they should have it forever and on every ship.

 

If you can tell from my multiple titles this is gonna be crazy long. So if you like short reviews, move on. If you like long reviews, buckle up buttercup (anyone else miss that commercial?). If you like food porn, sorry I didn't take any food pictures but there will be a few drink pictures, and of course an obligatory beer picture at each island. A little tradition of mine.

 

If you want fun times (capers for us veterans) unfortunately I don't have them. I was saving them but my cabin mate in cleaning frenzy started throwing them away.

 

What you will find here is hopefully an enjoyable review. I have read many leading up to this cruise specifically the Legend and for other Carnival journeys. People have put the time in, here is my way to pay it forward. I just hope mine measures up.

 

I have cruised on other lines (RCCL and Celebrity once each) and choose Carnival because IMHO its a better product. That its a better value is just a bonus.

 

I'll start here with highlights and a few areas where I think it could have been better. As you may have deduced from the multiple titles. I did this same cruise 2 years ago, on the exact same week give or take a few days.

 

The Food:

 

The best I have had on any cruise. I liked it a lot 2 years ago - had many of the same dishes. This time the presentation and food was a step above. Not sure who the chef was, but he made many dishes which I have seen before and tasted before presented in different ways. My favorite entree was the Short Rib with Sesame Eggplant. IMHO, the sesame eggplant could be a separate dish, are you listening Carnival? Put these two together you have an amazing dish.

 

I also tried Carnival's award winning Basa Filet. My waiter, from the Ukraine, said it is the best dish of the cruise. It was good. The best, I don't think so. Its a pan seared Basa filet (a hearty whitefish akin to haddock or cod). Its a fresh clean tasting mild fish (read: not fishy) braised in a martini tomato sauce. Tasting the fish alone without its base of a potato cake, its bland. Bring it together its a tasty treat. I highly recommend it.

 

The only lowlight on food was on Lido buffet the first day for lunch. I hated it. I'm fussy about chicken, it was a dark meat chicken and vegetable dish. My cabin mates enjoyed it though. The vegetarian noodles and spicy beef dish were excellent.

 

Anytime dining:

 

Never again. The ability to go anytime you want was great. The service very uneven. This is not a reflection, necessarily on the staff. I say this because they are obviously understaffed. We had three different staffs during the time we were there. For those of who haven't cruised in a little while or who have never cruised before on Carnival, Carnival now works the dining room with a three person staff. There is a head waiter, a waiter and an assistant waiter. You are almost always served by the head. He also takes your order for the main dishes. Dessert menu is brought and is sometimes served by the waiter. I don't think we ever saw the asst. waiter.

 

Arsenio's team, was the most consistent, although unpolished. He was from the Philippines. He was nice enough, but never smiled. When putting plates down he slammed them. His waiter was great, always had a smile on his face.

 

The Ukranian's (sorry I have to call him that but I forget his name - if I remember it later I will refer to him as such) service was the worst on the first night we had him and the best when we had him the 2nd time on the 2nd cruise elegant night. The first time we had him was the only time we had a wait. The wait I want to say was 30 minutes or so. His team was definitely having trouble keeping up. My sister recalls him being very loud with someone on his team. I didn't hear it. Well they got it together the 2nd time. When we had it the first time, we said we hope we never got him again. When we were seated in his section again, we were dreading it. Well at least my sister would try escargot for the first time. Well were we pleasantly surprised. It reminded me of a set time dinner seating. Oh how I missed them. He smiled, was very friendly and even made the escargot joke. For those of you who have never heard the escargot joke. Its goes something like you better hurry eating them before they crawl away. My niece, who's 12 said, ewww gross they are still alive?

 

Here's a perfect comparison between the two nights. We ordered espresso and cappucino before dessert. Bad night it came as we were leaving. We asked during our dessert again about the drinks. We were told they were still making them. Great night it was there just before the dessert came.

 

Okay more to come later. I'll post next once I get all my pictures on photobucket.

 

In the interim feel free to ask any questions and I would be more willing to answer them.

 

Great start to your review! Love the Legend.

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pomm1972

pomm1972

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The other wait staff we had was very off. Not much more to say on that. We got them twice. Both times they were just off and very disorganized. The head waiter, whose name again I don't recall, but who was from Indonesia, seemed like a deer in headlights all of the time. Maybe he was at the end of his contract, who knows?

 

So anytime dining, if you like the flexibility and don't mind uneven service, it may be for you. As a party of 3, we always had a table to ourselves, although we would be more than willing to share a table with someone, we just never had that opportunity. We also never had a window table and never asked for any one staff specifically. I'm sure if you were to ask for a window table there may have been a wait. Again, we only had a wait one night. Even with the uneven service the food was excellent. The temperature seemed fine every time. The one time I got soup, it was plenty hot.

 

Why will I do set time dining next time? I enjoy the personalized service. I enjoy meeting tablemates. I'm also a fan of the silliness of the dining room staff singing and dancing. Call me a dork, but I love it. We only saw it twice during anytime dining but it just isn't the same on the 2nd level of the dining room. We also missed leaving on a cruise ship our last night.

 

More on the food we ate later on in the review.

 

Stateroom Service:

 

We had a great room steward, Olvin from Honduras. He was like a big teddy bear. For those of us that have anytime dining, this proves to be more of a challenge for the room stewards. You will see them more often, because they are not sure what time you are leaving. He would knock on the door, we'd give him an update and of course the room was perfect when we got back. This being only my second time with a balcony, I only have my last experience to compare. Our balcony was always cleaned up for us. Being smokers, when he first met us he brought us an ashtray for the balcony and he always had a clean one for us on the balcony. My previous experience the balcony was never taken care of even though we gave him 20 dollars up front to take care of us. Because of his excellent service, we gave him an extra tip with a personal note, on top of our prepaid gratuities.

 

The room:

 

We had 6222, an extended balcony that was set for 3. We got this room which is the only one of that class with a pull down bed. My niece was more than excited before the cruise to get it. The room is supposed to have a couch which does not convert to a bed. Well when we first got to the room, the couch was made up as a bed. As my niece wanted the bunk, we asked Olvin to make up the bunk and he did. It was great to have the sofa. A place to sit and throw your stuff.

 

The room although cozy, was more than ample enough room. Plenty of closet storage. Plenty of room under the bed for all of our luggage. The extended balcony, plenty enough room for 3 chairs and a table and room to move around. A great place to drink coffee in the morning, watch the slow ride into the ports, a great place for sailaway, a great place to relax in the evening. Can you tell how much we love the balcony? I've never had the standard size balcony, so don't know how the room compares. My previous cruise my friend had one of the aft wrap suites, one of these days, those places are great for a party. Soooo much room.

 

A note about our cabin neighbors - apparently some peoples parenting skills are much to be desired. The small kids next door were bouncing off walls and always on the balcony unattended. The oldest I think was 6. At first we though they were cute, they introduced themselves, again unattended. They tried looking under the balcony divider, tried looking over the side to take pictures of us. They threw stuff off the balcony towards the water, The threw stuff into our balcony. Little kids standing on the chairs, again unattended. The threw trash onto our balcony. The wrote notes and put them in our mailbox. This was when my sister went off her rocker. The notes said, you are a fat pig, you are a drunk, etc. Never once did these kids see us drunk, because we never were. We drank, oh yes we did, but we were never drunk.

 

The papers even gave the kids names and their cabin number. When my sister brought it to the mothers attention, she blew it off by saying, "yeah, I know I talked to them about it." When my sister said this is really offensive stuff. She again blew it off. No sorry. No apologies, nothing. Haven't gotten anywhere she reported it to security. Not really to complain, but more for safety sake. It was obvious that this women sucks as a parent. My sister said all she wanted was an apology. Having not received it, we reported it. Security at first said their standard we can't do anything if we didn't see it. When my sister walked away obviously disgusted the security person's boss came up to us, we re-explained what happened and he said he would speak to the mom. They followed up with us and she told them that this all happened when she was in the bathroom. Okay this lady must have had either a bladder or a bowel problem, because she was never there. Never once did I see this women or hear this woman. Yet I saw her young children in the hallway several times. Also another note on security, we received a follow-up call and they said to call them if we had any other problems. Once brought to their attention, the problem was solved never a problem again.

 

Okay I need to get ready for work. I may have some more later.

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pomm1972

pomm1972

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I am so excited to read this review it looks like it going to a great one!:)

 

I am going to Nachi Cocom next month and looking forward to more pictures!

 

Oh we have lots of Nachi to share, have no fear. You are gonna love Nachi!!

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GeorgiaMomof4

GeorgiaMomof4

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Thank you. It amazes me how long it takes to write one, but power on I will. I love the Legend too.

 

 

 

I can't wait to read more! Because I did a lengthy review on the Dream back in April, I know it takes a while to do...but realize we are very thankful you are taking the time to do this one and we do appreciate your efforts.

 

I'm getting ready to book the Legend and have a couple of questions if you don't mind.

 

 

1) Can you tell me if you docked port side or starboard side in the ports where you docked? I know Belize and Grand Cayman are tender ports so they don't really count! We enjoy being able to watch our ship come in to ports and sometimes the runners as we leave, so we'e hoping to book on the side that we would get to do that the most.

 

2) Like you, we enjoy the personal service and the routine (even the corny singing and dancing) of set dining. There will be 9 of us going with 2 smaller ones (9 and 7) at the time so we pretty much need to do early dining. With that being said, I really hate to miss going under the bridge the first night. What would you suggest? I've thought about doing the steakhouse the first night, but for my family of 6 that would be an additional $150.00 that we don't normally spend - is it really worth it - especially for the 2 little ones who won't eat much? Also, I hate missing the first night in the dining room with our waiters! I'm in a quandry! Any advice?

 

Thanks and keep up the good work!

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floatingaway2525

floatingaway2525

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Great great great pommee can't wait for more!!!:D

I'm with you on the ATD, dislike! It just ain't right without all the waiter fun, and dancin' dinner off:p

Children 6 and under standing on chairs on the balcony unattended:eek::eek::mad: SO happy you reported that, what a scary thing!!!

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pomm1972

pomm1972

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I can't wait to read more! Because I did a lengthy review on the Dream back in April, I know it takes a while to do...but realize we are very thankful you are taking the time to do this one and we do appreciate your efforts.

 

I'm getting ready to book the Legend and have a couple of questions if you don't mind.

 

 

1) Can you tell me if you docked port side or starboard side in the ports where you docked? I know Belize and Grand Cayman are tender ports so they don't really count! We enjoy being able to watch our ship come in to ports and sometimes the runners as we leave, so we'e hoping to book on the side that we would get to do that the most.

 

2) Like you, we enjoy the personal service and the routine (even the corny singing and dancing) of set dining. There will be 9 of us going with 2 smaller ones (9 and 7) at the time so we pretty much need to do early dining. With that being said, I really hate to miss going under the bridge the first night. What would you suggest? I've thought about doing the steakhouse the first night, but for my family of 6 that would be an additional $150.00 that we don't normally spend - is it really worth it - especially for the 2 little ones who won't eat much? Also, I hate missing the first night in the dining room with our waiters! I'm in a quandry! Any advice?

 

Thanks and keep up the good work!

 

Okay we had portside, even side I think, I always get confused by that. In Tampa, we faced the channel, the crappy view, not Channelside Plaza and the Aquarium. In Cozumel we docked on our side. When the Inspiration came in we faced them. So if there were dockrunners we would have seen them. For some reason I wasn't out on the balcony at that time. In Roatan, we faced the dock, so you could see the shopping village and the beach.

 

I love the steakhouse on the Legend, but this time I didn't go. I didn't regret not going either because the food was excellent in the MDR. Hope that helps. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.

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