Legend mother/daughter cruise review - Feb 5-12 with photos

[remharri]

Great review so far! I love mom and daughter reviews since I always cruise with my mom, can't get anyone else interested!

 

Can't wait for more!

[ljslight]

Hi, loving you review! I am from Des Moines Iowa. My DH didn't want to do another cruise so my sister, daughter and I booked the CC Superbowl cruise on the Dream 2/2/2013. We have several other Iowa couple joining us. What was the weather like in February?:rolleyes:

[KirkWN737]

Great review so far. We're thinking of taking a Legend cruise sometime next year. After she comes back from Europe.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

Edited February 22, 2012 by KirkWN737

[newdestination]

Hey, it's nice to hear from some fellow Iowans! And thanks to everyone else for the positive comments. I have gathered so much cruise info from these reviews here at CC and would like to return the favor. I didn't realize how much I had missed cruising until this Legend cruise. My last cruise was on the Carnival Glory in January 2008 with my other daughter (plus my mom and MIL/FIL). We had a great time on that cruise too, but my mom and MIL both have mobility issues and my FIL was very seasick the first day, which caused quite a few problems. It was still great to get to spend time with them as I love them all dearly. Maybe my next cruise will be mother/daughter/granddaughter, as I have a 6-month-old granddaughter I would love to introduce to cruising when she's a little older!

[newdestination]

Hi, loving you review! I am from Des Moines Iowa. My DH didn't want to do another cruise so my sister, daughter and I booked the CC Superbowl cruise on the Dream 2/2/2013. We have several other Iowa couple joining us. What was the weather like in February?:rolleyes:

 

Hi, ljslight! The weather in all four ports was warm, even HOT at midday. It was overcast most of the day we were in Cozumel, and we had a few sprinkles of rain at times during the week. Mostly, the weather was darn near perfect except for the last day at sea returning to Tampa. A cold front went through which created a lot of wind and waves. It was cold (34 degrees at 8 a.m.) in Tampa the day we returned (Feb. 12).

[newdestination]

We were hungry so we had a late lunch of burgers, chicken tenders, ice cream, and a drink of the day in the Unicorn Cafe. As we ate, it started to rain. It was a busy cruise ship day in Grand Cayman with five ships docked besides the Legend including Disney Magic, Norwegian Sun, RCI Voyager of the Seas, and Celebrity Solstice. Shortly before 4:00 the Legend set sail for Cozumel. Around 4:20 we noticed a beautiful rainbow that strengthened after a few minutes and became complete.

 

 

After the rainbow faded we went to our stateroom and I listened to music from my iPod on the balcony while Laurie got ready for the evening. I left the balcony reluctantly when it was my turn in the bathroom. Beautiful evening.

 

Shortly after 6 p.m. we headed down to the Punchliner Comedy Club for the family-friendly Doug Funk show. His G-rated show was funny and afterwards we made our way to the Follies Lounge for the music of Marcus Anthony, “King of Sweet Soul Music”. I thought this was the best show of the week. Loved the Legend Showband, too....they were very good.

 

 

After two enjoyable shows we headed for Truffles for dinner at 8:15. Laurie made a meal out of starters - french onion soup, caesar salad, and chicken quesadilla, with strawberry cheesecake for dessert. I had the didja ever? sushi, penne with seafood in tomato cream sauce appetizer, and jerked pork loin entree. I liked it all except for the sauce on the pork loin, which was way too salty for my taste and pretty much ruined the dish. I passed on dessert.

 

As we were really tired, we passed on any further entertainment for the evening and after taking photos with our towel turban man/animal, went to bed early at 10 p.m.

 

[gelo7]

Great start.

[newdestination]

We were up around 7:00 and had a Pepsi Max/diet Mountain Dew/chocolate hit of caffeine (only on vacation!!). It was a cloudy morning and we hoped it would clear off. Prior to the cruise I’d made reservations at Nachi Cocum Beach Club through their website (deposit of $11 per person with the remaining $44 per person payable in cash when we arrived). The Legend wasn’t due to dock in Cozumel until 10 a.m. so we didn’t have to hurry around. After we packed our beach bags we went to the Unicorn Cafe for a little breakfast, but first made a stop at Legends Cafe and splurged on a fancy coffee. By 9:00 we were back to our stateroom and went to the balcony to watch our arrival in Cozumel.

 

 

The captain had us parked at the dock by 9:35. The Celebrity Solstice pulled in right after we did. It was still mostly cloudy with the sun peeking through at times. We had been instructed to wait in the Follies Lounge if we wanted to disembark before 10:45. We did, so we gathered up our beach bags and went to the lounge at 10:00. By 10:30 we were off the ship. We walked through the shops on the pier, found the taxi stand. and were soon headed to Nachi Cocum; it was a 15-minute ride from the pier. I’d read here on CC that the taxi fare from the ship to NC should be $15 plus tip....we were charged $16. We were okay with that and paid/tipped him.

 

We paid the rest of the entrance fee and were given wristbands, and after stopping at the bar for a Bloody Mary, walked down to the beach. It was beautiful!

 

 

 

 

We picked out loungers under one of the thatched “natural” umbrellas and started to settle in. An employee soon came by and asked us if we would be willing to move, as they had a big cruise ship group tour coming in. We had no problem with that and soon our waiter, Manuel, stopped by and introduced himself. The cruise ship group showed up and were situated next to us. They were on the Celebrity Solstice; we visited with the couple closest to us. They were very happy with the Solstice. Nachi Cocum offered snorkel trips ($38 US for adults, 2-hr tour), beach massages, parasailing, wave runner rentals, etc., all for an extra charge. We did not do any of the extra-charge things, as we were quite happy swimming/eating/drinking on the beach. Manuel brought us a lunch menu around 1 p.m. and served the food right on the beach (there was also a covered restaurant where you could sit to eat if desired). The food was good, IMHO. We shared some guacamole, salsa and chips, chicken wings, a grouper sandwich, a club sandwich. and a couple of flan-type desserts. The drinks were good too, not real strong but you could order as many as you liked.

 

 

The guy next to us on the beach did the snorkel trip around 1:00 and said it was fantastic. After I heard that, I kind of wished I’d gone too. It remained cloudy with only a few peeks of the sun the entire time we were there. Around 2:45 we moved up to the pool.

 

 

Laurie swam for awhile while I enjoyed one last frozen drink. We wanted to shop a little bit at the pier so at 3:30 we packed up our stuff. We tipped Manuel and thanked him for taking care of us. There were some other folks going back to the ship when we were ready to leave so we shared a ride back to the pier in a van. There were 6 of us and the driver charged us $32.50. We really enjoyed Nachi Cocum and would go back again.

[Billzilla66]

It's great reviews like this that really make me look forward to my cruise in April. Keep up the great work and photos!:D

[pacarolinagirl]

Fantastic review! Can't wait to read the rest. :)

[SooZ1138]

Can't wait!! I'm sailing her again September!!

[cruisinsassy]

Thanks for the great review so far! Looking forward to hearing more! Loving the pictures!! Heading back out on the Legend in June with DH and our son.

 

:D

-Beth

[newdestination]

We were back to the pier shortly before 4:00. I bought some vanilla and was tempted by a silver/larimar pendant in the shape of a stingray, but I didn’t buy it. We exited the shops on the pier around 4:15 and walked down the pier to reboard the Legend. The Carnival Imagination was docked across the pier from us.

 

 

 

 

We were back on board by 4:30 and went to our stateroom for showers. I went to the balcony and listened to music while Laurie got ready for the evening. The Legend pulled away from the dock around 6 p.m.

 

After I got ready Laurie and I headed out to Rodeo Drive to check out the gift shops. I bought a pair of Tara Vanessa crystal earrings and a little gift for my other daughter at home. Laurie purchased a waterproof watch and a nifty cup. I thought the gift shops had a fairly nice selection of expensive and inexpensive jewelry, t-shirts, and souvenir-type items. I didn’t price any of the more expensive jewelry so I have no idea whether their prices were good or not.

 

At 8:15 we went to the MDR for dinner. Laurie had potato soup, the didja ever shark/langoustino fire cracker roll, and the seafood newburg. She really liked the potato soup but wasn't overly enthused with the fire cracker roll or the seafood dish. She ordered the Tiramisu for dessert, which she said was good. I had the chilled peach soup, the shark/ fire cracker roll, and grilled salmon from the every day menu. The soup was delicious, as was the grilled salmon. I didn’t really care for the fire cracker roll, either. For dessert I had the bitter and blanc bread pudding, which was very good.

 

 

The entertainment was really lacking (IMHO) Wednesday night. The only show in the main lounge was the Love & Marriage Show with CD Kirk Benning at 9 p.m. We’d only seen Kirk once so far all week, at the Welcome Aboard Show. I had heard somewhere that he had come down with a nasty upper respiratory infection, which was the reason his assistants were doing all the show intros, games, etc.

 

We were a little late getting to the Follies for the show due to our 8:15 dining time and the show had already started. Kirk was on stage coughing into a towel and frequently wiped sweat from his face - he still looked sick. I guess the show would have been amusing if you’d never seen it before, but it was basically the same show I’d seen done by John Heald on the Ecstasy 20 years ago (and on nearly every CCL cruise since then) with the same questions and same answers, some of them apparently pre-jotted down by the CD.

 

After the show was over we checked the Fun Times for something else to do, but came up empty-handed. There were no comedy shows on Wednesday night, which left karaoke (lots of people love it but it’s not our thing), the casino (again, not our thing), Cigars under the Stars (nope), and the Mega Deck party, which started at 10:30. We were torn between attending the deck party and getting some sleep. We were very tired and decided we needed sleep, so we went “home” to stateroom 5174 and hit the sack after a great day in the Caribbean.

[Andoria]

I'm loving your review! I'm sailing with my mother and other family members in November!

[tiger belle]

good review so far...I am surprised at all the comments of others who have taken mother/daughter cruises...my mother and I are planning a cruise together (just the two of us) the first week in May...we will actually be arriving back at port on Mother's Day

[topofE]

At Nachi Cocum Beach Club, were all the drinks/food included in the $55? It looks like they were but wanted to be sure since I've been checking out excursions for my trip in December on the Legend...

[melwrey]

I am loving the review! I started reading it when I saw it was a mother/daughter cruise and then I saw the age of your daughter, 27. Same age as mine. She & I are leaving out of New Orleans on the Elation March19th which is her spring break from nursing school. We went through a rough year together last year due to my health issues. I will be in the middle of a chemo cycle but I don't care. I am so exicted to share this time with my daughter and I may just have to rock the bald look. lol. Looking forward to more of your review. :)

[newdestination]

At Nachi Cocum Beach Club, were all the drinks/food included in the $55? It looks like they were but wanted to be sure since I've been checking out excursions for my trip in December on the Legend...

 

The drinks were unlimited at NC but I don't know if the food was. We were encouraged to each order an appetizer, main course, and dessert. That was more food than we could eat so we didn't attempt to order more. The portions were large, IMO.

[CruizeCast]

Thanks for the great review! Such cute pictures. :)

[LBumb]

great photos

[newdestination]

I was awake and out on the balcony around 6:45 and watched as we neared the island of Belize. Around 7:30 the crew dropped the anchor. It was mostly cloudy. We decided to order room service for breakfast so we could continue to get ready for our day. We ordered two bagels with smoked salmon, danish, and coffee, which was delivered about 20 minutes later. After we ate we gathered up our stuff and went to the Follies Lounge to meet our tour group.

 

A few words about shore excursions. We knew that it was possible to purchase shore excursions directly from the vendors/tour companies more inexpensively than booking through Carnival. For peace of mind we chose to go through Carnival for three of the ports. Thanks to CC, I knew that the Carnival excursion to Bannister Island went there directly from the ship, saving the tender ride into Belize City and THEN to Bannister Island. That really worked out well as we ultimately decided not to go into Belize City after our tour. We don’t always book tours through Carnival and have done private/independent tours in the past....it’s just the way we decided to go this time.

 

By 9:15 we were on the tender for the 20-minute trip to Bannister Island. The sun had come out and it was a beautiful day. You could purchase the Bannister Island tour with or without lunch. We did not purchase lunch. I believe if you purchased the excursion with lunch you received one free alcoholic or nonalcoholic drink as well.

 

We arrived at Bannister around 9:30. The island was beautiful! Floats were available for use without extra cost. If you go to Bannister I recommend water shoes. I really wished I’d had some. The sand at Bannister is full of sharp shells, particularly as you enter the water. The swimming area at Bannister (it’s roped off and they warn you NOT to enter the water at any other point as apparently it drops off very quickly) has a lot of seagrass. It’s not very deep and I did not like standing in the seagrass. I don’t like not being able to see what I’m standing in! I used one of the floats because I am not a good swimmer. I was not very comfortable lounging on the floats so finally I gave up, went in, reclined on my lounger, and enjoyed the view. Laurie loves to swim....you'd better believe she was swimming! A waiter came by and introduced himself and offered to bring drinks or food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a half hour or so I walked around the island (their web site says it’s about 3 acres) and checked out the bar, restaurant, small gift shop, and the restrooms. I noticed the bar had a 2 for $10 drink special (I didn’t write down the name of it but I think it was called Green Monster). I went back to my lounger and Laurie was just coming out of the water. She told me she had noticed big starfish in the water (she had a pair of swim goggles) and asked if I wanted to see them. I did, so I grabbed a float and back out we went. She found the place where she’d seen the starfish easily and dove down and brought two up for me to see. They were so beautiful!

 

 

 

Several other people noticed that we were looking at something and wanted to see them before we returned them to the water. We saw a few other fish there, too. I wished I’d brought my snorkel equipment as I have a decent mask and snorkel and normally bring it when I know there’s going to be snorkeling/swimming involved. I elected to leave it home this time as I had tried to pack light.

 

We both got out of the water and I ordered 2 of the green frozen drinks. I can’t remember what was in them but they were good! We did not have any food at Bannister so I can’t comment on that. There is a sand volleyball court but apparently no one was interested in volleyball that day. There are also kayaks and pedal boats available to use for a fee. I overheard someone say they’d used a kayak and saw dolphins. If I have a complaint about Bannister it would only be that our time there was too short....you only get to stay about 3 hours.

 

At 12:30 we packed up our stuff and walked over and boarded the tender. By 12:45 we were on our way back to the Legend, and were back on board at 1:15.

[newdestination]

here is is:

 

 

I'm sure everyone that's ever been to Bannister has this photo but I really love it:cool:

[newdestination]

Thank you to everyone who has commented on my review.

The mother/daughter cruise thing is really special and to all of you that have one coming up, I hope it's fantastic!

[travellover39]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us.:D I'm enjoying your pick of excursions at each port. We are cruising in October on the Legend and noticed your times arriving at each port are different. Also port order is different.

 

My question to you is how far out did you book your tours with Carnival? We will be booking 2 tours with them.

 

Looking forward to reading more.:)

[Kentucky60]

We were up around 7:00 and had a Pepsi Max/diet Mountain Dew/chocolate hit of caffeine (only on vacation!!). It was a cloudy morning and we hoped it would clear off. Prior to the cruise I’d made reservations at Nachi Cocum Beach Club through their website (deposit of $11 per person with the remaining $44 per person payable in cash when we arrived). The Legend wasn’t due to dock in Cozumel until 10 a.m. so we didn’t have to hurry around. After we packed our beach bags we went to the Unicorn Cafe for a little breakfast, but first made a stop at Legends Cafe and splurged on a fancy coffee. By 9:00 we were back to our stateroom and went to the balcony to watch our arrival in Cozumel.

 

 

The captain had us parked at the dock by 9:35. The Celebrity Solstice pulled in right after we did. It was still mostly cloudy with the sun peeking through at times. We had been instructed to wait in the Follies Lounge if we wanted to disembark before 10:45. We did, so we gathered up our beach bags and went to the lounge at 10:00. By 10:30 we were off the ship. We walked through the shops on the pier, found the taxi stand. and were soon headed to Nachi Cocum; it was a 15-minute ride from the pier. I’d read here on CC that the taxi fare from the ship to NC should be $15 plus tip....we were charged $16. We were okay with that and paid/tipped him.

 

We paid the rest of the entrance fee and were given wristbands, and after stopping at the bar for a Bloody Mary, walked down to the beach. It was beautiful!

 

 

 

 

We picked out loungers under one of the thatched “natural” umbrellas and started to settle in. An employee soon came by and asked us if we would be willing to move, as they had a big cruise ship group tour coming in. We had no problem with that and soon our waiter, Manuel, stopped by and introduced himself. The cruise ship group showed up and were situated next to us. They were on the Celebrity Solstice; we visited with the couple closest to us. They were very happy with the Solstice. Nachi Cocum offered snorkel trips ($38 US for adults, 2-hr tour), beach massages, parasailing, wave runner rentals, etc., all for an extra charge. We did not do any of the extra-charge things, as we were quite happy swimming/eating/drinking on the beach. Manuel brought us a lunch menu around 1 p.m. and served the food right on the beach (there was also a covered restaurant where you could sit to eat if desired). The food was good, IMHO. We shared some guacamole, salsa and chips, chicken wings, a grouper sandwich, a club sandwich. and a couple of flan-type desserts. The drinks were good too, not real strong but you could order as many as you liked.

 

 

The guy next to us on the beach did the snorkel trip around 1:00 and said it was fantastic. After I heard that, I kind of wished I’d gone too. It remained cloudy with only a few peeks of the sun the entire time we were there. Around 2:45 we moved up to the pool.

 

 

Laurie swam for awhile while I enjoyed one last frozen drink. We wanted to shop a little bit at the pier so at 3:30 we packed up our stuff. We tipped Manuel and thanked him for taking care of us. There were some other folks going back to the ship when we were ready to leave so we shared a ride back to the pier in a van. There were 6 of us and the driver charged us $32.50. We really enjoyed Nachi Cocum and would go back again.

 

What is the average tip for the waiter at Nachi Cocum?