Carnival Legend Review July 28th, 2012

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Carnival Legend Review

Western Caribbean

Tampa, FL

Sunday, July 29th – Sunday, August 5th, 2012

 

Ports:

Cozumel

Belize

Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan

Grand Cayman

 

Extended Balcony

Empress Deck

Room 7204

 

My significant other and I decided to try our first cruise. We live in Los Angeles so we knew we would have to travel to cruise beyond Mexico. We researched the ships, ports, airline fares, and decided the Western Caribbean cruise out of Tampa sounded wonderful. We called Carnival and spoke with a great travel planner who answered all of our questions. We picked an extended balcony room, on the seventh floor, room 7204. Now we had a six-month wait until we could cruise. I googled our ship and room number and found cruise critic. I became addicted to cruise critic within one day. Found a lot of information for first time cruisers and started a list!!

 

I’m going to try my first review!!

 

 

Saturday morning we flew from Los Angeles to Tampa (stopping in Las Vegas) on Southwest Airlines. We took advantage of two bags fly free. No issues with Southwest. It was a smooth flight and great service. We arrived to a very humid Tampa Airport. Tampa airport is wonderful. It was so easy to maneuver from the gate, to baggage claim, and to the shuttle pick up area. We previously made hotel reservations at Holiday Inn Express Rocky Point location. We paid for the “cruise package room”. It consisted of a shuttle from Tampa airport to Holiday Inn Express, shuttle from Holiday Inn Express to cruise ship, and shuttle from cruise ship to Tampa Airport after the cruise ended. Room was very nice and comfortable. Room had new and clean furniture and super comfortable mattress and linens. We were starving from a day of travel and asked front desk for a dinner recommendation. We called a cab and went to WestShore Plaza mall and had a wonderful dinner at Mitchell’s Fish Market. If you make it there, you have to try the crab cake!! Best I’ve ever had!! We had packed a “hotel suitcase” so we didn’t have to unpack the big suitcases for the one night. We put on our luggage tags and called it a night. The hotel had free breakfast the following morning. It consisted of: cereal, yogurt, milk, juice, coffee, tea, waffles, bagels, toast, eggs, sausage, cinnamon rolls, biscuits and gravy, and fresh fruit. The hotel had an 11:00am and 12:00pm shuttle to ship. When we arrived we signed up for the 11:00 shuttle. We headed to the front of the hotel and loaded on a shuttle. Hector is a great driver. He was our driver on two of the three shuttles.

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We saw the top of the ship poking out of the tall buildings on our drive to the port. We were very excited and couldn’t really believe the six-months had ended and it’s time to cruise. We were dropped off right in front of the building and before we could get out of the van our bags were on a hand truck and being pushed away from us. We said goodbye to Hector and got in line with our boarding passes, passports, and carry on luggage. The line moved very quickly. We were through the boarding pass line, security line, sail and sign card line and picture line within 20 minutes. We finally walked onto the ship. We were awestruck at the size of the ship. It was huge. We walked through several levels and checked it all out. We went to casino to get our sail and sign cards punched and our free lanyard. We were tired of carrying around our carry on bags so we decided to go find a space on the Lido deck and eat lunch. Lunch choices were so overwhelming. We both found something we wanted and it was all tasty. Around 1:00pm a woman told us the rooms were ready so we went down to our room and checked it out. It was small but had enough space for the two of us. It had more than enough storage. The room had a king size bed, couch, refrigerator, and a safe. The balcony was small..don’t know what a regular balcony looks like. It had two chairs and a small table. We put away our carry on stuff and headed out to explore more of the ship. Around 5:30 we went back and our luggage had arrived. We started the unpacking process. We took way too much stuff!!! I’ll get to that later. We had a place for everything and even a few drawers and space that remained empty.

 

We quickly got ready for our 8:15pm dinner. We were seated at a table for nine, table 237. Our wait staff consisted of Kristian and Ionut. They were amazing!! Our tablemates were wonderful also. In fact, one couple we became friends with and we would watch the shows and have drinks with after dinner together most nights. The dining room was nice and colorful and just full of energy. My favorite thing on the menu would have to be the warm chocolate melting cake and my least favorite would be the crab cake. I tried all the seafood they offered and many of the soups. The salads were great also. Our food was always served in a quickly manner and hot or cold depending on the food. I did send back my crab cake but that was a taste issue. I did find the photographers to be a little annoying during dinner. We went to the lobby area prior to many dinners and had our pictures taken in front of all the backdrops so I felt like the photographers through out dinner were a little unnecessary.

 

Our first sea day was nice. We explored the ship more and had breakfast out near the Serenity Deck. All the seating was taken by breakfast time so we wondered around a little more. My SO has a very fair complexion and doesn’t tan, she only burns!! I knew this wouldn’t be a lay out and “tan” type of vacation. The Serenity Area did look nice. It had many hammocks, clamshells and chaise lounges. The pools are TINY!! We never got in one. Too many people in such a small amount of water didn’t sound like a good idea! Our first elegant dinner happened on our first sea day. Everyone looked great and had a nice dinner of lobster and shrimp.

 

Tuesday, Cozumel 9am-5pm. We planned an excursion through Wild Adventures. We rode ATVs in the jungle. It was amazing. We booked the reservation over the internet and paid a 30% deposit. We were given directions on where to meet. We took a cab to the meeting spot but didn’t realize we were to meet on “island time” not boat time. Make sure you read the confirmation you receive to determine meeting time. We had an hour to explore Cozumel on our own since we were an hour early. We had a nice breakfast at Jeannie’s Restaurant right on the beach and ran to the local super market to buy vanilla and more Bonine. The Wild Adventures rep arrived and another couple arrived and we were off. After a quick safety explanation about the ATVs we were on our own for a wonderful ATV ride through the jungle. It was hot and muddy and buggy but it was so much fun. TIP: wear bandana around your mouth, sunglasses and GLOVES. I had three blisters and a burn by the time the ride was over. The company returns you to the ship after the ATV ride. We were so hot and exhausted we went directly back to the ship. We showered and regrouped and went up to have lunch. We thought we would get back off the ship to explore the port area but we were too tired. You would have plenty of time to do so though. ($65.00/per person for the ATV ride)

 

Wednesday, Belize 8am-5pm. We didn’t see anything on the Carnival excursion list that we wanted to do at this port. I also searched Cruise Critic for excursions and didn’t see any. We decided to have a slow morning. We slept in and had a late breakfast and then took the tender boat to Belize. It was a very small area. We purchased some souvenirs. We also went to Cate’s and had a cold drink and checked on our loved ones back home with the unlimited $5.00 WIFI.

 

Thursday, Honduras 8am-3pm. I had found Victor Bodden’s company on Cruise Critic and reserved the Fun ‘n Sun tour. You can contact the company through email and make a reservation without payment up front. We took a taxi from the ship to the meeting point ($2/per person) and met up with the rep and were introduced to our driver. He drove us all over the island. We saw both sides of the island. He also took us to the top of a mountain to get great pics plus there were vendors selling their homemade items. We found a good buy with several carved wood pieces. We then went to Victor’s home to see the monkeys, birds, etc. the animals are well taken care of. All had large and clean cages. We got to hold the animals. The company is very organized. You can also do a zip line at Victor’s house. Our driver then took us to a beach. Our driver waited for us to swim, snorkel, etc. We had two hours at the beach. The people trying to sell massages, pottery, jewelry, excursions were nonstop. You had to get in the water to avoid it. That was my only complaint about this excursion. Our driver then returned us to the ship. ($25/per person for the Fun ‘n Sun tour)

 

This was our second elegant night on the ship. We had another great dinner and entertainment afterwards.

 

Friday, Grand Cayman 10am-6pm. I found many private stingray excursions through Cruise Critic but once contacted they were sold out. We had to book with Carnival for the Sting Ray City excursion. This is a tender port so we had our tickets and headed to the Follies Lounge to gather and board the tender to head the short distance to the island. I could have swam to the island. It was a very very short boat ride. It was extremely hot and we had to wait 45 minutes to board the bus to head to the marina. All very organized. It was a short bus ride to the catamaran. Boat had tables, chairs, bathroom, and bar. It also had life jackets for small children or people who couldn’t swim. We had a 20-minute boat ride to the reef. It was breathtaking. There were probably 8-10 other boats at the reef but it didn’t seem too crowded. We were able to snorkel in the most beautiful water I’ve ever seen and hold and touch stingrays. We took a waterproof camera so we took great pics. The excursion was a total of two hours and went so fast. It was great though. We took the tender back to the ship, showered, had lunch and then went back to the island for shopping. ($50.00 per person for Stingray City excursion)

 

Saturday, Sea Day. We slept in and had a nice breakfast. I went through out the entire ship and took pics. We lounged around, played bingo, and ate. We had to pack. It was sad to know the cruise was ending. We received our luggage tags and were group 7. We got ready for our last dinner and had a wonderful evening. We ran down between dinner and show to put our luggage outside the room.

 

Sunday, Debarkation day. We had to be out of our room by 8:30am. We got ready and headed up to the Lido deck for breakfast. It was PACKED. We finally found a table and dropped our carry on luggage and took turns finding breakfast. We took our time eating since debarkation was to start at 9:30. I guess some international cruisers didn’t know to meet at a certain place/time. We were delayed due to customs. Regular debarkation started around 10:15. We were group 7 and were called around 10:45. We found our luggage and went through customs. One piece of our luggage was damaged so we had to find someone and report it. Once outside the terminal I called the hotel to get a shuttle to Tampa Airport. We had a 4:20 flight so we had many many hours to spend in the airport. It was a nice airport to have so many extra hours. We finally boarded the plane and flew to Las Vegas and then had an hour layover before flying to Los Angeles.

 

We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to book another cruise. I attended the future cruise seminar and purchased a future cruise certificate. A few things: it was very very hot and we didn’t use the balcony as much as we thought we would. I don’t know if I would pay for a balcony again in the hot summer months. I loved the 7th floor and mid ship location. Didn’t feel much movement at all. I took two Bonine every morning. I didn’t get sleepy, dry mouth, etc. Our room steward was ok. Room was dusty but we wiped it down with the Clorox wipes we packed. Had ice a few times. Had to ask for toilet paper, towels and breakfast order forms. I liked being able to connect with friends and family through Funville on my iPad in the room. I loved the chips and salsa from the grill. My SO loved the turkey wrap from the deli. The fresh fruit was always a plus. We did dilute the lemonade and iced tea. We added about 1/3 water to the cup prior to adding lemonade or tea and it was perfect.

 

Things we packed but could have left at home: power strip, extension cord, duct tape, crystal light drink mix, and detergent. A few things we didn’t take that we will next time: hangers and Neosporin. I bought Neosporin in Belize. We took six dinner outfits each and it wasn’t necessary. Can easily re wear a few outfits?

 

Overall, it was our best vacation yet. I loved being removed from my cell phone, emails, etc. It was a needed break. We are planning another cruise soon.

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