Legend Review (12/16) - Great Overall Vacation

[bsharynu]

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to reply below. I separated the review into topics and do know I left out other specifics, but my review is my opinion without trying to sugarcoat anything or being too negative.

 

There were 4 of us traveling. Myself and my husband and 2 children, ages 5 and 3. We had a great time. For me, it actually felt like a vacation as opposed to just being away but still having to “work”. There are many negative reviews of the Legend on CC, and you have to take them with a grain of salt. Some people just like to complain. You aren’t on a luxury ship with 5 star quality food, and you shouldn’t expect that. But, you are going to get a great vacation as a whole and that is what matters.

 

Embarkation - We arrived to the port around 11:30am. Embarkation was very smooth and we were probably onboard by noon. (We didn’t wait very long in the waiting area). A staff member at the port saw we were travelling with little ones and she let us get onboard before our zone was called.

 

Ship Decor – My husband said the decorations were a little gaudy, but I expected it from reading other reviews. They were lavish, and it didn’t bother me. I liked the ship as a whole. Yes, there were urns everywhere. My kids called them trophies. They would go up to one of the urns, give it a hug, and say. “my trophy”. Some of the elevators had been defaced and Carnival cleaned it up by scratching it out. It is really too bad what happened, but it is way too costly to replace the elevator doors, so they did the best they could. I am sure when Legend gets the 2.0 upgrade, they will get new elevator doors. The ship was clean.

 

Stateroom - We had a balcony midship on the Empress deck (deck 6). The room was clean and in great shape. We had a king bed, sofabed, and then a top bunk. I found the beds to be comfortable and the room was spacious enough for 4 people. The sofabed and top bunk weren’t as comfortable as the other beds.

 

Food – The food was good. Not great, but it was good. Some dishes came out very hot and others were just warm. There were always plenty of choices, and I will choose Carnival meals over cooking any day. :) We had breakfast in the MDR everyday but 1. It was easier for us to be served and relax a little then deal with buffet and lines on the Lido deck. There was an omelet bar on the Lido deck which was a plus for breakfast. The MDR menu was the same every day. We had Anytime Dining, and it worked out great for us. We didn’t have to rush for the 6pm dinner slot. The service was good, and the hostess always asked if we had a server preference. We sat by ourselves each night.

 

Camp Carnival – My kids are 3 and 5 and were grouped together. They loved the kid’s camp and always wanted to go back. They gave us a cellphone to keep in touch, if needed. The last day was pretty rocky and they asked us to check in every 30 minutes. Very handy to have the phone. The activities were varied but nothing too spectacular. The kids had fun and that is all that mattered. I never worried about leaving my kids there.

 

Shows – We didn’t get to see any of the shows except for the holiday show the last day because of having a 3 and 5 year old with us. I saw a few minutes of a couple of the shows but that is it. I liked that there was a choice of the show or comedy show. It didn’t seem like any of the shows were that great based on other reviews.

 

Ports – Cozumel – We booked the Dolphin Encounter through Carnival. It was at the Dolphinaris. We got delayed getting off the ship (as did others) and I think that probably messed up their schedule there. They ended up giving us free snorkeling and upgraded our package to the swim and ride. Very fun and highly recommend. (Make sure to take lots of cash or a Visa/MC and not Amex). Belize – We just walked around the port and then got back on the ship. Would love to go back without the kids or when they are older and do cave tubing or zip lining. Roatan – We walked to Mahogany Bay Beach and had a free day at the beach. We walked to the beach and it wasn’t a long walk. They have chair lifts like ski lifts that will also take you there, but it isn’t worth the money. Grand Cayman – We booked the Land & Sea tour through Carnival. The semi-sub tour was neat, but we didn’t see as many cool fish as I expected. The land tour was ok. I liked the turtle farm and being able to hold the turtles. If you book privately, it is definitely less expensive, but we liked the peace of mind booking with Carnival and didn’t want to chance things with the little ones.

 

Deembarkation – It is a bit quicker getting off the ship if you carry all your luggage off. We didn’t do that. We were in zone 11 for deembarkation which was a 10:00am time slot. We waited in the lounge to be called and were back in our car around 11am. (That was a bit later than I thought we would be off the ship but things didn’t seem too chaotic).

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[myangel]

Nice review! Just got off of her dec 2 nd it was our 4th time on Legend my favorite ship!! :)

[SMSACE6]

Nice review, and thanks for sharing. Glad you and your family had a nice cruise and vacation. Welcome home.:)

[crusinpsychRN]

Thanks! I told the bartender in the Atrium all those urns around the staircase were specially made for all the dead sea Captain's so they could forever be at sea. It took him a while to figure out I was only kidding. The look on his face was priceless!

[jeancmo]

Thanks for submitting your review! Do you remember the name of the maitre D'?? His/her name is usually listed in the FunTimes (or whatever its called now). Thanks! Jean

[spunke]

Thanks for the review, we are on the Legend end of next week. This will be our second Carnival cruise, and while I am not expecting 5 star service or food, I am concerned about all the complaints about the food in the MDR??

Overall I think that Cruise food is ok to very good at times but not always great. Can you recommend any other things you liked about the cruise?

 

Is there a Mongolian station or Sushi like on the Freedom? What about the Piano bar? or Sports bar?? Any thoughts

 

thanks

[Amby8]

I'm not the OP but I just got off the Legend on Sunday morning.

 

I've been on 3 Carnival cruises, and I did think that the food was not as good as it was on previous cruises. Service in the MDR was subpar. Lots of stops and starts, lots of waiting, very uneven. There was a lot of waiting for everyone to get served at the same time, and if you want to leave at a decent hour then don't order a spiked dessert coffee from the bar! I don't think our servers ever knew our names. The Lido buffets were nearly always cold; the only time I ever had hot food was the made-to-order omelet I got in the mornings. All that to say, I still had plenty to eat and my trip was not ruined over it.

 

There's an Asian station (Chopsticks) and I think I saw a sushi bar. Piano bar was lots of fun, and there's a sports bar too although I never went in it.

 

In spite of the food issues, the Legend was my favorite ship (have also sailed the Dream and Conquest). It was easy to get around and it never felt crowded. After being on the Dream, the Legend felt empty by comparison! I loved the Serenity deck, piano bar, and Medusa's for dancing (DJ Ace is the best; he played all of my requests!).

[tandemcruzr]

Which dining option did you have for the MDR -- ATD, Early, Late?

[cardbucfan]

Thanks so much for your review. We are on the Legend again in March and your review mirrors our previous experience on her. Glad to hear it will be similar.

[bsharynu]

I didn't have the same negative MDR experience as the other person on my ship. We did Anytime Dining. Maybe that is why. We always had a table just for 4 people and we never felt we waited too long for a course to be served. We had a few different servers from sitting in different sections, and then we found someone we really liked and requested her - Elena. The melting chocolate cake dessert is excellent. The tiramisu was really good too. The steaks are good but taste basic. the sides are ok, but the mashed potatoes are really good. The lobster tasted like lobster. I liked it and it tasted like it should, but I am not a huge lobster fan. So, it didn't taste any different than if I ordered it from the best seafood restaurant in the world. They are smaller tails, so order 2. I liked the ceasar salad. i liked the sushi appetizer. they offered a lot of different soups, but i never really ordered them. the shrimp cocktail tasted good, but the shrimps are small. My kids and husband liked "showtime" in the dining room.

[bsharynu]

They have a sushi bar, but it is very small and it didn't open until 6pm. I only had it once. No Mongolian BBQ. The ship hasn't upgraded to 2.0 yet. My husband watched Monday Night Football in the sports bar and liked it.

I played bingo on 3 different occasions and the assistant cruise director was entertaining.

I enjoyed the casino.

I had fun hanging out on the lido deck when the dj was playing. I liked the swimming pools and the layout of them being shallow and then having a deep center. The whirlpool was nice but not hot enough, therefore, there were more children in there.

I liked the beverage station and having unlimited coffee. My husband loved the hot chocolate.

I liked that all the staff learned and remembered my kids names and were so friendly to them the whole cruise.

I liked that all the other passengers I encountered were friendly. (maybe that is because I have really cute kids. Ha. Jk).

[Amby8]

Which dining option did you have for the MDR -- ATD, Early, Late?

 

My friend and I had early seating the first night but changed to late seating for every night after that. We changed to late seating because of our tablemates. We were placed at a table for 7 with a very grouchy, elitist, and complaining elderly couple (we are both young and friendly single women) and the maitre'd told us that we needed to change dining times to find more compatible dining companions. It was kind of bizarre that they couldn't match us up any better than that from the beginning, but we were happy once we changed!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review, glad you had a good time.

[Cantrell337]

I didn't have the same negative MDR experience as the other person on my ship. We did Anytime Dining. Maybe that is why. We always had a table just for 4 people and we never felt we waited too long for a course to be served. We had a few different servers from sitting in different sections, and then we found someone we really liked and requested her - Elena. The melting chocolate cake dessert is excellent. The tiramisu was really good too. The steaks are good but taste basic. the sides are ok, but the mashed potatoes are really good. The lobster tasted like lobster. I liked it and it tasted like it should, but I am not a huge lobster fan. So, it didn't taste any different than if I ordered it from the best seafood restaurant in the world. They are smaller tails, so order 2. I liked the ceasar salad. i liked the sushi appetizer. they offered a lot of different soups, but i never really ordered them. the shrimp cocktail tasted good, but the shrimps are small. My kids and husband liked "showtime" in the dining room.

 

 

We just did the 12/16 cruise as well and wow, what a blast. I agree 100% that hands down, Elena was the best head waitress we had all week. We had her on day 1, and everytime we went to the MDR, we requested her, but she was always full...Good sign. I talked to her here and there throughout the ship, and then finally on the final day of sailing, she actually held a table for us in her section, as she was waiting for us to come in for the any time dining. Again, she was amazing and knew our names too even though we only had her on day 1 and day 7. Extremely attentive and funny. :) Wish i could go back!

 

As for the casino, very fun as well, especially when the dealer was Henry...everytime I played a table game and he was dealing, I won!