Review: Back from Legend 5/29

[afcgirl]

I am finally recovered enough from the 5/29 cruise to post a review! I really meant to post live from the ship but there was too much to do!

 

Bottom line, the cruise was wonderful. Our group consisted of me, DH, DS (4 years old) and DS (6 years old). My DH and I are in our 30s. I have been on the Carnival Conquest and the Disney Wonder.

 

Embarkation was okay, the worst part was driving to the port, with fleet week going on it was packed. We got to NYC around 12:00 and finally boarded around 4:00.

 

The sail away party was a lot of fun and seeing the Statue of Liberty was wonderful. The weather was great, in the 70s and sunny.

 

There was a large age range on board, not as many seniors as I thought there would be. Mostly 20s to 40s. Some kids, not a ton.

 

The dining room was excellent, as was our wait staff, Alan and Maga. Adina the bar waitress was great with my kids. This was the best food and service I have had on any of my 3 cruises.

 

More to come....

[MrPete]

Salivating for more!

[afcgirl]

The ship: Compared to the Conquest, there was not as much of a wow factor for me and I was not that crazy about the decor. Still, it was pretty enough, clean and in great condition. It handled the seas well, although they were pretty calm most of the time. One thing though, after leaving Tortola and for the next sea day, the ship vibrated like crazy even though the seas seemed calm. Thought maybe the engine was off a bit? I had trouble eating in the dining room on those nights, as our table was way in the back (BTW, no one else seemed to notice but me, maybe I am sensitive). By day 7, the vibrating stopped and smooth sailing again.

 

The room was standard fare for Carnival, very nice. I wish it was as large as the cabins on the Disney Wonder, with 4 people it was somewhat cramped for 8 days. That would be my only hesitation with cruising again with the kids. Unless I could afford 2 cabins, I don't know if I would do it.

 

Our cabin steward Edwin and his assistant were beyond excellent. The best I have had on my cruises to date.

 

More to come....

[afcgirl]

The shows were great. We saw the Legend dancers in a show on the second night that was very good (can't remember the name). The jugglers were excellent. Surprisingly, my kids enjoyed the shows more than those on the Disney ship. They loved the magic act.

 

Weather: The first sea day was chilly and cloudy, but we still went in the hot tubs. The captain promised us the next day and the rest of the cruise would be sunny and he was right! Gorgeous weather every single day, not a drop of rain. That just shows not to believe the weather reports, which called for rain and thunder in every port!

 

We pretty much swam and relaxed at the pools on the sea days, sometimes played bingo, and ate a ton! Kids enjoyed the arcade of course, and went to camp carnival one night. They really liked it, and I wished I had sent them sooner. That was the night we ate at Golden Fleece. We loved the food, I would highly recommend going there. Well worth the money.

 

Excursions:

 

We did the St. John Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel in St. Thomas. I would not recommend this. Although the beach was absolutely stunning, as perfect a beach as you can find, it takes way too long to get there. It is a 4 hour excursion and by the time was got down to the beach we had only 1 hour and 15 minutes. The boat ride took 45 minutes to an hour, then a bus ride for 15 or so minutes, then an informative talk. One person I know was going to ask for their money back. Also, the boat ride to St. John was very rough, my son threw up and others were also seasick. The way back was not as bad.

 

More to come....

[afcgirl]

In Tortola, we did the Virgin Gorda Baths tour and would highly recommend this! Although you still take a boat and then a bus to the beach, it did not take as long and the ride was not rough. The baths were stunning and we played on the beach, explored the baths and had a great day. The people in Tortola and Virgin Gorda are extremely friendly. It was truly paradise. The kids loved it.

 

In San Juan we took a cab to El Morro, which was interesting. We had a good time. Be aware, there is a longish walk from the street to the fort and the fort closes at 5:00 pm. We went back to the ship afterwards.

 

Overall, we had a great time, great food, excellent service, great weather, smooth sailing. Really no complaints. Anyone considering the ship, you will love it. Not sure if I would sail again from NY since I am not from there and it is easier to sail from Florida, but highly recommend this cruise.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask.

[afcgirl]

bump for people who missed it, which I guess some did

[star1765]

welcome back afcgirl! Thanks for the report and I'm glad you had a good time. Is it true the water slide has reopened? We leave in a few weeks with some friends, most are first time cruisers, this is are third. This is our first time leaving from NY. Even with some of the negatives I read about leaving from NY, I'm still looking forward to it. Our last cruise was on the Conquest also. thanks again!

[afcgirl]

Yes, I can confirm the slide IS OPEN!!! Lots of fun!

[OCruisers]

afcgirl .... Enjoyed reading your review!!!

 

Glad to read your review on the St.John snorkel trip. I was wondering how it was going to be possible to have 2 Hours to swim ....????

 

Guess we'll just continue to go on our own or take the ship's excursion on the Champagne Catamaran. We love St.John!

 

Thanks again for the review! Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[laser110]

Afcgirl we were on the same cruise and had a great time. This was my 4th cruise with CCL (I was on the Mardi and Festivale waaaay back when,lol)My wife and I took a cruise for our honeymoon last year on the Triumph and celebrated our 1 year anniversary on the Legend this year.

 

Overall I was unimpressed with the decor and layout of the ship. We were on Deck 6 and didn't like that all the stores, casino etc were on decks 2 & 3 and all the other stuff like the Unicorn cafe were up on deck 9.

 

We had the good fortune of a suite, #6195, and also had Edwin as cabin stwerad. Is this the same Edwin you had? The room was a free upgrade from Carnival and we enjoyed the extra space, especially the bigger, longer balcony.

 

Embarkation was fairly easy. We arrived around Noon and after waiting to go through security, got in line for Skipper's Club. We were on by 1-1:15, found our cabin and went for a bite to eat.

 

I really enjoyed the 2 and half days at sea before arriving in San Juan. First day I woke up and sat on the balcony, while sitting there I saw numerious schools of flying fish and even a pod of dolphins!

 

San Juan for me is boring, been there, seen that. My wife and I took a cab ride to El Morro, walked around a bit and then decided to walk back to the ship. On the way back she again found the Coach outlet store (she found it last year when we were there) We did a little bit of shopping and back to the ship before 6 to change for dinner. After dinner we walked around the ship a bit, sat up on deck and watched the boats in San Juan Harbor and went to see the hilarious Village Idiots Show.

 

St.Thomas was the highlight of the cruise! I am alittle biased though having spent large amount of my time growing up on the Island. I was up at 5:30 and on deck by 5:45 to watch us pull into port. We were off the ship at 8 and walked around Charlotte Amalie till the stores opened at 9. Bought my 6 bottles of liquor ( 3 being rum) :) My wife bought me a ring for my anniversary, I bought her a diamond pendant. We were back to the ship by Noon and off again by 12:15 on the way to Megan's Bay. The trip there was interesting as it appeared the taxi driver had no clue what she was doing. Myself, very familar with the island was becoming upset and almost had fit on her. In the end we made it with plenty of time to relax at Megan's before heading back to this ship. Before we knew it we were back on board and ready to sail again.

 

Tortola was nice, but I have been there a 1000 times, so we took the Virgin Gorda tour. My wife had never been to either island and I thought the Baths were something she shouldn't miss. I enjoyed pointing out local sites to other passgeners and her on the trip over. The Baths are unbeleiveable no matter how many times I go there and I enjoyed showing her a part of my youth. We also saw an "old friend " there in the boat Stromy Petrel from St.Thomas, a pleasant surprise.

 

The next 2 days again were great, one day we had some much to do onboard below decks,( art auction, towel animal folding class etc) we only went up for lunch to the Unicorn Cafe and then back down for more activities. I agree with some other posts I thought the ship did have some vibration. It was especially noticable in the after section of the ship. In our cabin, amidships, we didn't really notice it at all, and in both cases it was nothing compared to what we felt on Triumph last year.

 

Debrakation was easy. We chose not to carry our bags off and after breakfast on deck and watching the ship dock we sat in our cabin, watch the tv and sat on the balcony watching familar faces leave the ship. Around 11, they called for our turn to leave and asked that everyone "living on deck 6" to make theri way down. We were off in 5 mins and found our bags just as quickly. 10 mins later the reality of NYC hit us in the face as we waited to be picked up.

 

 

Entertainment was good, we enjoyed both shows put on the dancers and the nightly entertainment was ok. We left during Paul Homefield's show, as it didn't interest my wife and I. The first night comic was ok, but nothing to write home about and we passed on his "adults only" show after a preview of his act earlier in the night. Christopher Allan Graves was increadable, as were the forementioned Village Idiots. The comic the last night was again ok, but again he was performing his general material and not his explicit stuf for the family show. Cruise Director and his staff were good, but we didn't do many of the games on deck, as were perferred to sit at the Adults pool aft and these took place at the middle pools.

 

We are already considering a cruise again for next spring/early summer and may take Legend again before she moves to the NYC route and do the Southern Caribbean or possibly try the Destiny.

 

Scott