Legend Review 6/22-6/30

[Tamhugh]

Hi all! I'm back from my first Carnival cruise and wanted to post a review. To start off, DH and I are 40ish, with two boys, 15 and 12. We traveled with my parents who are both 60ish. This was our first Carnival cruise and our 4th cruise overall, and my parents' first cruise ever.

 

Embarkation: After reading the posts on here I was dreading it. It was not nearly as bad as I expected. We got to the port at 10:30 becuase we hit none of the traffic we expected. We checked in and were seated in the middle section to wait for boarding. We had to wait for a wheelchair for my mom and when the guy came to get her, he told us all to come with him. We got up to security and the security guard told us we couldn't come..only those staying in the same cabin. Others in wheelchairs had as many as 10 people with them that they were taking in, but it didn't really matter. We went back to our section to wait and had lost our seats. That was the only glitch though and we were onboard shortly after noon. Not painful at all. Sailaway was delayed until about 5:30 and since we had early dinner, we missed most of it. However, we placed our order and DS and I ran out to the deck just as we were passing the Statue of Liberty. It was beautiful.

 

Staff: We never met our cabin steward once. At various times throughout the week, there was a man or a woman leaving our cabin as we arrived and they simply said hello and kept going. The room was clean and we had towel animals most nights, so it wasn't a problem, just strange to us. We paged him/her once over a problem with the safe and never got a response. In the dining room we had Ivan and Putu at table 227. They were wonderful. Putu was quieter but very sweet. Ivan was great. Whenever we saw him anywhere else on ths ship, he always came over to say hello. We really enjoyed Jean-Pierre, the maitre de. Some people found his singing annoying, but we liked it a lot. All three of them received extra tips from us. My younger child was a t the weird age for CampCarnival since he turned 12 on the ship. He chose to participate with the 12-14 year olds and they weren't an active group in the activities. He really liked Allyson, his counselor though. Overall, staff throughout the ship was friendly at all times and we had no complaints about them at all. Oh, and while I can't say Brett was the best cd I ever saw, he was not nearly as annoying as I expected after reading the boards. Yo Richie was a little wearing, but since most of the people onboard seemed to be from NY or NJ, he seemed to fit in. (not because he was annoying, just because he was so clearly a New Yorker).

 

shows: We saw several shows and enjoyed all of them. The production shows were far better than the ones we have seen on RCI. Take II was great. We only saw one of the comedians, but he was good and we also enjoyed Brett's magic act. Karaoke was disappointing only because the two best acts didn't make it to the finals and some awful acts did. But it was still fun to watch.

 

food: There was always a ton of food available. My kids really enjoyed the pizza on the Lido deck. I thought that the breakfast buffet was not as good as on other ships I had been on, but lunch was better. The food in the dining room was always good, but the variety was disappointing. The fish choice was salmon on three of the evenings. There was always enough to choose from, but it seemed like they served the same thing every night and just changed how they prepared it. But again, everything was good. On the advice of the boards, I tried the wild mushroom soup and the pumpkin soup and loved them both.

 

deck chairs: Again, after reading about all of the chair hogs, I was worried. I didn't need to be. I never had trouble finding a deck chair. I always sat on deck 10 next to the railing. However, I did see a lot of chairs being saved all day and no one ever on them. But, I didn't have trouble finding one that was empty. Maybe I'm just not picky enough. I did see the ultimate chair saver though. One afternoon I was walking across deck 9 and there was an small baby sleeping in a stroller next to a deck chair. The diaper bag was on the chair and there was no one within five chairs of this baby. I have no idea where the parents were. I guess a baby is harder to toss on the deck or to security, so no one seemed to mind.

 

the ship itself: The Legend is beautiful. Other than embarkation and debarkation, there weren't crowds anywhere so it seems to be laid out very well. I didn't find the urns to be overly gaudy and would probably not have noticed them so much if I hadn't read about them on here. The decor is a little gaudy, but it just kind of fits, KWIM? Other than the carpets in the hallways, which looked pretty shabby, the ship is in really good shape. On the negative side there is a lot of trash that takes a long time to be picked up. On the sports deck and parts of the Lido, there were plates, cups, and cigarette butts from the night before still sitting around at noon. The gym is too small for a ship that size and people don’t necessarily wait there turn for things. They need a sign-up sheet for cardio equipment because people would just hang behind the machines hoping to jump on before someone else. After reading about Carnival having the largest interior cabins afloat, we were shocked at the size of our cabin. It was TINY!! We have had an interior on every ship we have been on and this was by far the smallest. Since it was supposedly an upgraded interior, I can’t imagine what the lower ones were like. We had a bed and two bunks. There was about a three foot clearance at the end of the bed and that was the cabin other than the closet and bathroom. Nowhere to sit. Luckily we spent very little time in the cabin.

 

Debarkation: It went very quickly. It was pretty chaotic in the terminal looking for luggage and trying to get a porter. We were surprised at the total lack of security. Customs was simply a few officers grabbing the forms from people as they went by. No one even glanced at them or at our passports. People in front of us dropped theirs on the ground and it stayed there. No one asked them for it. But, it did mean no lines and a quicker exit.

 

Kids: There were a lot of them, but most of them seemed to hang in groups and weren’t very disruptive. On the last night, a group of them ran up and down the halls screaming at 2 am and I wanted to ring their necks, but that was it. I did see a lot of young kids drinking though. Some seemed to be getting it from their parents, but I did see very young teens being served at the bars. My 15 year old said that he saw a lot of kids getting served easily in Medusa’s Lair. The security guard told me they were very strict in Medusa’s about the over 16 rule. She said they checked every single kid for photo id. My ds went in on the last night with all of his friends and they never even asked him for an id. I did see a lot of kids in the hot tubs, but I don’t know if anyone complained. The gym was confusing. On the top level, the sign said that 12-16 year olds were welcome to use the gym with parental supervision. On the bottom floor, the sign said no one under 16 was allowed to use it.

 

Overall, we had a very good time on the Legend. The positives far outweighed the negatives. In fact, the negatives were very minor. If the price and itinerary were right I would sail Carnival again. My parents absolutely loved it. I’m sorry my review is so long and babbling. I tried to touch on all of the things I see questions or comments about on cruise critic. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[MrPete]

Not too long. I enjoyed reading! Thanks!:)

[lrizit]

Thanks for the review!

[RadarContact]

And the slide was open most days. Up on the platform the wind -stinks, the view -incredible, the slide -awesome!

[shifino]

We were on the same cruise and I agree totally with your review. We were at table 109 with a family we met three years ago on the Glory. Hope we did not cause to much of a bother because all we could do was laugh. We were tabel mates and hit it off so well that we have vacationed... cruised together each year since. We did not tip Jean Paul because we never saw him. I was suprised that he never ever came to our table to say hello. Our room steward never introduced himself but our room was well kept. There was some confusion as to the hours we could page him and had some difficulty because our calls would be directed to room service and not our steward. Otherwise it was a grand vacation and I really enjoyed the two days at sea going and coming.

[cometsmom]

We too were on this sailing and had a great time! We have cruised twice before with Carnival and had friends with us (one family of first timers and the other family having cruised with us the very first time). In all we were a party of 11 - 5 adults in their early 40s and 6 kids ranging froom 20 to 15 (3 boys and 3 girls).

 

Let me preface this review by saying our family took this same cruise (our second) last July and it was the one that had the rough seas/high winds, "listing" incident, sick passenger, delay getting back, etc. None of this was Carnival's fault obviously but I was initially reluctant to cruise again just because I was very anxious last time and was afraid I might feel that way again once we got on this time.

 

Embarkation: We drove from Central CT and made it to the pier in about 1 1/2 hours arriving at about 11:45 or so - porters were there when we pulled up and took our bags in immediately. We walked in and were told to wait upstairs which I think we did for about 30 minutes or so, then were called down to line up to go through the metal detector, etc. I think we were on the boat no later than 12:30 or so. We had the late dinner seating, two tables upstairs by the windows (301 and 303) and a great view! Sail away took place around 5:30 - I thought the whole process of getting on went very smoothly.

 

Staff: Our cabin was a quad, balcony, Deck 6 near the atrium elevators. Our friends were right next door. No need to worry about any noise from the elevators because we never heard anything or anyone. It was actually very convenient because you were right there - stairs or elevator. We've been on Verandah and Panorama decks before with balconys but I think this was the best. Our stewards (whose names I cannot remember right now) were very friendly, seemed to be always smiling. They put the upper bunk bed up every day which I loved (never had that done on the other two cruises) because it seemed to give us much more room. We were never really all four of us in the cabin much anyway except to sleep but even with two tall boys, I never felt cramped. When I asked about getting a copy of the Legend book in our cabin, a brand new one was left for me the next day! We gave him a little extra (had pre-paid our gratuities) for his thoughtfulness.

 

It seemed to me that all the crew we came in contact with were very friendly both to us and with each other. They would be joking and teasing each other, laughing - it seemed they were happy to be with each other and I thought that was a good sign! Last year, much of the crew was going to be changing over after we got back to New York. Many of them had been on for a long time and it was apparent that they were anxious to get off. Some were rude, others just appeared very unhappy. It made me feel good to see this time that nearly everyone we encountered seemed relaxed and happy, even with all the hours they put in!

 

Our waiters were also great, Pichai and Juan. Anything you needed was put in front of you. My husband often received two entres as did my friend's husband. We all were happy with the food in Truffles, as well as on the Lido deck. The thing I loved about the Lido food was that most of the time, we had been laying out and just kind of wandered in, looked around at the different choices and grabbed whatever it was that looked good. No need to go back up, shower, change - the variety of food ranged from Asian, barbecue with ribs and rice, pizza, deli, salads, fruits, etc. I was craving pasta with red sauce by the time we got home though - not a lot of that - and I also was dying for chips! Once at the Odyssey Lounge we had a little basket of chips put down in front of us and it was gone in about 10 seconds!

 

Overall, I thought the food was very good. We were never hungry that's for sure.

 

Entertainment: All the kids in our group went to just about every show! They loved the dancers and the costumes. They loved the disco as well. My youngest son (15) was allowed in some nights, but not others - I guess it depended on who was there. They met a lot of other kids (as they always do) but it seemed that this year, the ages were a little older than they have been in the past, mostly 18-22. There were a lot of 13-14 year olds running around towards the end of the cruise and they did appear to me to have been drinking although I never saw it myself. At the pool at the back of the ship, some of them jumped up on the deck chairs that had been stacked and tied down and were jumping around. We left at that point, letting the security guard know on the way out - I felt bad telling on them but I couldn't watch them anymore - it was dangerous in my mind for them to be up there.

 

Our kids raved about two different comedians but when we went one night, we thought he was awful - I guess it was a different guy that night. Our friends did Bingo and we went to the Not So Newlywed game which was cute. The couple married 51+ years were the best!

 

Layout of the ship: We had been on the Pride initially, then the Legend last year so we felt we knew where we were but that didn't stop us from getting lost half the time! I think the ship is beautiful. The various seating areas all along the decks inside were some of my favorite places to sit and people watch. Very comfortable and each area a little different.

 

We spent most of our time at the Aft pool and chair saving was very evident but we always were able to find chairs. I am an early riser so I was always up and walking around or just sitting out back watching the ocean. Many chairs were already saved at that point (9:00) and towels would be there (very professionally attached to the chairs, I might add!) for hours. Once or twice we had to go upstairs for chairs but there were many to choose from up there. I did intend to walk every day and did for a couple of days, but then slacked off! I can tell you there were MANY serious walkers and they were either on the track or just going the length of the entire ship!

 

Weather: I can't imagine anyone having any complaints about the weather we had on this trip! It was beautiful sunshine every day - the seas were incredibly calm - just gorgeous. When we arrived in San Juan, we had some showers but they lasted for an hour at the most. Never saw any rain again for the entire trip! I was SO relieved about the calm seas! 3 foot waves versus 30 last year! Our friends had not been on the Legend last year and my husband and I were just so happy with the weather conditions this time!

 

Ports: San Juan - we were going to take a taxi and hit a beach but it downpoured as soon as we got there, so we decided to just venture out and walk around. We were on a taxi for $10 per person to go sightseeing for 1 1/2 hours but while we were waiting for other people to fill up the taxi, the sun came back out and we got off! Some of our group walked up to one of the forts and a couple of us went up to the little shops that were not too far away. We had some Nachos at Senior Frogs and stopped in for a beer at the Hard Rock Cafe - my boys loved checking out all the memorbilia there.

 

I didn't really enjoy this port, although I am glad we got off and walked around, just to say we did. When my girlfriend and I went off to explore the shops up the hill, I always felt like it was obvious that we were tourists and people seemed to be always watching you (sounds paranoid, I know) but it was just that uncomfortable feeling...didn't like it!

 

St. Thomas: Beautiful! The guys in our group had planned the Snuba excursion through Carnival which they totally enjoyed! My boys had never been snorkling before and I was a little worried that they wouldn't like it but they loved it! Our friends have snorkled many times and they also enjoyed it very much.

 

The girls did the Godfrey tour and I can tell you it was the best $20 I spent the entire trip! We got picked up at 11:00 so only were able to spend an hour shopping but we did get 2 hours of breathtaking sightseeing in, and 2 hours at Coki beach which was crowded but gorgeous. Godfrey was so informative about the history of the island and took us from one end of the island to the other over the course of the tour. The views were incredible and we had many stops in order to take pictures. The roads are very steep and narrow so be prepared for some hairy driving! He got us back to the boat by 4:00. Well worth the $20!

 

Tortola: Our friends had booked the Norman Island snorkling excursion through the ship and were very disappointed in it - something happened with the company providing the tour, (not sure what) but they were not able to really do the things they thought they would. They did complain, as did a few others, when they got back and were credited 50% of the shore tour price, without question. We were going to take a taxi to the beach and just hang out, but the boys slept in and there wasn't enough time. We did walk around the little flea market area and buy a few little souveniers. It was very hot that day and I found the natives there to be a little less friendly than at the other ports we've been to. Don't touch anything unless you want to buy it!

 

Debarkation: We had done the self-assist last year and it was chaos so we did not do it again this year! Our friends did though and neither of them had any problems. They were in line by 8:30 and off the boat by 9:45. We happened to be the first deck called off and there were porters everywhere so we were able to collect our things and be on our way quickly. There did seem to be a lack of security in that the guy hardly looked at us or our customs card, but maybe things are going on behind the scenes - who knows!

 

I'll wrap this up because I know it's long and rambling but it was in my opinion a great trip! I cried half the way home! For our family, cruising is the best vacation! Our kids always end up meeting many different people, with whom they have kept in touch over the years. My son even took one of the girls from last years cruise to his junior prom this year (she lives about an hour south of us)! My husband loves it because after the drive to New York, he has nothing else to do for the week but relax! I love it because we're all together - the kids are happy - everything is done for you! We have done this three summers in a row now but next fall my son will be going to college and I don't see it happening for a while now! I'm bummed out about that, but who knows?? Any questions, let me know!

 

Lynn

[MrPete]

Lynn...

 

 

Great review! Enjoyed the read! The longer the read, the longer I'm temporarily on the ship again! I'm already booked for next summer!

[lrizit]

Lynn...

 

 

Great review! Enjoyed the read! The longer the read, the longer I'm temporarily on the ship again!

 

Amen Pete!

 

Thanks Lynn! Nice review!

[fgresko]

hi, we were also on the 6/22/05 Legend. What great weather. Food was above average for Carnival. (our 10 th cruise) Best waiter i have ever had. Late seating downstairs. getting on the ship was a breeze, we were there early and were the first group to board, only complaint was 2 people in our party are from england and they kept telling them to move to a different seat, everytime a different person came by they had different idea of what to do. In the end we all just got up and walked thru together anyway. Nice ship and nice layout. The Cd left a lot to be desired, he did all the right things, but his delivery really needs work. Would not be in any rush to go back to SJ but the other stops were great.

We used self disembark, we ate breakfast then chilled out in a lounge till about 10 am, then just walked off, no lines, no hassels, waited outside for the couple from England to clear customs, then our ride showed up on time and we were off.

One thing my wife and I did notice, not just this cruise but in general, Dinner was always a major draw for cruising, now they try to tempt you with the supper club for more money, same with the best coffee, and the desserts in the display were coffee is sold. I believe all this should be part of the cruise. Also with the new way to tip,i felt awkward if i did not tip more to my waiter and cabin steward, felt like prepaid tips are becoming part of the cruise fare, will remove them next time and do it the old way. Oh well get off my pedistole!

 

was a great trip , loved the long sea days and would recomend it to anyone.

[twin123185]

Regarding the size of the inside cabin - its the same square footage of ALL the outside cabins except suites. It is the largest inside cabin of any cruise line except maybe Celebrity on some ships. It just seems smaller because there are no windows !

Larry

 

Legend 9/03

Legend 7/24/05

plus many others over the years

[barbaragrace]

We were also on the cruise and had a GREAT time. We (me, DH and 2 daughters) in one balcony room and my parents in the next. We asked for the balcony doors to be opened which they were the first day at sea.

GREAT food (I only gained 2 pounds-weighed in at weight watchers today!!). Fun walking around the top deck (4 times arond = 1 mile). Puerto Rico was downpouring so we took a taxi to the mall for a few hours and then walked around Old San Juan. St. Thomas we we to Charlotte Amaile in the morning for a few hours, back to the ship for lunch and then to Coki beach (the fish are as big as your hand! I brought dry dog food to feed them nad my younger daughter took pictures of the with the reusable underwater camer which you can by on the ship for $10). Tortola- we split up. Me, DH and 1 daughter to Cane GArden Bay and my parents and older daughter took tour of the island and ended up at Cage Garden Bay.

GREAT TRIP and I can't wait to get my 7 rolls of film back!

[jerseygirl3]

I agree with Twin; the insides on Carnival are the same size as the oceanviews, with the exception of some of the Destiny class shipsw, whose oceanviews are larger (220 sq. ft. vs. 185 sq. ft). I don't know what ship the OP is comparing her cabin to, because I don't know of any cruiselines that have larger interior cabins. I was on Royal Caribbean and out oceanview cabin was only 122 sq. ft.

[barbaragrace]

One thing my wife and I did notice, not just this cruise but in general, Dinner was always a major draw for cruising, now they try to tempt you with the supper club for more money, same with the best coffee, and the desserts in the display were coffee is sold. I believe all this should be part of the cruise. Also with the new way to tip,i felt awkward if i did not tip more to my waiter and cabin steward, felt like prepaid tips are becoming part of the cruise fare, will remove them next time and do it the old way.

 

I thought that was odd too. Why pay for extra for coffee when free coffee is 5 feet away? Why pay for cake when you can get it at the buffet?? Why pay $30 (or is it more) for the supper club when you just paid thousands for a cruise?

 

We took the prepaid tip off the sail and sign bill the first day and tipped on our own. Some people deserve more of a tip than others.

[lightking]

Hi Tamhugh ... you said that "Karaoke was disappointing only because the two best acts didn't make it to the finals and some awful acts did. But it was still fun to watch". Just out of curiosity what did you think were the two best acts? I was also disappointed like you.

[joy21]

We were on this cruise also. Had a wonderful time!!! Finally got laundry done and have time to post a reply. We had wonderful waiters in the dining room. We were at the table with our cruise buddies-shifino and family. We went diving at St. Thomas with Blue Island Divers. They picked us up at the pier and took us to two beautiful reefs, then brought us back to the pier. There were only 6 of us with the dive master. They were very patient and understanding as this was only our second year diving. At Tortola we took the snorkeling tour. It was a much smaller group than we have been with in the past. We even went to a small beach with a bar for a short while. It was like a small piece of heaven. The shows were great. We can't wait to get back on another cruise. :D

[Tamhugh]

For the karaoke question, our whole group thought Leonard was the best. He was the man who sang Unchained Melody. We also thought the brother and sister who did a song from Wicked were better than the four finalists. But, that young man and Leonard also performed in the talent show later, so maybe they were just trying to give some others a chance.

 

As for the cabin sizes, my parents were in a balcony cabin and our interior was nowhere near as large. We had our bed with about 1.5 ft clearance on either side and possibly 3 ft clearance at the bottom of the bed. You had to slide down to the bottom of the bed on one side to get off because you slammed into the desk if you tried to come out the side. My parents had a sofa bed and table along with their bed. Across from it was a desk and a vanity. On RCI, we had an interior each time and there was a sitting area at the bottom of the bed with a desk, loveseat, and table. It was definitely not just a perception from not having a window. The closet was larger than RCI, and that might be where they are counting some extra space, but not 60 ft of space. The room was fine for us. We pay for an inside because we spend very little time in it. But it was definitely the first time we were shocked at the size of a cabin.

 

Tammy