Long Review of Legend's Adriatic Cruise Aug 31st - Sept 9th (NO Pictures)

[hazeleyez3]

Earlier this week, my husband and I returned from the Legend. We tend to gravitate towards larger ships so I was a little apprehensive about sailing on the smallest one they have – just not enough to bypass the itinerary.

The ship was wonderful. We never felt crowded in any of the areas, and we definitely did not feel it was too small. The itinerary was great, but as you will read below, we weren’t “wowed” by most of the staff.

Stateroom

We had a wonderful Grand Suite, which is on the eighth deck. There were three differences I noticed between this GS and the one we had on the Liberty earlier this year:

 

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  The Legend has a wrap-around sofa, which was definitely better (for us) to come back and stretch out on after a long day in port. The Liberty had a small sofa and chair.
  
  
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  The Legend has a step into the bathroom, which, while it doesn’t seem like a big deal, it makes it easier to get into the tub. There was no step into Liberty’s.
  
  
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  The Legend has two “standard” balcony chairs and a table, which we were quite content with. The Liberty had two lounge chairs and a table.
  
  

Although there was noise from the deck above in both cabins, I think it was a little less on the Liberty.

Both cabins were nice but I think that, all in all, I preferred the Legend’s.

Stateroom Attendant

As usual, the corridors for cabins were opened at 1pm on the first day. Our steward; however, did not have our room ready until after 3pm. Two other port days we left around 8am, had the “make-up room” sign on the door, returned around 6pm or so – only to find out that he hadn’t touched the room (and wasn’t even in sight).

Guest Services

When we checked in the first day, they had to take passengers’ passports. We also received a pamphlet with a short/brief explanation which read that we would receive our passports before Croatia, and had to return them after we visited Slovenia. In Slovenia we needed to go through passport control.

Once on the boat the first day we asked Guest Services for a better explanation as to why they had to take the passports. We were told that the ship had just started sailing this itinerary, so they didn’t really know why – they were hoping to have more information for when the ship repeated the itinerary on the 9th. Not very helpful, not to mention that this was actually the only time they were doing the itinerary.

They made announcements the afternoon of Slovenia directing everyone down to Guest Services to return their passport. This resulted in a long line that took awhile to get through – it was the last day so people were also in line to settle their bill.

After waiting for about a half hour we got to the front desk – only to find that US citizens didn’t need to return passports. We asked why the pamphlet from the first day said we did, and why their announcements also directed us there.

We were told that other passengers were asking the same thing.

My thought would be that, when the first guest told you what was initially being announced, another announcement would be made to correct themselves. I mentioned this to someone, and her statement was “that’s a good idea”. A corrected announcement was not made.

Concierge Lounge

The lounge was wonderful. Great views, spacious, and multiple types of seats to choose from. Nice variety of “happy hour” food, and a waiter that was knowledgable and pleasant to talk to.

Concierge (Luca Lorio)

Luca was basically useless.

 

After the steward left the first day, we noticed that we had one Emerald coupon book, and one Platinum coupon book. Both of us are Emerald. I also noticed that there was no “welcome amenity” (or whatever the Emerald embarkation treat is called). We mentioned both to Luca on the first day.

 

In reference to the coupon books, he asked if we were sure of the status we had. “Emerald” is literally on both of our seapass cards.

 

In reference to the welcome package, we were told that there was nothing that was delivered to passengers’ cabins until they were Diamond.

 

A few days into the cruise we were in the lounge during the happy hour and, when Luca came over to talk with us I asked what the two tender ports were (I knew there were two, and one was Montenegro, but I couldn’t remember the other one). He told me there was no other tender port. I guess I looked a little confused because he followed with, “I can assure you that there are no other tender ports.” The waiter was coming over with a drink at the time and said that we tendered in Split. The waiter was correct.

 

The night before we went into Montenegro he mentioned that the country wouldn’t accept the Euro. Also incorrect. The country uses the Euro.

 

By that point I was done with asking him questions.

Entertainment

The first night they had a show I had never seen. It was a man who was well known for making shadow images. It seemed different, so I wanted to go. This wasn’t your, “lets use one hand and make a dog with ears opening his mouth” show. He created more intricate images, which included the profile of famous people. In my opinion, much more enjoyable than, say, a juggling act.

I love a good piano bar – not a sing-along with peoples’ (bad voices) yelling out the tunes. I was pleasantly surprised. There was a very good piano player/singer in the Schooner Bar – and NO passengers giving him any help. We ended up here every night.

Food

Very subjective, so I’ll be brief.

Nothing wowed us, nor were we expecting to be wowed. It’s a cruise ship, not a 5* restaurant. It was good – about on par with what we have had on other RC ships. Steak was good in Chops, Asian cuisine was good in Izumi, luke warm dishes in the Windjammer, and the dining room about par with what you’d find at an Applebee’s or Chili’s.

Park Café was open until 1am and had pizza, hot dogs, pre-packaged sandwiches, and cookies.

Ports

We had three private tours, the other ports we left to our own exploration.

Naples

I have a mild handicap which I knew wouldn’t make it easy to walk around Pompeii. Instead, we choose to have a guide take us along the Amalfi Coast. We stopped in Ravello, Postiano, and Amalfi itself. For us, it was perfect. We learned about the different towns, strolled the streets, and had lunch in a family-owned restaurant.

There was no, “we have to wait because 3 people are still in a store”. Breaks were when we needed, areas we went to we chose, etc.

Sicily

Again, we had a private guide. We visited Savoca (where the Godfather was filmed), and travelled to Castlemola (hillside town). It was mostly enjoying towns and views where not a lot of tourists would be in. Some yes, but not tons. For us, it was perfect.

Malta

Because we had had two busy days before, we just decided we would do our own thing. It wasn’t the greatest weather when we got off the boat, so we just decided to stay around the main town.

Corfu

Another great town for us to just “get lost in the side streets”. We did stop at a café where my husband had a fresh Greek salad, and I had oven baked Feta cheese. Later on we found a little bakery where my husband had some Baklava.

Kotor

Let me start by mentioning that it’s a tender port. We have done many of these; however, we were not expecting to have the initial step off the boat be about two feet tall.

The staff realized that it was a high step so one of them stood with their foot on a seat for people to use a starting point. That’s great – if you have the strength to use it (I do not), and the staff member doesn’t have an involuntary jerk moving his foot move off the seat.

Luckily, I was able to make the step with help from my husband and crew members, and thrilled that I did – it was my favorite port.

This was the third, and last port we had a guide in. We visited Budva, Cetinje, Njegusi, a panoramic ride up to the mountain Lovcen peak (breathtaking view), and Perast.

Split

Like Kotor, it was a tender port.

Again there was a high step to get to the pier. This one was actually taller than Kotor. Again, someone stood with their foot on a seat for people to use before reaching the pier.

We chose to be the last ones off the boat (the lighter the boat, the higher it will sit on the water – we used this theory in Kotor too).

Now, as I mentioned, I have a slight handicap, so I always ask for as much help as I can get for these type situations. By the time they got to us, they only had one crew member on the pier. Knowing that I would need someone behind me, my husband had me attempt to get off the boat first. I wasn’t that successful – I fell on my side, and had to basically be dragged up to the pier. I wasn’t hurt; however, no one wants to feel helpless.

We did walk around a little bit, but I just wasn’t in the mood to go exploring like we had in other ports. With the help of probably three crew members and my husband, I was able to make it back on the tender.

I did notice that I wasn’t the only one who needed a bit more help than normal.

Koper

Another good day to just do our own thing. Had some gelato in the main square, saw the sights right in the area, and then went back to the ship.

It was a wonderful vacation and itinerary, which I would repeat again in a heartbeat (though I would use Split as a sea day).

[LMaxwell]

Thanks for your review. We haven't been getting a lot of Legend info while she is in Europe. Would you sail this ship again?

[Artemis]

Wow, what a fascinating itinerary! Thanks so much for your review and also the update on Legend.

 

We like to visit ports as you did, either on our own or with private guides. If you recommend any/all of your private guides in Naples, Sicily and Kotor, it would be great if you'd name names!

 

(As an aside, hazeleyez3, we "chatted" earlier in the year about the Brazilian immersion cruise--I finally got Compasses and other info published and have been hoping to run across you! You can find them here.)

[ace1zoe2]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I enjoyed reading it and hope to someday visit these ports.

 

I'm sorry that you had some difficulty and that they didn't have more ship personnel to assist you.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[hazeleyez3]

Wow, what a fascinating itinerary! Thanks so much for your review and also the update on Legend.

 

We like to visit ports as you did, either on our own or with private guides. If you recommend any/all of your private guides in Naples, Sicily and Kotor, it would be great if you'd name names!

 

(As an aside, hazeleyez3, we "chatted" earlier in the year about the Brazilian immersion cruise--I finally got Compasses and other info published and have been hoping to run across you! You can find them here.)

 

The guides were wonderful. We would use them all again in a heartbeat. The ones in Italy were not just driver-guides - they could exit the car with us.

 

Naples: We found Giuseppe D'Angelo through "Tours By Locals" told him what we wanted and he created a basic itinerary which we tweaked along the route. He is also part of a company called Leisure Italy.

 

Sicily: We toured with Aldo Valerio, the owner of Secret Italia Tours. We knew the towns we were going to, but just basically "got lost" in the streets. Aldo was very conscious of my limitations with walking (such as very steep steps).

 

Kotor: Upon the recommendation of another CC member on the Ports board, we used a man named Milo Popovic. Very personable, and accommodating. He could exit the car, but only to a point in a few of the areas. He does his own tours, and because of that, is very candid with his thoughts (something I greatly appreciated).

 

I do remember talking with you before...I'll have to take a look at the compasses.

[hazeleyez3]

Thanks for your review. We haven't been getting a lot of Legend info while she is in Europe. Would you sail this ship again?

 

Absolutely! She was a wonderful ship - had everything we needed, and (since she was just revitalized) is in excellent condition.

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[jrmint427]

Great summary and review!

 

We were really confused by the whole passport process in Slovenia too - I thought I had heard we would need to turn our passports in again, but they didn't take it at the port when we were getting back in the ship, so we just kept them. I never even heard the announcement to turn them in at Guest Services once we were back on the ship! It definitely was not well communicated.