Just off Legend of the Seas (following Allure) and the survey says...

[LMaxwell]

Thanks to both of you for your reviews! Lisa helped me with my decision to book the Legend for January and this review gets me excited again! I do wish they would give us one 80's night or some entertainment geared to the 40's age group. :) regardless we will have a good time.

 

Keep the pictures coming!

 

John in NC

 

I believe there WAS an 80's night up in the VCL for dancing, and possibly a Michael Jackson night too. The best 80's music was played over the TV channel that shows a view of the front of the ship (Unfortunately the camera made the Caribbean Sea look like the moon landing). Go figure :)

 

So it's not that there is NO entertainment for the younger set...it just in small blocks or late at night. I will say that we DID go to a few headliner shows and the quality of both was really good. I am sure the 9 piece Orchestra would love to play some updated tunes...

 

I'll try to have some more pics this evening.

[JohnBoy in NC]

I believe there WAS an 80's night up in the VCL for dancing, and possibly a Michael Jackson night too. The best 80's music was played over the TV channel that shows a view of the front of the ship (Unfortunately the camera made the Caribbean Sea look like the moon landing). Go figure :)

 

So it's not that there is NO entertainment for the younger set...it just in small blocks or late at night. I will say that we DID go to a few headliner shows and the quality of both was really good. I am sure the 9 piece Orchestra would love to play some updated tunes...

 

I'll try to have some more pics this evening.

 

We found this to be similar to our recent Princess cruise....one showtime show was dedicated to Disco---which was great....and they had a 70's night....and the nightclub had some featured 80's/pop a few times. What were the shows? Does Royal change them annually or are we likely to see them? Also did any of the small live band(s) play anything for the younger set?

 

Thanks for all of the information.

John in NC

[LMaxwell]

We found this to be similar to our recent Princess cruise....one showtime show was dedicated to Disco---which was great....and they had a 70's night....and the nightclub had some featured 80's/pop a few times. What were the shows? Does Royal change them annually or are we likely to see them? Also did any of the small live band(s) play anything for the younger set?

 

Thanks for all of the information.

John in NC

 

For the headliner/main theater there are a number of fly in acts. Our ship had two comedians (one did the welcome show which we didn't see, but he had another headliner show which we did; the second comic did the farewell show), a magic show (did not see). We did see the female singer who was really great and fairly young, but again geared her act to an older set. Motown cover show was great. The house orchestra was incorporated into all shows we saw and sounded good. There were at least two house production shows with singers/dancers, we didn't see either. I forget the first of them but the second was called Absolutely Fab, 60's and 70's music.

 

There is a 70's party in the centrum. It is more of a dance party than a show; it's fun if you've never seen it. But if you've seen it...it doesn't change. I enjoyed watching the aerial acrobats do their practice. They also do a few five minute teaser shows throughout the cruise and a longer 20 minute show near the end. It was really well done and had good entertainment value.

 

If we brought back any cruise compasses I can give you a run down of the onboard live music performers by name, but off the top of my head there was a pool side reggae duo, a solo strings guitarist for centrum, a house band with a knockout female singer, another trio band too. The guy in the Schooner bar had Billy Joel, Elton John, Beatles, Jimmy Buffet theme nights as well as request hours. DJ up in the Viking Crown lounge. Karaoke most nights in Anchors Aweigh as well as a night where one of the bands backed up the Karaoke (but on those nights the list of songs was heavily abbreviated and definitely aimed at the 50+ set); regular Karaoke got a good crowd right from day one. DJ up in the VCL at night. One night time deck party on our cruise, regular line dances, conga, etc.

 

You won't be bored, you'll be having a good time, you may just feel like you are partying with your parents once in a while. Given the number of couples, young families in their 30's and 40's more 80's themed shows and music is certainly due.

[2tall]

Thank you so much for your excellent report. We'll be on her in 14 days doing the PC, can hardly wait. :)

 

My husband and I will be on board with Ann (12 days now until we fly to San Diego!) so I thank you as well for the ship report! Now that we've had snow yet again, I can't wait for this vacation...and your pictures of the warm Caribbean are making me even more antsy and ready to GO.

[Surfguyxxx]

I have to say that I was rather encouraged after reading your review. I'm doing a 16 night TA in about 1 month and had just come off her sister ship, Enchantment, in January and I was NOT happy. No sauna/steam room, staff didn't seem to be engaged, good (not great) room attendant, boring shows.

 

Thanks for a great insiders view of things!

[Bobal]

Really enjoyed reading this. We disembarked Allure and transferred to Silhouette a couple of weeks ago and I have a thread on here about it - it's always interesting to read comparisons between ships and lines.

 

One of our favourite ever cruises was in the Med on Legend pre-revitalisation. We sailed on her again on her first cruise when she returned to the Med last year. There were one or two hiccups - mainly due to the change of region after a couple of years in the Far East and a lot of new crew onboard - but we knew they would soon get sorted. However we were really pleased with the changes post revitalisation and wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again, particularly on such a nice itinerary as the one you did.

 

We were blown away by Allure but did say on occasion how nice it would have been to just run down one floor to get something from the cabin rather than a 5 or 6 floor trek ;)

[thebigpuba]

I am doing cruise in June on sister ship glad to hear it was nice, do you have any of the menus from chops, Giovanni or main dining room

[LMaxwell]

I am doing cruise in June on sister ship glad to hear it was nice, do you have any of the menus from chops, Giovanni or main dining room

 

Specialty Dining on Legend of the Seas is Chops, Chefs Table, Izumi. There is no Giovanni on Legend. I did go to Giovanni on Allure and enjoyed it. I have photos of menus from my galley tour but they are not uploaded yet. The Chops menu is the current and preferred "old" menu. The charge was listed on the Compass as $30 per person.

 

We paid $95 per person for all three. Normally Chef's Table is $95 alone. This was an advertised price on the RC Website but I had to call and book it as apparently it is supposed to be $115 for the package.

 

Depending on the ship you are on different dining packages may be offered.

[SPacificbound]

Thank you for writing this review! We will be on Legend April 1 and I can't wait!! :D

[LMaxwell]

Now that I have mentioned the aft sundeck a few times here are photos.

 

Access is through the gym / spa. I believe two doors from the spa lead out to the deck (port and center) and one from the gym (starboard). Only the starboard door has an outside handle to get back in. You can not re-enter through the spa (but gym and spa are connected). There is a quiet "relaxation room" in the spa that I am not sure if you have to pay to use or not, but is the center door. Alternative access is the port side stairs from Deck 10 off the walking track. There are two staircases off to either side but they are crew access. The row of chairs against the glass get a good amount of shade.

 

Edit: CC will not allow use of Imgur for photohosting. I'll go try another site and post pics...

Edited March 19, 2014 by LMaxwell

[LMaxwell]

Sundeck retry (this is linked to a PB account that also has pics of Vision of the Seas, so I will try not to commingle them)

Edited March 19, 2014 by LMaxwell

[LMaxwell]

Maybe third time is a charm. Then again, Photobucket, so probably not (or not for long)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2014 by LMaxwell

[LMaxwell]

This was our main courses at Chops. This is still the "old" menu. I will not pay an upcharge for the new menu currently being tested on Navigator as I consider the increase and price as well as the diminishing of quality and removal of options insulting so if that menu rolls out fleetwide this will be my last time at Chops.

 

Pictured - Alaskan Halibut, 18 oz broiled Porterhouse with chimichurri sauce, baked potato, steamed asparagus, broccolini, mushrooms, fresh bread with a cream cheese spread.

 

Not pictured - Jumbo shrimp app (excellent), Crab cake (all killer, no filler; excellent), mushroom soup (rich and creamy, but no large mushroom pieces; good). For dessert we had mud pie (excellent) red velvet cake (kind of meh, not as good as on Allure a few months ago). The server brought out a berry and ice cream dish for us as well that we managed to have a spoon full of. It was good too but we were too stuffed to really enjoy it.

 

Jonathan and Marina were very good in their service, professional and attentive. They could teach a few lessons to many South Florida waitstaff at higher end restaurants.

 

[derby bears]

LMaxwell thank you for the review. Could you tell what kind of music the DJ plays in the Viking Crown Lounge. Even though we are over 50 we do like new dance music. Thanks

[cruiseclues]

I really like your review and photos. I notice you started with some from Facebook, and then switched to Photobucket...but it looks like you kept them in a bucket rather than separating them into named Legend of the Seas. Hopefully...more cruisers will get to see more of your photos and review. :):):):)

Edited March 19, 2014 by cruiseclues

[LMaxwell]

I really like your review and photos. I notice you started with some from Facebook, and then switched to Photobucket...but it looks like you kept them in a bucket rather than separating them into named Legend of the Seas. Hopefully...more cruisers will get to see more of your photos and review. :):):):)

 

I blame Photobucket for that as I had tried to create a sub-album and it continually failed. I wish Imgur worked here as it is an easy and free site to use with less cranky issues than PB. Facebook I share "scenery" photos on. I think people would think I was weird if I started posting random ship/food/artwork photos on my news feed :)

[LMaxwell]

LMaxwell thank you for the review. Could you tell what kind of music the DJ plays in the Viking Crown Lounge. Even though we are over 50 we do like new dance music. Thanks

 

They'd kick off for the first hour with a theme like 80's or 90's; not sure what style of music they had going into late night. On Vision it was awful ghetto music at speaker distorting levels...not what I would expect from RCI. Hopefully on Legend you will get a newer mix of contemporary dance, radio remix, progressive, house, etc. We spent time in Schooner and Karaoke bar mostly so unfortunately I don't have a more solid answer for you.

[LMaxwell]

Just some words on the hotly debated clothing topic - We saw it all.

 

On our 10 night itinerary we had 2 formal nights (night two and nine). The rest were listed as casual or tropical casual. If there was a "smart" casual I don't recall honestly.

 

On "casual" night I was denied entrance to the Diamond Lounge in boat shoes, dressy shorts (khaki, non-cargo) and a button up short sleeve shirt. No problem; the room was close and I changed into pants and was back in, literally, two minutes. The next night was a "tropical" casual night and more than a few men in the lounge had shorts on. Go figure. I would have been much more comfortable in my khaki shorts than pants; it is a little absurd to require pants be worn at a 5PM cocktail hour in the Caribbean.

 

Formal nights we saw it all - suits, tuxes, gowns, cocktail dresses, spandex, jeans, and a few tuxedo t-shirts (plural, multiple, plenty in the diamond lounge). I wore a suit the first formal night and for the second formal night a sport jacket and solid color polo with dark pressed jeans and boat shoes. For whatever reason on the second formal night I was sweating bullets in the MDR so I ditched the jacket.

 

The majority, to my eye, were dressed "smartly", button up shirts, solid color/striped polos (i.e. - non-logo), khaki or dark dress pants. Women in pantsuits and cocktail dresses. Very few tuxedos or formal gowns. We tended to dine late (entering MDR between 7:45-8:15PM) and then changed back into comfortable resort wear after dinner. I did not observe many people staying dressed up in the evening; either resort wear, business casual, etc. These are just my personal observations; what someone else wears is not very important to me and I will continue to inform those who are worried about being able to eat the MDR meal they paid for that Royal Caribbean only has minimum thresholds to surpass and to do as you feel comfortable. If you worn a Tommy Bahama button up and khaki pants every night you'd blend solidly into the "middle of the pack"

 

I doubt I will bring my suit next time, a sport coat and slacks is more than sufficient and just more comfortable.

 

I wonder what Jimmy Buffet would say about suits in the Caribbean?

[tinykygal]

We enjoyed this cruise as well.

Our My Time wait staff was awesome, Christina and Luveen.

This was my first time for sea sickness as it was the smallest ship we had cruised.

Thank you for your review. It was spot on in the areas that pertained to us.

I guess we were in the older crowd but certainly not the oldest, Motown was our favorite venue.

[debshomespun]

We spent 21 nights on Legend on a B2B starting Jan 24. We loved our time on this small ship! Paul Rutter did an excellent job. The only complaint I would have is we are D+ and went to the CL for the evening cocktails. Since we were only D+, the Concierge (I forgot his name already) littetally ignored us. I mentioned it to another couple and they said he only talks with people from the suites. :eek:. We gave him a tip after our first segment...then after finding our how he treated passengers and him ignoring us...he did not get a tip the second leg. We did tip our servers each drink. They were great!

 

We would definitely sail Legend or the small ships again. Chops was very good. Park Cafe was also good. Great additions to the smaller ships.

[LMaxwell]

We spent 21 nights on Legend on a B2B starting Jan 24. We loved our time on this small ship! Paul Rutter did an excellent job. The only complaint I would have is we are D+ and went to the CL for the evening cocktails. Since we were only D+, the Concierge (I forgot his name already) littetally ignored us. I mentioned it to another couple and they said he only talks with people from the suites. :eek:. We gave him a tip after our first segment...then after finding our how he treated passengers and him ignoring us...he did not get a tip the second leg. We did tip our servers each drink. They were great!

 

The Diamond Concierge did circulate the room and made small talk with us on one or two occasions but otherwise did nothing for us and we had no requests or interactions with her. I would not say we were ignored...just that we had no actual need to interact and so she focused her time on those that either wanted to chat more or had a need for her services. Since no interaction/requests, no tip. We tipped our D lounge server daily based on the amount we ordered.

 

In the CL this may be different since it is also for suite guests and therfore a suite guest could be a first time cruiser getting schmoozed up for a fat tip. Regardless, if you did have a need for the Concierge I would hope they would handle your requests regardless of status or room type.

[NorbertsNiece]

Thank you sooo much for posting.

Boarding in 90 days :D Made final payment today!!

 

I have a deck 6 sideways interior near Lattetudes..... do you recall what was on offer there?

[LMaxwell]

Thank you sooo much for posting.

Boarding in 90 days :D Made final payment today!!

 

I have a deck 6 sideways interior near Lattetudes..... do you recall what was on offer there?

 

I did not purchase any coffee or tea there. I like the regular coffee offered onboard, and had access to D Lounge which had some specialty coffee. Also, a wide variety of hot teas are offered free at various drink stations as well. This is where Ben and Jerry's is located but did not purchase ice cream.

 

We would grab the free snacks there. They had carrot cake, banana bread, a chocolate brownie, various scones and muffins. I believe they usually had a gluten free option as well. There is seating in the area and it is connected to the book exchange. There are sea view windows as well as views of the centrum.

[impatientlywaiting]

Fantastic Voyage - An excellent trip all around 10 days with stops in Tortola, St.Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Croix. I had many reservations about taking the smallest ship (and 2nd oldest in the fleet) after a holiday trip on the Allure but I have to say we had an excellent time. There were some areas/venues/designs I actually preferred on the Legend in fact and highlights (to me) included:

 

-Wonderful sea views from Decks 4, 5, 6, and massive ocean view windows in the dining room

-Wide exterior promenade deck, great sea views unhindered by lifeboats (although does not go 360°)

-Somewhat hidden Aft sun deck complete with real teak decking; a great quiet place to spend a day in a lounge chair watching the wake go by.

-Air conditioned Solarium with Park Cafe

-Diamond Lounge overflow was in Anchors Aweigh which still had nice sea views compared to the coal mine...I mean Blazes on Allure. Diamond Lounge food (rotating hot appetizers) was pretty poor, but also had nice cheese and veggie platters. Our go to server was Francis and he was personable and had our drink orders ready within seconds of spotting us walk in.

-A total breeze to navigate the ship; everything "close by"

-Specialty dining - Chops and Izumi both have great views from within the Viking Crown

-Sauna/Steam room have no extra fee for use

-Shaded outdoor seating near pool just outside of Windjammer with a dedicated drink station. Try doing that on Allure. I double dare you.

 

Some misses - Not really negatives, just some reflections - Chefs Table - location at rear of dining room and near service entrance to galley. Very loud and hard to hear chefs presentation. Even a glass partition would help this immensely.

 

Entertainment - Very good quality but aimed at an old crowd. This was a mixed age crowd cruise and I felt like one of the few younger people at the headliner and production shows. Come on Royal, bring on one act that people under 50 years old may know. If you openly wept at the passing of Frank Sinatra, well, this was the cruise for you. Those under 40 we spoke to felt similar to us...throw us a bone Royal.

 

Late night food - Not that we ever went hungry, but only a couple of limited items in the Park Cafe late at night and ended by midnight. If you were out later than that you were out of options (or pay for room service delivery). A lot of guests were commenting how much better Carnival was in this area.

 

Casino - It stinks. It is fairly small casino and it really stinks terribly in there. This really limited my game play. They had some $1 - $3 tables on sea days but I just couldn't sit in there. I smoked for 15 years and my eyes watered after just a few minutes. This is a universal issue with all smoking casinos. I was up, I was down, and I left the ship just about even which is fine with me.

 

Plusses-

Staff -

Our MDR staff was phenomenal. My Time Dining ran head and shoulders above Allure. My experience on Allure with MTD was sub-par, on Legend it was probably a model of what Royal wants guests to experience. We had Mr. A and Mr. K (Alfredo and Keith) as well as Pol and Franky (we were on the border of two sections, and made friends, so depending on availability we dined one section or the other, but all four took equal and excellent care of us).

 

Our room attendant Mariana was friendly and our room always spotless. We had no special requests, but she was very efficient in her work.

 

Entertainment staff - CD Paul Rutter, Moe, Desmond, Laura - Good energy, you can tell they take pride in their work. You see them all over the ship all the time. With only 1800 guests versus 5500+ on Allure they knew us by name mid-week (we were the newlyweds in the love and marriage game and I'm pretty sure my new bride made quite the impression on the CD...)

 

Royal hosted a nice get together on Day 2 (sea day) for cruise critic meet and mingle with some food/drinks as well as some small gifts and upper level staff. Other cruise lines do not do this, and it is a nice touch that Royal puts forth the effort here. There was a fairly active roll call and we got to put screen names to faces and met some truly excellent people that we enjoyed talking to and seeing around the ship and ports of call.

 

We had an inside cabin, deck 6, almost exactly halfway between the Centrum and forward stairs. Dead Silent cabin. Everything worked flawlessly. Excellent water pressure, toilet perfect. New Samsung flat-panel TV on swivel mount. A/C kept room comfortably cool. Had a mini-loveseat, not a sofa. The supplied hairdryer was very strong and used one of the non-US plugs. Storage was plenty adequate.

 

Sure, this is an older ship that had a fairly extensive renovation in 2013, but overall this is a very nice ship. Will you find a cruddy fixture or a rail in need of varnish here of there? I guess; if you really are spending your time looking for such things (some of the reviews on cruise critic are absolutely absurd in this regard, beyond ridiculous would be an understatement).

 

Would I recommend this ship to family or friends? Yes, with the caveat that it will not have all the entertainment or attractions of the latest and greatest ships, and that the entertainment is likely geared towards an older crowd. However, a smaller ship is easy to get around and very conducive to making new friends which is part of a great experience.

 

Would I sail on this ship again? Yes, for the right itinerary. Anyone who has seen me post here before knows I am itching to get on board a Radiance-class ship though.

 

We booked excursions for 3 of the 5 stops through the ship, as well as had pre-paid dining package. We did not buy anything from the Centrum shops. Any purchases handled through Royal had absolutely no issues with billing or execution and over 10 days we only made one stop at guest services just to check our bill. No issues; so again, better than our Allure experience.

 

I have over 1K pics from our trip and will upload and share some throughout the week.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and I'd be glad to answer.

 

Thanks for the great review. We sailed on her years ago and will be on her again April 16 for the trans-Atlantic crossing. We actually prefer the "smaller" ships! :)

[NorbertsNiece]

I did not purchase any coffee or tea there. I like the regular coffee offered onboard, and had access to D Lounge which had some specialty coffee. Also, a wide variety of hot teas are offered free at various drink stations as well. This is where Ben and Jerry's is located but did not purchase ice cream.

 

We would grab the free snacks there. They had carrot cake, banana bread, a chocolate brownie, various scones and muffins. I believe they usually had a gluten free option as well. There is seating in the area and it is connected to the book exchange. There are sea view windows as well as views of the centrum.

 

Thanks! Nice to know there's a GF option there. Will be my first cruise since becoming D on a ship with a DL. Am planning on getting the Replenish package..... just a thought.... is there real OJ in the D Lounge? Do they have bottled water in there?