First live blog. Legend. Ultimate Scan & Russia 27th july 2014

[Clarea]

I'm still reading, and enjoying.:)

[AussieVisi2r]

Sea days and the Ship.

 

Both sea days were lovely and relaxing. As always there was food, music and much needed rest from this hectic itinerary. They were so needed. We had rain on both sea days. It was great.

 

Legend does have some lovely quiet spots with great water views. Viking Lounge, Diamond and Concierge have stunning outlooks.

We went through a big storm - huge winds but the swell was only about 4 meters. We watched things blow all over the place.

 

 

We had lunch in Izumi's one day. It is situated at the front of the Viking lounge and looks out over the pool deck and the ocean. Wonderful. I was very impressed with the food and service at Izumi's. Everything was great. (They were happy to use the BOGO drink vouchers here). There was NO cover charge and dishes were about $10 -$12 each. It was about $35 for 3 plates of sushi and miso soup.

 

 

Chops was still on the old menu so I had the chance to enjoy a few favorites before they disappear - carb cake and mushroom soup. I had the T bone streak ( as the waiter told us that we should eat it before the new menu and it will cost!) and the size was ridiculous. Such a waste. RCL really needs to address the issue of half serves (charge me the same - just don't serve such massive meals!). Everything was nice. Not mind blowing but nice.

 

The aerial show. We saw the Aerial show teaser early in the cruise and saw the team practicing a number of time. We then got the whole show. I did hear a bit of criticism of the show and the expense to set it up. But it was great. Worth getting there 15 minutes early for a good view.

 

 

 

My Time Dinning was really well run. We didn't eat until about 8.45 each night. There were a huge number of Mexicans and Spanish people on board (2nd and 3rd greatest demographic) so late eating was quiet busy. The wait was never longer than 10 -15 minutes. A number of people were very rude to the staff but hey - if you want an exact dining time don't turn up and ask to be seated! Food was really good. Staff were fantastic.

 

The Windjammer seemed to have more periods of being closed than I have ever noticed before. It was very frustrating at times. On more than one occasion both Windjammer and Park Cafe were closed at the same time.

 

I found the TV to be appalling. I have read many references to the cut of channels but didn't pay attention. I don't go on cruises to watch TV - but it would be nice to be able to watch a bit. There was only one channel with any movies (in English) and they were only on a few time slots. Non of the RCL channels had any of the usual shows - ie I was looking forward to watching documentaries on Quantum etc - but nothing! And the one time I did see a RCL type show the programmer left it running on the 15 seconds credit loop for 20 minutes. There is no movie theatre on the ship.

 

Trivia was not great in my opinion. All the 8pm slots were the music clip type.

 

The Gym is small but dose have some good machines. The main problem was that there must not be a crew gym with floor space as the floor in the gym was, on every occasion we went, being used by the dance troupe leaving no room for crusiers wanting to stretch, yoga etc.

 

I used an airport transfer for the first time and though it was a fantastic service! So worth the money and so much cheaper than a a taxi.

 

Meet and Mingle was the 'least enjoyable' I have been to. It was in a public venue, at a strange time, there was a tray of cookies and an urn for tea bags (no fruit drinks and nibbles) and the cookies were eaten by a large family group that was also in the lounge. LOL. And as always seems to be the way now days - it was taken over by the CD and was an add for RCCL. We didn't get time to chat to each other. A few of us did manage to make some alternate meet up times.

 

I was lucky enough to do a bridge tour. Loved it. Very informative.

 

 

Overall the ship was great and the itinerary was fantastic. Hectic but fantastic. Meet some fantastic people and saw some amazing places.

 

Put it on your bucket list!

 

R

[Sailing Grandma]

Enjoyed your review, beautiful pictures, and comments about each city.

Edited August 16, 2014 by Sailing Grandma

[AussieVisi2r]

Almost forgot the last day

 

Saturday 10th August 2014 Day 30 (day 15 of the cruise).

 

Hamberg, Germany,

Get off my ship day!

 

Sailing into Hamburg was lovely. We entered the river at about 1am, motored 110 ks up the River Elbe and arrived in port just before 8am.

 

It was very lovely. There was a Super Moon shining onto the river all night and it as like twilight much of the time.

 

 

Then…….we had to get off their ship! Very sad, we had had such fun and met many lovely people.

As we were getting off the ship we noticed the table of goods being returned from the “Naughty Room”. There were the usual irons and pocket knives…but we were surprised to see a small cross bow!!!!!!

 

Our flight was not until 9.30 pm…so we booked (and paid for) Sarah into a nearby Youth Hostel for the night, then went to the hostel, put our luggage into the storage room and (slowly and without a lot of energy) headed off to see Hamburg.

 

Sarah the Metro Queen lead us, and off we went to join a canal / harbour boat trip. But first two of the local delicacies that Sarah wanted to share – Curryworst and Kebabs (as they were developed here---not in Turkey). And they were delicious.

 

Hamburg was another of the member cities of the Hanseatic League and is now the third largest sea port in the world and is one of the most affluent cities in Europe.

 

The Port was huge and lovely. So many amazing buildings.

 

We went up the canals to the historic Warehouse District. This area was amazing. The builders were all eight stories high against a deep berthing space. The walls were all brick with huge tie up points all along. On top of every building were six or eight winch set-ups, usually under copper hoods. They are now renovated into very expensive and stunning units, offices and restaurants.

 

 

 

The port side of the tour was also interesting – so many big ships. When we were getting info from all the sprukers – one said “and the tour goes down to the cruise ship, Legend of the Seas.”

 

We saw massive ships in dry dock, the biggest container ships and humongous cranes unloading containers from the thousands on each ship and putting them into the acres of containers.

 

 

We then went back to the hostel, told them they could re sell the bed we booked, wasted some time and waited for our booked pickup.

 

It was then the VERY LONG trip home! People often say "Wow, what a long trip" but you have no idea what joy us Aussies have with travelling to Europe.

 

This is us at the START of the journey home -NOT AT THE END!:D We looked quite different when we got home.

 

We got off the ship at 8am on Sunday. We walked through our front door at noon on Tuesday!!!! Fun NOT!!!!! But the trip was amazing!

 

Raina

[shipfriend_max]

WOW!!! As I see, it was a very impressing voyage, and your report is impressing as well!!

We have also done a Baltic cruise last year, but on Emerald Princess - we really enjoyed the cruise!

 

Great to read that you seem to have liked Legend - I am not quite sure whether the ship might be a littlebit old-fashioned, but I guess she has nice spots onboard and a desirable size.

I really love ships with around 90,000 GT and 2500 passengers. :)

[AussieVisi2r]

WOW!!! As I see, it was a very impressing voyage, and your report is impressing as well!!

We have also done a Baltic cruise last year, but on Emerald Princess - we really enjoyed the cruise!

 

Great to read that you seem to have liked Legend - I am not quite sure whether the ship might be a littlebit old-fashioned, but I guess she has nice spots onboard and a desirable size.

I really love ships with around 90,000 GT and 2500 passengers. :)

 

Thanks Max,

I really had to stop myself comparing the Legend to the Radiance. It was unfair. Legend is not my favourite ship - but it was great. It was a bit harder for 24yo Sarah as night life was very limited. She did end up with a large group of young ones but places to go were very limited. They all did spend a lot of time sotting chatting on the golf course in the wee hours.:p

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and beautiful pics!

[shipfriend_max]

Thanks Max,

I really had to stop myself comparing the Legend to the Radiance. It was unfair. Legend is not my favourite ship - but it was great. It was a bit harder for 24yo Sarah as night life was very limited. She did end up with a large group of young ones but places to go were very limited. They all did spend a lot of time sotting chatting on the golf course in the wee hours.:p

 

Hi,

 

the Radiance Class ships are most appealing to me :cool: - but in two weeks we will have our first RCI cruise on Liberty, a Freedom-Class-ship, which is surely impressive!

OK, nightlife does not really matter for me, but I understand that people who like it might be a littlebit disappointed, if it's limited.

But all in all, surely Legend provides a nice cruise experience, and the golf course and the wide pool deck look nice!

Hopefully you liked food and service... ;)

[Bailey & Sophie]

I don't believe anyone is still looking at this but I will finish anyway. LOL

 

Friday 8th August 2014 Day 28 (day 13 of the cruise).

 

Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

In 1397 Denmark, Sweden and Norway joined forces to form the largest Viking Empire in history. Copenhagen was the capital.

 

Now it’s a stunning city with no Vikings.

 

We started the day off by purchasing very expensive tickets for the Hop on hop off bus and off we went. This company turned out to be the “wait a long time” company as we spent more time waiting then we did driving.

 

But we did see many wonderful things.

 

We went to the Carlsberg Brewery – which was named after the son of the founder. Archaeology shows that Denmark has been brewing beer for over 5000 years. They have always had a strong brew and each farm would brew their own. The farms that brewed the best and strongest brew were able to attract the best workers and were therefore the best farms!

 

 

By now we were sick of sitting on a parked bus for long periods of time and decided to get out and walk. And we walked through some stunning area.

 

We wandered down some of the very stunning canal streets and had a coffee - very small $8.

 

 

Christiana was our next stop - a commune in the middle of Copenhagen. It has pretty well been deserted by the town council and is full of squatters. The police ignore it and although drugs are illegal a very blind eye is turned.

 

 

We then walked around a bit more and found the pick up spot for the canal boat tour and jumped on.

It was fantastic. Among all of these wonderful old buildings were super modern amazing building.

 

 

 

We hoped off the boat at the Little Mermaid (and saw the mobs of people queuing to see the tiny statue), meet some swans and came back to the ship for a fun night.

 

We had an 11 pm sail away today. Out the window of the Concierge Club was a Bungy Jumping place. We all sat drinking and watching. As the basket would start to go up someone would cry "Basket Up!" and everyone would swivel around to watch the fool pay perfectly good money to jump off a perfectly good crane! Some people would dip into the ocean and of course the cheers from us all were loud and long.

 

Copenhagen is one of the most visually stunning places I have been!

 

It is a very spread out city. The HOHO bus was expensive - but only about $10 more than the ship shuttle bus - so I suppose it was good value - but be prepared it was one of the more frustrating HOHO buses I have used.

 

I'm reading!! We'll be on the Legend in February but in the Caribbean.

[khr316]

Hi Raina,

I can't believe that I entirely missed this blog while you were writing. It was wonderful and it looks like you and your daughter had a fantastic time. We were booked on this cruise, but had to cancel because of the serious illness of a close family member (in retrospect, we could have gone, but who knew?). We are now booked on a similar cruise next year on Serenade OTS. I subscribed to your blog so that I can use it for reference next year (Linda's, too). Wish we could have met, but happy that all went well for you.

Thanks again, now I almost feel that I have "been there!"

Karen

[QuattroRomeo]

Thanks Raina for a wonderful review, the photos and your wit and humour were terrific!

[AussieVisi2r]

Thanks for all your wonderful comments.

 

Raina

[denamo]

An unbelievably fantastic review. Love your commentary and humor on the ports visited. Photos bring it all to life. Thank you for taking the time to post and share here on CC.

 

....And yes, I read to the end! ;)

[NorbertsNiece]

Thanks for all the memories..... we'll have to collaborate on a blog sometime!! ;)

[cathykb]

Thanks for a fantastic review - and special thanks for including your pre-cruise travels!

 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

[pspercy]

There is no movie theatre on the ship.

 

 

We did an eastbound TA to Copenhagen on Vision last year. They used the theatre to show movies some afternoons, it was great.