Live from the Legend!! December 19-26, 2021 with Kmom.

[Heartgrove]

Bon voyage! It looks like there is going to be some motion with the ocean tonight. Winds look to increase as you head south going from 14 knots to 24 knots as you leave the Bay and then 30 knots in the ocean.

[KmomChicago]

Embarkation. We dropped mom and teen by the scooters at the terminal entrance 30 minutes before our scheduled arrival, then circled around the parking lot to check our bags and find a spot. By the time we got back to the check in line we were within our window and they escorted us past a bunch of other people who also arrived too early. 
 

I checked the bag with the boarding passes but they were quickly replaced for us and everything went smoothly. Mom’s CPAP water caused a little delay but we just waited patiently while they did whatever they have to do to clear it. 
 

Once onboard the hallway door was closed for our suite but open for our balcony room so we dropped the carry on bags. Then a steward told us the rooms weren’t ready which was why the keys weren’t out and the room doors were all open. So we left the bags in the open room and went up to Guy’s Burger Joint by way of the buffet which was much busier than Guy’s. Maybe because it’s chilly today. Burger was tasty as always. 
 

Right off the bat this ship feels pretty similar to Fantasy class but with larger, and more, balcony rooms. Our suite is spacious and has luxurious touches as well as funny quirks related to its vintage that I will describe in great detail over the course of the week. 
 

Next up dinner. 

[KmomChicago]

Having trouble with internet onboard. Slowww. 
 

Can’t tell if photos loaded.

 

34 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Bon voyage! It looks like there is going to be some motion with the ocean tonight. Winds look to increase as you head south going from 14 knots to 24 knots as you leave the Bay and then 30 knots in the ocean.

 

Yes it’s rocking a bit. I just popped a couple ginger roots and mom took a Bonine earlier. 

[KmomChicago]

Appetizers. Strawberry bisque, calamari, candied salmon, roasted poblano corn soup (after it had mostly been consumed. I know it doesn’t look very appetizing). Candied salmon is easily the best of this bunch imho.

 

 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

A few of our entrees. Mahi mahi which mom said was dry and overcooked but she liked the okra based veg accompanying it. 

 

Vegetable lasagna which I personally liked a lot more than the meat lasagna (Bolognese) I had on MG a few months ago. I often prefer vegetarian dishes to meat based. YMMV.

 

And sweet and sour shrimp which was very good though I typically avoid shrimp these days due to sustainability/overfishing concerns. Teen wanted to try it and the veg lasagna so we each ordered one and split them.
 

 

[KmomChicago]

Service was excellent, portions were right sized, bread was great, food was well presented and acceptable but not exceptional. A reasonably enjoyable first dinner, grade it about a B. They did a little fun dance and music routine during the meal. 

[KmomChicago]

I’m not doing anything else tonight. Hubby is watching the Buccaneers in the sports bar. I’ve been up since very very early both today and yesterday and nothing on tonight’s schedule is just screaming at me to attend so it’s beddie bye boze time for Kmom. See you tomorrow.

[dcwalker]

Good night. Let the big boat rock you gently. Thank you for doing this. I'm thoroughly enjoying.

[Roscoe13]

16 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

I’m not doing anything else tonight. Hubby is watching the Buccaneers in the sports bar. I’ve been up since very very early both today and yesterday and nothing on tonight’s schedule is just screaming at me to attend so it’s beddie bye boze time for Kmom. See you tomorrow.

Keep the change...

'Til am. 

[mondello]

24 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

 I’ve been up since very very early both today and yesterday and so it’s beddie bye boze time for Kmom. See you tomorrow.

Sweet dreams (are made of this)

[CookieShip]

I'm onboard as well, they gave some interesting passenger statistics:

557 kids aboard

Country breakdowns, I missed a few though

4 Australia

1 Bahamas

3 Belarus

3 Brazil

25 Canada

6 china

2 Cuba

6 Dominican Republic

1 Ghana

3 German

4 Hati

1 Iceland

15 India

3 Iran

1 Iraq

1 Italy (just the captain? Lol)

4 Mexico

10 Nepal

2 Pakistan

2 Philippines

1 Russia

1 St Kitts

1 Thailand

2 Turkey

1 UK

2 Ukraine

1 Uzbekistan

1930 United States

 

 

[Cscomedygrl]

Sounds like a great first day onboard! 

[brilliantseas]

2 hours ago, CookieShip said:

I'm onboard as well, they gave some interesting passenger statistics:

557 kids aboard

Country breakdowns, I missed a few though

4 Australia

1 Bahamas

3 Belarus

3 Brazil

25 Canada

6 china

2 Cuba

6 Dominican Republic

1 Ghana

3 German

4 Hati

1 Iceland

15 India

3 Iran

1 Iraq

1 Italy (just the captain? Lol)

4 Mexico

10 Nepal

2 Pakistan

2 Philippines

1 Russia

1 St Kitts

1 Thailand

2 Turkey

1 UK

2 Ukraine

1 Uzbekistan

1930 United States

 

 

 

What a difference two weeks (and school holiday break) makes! I would guess we had fewer than 30 children / teens onboard our December 5 sailing. The six-ish teens all hung out in a single group for the cruise and were easy to spot. There was also at least one stroller onboard. A far cry from the 557 onboard this week! I bet the ice cream machines are completely overrun! 😆

[KmomChicago]

Good morning. Happy to report I slept a solid and comfortable 8 hours. I can feel ship movement this morning but it doesn’t bother me and I like that feeling after a cruise where you still feel the earth rocking for a few days which didn’t happen after the rock steady Mardi Gras.
 

So it sounds from those numbers like we must have most of the cabins occupied though we are far from max. Masks are to be worn at all times indoors except when seated in the dining room. 
 

Muster was very fast but it was out on the open deck at 3 forward in the cold. 
 

Mom is finding the ship not very convenient for her rented scooter. For one thing it’s impossible for one person to open the room door while sitting on it. It’s got a heavy closer so no chance to open and then drive through. We’re going to ask our steward for a doorstop. 

Our bed was together and I thought I requested separated so we asked for it to be changed sometime Monday. I hate to do that as I know they work very hard already, especially on turnaround day they are obviously all wiped out. Mom and I did fine this first night but we really do prefer the 2 beds. 
 

Must seek coffee now. Or maybe sleep some more.

 

[KmomChicago]

Unicorn cafe (Lido Buffet) for coffee. Fresh brewed and while cruising I use real cream.

 

 

 

Everyone is tired the second morning. 7am and very few passengers out yet.

The sign from the gods.

Brew it!! Oops on the incognito. Stupid reflective coffee machine. Oh well. If you know you know. 
 

The view.

 

 

[sparks1093]

On 12/18/2021 at 5:52 PM, KmomChicago said:

We made it to the suburbs of Baltimore. Last night we stopped in Greenfield Indiana and had rooms on points, one at the Holiday Inn Express where we had a very large, comfortable, slightly dated room, and the other at the Fairfield Inn, which still has the new hotel smell as well as the shine and sleek decor. It was very nice though the room’s dimensions were much smaller. 
 

When I was younger, the excitement of travel gave me a near bulletproof adrenaline rush to manage all the stress of getting to destinations and feel like I was having fun in the process. I’m sorry to say (at 55 now) I don’t so much get that anymore. I do still happily anticipate the vacation but drive or flight days are just an exhausting drag.  
 

Im looking forward to boarding tomorrow but I can say with some certainty this is the last long road trip I want to take. Probably ever.  This is also why I started my Mardi Gras review two days after boarding. It took that long to calm down and get into the groove.

 

DW's back can no longer handle being on the road all day, so our days of driving to the port are over. The upside is that now we will be flying to Florida since it's not that much more to fly there than to Baltimore, which will expand our cruising horizons somewhat (our goal has been to try as many different cruise lines as we can and now we will be able to do that more effectively).

[KmomChicago]

Medieval castle motif. 

 

By way of the 1990’s courtesy of one Joe Farcas, often imitated-but only by himself. Seriously no other cruise designer ever had the freedom and nerve to do stuff like this.

 

Honestly you either love, hate or just tolerate these designs because you want a cruise so bad. 
 

My take is: you could only get away with this if you catered to working and middle class families, even 20-30 years ago. So that gives you the 3 big lines plus Disney that ever had a prayer of so much over the top themery. Little kids have gotta love this craziness. It’s also why Vegas has Excalibur and the Luxor, a brief era of fantasy-inspired getaways beyond almost any imagining. 
 

I get why the garishness annoys people, plus it’s all showing age in other ways, dinged up furniture and mismatched lightbulb colors being just a couple of examples. But I also miss this what-will-they-dream-up-next creativity. Also the one of a kind nature of it. Ya ain’t a-gonna ever see another boat that looks like this one, folks. (Boat-ship police cringe now on cue). Just go with it. You WILL miss it later.

[balcony bound]

6 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Medieval castle motif.

 

By way of the 1990’s courtesy of one Joe Farcas, often imitated-but only by himself. Seriously no other cruise designer ever had the freedom and nerve to do stuff like this.

 

Honestly you either love, hate or just tolerate these designs because you want a cruise so bad.
 

My take is: you could only get away with this if you catered to working and middle class families, even 20-30 years ago. So that gives you the 3 big lines plus Disney that ever had a prayer of so much over the top themery. Little kids have gotta love this craziness. It’s also why Vegas has Excalibur and the Luxor, a brief era of fantasy-inspired getaways beyond almost any imagining. 
 

I get why the garishness annoys people, plus it’s all showing age in other ways, dinged up furniture and mismatched lightbulb colors being just a couple of examples. But I also miss this what-will-they-dream-up-next creativity. Also the one of a kind nature of it. Ya ain’t a-gonna ever see another boat that looks like this one, folks. (Boat-ship police cringe now on cue). Just go with it. You WILL miss it later.

 

Call me crazy, or maybe it's my age - but I prefer the Farcas ships.  Maybe since I cruise to totally forget the normal at home it helps with the entire fantasy of a carefree life.

[sparks1093]

Was muster the old traditional cattle call way or did you just go to your muster station and have your S&S scanned while you watch a crew member don a life vest?

[KmomChicago]

13 minutes ago, balcony bound said:

Call me crazy, or maybe it's my age - but I prefer the Farcas ships.  Maybe since I cruise to totally forget the normal at home it helps with the entire fantasy of a carefree life.

Me too, in general, though I like sleek and minimalist as well. I guess I like anything that’s not my boring house which I seriously don’t have decorated in any way. I just move into houses and if nothing’s broken that’s how we live with it. 
 

 

10 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Was muster the old traditional cattle call way or did you just go to your muster station and have your S&S scanned while you watch a crew member don a life vest?

The second. Come party by party, whenever you make it to the station and talk to the guys for 32 seconds and get scanned.

[KmomChicago]

32 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

DW's back can no longer handle being on the road all day, so our days of driving to the port are over. The upside is that now we will be flying to Florida since it's not that much more to fly there than to Baltimore, which will expand our cruising horizons somewhat (our goal has been to try as many different cruise lines as we can and now we will be able to do that more effectively).

Your options are not just somewhat expanded with Florida but rather exponentially expanded. 
 

Between Miami, Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale you have added a great big bunch of ships. 

[KmomChicago]

Ok y’all tell me. Is this rude? I can take it. 

[KmomChicago]

Fun fact. At 8am these fools let trespassers like Kmom run around the Nouveau Restaurant, aka steak house, without buying any steak!!

 

 

 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

I see at least 3 trivias this morning in which I may have a hope of victory and the elusive ship on a stick, which the teen says is silly clutter unworthy of desire! Humph 😤 I must say to that!! 
 

Better watch it or mebbe Dad and I leave you ashore next time!!

[KmomChicago]

Why I am sitting in the empty steak house post coffee. 
 

But hey, OCEAN is the operative word here. We’ll be enjoying my least favorite holiday here facing the opposite direction in a few days. 
 

Oh, don’t give me that Scrooge business. I have a more generous spirit every daggone day than most souls walking this poor beleaguered damaged earth planet of ours.

 

However I do like to refer to Christmas miracles at the most inopportune times, like the dog days of summer. That really shouldn’t surprise anyone by now. 
 

#freakinweirdo #kmomisbat$h1+crazy