Back From The Legend May 12-20 Cruise

[count400@yahoo.com]

We had a great time on this beautiful ship. It almost felt like we were on the Titanic with all the ornate decorations. The food was excellent, the crew was extremely friendly giving great service, and the shows were like Broadway productions. We went to the Golden Fleece restaurant one night and had a great intimate dinner. I was a little disappointed on the shore excursions but I didn't let it bother me. We are thinking about doing this cruise again next year.

[davy jones]

Count

 

Glad you had a great time. What were the disappointing shore excursions?

 

What were the highlights?

[G & D]

I will be on the Legend in June. I am glad to see that you had a great time. In trying to schedule events for my group I was wondering what nights during your crusie did they have formal nights?

[count400@yahoo.com]

The formal nights were the second and seventh night on the ship. The shore excursions were the Downtown Shopping and Beach Excursion on St Thomas and the Long Bay Beach resort. The beach in St Thomas was right near the airport and the restaurant at the resort, if you could call it that, was very slow moving so being there only for two hours I wasn't going to waste my time at the restaurant waiting for food. I also ordered a drink there and paid $9.00 (and some people think the ship's prices are high). The Long Bay Beach resort was beautiful except the beach was very rocky so you couldn't go in the water passed you knee and they wouldn't let you use the pool. I did not let this bother me as I was on vacation and took it as a learning experience.

[Topaz114]

I was also on this cruise and loved it. My favorite excursion was in Tortola- the Virgin Gorda Baths. Amazing!!! I wish we could have spent 3 days here. The ship is beautiful. I also spent a lot of time in the whirlpool in the gym. Less crowded. :)

[KatsMom]

We were on this sailing as well. The ship is gorgeous, the staff was wonderful. The food was pretty good...the Golden Fleece was AMAZING. I would have loved to have stayed longer on Tortola. We did the snorkling and all I can say is WOW! Over 2 days each way to and from the islands was not all that fun. The Legend has a lot to offer, but if you're a big beach bum (and who isn't when you're in that part of the Caribbean -- it's just stunningly beautiful), and not a gambler and not a nibbler, well, it's just OK (I would say this even on the QE2, more than likely). My mother-in-law LOVED it...she's 90 (well, almost), and the shows were really very good. My 13-year-old HATED it, however, that said, she's very athletic and likes to move, and there were very few kids her age on board. She DID like the shows, though...especially the Villiage Idiots (juggling act). They were pretty hysterical. The crowd on the Lido deck (and I'm not talking kids or singles, but the ones with some of the younger kids like 5-9 and seniors) were sometimes pushy and agressive in the food lines. HELLOOOO...we were all waiting for pancakes, so cutting the line just because your kids are waiting for them too was a pretty shoddy thing to do. Also, we had an older couple cut in front of my daughter on line at the sushi bar (which, BTW -- if you're a big sushi fan, skip and save your sushi cravings for your return trip home). Just like nothin' happened. Ahhh, well. All in all, a good time was had by all. There's nothing like watching the moon set and the sun rise from your balcony. So, to those of you who take this adventure, you'll have a great time. Don't set super high expectations, just remember to relax, have a drink or 10 and ENJOY!

 

KatsMom;)

[MrPete]

Do a little homework for the ports. There's some good places out there on this tour.

 

We personally never even got off the ship in San Juan, as it was raining, and the retractable roof was closed, so we got an afternoon of swimming.

[perkyblue]

I was also on this cruise and loved it. My favorite excursion was in Tortola- the Virgin Gorda Baths. Amazing!!! I wish we could have spent 3 days here. The ship is beautiful. I also spent a lot of time in the whirlpool in the gym. Less crowded. :)

 

I'll be on this cruise in just 3 weeks! I'm also doing the Virgin Gorda Baths, and now I REALLY can't wait! And thanks for the tip about the whirlpool in the gym!

[PhillyTee73]

I was on this cruise also. Sorry Tanya and I missed the meetup in the piano bar, we could barely keep our eyes open the first night. We probably spoke to most of you at some point though. I really enjoyed this cruise mainly because it was my first and I have nothing to compare it to. I agree that the shopping and beach tour in St. Thomas was wayyy to short. Tanya and I ordered a meal at the restaurant and took quick dips in the ocean. We enjoyed it and the food was delicious. I had the honor to play Aretha Franklin on the last night which was an absolute blast!! All of us "LEGENDS" had fun being addressed by our star names all over the ship :D. The supper club was excellent and well worth the money. It is a MUST DO at least once. I bought a few too many of those expensive pictures and went too much over my budget to go twice :(. Please excuse that my comments are all over the place, I am still going through cruise withdrawl lol. Oh, I stayed in cabin #8272 which was an Aft balcony. I loved this cabin and I don't think I will ever want anything other than aft balcony. The view of everything was priceless and the balcony was very spacious.

 

Most of the staff were very friendly but surprisingly the ladies at the pursers desk and photo desk were pretty rude on more than one occasion but not enough to ruin anything for me. The worst part of my cruise was the last sea day. The sea was very rough and quite a bit of people became sea sick from the violent rocking including Tanya and I. It did calm down later thankfully. Disembarment was HORRIBLE. I mistakenly believed that when we left the ship there would be a sea of Taxis waiting and was very wrong. There was a taxi line where an attendant gave us a red ticket that was supposed to speed up our wait time. If a taxi came evry ten minutes we wre lucky, and that was only because someone was being dropped off. Tanya and I finally figured out after 2 hours of waitig that it would be easier getting a taxi down on the street. Even down at the taxi stand it was very difficult to get a taxi because 2 refused to take us to Penn station. We finally walked 3 blocks to a car wash and asked some of the employees to help us get a cab. They were very friendly and hailed us a cab in 5 minutes :) . I will definitely arrange some type of pickup service the next time. Overall the trip was fabulous and I would do Carnival again.

[count400@yahoo.com]

We did the backstage tour on Friday, the day that the water was rough. We backstage and the person giving the tour was standing on a chair while talking to us and wasn't even holding on to anything. Everyone else had to hold on to something or fall over. You could also hear the waves crashing into the ship. The Follies is in the front of the ship which is the worst place to be in rough seas. We had a window seat at sunset in the Golden Fleece making it so much more memorable. The few times I spoke to some of the people at the purcer's desk, they seemed to business like and short we me. Room service on the phone was also like that. I didn't get a chance to go to any of the lounges at night except for the last one because I went to all the shows. The last night we went to Billie's Bar which had a piano man playing a piano that rotated. You would throw a dollar on the piano and ask him to play a song. He was pretty good.

[KatsMom]

Count400 --

 

You're not kidding about being in or around the Follies last Friday...it was like being on a rollercoaster ride! How'd you like the white caps and the sea spray.....wooo hoooo! I didn't make it up on deck that day, just walked around the ship and tried to have fun riding the waves.

 

Disembarkation in NYC was a MESS! There was some kind of protest going on (did you hear all the motorcycles?). Our limo took 2 hours to get to us...only from Staten Island! I think because the Norweigan Dawn was disembarking at the same time the whole area was just pure chaos. But, when you live and work in NYC, you kind of expect a bit of waiting for things (although, I must say, this was even too much waiting for me).

 

Now back at work, and remembering where we were last week at this time...St. Thomas....ahhhh. Could use some of that warm sun today!:cool:

[count400@yahoo.com]

I think the disembarkation was a mess because we arrived late and there were two other ships there. I had my car parked on the roof of the pier which made my escape from the chaos to be alot more smother then what others experienced. Once I was on the WestSide Highway doing 80 I felt pretty good. When I go on my next cruise I will drive myself again to the pier. I saw the white caps on the waves and also the spray from the top of the waves. It was pretty scary doing the backstage tour that day. I couldn't wait to get out of the Follies Lounge. Yes, I am back to work for the second day already and looking at cruise prices for next year although I think booking a cruise one year in advance is crazy.

[MrPete]

It's truly an art to get out of there.

 

Wife usually rolls luggage to the curb while I high tail it up the escalator running to the car. Then I come down, pick her up, and we are out of there.

 

Always best to beat the crouds.

 

Home in 30 minutes.

 

Next time, though, I'm not doing the self assist. Too many people doing it these days.

[KatsMom]

The line for Self Assist was outta control. It took wayyyyy over an hour to get those folks off the ship. Then, it became a free-for-all with everyone just walking off, regardless of what deck/color. Next time, we're driving over and parking. That's what we originally wanted to do and then changed our minds......well, live and learn!:p

[jbpinkie]

Do a little homework for the ports. There's some good places out there on this tour.

 

We personally never even got off the ship in San Juan, as it was raining, and the retractable roof was closed, so we got an afternoon of swimming.

 

Mr. Pete- I honestly don't know what I would do without you on this board... Thanks in advance for your help again....

 

My fiancee and I have both been to SanJuan, and really aren't that into going again. We were thinking that might be a good night to go to the Golden Fleece thinking it might be more quiet. What are your thoughts on it?

[MrPete]

That's the night we went! It was perfect! No crowds, yet not empty. :)

 

5 days to sailing! I'm JEALOUS!!!!

[jbpinkie]

That's the night we went! It was perfect! No crowds, yet not empty. :)

 

5 days to sailing! I'm JEALOUS!!!!

 

I know I can't believe we fly out in 2 days... I am traveling for business, so I haven't even started to pack... Ughhh!! Oh well, I can sleep once I am on the plane to NY!! Too excited to sleep now anyway... LOL

 

Thanks again

[Topaz114]

We also had our car parked on the top deck in NY. Our biggest problem was getting to the Lincoln Tunnel because they had 9th closed (off of 42nd) due to some street festival. So we finally found another way to go. Frustrating though!!

 

Another quick tip for upcoming cruisers if you don't scan the capers like a madman... if you want toppings for the icecream, wait until 3:30pm and then check out the aft/adult pool ice cream station. mmmm

[MrPete]

Not only toppings, but they have hard ice cream as well!

[count400@yahoo.com]

We made our reservation for the Golden Fleece for 6:30 on Mother's Day. We got there about 6:15 and realized we were the first one's there. We were doted on by all the waitresses until other people started to arrive. It was great.

[count400@yahoo.com]

MrPete, I would like to thank you for all the help and answers to my questions. It made my cruise a memorable experience.

[MrPete]

Your welcome. Your posts have helped me bide my time waiting for my turn! :)

 

Welcome back!

[scottopus]

Thanks for the reports - glad to hear about all the positive experiences! We are sailing the Legend THIS SUNDAY - I can hardly believe our cruise is finally almost here!

 

One question - can anybody share their experiences in securing late seating and/or a table for 2? We usually sail with Princess mainly because we enjoy eating fairly late and knowing we can share private romantic dinners each evening. So, I'm a little nervous about not knowing our assignments ahead of time.

 

Thanks for any info you can share! Excited to be back with Carnival!