Just back from Legend & Thank you!

[Laurab23]

we went to the Golden Fleece the second night. Made our reservations the day before with no problem. It was not very crowded. We also figured as long as we were dressed up! We did see people in the Golden Fleece that night in just a polo shirt and regular slacks,so clothes would not have been an issue. We're glad we didn't go earlier in the week because we probably would have eaten there again and there goes our budget! It was quite an experience and I'm very glad we did it.

Laura

[Laurab23]

Meant to say the second formal night.

[Timshaun]

My family and I were also on this sailing and we had a BALL!!! We also breezed through embarkation. I was prepared to wait after reading some of the stories here, but I was pleasantly surprised.

[Starz723]

Thanks for you review. I too sailed on he Legend this year on the July 18 sailing. We were the ones that hit the storm and the ship listed to one side momentarily and also had the sick passenger. It didnt put a damper on me though.

 

I had no problem either during embarkation.. I got there early,,a little after 11am and was one of the first to board the ship. It was painless!

 

I absolutely LOVED the Legend. I had such a blast. I nixed dining at the golden fleece for the same reason. I was having so much fun in the dining room with their nightly activities I didnt want to miss a thing. I was on the Verandah deck in room 7279 with an extended balcony. I loved my balcony!! Nothing like waking up in a port and looking at the view.

 

That was also my first cruise. Im grateful for these boards and the people posting. It gave me the best advice!

 

Cant wait to cruise again.

[star65]

Heather - We nixed the golden fleece because we were having too much fun in the dining room, but if you are going to go on formal night makes sense since you are already dressed up. When I made my reservation on Sunday(1st formal night) they still had room for that night so you should be ok.

 

Dynaribbon - Congratulations on your wedding and honeymooning on the legend, I think you chose a great honeymoon. You will enjoy every minute of it.

 

Slinky - I would plan to get to the port between 11 and 11:30, you should be on the boat within 1 1/2 hours. If there are customs problems with the departing guests then it could be longer. When we were getting off we had to wait about 45 minutes because they kept paging a guest to go to see customs and they never went, they will not let anyone off until customs is satisfied, and you can not get on until everyone is off.

 

80sgirrl2 - my girls are 7 and 12. The 12 yr old stayed with the 9 to 11 group because her cousin was with us and she wanted to be with her. They will let your children go down an age group but not usually up. However, at night time babysitting they let my 7 yr old stay with the 9 to 11's and her sister, which pleasantly surprised me. Your kids should love it. Any more ?'s let me know.

[partman57]

star,

 

How crowded is the Golden Fleece on formal night? We were thinking of going that night since we figured we would be dressed up that night anyway. Besides, I've had the standard lobster in the dining room on formal night twice now and have been underwhelmed both times. Also, if we went early we could decide whether we wanted to go a second night during our cruise. Think this is a good idea?

 

Heather

We went on formal night. The 2nd one and it was almost empty. We had a wonderful table and service and food was as good as it gets. One word of caution, If you can not eat a large amount of steak and thats your main course choice better not get the large one. I almost did and could not eat the 12 oz. Had I taken the 24 I really would have felt dumb. Enjoy. You will not be sorry.

[stokerhj]

Thanks to everyone for the input on the Golden Fleece. Truth be told, part of the reason why I want to go there early is because I am too impatient to wait, and want to have one perfect dressed up night before I am too "expanded" to wear pantyhose and am sunburned from all of the ports, lol.

 

I'm also still going back and forth as to whether to book a spa treatment for later in the cruise. The prices are SO expensive compared to the day spa I go to (on rare occasions) here! Did they offer any last day specials? Did the couples massage ever go on sale?

[CruiseFever]

Thanks for your review, I think the Legend is one of our favorite ships, glad to hear you liked her too!

[star65]

stokerhjThey did run specials every day in the spa and I do remember one day that the couples massage was discounted, if I were you I would wait. They seem to run the best specials on port days. When you get on board go to the spa and in the reception area is a list of all that week's specials by day. Enjoy it. I wasn't planning on doing the spa thing but I took my daughters there to get their hair braided and saw someone getting the hair treatment, scalp and neck massage and it looked so relaxing so I did it the next day and loved it. Best thing was it was only $26.

Star65

[SLINKY-YJ]

star do you remember how much you paid for your daughters hair to get braided?

[stokerhj]

Thanks for the info star. I'll stop by the spa and pick it up. I'm surprised that they would advertise the specials for the week in advance. Who on earth would pay full price when they know there will be a better price later on in the week?

[gfyjny]

Thank you for the review. I'm sailing Legend on 6/30/05 from NYC to Eastern Carribean. Would you be able to email me shore excursion pricing and soda card pricing if you have them? Thank you.

 

:)

[glrounds]

Very good review. Particularly interested because I booked the Legend Sept 28th cruise last night. Got to cram all the information I can find. :D

 

Thanks again. :)

[mar5762]

Star, i sail on her in October 6, what time did you arive at the doc on the day your cruise left and what time did you actually board the ship? thanks in advance

 

I hope you have an absolutely wonderful time. Can you hurry off the ship though? I have a group of 30 from a volunteer fire dept waiting to get on right after you on October 14th!! LOL

 

Here's hoping those darn hurricanes have it all out of their system by then!

 

Marrianne

[star65]

Thank you for the review. I'm sailing Legend on 6/30/05 from NYC to Eastern Carribean. Would you be able to email me shore excursion pricing and soda card pricing if you have them? Thank you.

 

:)

Sorry I do not know anything about the excursion pricing as we did not utilize any excursions through carnival. I do know that the excursion that Carnival offers similar to what we did with Godfrey tours in St. Thomas was about $65 per person and we paid $20. Soda prices were $1.50 for a can, and I believe around $3 for the large 20oz I think we only bought two or three. We were very happy with the iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch and water provided. We did however, pack a collapsible cooler with 12 bottles of water and 6 20oz bottles of Pepsi, taht lasted all week. We checked it as luggage and never had a problem. Our cabin steward even kept it filled with ice for us.

 

 

As to getting to the port, we got there about 11:15 and were on the ship about 12:45, an hour and half, not at all bad, except for the anticipation!!!

Enjoy your curise!

Star65

[herb]

Glad to hear all the positive things about the LEGEND. We will be sailing on July 24th 2005 and can't wait. (and a long wait it is :( )

[gfyjny]

Thank you Star65. It looks like a cooler is must. And what a mark up for the excursion price?

[smon320]

i sailed the carnival on 8/3 and i thought it was awesome. I can't knock San Juan because i walked away with $500 from Wyndham Casino. Just curious was Brett Alans still the cruise director?

Also for those who cruised after me, is roxanna from romania still on the ship as a casino dealer? I thought she was gorgeous and was the only reason i spent so much money in the casino.. lol. Thanks

[foilman2002]

GFYJNY -

We went on the Legend last year in September, and I wrote a long review which is on the old post system.

In Tortola, we booked the tour to the Baths by ourselves by going to Speedy's, about 1/4 mile from the ship. If I remember correctly, the fee from the ship's excursion was $75.00 per person. This included a water taxi pick-up and drop-off at the same dock as the Legend, a taxi ride to the trail to the baths, a rum drink just before you returned, and, of course, the taxi and water taxi back.

If you went directly to Speedy's, the cost was $24.00 per person, and no drink. The difference? You were on Speedy's time table, and you took a chance on missing the boat, and you got to walk through a small untouched Caribbean town (at least at that time). Watch out for the chickens. The excursions are guaranteed to wait for passengers, when you're on your own, they don't wait. Oh, and of course, that drink.

The difference for the two of us came to $102.00, and Speedy's isn't stupid, they make sure you get back in plenty of time to make the ship, however, its up to you to leave the baths to get to the taxi. And the Baths are gorgeous.

If you take this tour, please look for Speedy's Dept Store on the way to the Baths. My camera broke at the Baths, and I was never able to get a picture of this place. It was approximately an acre of property, surrounded by a chain link fence, with one shack that looked to be about 12 x 10 feet on it, with several dresses hanging up. The sign said Speedy's Department Store. I wanted a picture so badly when I saw it on the way to the Baths, and then couldn't take it on the way back.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

Larry

[mfs2k]

Smon,

Just got back yesterday from the Legend.....

Roxanna is still in the casino looking as good as ever

Alan is still the cruise director....


Great trip... Loved everything - except Embarkation. Previous ship was 2 1/2 hrs late returning. By the time most passengers were getting off, the port was full of people waiting to get on, and it made for a people traffic nightmare. No one wanted to move out of the way to give up their positions to get on board. We were one of the first in line, and didnt get on until 3:30 or so.

San Juan was skipped to allow more travel time around hurricane Jeanette and we each got a $25 credit... Didnt care. Loved the extra day at sea... Weather was perfect every day except the last - and even that day had some sun through the clouds. Seas were a little rocky on the way down. Again didnt care. It was fun.

Wish I did better the first 2 days in the casino.... Losing a bit on each table I played was discouraging...but I made most of it back by the end of the trip.

Debarkation was smooth and quick for us. Off the ship by 10:30 and home by 11:30 to sleep.

[gfyjny]

for the info on Speedy's. We were initially going to just hang out at Garden Cane Bay due to time constraint (only in Tortola from 7am to 2pm), and we didn't want to pay too much for an excursion there. $24 person is very reasonable. I'll look up Speedy's for this tour. If we go on this trip, we'll make sure to take a picture or two of Speedy's Dept. store for you. Just curious, what's so special about this place? :confused:

Jenny :)

[foilman2002]

I guess it just appeals to my sense of irony and humor. To see the sign, Speedy's Dept Store, and to see what it really is, just struck me.

Anyway, $24.00 is worth it, as long as you make sure that you make it back to the ship. We actually took the 10:00 am ferry over and made it back. We only had about an hour at the Baths, but all four of us (we were with another couple who also saved $102.00, when we got back, one of our friends asked if I would research her upcoming cruise. Between Godfrey and Speedy, we saved about $284.00 on excursions) agreed it was worth it. We didn't actually go through all the boulders, just the first one, but it was enough, and the wives swam in the gorgeous waters.

I'll look and see if I can still link to Speedy's schedule. I'd send you to my on line photos from the cruise, but they expire today.

You'll have a ball. My wife is looking to book this same cruise again.

Larry

[gfyjny]

I've found the website and got the ferry schedule. Thank you.
it looks like we can catch the ferry from Road Town to Virgin Gorda at 9am and return at 11:30am or 12:30pm. Since it's only 30 minute ride, we should make it back with no problems. And that would give us 2 to 3 hours in Virgin Gorda. So once we get to the dock, do we take a taxi to Baths? And how long does it take to get there from the dock? See if you and your wife can book the same one. :D We are going to be on Carnival Legend embarking on 06/30/05.

[Laurab23]

We are going May 5,2005. Someone book this cruise so we have people to talk to.
Laura

[foilman2002]

We took the 10:00 am ferry because my wife and one of the other couple was a little leery of doing this on our own. I wanted to take the 9:00, but instead, we walked around Road Town for a bit, came back and took the ferry over. When you get off the ferry, there are taxis waiting for you. You see, they mostly belong to Speedy too (I guess along with the Department Store, either that, or there are many named Speedy), so you can pay for them when you pay for the ferry. That is what makes it $24.00, at least last year. You can also just pay for the ferry, and hire a taxi when you get to Virgin Gorda, there are plenty of them. We hired Speedy's taxi, and they told us when to be at the top of the hill in order to come back to make the ferry back to Tortola. We took the 12:30, and we ended up having plenty of time to walk around the little tent market place not far from the ship's dock.

I don't know if we're going to do the same trip, my wife wants to, but then again, she just wants to get on a ship again. We'll see.

We missed San Juan due to a medical emergency on board, but I definitely recommend Godfrey's in St. Thomas, and I also recommend an evening in the Golden Fleece. As much fun as the dining room can be, and it was, the Golden Fleece is so much different, and well worth the price. It's a slow leisurely dinner, well presented, and with excellent food. There is also a singer and a piano, and a dance floor. We treated it as a third formal night, with my buddy and I wearing suits, and our wives dressed up. On formal nights we did have tuxedos.

Larry