Belated Legend Review 7/27-8/3

[FrannyK]

Background: This was our 11th cruise, 7th on Carnival. Husband and I, w/son and daughter(teens) flew from PHL to Tampa via SW the evening before cruise.

 

Pre/post-cruise: We had booked the pre-cruise package at Hampton Inn, Rocky Point ($150) called them when we arrived at Tampa -- they picked us up within 15 minutes. We checked in and were told we would have to take the 1:00pm shuttle to the pier on Sunday since we arrived late on Saturday evening and the earlier shuttles were booked. We really didn’t think that was fair -- the manager said he would see what he could do and let us know in the morning. We headed next door to Bahama Breeze for a late night snack/drinks, food was surprisingly good. The manager told us at breakfast that they would have two shuttles leaving at 11am and they booked us on one -- we were thrilled. Continental breakfast was good. When we debarked ship a week later, Hampton picked us up and took us back to hotel, where we relaxed a couple of hours, watched TV, played cards, used our laptop in their lobby. Then they took us to the airport for our late flight back to PHL. Worked out great.

 

Embarkation: Arrived at port about 11:30. Unfortunately, computer system was down. The line for check-in moved quickly (20 minute wait), after check-in we were directed to sit until our boarding number was called (50 minute wait). Boarded the ship about 12:45, dropped our carry-on bags in our cabins and headed to lunch on Lido deck. Extremely crowded first day as usual, but lots of food choices, service good. Having had prior experience, we left for the muster drill as late as possible. It was short and painless. Sailing under the bridge a couple hours after sail away was quite a site—great pictures!

 

Ship: Had no problem with décor, a bit over the top which we expected. The ship layout was confusing the first day or two, but after we got used to it, we found we prefer it to other class ships. Very simple to navigate. I especially liked being able to see the water from just about anywhere inside the ship, including the casino!

 

Cabin: We had cabins 5106 (interior) and 5108 (extended balcony) on Upper deck which were connecting cabins. It’s an unusual combination, located at the very front of the ship, and only available on Spirit-class ships. It was a perfect set-up for our family—having two bedrooms and baths was great. 5106 had two chairs, 5108 had a sofa and table. The extended balcony was very roomy, w/four chairs and one small table. Being the very first balcony, it was quite private too. It was windy when the ship was sailing but everyone I asked said their balcony was windy when sailing too so I’m not sure if it’s worse being so far forward. Although our cabin steward performed the basics, he was an unfriendly, surly person w/a bad attitude. Had to ask for things left and right (toilet paper, ice, laundry bags, etc) and our sweetheart of a steward would just give us this creepy seething stare! NEVER experienced a nasty steward before, we found it quite comical really.

[FrannyK]

Pools: We really liked the adult pool area on the ship and spent our deck time there, just wish there were loungers in the shade—only tables and chairs in the shaded area. Didn’t notice any children in the adult pool. Never used the other pools. The pool deck is HOT in the sun—plan on wearing some sort of shoe! All pools seemed to be smaller than we remember on other ships, but good enough to cool off in, or sit and sip a great drink in, and the showers were nice for cooling off too. Good drink service.

 

Casino: Really enjoyed the casino, seemed larger than other ships, only played blackjack, no machines. Lots of $5 tables which was nice. TIP: If you are the type who likes to split face cards and tens, let everyone at the table know so they can RUN!! LOL. We had to witness this crime several times.

 

Entertainment: Tuesday night show -- balancing act/juggler (awful!) and comedian Ronnie Bullard (also bad) in our opinion. Friday midnight adult comedy show w/Carl Faulkenberry -- really funny, we enjoyed it. Saturday night -- Legends show -- enjoyed that too.

 

FOOD:

Lido buffet: Self-serve drink area was also a through-way to get around buffet area so it was awkward getting drinks and avoiding getting hit or bumped by others—this poor design/bad traffic pattern was a constant throughout the week. On the other hand, the seating areas were spacious w/beautiful water views. Pizza was undercooked IMO but many selections. The calzones looked really good. Grill was great; Reuben’s and panini’s were very good. We aren’t big buffet lovers but we found the choices much to our liking daily. We even thought we might try the buffet for dinner (have never tried the buffet for dinner on a cruise) but being waited on in the dining room was such a treat and we didn’t want to miss seeing our waiter and assistant waiter each evening—they were the best ever!

 

Dining Room: We were at a booth for 4 on the lower level, late seating. Only drawback was the long line to get into the dining room for dinner each night. We learned to leave our cabin at 8:25 for our 8:15 dinner and had no problem. Our waiter/assistant were Rhonny and Elmer—one of the best waiting teams we’ve ever had  I must say that the portions have become MUCH smaller! You can always order more than one though, so it shouldn’t be a problem, just don’t be shy  I also have to say, after reading some negative reviews about the dining room food, we were surprised how much we liked it! Just about everything we tried we liked. DH and DS are big meat eaters and their cuts of meat were always done perfectly and were tender and tasty. DD and I enjoyed all the fish and pasta offerings. We’ve never enjoyed vegetables so much—they were wonderful! My DD had the chocolate melting cake every night. Also, the drink waiter/wine steward showed up every night as soon as we sat down which was great—usually we have a hard time finding one. I also have to mention that the Matre’D was the least obnoxious we have ever experienced—his announcements were short and non-disruptive. We heard people complaining that their food wasn’t hot enough in the dining room—the food isn’t steaming hot, but was fine for us. We were pleasantly surprised with the variety and quality of the food, especially in the dining room, but also throughout the ship! Very good.

[FrannyK]

Open seating: We only spoke to one couple who, even though they didn’t request it, had open seating for dinner. They said they were always seated at a table for two and they missed meeting other people at dinner. They had the same wait team each night. They didn’t have to make reservations, they would just show up, and never had to wait. They said the food seemed hotter when they showed up around 6:30 or 8:00 (regular dining times).

 

Room service: Quick delivery—great as usual.

 

Laundry: We took advantage of the laundry special they had on Wednesday and Friday. Fill up the paper laundry bag (one per cabin) for $15 and they wash/dry/fold. Fit underwear, t-shirts, golf shirts, shorts, pj’s in the bag. Give it to cabin steward by 10am and it’s back in your cabin by 5pm. Worked out great. Less packing! Of course when I gave our steward/Mr. Misery our bag at 9:50am, he looked at his watch and rolled his eyes, LOL.

 

Service: Besides our cabin steward, the service we experienced throughout the ship was excellent. We had a few issues and they were taken care of beautifully and promptly. Our kids room had two light bulbs out and they had no water pressure in their shower, I left a note for Cranky Frankie the first day and that got us nowhere, so I called the pursers desk on day 2 and within an hour both the electrician and plumber showed up and both problems were fixed. When my laundry came back, we were missing one golf shirt, I called the purser and after a quick check to the laundry department they said it was lost. They asked how much the shirt was worth, I said $20 and they asked if it would be OK if they credited us back for BOTH our laundry bags ($15 each) which was $30. Very generous of them I thought. Can’t say enough good things about the service on this ship

[FrannyK]

Ports:

Grand Cayman: We’ve visited GC a few times so we stayed onboard and explored/enjoyed the empty ship!! Nice day 

Cozumel: Took taxi ($10) to Chankanaab Park ($14/person w/$2 internet coupon), beach was lovely, lots of nice lounge chairs and umbrellas. Snorkled ($10/set) on and off all day, had excellent lunch there. Shopped at the pier on our return. Lots of bargaining to be had 

Belize: Took the 10am cave tubing tour w/Yhonny (cavetubing.com - $45/person). Got to the lounge at 9am, got a tendering ticket, took the 9:30 tender which took about 20 minutes. Walked through the terminal to meet Yhonny and his crew (they had signs w/our names). Nice air-conditioned bus which was ¾ full. Bus ride was about an hour and they gave us lots of humorous and interesting info about Belize along the way. When we arrived we got our equipment and hiked about 45 minutes. Easy, beautiful hike through the rainforest, although by the end, you definitely feel the stones and tree roots through your water shoes. It felt great to get into the cool water! Our float down the river through the two caves was relaxing, beautiful and fun. At the end, we dropped off our equipment, hopped on the bus and went to their site where they sold local beer, tamales, drinks, snacks and “butts up” t-shirts. Stayed about 15 minutes, then back on the bus. We tried cashew wine on the ride back, then the crew went around and collected money and tips. Dropped us off at the pier. Not much time to shop. We showered and changed back on the ship. Yhonny’s crew was very professional, helpful and lots of fun. Delightful day.

Roatan: We had planned on going to Fins & Flippers Island, but got too late a start that morning so decided to just get off the ship and do some shopping. Picked up some great mahogany pieces and some nice soccer shirts. Wish we could have had more time here. What a beautiful place! Sailaway on deck was just gorgeous, we hated to leave!

 

I'll try to upload some pics, here's one of Chankanaab: (testing)

[terri910]

"Cranky Franky"!

 

 

*LOL*

[FrannyK]

It worked :) More pics of Chankanaab:

[FrannyK]

"Cranky Franky"!

 

 

*LOL*

 

My crew came up with a different name for him each day! In fact, when Jamacian Jerk Pork (steward was Jamacian) came up on the menu at dinner one night my DH told our waiter he had already experienced Jamacian Jerk Pork daily in our cabin LOL.

[FrannyK]

Aft adult pool:

[FrannyK]

Our balcony:

[FrannyK]

Ship pics:

[terri910]

The extended balcony looks really nice....

[FrannyK]

Dress Code:

Our table was situated so we could see everyone coming in the dining room entrance, and I must say we really didn't see any inappropriate dress (except around the pool LOL). The women dressed the same as usual on casual nights; capri's, sundresses, with a few teens in nice jeans. Kind of hot this time of year for jeans. Lots of men wore nice shorts w/polos or Hawaiin shirts to dinner, some still wore casual pants, saw no jeans or jean shorts. On formal nights we were surprised to see more people than ever dressed up. Most women wore nice cocktail dresses and I never saw so many gowns on formal night before! I only saw a couple of tuxes, some suits, many sport coats.

 

Ship pics:

[REAGS]

Great reviews and pics. Thanks for posting.

 

You mentioned that this was the first time you had bad steward service. Can you report them to someone and get a different one?

[FrannyK]

Great reviews and pics. Thanks for posting.

 

You mentioned that this was the first time you had bad steward service. Can you report them to someone and get a different one?

 

I really don't know since we didn't try that. His attitude was so unusual, so over-the-top that we almost looked forward to seeing his grimaces and crazy long stares. The first day we were taken aback by it, day 2 on we found it quite entertaining. Such a drama queen that one...

 

We didn't lower his tip since he at least performed the basics, but I did consider it briefly. I did make note of it on our survey sheet though. Actually, there was another steward in our hallway who seemed to do all the vacuuming of cabins in our area and he was very nice so we tried to ask him for things we needed when NastyMan wasn't around.

 

More "scenes from a balcony"

[drk]

Very fun review. In 25+ cruises the Legend is still our favorite ship. We are taking her again this December. Funny that in all of our cruises we usually have either great waitstaff and poor room staff or the other way around. Sounds like you handled the situation well. Thanks.

[cjkumbaya]

Great review - nice pictures. Hate that you had a less the great steward - at least you didn't let it ruin your cruise. We will be on the Legend in a few months. Thanks so much for sharing!:)

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed the review and pics.............we're booked on the Legend 2/09............

[getta]

Thanks for the review. We're leaving on the Legend in a little over two weeks. We're really looking forward to it. I hope we don't get the Jamaican Jerk:()

 

On one of our first cruises we had miserable steward service - room didn't get cleaned, no turned down bed. It was terrible. After the second complaint to the purser's desk, they told us we should just not tip him and he would get the message. This was before automatic tips I think. Never did get much better.

 

But you know what, we still had a great cruise. It sounds like you did too. Happy cruising. Georgetta