Just back from the Legend review

[jim & Robin]

We just returned from the 8 day southern Caribbean cruise on the Legend, Thursday. First I must say that the Legend is a beautiful ship and we had a fantastic time. We went with my sister and brother-in-law and my sister, 5 of us in all.

 

We flew to Ft. Lauderdale the day before, Tuesday, November 2nd and spent the night at the Comfort Inn in Hollywood. They provide a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and to the cruise port the next morning. They were very prompt in picking us up at the airport and in getting us to the port the next morning. I think most of the hotel was filled with fellow cruisers. I would highly recommend it to anyone taking this cruise. The rooms are clean, nothing fancy, and they provide a nice hot breakfast which is free to hotel guests.

 

We arrived at the pier around 11 AM and the bus driver had to circle several times before they would let him unload as they were waiting for the other people to clear the pier area. The first view of the ship was awesome. While we had cruised on the Elation 3 years ago, the size of the Legend was breath taking. The embarkation was the usual hassle, but we were on the ship by around 1 PM or maybe a little earlier. The lobby when you first enter the ship is a thing of beauty. In fact the whole ship is beautiful. We found our cabins, which by the way were the same as indicated on the back of our sail and sign application in our documents. We dropped our carry on luggage and headed for the lido deck for a snack. The unicorn café is nice and laid out well, with a nice variety of food. After that we walked around the ship checking it out. Then we found a nice place on deck 10 to sit and watch the sail away. They were an hour and a half leaving because of a problem getting all the luggage aboard. Since we had the early dinner seating it cut us close for dinner. When we returned to our cabins to freshen up for dinner our luggage had already arrived.

 

The Truffles Dining room is nice and seems to be not so crowed as we expected. We met our service crew, Allen from the Philippines and Anton from Bulgaria. They turned out to be one of the highlights of our cruise. Anton had one of the best personalities I have every seen. My sister fell in “love” with him. The food and service in the dining room was great for the whole trip.

 

Thursday morning we met Mike and Debbie from CC for breakfast and spent a lot of time with them. They are very nice people.

 

On Friday we went to the Golden Fleece Supper Club and had a real experience. This should not be missed by anyone going on this ship. It is well worth the $25.00. I had a porter house steak, 24 oz. It was cooked to perfection and seemed to melt in your mouth. The service is out of this world. When someone got up to go to the restroom they would come and refold their napkin and sit in on the table

 

Saturday we were in St. Maarten. My wife and I both liked it over the other two, though Barbados was nice. We hired a cab for the seven of us for a personal tour. Our cab driver. Thomas, was very nice and knew the island well. We liked this much better than the ships tours we had taken on previous cruises. We probably paid a little to much, for 7 of us we paid $250, which was about $35 each, but we got the cab for about 4 hours. He didn’t rush us at all. We had him drop us off in Phillipsburg, on front street, to do some shopping before heading back to the ship. St. Maarten is a beautiful island and a great place for a camera buff.

 

Sunday in Barbados we hired a cab, a little cheaper, $25 per person. We went to the Atlantis hotel for their Sunday brunch, which was a big mistake. They charged $25 per person and the food was defiantly not worth it. It was one of the very few down sides to the trip. But we made the most of it and our driver, Gary, made the rest of the tour great. We did a little shopping at the terminal then went back to the ship early, in time for dinner. Even though the ship was in port until 10 PM we didn’t go back off.

 

Monday in Martinique the rest of our group didn’t want to take a tour so my wife and I booked the ship tour, the island tour. This was not nearly as good as the cab tours at the other two ports and more expensive. Martinique is a very pretty island, lots of flowers. We returned to the ship around 12:30 PM and with the ship leaving a 2 PM we didn’t leave it again.

 

Over all we had the best vacation we ever had. While the ship was full, there was only a couple of times we experienced a feeling of being crowded. The shows were all very good, even though some of them were not to our taste. I can’t see where everyone is so down on Brett Allans, the CD. I thought he was very nice and while is assistant, Brent (Nancy) seemed to be friendlier, I thought both were nice. The comedians were good, not great, but entertaining.

 

The debarkation was probably the smoothest we have experienced on any cruise yet. We were the last ones off the ship but we still were off by around 10:30 AM.

 

Now it is back to reality and yesterday we suffered from jet lag and from withdrawals. Back to reality is not easy after a trip like that. If anyone has any specific questions I will be glad to try and answer them.

 

Jim & Robin

[Cruising89143]

Thanks for the review. I did this itinerary several years ago. I really would have liked to of had one more port day but overall the Legend is a great ship.

[stokerhj]

I was hoping that someone would leave a review of this sailing as it was the Legend's first out of Ft. Lauderdale this season. Glad you had a great time. Haven't yet decided whether to go up to Lido or sit on my balcony for the sailaway. 3 more weeks for us, whoo-hoo!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Jim - thanks for the full review!

 

So sail away was not until 5:30? wow... close to dinner

 

Do you recall what the EARLY dinner time was?

 

How were the seas for your journey?

 

Thanks,

Tom

[jim & Robin]

Tom,

 

The early dinner is 5:45. We were a little late but it worked out OK. The seas were good until the last day then it got a little rough, not bad but a little rocking.

It was pretty windy most of the time but it didn't effect anything to much.

I sent those capers off today. I mailed them at the post office so you should get them before thursday, but if you don't let me know and I will try and e-mail copies to you.

Have a fun trip, I know you will.

Jim

[neverenufcruising]

You don't happen to have a copy of the dinner menus do you? My DW and I want to book an evening of specialty dining and would like to get a heads up on which night in the dining room we're willing to miss.

[SheilaS]

We did this cruise in January of this year and it was fabulous! One of my favorite overall cruises so far. I love having only 3 ports in 8 days. I love the southern itinerary.

St. Marteen was great for views and shopping, and pictures. The port was very nice and picturesque (sp?). We went to Bikini Beach for drinks and it was so nice there that we didn't even wander down toward Orient Beach. We did all our major shopping in St. Phillipsburg. T shirts were 4 for $10.00 almost everywhere. I always buy a picture frame and a refrigerator magnet for each island we go to and my choices here were many.

We picked Barbados for a beach day- swimsuits, sunscreen- the whole nine yards. We let our cab driver pick the beach and he took us to Trafalagar Square to take a few pictures before heading to Bombay Beach. Very nice, not crowded. Went parasailing there and can't wait to do it again. We watched the sunset (oooooooooohhhhh) and then headed back to the ship. BTW- we paid the cab driver the total amount when he dropped us off at the beach and he waited to take us back when we got ready. We were a little leary, but we are trusting souls and figured if worse came to worst, we could always spring for another cab. :rolleyes:

Martinique is expensive compared to the other islands we have been to. The taxis were all new BMWs and Mercedes. Even the vans were brand new Toyotas, etc...- leather seats no less. But I will have to say that the views from this island were the best of the 3. The rain forest is nice, but cannot compare to the one on St Lucia. The grounds and the views from the DePaz Rum Factory are not to be missed. Mt. Pelee volcano in the background of manicured grounds and tall green sugar cane right up to the deep blue sea. Gorgeous!

Martinique's port leaves alot to be desired. Stark and tacky IMO. I was surprised considering the wealth that the island seemed to have compared to others.

The cab drivers vying for you business are a little scary at first. They kind of overwhelm you with their sales talk and secret laws among themselves. If you plan to hire on your own, just take your time. There are plenty of them. You don't have to go with the first one you talk to. Talk to a couple, or 3 or 4, and just pick the one that you feel the most comfortable with. Remember, you are the one with the cash. :)

 

As for the Legend- the Spirit class ships are perfect. I love the set up. Nothing is ever all that far from you. I wish the sauna and the steam rooms opened earlier. I wish they didn't try to stretch the wait staff in the dining room to cover too many tables. I wish they would go back to the old blue towels in the bin for use on the deck. I wish they would go back to real food art instead of plastic at the lido deck buffets. I wish I could cruise whenever I wanted instead of once a year. Well, heck, I'll just wish I can win the lottery and be done with it. :D Then I won't care about no stinking blue towels. :)

 

Sheila<--------------is headed to the Mexican Riviera on the Spirit Jan, 2006

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Great! - Thanks again Jim!

 

Neverenufcruising: here is a link to the menus... Click on NORMAL SIZE, and you can more easily read them...:

http://community.webshots.com/album/60506181nfcbXz/1

 

 

Perhaps Jim can tell us if these menus are still being used...

 

 

Tom

[jim & Robin]

I wasn't able to get copies of the dinner menues. I would have liked to had them for us also. Sorry.

I did forget to mention one thing, the room service was very slow. Robin and I like to have our morning coffee when we first get up so we order it from room service. One morning it took 45 minutes to get it. The last morning I was on hold for so long I finally gave up. Many times I was put on hold to order. They could definatly use some improvement in that area.

[jim & Robin]

Those menues look pretty much like the ones we had on our cruise.

[Vidimom]

Thank you very much for the great review. We will be sailing on her in 2 weeks. Hubby's baby brother is getting married on the ship. We will be doing the Exotic Western Caribbean so hopefully someone cruising this week will fill us in on those ports.

 

I wanted to ask if there was a hypnotist on board. Someone mentioned something about one on the Legend and just wanted to find out if he/she was

still there.

 

Did Brent mention leaving anytime soon? Just checking to see if there may be a change before our cruise. I know it's unlikely, but with the ship just repostioning, that is usually when it happens or shortly after the change.

 

Did you find any of the clubs to be more popular than any others. We have cruised numerous times with Carnival, but this is the first on a Spirit Class. We have sailed the Zuiderdam with HAL and heard they are identical in layout so we will somewhat know our way around.

 

We will be arriving early for the wedding and hope the pier isn't as bad as you

experienced. We are suppose to be ready to board by 11am. I know our ship is COMPLETELY SOLD OUT!!! It's been like that for 3 months so we will see what it's like to cruise full for the 1st time in our 10 cruises. Rumor has it that our ship is full of MOOSE or ELKS so our trip should be interesting!

 

If you have any pictures from the cruise, we would love to see them!

[countercast]

We are doing this cruise over Christmas so thanks for the great review. I'm glad to hear that the ship didn't feel too crowded. I can't wait to see St Maarten and Barbados (been to Martinique) although I'm sure there will not be much open on the 25th.

 

(It would be almost impossible to fit in another port in an 8-day cruise to the southern Carib. - that's why most of them are 10 day and even the Legend's speedy ship has to leave Martinique by 2pm.)

[marshabear]

Vidimom...we did the exotic western route oct 26th-nov 3rd...will be happy to answer any question you or others have....

 

 

 

we too enjoyed Brett Alans...he said he is the senior CD of carnival..we didn't know this...he has been on the Legend for awhile-it must be his favorite ship....being senior CD, he probably gets his choice on which to sail...

 

anyway, feel free to ask any questions... i'll check back here often...

 

 

Marsha

[neverenufcruising]

Neverenufcruising: here is a link to the menus... Click on NORMAL SIZE, and you can more easily read them

 

 

Perhaps Jim can tell us if these menus are still being used...

 

 

Tom

Tom,

 

Thanks for the link.

[CruiseFever]

"Over all we had the best vacation we ever had"

I love hearing that...especially from someone just off the Legend, one of our favorite ships!

Good for you!

[jim & Robin]

Vidimom,

I will try to answer your questions as best I can. As for the hypnotist, I am not sure as we passed on a couple of the shows because we didn't feel they would fit our taste, but I believe I heard some of the others talking about it. As far as Brent leaving soon, I don't think it will be before you sail. It was mentioned but no dates were given and nothing indicated anything in the near future. I can't help you with the clubs as we don't drink so we didn't do them. You will love the layout of the spirt class ships, as I said we only expericenced the feeling of being crowded a couple of times. I think they have more space per passenger than any of the other ships. We have many pictures and would be happy to share them with others but I don't know where to post them. If someone knows of a site where I can do it I will be happy to share them.

We enjoyed the ship so much that we are considering going on the western cruise on the same ship next year.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise and if I can be of anymore help just let me know.

Jim

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Jim - you can go to WEBSHOTS.COM and set up an account (free) to upload your pictures to!

 

Chris - Are you actually MOVING to our wonderful state? Anywhere in Florida is certainly a lot closer to the cruise ships than KANSAS... gee, perhaps after the move you can cruise more often... ;)

 

 

Tom

[jim & Robin]

I have posted some pictures of our Legend cruise if anyone would like to see them. Just click on http://community.webshots.com/user/jimandrobin100. I will be adding more as soon as I have more time to look them over. Thanks to Tom for his help.

[judyf]

Thanks for the review and the pictures. I'm really getting excited now for our march cruise on the Legend. We are going to different ports then you did.

[Vidimom]

Thank you very much for the great pictures from your trip. I can tell you

enjoyed your dining staff. I will look for them and maybe we will have the pleasure of having them as our dining staff.

 

Marshabear:

 

I would love to hear about the western from you. I am trying to get prices for our excursions offered by Carnival in Belize, Costa Rica and Panama. I

called CCL and they didn't have a price list only the range of what the

excursion might be priced at.

 

Are there any NOT MISSES we should know about on the ship? We are

hoping that the BIL and his new bride will be on the Newlywed/no so show!

 

We just found out that the reception will be held in Medusa's Lair which should be entertaining anyway!

 

Thanks for any tips!

[Little Red]

We did the Eastern on the Legend in February of last year and are doing it again in January, 2006. It's so great to see that other people enjoyed it as much as we did.:D

[marshabear]

vidimom....

 

these particular ports of call had the most expensive shore excursions we have seen in our 8 cruises....

 

the cheapest was around $89PP (i think)and that was the snorkel trip we took in belize ...

 

a few they had listed such as the thriller powerboat in belize and the 4x4 off road adventure in costa rica were not available...when we asked why they said they were not "ready"...why , i don't know...they offered them in the spring.....

 

anyway, we did the barrier reef rum party boat snorkel in belize...took us on a catamaran right from the ship (so we didn't have to tender first) to about 15 miles out to this little island....and i mean little....it rained the whole time but we didn't care cause we were wet anyway!!! :) the rum punch was awesome, but watch out for the rum they "top it off with"....it's powerful!!! hubby doesn't even remember getting off the catamaran......LOL seriously though, alot of people were drunk from it cause it was free and we didn't have anything to eat since breakfast!! some got sick as i heard the next day...my hubby just got silly and slept the afternoon and night away!!! :(

 

in costa rica we did the tortoguero canal trip by boat...they took us by bus (about an hour) through banana plantations to where the boat was...then we got to sample free coffee, beer and a wonderful tropical fruit buffet-watermelon, bananas, coconut, and pineapple that was soooooo good!!! then we got on a boat for a ride through the canals ...great tour guides as they could spot lots of things we woudln't have seen without them!! we saw monkeys in trees, sloths, large lizards, crocodiles and many many different birds....was a fun day!!

 

in panama, we took the ferry through the canal...long day but worth it...was very hot....took a bus ride about an hour and a half to the pacific side..then boarded the ferry to go through 2 of the 3 locks.....they served a sandwich and banana muffin along with free pop and bottled water throughout the tour....this tour was $175PP....not cheap.....

 

any other questions????

 

 

Marsha

[jim & Robin]

Vidimom,

We did enjoy our dining room staff very much, in fact they were one of the highlights of our trip and that is saying a lot since we had such a great cruise. We are thinking about going on the Legend again next year and taking the western cruise. We really liked the Legend and the staff. We are still fighting off the post cruise depression. Don't know how long that will take. My sister, who had never been on a cruise before said it was like being in fantasy land for 8 days.

[Gingee]

To Tom and Cheryl - thanks for the great pictures of the Legend. We are suppose to go in late May. I get more excited the more pictures I see.

[OATKAKID]

Jim & Robin - We were on this cruise & thoroughly enjoyed it too. I enjoyed your pictures and look forward to more ! I especially liked the pix of the sunset in Barbados - great shot! It is funny that some of the pix are almost the same as ours - must be those Kodak picture spots !! LOL Our Dining room staff was great too- all of the staff was great - the Asst. Maitre 'D was on our last cruise on the Victory - 3 years ago and remembered us. That was fun! Glad you had a good time too!

Thanks, Jeanne