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What a surprise! The Legend

kirchubel

By kirchubel,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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kirchubel

kirchubel

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I planned this surprise cruise for my DH's 55th birthday. We sailed on 3/15. Our best friends who live in England decided to join us, and I told my DH we were going on a tour of Civil War battlefields. It took two days for us to drive to Tampa, where we met up with our friemds and he was SHOCKED and AMAZED when I told him we were really going on a cruise. For the first 18 hours he would periodically just say, WOW. :D

 

We stayed overnight at the Sailport Resort in Tampa, very nice, and had dinner at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. We'd booked well in advance for the flaminco show - well worth the $6 per person it cost to see it. Try their sangria. It was fantastic! So was their food, and it's a historic restaurant which made it even more fun for us.

 

DRINKS: Bought coupon books ahead of time and they were delivered to the room...a big money saver. Also had NO PROBLEM bringing on board about 8 individual sized scotches, 8 individual kahluas/baileys. I put them in my makeup bag and checked them right through. Also brought a medium sized scotch [never opened it]. As for wine, we brought four bottles and paid the corkage fee in the dining room.

 

We arrived at the port of Tampa at about noon Sunday. The lines were way around the corner and at first really unnerved us. They moved relatively quickly, and soon we were on board the ship. I looked for everyone after muster but was about 30 minutes late so I couldn't find ya'll...so I was very disappointed not to meet you all!!

 

I had reserved an OV but then the prices went down, and I called and they gave me a guaranteed balcony. We ended up in a category 11 - fabulous - cabin 8264 right below the Lido deck. I didn't hear much noise in the morning, and only a bit of noise in the evening. Our friends were on the floor below us. They were surrounded by Parrotheads who had decorated their doors. Before anyone FLAMES me this is not meant as an insult BUT some of people surrounding my friends' cabin were very loud late into the night, and this made it difficult for my friends' to sleep [at like 2 a.m. and beyond] so I felt bad for them and wished they could have moved to a quieter cabin on the ship.

 

Food: I had absolutely no complaints about the food except for two dishes: on the first night I had broiled fish that was too dry, but I ate it anyway. And I ate something in the diningroom at lunch called "straw and hay" and it was a bland pasta/tomato sauce dish. I did send that one back and got a caesar salad that was good. We had wonderful servers: Cecile and Ekaterina. On the first night our service was very efficient and not at all slow, which we preferred so when I saw Cecile the next day I asked if she could serve us a little more leisurely. She thanked me for telling her and adjusted the speed of the service that night. It was great. DO NOT MISS the Supper Club. It was fantastic, worth every penny. Just loved it.

After fretting for months about seasickness, the sea was very calm and altho I did have to wear my Relief Aid wrist band a bit it was very helpful. As long as I was outside I was not sick at all.

 

SHIP: The Legend it beautiful. I loved the atrium and the piano bar and actually had fun in the medusa night club. We saw a couple of the shows and they were fine... amusing but kind of hokey as I expected. We cheered our team on during March madness in the Dream Team bar. We stopped off in the casino a couple of times and promptly lost all our money! We are not the kind that does the bingo or the hairy chest contests so can't speak to that.

 

SERVICE: Pretty good all around. I wasn't overly impressed with our room steward.

 

PORTS: Grand Cayman - we went parasailing [Carnival shore excursion.] HIGHLY recommend it (ha ha) ... I was scared but wanted to did it for my DH and he really liked it too. I would do it again in a heartbeat. But we did not get to see much of the island from the ground. We did go shopping at the places around the port and I don't feel as if I saw enought elsewhere. Our friends did the beginners SCUBA and said they enjoyed that as well.

 

In Cozumel we also took a Carnival shore excursion, the Three-Reef Snorkeling trip. Our guide was Monty and he did a terrific job. All four of us had a wonderful time, saw an enormous number of beautiful fish. Went shopping and got some great deals as well.

In Belize, it was all about Mayan culture, and we had booked a non-Carnival (translation: more for your money ) excursion to Lamanai with http://www.belizeexcursions.com. Lamanai is a partially restored city that flourished about 1500 B.C. We took a bus for an hour, then a boat ride up the New River for about 45 minutes - getting there was very interesting, as our tour guide told us all about the history of the Creoles, Garafuna, and Mayan people. The boat ride was fantastic. We saw crocs and all kinds of cool wildlife, including a bird that walks on the lily pads, but which appears to be walking on water -- hence the nickname the Jesus Christ bird. Lamanai itself was fabulous. They served us lunch there - very tasty - and then we got the tour. We climbed to the top of the ruins and DH got a bunch of pictures. I got to the top tier but the guide told us we had to come down and since I am so SLOW I could not go the final steps to the cap. I still had a magnificent view, though, from about 95 feet up ... the entire structure was 110 feet tall.One complaint: we had to rush back to get to the pier by 4 p.m. That was a bit unnerving.

In Roatan we hired Victor Bodden and got a great guide - Frankie - make sure to ask for him! He gave us a GREAT tour of the island, stopping along the way at some pretty cool photo spots. Our friends wanted to see monkeys and parrots... so we stopped at Victor's house. The monkeys jumped all over us and were trying to steal my necklace - they even undid the Velcro on DH'ss hat. Sounds kind of hokey -- and it was -- but it was also a fun experience, especially for our friends. The parrots weren't nearly as pretty as the ones we've seen elsewhere but still they were fun to hold, and it was a crack up to hear them say "hola" instead of "hello" and "bonito" instead of "pretty boy"!

We also hit the West End and Tabayana beach for a while where we enjoyed the water and had a cheap lunch at one of the beachfront restaurants. The boys tried the local beer and enjoyed it....a lot.

 

We found 7-day cruises to be much more relaxing than the 3-day ones we took where we tried to cram everything into a relatively short period of time. I would do it again ... in fact am planning our next one for next year. This time I want to take the kids.

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CMM

CMM

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We found 7-day cruises to be much more relaxing than the 3-day ones we took where we tried to cram everything into a relatively short period of time. I would do it again ... in fact am planning our next one for next year. This time I want to take the kids.

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Sounds like you had a nice surprise cruise for your husband. I was wondering what your thoughts were on how teens might like this ship/itinerary. We will have our 13 &15 year olds.

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kirchubel

kirchubel

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Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Sounds like you had a nice surprise cruise for your husband. I was wondering what your thoughts were on how teens might like this ship/itinerary. We will have our 13 &15 year olds.

 

There were lots of kids on the cruise and since I'm a talker I asked the ones that I ran into if they were having a good time. All of them said it was great, NONE of them seemed to have any complaints. I mostly talked to the boys since that is what I have.

 

My boys would have loved the food options, plus they would have loved the waterslide and the excursions. There were three teens on the "Three-Reef Snorkeling" we did in Cozumel [booked it through the ship on the day we sailed -- we swapped it out for a different private excursion that we had booked which in the end didn't look very interesting.] They seemed to enjoy it very much.

 

The thing I liked about the excursion was the fact that they had three guides in the water -- one to show us the fish/undersea stuff, and another taking pictures, and a third whose sole duty was to bring up the rear with a life ring/boogie board so as to be ready if anyone needed help. VERY impressive to the mom in me to see how much emphasis was placed on safety.

 

Hope this helps!

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kirchubel

kirchubel

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Now I'm confused as to which category that is but one thing I know...we were in 8264. It is right next door to a suite and right below the Lido deck. This helped me save $$ on room service coffee in the morning. I or my DH went upstairs and brought each other coffee straight from the Lido buffet. Hope this clarifies! :)

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Fazzdaan

Fazzdaan

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That was still a nice upgrade. Actually, I missed it also, it was an 8E. The cabin that was just aft of you was a Cat. 11 and the one to the other side of that cabin was also a Cat 11, that cabin being one of the nice aft wrap cabins that has a huge balcony.

 

I am glad you enjoyed the cruise. :)

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kirchubel

kirchubel

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Now I'm confused as to which category that is but one thing I know...we were in 8264. It is right next door to a suite and right below the Lido deck. This helped me save $$ on room service coffee in the morning. I or my DH went upstairs and brought each other coffee straight from the Lido buffet. Hope this clarifies! :)

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lilpootr

lilpootr

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Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Sounds like you had a nice surprise cruise for your husband. I was wondering what your thoughts were on how teens might like this ship/itinerary. We will have our 13 &15 year olds.

 

We did this cruise in Feb with our 2 kids, a 13 year old boy and 16 year old girl. Although they didn't go into the kids club they had a fabulous time just hanging out. My kids get along VERY well with each other and actually enjoyed doing a lot of the stuff together, mini-golf, ping-pong, arcade, etc. There was definitely plenty for them to do! When we were at Ports of Call we did things as a family and had a fabulous time. In Cozumel we did Dolphin Swim, Belize we did Bannister Island, Grand Cayman we went to Royal Palms and Roatan we did horseback riding, which was amazing. That was definitely the kid's favorite excursion!

 

You'll have a blast!

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kirchubel

kirchubel

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We were on the Legend the 15th also. We had a great week and I will be trying to post my review sometime later tonight. We were in cabin 7331 which was by the Parrotheads. It was fun to see all of their door decorations. Glad you had a great cruise!

 

I can't wait to read your post! :)

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ilangal

ilangal

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..............and Roatan we did horseback riding, which was amazing.quote]

 

Can you give me some details about the horseback riding in Roatan. I am thinking about doing this on the next trip?

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lilpootr

lilpootr

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..............and Roatan we did horseback riding, which was amazing.quote]

 

Can you give me some details about the horseback riding in Roatan. I am thinking about doing this on the next trip?

 

Originally we were going to horseback ride in Belize, but after looking at the price and the hour ride (1 way) we decided to go with Roatan. We used El Rancho Barrio Dorcas - they were great! (http://www.barriodorcasranch.com/index_files/HCruise.htm). It was very easy to set this tour up, I sent an email to Roosmarie and she replied fairly quickly. The $55 per person was well worth it (it included transportation) as the ride was absolutely amazing! Our horses did not "swim" in the water but rode right along the beach and a few times they did walk in the water. After the ride Conway drove us to Fosters, I had packed a beach bag w/bathing suits and towels that I left in the van while we were riding. We had about 45 minutes to swim after the ride.

 

If you need anymore info just let me know!

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minniem64

minniem64

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Thanks so much for you info! I have been on one cruise before, RCCL and had a blast. I was a little scared to book with Carnival because I fell into the negative hype machine. But after reading all these great reviews I am really excited. I have a long wait but will pass the time reading everyone's great reviews!

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  • 4 months later...
eeme

eeme

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Where did you book your horseback riding for Roatan? I've looked at two companies (there are none through Carnival). We really want to to that. We'll have 3 older teens plus the two of us.

 

 

We did this cruise in Feb with our 2 kids, a 13 year old boy and 16 year old girl. Although they didn't go into the kids club they had a fabulous time just hanging out. My kids get along VERY well with each other and actually enjoyed doing a lot of the stuff together, mini-golf, ping-pong, arcade, etc. There was definitely plenty for them to do! When we were at Ports of Call we did things as a family and had a fabulous time. In Cozumel we did Dolphin Swim, Belize we did Bannister Island, Grand Cayman we went to Royal Palms and Roatan we did horseback riding, which was amazing. That was definitely the kid's favorite excursion!

 

You'll have a blast!

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