Review of our Spring Break cruise on Carnival Legend

[PaulMedik]

The water was starting to fill up with cruise ship passengers returning from morning excursions;

 

 

 

After a little more snorkeling, the boys returned;

 

 

With the beach and the water filling up, it was time to head back to port;

 

 

 

 

We found a taxi who said he had room for five waiting for us in the parking area. He really only had room for two and maybe three;

 

[PaulMedik]

 

 

Graphetti ship;

 

 

 

Arrived safely back at the cruise terminal area;

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed watching a hand made cigar being crafted from tobacco leaves. Can't wait to watch them being made in Cuba!;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

The line to tender wasn't too long. Valor's line was out of the building and down the street. I guess they all decided to come back at the same time;

 

 

 

An amusing lady walked all the way to the front and jumped in line in front of us. It was amusing because she was denied boarding on our tender because she was from Valor. She simply walked out and jumped to the front of their line too. Oh well;

 

 

 

 

We had to wait a bit for a tender spot to open up;

 

[PaulMedik]

 

I really wish Grand Cayman would build a pier;

 

 

Another Ruby Princess pic from our balcony;

 

 

 

Our PG party invites and pins arrived;

 

 

I am glad I looked the pins over closely. We collect one for each of us and I don't recall sailing on Carnival Holiday. It's possible, but why would they wait until now to give us a pin?;

 

[PaulMedik]

This pic may look a little blurry, but it's actually a pic of our cabin window and the reflection appears a little distorted. I like reflection pics. It's like an actual picture of what you'd see from inside;

 

 

 

As we pulled away from Grand Cayman, I got a few more reflection pics;

 

 

 

 

And one decent panorama pic (You really need to see these in full size. Click on them and set up a webshots account then send a friend invitation on webshots so you can see them in full size);

 

 

Our late afternoon snack;

 

[PaulMedik]

The soon to be hangout of Saints and Sinners;

 

 

To my left is the bar area where I'm sure Saints and Sinners will also hangout;

 

 

They do keep rescue rings handy in case a Sinner tosses a Saint overboard;

 

 

 

I had to get a pic of deck 7 aft wrap. From what I heard from my fellow Cruise Critic members and from pax of nearby ships, there was always quite a show going on there;

 

 

Remember the Cat 11 room beside ours? 4235. This is a pic of their window overlooking our private stairs. I'm sure they'd much rather have a large balcony than a large window, but we did enjoy those stairs;

 

[tbjl24]

tbjl24,

 

The tall silos behind and to the left of the coal pile in this pic;

 

 

I really couldn't tell you without guessing. I am thinking your guess is as good as mine!

[PaulMedik]

Our Capers for Cozumel and a new animal appeared on our bed that night;

 

 

Karen on a midnight stroll to pick up Britt from Camp. The double doors ahead of her lead to the Enchanted Forest;

 

 

As we returned I got a pic of the Chapel. It's about the only area where there's not scantilly clad people on the walls (And no, I don't have a problem with it.) ;

 

 

 

The next morning our approach to the pier in Cozumel was greeted by a flury of activity;

 

 

The pier approach was smooth;

 

[PaulMedik]

The breakfast omelet station was in full swing;

 

 

 

There's nothing like getting a full days calories in a single meal;

 

 

After breakfast the Ruby Princess had caught up with us and was pulling in to the pier;

 

 

 

Our disembarkation in Cozumel is delayed for Ruby to tie up;

 

[PaulMedik]

Bryson checking out the aft balcony cabins on Ruby Princess. They are nice, but not comparable to ours;

 

 

The line to get off the ship was just a little backed up due to Ruby;

 

 

Once we got off, the pier was packed with people;

 

 

We ran into Carnival photogs too;

 

 

 

Carnival Legend looks small beside Ruby Princess, but she doesn't look small standing in front of her looking up;

 

[PaulMedik]

 

Further down the pier we ran into another Carnival Photog;

 

 

 

 

[PaulMedik]

As you can tell, we are on a mission and not stopping til we get where we're going;

 

 

 

 

The taxi area behind the pier;

 

 

A quick pic of some of the excursion vehicles lined up and ready;

 

 

A snap out the window of our destinations sign;

 

[PaulMedik]

The greeting party at our destination; Paradise Beach;

 

 

A bird who yelled at me as I almost stepped on him;

 

 

 

We bought our $10 per person water toy bracelets and Freddy was explaining he would be taking care of us all day and that all of our purchases would be added up and we could pay at the end of the day;

 

 

We had our choice of any chairs on the beach because we were the first to arrive again;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

To the right of us in this pic we had a family from Ruby Princess. Across the walkway from them was a couple from RCCL VOS from yesterday's port stop. They were booted off the ship by the Captain;

 

 

 

More on that later.

 

As you can see, Paradise Beach has added a few more water toys to their inventory;

 

 

 

Spencer and Bryson hit the iceberg soon after we arrived;

 

 

 

[4evercruiser]

Paul,

 

Thank you so much for sharing your pictures and for the review. My fiance and I are sailing on Legend in November and getting married on ship on embarkation day. We booked a cat 11 aft cabin with wrap balcony on deck 5. The pictures of your cabin gave me an idea of what my cabin will look like. I am now getting very excited about my cruise. I look forward to reading more.

[stu & SAND]

Awesome review and love the pictures, sorry we didn't get a chance to meet as we were on that exact cruise! I am still however looking to see if I am in the background.

 

stu

[KarenMF]

Karen brought me a margarita to quench my thirst;

 

 

 

I love how you always someone in your pictures...but off to the side. It makes the scenery personal to you.

 

However, I especially loved that picture of the margarita on the railing - that was very brave of you to balance it there!

 

I sail on the Legend in 45 days!! Your review is awesome and I can't wait to go!

[MDSue]

 

[/url]

 

Just as we began our tour we went by the dinning room and noticed a line forming to speak with the Maitre D'. We needed to change our dinning time from 6:00PM to Open seating due to the times of our port stops. We didn't want to be rushed in to get ready for dinner after busy days in port.

 

 

The Maitre D' was very friendly and assured us that based on our booking date of 15 months out that we would have preference for the first available open seating dinning assignment. He said that preference is now based on how far out you book. There were several people in line behind us that wanted the 6:00PM seating so we were sure we'd get it. He said we'd just need to eat there tonight at 6:00PM and then he'd send a notice of our new time to our cabin tomorrow.

 

I took a pic of him afterwards and he jokingly asked if the picture was for evidence. Prophetic perhaps;

 

 

After speaking with the Maitre D' we continued our tour. Even though it was early, they already had loads of luggage coming on board;

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Paul, I am really enjoying your review and pics. We were on the week before you. I noticed this picture is not Yusef, the maitre'd we had. Yusef was a bit older, a very funny guy who entertained us everynight.

I see the card you posted about the dinner request was signed by Yusef. Not sure who this guy was, but I'm guessing an assistant.

 

You pics are great. Did you take all of them with your new Olympus camera? Alot of fellow passengers had the underwater Olympus model and they took great underwater pics.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review. I know it was a great cruise, but enjoy seeing the different excursions that you did.

[dh464]

PaulMedik, did you request the early seating at the time of booking or did they assign it?

[Smoofdaddy]

The soon to be hangout of Saints and Sinners;

 

 

To my left is the bar area where I'm sure Saints and Sinners will also hangout;

 

 

They do keep rescue rings handy in case a Sinner tosses a Saint overboard;

 

 

 

I had to get a pic of deck 7 aft wrap. From what I heard from my fellow Cruise Critic members and from pax of nearby ships, there was always quite a show going on there;

 

 

Remember the Cat 11 room beside ours? 4235. This is a pic of their window overlooking our private stairs. I'm sure they'd much rather have a large balcony than a large window, but we did enjoy those stairs;

 

 

 

We don't plan on using just one area, we plan on taking over the whole ship! LOL!!!:D

[jessemon]

 

graphetti ship;

 

 

 

 

 

roflmao......

[jessemon]

The soon to be hangout of Saints and Sinners;

 

 

To my left is the bar area where I'm sure Saints and Sinners will also hangout;

 

 

They do keep rescue rings handy in case a Sinner tosses a Saint overboard;

 

 

 

I had to get a pic of deck 7 aft wrap. From what I heard from my fellow Cruise Critic members and from pax of nearby ships, there was always quite a show going on there;

 

 

Remember the Cat 11 room beside ours? 4235. This is a pic of their window overlooking our private stairs. I'm sure they'd much rather have a large balcony than a large window, but we did enjoy those stairs;

 

Yes the aft deck/bar/whirlpool area should work for us....LOL

We do not throw Saints overboard....We convert them.....Mwahahahahaha.....

[PaulMedik]

Hey Paul, I am really enjoying your review and pics. We were on the week before you. I noticed this picture is not Yusef, the maitre'd we had. Yusef was a bit older, a very funny guy who entertained us everynight.

I see the card you posted about the dinner request was signed by Yusef. Not sure who this guy was, but I'm guessing an assistant.

 

You pics are great. Did you take all of them with your new Olympus camera? Alot of fellow passengers had the underwater Olympus model and they took great underwater pics.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review. I know it was a great cruise, but enjoy seeing the different excursions that you did.

 

 

MDSue,

 

I noticed that too, but I'm used to Conquest class where there are two Maitre D's so I didn't give it much though. I do wish they had been able to make the change for us. We ended up eating the rest of our dinners on Lido instead of the dinning room.

 

One person from the dinning staff that really stood out was the assistant waiter Patrick. We would see him each morning on Lido bussing tables and he always greeted us and spoke with the boys and asked them when they were coming back. Bryson and Spencer went at least one more evening by themselves and I think it was mainly due to Patrick's encouragement.

 

I also watched Patrick patiently listen to an angry coworker and go about his business like a professional; he just listened. He didn't encourage nor actively discourage, but his calm listening defused his coworkers anger.

 

 

PaulMedik, did you request the early seating at the time of booking or did they assign it?

 

dh464,

 

They assigned it. My guess would be they assigned it based on our past times, or maybe just at random. When we booked, Open dinning was not an option.

[PaulMedik]

Paradise Beach's Margaritas have a way of relaxing you to the point where time just flies by and you're just sitting still;

 

 

Here's a pic of the RCCL passengers that were put off the ship in Cozumel;

 

 

After listening to second had versions I approached the couple and asked them if they were the ones I kept hearing about and they said they were. The woman said that 'RCCL discriminates and it's not right to discriminate.' The man said it just didn't make sense to him that drinking in a bar could lead to being thrown off a ship. I asked what happened and he related the story as follows;

 

'We were drinking in a bar on one of the lower decks with six friends of ours that we met on the ship. We weren't loud or at least not louder than those around us, but the bar tender cut us off and told us he wouldn't serve us any more. So we left and went to a bar up on the open deck and drank for a few more hours. Later on the bar tender from down stairs came by and saw us and got mad and had us cut off there too. I helped the other six guys back to their rooms because they were really drunk, then I went back to our room and ordered champagne and they brought it and served it to us. We weren't loud at all in our room. The next morning around 10:00 we get a call to come down to the pursors desk so we go down and they tell us we have five minutes to pack our bags. They had security escort us to our room and after five minutes they stopped us and took us off the ship. We didn't even get all of our stuff packed. They then brought our luggage out and set it beside us and told us to get out that we were no longer guests on Royal Caribbean. So we got to a phone and made a few calls and arranged for flights back to the states.

 

I'm from Colorado and she's from Houston. We met up to come on the cruise. Our flights are late this evening so we've just spent yesterday and today passing time waiting to fly back.

 

We contacted ABC and we've been told to contact the other media outlets about this. We're hearing they do this all the time and it's just not right. We don't get rowdy and fight or anything. We just drink and have a good time. I have sailed Royal Caribbean many times and I have sailed the other lines too. I sailed Carnival years ago and they were too rowdy for me, but I hear they are better now, so I'll be sailing with them or some other cruise line.

 

After listening to the details I wished them a safe journey home and shook their hands and walked away. While the man was speaking the woman, who sounded quite a few sheets in the wind, kept saying they discriminated. I have no clue what she meant about that. She appeared to be a white American. I'm not sure how Royal Caribbean could discriminate against a white American. How would that work? The impression I was left with was that they were partying and she was the one loud and out of control. I may be wrong, but she seemed the type that would earn a trip out the door even if they door was to a foreign port. I did not ask her what she meant, because I didn't feel she was capable of relaying her thoughts in a manner I could understand.

 

Later on while speaking with the family from the Princess ship, I commented that I thought the Royal Caribbean Captain probably did the right thing. They indicated they thought it was probably a good move too.

 

I have not checked the Royal Caribbean boards nor Roll Calls to see if there was any discussion of the events on board. Unless they were very loud and out of control, I doubt many of their fellow cruisers were aware they were tossed off the ship.

 

 

Anyhow, getting back to the review. While I was being nosey, Karen and Spencer were being roesey on the ocean kayaks provided by Paradise Beach;

 

 

It looked like they were trying to catch some wind and sail the kayak in this pic;

 

 

I'd love to find one of those large floats to use on the lakes here in WV;

 

[PaulMedik]

Spencer was looking a little bored so I invited him on a Jet Ski ride with me;

 

 

$35 for fifteen minutes is a pretty decent price;

 

 

Midway of the ride we switched places and Spencer drove us back in;

 

 

He looks like a kid who just had a good time;

 

 

We even got a nice pic for $10;