RedbirdFL

They're letting people into the port now. Rumor is that the power was out. Our shuttle is waiting in a looooong line of vehicles trying to get in.

There is something going on. They are turning everyone away and telling us to come back in about an hour. There doesn't appear to be anyone walking around on the ship. Security gave us a note that we are getting $15 each onboard credit. :(

Thanks! Our shuttle finally arrived and we are now in a long line to get into the terminal.

Looking forward to being on the ship!!

We are at a Jacksonville hotel waiting to board, and the front desk clerk just told us the port closed with 65 passengers still on board.

Does anyone know what's going on? Thanks.

Thanks so much for the replies, everyone!

Can't wait! Only a week to go!

:D

Hi, we booked an inside gty on the Fascination, and have been assigned U11, on the Upper Deck, below the theater. It's not directly below the theater because the Empress Deck is above us.

What's the noise level like? We're not ones to go to bed super-early, but I can't remember how late the shows last.

I'd love to hear from anyone who's stayed on the Upper Deck below the theater (well, two decks below).

10 might be a little early, but if you don't mind waiting in the terminal, then it'll be fine. I'm not sure what time they even start letting people in the terminal. I think in the past, we've gotten there about 10:30, and are usually on by 11:30. It all depends on how many weddings, FTTF and other parties will go ahead of you.

Yellow Bird

In January DD and I were able to board at about 11:15. For some reason, we weren't given a boarding number at check-in, and when we asked one of the terminal workers about it, she waved us on through to board.

I think it helped that DD had on a Happy Birthday crown. :)

It was really fun being one of the first ones on board!

You brought home a few ounces of the Carnival shower gel in a bottle and use it once a week to wash your face to experience that "Ahhh, I'm on a cruise" sensation. :)

Looking forward to seeing and hearing more about the Ecstasy. DD and I will be cruising on the Ecstasy in a little more than a week! We took her on a cruise on the Sensation in 2011, and now she's hooked, just like DH and I are!

Inside the cruise terminal is a smal gift shop selling notecards,art and calendars. The calendars are hand painted water colors and give the weather and recipes and island scenes as the year changes. I have collected them for years. They are made by a special family who call themselves the calendar family and live on Long Island, Bahamas. They are beautiful. I usually buy several for family members. If I miss a trip I order them from thecalendarfamily.com .

This might be the same place in the terminal that I got a beautiful handpainted Christmas ornament. It's a painting on a small (approx 2"x4") canvas. I don't remember how much I paid, but it was inexpensive and so much nicer than something that's mass produced.

Fill a coffee mug with soft serve ice cream, then fill it with coffee. You have a yummy, free frappucino-type drink.

Hello!

Sailing on the Legend in 38 days!

 

Wondering if I should expect the weather in ports to be very humid and hot?

I think the weather will be very hot and humid. I live in Central FL and I know that it is already hot and humid here and will be until mid-October. I would guess that the Caribbean will be that way too, although a sea breeze helps.

We generally tip the driver $1 for each piece of luggage we have.

It is easy to get carried away with taking things and I used a packing list that I found on cc. These are the items I took that I didn't need:

address labels, binoculars, extension cord or power strip, umbrella(cabin had one in it), insulated mugs, ziploc bags, travel neck pillow(plane provided one).

 

It is easy to get carried away, but binoculars, a power strip and ziplock bags are things that I always use on cruises!

Curious if you remember the place in PC? I'll be cruising from there in August.

In Port Canaveral, we used parkcruise.com. They were great and so much cheaper than the port. (I keep a Word document with notes from past cruises, so this info was easy for me to find. :D)

How did you like the obstructed balcony? We have one booked for a back to back cruise on the Legend next October/November.

We were quite happy with our obstructed balcony. We were in 5178, behind the 5th lifeboat on the port side - #10. We could see fine straight out and could even see a little bit straight down, between the 4th and 5th lifeboat.

For the price, I would definitely book one again.

We used capital for our april cruise and we were very happy. Parking is close to the port, quick service and great rates! You keep your keys but have to prepay online. It was super easy and i would not hesitate to use them again.

I agree with this. We used them for our cruise a couple of weeks ago and were pleased. I found a discount code at http://www.longtermparking.com/COUPONS/cpcapitalporttpa.htm that gave us one day free. I paid a total of $38.88, including tax for 7 days.

We ordered room service breakfast several days. My favorite thing were the muffins. Some days they were chocolate, some days they were lemon poppyseed, but they were always good. DD liked the danish.

We ordered room service one day when we came back sort of late in the afternoon from an excursion (in Belize, I think). DH and I split a Reuben sandwich and DD had a grilled cheese. We ordered a plate of chips too. We all really liked the sandwiches.

A few favorite things from the MDR dinner menu: (I'm not sure if these are in the right order or not; I looked at zydecocruiser's 7 day menus)

Day 1 - chicken tenders appetizer (we could have eaten these every day! lots better than what's on Lido), tropical fruits appetizer, fillet of tilapia, creme brulee

Day 2 - spaghetti carbonara (got it as an appetizer), strawberry bisque

Day 3 - I think we ate at Lido buffet because the MDR menu didn't excite us

Day 4 - fried shrimp appetizer, bitter and blanc

Day 5 - lasagna bolognese

Day 6 - creme of broccoli soup

Day 7 - panko crusted shrimp

LOL, after typing these, I noticed that most of these seem to be appetizers! The entrees weren't bad at all, but in general, they were just pieces of meat or fish, nothing really special. Or maybe by the time we finished bread and appetizers, we weren't starving any more, so the entrees didn't seem as appealing. :D

We didn't notice any problems with tepid food like others have noted. However, most nights, we ate between 5:45 and 6:30, so maybe the food is still hot by then.

The cheeseburgers on Lido are awesome! The fries are good if they're hot and fresh. We ate breakfast on Lido 2-3 days and enjoyed it too. I had a calzone one day from the pizza place and loved it, and DD had pizza slices lots of days.

One trick we learned from Cruise Critic was to get a coffee cup, put ice cream in it, and put coffee on top of it - instant frappucino! Yum!

We used Capital parking for our cruise last week and were very pleased with them. It is definitely a dusty gravel lot, but it's in an upscale neighborhood, just a few blocks from the port. I used the code Cruise4 and got one day's parking free.

The guy who dropped us off at the port on embarkation day was almost at the port in the van when we arrived at the designated meeting spot on debarkation day. We waited maybe 2 minutes on him.

I would recommend Capital to anyone looking for less expensive parking than the cruise port garage and would use them again if we sail out of Tampa.

Can you tell us about the tenders in Belize and Grand Cayman? Do they only let the people with Carnival excursions off first? Last time we were in GC on the Inspiration the tenders were a disaster--people stood in lines for hours trying to get back onboard. Did you have any issues?

We had no issues with the tenders in either of these ports, but we had Carnival excursions in both of them. However, it didn't seem to be chaos. If you had an excursion from a different company, you went to the Follies lounge (theater) and signed up for a tender ticket. They were tendering those folks along with us.

I didn't notice any horrific lines to get back to the ship, and those lines had nothing to do with which excursion you were on. Once we were through with both of our excursions, we had some time to spend in the port area, and then caught whichever tender was next.

It could be if you wait til the last minute, there are terrible lines, but we went back about an hour or so before the last tender in Belize and an hour and a half before the last tender in Cayman.

 

I've read on some reviews for other ships that if you book a meal in the steakhouse for the first evening, you get a free bottle of wine - does anyone know if this happens on the Legend as well?? Or was I dreaming when I read this!!! :confused:

 

Yes, that's true for the Legend too.

Is the Sushi free and either way what time does it open and where is it located? If its not free what are the prices? Thanks!

Yes, sushi is free. There's a sushi that's open (I think every night) from 5-8:15pm on the 2nd deck, sort of near the casino. It's also on the menu in the MDR at least one night.

We (me, DH, 20yo DD) just got off the Legend this morning. We had an awesome week! The weather was terrific and the ports were wonderful! We did the Turtles excursion in Grand Cayman and the Zoo excursion in Belize.

We had an obstructed balcony cabin - our first balcony. We loved being able to sit out there in the morning and have coffee and breakfast and watch the ship pull into ports.

We had ATD (YTD?) and never had to wait. However, we do like to eat early. We were usually there right around 6pm. We thought most of the food was good. DD loves mac and cheese and she ordered it one night off of the kids' menu and thought it was DISGUSTING. (And this is a girl who will eat blue box mac and cheese.) My favorite dessert was the bitter and blanc, although I did have the WCMC several nights.