LEGEND 9/2 Review...Part 1

WARNING--very detailed. As a result, this review will be in several posts...

Our recent cruise on the Carnival Legend (9/2-9/9) was a “family reunion” of sorts, and involved traveling with our family of 4 (DH, self, DS-7, DD-4), my parents, and DH’s mom and step-dad. We all live within 2 hours of one another in Central Florida, but hadn’t traveled together since 1994, when we all took an engagement (ours!) celebration cruise on the Inspiration.

So, after much planning we decided on the Legend because of its close proximity to the in-laws, great price, and fabulous itinerary (Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Costa Maya). As luck would have it, two hurricanes caused itinerary changes to our cruise. First, Hurricane Dean took aim at Costa Maya, causing lots of damage and a last-minute replacement port of Roatan, Honduras. Then, Hurricane Felix sprung up a few days prior to departure, taking aim at the Mexican/Belizan coastline, resulting in a “surprise” announcement at the pier describing the new itinerary. Although our immediate family wasn’t overly thrilled with the new itinerary, the in-laws were ecstatic, and really, their opinions was all that we were concerned about. After all, it was their 2nd cruise, while we have been on over 20!

Upon arrival at the pier, we were handed a letter from Carnival Cruise lines that stated their concerns with the weather and also outlined the new ports of calls including arrival and departure times. Of note, the first Sea Day was moved to Tuesday from Monday. Our new itinerary was Key West, Sea Day, Grand Turk, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Sea Day. Also posted at the pier was an oversize map of the latest hurricane track, showing (at the time) its projection to hit Belize on Tuesday. While at the port, and actually throughout the whole week we never, ever heard anyone complain once about the itinerary change. Everyone took it in stride. Also, it is important to note that the crew of the Legend was AMAZINGLY organized with the itinerary change. They switched activities around, had up-to-date capers, and even handed our Shore Excursion books (yes, entire books!) upon arrival. Great job!

Processing through the pier took less than an hour. After parking, handing off luggage, checking in, and waiting approximately 20 minutes, we were onboard. AAAAAHHHHH!

NOTE—we were impressed with the Tampa pier. It was nicely decorated with tropical wall murals and art work, and very clean. Much nicer than some of the industrial piers we’ve been through.

Since we are Floridians, we drove to the pier. Parking at the nearby (1 block away) garage cost $84 for the week (self-park).

This is a view of the ship from the exterior of the parking garage.

Once onboard the ship, we herded (felt like pack-mules with all our carry-ons…) up to the Unicorn Café on deck 9 to eat. This was the one-and-only time that the ship felt really crowded. So many people, all trying to snag a table. It was frustrating. Probably because we just wanted to sit down, eat and finally “start” the cruise. Our troubles were made worse by the fact that there were 8 of us in our traveling party and we were trying to find a table to accommodate us all. Heaven forbid we eat a meal without all 8 of us together!

Lunch was good. Actually, all of our lunches that week in the Unicorn Café were good. There was a great variety of food to choose from, and it was also fairly tasty. Other than a pinch-point where the dessert station intersected near the drink station, the Unicorn Café was usually easy to navigate. On a daily basis (for lunch) you could always choose from the 24 hour pizza, salad bar, dessert station, Asian station, Themed Buffet of the day (American, French, Mexican, Fruit), or sandwich/grill station. One little-know secret that I discovered on day 2: there is a made-to-order pasta station located at the end of one of the buffets. You have to know that it’s there in order to get the attention of the chef to cook your pasta as he isn’t always standing there. It was AWESOME! One small gripe—fries or chips should be available at the sandwich grill. It was inconvenient to wait for your sandwich, then wait in another line at the outdoor grill for fries. No matter which way to ordered, one of your items would be cold.

After lunch, we were allowed to access our cabins at 1:30pm. Ours was an inside cabin on deck 5. In-laws had 6275, an inside on deck 6, while my parents were 6285, a balcony of deck 6. All cabins were suitable for all of us. And YES—we actually put all four of us (kids and us) in our inside cabin. We requested that our beds be separated (Brady Bunch style) and placed underneath the kids bunks so we would have “extra” floor space in the cabin. We also asked that the kids beds be left open all week so they would have a place to “go” and be out of the way while in the cabin. Since our DD is only 4, we brought a bed rail with us for her. Yes, there are bed rails on the upper bunks, but they aren’t very high or long, and our DD is a crazy sleeper.

Two small problems with our cabin:

1—3, yes 3 hangers in the closets. What?!? When we requested more, we were given a random assortment of abandoned plastic hangers. It was odd.

2—The hair dryer was broken. It only worked for about 20 seconds before it would overheat and shut off. It took several calls to get it replaced. Most likely, the maintenance man stopped by, turned it on, saw that it worked, and left before it had a chance to overheat. We finally got a new one on the third day of the cruise.

One MAJOR BIG problem with our cabin: the tweener thugs that surrounded us. Somehow, our cabin was sandwiched between two cabins of tweens belonging to the same family/traveling party. Their parents (or chaperones) were two-cabins down from us. These kids were not only loud, but also destructive. Hence the name THUGS. The first night they stole/ripped down/threw away our cabin door sign. Two days later we found a muffin smashed into our hallway mail holder thingy. Nice! Combine that with them randomly knocking on our door throughout the week and we were ready to KILL them. We were actually a little afraid to put our luggage out on the last night for fear that they would move/steal/relabel them. Not to worry, they behaved!

After checking our the cabin and exploring the ship we discovered that our large party of 8, whose reservations have been tied together since day 1, had been seated at different dining tables. The horror! We visited the Maitre’D and requested a seating change. We appreciated his honesty when he told us that there was nothing he could do for that evening, but perhaps by the following night he could have something worked out for us. No problem, we are very laid back. As long as he tries….

The dreaded Lifeboat Drill was at 3:45pm, shortly before sail away. Being rule-abiding cruisers we dutifully attended, but not before waiting just a few minutes after the ear-splittingly-loud alarm so that we could get a front-row spot in the line-up. Don’t misunderstand though. It was still ridiculously hot because we were standing outside on Deck 3 with an oh-so-stylish but warm lifejacket on. At least we weren’t smashed against the ship wall behind rows of other passengers. We could feel the cool ocean breeze against our cheeks. After the mandatory safety speil which went on-and-on, we nearly fainted when the Captain got on the intercom and started talking about the itinerary change and began to describe each port in detail. Immediately all 2500 passengers emitted a huge groan. We were sweltering! DD especially did NOT like the drill!

After exploring the ship some more, and seeing that luggage had arrived, we returned to our cabin to deal with our first “big” problem of the cruise. I had forgotten the key for my rolling suitcase. We called the Purser and explained our dilemma, and they promised to send someone right up. Within a few minutes a maintenance man arrived carrying only 2 screwdrivers. We thought he had misunderstood our request, but he just smiled, placed the two screwdrivers through the padlock making an “X” , and then pressed down ever-so-slightly on the screwdriver handles. The lock broke. Hurray! But, a lesson for you all----luggage locks provide absolutely no security what-so-ever! He broke my super-strong metal padlock without even breaking a sweat! (This was not a normal cheapy lock. You know, the kind that comes with the suitcase. We had actually purchased this one because it was a “real” lock.)

On to dinner…We arrived for our 5:45pm dinner seating (upper level of Truffles) to find that although we were at different tables, they were actually close enough that it didn’t matter. The four of us were at a 6-top window-side table (with another party of 2), while the in-laws and parents were across the hall at a 4-top. The view from our table to theirs:

Our new tablemates were on their very first cruise! We had a great dinner, and enjoyed a neat view of the Sunshine Skyway bridge from our tableside window when we crossed underneath.

The kids ate the first of many pizza meals for the week. DH and FIL enjoyed the first of their many Warm Chocolate Melting Cakes as well. They were big fans. The rest of us, not-so-much. We just didn’t care for the warm (actually hot at times) temperature of the cake.

Following dinner we all went with the kids for the Camp Carnival Orientation and Family Party, which was held in Medusa’s Disco. FunShip Freddy even put in an appearance at the party! We were dancing so fast even the camera couldn't focus!

Since Camp Carnival wasn’t open officially until the next day, the four of us returned to the cabin to unpack, while the in-laws and parents went to the Welcome Show.

All-in-all, it was a great first day.

Next up—Will the Maitre’D switch our seating arrangement? Will we enjoy our first port Key West, and first Day at Sea? More details to follow….

Anxiously awaiting the next installment of your review.

Table together?

Was Key West awsome?

Thanks for posting your review!

Payd:)

Great review.................waiting for more................