Brief Reflections on our Legend Sailing

[CLOU]

We just returned on a seven day sailing from Rome to Monte Carlo on the Legend. This was our second sailing on Seabourn, and our first on one of the Sisters, having sailed on the Odyssey last year. We have moved over from Regent, with whom we have sailed 10 times, because we thought the price had gone up and the service had gone down. The lack of balconies had kept us away from Seabourn, but we enjoyed our Odyssey cruise enough that my claustrophobic husband was willing to try the Legend, with only a French “balcony.”

 

Although she is showing a little wear and tear, because she has not yet gone into dry dock, the Legend was a very nice ship. The cabin was actually a little bigger than I expected and well laid out. Once my husband got over the reality of how little a French balcony is, he adjusted just fine. Size and intimacy wise, the ship reminded me a lot of the old Radisson Diamond.

 

The service was very attentive, although there were a few minor lapses, although lapse is too strong a word. Although we had the same tea order every morning for breakfast, only our waiter for the first day figured that out. We had the same waiter every other day, and he always offered us coffee instead. On the second day, our original waiter was already ahead of him, bringing us our tea. After that, we had to make sure they got our tea order right. And, on one occasion, the wine staff at dinner refilled my half full red wine glass with a different red wine than I had been drinking. But as mentioned, these matters are quite minor.

 

And the food was superb. On earlier Radisson cruises (until more recently) and on our first Seabourn cruise on the Odyssey, we said that the food was very good for a cruise ship. On the Legend, the food was simply very good, no qualification needed. Except for the galley dinner. There was supposed to be a barbecue on deck but weather prohibited it and a last minute galley dinner was substituted. This concept was okay on the Odyssey for lunch, but I felt it did not work well at all for dinner, and it was the only time the ship felt crowded to me.

 

I also have to comment Seabourn for their assistance. We had a little trouble with rental cars in a couple of the ports, due to miscommunication with our travel agent and rental car companies and having nothing to do with Seabourn. However, especially in the first port, Claudio from Seabourn and their local representative went out of their way to assist us in helping straighten things out and translating. We really appreciated it.

 

Two small asides. The captain had to leave the cruise mid-week for a family emergency, and other than the fact that the acting captain did not seem to be as comfortable with public speaking, the transition was seamless. Also, Claudio hurt his knee and was on crutches and eventually left the ship to have an MRI. I never did hear the results.

 

Next year we are booked on the Sojourn for the Norwegian Fjords. Because of the balcony and the fact they we have sailed on the larger Regent ships and are more familiar with that size, we are happy with the larger Seabourn ships, but we enjoyed the Legend so much that my husband has agreed that a balcony is no longer essential and we will return to the Sisters.

[ddpe]

Hi Clou,

How would you compare the food on the Legend with the Odyssey? The food was the sweet spot for our Legend cruise, but I want a real balcony.

Thanks,

Dddpe

[CLOU]

ddpe:

 

The food was definitely better on the Legend. It was good on the Odyssey, but it was noticeable better on the Legend. So much so that we kept remarking on how good it was. However, we too like a balcony. We would return to one of the Sisters for the right itinerary, but our next trip is on the Sojourn, with a balcony.

[Chairsin]

Glad to hear the predrydock Legend is holding up because we board next week for two weeks -- Monte carlo to Monte Carlo. Who was the Captain who left for family emergency and who took over. Yes, the food is always very good on the little sisters -- I plan my evening ensembles so that the ones I wear later in the trip are less form fitting.:D

[JaneBP]

Boarding the Legend on 10/16 and hope you will report on the persons at the helm and all. Enjoy!

[Martita B.]

CLOU

Was your Captain Erik L. Anderssen that had a family emergency?

Who replaced the Captain ?

Certainly hope all was fine and not a serious situation.

Thank you for your review!:p

Martita B

[CLOU]

The Captain was Erik Anderssen and they did not give us details of the emergency. A note was simply left in all of our doors stating that he needed to leave the ship for a family emergency. I do not remember the name of the assistant who took over, but Captain Anderssen was expected to rejoin shortly, so I suspect he is back on the ship by now.

[Martita B.]

I certainly hope Capt. Anderssen's family is fine and he's back Mastering the Legend.

Could Staff Captain Kai Oedegaard have taken the helm? I believe he's aboard ~

Thank you for replying:p

Happy Sails & Trails

MB

[Chairsin]

Yes, I echo Martha's sentiments -- do hope the matter with Captain Anderssen's family was not too serious. We sailed with him earlier this year and were looking forward to seeing him again.

[Skeezics]

Does anyone know when the Legend is due for dry dock? Scheduled to be on her December 2011.

[JaneBP]

10/31/10

[emilee]

We were on the Legend that week as well and heard that the Captains Mom had passed away. That aside it was a great trip!

[Martita B.]

emilee

Thank you so much for sharing the sad news of Captain Anderssen's Mothers passing. I will send him my sympathy.

I'm so sorry ~

Martita B

[jmkoilers]

My wife and I are planning our first Yachtsman Riviera cruise on Seabourn for next May and would love any input on the ports you visited. This would be our first trip to the south of France and highly look forward to it as we will be adding a week post-cruise probably in Aix-En Provence.

Thank you in advance.

John

[piratelooksat45]

Claudio is the best. He was so helpful to us when we sailed the Legend in June, what a gentleman! Hope is knee is OK.

[CLOU]

John:

 

Our experience in the ports is probably not the norm, since we had been to several of them in the past. In Sardinia, we rented a care and drove around the north side of the island. The town where we docked, Porto Rotundo and the next town over, Porto Cervo were beach resort towns that did not really interest us. In Corsica, we took a Seabourn excursion to the Calanques, which were beautiful, although the excursion had its problems, since there was a traffic jam due to a domestic dipute between two Corsicans and we left a couple behind at a refreshment stop. In Livorno we again rented a car and drove to Chianti, since we have been to Florence, Pisa and Luca. We were supposed to anchor in Portofino but rough seas prevented it and we docked in Genoa and they bused people to Portofino and Santa Margarita, both loevley litle towns, However, since we have been to both, we used that as a relaxing pool day. Lastly, from Nice we rented a car and drove all the way to Chateauneuf - a long drive but we have been in Nice and Aix before (as well as Chateauneuf, but we are wine people).

 

So, we were on our own for most of the ports, but they all have something to offer.