Legend Review May 7 - 14th

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

Just returned home from my cruise on the Carnival Legend. Overall the cruise was quite good. Will follow-up with more detail in follow-up posts but wanted to get it started so that I could not procrastinate :o.

 

General brief review:

Overall experience: B

Food: B+ (varies really between a "B" and an "A" depending on locale)

Entertainment: B-

Cozumel: C

Belize: A

Roatan: A+

Grand Cayman: F- (will provide much more details later)

 

Intro:

DH and I are in our 30's with no kids. This cruise was/is to celebrate our 5th anniversary which is later this month. I've cruised twice before: when I was 9 (cruise line unknown) to Mexico and when I was 15 on Holland American to Alaska. This was DH's first cruise. When we were looking at honeymoon options I wanted to do a cruise but couldn't convince DH he would like it. This time we looked at going back to our honeymoon spot (the Poconos) and when I looked at how much it would cost for the resort alone I said "shoot we could do a really nice cruise for that including spending money!" which is how I finally won the cruising argument (DH likes it by the way).

 

I will be back later with much more details. I hope to get some pictures up as well ... sorry no food pictures/porn.

[crewsweeper]

Come back soon honeyroasted...your neighbors are waiting:D

 

'secially want to hear why Coz gets the "C" and Belize the "A" as many first cruisers grade the other way. Your take on the urns and "enchanted" passageway.

 

Sounds like overall you had a great cruise!

[HMC RET]

looking forward to your review as we are on the legend in July

[GayleR]

Please don't make us wait too long. :p

[xbatt8]

Yes, more please. We leave in just 4 weeks and would love to hear your take. I have been to Coz and Cayman before and am going to do something different this time, but not sure what. Never been to Belize or Roatan so I am looking forward to those reviews.

 

Bob

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

Living in Florida, we drove to Tampa (about 4.5 hour drive). We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Rocky Point. Nice motel and only about $20 more than parking our car at the terminal and it included a free hot breakfast and shuttle service to and from the port.

 

One thing to note, their shuttle service is on a first come, first serve basis based upon check-in and not on how far out in advance you book. We arrived around 5pm and check in begins at 3pm. By the time we arrived, only the 1pm shuttle was available. The front desk clerk said the 11am shuttle was filled up before check-in :eek:. This caused a small panic on my part but once I was on the shuttle (which actually left a little early) I was just fine and dandy.

 

Next door to the Holiday Inn is a Bahama Breeze restaurant. We don't have this chain in Tallahassee and after trying it I wish we did. We tried their lobster and shrimp quesadilla appetizer which was very delicious. DH had their jerk chicken pasta ... nice ginger flavor but not really hot/spicy. I tried a new dish they just put on their menu: Chicken Cilantro Crema ... oh good gravy that is/was delicious!!!!

 

The actual embarkation process was pretty easy. The lines were very short and I think that within 30 - 45 minutes of arriving in port we were on the ship. The one good thing about not getting to the port until a little after 1 is that by the time we were on board we could go straight to our room and drop off the carry-ons.

 

We stayed in an interior room on the Riviera deck on the forward part of the ship (room 1147 to be exact). I really liked the room. For afternoon naps it was pitch black and it was really close to Follies Lounge and the Firebird where we were most evenings. No noise issues and we were next door to one of the crew/stewards maintenance rooms. And to put the noise thing in perspective I am a very light sleeper ... when my husband unlocks the front door at night, it often wakes me up and the bedroom is in the back of our place.

 

Thanks to Cruise Critic (CC) and my boss' boss who cruises Carnival at least once a year, we knew not to miss the boat going under the Skyway Bridge. Very cool indeed!!

 

We had anytime time dining. I think on our next cruise I'll try a fixed time. Our wait times for a table varied from nothing to 45 minutes. The first night we waited about 15 minutes but had a very nice table for 2 by a window where we could watch the sunset. I had the curried salmon for my appetizer and DH had the lasagna (it is available as an appetizer or main dish). The salmon was pretty good ... not spectacular but still very tasty. For the main dish I had the talapia and DH had the steak. Both were prepared very well. I've heard others complain/comment on CC about food temperatures. I found for every meal the temperature to be fine. The stuff that should be cold was and the hot meals were hot enough ... not scalding but definitely appropriately warm/hot. For dessert I had the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake (WCMC) and the cheese platter. Now don't blast me, but on this night I wasn't impressed with the WCMC. This could be that because I ate the cheese first that the cake cooled off too much and became "eh". For the cheeses I wasn't as wowed as much as I hoped I would be. I am a cheese snob and I think they would have been best served closer to room temperature so that the flavors could come out more (yes temperature greatly affects how cheese tastes). DH had the Black Forest cake and loved it. I didn't like it but I am not surprised as I really don't like cherry anything.

 

After dinner we caught the Welcome Aboard Show. It was appropriately cheesey like any welcome aboard show should be but still very enjoyable and I recommend it especially for first time cruisers. Wee Jimmy the CD was a blast and I really enjoyed him throughout the entire cruise.

 

Not really sure what we did after that ... I think just went back to the room and unpacked then crashed (I am an early to bed/early to rise person). DH probably explored the ship as he makes most self described night owls look like early birds.

[vmom]

Thanks so much for the review. Looking forward to hearing more.

 

Could you please tell me how the island time corresponded with the ship time at each island? We are trying to plan excursions.

 

Also are there any excursions you loved or really disliked?

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

Thanks so much for the review. Looking forward to hearing more.

 

Could you please tell me how the island time corresponded with the ship time at each island? We are trying to plan excursions.

 

Also are there any excursions you loved or really disliked?

 

None of the ports were on ship time (Eastern Daylight Savings) due to time zones and observances of daylight savings time.

 

Cozumel was on Central Daylight Savings (1 hour behind)

Belize and Roatan were 2 hours behind (I think Central Standard)

Grand Cayman was 1 hour behind because they don't do daylight savings. So if you are cruising in the fall or early spring then Grand Cayman might be on the same ship time.

 

I really enjoyed Tabyana (sp?) Beach in Roatan and Altun Ha in Belize. I will give more details about them and the stuff I did in other ports later as I get to those days. I have a whole bunch of "expletive deleted" I would like to say about my booked excursion in Grand Cayman but I won't spoil that one until I can give it the proper time and explanation.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

None of the ports were on ship time (Eastern Daylight Savings) due to time zones and observances of daylight savings time.

 

Cozumel was on Central Daylight Savings (1 hour behind)

Belize and Roatan were 2 hours behind (I think Central Standard)

Grand Cayman was 1 hour behind because they don't do daylight savings. So if you are cruising in the fall or early spring then Grand Cayman might be on the same ship time.

 

I really enjoyed Tabyana (sp?) Beach in Roatan and Altun Ha in Belize. I will give more details about them and the stuff I did in other ports later as I get to those days. I have a whole bunch of "expletive deleted" I would like to say about my booked excursion in Grand Cayman but I won't spoil that one until I can give it the proper time and explanation.

 

 

 

Speaking of ports...I know that Belize and Grand Cayman are both tender ports, but in Cozumel and Roatan did the ship dock to the port side or the starboard side? We are looking at booking the Legend in a balcony cabin and prefer port side generally, but really enjoy being on the side that the ship normally docks so we can stand on our balcony and watch us arrive and depart.

 

Also, anyone else that has cruised on the Legend if you remember which side the docked on in Cozumel and Roatan, I would appreciate your input also!

[crusing48/51]

Thank you for your review. I soak up all the Legend reviews I can, as we are going in October. Can't wait to hear about your excursions, and thoughts on the ports. We haven't booked anything for Grand Cayman yet, and I especially want to hear about your adventure there so we can avoid it! Thanks again!

[crewsweeper]

Speaking of ports...I know that Belize and Grand Cayman are both tender ports, but in Cozumel and Roatan did the ship dock to the port side or the starboard side? We are looking at booking the Legend in a balcony cabin and prefer port side generally, but really enjoy being on the side that the ship normally docks so we can stand on our balcony and watch us arrive and depart.

 

Also, anyone else that has cruised on the Legend if you remember which side the docked on in Cozumel and Roatan, I would appreciate your input also!

 

GaMo4...In Roatan, the ship backs in so it'll dock on the port side. But IMO, the starboard side has a nicer view of the hills and greenery. Only so much of Clip and Zip sign and Fat Tuesdays you can take:rolleyes:. In Cozumel, it'll depend on how many other Carnival ships are in with you and who gets in first. I recall our Legend cruise we docked port side, but have seen pics of the Legend docked on starboard.

[crewsweeper]

honeyroasted...nice start. Good info on Tampa hotel and restaurant. A Bahama Breeze migth be a welcomed addition to Tallytown as it's one of the better of all the Darden restaurants (the other being Capital Grille) and does have a good rendition of key lime pie.

 

Glad you got to see going under the Skyway Bridge and had a window seat for sunset dining.:)

 

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your cruise. Tales of "expletive deletes" on booked excursions are always enjoyed on these boards;).

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

Speaking of ports...I know that Belize and Grand Cayman are both tender ports, but in Cozumel and Roatan did the ship dock to the port side or the starboard side? We are looking at booking the Legend in a balcony cabin and prefer port side generally, but really enjoy being on the side that the ship normally docks so we can stand on our balcony and watch us arrive and depart.

 

Also, anyone else that has cruised on the Legend if you remember which side the docked on in Cozumel and Roatan, I would appreciate your input also!

 

I was very fortunate this trip ... only Cozumel had another ship in port. For Cozumel, we docked on the starboard side. In Roatan it was the port side. I highly recommend being up for Roatan docking as the ship backs into port ... very nice view of the action from the sun deck (deck 10).

 

Just finally finished messing with most of my pictures and should be posting them today as well as adding more posts about the trip. One word of advice ... make sure your cameras are on the correct date and time. Just spent 4 hours cleaning up the time stamps. My camera said 2010 in every picture and DH's camera was off by 13 hours. Had to correct about 600 pictures (deleted some but still have 4 underwater cameras to develop and upload).

[psbaldi]

Another Legend review....I AM SO HAPPY....can't wait for July..

[Larry'sLady]

We are on the Legend for the July 3 sailing and can hardly wait. We have booked the Altun Ha ruins excursion so I anxiously await your review.

[Froufie]

Looking forward to more of your review - esp the excursions and 'ratings'! :)

[OCMama]

I'm another cruising on Legend in July. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

[Dreamz2cruise]

Keep the review coming! :)

 

I'm interested in what you thought of the shows and such. My DS and DN(s) haven't cruised before, so I know they'll want to take them in. I prefer the comedy shows myself.

[blondietink]

More, please! We are sailing on Legend in late November! :D

[nikki6165]

Sailing at Christmas! So curious about the Cayman mishap!

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

OK, I've finally started loading the photos. This is my first attempt at posting pics so please bear with me.

 

Here is the ship going under the skyway bridge:

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/DSCN0041.jpg

 

another:

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/DSCN1162.jpg

 

and one more for good measure:

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/DSCN0040.jpg

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

OK, first photo attempt = fail.

 

Let's try this again.

 

Going under the bridge:

<a href="http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/?action=view&current=DSCN0041.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/DSCN0041.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

Another view:

<a href="http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/?action=view&current=DSCN0040.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/DSCN0040.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

And yet another one:

<a href="http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/?action=view&current=DSCN1162.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/DSCN1162.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

3rd times the charm???

 

 

 

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

Since many of the reviews that I have read are from those with balconies, I'm going to post the pictures of my el cheapo interior cabin. I really liked the interior and the money I saved booking an interior versus a balcony went directly towards excursions and spending money.

 

View when entering the room:

 

Views of the bathroom. I found the shower to feel more spacious than it looks and neither myself nor DH are small.

 

 

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

OK, I took a boatload (pun intended) of pictures of the Legend and sailing under the bridge.

They are all loaded here on photobucket: http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/MelissaHCox/Cruise%202011/

 

When I do my other posts, I'll put a few pictures up and then supply the link to the corresponding album for those who wish to view more. Yes the pictures are not quite in order. DH and I were using 2 different cameras so the pictures are usually from my camera and then from the other camera.