Here ya go.....another Legend review, another perspective

[summercruisin']

Looking forward to the review! Will be back on the Legend for the second time in October. We're spending a couple days with family prior, but thinking about using Central Parking - saw good reviews of them and have already gotten the online coupon for a free day. Looking forward to seeing a picture of the parking area.

 

 

We were very happy with Capital parking. I reserved a spot online in advance. I think it was 3.99 a night with one free night thanks to the coupon code. We drove right into the fenced area (not paved but it did have a gate that could be closed....not sure if it was b/c I was cruisin'!). We could take up all the room we wanted (no squeezing the SUV in next to another). The shuttle driver pulled up to our car and helped load our bags. We locked the door and kept our keys, and the port was right around the corner (maybe 3 blocks?). When we returned, the shuttle driver picked us up across the street from the port (a porter took our bags to the right spot). It was all very easy and seemed professional. No doubt if we cruise from Tampa again, this is where we will park. Considering the parking garage at the port charges $14 (or is it 15 now?) a day and then you have to drag your luggage across the busy unloading lane, it was well worth the savings!

[summercruisin']

Hi Paula! I don't know if you remember but I was supposed to go on the Dream with you a couple of years ago. Our daughters are the same age.

 

I can't wait to read the rest of your review. Less than 2 weeks left until I leave on the Legend and it will help me pass the time!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Hi Shenika!!! I DO remember you and your beautiful daughter! We were so sad when you had to cancel. How cool is it that you are following us on the Legend this summer? Y'all are going to have a great time!!! I hope you are doing well!

Edited July 31, 2012 by summercruisin'

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review and sharing your photos.

[steff613]

Loving your review its helping to pass the time while building the excitement, this will be DH first cruise so he loves to see all the pics!!!!

[crusinpsychRN]

Thanks for your time doing this review! Your son did very well eating in the MDR without family with him!

 

Do you remember your table number or where about in the MDR you were seated? I've had several meals served just tepid and wonder if it's a function of where you're seated.

 

Looks like the tide was very low going under the bridge.

[estebofarr]

Thank you from me as well. I will be taking my two granddaughters, aged six and seventeen and they are eagerly looking forward to it, as am I and my daughter. Loved the pictures. :)

[kmc500]

As we always do when we go to the Orlando area, we rented a house with a private pool, and that was really nice.

 

Great idea. We've done that when taking the g'children to Disney. It is so dramatically less expensive than snagging a bunch of hotel rooms, and much more comfortable. We had 16 of us in a large house just a mile or so outside the park last time we visited.

 

Sorry to interrupt, great review.

 

Kevin C

[summercruisin']

Great idea. We've done that when taking the g'children to Disney. It is so dramatically less expensive than snagging a bunch of hotel rooms, and much more comfortable. We had 16 of us in a large house just a mile or so outside the park last time we visited.

 

Sorry to interrupt, great review.

 

Kevin C

 

 

so true! I travel a LOT with my kids, so friends and colleagues tend to ask me for advice. When they ask about Disney, I always tell them that, unless they are dead-set on staying onsite, they should rent a house. So nice after a long day in Orlando for everyone to have his/her own space! Add in the pool, your own bathroom, a laundry room, more than one tv to fight over :p, and the kitchen (and since I love to cook, I generally do not like eating out....gotta have my own kitchen!)...all for under $100 a night, well, it's a no-brainer IMHO. We rent homes whenever we can while travelling now; rented an awesome townhouse on Capitol Hill in DC last year. It's the way to go - SO much better than a hotel!

 

well, I went off on a tangent :D

[CruzerDeb]

Great review! Can't wait to read more.

[myangel]

Great review/pics so far! We will be sailing on thie FAVORITE ship of mine for the 4th time in November. Your review makes me want to hijack the ship RIGHT NOW! ;)

[summercruisin']

Thanks for all the positive feedback, friends! It helps keep me motivated. So, back to it...

 

Monday morning was the first day at sea. I had perused my funtimes the night before because I had heard about the cooking demo, and I didn't want to miss it! As I mentioned before, I love to cook. It is my therapy after spending the day trying to teach 17 year olds to appreciate Shakespeare (or John Donne...now THAT'S a challenge!). And I like to cook fancy stuff, so I knew this was just right for me. I saw it on the schedule for 11:45, followed by a wine pairing at 12:30! Be still my heart! I am a wine drinker, so this was just perfect!!

On Monday morning, I woke up before everyone else, so I headed upstairs 2 decks to pick up breakfast. I got an omelette (no one in line!), some pan-fried potatoes, some bacon (no bacon police, either!), and an apple pastry. Carnival now has really large plates on the buffet, which is extremely convenient for carrying your breakfast back up to your balcony to enjoy the morning in peace :D. And that is what I did. I grabbed one of my Diet Mt. Dews I had brought along (no coffee for me, thanks!). It was nice and chilled since I remembered to put it in the small in-cabin fridge the night before. I sat right here...

 

and it was wonderful! Not too hot, not too noisy (just water noises), just right. I was joined by a few ants after I dropped a piece of potato. Here's the view of the water (and the life boats that are about 2 decks below the balconies on deck 7)...

 

 

I do love that shade of blue!

DD loves Camp Carnival and was eager to go meet her new friends as soon as possible, so I woke her up and headed to the buffet to get breakfast for her. She chose to have a pear, a muffin, and some bacon. We have found that, in the buffets, milk is easy to get in the mornings, but not so easy in the afternoons. Since my children drink milk with every meal, we have to ask a server to go get it for them during the afternoon buffets and wait for them to do so. Some don't like to have to leave their post and go find a carton of milk, and it feels like a burden to ask. So, I grabbed an extra carton or two and put it in our fridge...easy solution.

DH joined us and had an omelette (still no line!), a pear, and some bacon...yum!

[summercruisin']

Camp Carnival opens at 10 and had a great morning planned out (per DD). The morning included a time for meeting new friends and exploring the playroom, some photography, something called "monster mania", balloon dancing and silly songs (SO what my DD loves!), time for coloring a tshirt they gave her (it had Alvin and the Chipmunks on it), and then an exercise activity playing with a parachute. DD was eager to get there! We found her space pretty easily on deck 5 forward. Her name tag was already made, and her name was in red to indicate she had allergies. They gave me a phone to use onboard in case she needed me (little chance of that...Ms. Independent!), and we were off! Check-in this first time did take a little while, but it wasn't unbearable. Oh, and DS pointed out that CC now has cameras and the playroom is visible on screens just outside the doorway. This is awesome, because parents can look in on their kids without disturbing them, can make sure they are doing well at any point, and can feel a little more comfortable that their kids are safe and well-cared for (not that I worried about that before!).

 

Next we took DS to find his age group, and this was a little harder because they were in Medusa's lounge, which is several floors lower and closer to the back. When we found them, the kids were fully engaged in a scavenger hunt. DS had already explored the ship and knew where everything was. He loves maps and has an almost-photographic memory of even the smallest details, so he knew where everything on the hunt was. Off he went with two new friends to walk through the hunt. He didn't stick with them for very long, though, because he got bored with it. :rolleyes: After that, he never went back to Camp Carnival for the rest of the trip, despite our attempts to get him to do so. Considering his social skills are severely lacking, especially in relating to other kids his age, and he doesn't manage any degree of chaos very well (even happy, well-designed chaos!), we were not surprised that he avoided CC.

 

After ditching the kids :D, I was finally free to enjoy the food and wine tasting!

Edited July 31, 2012 by summercruisin'

[sachmo9085]

Thank you for writing this review! I love reading reviews that make me feel like I was there on the ship with you! I've only been on two cruises and Legend was my first ship and it was our honeymoon, so I think I will always have a soft spot for her.

Now, if you could kindly make some more posts to this review for me to read, it would be much appreciated ;) Otherwise, I am going to have to do homework or go work out or something equally terrible :)

[summercruisin']

The food demo and the wine pairing are both held in the steakhouse. The tables have been moved out of the way, and the seats were lined up in rows in front of a long table where the cooks would show us how they prepared the food.

 

looking up into the funnel...at a painting of Odysseus and the Sirens (looking at the details and appreciating the symbolism is an awesome way for a literature teacher to pass the time waiting for good food)

 

 

The head chef, Chef Panda Nirada, came to talk. He is awesome (and I will explain that further soon!)!

 

 

The first preparation was a spinach salad with blue cheese, mushrooms, and a homemade dressing. I loved that, while he was preparing this and telling about it, he gave lots of little inside tips on how to avoid typical problems with cooking. For instance he explained how to get the oil to emulsify and mix with the cheese better, instead of being lumpy. He explained why they put the yummy chopped mushrooms UNDER the spinace instead of sprinking it on top. He explained how to cook the different things so they are not overcooked, too mushy, too limp (the spinach), and so on. It was great info. And the best part is the audience gets to taste! Oh yeah!

 

yummy spinach salad!

 

melt-in-your-mouth beef stroganoff...

 

 

I have to say I tried the beef stroganoff that is served in the main dining room when I was on the Dream, and I found it to be so disgusting. It looked and smelled like dog food, and it really was a bad experience. So, when I saw it listed on the handout (they give you a handout with the recipes on it), I was a little discouraged. But it was soooooo good!

 

Finally, they followed up with cheesecake topped with a berry sauce.

 

 

I'm not a big fan of baked goods (I'll take chocolate any day!), but the cheesecake was really good.

 

The chef stuck around to answer any questions people had, and he gave out advice when a few people asked how to avoid a few particular common problems in cooking. He was very personable, and I had no idea just how much better it was going to get when we met him in person...but that's still to come.

[summercruisin']

When the food demo wrapped up, we realized it was past 12:30 already, and we had to pick up DD from Camp Carnival at 12:45. For a second I was sad, thinking I would miss the wine tasting, but DH stepped up and saved the day :). He volunteered to get DD for me and take care of her while I tasted wine. (even though he enjoys wine, he's more of a beer fan, so this was not as big a sacrifice as it would have been for me...good choice DH :D). By that time, DS had come in and out of the food pairing a few times, so we knew he was out exploring the ship, and DH agreed to track him down again as well. So off he went, and I moved to the area of the steak house that is by the window to sit for the wine pairing and tasting, which costs $15 a person BTW. It is NOT free, but it was so very worth the cost!

 

We had 5 wines today, 3 whites and 2 reds. One of the whites was a sweet wine. Four of the wines were American, and the 5th was from New Zealand. I'm a dry red wine lover who enjoys tastes from other countries, so right from the start I was a little let down...but I decided to remain open-minded...and I'm so glad I did!

 

 

The sommelier was a female (interesting!). When she started out, I was a little concerned that her personality would be a little lackluster for me, but I think she must have just been a little nervous. Once she got going and talking about wine and how to really TASTE it, she really blossomed!

 

Now, I don't want to ruin this for anyone who may do this tasting, so if you don't want the spoilers, skip this purple text coming up...

 

We started with the white wines, and the sommelier explained how to look at the wine, how to smell it, how to prepare yourself for the experience (seriously, she was so fascinatingly into her job) and so on. She had us taste the reisling (the sweeter white wine) first. No one liked it. We all tried unsuccessfully to avoid reacting with a funny face - you don't want to offend the sommelier! She talked about it a bit and we moved on...for a moment. Next we tried the sauvignon blanc. It was pretty good. Light and easy to drink. After a time, we tried the 3rd white one, a chardonnay. It was pretty good as well. And then the magic happened. :p She had us lick the lemon and taste the reisling again. OMG. Totally different experience! Just a tiny taste of lemon changed everything. To make this short, I'll tell you we tried the salmon with the chardonnay...so fabulous! And to round out the white tasting, she had us take a bite of green apple and sip the sauvignon...YUCK! She tricked us on purpose! It totally destroyed the flavor of the wine. But it taught a really clear amazing lesson. All this time I really thought that purposely matching your wine with your food was just for the sake of pretentiousness....but now I just may have to become a snob.

When we went to the reds, we tried the pinot noir first. I have bought Mirassou pinot noir many many times, since it is a very tasty wine available at our local grocery stores and often less than $10 a bottle. When I sat down and saw it on the list, I had originally thought "I already know what this one tastes like..." but after the white wine experience, I was excited to see how this old favorite stood up to the food choices she gave us. The pinot noir ended up being everybody's favorite by the end of the tasting. The second red was a cabernet. It was tasty as well. We paired the reds with the beef (which was amazing on its own!), and both stood up to it well. However, with the sommelier's guidance, it was really easy to pick up on the balance between the flavors - with the pinot noir, you taste more of the meat; with the cabernet, the wine really held up against the beef and they were closer to equal in degree of taste. We also paired the reds with a cheese that had pepper on it. With one wine you could taste the pepper more; with the other, you could taste the cheese more. Amazing.

 

This was absolutely an unforgettable experience.

 

[Andoria]

I'm really enjoying your review!

[summercruisin']

As the wine pairing wrapped up, my family showed up because DD refused to eat lunch without me, so we headed to the Lido deck to grab lunch. DD got fried chicken and rice. I got a few things from the oriental flavors buffet.

 

 

and a DOTD (like I needed THAT after the wine tasting!)

 

 

After that, we decided to go to the pools. The two main pools on deck were both very very crowded, so after a quick dip, we headed to the kids' pool near the slide. This area wasn't crowded at all (and this is where DD met her "mermaid sisters").

 

the kids' pool

 

 

the slide

 

 

the line to get on the slide

 

 

DS got up enough nerve to try the slide for the first time (this is big for him!), so off he went. Surprisingly, he was disappointed because it was too slow. He had to push himself along at one point.

 

After some time in the sun, we decided to head back to the room to rest up a bit and get ready for tonight's dinner...elegant night! We missed everything going on around the ship, but to give you an idea, here are some of the things that took place on this first day at sea...

 

• yoga and zumba
  
• tour de cycle
  
• the morning show
  
• several jewelry sales
  
• trivia - several kinds, including Harry Potter
  
• bingo
  
• scrapbooking
  
• onshore excursions explanation
  
• acupuncture info
  
• bean bag competition
  
• slot tournament, ping pong tournament, blackjack and poker challenges
  
• create a bear
  
• the hairy chest competition
  
• a family movie (Zoo Keeper)
  
• the master mixologist competition
  
• tea
  
• lots of attempts to get us in the spa to spend money
  
• the captain's celebration (what is that?)
  
• comedy starting at 6:30
  
• showtime (7 for late dinner people; 9 for early diners)
  

Obviously, there were lots of things going on, so I can't imagine anyone was bored on board. We napped through it, though, so I can't tell you much about any of it :o (sorry!). We did see some of it played the rest of the week on tv, though, and it looked like everyone was having lots of fun!

[summercruisin']

all right, I have to take a break and get the kids to the dentist (what fun to return home from a family vacation and have to go to the dentist two days later :(). I'll try to come back late this afternoon to tell you about formal dinner and our introduction to Chef Panda!

[CarnivalCruiseLover]

Yay! A Legend review! 40 more days until we get to sail her! =D

 

We are going on Sept 9th as well on The Legend. Can't wait!

[zetaome]

Loving your photos and review!

 

I can't wait to read more about your cruise!

[cuted126]

Great review so far!!

[marshhawk]

We are going on Sept 9th as well on The Legend. Can't wait!

 

You should join our ever growing roll call!

summercruisin'-loving the review. I hadn't even considered going to the cooking demonstration-looks like it might be a must do. DH is the evening chef in the household, and he may enjoy getting a few hints!

[corsicab]

I've recently discovered these boards so very little that I read is "current" and now I feel spoiled because I have to wait for the rest of your review! I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to read more. My sister and I sail in 33 days!!

[Winnigirl]

This is a wonderful review. We will be on the Legend on Sept. 16th. I do have one question; you mentioned that you were upgraded to a extended balcony - yet the picture posted seems like a regular size balcony to me.:confused: I don't want to offend anyone here as I've never cruised on Carnival - but it sure doesn't look huge. It looks kinda like a normal size balcony....

[4hunters]

DH agreed to go (okay' date=' I didn't give him a choice. I MAY have even told him that she said the father had to go....can't remember thanks to that DOTD...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). [/quote']

 

Now that is funny!!! Really enjoying your review. :D