Our Carnival Legend Pictorial Review--August 12-19, 2012

[AndrewD65]

Love your review, the Legend is my favorite of all times ship. I have sailed twice on her and miss living in Tampa and going anytime..

[afreetdragon]

Love the review and can't wait til 9/23 for my turn. :)

[zetaome]

What a fantastic start to your review!!!

 

I love all the food pictures and can't wait to read all about the cruise!!!

 

Thanks for taking the time to do a review!

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Great Start. Love the pics!!

[gambee]

Loving your review, keep it coming :)

[AllyG47]

Great review! When I was on the Legend last November, we had the same room as your boys - 1110. I loved the location of the room as it was right by the elevators and from the window you could watch people get on and off the ship while it was in port. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review. I can't wait to see what you did in the ports.

[ddbaab53]

I'm really enjoying the review and all the pics. We don't sail until Thanksgiving but this is giving me a great insight for what lies ahead. Can't wait to read more......:)

[jimbo5544]

Nice start to your review. Great Pics! Going on the Legend in February.

Edited September 11, 2012 by jimbo5544

[crusinpsychRN]

Are you a professional writer? I've been on the Legend 3 times and am going again in 4 days and I'm learning all kinds of things from your review! Lovely family as well. Congrats on 25 years! Your pictures are beautiful as well. Thanks for all the hard work.

[hancogran]

Fantastic start!! Thanks so much for the detailed review and pictures.. love it. :D Can't wait for the rest of it.

[Andoria]

*Wonderful review! Looking forward to more.

[madeth313]

I will be on the Legend on Sept. 23rd...looking forward to reading more about your adventures!!

[cruiserNC]

Great Start Loving this Review!

[afergvip]

I am also loving this review. We sail on the 30th! I have a question though.... did your safe have the magnetic swipe or the 4 digit code?

[reeree313]

subscribing! loving your review. Thank you!

[travellover39]

Loving your review! The pictures are so good. I'm getting a good feel for the ship. We sail in 5+ weeks and reading your review, I'm so excited, I want to start packing now. lol

 

Keep it going, can't wait for more. Good writing and explaining too. Your boys are to funny, running as the ship goes under the bridge trying to beat the ship out:D

 

Thanks for sharing....

[sarahleebones]

Oh how I love picture reviews!

[esd087]

I am also loving this review. We sail on the 30th! I have a question though.... did your safe have the magnetic swipe or the 4 digit code?

 

I think I can answer this for you - we just got off on Sunday. Our safe had a magnetic swipe (using your S&S/room card). We were on deck 4 but I would imagine it's the same in all rooms.

[dz63]

Loving your review & pictures!!! We are sailing on the Legend for the fourth time in 71 days!!! but who's counting?? Your pictures are awesome!:)

 

Ohhh, you are so lucky. I'm envious of you guys. I wish we could cruise more often, but when we factor in air-fair, it is like paying for the cruise twice! I'm happy for you guys. Have a great cruise.

 

Are you a professional writer? I've been on the Legend 3 times and am going again in 4 days and I'm learning all kinds of things from your review! Lovely family as well. Congrats on 25 years! Your pictures are beautiful as well. Thanks for all the hard work.

 

Thank you for the great compliment, but no, I am not a professional writer.

 

I am also loving this review. We sail on the 30th! I have a question though.... did your safe have the magnetic swipe or the 4 digit code?

 

Our safe had the magnetic swipe.

 

 

To all of you that have subscribed, thank you for your encouraging words and comments. I am looking forward to sharing our Legend adventures with all of you!

[dz63]

Day 2—Sea Day

 

 

 

This morning we woke up to clear and sunny skies. It looks like we left the rain behind in Tampa…yeah! This morning DH my eldest DS and I did something we never did on a cruise before—we attended the Cooking Demonstration held in the Golden Fleece Steakhouse. The Golden Fleece is located at the top of the glass staircase and under the red glass dome of the whale tail at the top of the Atrium. As you will see in the photos below, the red glass dome gives everything a reddish color.

 

This way to the steakhouse!

 

In keeping with the Legends theme, there is a Sirens mural under the dome.

[dz63]

The Cooking Demonstration

 

We sampled Cheesecake and Beef Stroganoff,

 

saw a watermelon being artistically carved

 

and met Chef Panda

 

At the end of the cooking demonstration, we even received the cheesecake and beef stroganoff recipes!

 

Descending the glass staircase--10 levels above the Atrium lobby

[dz63]

After the cooking demonstration, we made our way over to the Lido Deck to enjoy the sun and pools. As expected, the pools were crowded. We could not find any available chairs on the Lido Deck but there were plenty chairs available one deck up on the Sun Deck.

 

 

With the sun bearing down, the Sun Deck became extremely hot. My DS’s decided they did not want to take their shoes down to the pool area, so they made a run for it in their bare feet. The deck was very hot on their feet but they made it down to the Lido deck, where they were able to cool off their burned feet in the refreshing salt-water pool.

 

The Avalon Pool

 

At 1:30 we watched the Hairy Chest Competition, held stage side by the Avalon Pool. This was so hilarious to watch. One of the contestants was an elderly gentleman. He danced around…cane and all!

 

 

One thing we noticed about this cruise that was different from our previous cruises was the lack of live bands and Caribbean music played on the Lido Deck. I suppose this is all part of Carnival’s recent cutbacks. The music was either played by DJ’s or was simply recorded music playing hip hop, pop and rap songs. The music was really not that much different to what we would hear playing on the radio here. The closest Caribbean or island type music played was the occasional Bob Marley song. On top of that, the music played was always very loud. I know there are various opinions of this on the boards, but I really missed the Caribbean music on this cruise and lack of bands playing music during sail away from the ports of call.

 

We preferred the Camelot Pool, as this pool was less crowded than the Avalon Pool. Also the music wasn’t quite as loud here.

 

The Camelot Pool

 

 

One thing we liked about the pools on the Legend, was the shallow/wading area around the edge of the pool. This was a great place to soak up the sun while relaxing in the water too!

 

[dz63]

Tonight, the show in the Follies Lounge was held at 7:00--before our late seating dining time (or at 9:00 if you have early seating). The show tonight was called Jazz Hot and featured singing and dancing performed by the Legend Dancers. On our previous Carnival cruises, the main shows were consistently held at the same time, always after dinner. This time around, the shows in the Follies Lounge were not always held at the same time—sometimes they were before dinner, like this one was, and sometimes they were held after our dining time. So make sure to check your Fun Times to keep up to date with this!

 

Tonight was also Cruise Elegant Night. We dressed up in our fancy attire for dinner in the MDR. We found that if we arrived at the Truffles dining room on time, we would have to wait in a long line before being allowed to enter the dining room. This line would start from the doors of the MDR, wind through the Atlantis Lounge and go right up to the staircase by the Lobby Bar. To avoid waiting in this long line, we ended up coming between 5-10 minutes later. This way we could go straight into the dining room and right up to our table without waiting in line.

 

Following the line into the Truffles Dining Room

[dz63]

Tonight our starters included:

 

West Indian Roasted Pumpkin soup

 

Spaghetti Carbonara (also available as a main entrée)

 

Baked stuffed white mushrooms

 

For dinner, My DH ordered the broiled marine lobster tail and jumbo black tiger shrimp

 

My DS’s and I savored tender roasted prime rib of American beef au jus

Edited September 12, 2012 by dz63

[Coolcruise02]

Great review! Can't wait for more. :)