Just off Legend of the Seas (following Allure) and the survey says...

[Clarea]

Thanks! Nice to know there's a GF option there. Will be my first cruise since becoming D on a ship with a DL. Am planning on getting the Replenish package..... just a thought.... is there real OJ in the D Lounge? Do they have bottled water in there?

No bottled water. There is an OJ drink, which seems to be the same OJ you get in Windjammer or Park Cafe. My wife and I felt that the OJ in Park Cafe was the best tasting.

[LMaxwell]

Thanks! Nice to know there's a GF option there. Will be my first cruise since becoming D on a ship with a DL. Am planning on getting the Replenish package..... just a thought.... is there real OJ in the D Lounge? Do they have bottled water in there?

 

No bottled water in D Lounge. There was a juice carafe in there but I'm not aware if it was "the real stuff" or the concentrate. I would suspect it was the concentrated stuff but I could be wrong. Perhaps someone else who was onboard (maybe Clarea) can speak to that with more certainty.

 

For what it is worth, we boarded with 6 bottles (tagged by porter) of water and ended up leaving 3 of them onboard. The ships water is great for drinking. We would throw two bottles in the back pack for island touring but the choice was between warm bottled water or for $1 grab a beer or cold water or soda, so we usually went with the cold option for $1.

 

Breakfast items in the DL besides the already mentioned juice and specialty coffee included a pastry plate (same pastries offered in Windjammer, MDR, room service, etc.) whole fruit, breads (toaster in lounge), smoked salmon. So it was a "continental" breakfast set up.

 

Our "norm" on port days was to get breakfast at the Park Cafe as it has abundant fresh quick service options and then eat in the DL where I could get my max-caffiene coffee. The MDR menu for that evening was always in display in the DL as well so we browsed that while having breakfast.

[LMaxwell]

No bottled water. There is an OJ drink, which seems to be the same OJ you get in Windjammer or Park Cafe. My wife and I felt that the OJ in Park Cafe was the best tasting.

 

Bob is going to break the time space continuum one of these days, I am sure. :D

[Clarea]

Bob is going to break the time space continuum one of these days, I am sure. :D

A year or so ago, something was messed up with the time stamps on the CC board. Many of us were able to answer questions before the questions were asked.;)

[RedHeadTexan]

Thank you sooo much for posting.

Boarding in 90 days :D Made final payment today!!

 

I have a deck 6 sideways interior near Lattetudes..... do you recall what was on offer there?

Here is the menu and they also have cookies and pastries...

 

 

Lisa

[GLOCKer]

My wife and I are looking forward to sailing on the Legend of the Seas in July on a Baltic Cruise. This will be our second cruise for each of us. Our first cruise was last summer on the Freedom of the Seas, and I was interested to hear how the Legend of the Seas compared.

 

Oh yeah! My wife and I have treated ourselves to an exterior room!

Edited March 20, 2014 by GLOCKer

[PCWalton1]

Thank you for posting and your wonderful pictures. We had a great time on Legend back in November with the exception of the running of MTD which was a disaster. Glad to hear they have straightened that out. :)

[LMaxwell]

Something you will not find on Oasis/Allure; a WIDE promenade with spectacular open air sea views (does not go 360° though on Legend). Notice the abundance of floor to ceiling windows for centrum and dining rooms.

 

 

[LMaxwell]

Thank you for posting and your wonderful pictures. We had a great time on Legend back in November with the exception of the running of MTD which was a disaster. Glad to hear they have straightened that out. :)

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your Panama Canal review; I am glad you are enjoying this out of order random highlights specialty :)

 

Out of 10 nights we were in the MDR 7 of them. Only 1 out of 7 were we say in an entirely different section with unknown waitstaff and "strangers". We never made a reservation and never had to wait.

[PCWalton1]

I thoroughly enjoyed your Panama Canal review; I am glad you are enjoying this out of order random highlights specialty :)

 

Out of 10 nights we were in the MDR 7 of them. Only 1 out of 7 were we say in an entirely different section with unknown waitstaff and "strangers". We never made a reservation and never had to wait.

 

Nice, that is the way it should work. :)

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[NorbertsNiece]

Here is the menu and they also have cookies and pastries...

 

 

Lisa

 

Thank you so much for posting this Lisa. It will answer the many questions people have about what is a specialty tea or coffee.... absolutely confirms that I will be getting the Replenish Package now.

 

Linda

Edited March 20, 2014 by NorbertsNiece

[Mary Moo]

Fantastic Voyage - An excellent trip all around 10 days with stops in Tortola, St.Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Croix. I had many reservations about taking the smallest ship (and 2nd oldest in the fleet) after a holiday trip on the Allure but I have to say we had an excellent time. There were some areas/venues/designs I actually preferred on the Legend in fact and highlights (to me) included:

 

-Wonderful sea views from Decks 4, 5, 6, and massive ocean view windows in the dining room

-Wide exterior promenade deck, great sea views unhindered by lifeboats (although does not go 360°)

-Somewhat hidden Aft sun deck complete with real teak decking; a great quiet place to spend a day in a lounge chair watching the wake go by.

-Air conditioned Solarium with Park Cafe

-Diamond Lounge overflow was in Anchors Aweigh which still had nice sea views compared to the coal mine...I mean Blazes on Allure. Diamond Lounge food (rotating hot appetizers) was pretty poor, but also had nice cheese and veggie platters. Our go to server was Francis and he was personable and had our drink orders ready within seconds of spotting us walk in.

-A total breeze to navigate the ship; everything "close by"

-Specialty dining - Chops and Izumi both have great views from within the Viking Crown

-Sauna/Steam room have no extra fee for use

-Shaded outdoor seating near pool just outside of Windjammer with a dedicated drink station. Try doing that on Allure. I double dare you.

 

Some misses - Not really negatives, just some reflections - Chefs Table - location at rear of dining room and near service entrance to galley. Very loud and hard to hear chefs presentation. Even a glass partition would help this immensely.

 

Entertainment - Very good quality but aimed at an old crowd. This was a mixed age crowd cruise and I felt like one of the few younger people at the headliner and production shows. Come on Royal, bring on one act that people under 50 years old may know. If you openly wept at the passing of Frank Sinatra, well, this was the cruise for you. Those under 40 we spoke to felt similar to us...throw us a bone Royal.

 

Late night food - Not that we ever went hungry, but only a couple of limited items in the Park Cafe late at night and ended by midnight. If you were out later than that you were out of options (or pay for room service delivery). A lot of guests were commenting how much better Carnival was in this area.

 

Casino - It stinks. It is fairly small casino and it really stinks terribly in there. This really limited my game play. They had some $1 - $3 tables on sea days but I just couldn't sit in there. I smoked for 15 years and my eyes watered after just a few minutes. This is a universal issue with all smoking casinos. I was up, I was down, and I left the ship just about even which is fine with me.

 

Plusses-

Staff -

Our MDR staff was phenomenal. My Time Dining ran head and shoulders above Allure. My experience on Allure with MTD was sub-par, on Legend it was probably a model of what Royal wants guests to experience. We had Mr. A and Mr. K (Alfredo and Keith) as well as Pol and Franky (we were on the border of two sections, and made friends, so depending on availability we dined one section or the other, but all four took equal and excellent care of us).

 

Our room attendant Mariana was friendly and our room always spotless. We had no special requests, but she was very efficient in her work.

 

Entertainment staff - CD Paul Rutter, Moe, Desmond, Laura - Good energy, you can tell they take pride in their work. You see them all over the ship all the time. With only 1800 guests versus 5500+ on Allure they knew us by name mid-week (we were the newlyweds in the love and marriage game and I'm pretty sure my new bride made quite the impression on the CD...)

 

Royal hosted a nice get together on Day 2 (sea day) for cruise critic meet and mingle with some food/drinks as well as some small gifts and upper level staff. Other cruise lines do not do this, and it is a nice touch that Royal puts forth the effort here. There was a fairly active roll call and we got to put screen names to faces and met some truly excellent people that we enjoyed talking to and seeing around the ship and ports of call.

 

We had an inside cabin, deck 6, almost exactly halfway between the Centrum and forward stairs. Dead Silent cabin. Everything worked flawlessly. Excellent water pressure, toilet perfect. New Samsung flat-panel TV on swivel mount. A/C kept room comfortably cool. Had a mini-loveseat, not a sofa. The supplied hairdryer was very strong and used one of the non-US plugs. Storage was plenty adequate.

 

Sure, this is an older ship that had a fairly extensive renovation in 2013, but overall this is a very nice ship. Will you find a cruddy fixture or a rail in need of varnish here of there? I guess; if you really are spending your time looking for such things (some of the reviews on cruise critic are absolutely absurd in this regard, beyond ridiculous would be an understatement).

 

Would I recommend this ship to family or friends? Yes, with the caveat that it will not have all the entertainment or attractions of the latest and greatest ships, and that the entertainment is likely geared towards an older crowd. However, a smaller ship is easy to get around and very conducive to making new friends which is part of a great experience.

 

Would I sail on this ship again? Yes, for the right itinerary. Anyone who has seen me post here before knows I am itching to get on board a Radiance-class ship though.

 

We booked excursions for 3 of the 5 stops through the ship, as well as had pre-paid dining package. We did not buy anything from the Centrum shops. Any purchases handled through Royal had absolutely no issues with billing or execution and over 10 days we only made one stop at guest services just to check our bill. No issues; so again, better than our Allure experience.

 

I have over 1K pics from our trip and will upload and share some throughout the week.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and I'd be glad to answer.

 

Thank you so much for your review. We are on her sailing 1st April to Panama and also staying on deck 6 midships. Looking forward to meeting Marianna. Your review was amazing and has made us even more excited.

 

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

[EatonDoolittle]

Hey Jared, Laura, Handgela et al...

 

RE: wanting to sail on the Radiance class...Serenade is doing our itinerary but replacing St Croix with either Martinique or Dominica late '15, and early '16.

 

I am reviewing the choices for that time frame on all the lines, since I am not necessary loyal to Royal, but I enjoyed the Legend so much, I may book this one.

 

BTW, your review and comments were spot on. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Laurie

[LMaxwell]

I'll be working on some photos of the galley tour to put up today.

 

Also in regards to Serenade; there is a 9 night one time southern itinerary too they are going to run next year. Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and Key West. Considering that one.

[cruiseclues]

Something you will not find on Oasis/Allure; a WIDE promenade with spectacular open air sea views (does not go 360° though on Legend). Notice the abundance of floor to ceiling windows for centrum and dining rooms.

 

 

 

These two photos are just so great...they really give you the feel of cruising. :):):):)

[EatonDoolittle]

I'll be working on some photos of the galley tour to put up today.

 

Also in regards to Serenade; there is a 9 night one time southern itinerary too they are going to run next year. Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and Key West. Considering that one.

 

Pretty close to the 9 night ABCs and Haiti on the Explorer out of PC that I am taking in Dec.

There are only 2 nine nighters, then it goes to 7 days. Nice filler itinerary.

[adjoankora]

I have over 1K pics from our trip and will upload and share some throughout the week.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and I'd be glad to answer.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed review! My DH and I will be doing a 10 days Southeast Asia sailing on Legend October 2015. We are booked in a PV cabin -- an outside with floor to ceiling windows. By any chance do you have any photos of this cabin category? Also, where can I find more of your photos of the Legend? The ones here are fantastic. Thanks much.

[Folk Singer]

many thanks for the review and the photos. awesome.

[OttawaMom]

:p

Some pics from Antigua

 

 

 

Looks like a beautiful excursion. I am going on my cruise on Feb 6 2015. On this excursion "catamaran sail and snorkel, beach was there access to washrooms?

[robandana]

Great review, thanks and great pic's.

[britty1]

Did they have sufficient activities on sea days ??? We are curious since we are doing the Panama in about 90 days and we have a goodly number of sea days, also do they have the tuttu fruiti salad bar on this ship. :D

[Clarea]

Did they have sufficient activities on sea days ??? We are curious since we are doing the Panama in about 90 days and we have a goodly number of sea days, also do they have the tuttu fruiti salad bar on this ship. :D

Yes, they have the Tutti Salad Bar. We thought the activities were excellent.

[copi2boys]

Ottawamom have you joined the roll call? http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1940243

 

It's getting very active! These pictures just whet the appetite - picking up end-of-summer sales for cruisewear!

[sharonlacey]

Thanks for the great TR, we are cruising this ship in March, cant wait.;)

[erniebert]

I'm so happy to read this! We're doing almost exactly the same thing - 12 nights on Oasis followed by 12 nights on Legend and I had the same concerns as you. So glad you didn't feel Legend was a let down in comparison! :D