Just off the Legend today...great cruise!

[jusilva]

Thank you for sharing the pictures! We are going on Legend on July 6th....and we are getting married in Cozumel! It is nice to see the beautiful places!


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[TeresaJ]

[quote name='Tutontow']Thanks so much for posting. I leave on The Legend 4 weeks from today. You are correct when you say how fortunate we are. I bet you were glad to get down south for a couple of days considering the winter you guys have had up there.[/QUOTE]

Yes we are lucky to live in the US.
But I want to escape again as we have snow coming later this week. ..grrr.

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[TeresaJ]

[quote name='AnnaBeth']We will be on the Conquest in April with several of the same ports so I was excited to read your review. My girls are 11 and 9. We have booked the same snorkeling tour in Belize and since my girls have never done this before I was glad to see that staying on the beach is a good option as well.

We were considering Chankanaab in Cozumel. I see that you mentioned you did that in the past. Did you prefer Paradise over Chankanaab? I don't think my girls would use the water toys that were out in Paradise so I thought Chankanaab would give us more options for something to do.

Since Roatan is our fourth and final port we are planning on staying at Mahogany Bay. My youngest dd wants to try ziplining. I have read that there is a place in the port. Did you happen to see it and is it a reasonable walk if you did?

Thank you for all of the info! We are getting really excited for our trip and seeing your pictures of the ports makes us all even more excited! :)[/QUOTE]

Many people on our Belize tour didn't snorkel but came with family members that did so it's not a issue.

We really liked Chankanaab for the snorkeling and activities. Paradise is just a really nice relaxing pool and beach day. I recommend both!

I don't recall seeing the zip line in Roatan however we quickly got off the ship and got on our shuttle. We didn't do a lot of exploring. My guess is it's to the right when you exit the ship towards the mahogany bay beach area.

Have a great cruise!

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[TeresaJ]

Friday, March 21 – Grand Cayman

I love Grand Cayman! This is our 2nd visit and I worry about not being able to tender here because so many times this port can be cancelled. Nonetheless, we woke up to calm seas so it was a go! The tender line was a little bit of a wait (no big deal) and the boat ride is 5 minutes. Once off the tender, I searched for a taxi to take us to 7 mile beach. I found a guy with a sign for Royal Palms at 7 mile beach for $5pp. We took it and a few others joined us. The fee to get into Royal Palms is $2pp and chairs are $7 each. The kids played a lot in the sand near the water and we met some people from our ship here too. The water was refreshing because it started out a little cloudy and then around noon it cleared up and got HOT! More sunblock on but we’re not complaining because we know the cold Wisconsin weather back at home is waiting for us.

Legend in GC

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7 Mile:

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Cabana's for rent:

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I can see the tail from Royal Palms:

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We had lunch at Royal Palms and it was quite expensive but oh well, we’re on vacation and quite honestly we haven’t had to have lunch in any of the 3 other ports so this was a splurge. We had 2 pizzas and order of wings and 2 rounds of drinks and it was $83 Cayman but in American money it was $103. I think about 3 or 4pm we decided to catch a taxi back to the ship and get back on board. Taxi was $4pp going back and they didn’t charge for my daughter because she sat on mine and my husband’s lap. Crazy enough that people that were on the shuttle with us in Roatan were on this taxi. Small world! Once on board, we went up to Lido and had something from the grill/deli/pizza (our usual!).

A shot of GC from the ship
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Because we had a 2nd lunch when we got back on board the ship, we were not hungry for dinner so we went to the Family Comedy show (2 new comedians) at 8pm in the Firebird lounge. The first comedian was really funny! Again, our whole family enjoyed the show. Right after the show, we went to the dining room for dinner.

For dinner I had the California spring mix salad and cherry tomatoes and the petite filet mignon and braised short ribs. The guys had the shrimp and fries. My daughter ordered the lasagna and she realized how it’s not like lasagna I make at home with no spinach and a little less beef. The waiter was very accommodating and brought out her spaghetti and red sauce. Our meal was very good!

After dinner, the kids were tired and headed to the cabin. My husband I decided to go watch Epic Rock in the main Follies lounge for the 10:30 show. What a great show! If you don’t go to shows or don’t like the entertainment, I just have one recommendation, go see this show. It’s so worth it! They also had an 8:30pm show so you can see it earlier in the night. The music and singing and choreography are definitely a step up from any other shows we saw this week. After the show, we headed back to the cabin for a good night’s rest because tomorrow is our last sea day…boohoo!

[carnival03]

Great review, really enjoying following along! We leave in 11 days and plan on going to royal palms as well... Did everything seem expensive, maybe we should do all inclusive...

[porcupyn]

[quote name='TeresaJ']We are me (42), DH (44), DS (13), and DD (9). We are from Wisconsin and try and take a cruise during spring break each year and escape the cold weather for a week. This is mine and my husband’s 5th cruise overall (4 on Carnival) and our kids’ 4th cruise.

We started our adventure on Friday, March 14th after school and drove 4 hours to the Milwaukee airport area and stayed in a hotel since we had an early 7am flight on Saturday morning. All went smooth and we landed in Tampa at 10:45am. Woohoo! Warm sun and palm trees! We spent the day at one of my dearest friends' house who lives in Inverness, FL (about 1 ½ hours from Tampa area). We had a great time.

Left around 9:15am early Sunday morning to head to port! We had to return the rental car and boy was this a crazy adventure! We rented a car from Budget at the Tampa airport on Saturday and it was easy peasy..however I chose to return it to the Budget location in downtown Tampa at the Embassy Suites because it was 5 minutes from port. What was I thinking! Downtown area was crazy, of course and we finally found the hotel and there was no direction from the Budget staff and instead the Valet from the hotel directed us where to park. I went inside the hotel to find the Budget counter and there were probably 10 people in line to rent and return cars and only 1 desk person. WHAT! Another guy who was also returning his car decided to go up to the counter drop the keys and tell the 1 person on staff that he was returning the car. I proceeded to do the same. I was not going to wait an hour in line to return a car. Anyway, hard to believe they only have 1 person on staff and no one to greet you upon your return so you can be on your way. Lesson learned on that one. Then we needed to find a taxi – that seemed to not be easy either. The Embassy Suites was a madhouse of people and cars coming and going and a very small drive up space. A shuttle driver must have noticed us walking around aimlessly with all of our luggage and offered us a ride to port for $20 for our family of 4. I thanked him so much! He had one other couple going on the NCL ship. So thankful as it literally took 5 minutes or less and we were at the port. I was so glad that rental car mess was done with and we could start our cruise!

Boarding was easy…we were on the ship in 20 minutes or less. Got on board about 11:40am. Hard to believe a mere 30 minutes ago I was at the hotel wondering how in the heck to return the car!

I have to head off to work now :( so I will write and post pics this evening! Thanks![/QUOTE]
Thanks for your review. My review is coming up later this week. We came off the Liberty on Saturday. Our family is similar to yours - added up, our total age should match yours. Our DS and DD are the same age as yours. Would be nice to connect offline. Does cruise critic have a private message thing? Or you could leave your e-mail on [url=http://porcupyn.wordpress.com]my blog[/url].

[TeresaJ]

Towel animals on the Lido lounge chairs on the morning of Grand Cayman!

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[shoppingfever]

About how early were you out there to get those pics of the towel animals? I love it and want to see it before they all get moved!

[TeresaJ]

[quote name='shoppingfever']About how early were you out there to get those pics of the towel animals? I love it and want to see it before they all get moved![/QUOTE]

Not too early..maybe around 9:30am.

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[TeresaJ]

[quote name='porcupyn']Thanks for your review. My review is coming up later this week. We came off the Liberty on Saturday. Our family is similar to yours - added up, our total age should match yours. Our DS and DD are the same age as yours. Would be nice to connect offline. Does cruise critic have a private message thing? Or you could leave your e-mail on [url=http://porcupyn.wordpress.com]my blog[/url].[/QUOTE]

Hope your cruise was great! Where are you from? Not sure if there is private messages on CC.

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[TeresaJ]

[quote name='carnival03']Great review, really enjoying following along! We leave in 11 days and plan on going to royal palms as well... Did everything seem expensive, maybe we should do all inclusive...[/QUOTE]

Not anymore expensive than other places but the exchange for grand cayman money and American is not good so it was a lot more in American money. I didn't realize they had an all inclusive option. What is the cost?

Have fun. We really enjoyed our day there!

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[MommaBear55]

[quote name='carnival03']Great review, really enjoying following along! We leave in 11 days and plan on going to royal palms as well... Did everything seem expensive, maybe we should do all inclusive...[/QUOTE]

All inclusive is $75 for those over 18, $50 for 11-17, $40 for 4-10, under 4 free. This includes entry, lounger, food and drink. Umbrellas are extra.... You would have to decide whether it is worth it to you!

[nicole2380]

Thanks for the review. I leave on her tomorrow.


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[TeresaJ]

Saturday, March 22nd – Sea Day

We woke up to sunny skies and very smooth seas, like glass so smooth! Anyway, we slept until 8 or so and I decided I wanted to get coffee and get a lounge chair to hang out in on our last day. We had a hard time finding chairs together right by both pools as they were already taken so I went right up to Deck 10 and there were an abundance of chairs! This is my view for most of the day. I finished my book I started on this cruise-goal achieved!

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Today was a super lazy day. My husband and I did a lot of relaxing in our chairs or dipping in the pool. The kids played ping pong, mini golf, and went in the pools a lot. My son played basketball for several hours again in the afternoon. We also took my daughter over to the waterslide area too. We also decided to do some shopping on board and visit the arcade. I was discovering areas of the ship we had never been to all week. Go figure!

We decided at the very later part of the afternoon (4:30) that it was time to head back to the cabin and get packed up…boohoo! Then before dinner, we went to the Red Frog Pub and listened to Angie again. They served some snacks that we weren’t sure what they were, but they tasted good! Those were complementary. I didn’t see a menu to order food. We headed to dinner in the dining room a little later and had our same wait team as the previous night. They remembered us and we had great service! After dinner, we watched/listened to Teeples People band for awhile. Walked around the ship for a bit and decided to call it an early night. We had a long, long day of traveling the next day!

Our last towel animal

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[TeresaJ]

The kids wanted me to get a picture of all 3 elevators lined up. That would take all night, I'm sure. I was close:

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The decor is a little different

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Comedy club

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[TeresaJ]

Well, the dreaded day to get off the ship has arrived. We were in zone 16 because our flight was at 1:20pm and we were not doing self-assist (too many darn suitcases!) We went to breakfast at 8:15 and came back to get our belongings and we vacated the cabin around 9am and went to deck 3 to wait for them to call zones. They were only on the first set of zones so I knew it would be a bit of a wait. Finally at 10:15 they were on zone 12 and a Carnival employee started announcing all zones to get in line and debark so off we went! Our suitcases were waiting and we quickly went through customs, exited the terminal and hopped a cab to the Tampa airport ($25 for cab ride for the 4 of us).

Final thoughts on the cruise. We had a great time and I can't really think of anything negative to say about the ship or experience we had. The weather was great and a relaxing vacation was just what we needed. A few tips:

Coffee - Do not use the machines that are coffee/hot chocolate combos as the coffee comes out looking like well, coffee and hot chocolate mixed together and it doesn't taste very good. Elsewhere, they have a set of coffee machines that serve only coffee. The coffee from these machines tasted like coffee! They were located inside the Lido buffet.

Pizza - be prepared to wait. I believe it was made to order. I never had it but my son, daughter, and hubby would get it most days and they always had to wait awhile.

Deli - never hardly a wait for sandwiches and they were delicious and fresh!

Grill - the Grill was very popular in the later afternoons, especially on the port days. It served burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders (yum!), fries, chips/salsa, cheese sauce. The lines went pretty fast though.

Made to order omelets for breakfast - go outside to the outdoor serving area (where the Grill is during lunch). Never a line. In the inside areas where they make the omelets there would be many people waiting and then I would walk outside and no one was waiting! I had omelets 4 mornings and they were always great!

Cabin - We loved our french interior 4151. We slept so sound; never heard a peep. The room is bigger than a regular interior which is nice for 4 people.

Lounge chairs - on sea days, if you want a group of chairs together near the pools, get out there early by 8 or 8:30. Otherwise, there are plenty of chairs available on Deck 10.

Anytime Dining - Love this option! We went to dinner at all different times throughout the week so it suits us best. I know you don't get the same wait staff each night (unless you request), but we prefer having the flexible dinner time. We only had to wait for a table the first night otherwise we walked right in.

Happy cruising to all!

[shoppingfever]

Thank you for your great review! We sail this coming Sunday and I am so excited!!!

Is it pretty obvious where the grill is in relation to everything else or do we need to go somewhere to find it?

[TeresaJ]

[quote name='shoppingfever']Thank you for your great review! We sail this coming Sunday and I am so excited!!!

Is it pretty obvious where the grill is in relation to everything else or do we need to go somewhere to find it?[/QUOTE]

Yes it's easy to find. It's located on Lido (nearest to the main pool area) right near the entrance to the inside buffet. They have one located on each side of the ship, although not both were always open at the same time.

Have a great time on your cruise!

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[TeresaJ]

[quote name='MommaBear55']All inclusive is $75 for those over 18, $50 for 11-17, $40 for 4-10, under 4 free. This includes entry, lounger, food and drink. Umbrellas are extra.... You would have to decide whether it is worth it to you![/QUOTE]


Thanks for the information!

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[TeresaJ]

I also wanted to note that the CD and asst. CD were good (Willie/Mike). Very present on the ship and not in an annoying way. They were a lot of fun and interacted a lot with passengers.

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[reerun25]

Great review, really enjoyed it!

[TeresaJ]

[quote name='reerun25']Great review, really enjoyed it![/QUOTE]

Thanks for reading it!

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[nikita]

I know reviews take a long time and effort so I just want to say "thank you"!!!! I really enjoyed your feedback and photos!!! We leave in June on the Legend for the third time and it sounds like they've done some improvements with entertainment and food.

In Belize was the Island clean with nice restrooms and restaurant? Would you say the excursion was worth the money? Was there places to swim - or was the water mostly for snorkeling (reef like etc)? Did they have enough lounge chairs for everyone?

When you went to the comedy club did you have to go very early to get seats?
Thanks so much!!!!

[flahagan]

Thanks for such a thorough review! We're sailing on the Legend in Ausut (Panama Canal transit) with our 16-yr-old grandson in an OV room on Riviera deck.
It's a cabin for 3 (no pull-down bunk) so he will use the sofa bed. Could you tell me if they make this up each night and then put it back as a sofa for use during the day? My hubby really needs to sit on something that has a back for support so wouldn't be very happy without the sofa.
Thanks again.

[jusilva]

Pog


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