Victory week of 7/17/05

[fern1226]

Sorry I'm that I'm a bit late in posting this. It's hard to come to these boards knowing my cruise has passed.:(

We had a wonderful time. We flew in a day early and when we arrived at the airport we were hit with a 2 hour delay. In Atlanta we were hit with a 1 hour delay. Were were bumped up to first class on the Atlanta to Miami leg, which pleased the kids (and me). When we got to the Holiday Inn POM they said they were expecting us on Sunday and not Saturday. I was very concerned that they would be sold out but they had rooms for us. We were a group of 8, 4 adults, 2 15 year olds and 2 11year olds. We went to the Bayside Marketplace for dinner and for breakfast the men went to McDonalds.

We arrrived at the Port at 10 am on Sunday. The doors opened soon after and we were checked in and in a holding area before 11 am. We were one of the first ones on the ship and we got on a little before 1. In my previous 2 cruises we were almost the last ones on, so this was a nice change to be on so early. I think the muster drill was around 4. A couple of the pools were open when we got and so was the slide. Our DS loved swimming in the pool on the first day because it was so empty. The slide was only closed one day. I loved the slide.

We loved the ports (Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel). In Grand Cayman the tender situation was such that people were getting into physical fights for spots on the tenders. Many people we talked with said they didn't go on the island because of the tender situation. Luckily, we made it and we did the Rays, Reef and Rum tour through Nativeway. Rum Point is a beautiful and relaxing place. We really miss it. We made it back to the pier at 3:17 pm and the last tender was supposed to be at 3:15. We caught the next to last tender. In Cozumel it rained all day so we walked around and shopped. We ate at a local restaurant called La Choza. It was terrific.

My DH and I kept having problems with our Sail and Sign, it kept changing us to minors. That wasn't a good thing when trying to buy beer. We had to have it reset a few times.

One of my favorite parts of the cruise was going to the front of the ship. I learned about it from these boards. I loved going there when leaving a port and at night. There was hardly anyone there everytime we went.

I saw my cabin steward, Oscar, the first day (we were in the main aft) and asked him to keep my bucket iced and I would reward him. He was very good about keeping it iced. We bought bottled water and diet coke in Miami.

We had wonderful service the whole week. Our servers in the Atlantic Dining room were Bernie and Timea. Bernie sang "Leaving on a Fun Ship" the last night. One night at dinner a girl in our party didn't like anything on any of the two (kids and adults) menu and I told her she could order a steak and she did. I learned the steak thing off these boards.

My DH won the hairy chest contest. I'm so proud:).

We were one of the last colors called to leave the ship, not sure the exact time we got off the ship but we were in the Miami Airport by 1 pm.

I will be happy to answer any questions. All of the kids had a wonderful time. I was worried about the 15 year olds but they had fun. On sea days we were up on the upper deck around the main pool by 10. Not sure how much chair saving went on.

It was such a wonderful week and we are all still depressed from it being over. Not sure when we'll cruise again but I can't wait.

[fern1226]

The seashorses at the end of the stairs were a pain. My right hip had a big bruise from those dang things. Loved the reubens and cheeseburgers. I waited until the last day to try the cheeseburgers and loved them. If I'd tried them the first day, I'm sure I would've put on some serious pounds.

[Fern Crest]

Welcome home! Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation. It's always great to read about someone's cruise!

 

I hope to be able to share happy stories about my Legend cruise when I get home, and if you have any tips for getting over the "Why Did We Have To Come Home?" blues, please let me know! :D

Leaving on the Legend in the Morning!!!!!

[floridaboyz]

One of my favorite parts of the cruise was going to the front of the ship. I learned about it from these boards. I loved going there when leaving a port and at night. There was hardly anyone there everytime we went.

Remind me again . . . where was the access point to get to these areas?

[fern1226]

Remind me again . . . where was the access point to get to these areas?

I think we could get there from levels 6 and up. Most of the time we used levels 9 and 10. It was so cool being up there.

[fern1226]

Welcome home! Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation. It's always great to read about someone's cruise!

 

I hope to be able to share happy stories about my Legend cruise when I get home, and if you have any tips for getting over the "Why Did We Have To Come Home?" blues, please let me know! :D

Leaving on the Legend in the Morning!!!!!

Fern: Nice name! Have fun. :)

[sparky3229]

Thank you for the information. We will be on the Victory in Nov. Were people who planned on getting off at Grand Caymen not able too? Did they miss their excursions? Did the ship have a sushi bar? Did you have to 'sneak' the sodas in that you bought in Miami? That's all for now. We can't wait for our trip!

[Kaycee1]

Hi Fern,

 

Thank you for the info. I was glad to hear the pools and slide were open the first day. My kids are so looking forward to that slide. Well goota run have to start packing. We are leaving in just seven days:D

[kytten_kat]

Thanks fern for your review ... and for reminding me about the "secret spot" ... what kind of cabin did you have ... you mentioned being at the port about 10 and the gates opening ... so to get there any earlier would not be good ... I love to people watch and am wondering if it would pay to get there early ...

 

Candy

[fern1226]

Thanks fern for your review ... and for reminding me about the "secret spot" ... what kind of cabin did you have ... you mentioned being at the port about 10 and the gates opening ... so to get there any earlier would not be good ... I love to people watch and am wondering if it would pay to get there early ...

 

Candy

Candy: We were in a main aft cabin. We were near the elevator, which I didn't dig. I could hear the elevator bell late into the night and then in the middle of the night people would get off the elevator and then decide to talk (outside our door) about the next days plans. Good thing I brought ear plugs. My husband wears 2 plugs, so he hears nothing, and I only wear 1 in case the kid needs me. When we got to the port, there was no organized line to get in the building so we just waited at the base of the steps. I didn't mind waiting so long inside. I just didn't want to get stuck waiting in a long line outside. We saw the line around 3 pm and the people were outside and it was very long. The time people get on the ship seems to vary from week to week. I would still get there around 10, just take something to read or do or just take a nap. As far as people watching, I agree with you. We sat on the upper deck around the main pool and watched people. Hope this helps.

[fern1226]

Thank you for the information. We will be on the Victory in Nov. Were people who planned on getting off at Grand Caymen not able too? Did they miss their excursions? Did the ship have a sushi bar? Did you have to 'sneak' the sodas in that you bought in Miami? That's all for now. We can't wait for our trip!

Sparky: Yes, we brought sodas on. They were in our checked bags and when we got to the port and saw how the bags were handled we were worried they would bust. They were fine, though. Yes, the people we talked too said they wanted to get off but couldn't and they had to cancel their tour. Not sure if they booked it on their own. Some of the crew we talked with said that they were going to go but just stayed on. There were about 5 ships in port that day. Our tender driver/captain was attempting to dock and other tender pulled in front of him. It took our dude about 5-10 minutes to dock. I was worried we were going to miss our tour. Didn't see a sushi bar. Tried the Asian/Chinese one day and didn't like it. Have fun on your trip.

[fern1226]

Hi Fern,

 

Thank you for the info. I was glad to hear the pools and slide were open the first day. My kids are so looking forward to that slide. Well goota run have to start packing. We are leaving in just seven days:D

Kaycee: I'm so jealous. Last night we were watching some of movies from our cruise and we wanted to back on the ship. I loved the slide. I was so glad it was open because our son went down it alot. My friend and I had fun talking with the guys in the deli. It seemed like no one talked to them so we would chat with them everytime we went through. I would imagine it would get boring making sandwiches all day so we would try and make them laugh. The dude from India was a hoot.

Fern

[fern1226]

About a 2 weeks before our cruise we called Carnival and asked them about soda at dinner. They told us that kids could have 1 free soda at dinner and when we got to dinner the first night, they told us "no". Not a big deal just a minor pain.