Carnival Legend Review - March 2016 South Pacific - Pics/Food

[Tigerlily75]

Hi all, this is my second cruise, and first review :)

 

I will try to complete it in a timely manner!

 

This cruise was myself and my 16 year old daughter, we live in Melbourne, Australia, sailing from Sydney. We have two Carnival ships here; the Spirit full time, and the Legend part time (she goes to Alaska via Hawaii in April, and returns in October).

 

Cruising is a booming business in Australia and we have all major lines such as RCI, Princess, Celebrity, etc with some great itineraries around Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea as well as those up to Singapore or Hong Kong, usually via Bali, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, etc.

 

A bit of background: I had never ever considered cruising before last year, until I won an 8 day cruise on Carnival Spirit in a Carnival online competition (a real one, not a Facebook scam!).

 

Prior to winning, I didn't know much about cruising at all, and if the term 'cruise ship' came up, I associated it with people going missing, and a terrible criminal case that occurred on an Australian P&O ship some years ago. I actually had to get over this association in order to take the prize, but this didn't take long once I googled images of the ship - I couldn't believe there was a waterslide on a ship (I meant it when I said I knew nothing!) and I was pretty much sold! We could stay home and a plane could crash on our house, so meh, what am I worrying about?!

 

I absolutely loved the cruise. I loved being out at sea, I loved falling asleep with the rocking of the ship, I loved the amazing staff, I loved the food! I loved having absolutely everything done for me for 8 glorious days. I was pretty hooked.

 

We took that cruise with my best friend, and my 21 year old niece, all four of us in an interior quad share. That's squishy! It's not the people really, it's all the stuff four people have that make it so squishy. This cruise is just the two of us in a balcony room. Luxury!!

 

Since our last cruise, Carnival Spirit has had some further upgrades, such as Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana, Dive-in movies etc. Ideally I would have chosen the Spirit, but this is a bit of a budget cruise in between two expensive overseas land trips, so I took the lower price on the Legend. Booking it five weeks out from sailing, I got a bargain on a guaranteed balcony.

 

Here is our itinerary:

 

 

(sorry it's a bit fuzzy, it's enough to make you dizzy)

[Tigerlily75]

We flew to Sydney the night before, landing just before 10pm. I knew it would be easiest to stay close to the airport at that time of night so we stayed at Holiday Inn Sydney Airport, standard hotel room (free room upgrade) and lovely service with everyone I encountered - absolutely nothing to fault.

 

In the morning it was an easy four minute walk - even with luggage, to Mascot Station, where we caught a direct train to Circular Quay. On the train you will catch your first glimpse of your ship in port :)

 

Here she is:

 

 

We were early, but baggage drop is open from 8.30am, so we dropped them off and went to have breakfast in The Rocks. It was Easter Saturday, the market was on, lots of music and a nice atmosphere.

 

Dance like no one is watching:

 

 

Everyone clapped :)

 

We headed back to the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay:

 

[AmyW820]

Hi all, this is my second cruise, and first review :)

 

I will try to complete it in a timely manner!

 

 

Subscribing to this thread! I am not from Australia, nor can I afford to travel there in this lifetime, so I will just live my Aussie dream vicariously through you and your review. lol!

 

Thank you for the taking the time to post!

[pirate4me2]

This seems like it will be a great review! We don't get many reviews of the Aussie cruises, so thank you for putting this together. I am terrified of flying, so I may or may not ever get to cruise over there, maybe your review will convince me to bite the bullet and get over that fear so I can experience it.

[Tigerlily75]

We had the first check-in time of 11.30am-12pm. We turned up and saw this:

 

 

We stood in line about three minutes, when I thought there couldn't possibly be this many people for the one timeslot, so I went down the front and asked, and sure enough, with my boarding pass as proof of our check-in time, we were let in straight away. No point turning up early, unless you just want to stand there waiting!

 

Check-in was relatively quick and easy, and we were on board probably about 12.30. Cabins were ready around 1.30. We had balcony guarantee (possible obstructed) and had been allocated 6145 (not obstructed) about a week after booking.

 

 

Sail away was a bit later than planned, we had been notified sail away had been changed to an earlier time of 5pm, but it ended up being around 6.30pm.

 

Waiting for sail away:

 

[TrqoisWtrs]

Nice - an Australian review! Looking forward to more.

[Clarea]

Exciting itinerary, looking forward to more.:)

[dying2cruise]

Excited for this review!!

[Tigerlily75]

Subscribing to this thread! I am not from Australia, nor can I afford to travel there in this lifetime, so I will just live my Aussie dream vicariously through you and your review. lol!

 

Thank you for the taking the time to post!

 

Thanks for reading, and glad I can help - will try to curb any Aussie slang though so you can all understand me ;)

 

This seems like it will be a great review! We don't get many reviews of the Aussie cruises, so thank you for putting this together. I am terrified of flying, so I may or may not ever get to cruise over there, maybe your review will convince me to bite the bullet and get over that fear so I can experience it.

 

In theory you could cruise the entire way and back, but of course that's both $$$ and time. My Dad had a terrible fear of flying and thus never went overseas. On the few domestic flights he took, there was booze and/or Valium involved I believe! I can relate though, for me I had to get over a fear of cruising to take the first one. (If only there were water slides on planes). I would never have considered it if I hadn't won the first one. I threw caution to the wind, and pleasantly, no one threw me over board in international waters.

[jesskuhmarie]

Following!

[Tigerlily75]

Now I might be slightly biased here, but Sydney has got to be one if the most beautiful sail always in the world.

 

Reversing out of the Quay and around towards the bridge (it would not fit under) before heading out of the heads

 

 

Passing the Opera House

 

 

Waving, as you do

 

 

See you in 10 days!

 

 

 

[Tigerlily75]

The pilot boat guiding us out of the heads. Last year, about two cruises after mine, the weather was so bad that the Port of Sydney would not allow the Spirit to dock, and they were stuck out there for two days in huge swells. Everyone felt sorry for them, but me, I was a little envious they got two extra days on the ship.

 

[Jenny in TX]

I am so excited to read your review! There are very few reviews on cruises besides all the Caribbean reviews, which I love, but I can't wait to see all the different islands you are going to. What an amazing view you have cruising from Australia!

 

Thank you so much for sharing!!

[Tigerlily75]

My iPad went flat, now it's finally come back to life (why does it take so long?). I always ignore the 5% warning and then seem surprised when it goes flat.

 

Thanks all for reading, I wasn't so sure an Australian cruise would be of interest, but I know I searched for some reviews before my first cruise, so figured I would give it a go, especially as the Legend itself also sails the US, I am very happy to see it is of some interest!

 

First night dinner and our first time doing traditional dining, late seating at 7.45pm. I was excited to see who our table mates would be. Instead we were at a table for four (that could be awkward?) and they never showed up.

 

But our waiters were great, so even though I knew I could request a table change, I didn't want to leave them. Our table mates never showed up the entire cruise, and by night three we didn't want them to, it was our table now!

 

So I will have to see how it goes next time, maybe I will request a large table from the beginning.

 

Veggie spring rolls, she took a bite before I could take a photo

 

 

Heart of iceberg lettuce, I was determined to eat plenty of veggies and fruit while completely overindulging for ten days straight

 

 

We both had Irish Lamb Stew, it was nice but next time I would order a side of mashed potato to go with it, it needed it I think

 

 

Daughter had mango sorbet

 

 

And me, well ...

 

 

After dinner, Daughter went with some trepidation to Club O2. She didn't go last time, but this time with just the two of us, I encouraged her to at least give it a go on the first night. She was happy enough to go back the next day. As it turned out, there were a lot of kids (the group photo at the end was huge), and rather than just meet the first night and then run off and do their own thing like I'd heard so much about, they actually did most of the activities, particularly the night time ones.

 

The late night parties were popular, and after those many of them would go get pizza and play cards. Overall it was a success, and she was not only glad she went, but wished she had also gone the first time around.

 

One thing she found annoying though was that our late seating dinner often clashed with some activities, and she was often torn between the two. In the end she always came to dinner (she loved our waiters too, and also didn't want me to "look sad eating alone", haha) except for the last night when it was all farewells etc for Club O2.

 

After dinner I went to the Welcome Aboard show, followed by Punchliner comedy. Both were good (not great, but ok).

 

Finally, up on Deck ten, the moon on the water and another cruise ship (possibly the Spirit who was heading back to Sydney). It was so pretty in real life, but of course the iPhone doesn't quite cut it!

 

 

(can you even see it?!)

[RubyGold]

Thanks for the review, loving it so far.

Definitely appreciate an aussie review. Nobody does them!

[Tigerlily75]

Before I go get some sleep before continuing, I'll just quickly explain some of the differences when sailing out of Australia on Carnival.

 

One is that the ship runs on Australian dollars - not all ships do (RCI for example still runs in US dollars) so it's worth mentioning.

 

Second is that there are no gratuities. Australia not being a tipping culture, Carnival decided to just make it an all-in-one fare, there is no separate gratuity charge that can be removed. (I was talking to my waiter about the differences in sailing here vs US, and they do get the same amount as if there were gratuities added, so they are not missing out. Many, especially seasoned cruisers, will often give a cash tip on the last night). I believe Princess is the same, but RCI and Celebrity do have the added gratuities.

 

Third is there are no alcoholic drink packages. Again not the same for all lines, most do have them here including other Carnival Corp lines, but for some reason they have decided against it for Carnival Oz.

 

And the last one (that I can think of) is the room service menu is completely different, and nothing on it is complimentary (it's actually quite expensive, and not worth using). I have no idea why!

 

Oh there is one more - there's Vegemite at breakfast :)

[inlinesick]

OMG!!! We're deff interested into australian cruise!!!! Suscribed

[jimbo5544]

What a great start to your review! I can't wait to read the rest of it. Thanks for posting it, your country is def on our bucket list.

[dscow]

Love this review! And your photo style is great ~ is it your camera or software that gives them that vintage quality? Looking forward to your next post. Debbie

[eaglebowler]

Loving this review, I reckon we got off the Legend the morning that you got on.

[elliair]

We'll be on the Legend in May to Alaska. Looking forward to it as we've never been on the Legend. Thanks for sharing!

[sjn911]

I have a dear friend from HS living and teaching there for 2 years..she is having the time of her life and posting so much. One of my sisters spent 6 months there and was a nanny half of it and her daughter was able to go too on a school trip with my dad as a chaperone....their happiness and memories past and current are in my heart...wonderful country.

 

Definitely on my bucket list but so far and seemingly overwhelming at this point...thank you thank you thank you for this...it is a sign to me lol...somehow going to make it...so glad it was a great time. I also want any Spirit class ship or that size on another line again so this is nice.

Edited April 7, 2016 by sjn911

[Ms Jo UK]

Thank you thank you thank you - we have the Spirit booked for November 2017. This will probably be our once in a lifetime trip to Australia so I am devouring your review and your informative differences on Carnival Australia cruising.

 

I know you sailed Legend but I am just interested in anything Carival Australia.

 

Your doing an excellent job

Edited April 7, 2016 by Ms Jo UK

[bakersdozen12]

Love your review! I really appreciate you taking the time to write it, and I can't wait to read the rest. I've never read an Australian cruise review, so I'm very much looking forward to it. :)

[tropicaledrink]

I have looked at the itineraries from Australia so many times, especially since our favorite class of ship is the Spirit class. It's not the right time for us to venture to Australia yet (DH is still in school), but this is 100% on my to do list and I have been dying for someone to do a review. THANK YOU.

 

Also, I'm going to assume flat = dead battery? :D Keep on with the Aussie slang - I love learning about sayings in other cultures!