11/19/05 Legend of the Seas Trip Report

[smrtypnts]

Our trip began mid afternoon on Friday. Before leaving home, I poured vodka and rum into empty water bottles and put them in my carry on luggage. I also took a bottle of cranberry juice for my vodka. DH enjoyed his rum with coke in the room whenever we went back for something or in the evening while changing for dinner. We live about an hour north of NYC and drove to JFK airport. I dropped the family at the terminal and then drove to the long term parking area. I then took the air train to the terminal and met them. We had a bite to eat in the terminal and then headed for our gate. The flight was an hour late in arriving, so we were an hour late in departing and thus an hour late arriving in Tampa. We arrived in Tampa at approximately 12:30am. We stayed at La Quinta Inn, Tampa Airport. I got them from going through Expedia, but couldn’t seem to find anyone who had anything good to say about this hotel, so I was a little skeptical. For $65 + tax, we got a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel. The hotel included a fair continental breakfast. While I wouldn’t want to stay at this hotel for a week on a vacation, it was certainly more than satisfactory for an evening. It was clean and nice. I would recommend it to anyone for a 1 or 2 night’s stay. The hotel provided a shuttle to the pier. It was $10pp and we paid for round trip. They used BlueOne. I would recommend this company, also. I thought they were very efficient. We left on the shuttle at 11am.

Upon arrival at the pier, everything went VERY smoothly. We were the first people to check in that didn’t have to wait any time to embark. We went straight to our cabins (1 for us and 1 for our two teens) and checked them out. Then we headed up to the Windjammer and ate lunch. I thought the lunch was mediocre at best. I think my husband and son ate in there a time or two more over the course of the week, but I did not. Our total party was 14 people and I know many of them ate in there numerous times. No one had anything good to say about breakfast, but I was told lunch was pretty good. After lunch, we began exploring the ship.

I thought the Legend was beautiful. I loved all her glass and windows. I loved her atrium/centrum and I loved her dining room. I saw the typical balcony rooms and ours were OV. They were typical and adequate; nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either. I heard there was only 1 outlet in the room and 1 in the bathroom, so I brought extension cords with extra outlets. I never found a reason to use them. I plugged my hairdryer in one and my curling iron in one. When I wasn’t doing my hair, my phone could recharge, my video camera could charge……well, you get the picture. The extension cords were a waste of space in my opinion. In the bathroom, there’s a large medicine cabinet with 3 or 4 shelves to adequately put away all your hairbrushes and toothbrushes and hairdryers, etc. If it’s not enough room, there’s a large shelf underneath the sink. There’s also a small shelf above the toilet. In the shower there’s several places for soap and shampoo. On the door to the bathroom, there are 4 hooks for robes or drying bathing suits, etc. I also brought a shoe holder to hang on the door to hold all the miscellaneous, and again, I thought this was a waste of space in my suitcase, as I never even opened it. If we had had 4 people in the room, I can see why we may have needed the shoe holder, but for 2 people, I feel it was unnecessary. We had plenty of pillows and the bed was very comfortable.

Every once in a while, we checked back in our cabin to see if our luggage had arrived. We also met our steward. My children’s adjoining cabin was locked and we had a choice of locked for the week or open for the week. There would be no in-between, which kind of through us for a loop, but wasn’t anything we couldn’t deal with. The manager unlocked it for us later the first evening. We gave the cabin steward $10 up front and asked that we always have ice, which he said he does twice daily, and he did, but we didn’t feel this was good enough, although we never complained. He also moved the single kind sized bed to two twin beds in my children’s room. Our luggage didn’t arrive until about 8:00 that first night. Thank goodness we had late dinner seating.

Because people here on CC suggested it, I asked if I could get escargot that first night. I could not. I was told it would be served the second night. CC also said that once something is served you could get it again, anytime you want. This was not the case. If it wasn’t on the menu, they always said no. It was a bit of a bummer, but I’m not one to make waves, nor did I want to get myself upset over something so petty. The escargot was ho-hum, by the way. It was a little more mushy than it should have been, in my opinion.

Went to the casino after dinner that first night and played blackjack for a few hours. Held my own. Lost a little, but not much.

The first night we signed my son up with AO. He’s 11 and had to be put into the 9-11 age group. We asked about changing him to the 12-14, but was given the run around. In the end, he loved it and went every night after dinner, which was an added charge, since it was after 10 by that time. The first night he was there, he won the “gagaball” contest and the kids had to bow to him the next day, which thrilled him to no end. He tried diligently every night thereafter to win again, but never did. My daughter went the first night to the 15-17 age group and made friends right away.

The first full day was a sea day and again we explored the ship and saw what there was to do. My DH and DS played bingo. I went in the pool and sunned myself. My DD hung out with her new friends. They had the poolside BBQ and it was quite tasty, although in the beginning the line was horrendous and for this reason, DH ate in the Windjammer this day for lunch. DH and I both joined a blackjack tournament, which he didn’t do well at at all and I did ok, but didn’t come near to winning. Then we went to our Meet and Mingle and met everyone from CC. Just puttered and putzed the rest of the day, but always with drink in hand! J Sunday was formal night and we all got all dolled up, including my son with his tux. Bought it on ebay for $40 brand new and hope to sell it now that we’re done with it. I learned that if you don’t want to purchase pictures as they become available, you can turn in the ones you KNOW you don’t want for destruction and put all the ones you could be interested in behind one picture, which is what we did. Then we bought all the ones we wanted on Friday before disembarkation on Saturday. This way we only spent $65, even though we could have spent a whole lot more.

Monday we arrived in Grand Cayman and we had prebooked the snuba excursion with the ship. We had no choice or I would have done an independent excursion for a couple of reasons. I really wanted to go to Rum Point also, and had we been able to do an independent, I would have booked early morning or later afternoon for the snuba and I would have rented a car to go to Rum Point, but the only outfit to do snuba had an agreement with the ship to only take customers via the ship’s excursion. The excursion was from 11-1, but we had to show up to the Theatre at 10:15. So it was a relaxing morning and then Kirk Sea Tours took us for our excursion once we tendered to port. After the tender to Grand Cayman, we met up with our guide immediately and within minutes were on our way. We only walked about 2 or 3 blocks to their store and site of dive. They taught us well and it was only 8 people in all and only 4 people to a “guide”. They took us over a wreck and the kids and I LOVED it. DH, who isn’t comfortable with his swimming ability didn’t quite get the knack of the whole breathing thing and therefore didn’t like it as much as the rest of us. I highly recommend this excursion. We walked back on our own, but had we gone to 7-mile beach he suggested Palm Beach and said the food there was very good. Afterwards we just puttered about a few of the stores in Grand Cayman. Again, via this board we had ice cream at a place that was supposedly home made. It was not homemade and it actually wasn’t even good. I wanted to go to 7-mile beach, but the kids just wanted to go back to the ship, so that’s what we did. We went back to the ship, and I honestly don’t remember exactly what we all did. I know I didn’t lay out by the pool. The kids probably hooked up with their respective new friends. We saw about 4 shows over the course of the week and maybe this night was one of the ones that were before dinner. I think on Monday night we saw a comedic juggler, who was ok.

Tuesday was a day in Costa Maya. This was the only day we didn’t need to tender and that was great. Before getting off the ship I went to an art auction. To make a long story short, I bid $210 on a Kinkade. By the time I paid for shipping, frame and other B.S. the print cost me $571!!! After the auction, we got off the ship and I saw someone selling jetskiing, which I knew we wanted to do in Majahual. (In this town, the locals actually spell it Mahahual.) I inquired and they wanted $50 for half an hour. We knew we were going to want 4 waverunners and I knew I could get them in Majahual for $35 for half an hour, so that’s we struck a bargain for that same price. We brought a backpack full of school supplies for the local elementary school and headed out to grab a cab. 7 of us took a van to the beach. Two of us got out and walked a ways down the beach (it was actually a different beach) and rented two chairs. The rest of us took another taxi and went to the local school. Just to go to the school and back with tip cost $20 and I was a little disappointed since I was making a substantial donation. I not only spent about $70 on supplies, but I had taken a box full of supplies from someone else on the ship, who wouldn’t have been able to make due to her ship excursion to the Mayan Ruins. The tax to get to the beach cost us $3pp and to come back was $2pp. So my family of 4 spent $19 to go to the school $25 to go to the ship and back. We ate at the beach, which was really delicious and very inexpensive. My daughter had her hair braided, just the top half for $15. I noticed massages for $20 for 30 minutes. There was some garbage in the water and generally I just didn’t think it looked too clean. The kids played in it, though and I sunned myself and read a book. They had waverunners for rent on this beach for $40 for half an hour, but since we had already purchased it at port, we had to walk back a small ways to the original beach and get them there. This was our first time doing this and it was soooooo much fun!!!!!! I would do this again in a heartbeat! When we got back to the port, I looked in the shops and hung around listening to the music and watching the dancers. We didn’t use the pool, but it looked VERY appealing! I think this was the night they had the showgirls dancers and singers from the 20’s. Apparently, this was the last time for this performance. I thought it was good, but not great. My husband really liked it and my mother (who’s 64) downright loved it!!! I didn’t find any of the dinners to be outstanding, but they weren’t gross either. I thought they were fine. Two of the nights I ordered 2 dinners. Both times it was because I wanted to try each of them.

Wednesday was a day in Belize. We tendered in and 9 of our party had a cave-tubing excursion for $75pp scheduled with Nacho and Cynthia. There was another party of 16 on our tender who also had an excursion with Nacho. Half of them did just the cave-tubing and half did the zipline and cave-tubing. Nacho was waiting with a sign with my name on it upon arrival. We all got on a bus and he immediately apologized for not having a speaker to tell us of all there was to learn about the trip and Belize. I was very disappointed as I was sitting in the back of the bus and heard almost nothing of what he had to say, even though I leaned into the isle and listened very carefully. The trip took 1.5 hours and we went drove by a lot of poverty stricken areas. The last 15 minutes were an extremely bumpy dirt road. We parked at the Jaguar Paw resort and changed in their individual bathrooms. If you didn’t want something to get wet you left it behind in their “lock up”. We brought bug spray per our instructions and we started to put on sunscreen. Nacho told us sunscreen was unnecessary, so we stopped. We all wore water shoes, but I recommend thick-soled water shoes. I had thin ones and while they were ok, thick would have been better. We walked a very short distance with our large inner tube in hand. (maybe 10 minutes) and then got into our tubes and for about an hour or more went quickly downstream through the caves. It seemed like 2 caves, but I was told it was actually 4 caves. The water was probably about 78 degrees. Nacho stayed behind and met us back there later. Cynthia met us part way through our walk, apparently she had just finished another group tour. Neither our guides, nor Nacho or Cynthia told us anything about the fauna or any of the plant life and I was a little disappointed. Upon our return, our guides immediately left us to help new groups and we didn’t get to tip them, so we gave our tip to Nacho. We only hope that he gave it to them. The tubing itself was a lot of fun. We saw a little bit in the caves, but it was so dark and somewhat quick moving, so there wasn’t a lot of time to see anything. Occasionally, we’d have to paddle, but rarely. We never ran into shallow enough water to have the need to lift our butts. At the VERY end, where we were getting out of our tubes, the water was running so fast that one of our group lost their tube due to the swift moving water. When I tried to get it for him, I got caught in raging white water and needed to be rescued. We had a 6yo with us and the guides did try to help him a lot, but since his parents wanted to be more in control of him, the guides stopped trying to help him. I think in the dark caves, if anyone had had an accident, I’m not sure how well it would have been handled. Once we walked back up, we changed out of our wet bathing suits and went to lunch inside the Jaguar Paw resort. It was included in the price and was chicken, rice, cole slaw and a bottle of soda. We took a minimal tour of the resort, while we waited for those who ziplined. The bus driver kept the bus running so it was air conditioned when we got on. This wasn’t a good idea as it kept stalling out before we left the place. Once we left it stalled a couple of times and I got very nervous since we were on an independent tour and didn’t want to miss the ship’s departure. In the end, we opened all the windows and drove back to port that way. In the end, I’m not sure I would use Nacho again, but I’m not sure I wouldn’t either. I’m sure every guide has their plusses and minuses. Anyway, once back DS and I went shopping in the street. He bought a silver necklace for $20 and we just generally walked around. Then we went back to the dock and tendered back. Overall it was nice day and cave-tubing was something interesting that we’re not likely to get the chance to do again. Once back on the ship we relaxed. DH and I went to the show and this night it was a comedic magician, who was excellent!!! This was also the night for “Sex and Marriage”. That was very funny!!!

Thursday was our day in Cozumel. This was one of my favorite days. We simply spent the day on Paradise Beach. We originally had an independent dolphin swim, but that was cancelled as Chakannaab Park was decimated. The whole island was decimated. The beachfront hotels you could see through from the port side clear through to the other side. The dock was a shambles. We caught a cab to Paradise. It was a van and for the 7 of us it was $25 plus tip, so it cost $30 and $30 to return and the cabs were all right in front, where we were dropped of. The people of Paradise Beach couldn’t have been nicer. Eric was our waiter and he got us 5 lounge chairs and a table and umbrella right down by the water, where we could keep an eye on the children, who immediately swam out to the rock climbing wall. For $8pp we got a bracelet, which entitled us to use the 2 water trampolines, the “in water” rock climbing wall, the water mats to float in the water and other stuff we didn’t use. The lounge chairs were free. My family of 4 made use of our bracelets. DH and I both went on the trampoline and used the water mats. I tried the rock climbing wall with no success, but DS climbed that wall numerous times. DD climbed it once or twice. My sister and her DH didn’t get their monies worth at all with regard to the bracelets. I ordered a pina colada in a pineapple and it was the best ever!! It cost $10. Other than that we had 1 beer, 1 soda, 2 hamburger platters, 1 nachos supreme and 1 gigantic chicken burrito. This all cost us $32.50!! It was all totally delicious and amazing. We couldn’t eat it all. We stayed there in the beautiful weather until what we thought was the last minute. We caught a cab back to the pier where we did a little shopping and then boarded the tender boat. I went straight to the Jacuzzi and enjoyed that for a short while. It was Thanksgiving and most of us ordered the turkey dinner. It was awful. I actually couldn’t believe just how bad it was. This was by far the worst meal of the week. I didn’t like the apple pie either.

By the way, each and every night they offered and we bought after dinner drinks. Most of them had Kalua and/or Bailey’s Irish crème. They were so good and you got to keep the shot glass. I came home with 12 of them.

I played blackjack various evenings during the week and overall didn’t do too bad at all.

The last day, Friday was a sea day. I got up “late” around 9:00. I ate breakfast in the dining room as I had every other morning during the cruise. At 11:55 I layed down on a lounge chair by the pool. I knew someone had put their stuff there, but I didn’t care. About 15 mins later someone came and “yelled” at me. I said she hadn’t been there in half an hour, but 2 chairs down some guy said, “You haven’t been there 30 mins!!”. Without a scene I got up and left. I found another chair across the way and do you know that person who made me get up never even sat down. I looked at the clock. It was 12:10. At 12:45 she still wasn’t in the chiar!!! I was so angry, that meant she hadn’t been in the chair for at LEAST 50 mins!!!! I almost got up to yell at the guy who defended that witch. In the end, I figured I had a good chair and by that time, my sister decided to join me. We watched the men’s sexy legs contest. At 2:00 I left for a scavenger hunt with DH. We didn’t win, but it was fun, none the less. Then I played some more blackjack and then the last Bingo for the week. After that a whole bunch of us went to the Viking Crown Lounge for drinks before dinner. It was fun. Some of the drinks were 2 for 1, and some of us shared them. The last dinner was ordinary, which didn’t surprise me.

Disembarkation was a breeze. Because our flights weren’t until late on Saturday, we checked our luggage at the pier for $5 and walked around Tampa and went to see the new Harry Potter movie. We ran into our bartender in a coffee shop and our waiter took the same flight to JFK that we took. Overall it was a GREAT week!!!

[OliverTheCat]

Thanks for your review! Sorry that you didnt care much for the food though.. but, to be honest, I didnt much care for it on my last cruise either. I think that is one area Disney Cruise Line really shines over RCI.

 

I am sailing Legend in March. Looking forward to it!

[born2cruz]

Thanks for the review.. I'll be sailing on the Legend Feb. 4th '06. I've read alot of good things about this ship. Sorry to hear the food isn't that good.

I'm sailing out of Miami this Sunday on the Radiance. We're going on a Eastern Caribbean cruise.. Thanks again for a wonderful review..

[stacybbb]

Thanks for the excellent and detailed review. I am travelling with 3 kids 8, 11 and 14. Do you have any tips for the AO? Should I request the 12-14 yo group for the 11 yo? Or, should I try to put my 8 yo in the 9-11 yo group with her 11 yo sister? Will they let us do this to keep sibs together? Any other tips for kids this age?

Also, my son is 14 1/2....do I need to put him with the 15-17 yo group? He's in High School.

Thanks in advance for the info.

[jkrislc]

THANK YOU! I've been dieing for an updated review from the Legend on the itinerary we're going to be on. Plus, it'll make good bedtime reading to set the stage for those happy cruise dreams.

[cruiser_carol]

Cheers Smrtypants for your review..Wonderful to hear about your Adventures...so very glad that you had such a Great time. My Husband and I sailed on The Legend to the Mediterranean for 14 days this summer and had an Amazing Cruise. It is great that you have highlighted how beautiful a ship the Legend is. There are so often comments about her being 10 years old and therefore one to be skipped by many posters on here who are very pro the mega ships. Sadly most have not been on the Legend before... and people tend to take a lot of what is said here as Gospel.

 

We have one difference of opinion...and that may or may not be a result of us sailing out of the UK vs sailing out of the USA...where there could be variations. The FOOD we found No problems with..either in the dining room or Cafe. We did choose Not to eat lunch in the dining room ..as the position they held was to queue and sit at the next table with whatever group you came upon and despite few people eating there..we still were waiting in line until enough people showed up to fill a table... and the atmosphere was not that good due to this. Food was fine.

 

My husband and I loved the windjammmer...we ate at off peak times and despite the ship being full to capacity with loads of kids during school holidays....never had to wait for a table or food. We found it relaxing and absolutely loved the wonderful views of the sea across the bow of the ship. dolphins were leaping across during my first lunch there. We always got a table for 2 and by the window. We found the food very Good...Not 5*..in respect that not every meal was amazing...but every one was good. We didn't expect perfection for the money we paid. However, we got a whole lot better variety than what we did expect and very nicely presented. Plus the staff were so pleasant and willing to assist.

 

LUNCH. 4 or 5 Islands were set up on either side duplicating the food items so no need to cross over or get congested.

 

The choices we had...salad counter..with all the fixings that you could want to make a fresh salad of your choice. Ccold Meats and Cheeses... Sandwiches and baguettes section. Hot food counter with 3 or 4 entrees...potatos, rice, veg at another side. Dessert counter...with loads of choices of cakes, pies,cookies....and Bread with wonderful home baked rolls. There was also a carvery and pasta counter where the chef personally served you. Also, what we really enjoyed, A large fresh fruit counter with melons,strawberries,grapes etc. beautifully displayed with carved fruits adding decoration as you entered.

 

BREAKFAST.....cereals of all kinds and milk cartons...BREAD COUNTER as above..to include scones and croissants..jams etc. Hot food...pancakes( a little mushy but lets be fair..they are feeding 2000) ready made scrammbled eggs. sausages, bacon,etc. OMMELLETTE cOUNTER the chef makes you an excellent ommelette with whatever fillings you like...or fried eggs to order.. Fresh Fruit Counter.

 

I really found no problem with these choices or the quality. As I say Nothing was to die for..but good food is all we wanted. The cruise and ship were the most important. I do wish you had given another chance to the Windjammer to eat there.... other than arrival day...which is so hectic and not a good day to judge by any means. We are very lucky to have had 14 days to enjoy everything. That seems to be the main difference. Over here Legend is exclusive now in the months of late April thru late Oct. to the Uk and was sailing mostly 14 days this year. However next year it is adding shorter cruises as well and will be interesting to see how those people find the ship. In 14 days we felt rushed to fit in all the ports and use all the facilities..see all the shows etc. In 7 days it is that much more pressure and not everything gets enjoyed or reflects to the best advantage. Thanks again for the Great Review.Carol

[imatarb]

Thanks for the thorough review, and I will report back when we return in two weeks.

 

Lisa

[stacybbb]

I keep seeing you on the Legend threads......I'm looking forward to hearing your review upon your return. Have a great cruise!

 

One more thing: did you see another thread about golf carts in Mahahual. Apparently, some folks rented one at the pier and drove it to the beach....had a blast. We might try that.

Stacy

[smrtypnts]

I think I sent the wrong message regarding the food. It was ho-hum, not the worst, but not the best. Now, let me explain. I live in the New York metropolitan area where food is the best in the world. We get all the best foods and best chefs in this area of the country, so my opinions and standards are very high. Keeping that in mind, you all may find the food absolutely terrific. Like I said, the food wasn't awful, although Thanksgiving dinner was. Every morning for breakfast I ate the same thing. A bagel with lox and all the fixings and an omelette of some sort. No toast or hash browns or anything. I found this meal to be delicious. They had all sorts of other choices in the dining room, that I opted out of. One time, I asked that the raison bread they serve be made into french toast, and this is the one and only time they accomodated an "odd" request for me. And, I must say, it was outstanding!

 

Stacybbb, I will answer your children's questions in the coming hours. They good questions and I have a lot of opinions and/or answers for you.

 

Cruiser Carol, I read all your reviews and opions prior to our cruise and found them to be so upbeat, positive and useful. Thank You!!!

[imatarb]

Smrty, can you speak to the Adventure Ocean program in detail? We will be taking our 7-yr. old son, and we are hoping that he enjoys himself in the program.

 

I, on the other hand, live in southeast Michigan, where food is just ho-hum most times, so I'll probably think I'm dining on very fine cuisine. :D I appreciate the clarification, though, on the food.

 

Also, how was the weather, temp-wise, overall?

 

Thanks,

Lisa :)

[smrtypnts]

The weather was the best, every single solitary day!! 85-90 and pure sun!:) No one could ask for better.

 

My son is 11 and spent time in AO every single day. He loved it! The majority of his hours were "after hours" after 10pm. There was an added charge, that I didn't mind paying to keep him occupied while we went out and he LOVED it. It was $5per hour and it was prorated, so if he only spent 1.5 hours it was $7.5. He loved the gagaball contests as he won the first night and the next day the kids who were part of the contest had to bow down to him, if and when they saw him. This thrilled him and he was determined every night to win again, but he never did. I suspect that the employees make sure the wealth is spread. He had a team of 4 on the last day for a scavenger hunt, that his team won. We gave him a lot of leaway and allowed him a lot of free reign. In the 9-11 category when you sign your child up, you can set it up so they're allowed to sign themselves in and out, which we did and it worked out very nicely.

 

Stacybbb, you asked if you should move your 11yo to the 12-14 age group. At home, my son plays with all 8th graders and I went in determined to have them allow my son to move to that age group. Since it was Thanksgiving week, there were over 400 kids on the ship and my son would have had to go to his own age group at least 3 times before they would determine if they would allow him to change. I figured by that time, he'd have made friends and the 12-14 group would have their own "clique" and he wouldn't be part of it. Also, the man in charge told me my son would have a lot more fun in the 9-11 group because it's more structured and he really did. The 12-14 yo's mostly just roam the ship aggravating people. They hog the elevators, run up and down the stairs practically knocking people over, etc., etc. My daughter, who was part of the 15-17 group, also was a pack of roaming teens, but they weren't destructive or in any one's way at all. They were really a very calm group of roaming teens! Many of the games and things for AO include all the different age groups, so if you keep all 3 of your children in their designated groups, your 8 & 11yo's will play together anyway. Some games, however are age specific, so this will give them time away from each other, also. Now, that I'm aware, I'd keep each of them in their specific groups and just read your 14yo the riot act as far as running up and down stairs, hallways and hogging elevators. Since you're like I am and toying with moving your 11yo, do as I did and allow him/her to sign himself in and out, thereby giving him a little more free reign. We did get both kids involved immediately, so they could make friends right away. After that, our only requirement was that they do the excursions with us and eat with us 5 of the 7 nights. I bought my son a soda card and told them both they were allowed to have a maximum of 2 ben and jerry's each. In both cases, they each only had one. Quite honestly, I didn't think it was worth the extra money. The free soft-serve by the pool, was quite good, if not better than the ben & jerry's. I know my son had plenty of those! My son spent some of his free time in the arcade. He spent his own money. My daughter spent her own money having her hair braided in Costa Maya. They each bought necklaces for themselves. He bought his in Belize, her in Cozumel.

 

My 7yo nephew went to AO every day also. Again, many of his hours were the after hours also. He did spend a # of hours, when it was free and he too loved it. I honestly don't know what different things they did.

[LuvMyBasset]

Great review!

We will be boarding the Legend this Saturday! Woo-Hoo!!! One quick question--were your hours in Cozumel shortened? We're supposed to be there 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM--what time did ya'll leave? Thanks!

[phantom728]

Thanks so much for the detailed review. I've also been watching to see an updated one now that it's back in Tampa.

I appreciated the reviews at the ports as well. We are scheduled with Nacho and Cynthia in Belize for the combo tour and we are also thinking of Paradise Beach in Cozumel. There are 6 of us traveling together, so I'll have to look for the vans to the beach.

I also appreciated the comments on AO. Our DD is 14 and doesn't have too much interest in doing the AO program, so doesn't sound like she'll miss too much.

Again, thanks for the review and I'll be looking forward to some of the others before our trip in Jan.

[smrtypnts]

Your daughter should absolutely sign up for the program in her age bracket, she'll meet lots of girls and boys her age to "hang out" with. She'll miss a lot, if she doesn't. She won't be coloring or doing a lot of "organized" things, but just being around kids her own age allows her some freedom she may not ordinarily have and allows you and your spouse some time to do adult things......like don't miss Quest and don't miss Sex and Marriage. Quest was on Thursday night and Sex and Marriage was on Wednesday, I believe. We did both of these and the Quest thing was a total blast!!!!

 

Cozumel hours are shortened. The last tender back to the ship is at 4:30. We left the beach at about 3:45. We were back at the pier at about 4:00 and that allowed us a small amount of shopping time. I wish we had stayed a little later, but I suspect they don't want to be tendering in the dark. By the way, my sister bought a nice round canvas bag that said Cozumel on it for $8. If I had seen it before boarding the tender, I would have bought one. It was WELL worth it. She also bought a rather large matching bag, that I thought was a bit too big, but she only paid $20 for that!! My son and nephew both bought nice hand painted pictures.

 

I don't think I mentioned, that I didn't get to meet PB Tom, but I did meet the owner, Peter. He was an absolutely fantastic guy, that I thoroughly enjoyed talking to. As it turned out, he has a small plane, that whenever the island is going to be hit by a big storm, he has to get his plane off the island, so he leaves. When Cozumel was hit by Wilma, he ended up in the county I work in. What a small world!!! If you've read anything on the Cozumel boards you know that Paradise Beach has worked hard to make their beach wonderful. Well.....THEY HAVE!!! It's the only place on the island that I saw trees and not just stumps. When you walk next door to the beaches on either side of Paradise, they haven't done nearly the work that PB has done. Eric, our waiter told us the Peter worked right along side everyone else and worked his buns off. I was impressed. The sand was so soft and I had read that the only soft sand was directly in front of the iceberg/rock climbing wall. That was absolutely NOT the case when we were there. The sand was perfect beach sand from one end to the other and clear into the water up to the trampolines and other toys. I can't say enough good things about PB.

[IMNiles]

Thanks so much for the up to date review! Like Imatarb and some others, I'm due to set sail on Legend in just a few short days! it's always nice to read a 'recent' review on the same itinerary. So far I haven't heard anything that's going to be a big problem for me. Shoot, I grew up in Minnesota, so I'm all about bland buffets, lol.

 

I've heard that the "Legend of the Liks" mini golf course is looking a little worn. Did you visit?

[Leafpeeper]

We sailed Legend in March and also didn't care for the food because it was overcooked and salty. We had the worst waiter ever on a ship.

 

After recently sailing on Jewel, I must admit that I enjoyed the solarium on Legend more than the one on Jewel--surprising because Jewel is a fairly new ship. I just thought Jewel's solarium felt much more crowded than Legend. I also enjoyed Legend's fountains shooting out of the solarium pool in addition to having two hot tubs in the solarium compared to one solarium hot tub on Jewel.

[stacybbb]

Thank you for the great reviews. It's very helpful.

 

I, too, agree with the food comments. Being from Chicago, we have access to excellent cuisine. So, any food prepared for 2,000 people is going to be average at best.

 

We were on Serenade of the Seas in Alaska in August and the food was pretty good. Do you suppose that since these Legend cruises are reasonable priced that the food will be lower quality? Somebody alluded to that on a different thread.

[cruiser_carol]

I think I sent the wrong message regarding the food. It was ho-hum, not the worst, but not the best. Now, let me explain. I live in the New York metropolitan area where food is the best in the world. We get all the best foods and best chefs in this area of the country, so my opinions and standards are very high. Keeping that in mind, you all may find the food absolutely terrific. Like I said, the food wasn't awful, although Thanksgiving dinner was. Every morning for breakfast I ate the same thing. A bagel with lox and all the fixings and an omelette of some sort. No toast or hash browns or anything. I found this meal to be delicious. They had all sorts of other choices in the dining room, that I opted out of. One time, I asked that the raison bread they serve be made into french toast, and this is the one and only time they accomodated an "odd" request for me. And, I must say, it was outstanding!

 

Stacybbb, I will answer your children's questions in the coming hours. They good questions and I have a lot of opinions and/or answers for you.

 

Cruiser Carol, I read all your reviews and opions prior to our cruise and found them to be so upbeat, positive and useful. Thank You!!!

 

Hi smrtypnts...Thankyou so much for your reply and I am very glad that you took no offense to my defending the Food. I can well understand someone being used to going out often as you say....especially in NY.... to great restaurants... and finding the meals onboard The Legend as nothing special. I am sure I would feel the same.

 

Although we buy good quality food and eat well at home...we don't dine at any fancy restaurants. Mainly eating out involves going to a family restaurant of average standard...or a chinese takeaway. Although My daughters are adult age... I still cook for them... and their boyfriends... most dinners...most days. So, If I am presented with a reasonable dinner for myself...that I don't have to cook..... or clean up after...I am very happy! There were no meals on the Legend that I would say were out of this world...but I enjoyed everything I ate. The real pleasure was in the comfort and lovely atmosphere...and in the wonderful service. That's why I just wanted to make sure that people realised... in our case anyway...that the food was certainly Alright.

 

I had to wait an awful lot of years before being able to return to cruising.I know a lot of other people are the same... a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hate the thought of scaring them needlessly about what they will be fed onboard. We read several very bad reviews just before we sailed and they upset us such a lot. In the end our cruise was fantastic...far better than we could ever have imagined. The amount of service is what surprised us the most. I have had a lot of experience with the cruising field many years ago and all the commercial side of it. However, this was a very natural... unpretentious..effort put forth by the crew. No touting for tips..just genuine kindness and a lot of Goodwill that meant you just had to feel Good about yourself and have a great time. Which we did! All the Best, Carol