REVIEW: LEGEND OF SEAS: 3/11/06 - DAY 1 and DAY 2

[OliverTheCat]

We overall had a great cruise on Legend of the Seas 3/11 – 3/18. Super weather as well with only one sprinkle rain shower. Got a nice tan to bring home! I am going to post a day by day review of cruise in a few different posts because this is going to be LONG, and then will post another review last about all the staff, shows, food, stateroom, and all that good stuff all together. So I am not intentionally leaving those things out….just saving it for another thread. Sorry for length, but many have wanted me to be detailed.

A bit about us. I am a 28 year old Legal Secretary, native of Orlando, Florida. This is my 6th cruise, 2nd with RCI. My husband is 32, and is a school teacher by day, and law school student by night. He is a native of New Jersey, but has lived in Orlando since 2001. This is his 4th cruise, 2nd with RCI.

DAY 1 – Departing out of Tampa, Florida: We arrived at 10:45 AM to the terminal to drop off luggage. The valet people really try to pressure you to use their valet service. My husband had to tell him NO 3 times before he finally gave up. We dropped off our bags with curbside porters (very nice and we tipped $1 per bag) and then went and dropped off car in parking garage across street. $12 a day and you prepay with is great for convenience. Very easy walk back to the ship from there. We were in lobby and checked in by 11:30 AM, and on board the ship at 12:10 PM. Cookies and punch were offered while waiting. Only about 50 people had gotten there before us. We were in group 2 to board. I HAVE to comment on the Port of Tampa terminal. This is by far the most fabulous and friendly staff we have ever encountered on any cruise we have taken. Everyone we saw had smiles on faces and really made you feel welcome. And they have a really great process to get you on ship. Lots of counters to present documents and get Sea Pass card. We got on board, got Welcome Aboard photo taken, and headed right up to dining room to let head waiter know we would be dining in the Windjammer for dinner for the entire cruise as a courtesy so they could give our table away if needed. We then went to Windjammer buffet for lunch, which I will comment on food in a separate review to follow. Once we had eaten, we looked around ship and then headed to room to drop off bags. Again, will post about room in separate review. We then went up on deck 9 for some sun at the pool. The pool was very nice and spacious, and, of course, there is only one family pool (there is a net that divides off a little area for kiddies to play at one end of pool, and rest of pool is about 6 feet deep throughout. They have 2 hot tubs here. Then there is the solarium pool for age 16 and up. Also, 2 hot tubs. Now, to me, this would have been the perfect spot for us every day to get some sun IF THE ROOF RETRACTED OPEN LIKE IT WAS ADVERTISED!!! We asked a worker why they weren’t opening it up and he responded that the ship was 10 years old and they never open it due to the ship’s age. I find that answer absurd, and was just super disappointed that we couldn’t enjoy the roof open on sea days, etc. Muster Drill was at 4:15 PM and it was the worst I have experienced organization wise. They don’t check you off when you arrive, instead, they have you yell HERE in a cattle group as they read off your cabin # one by one once everyone has arrived. It was very hard to hear our guide over other guides near us also yelling out stateroom numbers, and she could barely hear us yell HERE some of the time. On all my other cruises, we have been check off on a clipboard UPON ARRIVAL, and I think Legend should do this too. Just makes things easier. It was over in about 20 minutes, but felt like an hour. And like always everyone rushed the stairs after it was over. We dropped off life jackets and then headed up to Deck 9 for the “sail away party” or so it was called! Ship was supposed to leave at 5:00, but the captain announced a technical problem of some sort so we didn’t pull out til more like 5:30, which was fine. Now the sail away “party” was a joke in my humble opinion. I am used to sail aways where they cover the pool up with a hard floor and use it as a dance floor for the kids and adults to follow the entertainers in a choreographed dance if desired and the band plays along with the dancing. Lots of fun every time. This cruise leaves the pool running and they expect everyone to dance in this TINY TINY area under a covered roof between a pool bar and a bunch of seating chairs. 10 of us out of like 2500 people participated in the dancing!! LAME!!! I bet people would have gotten out there a lot more if there was room to move! The dances were OK but very repetitive and song choices were a tad dated. “Who Let the Dogs Out” is a bit old and tired, ya know? The fact a Caribbean pool side band was playing it was pretty amusing though. I had a Mango Tango at the “party” and it was tasty as always. The sail away was OVER before we were even 15 mins out of port! Felt kinda disconnected. We stayed up on deck for another hour watching ship leave Tampa Bay, and the sun set, and then headed to room to prepare for dinner. After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard Show, which featured a great comedian, Milt Abel. I will post review separate. After we did the WA Show, we hung out a bit and then went to watch some adult Karaoke. They do this in the Viking Crowne disco. After Karaoke, the disco opens up there til’ the wee hours. We people watched for awhile, especially all the spring breakers drunk as anything and acting crazy. After this, it was about 3:00 AM and time for bed.

DAY 2 – DAY AT SEA:

Woke up at around 900 am and went to Windjammer for breakfast. We then headed to pool for some sun, but to my surprise NO CHAIRS remained! Not even any on Deck 10 that weren’t in shaded area. People put towels on all the chairs to save them, and even knot two together with a towel to save them. It was out of control, really, and no staff was doing anything about it. I took the advise of a fellow Cruise Critic mate and went down to the aft chairs that sit behind the spa and fitness center. These are cushioned chairs that are plentiful and we immediately found a spot there for 2. Great view of rock wall if you lay on back and look up! Loved that! This area was sooo quiet and not a hard breeze at all. Around noon we went to lunch and then to the pool for a dip. Brrr…water is cold at first, but really warms up to you after you are in it awhile. Feels good. The water is salt water, many didn’t know that til jumping in and getting it in mouth or eyes. We then got out of swimwear and went to our Cruise Critic party!! Met 2 of the people that I have been chatting with the whole cruise planning process. Only about 6 showed up. Very disappointing, but expected. They had snacks and lemonade (my husband said there was crackers and caviar there which is impressive!!) We mingled for an hour and then they raffled off some prizes. My husband won the aqua mouse, so that was really neat! I cant wait to hook it up at work. The staff running party was very nice and I am glad we went. We each got a document holder with RCI logo. That came in handy the rest of week. It was great meeting the others. We then went to the Fitness Center for some cardio and weights. Fitness Center is actually really nice and has ample treadmills, cycles, elliptical, row machine, weight machines, free weights, fitness balls, and much more. Its small but perfect for this size ship. There is a great view of ocean from cardio machines too, so that is super neat. We worked out a bit and then headed down to room for a little nap and then dinner. After dinner we didn’t want to see the Production Show, “Film and Footlights”, and we were in casino for a good while. We then watched the karaoke where you sing with the live band instead to a track, and this was pretty darn painful to watch…ick.. We ended up leaving early and heading up to the disco to check out scene…but it was crazy in there again so we just opted to have some drinks and people watch. The dance floor was PACKED, and the music of choice was hip hop and techno mixes, so really wasn’t our type of music… We love 80s to today but not hip hop songs. But, again, fun to watch others get crazy. Headed to bed a bit earlier at 1:00 AM, so we could get up for our departure to Grand Cayman that morning. We had to be up early to get on a tender and head to Sea Grape Beach.

Please look for next review of Day 3 and 4 (Grand Cayman and Costa Maya) to follow right after this one!!