Legend Review Oct 3-11, 2006

[doodlelover]

Just came back today on Legend. This was our third cruise on this ship and the ninth with Carnival. Cabin was wrap around on 7th deck.

 

OK- here it goes- The cruise was good- how can a cruise be too bad? You are at sea going to places with palm trees. I will go from the best to the worst- so if you are scrolling down before reading it all to see what sucked, you will miss what we were pleased with.

 

Cabin: Excellent cabin- this was our second time with a rear wrap around cabin. The deck is huge and the cabin is large. These used to be a different category, but now they are an 11. While the boat is starting to show some signs of wear, overall everything in the cabin was clean. We had excellent service from Nanang. Here is a hint- I tipped him early in the cruise and never regretted it. Anything that we needed he obliged with. As soon as we would leave for any reason, he was attentive with the service of the cabin, and we never came back to an unmade bed or disheveled cabin. If you ever decide on the rear of the ship, keep in mind that you will feel the propulsion units for the whole cruise beneath you. Not a problem with me, but this is a heads-up to you. We kind of like the rear of the ship because it is quiet.

 

Bar Service:

Again, this was excellent in all places. In speaking with one of the attendants, I found that they work only for tips, so I suggest that if you have the same waiter/waitress at dinner, slip them something extra if the service is good. The drinks were always great and we had no problems. I was indulging in Crown and Soda (with a lime) and they were $5.00. Not bad. The wife was into the Dirty Banana which was $6 something. Another good tasting drink and not a bad deal. Look for Elmer (deck service rear) and Hanna (Truffles Lounge)- they are both excellent.

 

General Service:

Purser, photo, and other services were good. I did nearly take a spill in the lido from a wet floor with no signage, but apart from being embarassed for a minute or so and cleaning myself up from whatever was spilled on the floor and was now on my legs, not a big deal. Watch the marble floors! They're like ice when they are wet- so I would always suggest some sort of shoe with a traction sole just in case.

 

The table staff in the lido and the serving staff were average. Nothing outstanding.

 

Entertainment:

I was on this same exact cruise in 2004 and the main featured entertainment was exactly the same. Show for show, everything was the same. I can understand that there is a cost to creating entertainment, but maybe they could switch the shows from ship to ship. Two years is plenty of time. The shows are well produced and entertaining, but "been there- seen that".

 

The piano bar had a singer named Brady. He was very talented and worked the crowd well. He'll be onboard until November and is worth seeing. Satchmo's Bar had a band that was also talented and I have not heard before. Kudos there.

 

Food:

It was bad enough that my wife and I are now contemplating switching cruise lines. Not well prepared, often not hot, and tasteless. Years ago, Carnival had great food and everyone always raved about the Legend, but two years ago it was slipping, and now has fallen off completely. We would look at the menu for the evening every morning, and several days her and I looked at each other wondering what we would choose. Years ago we looked forward to the menu on Carnival- even some of the same items- with excitement, but not on this cruise. Filet mignon- stringy and not hot. Chateaubriand was the same. Beef Wellington- same here. There was some sort of potatoe product in a condiment cup that was over-cooked. I had to grab the cup to pry it out with a fork. Creme Brulee was grey and runny. This was par for the course. Please do not feel that I am whining here... if there was one bad meal I can understand... things happen, but it was average or below all week long. I know that Carnival has some great food on cruises, but the last two cruises (both Legend) could have been better.

 

Our table mates were from Albany and we had a good time. This was their first cruise with Carnival. On the first night we met them I was talking the cruise line up with them, and by the last night they told me that they would not be cruising with Carnival again. We had spoken to a number of couples with the same food experience this week.

 

Dining Room Staff:

We arrived at the table and were promptly given water and menus. We've had early seating before and have no real preference between early and late. Our waiter quickly came back to take our order. Food came very quickly course by course- so much so that one evening we were finished less than 40 minutes after first sitting down. We were being rushed and felt it. Coffee cups were coming out before the main course was half eaten. Our head waiter which I will not name worked quickly, but rushed us. We started to chat briefly initiating conversation and he told us that would talk to us later- and that he did not have time to speak with us. He had no personality. His assistant Freddie was the opposite- helpful and pleasant. Several evenings before the end of the cruise he was soliciting us for good comments on the comment card. I feel that this was inappropriate.

 

Summary:

The Mrs. and I made the best out of the cruise. The weather was cooperative except for one day and the seas were smooth. A vacation is as good as you make it, and we had a good time. We still feel that a cruise is the best vacation deal available and hope that Carnival can make changes- and would hope that the next time we are ready to cruise that there are good and thorough reviews of the ship we are contemplating. We were able to make some friends here that we saw all week.

 

On the plus side, we drove from Maryland to NYC - and in less than three hours we were ON THE BOAT. The adjacent parking was $180.00 and guarded- A DEAL! You can get quickly out of the city if you are heading west of NYC, and for the times that this ship embarks/disembarks the traffice is light and easy to maneuver. The self-assist disembarkation works great and we were qucikly at our car.

 

There is a lot of room for improvement with this boat though. I'd like to hear from others on this cruise.

 

Mike

[janetz]

Enjoyed your review. We were disembarking when you where embarking. We chose the Legend to sail from NY. Our first Carnival cruise. The service by everyone was perfect for us. I do however, agree with you about the food. Dinner was most nights, a disappointment. We did dine at the Golden Fleece and had the best filet ever. The deli station was good. I thought the decor was over the top, not attractive. The pools, pretty small. We thought the staff was great, the bedding was great, our aft cabin, wonderful. Will we sail Carnival again, not sure. :)

[dkm101]

I was on the same cruise today and here is my review:

 

This was my first cruise ever. Overall, I was very happy with the staff. I did get sea sick. Wish there was a way to make cruises less shaky in terms of the movement of the boat while it is cruising. I often felt dizzy. A guest on the cruise suggested Benadryl. I thought it was for allergies, but surprisingly it worked well.

 

Embarkation:

Very smooth. Long lines are expected when you have many people.

 

Cabin:

I have nothing else to compare with. I was there with the wife and two kids. I was happy with the size of the room.

 

Gym:

Limited in equipment, but it is a ship afterall.

 

Dining:

Amazing food. The staff in the Truffles Restaurant is amazing. Miss those guys already. By the way, the soda card for $44 is a rip-off.

 

Entertainment:

Pretty good, but I sepnt most of my time in the casino.

 

Shore Excursions:

Expensive, but once again, everyone's gotta make money off the tourists.

 

Kids' program (2 - 5 years):

My kids always looked forward to going in Camp Carnival.

 

Cleaning Crew and other members:

Everyone was friendly and smiled....what else can I say.

 

Pool and Arcade:

They should really think about putting a security supervisor at these locations. There were kids behaving like wild animals trying to break things. I had to protect my kids from these "kids" so that they don't get run over in the arcade or hurt in the pool.

 

Other folks on the cruise:

I felt like they were characters eithers from the Sopranos or a rap video on MTV. However, don't judge the book by its cover. Everyone was having a good time and minding their own business. They were all friendly and just trying to have a good time.

 

Debarkation:

Looooooong line for the self-assist checkout.

 

Overall value:

I can't say enough about the friendly staff. The entertain was pretty good. I would certainly do it again.

[DqALEX]

Mike Im going on the ship over New Years. what did you mean about improvements? I have never been on the Legend. some say it rocks more than other carnival ships? what did you think?

[LizaMM]

Thanks to all of you for posting!!

 

I will be sailing the Legend next month and enjoy reading balanced and informative reviews.

 

One question that comes to mind....DoodleLover - you mention that Brady was in the Piano Bar and will be there until November....Do you happen to know if that is through the month of November or if there will be a change at the beginning of November?? I am sailing the week of Thanksgiving (11/16 - 11/24) and there are several of us on the Roll Call who would love to know!!

[Kokoman]

Doodlelover, thanks for your review~ Enjoy reading, I do have a couple of questions............... How much did you tip your room stewart up front as I think that was a great idea. Also who is the Cruise Director on this ship and how would you rank them? Also in the early sitting for the dining room did they turn men away who wore Bermuda shorts?

Thanks in advance, cruising on November 24th.........l:cool:

[sinkers22]

Just to prove how people have different opinions, here's my take. In October of 2003 we were on the Legend and Duane was in the Piano Bar (Billie's). We spent all of our time there. Duane was so personable, knew so many songs, or learned them if he didn't. He had 3 or 4 microphones so people could take turns singing and had the words to the songs in a book. The piano was on a turntable and he would turn it around and get the crowd going. I couldn't wait to get back to Billies. By the way, I smoke, and this was one of the bars you could smoke in.

 

First night..up to Billies. Here at the piano is this huge man....profusely sweating all over the place....constantly wiping his face with a towel. It was not a pretty site and quite unappetizing. His voice was terrible. He screamed more than he sang. I sat down at the bar, ordered a drink, and lit up a cigarette. He was quite rude and told me to move over one seat because I could not smoke that close to him. Well, he must have weighed 400 pounds or more, so I'm not surprised smoke might bother him a bit.

 

Spent the rest of the cruise in Satchmo's with the most adorable twosome who played wicked dance music. We had a ball there. So to each his own.

 

As for the food. All 12 of us at the table thought it was awesome and most of us were experienced cruisers. I've been on RCL and NCL and thought the food on the Legend was the best. No one had a bad meal.

 

Please read what you can about the ships you are interested in and then take them all with a grain of salt. We all have different opinions. This is not the end all and be all of reviews. We all see things differently.

[doodlelover]

We've sailed with Carnival since 1997 and I hgave to say that the food is not as good as it was 4 years ago. I guess that it depends on your prior experiences. We've had wonderful food on Carnival- just not in the last two years on this ship.

[doodlelover]

We were on this ship in 2004 from NYC, and we experienced 8-15'+ seas for 30 hours or so. The staff had placed sea sickness bags at every elevator. At dinner I had a waiter's stand fall over and douse me with a pitcher of water in the Truffles Lounge. There were several waiters that lost their trays and we heard the crashing sound of dinner hitting the floor. This is not a big deal if being at sea does not bother you. I thought that it was cool to sit in the Enchanted Forest at the front of the ship and watch the water go over the windows. This may not be your cup of tea though.

 

The ship does have stabilizers, and I never felt unsafe at any time onboard in this level of wave activity. We did have an instance on Destiny in 1999 in Miami on the last evening coming into port around 2AM. The seas were measured over 40' that night. I woke up in the middle of the night with the sliding closet doors banging back and forth to wake me up. While being curious at heart I went onto the deck to look outside. The bow of the ship was plunging into the waves, and when the spray blew back it was well going over my head on the 7th deck. When the bow would dig into the waves, the propellors came completely out of the water and the ship would shake until they went back under the waves. I was a little panicked at this. Everyone was somewhat ill looking at breakfast in port in the morning. But- just remember that you are in a boat in the ocean- lots of things can happen. Don't let this frighten you from cruising... the drive to the airport is probably 50x more dangerous than the cruise will ever be.

[doodlelover]

I believe that he will be there until mid November.

[doodlelover]

You said: "How much did you tip your room stewart up front as I think that was a great idea. Also who is the Cruise Director on this ship and how would you rank them? Also in the early sitting for the dining room did they turn men away who wore Bermuda shorts?

 

We tipped $40.00 US to the cabin steward and I am glad that I did. The cruise director on this cruise was Brent Mitchell. I thought that he was good. Unless you are involved in all of the activities on board you probably do not get the full impact of a good or bad CD. I did have the opportunity to speak to him at length regarding future ports- he was very nice and was not hurried with our conversation. We had the same experience with the captain one day at sea when he was walking around the ship. We looked forward to the captain's noon call over the PA- he is very funny and good natured.

 

At dinner one night I wore bermuda shorts and a button down tropical shirt with flip flops and had no problem at all. On formal night I wore a suit and there were no people in the dining room that were dressed down which surprised me.

[doodlelover]

You said: "Mike Im going on the ship over New Years. what did you mean about improvements?

 

Our cabin had several areas where the carpet joined the hardwood floor where the carpet was beginning to get frazzled- and some of the seating upholstery was dirty on the high-traffic surfaces on the seats. The hallway carpet was showing it's age too along with other seating surfaces and edges in the public areas. These are nitpicks- but could be resolved with a good scrubbing and minor attention. Some of the public men's rooms needed attention and repeatedly had an odor. I spend my career on the road so I get to see a lot of areas, and if I needed a sit down pit stop I'd go back to my cabin. Personal preference. Some of this burden also goes to the cruisers- if they had a more careful aim the odor problem goes away. DW never commented on the ladies' loo.

 

If you keep in perspective that this is a floating hotel with 2000+ different guests every week for every day of the year some of this is understandable- BUT there are low traffic times when some areas could get additional attention. I've also seen comments on the decor in Legend. Yup- it is over the top, but so what. Carnival has never been known for subtle decor.

[MMW37]

We're going on the Legend in December, and I'm really hoping (but doubting) that you're a more discerning eater than I am. The only disappointment of my last Carnival cruise was a lot of the food at dinner (We were on Conquest). We dined at the Supper Club twice and the difference was amazing. I don't need it to be that formal every night, however. I've been in the bar/restaurant business my whole life and I know how food is supposed to be prepared and what service is supposed to be like. I know they're fixing it for a lot of people, and it seems like your wait staff can make or break it. I had another friend, a restaurant manager, go on the same conquest cruise that we did a few weeks later, and he said both his service and all of his meals were outstanding. Our server, on the other hand, seemed very nice but inexperienced last time. I love cruising, and I love the affordability of Carnival. I think the supper club is a bargain for the price, but I don't want to eat there every night. We were actually impressed by the buffet on the Conquest. Personally, I would much rather have a perfect cheeseburger than a mediocre filet mignon in port wine reduction blah blah blah. I think I'm rambling, I was just really hoping that our Conquest dining room experience was isolated. Regardless, I am sure that we'll have an awesome time.

Thanks for the review!

[dansu]

You said:

I've also seen comments on the decor in Legend. Yup- it is over the top, but so what. Carnival has never been known for subtle decor.

 

Yah, I know what you mean.....I've seen lots of pictures posted of the Grecian urns.

 

....think that's what they did with ashes of previous cruisers who commented on the decor. :p

 

1st time cruising.

[doodlelover]

Don't know about the level of food discernment. I spend many weeks per year on the road with business and look forward to something different when I cruise. Have to laugh and agree with the cheeseburger comparison. The Mrs. always looks forward to the first cheeseburger at embarkation before the safety drill- and both of us just looked at each other afterwards and said that it was not as we remembered it on prior cruises.

 

Had some food in scary looking places that was outstanding- and terrible meals that I paid too much for on land. We did not do the supper club but probably will on the next cruise. We did have several items that were very good- it was just the the week as a whole was not outstanding. I'm hoping that we had an off week.