Legend OTS Riviera 8/29 Part 1 of 5

[Just_Cruising]

We are a family of four, with girls seven and nine living in Orange County, California. My wife and I cruised the Sovereign of the Seas on our honeymoon in 1992...our most recent cruise L. As we were looking for a great getaway without spending a fortune, this was an ideal cruise for us. Great amenities and destination, without the airfare for four.

 

 

The embarkation process went very smoothly. Arrived at the pier around 11:00 and after a 15-minute wait in line we were in the terminal and getting checked in. There were plenty of people around to guide us through the process. We were thrilled to be on the ship by 11:45. Went to the Windjammer and had a very nice lunch. Our bags were in our cabin when we got there around 1:30 and we spent the next hour or so thoroughly moving into the room. After that, we headed out to the main pool. Unfortunately it was drained and covered at the time so we took the kids back to the Solarium (more on kids in the Solarium pool later). Had a great afternoon meandering around the ship. After this, back to the cabin, changed clothes, and up on deck ten for the sail-away party. The engines are on, the band is playing, the drinks are flowing…and we waited…and waited…and waited. I am guessing we had some kind of a mechanical issue, which I don’t recall every being explained. We didn’t end up leaving port until the middle of our first seating in the dining room, which was unfortunate, as I wanted to enjoy and share the experience with the kids. Oh well! We still got to Cabo an hour early.

 

 

She is a beautiful ship. As others have suggested, in her 10th year she is showing a little wear and tear but it was insignificant. Deck maintenance on pool deck nine was continual during the trip, however, there were still plenty of chairs and it was a minor inconvenience.

 

 

At the risk of plagiarism, I cannot take credit for the following deck layout review. It was posted on www.about.com by Wayne & Tommie Dobrowski. It was so comprehensive and well written I had to borrow…forgive me:

 

Deck 1 ("C" Deck) contains the Medical facilities.

 

Deck 2 ("B" Deck) contains only passenger staterooms, and is where the tenders are boarded when in a tender port. [ALSO WHERE WE EXITED FOR EACH RIVIERA PORT] We had one tender port (Bali) and have included information about the tender service under the Bali port description near the end of this report.

 

Deck 3 ("A" Deck) contains passenger staterooms, and the Conference Center, which was also where the Bank was located. It was open a great deal and bought and sold all the currencies for the numerous countries we visited at a somewhat favorable exchange rate with no commission.

 

Decks 4 (Promenade) and 5 (Main) represented the heart of the ship inasmuch as dining, drinking, shopping, and entertainment are concerned. Deck 4 has the exterior promenade area, but for those who like walking be advised that this promenade DOES NOT wrap all around the ship. If you want to walk laps for exercise, as Tommie & I do, Deck 10 is the only choice.

 

On Deck 4 the Romeo & Juliet Dining Room occupies the stern of the vessel and is the elegant two deck main dining room with an interior grand staircase connecting the two levels (you can also enter each level on its respective deck). The room features beautiful lighting and lighting effects, two deck high glass windows on both sides, and an area at the bottom of the staircase where musicians play during the evening dining hours for about 45 minutes. Breakfast and lunch were always open seating, and the hours for breakfast were 7:30-9:30 when at sea and as early as 6:00AM depending on the port of call. Lunch was consistently served from 11:30AM-1:30PM. Main seating dinner commenced at 6:15PM, while Late seating started at 8:30PM. More about the Romeo & Juliet Dining Room can be found in our section on Dining.

 

The That's Entertainment Theater occupies the bow of the vessel on Deck 4 and is the attractive single deck main entertainment area for all the ship's production shows and other entertainers. The sight lines were excellent from virtually anywhere in this theater, and we never had trouble getting good seats no matter what time we arrived. There is NO separate Cinema on the Legend and this locale doubles as the movie theater during the day. However, since rehearsals and other events were occasionally scheduled here, movies were only offered about ½ of the days during the cruise.

 

Between the That's Entertainment Theater and Romeo & Juliet Dining Room on Deck 4-starting forward and walking aft-one first finds the Casino. Neither Tommie nor I gamble, but every time we passed through this area when it was open (there is no way to go around!) it was quite crowded. Next we encounter the Schooner Bar on the port side of the vessel. Although a very nice lounge, it was poorly ventilated and therefore the only place on the ship where we always found it to be too smoky to enjoy. As we continue our way aft we finally we reach the bottom level of the beautiful Atrium and the Champagne Bar. This was our favorite place on the Legend and we spent many an evening sipping champagne cocktails, dancing to the nightly musicians, and people watching.

 

Now on Deck 5, starting at the upper level of the Romeo & Juliet Dining Room and walking forward, one first encounters the upper level of the Champagne Terrace followed by the Purser's Desk (starboard) and Shore Excursion area (port). The Purser's Desk always seemed to be well staffed and we never had to wait long for service. The shore excursion area was a large alcove with supplemental seating, but since we booked our excursions in advance, we did not avail ourselves of their services. Continuing forward we reach The Boutiques where the typical jewelry, watch, fragrance, clothing, and notions/liquor stores could be found. Note that liquor could be purchased (at great duty free prices) and taken to your cabin for personal consumption. At the very front of this deck is the Anchor's Away lounge, which had terrific glass sculptures and etched mirrors. This too was a good place to come dancing during the evening, and it was also the main meeting place for all the shore excursions and tender boats tickets.

 

Decks 6 (Mariner), 7 (Commodore), and 8 (Bridge) contain essentially only suites and staterooms, but adjacent to the Atrium on each deck were public areas. The Photo Gallery occupied both the port & starboard sides of the Atrium area on Deck 6, and on Deck 7 the two sides contained the Library and Card Room. The Internet Café was on Deck 8 port, and the rate was 50 cents per minute. We never used this facility, so cannot attest to its availability or reliability. On the starboard side of this deck was the Crown & Anchor study, where the future cruise consultant could be found during 'at sea' days.

[Just_Cruising]

Deck 9 (Sun Deck) was perhaps the most popular deck because it contained the Windjammer Café, main outdoor pool area, Solarium, and health & beauty areas. The Windjammer Café was the place for morning and lunch buffets, and evening alternative dining. In our opinion it was not well designed and the buffet sections on each side of the ship ended in narrow single person walkways that were always congested. There was also a center food station between the two buffet areas that served made-to-order eggs in the morning and specialty sandwiches at lunch. We will talk about the food served here in the Dining section later in this report. We also felt that the dining area was too small for the size of the ship. Every time we went up to the buffet for lunch (between 12:00-12:30PM) there were no vacant tables, so we ended up taking our trays of food back to our cabin and eating on the balcony. Evening alternative dining did not require reservations, and consisted of a cooked-to-order entrée with everything else buffet style. We never tried this venue at night, but friends on board said that it was quite good.

 

The Outdoor Pool was quite attractive but always crowded. It contained a large pool with both deep and shallow sections, and 2 whirlpool tubs. Towels were always readily available. The pool and whirlpools were typically open until 9:00PM. Lounge chairs in the immediate vicinity of the pool were limited, but more were available on Deck 10 above.

 

The Solarium area housed an indoor pool, bar, and grill kitchen where hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, and pizza were served every day (usually from 10:00AM-7:00PM). [OPEN UNTIL 4:00AM ON THE RIVIERA] Ice cream was also available almost every afternoon. The glass enclosed solarium was kept surprisingly comfortable and was not hot as one would expect with the sun beating down all day. Here we could always find lounge chairs.

 

At the very back of this deck was the gymnasium, saunas, beauty salon, and massage/therapy rooms. The gym was very well equipped but periodically crowded. There was a small sun deck with lounge chairs accessed through the spa complex.

 

Deck 10 (Compass Deck) contained the jogging/walking track (4 laps = 1 mile) as well as plenty of supplemental lounge chairs overlooking the pool area below. At the very back of the ship on this deck was the miniature golf course called Legend of the Links. It was a lot of fun and very popular. Tournaments were a frequent daily activity. At the very front of this deck was an arcade filled with interactive games, and the children's area called Club Ocean. [THAT’S WHAT THE SIGN ON THE OUTSIDE SAYS, HOWEVER, I BELIEVE IT IS NOW “ADVENTURE OCEAN”] There was also an adjacent area for teens with a television room, billiard table, dance floor, and music booth. There were separate daily programs available for several age groups, but we cannot attest to how well attended nor how well organized these programs were. There were not too many children on board.

 

Deck 11 (Viking Crown Deck) contained the RCI trademark Viking Crown Lounge. This is a great lounge with a fairly large dance floor and stage, plus multiple levels of seating. This is a multi-purpose lounge that serves as a primary viewing area for surrounding scenery and the deck below, as well as a place for pre-dinner dancing and cocktails, and finally it becomes the late night disco.

 

 

Back to our cruise…

 

 

Our room was a category D1, number 7098. It was about ¾ of the way back on the port side. We really enjoyed our room. There was plenty of storage space for the four of us. Clever use of nooks and crannies left us with plenty of unused space, if you can believe it. This room was nicely sized at 193 square feet. Balcony was a decent 38 square feet. The room was in pretty good shape. I was pleased to see it had an empty refrigerator, which I used for chilling wine and fruit. We enjoyed the location of the room. Being on the port side, we had a good view from the cabin as we entered each of the ports. As the aft of the ship does not have an elevator bank, the traffic/ noise was minimal. Lastly, being near the stern, we experienced less up and down movement than the bow (More on this later).

 

 

The service was exceptional. Our cabin steward was quite friendly, always around, and very helpful. No sign of the dual attendants I have read about although I did see a guy in the hallway I did not recognize one day).

 

 

I cannot say enough about our waiter (Christopher from India) and assistant waiter (Lucia – Slovakia I believe). Lucia’s never-ending smile would just light up every night. They worked incredibly hard and fast providing absolutely everything that was asked for at the table. And let me tell you, there was a family that was continually asking for special things (not on the menu) every night!

 

 

Just an aside…please show up on time. On the last night a couple that had only been to the table only once on formal night showed up (get this) just as we were LEAVING!! IDIOTS. We couldn’t believe it. In hindsight I should have pointed out the obvious that the second seating was coming shortly, the staff had to prepare their tables, and to get their “butts” to the Windjammer. Unbelievable. I felt so sorry for the staff as they “sucked it up” and began serving them.

 

 

The meals were great! Split breakfast and lunch between the dining room and the Windjammer and was very satisfied with the variety. Something for everybody, including “Carbophobes” like me. Agghhh…forget about carbs for a while. I got my quota of Eggs Benedict and Reuben sandwiches. Can’t go wrong in the Windjammer with all the variety, which included frequent omelets and lunch buffets just outside by the pool. If that wasn’t enough, the Solarium grill I believe opened at 10:00AM, and get this, closed at 4:00AM!! After trolling the ship and having a couple of drinks after the evening show, it was awesome to have midnight munchies of cheeseburgers and fries. Heck…order room service 24 hours/day as well. We ordered room service one morning and they brought a ton of food, calling us when the order was on the way.

 

 

Well…I like to have a few cocktails and I must say this was probably the only thing (and a small one at that) that I can gripe about. My wife is not much of a drinker, however, here is her quote: “Let’s get a margarita…they can’t screw that up!” I don’t think I had two Martinis, Mai Tai’s, etc. that tasted the same. Okay, enough crying about that.

 

 

Speaking of drinks, I had no problem bringing three bottles of “Two Buck Chuck” wine in our checked bag (wrapped in bubble wrap, inside 2 ½ gallon zip locks and NOT in your carry-ons). Liquor on the ship is cheap. Two 1-liter bottles of Absolute for $20. They get you on the consumption fee, however, at $9.50 per…so $39 total. You can only buy wine by the bottle in the dining (they will store unused quantity for the next night) and you can’t buy beer in the shops either.

 

 

We thought the shows were pretty good. The site lines (as reported else ware) in the That’s Entertainment theater are terrific, but get there early as it is packed at show time. The shows by design are not going to appeal to everybody. As the age diversity ranges from young children to senior citizens, all things considered they do a great job.

 

[Just_Cruising]

Let’s talk about the ports. San Diego is an incredible town with so many things to do. We only live a couple of hours away and frequently take the kids on weekend road trips there. Here is some detail about San Diego from an earlier post of mine:

 

- “As far as good hotels go, there is an abundance of them. Unfortunately, this time of year San Diego is a popular destination and the seasonal rates are quite pricey! You probably will not find much under $100 with most of the better hotels in the low $200s. I have used Priceline.com in the past to get rooms at nice hotels for under $100. We have stayed at the Hyatt Grand Manchester (downtown), the Coronado Island Marriott, and the Catamaran (Mission Bay) all of which I would recommend. Again, I would use Priceline.com to look for a four-star hotel with a bid price of $100 and see what that gets you. Location-wise, Downtown puts you in the center of everything and is close to the Trolley, which inexpensively connects you to many things in the city.

 

As far as what to do...Bay cruises, Old Town with it's historical venues, restaurants and shops, Gas Lamp district with it's restaurants, clubs, and art stores, Little Italy, a small area with shops and restaurants, Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado island is a famous old hotels that many famous people have stayed at, Balboa park with it's many museums and the world-renowned San Diego Zoo. Head down to Tijuana for a day of shopping (don't drink the water or ice!). Water sports in Mission Bay. La Jolla is a beautiful little city with nice views, restaurants, and shops. Check out the San Diego Padres in their new downtown ballpark. San Diego is a great city with so many things to do!

 

 

 

I must slightly revise the above recommendation. I would encourage all to use www.biddingfortravel.com to research and understand how to use Priceline most effectively. Read the Hotel FAQs on this web site. We ended up getting a room at this same hotel for $85 (Expedia rate was $239)

 

 

 

Cabo started out fabulous with an incredible 6:00AM electrical storm – remnants of tropical storm Georgette. We had the drapes open and woke up to the sound and sight of some awesome thunder and lightening. What a special treat as we rarely get that in Southern California. I went back to sleep for about an hour, waking up as we were coming up by Los Arcos. I was pleased to sea a Mexican security vessel speed to the ship and police the sides and stern of the ship. Speaking of security, in all the ports they were positioned in the water on all sides of the ship.

 

 

 

The tendering process is easy, however, get early tender tickets or you might be waiting a while. As soon as you hear the announcement that they are available, I would get after it.

 

 

 

Cabo is a small city of approximately 30,000. Grabbed a glass bottom boat (they are all over the place) and paid I think $20 for a trip out to Los Arcos. Great time. Didn’t spend any time at Lovers Beach, although a lot of people go out, get dropped off, and get picked up later. The Pacific Window was very cool; a narrow slit carved through the rock with water rushing back and forth between the Pacific and the bay. Saw lots of pelicans, seals and some fish (when the captain chummed the water). Highly recommended. Only took about 40 minutes.

 

 

 

Took a taxi a very short distance to Hotel Fnisterra.

 

http://www.finisterra.com/htdocs/index.html

 

 

 

I think the other taxi drivers were laughing at us as the distance is minimal, however up a slightly steep hill. I didn’t care as it was already hot and I didn’t want to listen to the kids whine on our way to a relaxing, nice place.

 

 

 

Walked right into the hotel with nobody saying a word. Walked out to the pool area and …WOW! There are three large beautiful pools each on it’s own terrace. On one side of the middle pool was a nice swim-up bar connected to a large palpa-covered casual restaurant. Nice! Kids jumped in the pool and we kicked back in the shade of a palapa.

 

 

 

None of the servers were paying much attention to us (I think they can recognize the cruise ship profile) although they walked by frequently. We needed towels as we did not want to cart them from the ship and none were available poolside. After forking over a $10 to waiter, Hector, we were absolutely taken care for the rest of our stay. Hector RAN up to the main hotel to get our towels. The warm rain came and the kids loved swimming in it, however, when the wind started blowing the rain under the palapa getting our camera, etc wet, here comes Hector to help us move our stuff into the restaurant.

 

 

 

In the restaurant enjoyed Coronas and sandwiches…excellent! The rain passed quickly so we went back out to swim in the pool and watch the kids frolic. The pool was great in that it was only 3 ½-4 feet deep. Perfect for our kids, as our youngest is still a little afraid of the deep end. No water slides, etc. but still great. Bottom line: Thoroughly good time at this hotel! Have also read good things about the cruise-passenger friendly hotel Pueblo Bonito Blanco, where people sometimes elect to have their boat driver drop them at it’s beach by the Office restaurant.

 

 

 

Took the easy walk DOWN the hill and walked into town. Lots of merchants peddling their wares but not too much trouble. In the shops around the Cabo Wabo our haggling efforts didn’t fare too well as we could not get a pair of basic flip-flops for under $12. The wife picked up a pretty ceramic plate after negotiating down to $10. Probably best off getting the deals between the ship and town if they have what you are looking for.

 

 

 

Tendered back in without a problem (although I have read the tender line gets long around 4:00).

 

 

 

Mazatlan

 

 

Got in our “Mexican Limo” (as young Jorge described it). He wanted $20 for the eight-mile drive but we eventually negotiated down to $10 when I pointed out how many taxis were in line. We ended up giving him a $20 for his great information about the town, easy-going attitude, and great sense of humor.

[Just_Cruising]

El Cid Castilla Beach Hotel http://www.elcid.com/index4.php?top_title=about&sub_title=4&internal=tour_maz_castilla&lang=eng

 

 

Folks soliciting for timeshares greeted us at the door. They asked and we acknowledged being from the ship, but we politely indicated we were not interested and planned on buying food and drinks at the pool. No problem and in we went!

 

 

As with the previous hotel, we were initially ignored. While there was a pool attendant with towels, I decided to not try and deal with a non-guest checkout policy, so as before, our cash-incented waiter, Javier took care of us. Nothing like a little cash to get service. He was back every ten minutes asking if we wanted another Corona.

 

 

The pool! Now we are talking!! Huge pool with waterslide and a ten-foot waterfall you could jump off of! My daughters were stoked! Nothing like seeing your daughters doing front flips from ten feet to know they are having fun. They weren’t the only ones having fun though. I did my share of “Jacknifes” and “Cannonballs”. (I didn’t try the front flip however!) We were pleased to recognize another family from the ship as our kids had friends to play with!

 

 

We dared to venture out of the pool area on a little stairway connecting the pool area to the beach and were immediately “assaulted” by a never-ending stream of venders. Well, yes…they are a little more aggressive here and they don’t give up too easy. Even so, we grabbed some chairs and sat under a palapa. What do you know, a few minutes later here comes waiter Javier out with a couple more beverages? On the positive side, there was security watching the beach guests and ensuring the vendors did not enter the pool area.

 

We did indulge our girls with having their hair beaded. They loved it. My youngest refused to take them out until after her first day at school today – eight days later. We negotiated the beading to $12 for both girls (one has shorter hair). The youngest needed more beads so we agreed to $16 and finally when done gave the lady a $20 as she had worked on them for a full hour in the scorching heat.

 

 

After a few hours of this we proceeded back to the ship for a shower, change of clothes, and another great dinner and evening.

 

 

In Puerto Vallarta, we took our time, let our kids sleep in and had breakfast. We wanted to see the city but did not wish to get on a bus, see every cathedral in town and be dropped at RCI’s preferential shopping district, so we hooked up an authorized taxi driver (wearing the official white shirts) just outside the ship. Our driver Raul A., pulled up his small four-door air-conditioned car and off we went. We told him the general things we were interested in and wow, did he give us a fabulous two-hour tour. Not only did we see awesome things, his knowledge of this city, incredibly courtesy (opening/ closing doors, taking us to a local grocery for snacks, etc) and great attitude made the tour fabulous. We went from the north area to the high hills of the south with beautiful homes and breath-taking views. The city is really beautiful with a rich history and incredible resorts. I would not hesitate to spend a relaxing week in this city. I was amazed while driving though downtown at the never ending rows of shops and restaurants, however, this is understandable as unlike Mazatlan and it’s industry, Puerto Vallarta relies almost exclusively on tourism…so a lot of tourists and shops! The people were beautiful and friendly and the negotiating relatively easy. The prices compared to Cabo and Mazatlan were great! We negotiated our tour from $80 to $60 (you could probably do a lot better if you ventured out further to the yellow cabs). Our driver was so fabulous we tipped him $20. He was so incredibly grateful and it felt good to reward him for his awesome service.

 

 

We then headed back to the ship for a break, some snacks, and swimming. The rooms do have limited TV service and this was nice for the kids as they were able to watch some Cartoon Network for a while as we took care of things.

 

 

We had planned to go to the NH Krystal hotel which was a short walk away (another passenger-friendly hotel) however, the kids were content to relax on the ship so we spent a leisurely afternoon and evening on the ship taking in different activities, golfing, etc. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

 

 

Woke up the next morning and we were rocking and rolling. Literally! The ship was racing with Hurricane Howard and we were feeling it. Generally the movement of the ship is somewhat moderate and undetectable, however, you could really feel it this day. Further evidence of the fact that the seas were high was the placement of barf bags in the stairwells. We decided to go and check on the kids at Adventure Ocean, on deck 10, on the bow, and WOW, was the ship moving up there. I would suggest that if you are prone to seasickness, book your room low in the aft. One of my daughters complained briefly that her tummy was upset, however, in spite of the movement we were generally fine and I heard nobody complain about seasickness (maybe they were in their cabins?!!). It was one more interesting experience to remember.

 

 

 

Debarkation

 

Not much to say here. There were 31 different debarkation color/ number combinations. We were Red2 (about a third of the way down on the list) and were called about 30 minutes after the first tickets (White) were called. If you really want to get off early, you can get your tags changed.

 

[Just_Cruising]

Miscellaneous port and ship notes:

 

 

• I would recommend having a couple of drinks before getting in a Mexican taxi.
  
• Passenger ages ran the gamut from young kids to seniors (probably a lot less kids now with school in session). I think they said there were 360 kids on the ship, I guess not surprising for summer.
  
• Did not see many teenagers (I probably should NOT be surprised by this).
  
• Hope you don’t mind Californians. As one poster before has said, “We met people from California, to as far away as well…California”. I would imagine any Riviera cruise is like that. There are a lot of us that live on the Left Coast and it is really convenient.
  
• Used very few Pesos; only the ones that I had to get from an ATM in Cabo. The widely and conveniently used exchange rate in port is 10:1, however, the real exchange rate hovers in the 11+:1 range. Cash is readily available in the casino by tapping your SeaPass card, thereby eliminating costly ATM fees.
  
• The Cruise Director, John Blair, was hilarious. He was everywhere. While another poster thought he was “full of himself”, well maybe he is, but who cares…he was still funny. This reminds me of a particular event. We were taking part in “TV Tune Bingo” and our seven year old was running our answers up to the desk. When John said, “There is a little girl in a pink dress with braids that has been running up here. If she comes up here and dances on the stage then everybody gets an extra point!” My daughter had to be coaxed on stage but when finally up there had fun dancing a few seconds and enjoyed the applause. While it was a special thing for our family, it is also one example of how a successful cruise director draws the audience into the show. Highly recommend this show. Even if you suck at the game (us), it was hilarious watching the groups and listening to John.
  
• Quest Adult game – have a couple of drinks and go.
  
• Solarium and the kids. This has been the topic of various posts. First, the Solarium is very comfortable. While some might think it would get hot, actually it is cool because it is air-conditioned. That is why they have closed doors leading to it. According to one Solarium pool attendant, it is generally adults only unless there is inclement weather. So basically if it is too cold to use the main pool, then all are welcome. We did get booted out the first day on board (which was absurd because the main pool was drained), however, it appeared the above policy was loosely enforced and I could find no signs about this informal policy.
  
• The rock wall was nice. Four different difficulty levels that went in order from Blue to Green to Red to Yellow/White combo. (Some inconsistent opinions on whether red or green was second easiest). This was very enjoyable for the kids and I. Hours are limited and you have to sign in and wait a little while before your turn. The rock wall was open on the last day for us (some have suggested sometimes it is closed on this day because of the wind).
  
• The last day was cool by the main pool but tolerable. There was a strong breeze during the day and a really strong wind on the upper deck during the evening.
  
• Had a great time at night on the deck 10 bow (forward most area for passengers) with my youngest daughter standing on the deck chairs doing the “Titanic thing”. Awesome feeling; very serene feeling with the wind rushing through our hair and the moonlight shining on the water. Just awesome!!!!!!!!
  
• All right. Having done all the research and bought and packed all the trinkets, what worked? 1) Bungee cords–NO (balcony doors were sliding doors). 2) Clothesline–NO (no easy place to tie it and there was a clothesline in the shower). 3) Suction Cup Hooks–YES (very effective for drying swim suits/ clothes on the balcony.) 4) Clothes pins–NO (we just draped clothes over the shower line. 5) 2 1/2 gallon zip locks–YES (good for enclosing booze bottles to prevent broken bottles from soaking clothes and effective for efficiently packing smaller clothing items – suck/ push the air out). 6) Highlighters–YES (dual colors good for highlighting each other’s Cruise Compass activity preferences). 7) Post-Its (Good for some I suppose. We were always able to find each other easily and our cabin steward was always around so we never used them for messages). 8) Walkie Talkies AGGHH yes…the subject of many rants!!! - MAYBE (we used them once successfully but generally thought they were not worth carrying around. The kids were so happy in Adventure Ocean there was no need. Perhaps if you have a large multi-family group they would be more helpful.). For those that have read about walkie-talkies being annoying on a ship, I found I rarely heard them (with 360 kids on the ship!). Maybe some are more sensitive to this than I. I thought it was no biggie. If you are going to buy some, buy the kind that employ “codes” – more channel combinations so you are less subject to interference. 9) Nightlights–YES (used one by the balcony and kept the bathroom light on and door cracked open at the other end). 10) Power strip and extension cords–NO (I suppose if you have a CD player, iron or other stuff than maybe you need them but we didn’t. 11) Binoculars–YES (didn’t use them a lot but nice to have). 12) Battery powered travel alarm clock–YES (didn’t use the alarm but VERY nice to have the time readily visible to all.
  

 

Writing this review has been post-cruise therapy for me. Additionally, I plan on printing it and putting it in a scrapbook, as I don’t want the detail to escape me.

 

 

Well…adios from the Legend of the Seas. I was sad and a little emotional to drive away from her. Whether you take the Legend to other destinations or take another ship to the Mexican Riviera, you most surely will have an incredible time.

 

 

Best regards from Orange County, California!!