Carnival Legend June 15 Review

[alfngf]

Let me start by saying that this is going to take some time. I am at work so I only have a short amount of time to begin this and I'm not sure how much time I will have today.

 

We arrived in Tampa on the 14th, we were meeting some friends that had an earlier flight at our hotel. We had already talked to them as they had landed in Tampa before we took off in Houston. We had to drive from Dallas to Houston on Friday to drop off our kids at their grandparents. The flight was short and bumpy and my dh swears we had Mario Andretti as the pilot because we seemed to only use the last part of the runway to land. We stayed at the Howard Johnson in downtown Tampa, despite the mixed reviews online.

 

We had no complaints at all with this hotel. We shared a room with our friends and for the four of us it was $99 for the night. Not a bad deal at all. Our friends told us when we talked to them that one of the hotel's shuttles was broken down but they were doing their best to accomodate everyone. We weren't too concerned about it as we were fine taking a taxi if we needed to. Which we did when we got to the airport. He drove super fast and we were at the hotel in what seemed like 5 minutes. YAY! I was happy to pay for a fast ride. We went up to the room and we were ready to head out and start our vacation. We headed to Channelside to explore and have some drinks and dinner.

Our first stop was Margarita Mama's....

The sign says "Great Drinks, Good Food, Lousy Service" and yes let me tell you that is the truth!! We got our drinks to go and walked around for a while exploring some of the restaurants. I wanted some seafood and I was shocked that this place had nothing to offer. Oh well. We asked the valet if there was anything close and he said no, I was a bit shocked as I was in Florida with no fresh seafood. We ended up at the hibachi place but I can't remember the name of it. It was very good food though. We had some sushi for appetizer and wonderful drinks along with our food.

We ended up over at Bennigans on the patio having some more drinks. My dh spotted a balloon guy and made the comment that we didn't have kids with us so we weren't a target. HA!!! Next thing we knew he was right there next to us. DH got me a flower bracelet that I wore on my leg.

 

 

Warning!! Smuggling acts ahead:

 

We asked our waiter where the nearest liquor store was and if we could walk, he said no and you probably wouldn't want to anyway. So off to find a taxi, dh worked it out with one to take us to the liquor store, back to the hotel to drop off and back to Channelside. WOO! Off we went to get some booze. We didn't get much, only a bottle of Capt. Morgan's coconut rum and regular rum. Believe me our bar bill on day 1 made up for it. :)

After walking around Channelside a bit more and hitting up the "country bar" we were ready to get some rest. I say "country bar" loosely too. It was dead when we went in and the bar was sticky!! Once again we took our drinks to go.

We took the trolley system back to the hotel, only a quarter for the ride for each of us. Can't beat that!!

That night we had a hell of a night as some thunderstorms passed thru and we all swore it was the loudest thunder we ever heard. Luckily it was a fast moving storm and was gone quickly.

[alfngf]

The next morning we woke up and got ready and had breakfast downstairs. Our friends had signed us up for the first shuttle to the port at 10:15. Turned out their normal shuttle was off to the airport and since they were down one they had another shuttle coming to get us. We were standing outside waiting

and this pulled up.

 

 

It was actually a pretty cool little ride but our luggage was stuffed into their, good thing we weren't a larger group.

 

This was our first site of the ship.

 

We got there pretty quickly and were in group 6 or 7 to board, I believe it was 7. It was a fairly quick process but nothing like what I'd experienced before. I've cruised with Royal Caribbean twice and both times after establishing our account we were on the ship, but we had never been there this early so I'm not sure if its any different. Thats the first of a few differences I noticed and will point out.

 

Once we were on the ship it was up to the Lido Deck for our first drinks of the day.

 

We met a FABULOUS waiter, Miro from Bulgaria. He was fabulous and always there when we needed another drink (of course).

 

I believe the drink of the day was the Funship Special. We made friends with Miro and he started making ours a little more stiff for us. As I said, FABULOUS!!!

 

Ok I'll continue this on later.

[Ehpride]

Yay! Another Legend Review :) I can't wait to read the rest.

[phinfan63]

I love all these reviews with the pictures ~ looking forward to reading the rest :)

[jessandpaul]

I can't wait to read the rest!!!

[snc421]

I *heart* reviews and pics as well!

 

Thanks Alf!

[alfngf]

I *heart* reviews and pics as well!

 

Thanks Alf!

 

I'm just following those before me such as you and Tink. ;)

 

 

 

Mande

[mom2girls]

You sailed the week after me. Can't wait to hear how your trip was! :D

[snc421]

I'm just following those before me such as you and Tink. ;)

 

 

 

Mande

My mission was accomplished! :D

[alfngf]

The girls decided we should explore the ship some so off we went to find our table for dinner and just explore a bit.

Out by the pool:

In the dining room:

 

Lobby area:

 

Chandelier in one of the walking/sitting areas.

 

Enchanted Forest:

 

 

I kept reading about how dark the ship is and so I was curious as to how it would look. The woods and such in the lobby are dark but it never seemed dark, if you get what I mean. I guess during the day the sun provided so much light and then at night all the lights made it not seem dark. I absolutely loved the ship and would go on it again in a heartbeat. In the dining room we found our table and only had a 4-seater so it was a bit disappointing to me but it didn't really matter at all. Although once we were in dinner we swear we were seated in the honeymoon section because they sang "happy honeymoon" almost every night to someone at a table right around us.

 

We met back off with the boys and decided it was time to see if we could get into our rooms....

[mom2girls]

That's funny because we heard happy honeymoon every night of our cruise too! :) Well, they say June is the month for weddings.

[alfngf]

We were able to get into our room and decided to just and chill there for a bit before we were off to explore again.

I took a few pictures of our room, we had an aft balcony room on deck 8, very nice except for the narrow entrance into the room. I'm not sure if thats all the rooms. It wasn't bad just going in and out of the room until you had a bag full of dive gear. Our friends with us had an inside room around the corner from us that was turned sideways instead of longways and it seemed much roomier. They also had two chairs instead of the couch so that might have helped some but their entrance into the room was wide open.

Our room looking out from the entry area:

 

Looking towards the entry from the balcony:

 

The bathroom:

 

This is another differenced that I noticed with Carnival and RC, the shower seemed MUCH roomier on Carnival. I remember on RC not having much room at all to turn around and that wasn't the case with this shower, not that you can really tell from the pictures.

 

After sitting around in the room some it was off to explore again until time for the Muster Drill. Here I am hanging out in the Enchanted Forest.

 

 

I want to say the muster drill started around 3:00 or sometime close to it, I was on vacation so I wasn't paying much attention to time. We waited a while after the first call for muster drill before heading down, we certainly weren't the last but we weren't stuck in the back either. If I remember correctly though we only had two lines anyway.

[alfngf]

After the muster drill we hurried back upstairs to put away our lifevests and we met our steward, Frank. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of him but he was very attentive. Great towel animals, always said hello to us and we always had anything we needed. He asked if we wanted the mini-bar unlocked but we opted to go ahead and leave it alone.

We headed up to deck 10 for sailaway from Tampa.

If I was single and lived in Tampa I think I'd have to live in one of those buildings, they looked very cool, at least from the outside.

The view of Channelside from the ship.

The bartender at Bennigan's the night before said the ship would be right there, they said that when the ship is in port they can't even see out their windows.

 

The calypso band on the lido deck: (I already miss them!) I asked my dh if he thought they would come and play in my hallway at work. He said he didn't think everyone else would enjoy it like I do. I just love sitting at the pool and listening to these guys.

 

Sailaway has begun:

 

Our meet and greet was supposed to be at 3:00 but we didn't make it. I was kind of bummed but I needed some food as we had a bit to drink.

My dh was making a centerpiece out of our umbrellas from the drinks.

[alfngf]

We hung around the lido deck for a bit longer until it got closer to 6:00 and headed up to view our sailing under the bridge.

I had seen numerous pictures of it but nothing can put it into words. It really does look like your not going to make it when your coming up to the bridge.

 

 

We had late sitting for dinner so we went back to the room hoping that our luggage was there and it was. I went ahead and unpacked so that it would all be done and I wouldn't have to worry about it again.

Before dinner we went out on deck 3 and watched the sunset.

 

I love ocean sunsets so much so I really enjoyed just standing outside and watching.

 

I don't remember what was for dinner that night but I know we all enjoyed it very much. Two of us got the warm chocolate melting cake and it was yummy!! I don't remember the waiters dancing and singing that first night but I believe we finished up eating quicker than some and we headed out. We ended up stopping by the piano bar and listening to Bryan for a while, this would soon become a tradition for a few nights for us. One night we kept him in there until 3:00AM! He was a blast.

We went to the show that night and Shawn the CD asked for some husband's that would do anything for their wives. She got 4 guys to volunteer and sent them backstage until after the show. The comic that night was good and the show was enjoyable. The funniest was the 4 guys though. After the show Shawn brought the wives of the guys on stage and had them sit in chairs facing the audience. She brought the first two guys out and they were wearing boxers and suspenders and came out and did a little dance for their wives. These two guys were in the USMC and one couple were married for a little over a year and the other 3 years, I believe. The next guy came out in the same boxers and suspenders, they were newlyweds and Shawn asked him what he did for a living, he was an assistant principal or something of that sort at a middle school. I think that made it even funnier. The last guy comes out in a speedo and the suspenders and the look on his wife's face was priceless. I can't remember how long they had been married though, not very long from what I remember. Shawn asked what he did and he said "a minister", Shawn couldn't keep it together at all. All she could say was I'm going straight to hell.

 

After the show we ended up walking around outside the ship for a while. My dh grabbed some pizza and said it was amazing, I was still stuffed from dinner though.

Oh another thing I forgot to mention about dinner. My dh was so excited about this too and I think a little disappointed Carnvial doesn't do this. On RC after the main course they would scrape any crumbs off the table before giving you the dessert menu. Carnival didn't do this, maybe just this ship? Does anyone else know if they do it with any other of the ships? I watched some of the other tables and I didn't notice the other waiters doing it either.

Our head waiter's name was Sakura from Indonesia and I can't for the life of me remember our assistant's name, Yo...something he was from Peru though. Everyone at our table said he reminded them of the short dude from Fantasy Island, just the way he spoke though. He was a very nice guy and chatted with us each night.

 

Night One's towel animal:

[alfngf]

You sailed the week after me. Can't wait to hear how your trip was! :D

 

Look at you!! Sailing again so soon. How lucky you are. I wish we lived a bit closer to a port. We're not far from Galveston, well about 6 hours but thats still bit of a drive. Of course my oldest son has sworn us to take him the next time we go to Mexico.

[mom2girls]

We went to the show that night and Shawn the CD asked for some husband's that would do anything for their wives. She got 4 guys to volunteer and sent them backstage until after the show. The comic that night was good and the show was enjoyable. The funniest was the 4 guys though. After the show Shawn brought the wives of the guys on stage and had them sit in chairs facing the audience. She brought the first two guys out and they were wearing boxers and suspenders and came out and did a little dance for their wives. These two guys were in the USMC and one couple were married for a little over a year and the other 3 years, I believe. The next guy came out in the same boxers and suspenders, they were newlyweds and Shawn asked him what he did for a living, he was an assistant principal or something of that sort at a middle school. I think that made it even funnier. The last guy comes out in a speedo and the suspenders and the look on his wife's face was priceless. I can't remember how long they had been married though, not very long from what I remember. Shawn asked what he did and he said "a minister", Shawn couldn't keep it together at all. All she could say was I'm going straight to hell.

 

 

You're doing a great job so far! :D As for the show on the first night, I think the professions of the husband's are always the same. That's what they were when we sailed as well. I guess they do that to make it even more funny.

 

Look at you!! Sailing again so soon. How lucky you are. I wish we lived a bit closer to a port. We're not far from Galveston, well about 6 hours but thats still bit of a drive. Of course my oldest son has sworn us to take him the next time we go to Mexico.

I blame the sailing so soon on my daughters. :) I came home from the Legend with such wonderful stories they begged me to take them on one too! I got an awesome deal on one that at the time was about 25 days away, so I jumped on it. (The three of us are going for less than just one of us on the Legend. Although, it is only a 4 day cruise.)

[alfngf]

 

You're doing a great job so far! :D As for the show on the first night, I think the professions of the husband's are always the same. That's what they were when we sailed as well. I guess they do that to make it even more funny.

 

 

Oh bummer!! Now that doesn't make it so funny then. Bummer!

[Ehpride]

I love your centerpiece! And I wouldn't have a problem with the band coming with me either :D

[cjkumbaya]

Your review is off to a good start - can't wait for more. We'll be on the Legend in November. Keep it coming please!:)

[DragginABag]

Our head waiter's name was Sakura from Indonesia and I can't for the life of me remember our assistant's name, Yo...something

 

Ho works for me ... Yo Ho since he works on the ship ... lol ...

 

Sort of reminds me of layover's in Seoul, Korea ... Waiter in the coffee shop at the Hyatt Recency was Yu Hu ...

 

Oh, Yu Hu would you mind bringing us a bit more cream for the coffee?" ...

 

GREAT review and pictures ...

[snc421]

I love the centerpiece as well!

 

I'm excited for more... but know sometimes it takes awhile to type all the great detail into it and add pics. For that I say thank you!!!

[cuyahoga11]

Yay! Another Legend Review :) I can't wait to read the rest.

 

The Legend is getting some awsome reviews and a lot of them. When you debark that ship with such wonderful memories, you just have to put it down on paper.

[mom2girls]

The Legend is getting some awsome reviews and a lot of them. When you debark that ship with such wonderful memories, you just have to put it down on paper.

 

I've been on 9 cruises. The Legend was the best of all of them I had such a good time I needed to share it with everyone!

[poptart]

All of these wonderful picture reviews really have me excited to sail on the Legend!

 

I'll be looking forward to the rest of your review.

[t_nix]

Thanks for your review and esp for the pictures!!!