Legend Review Aug. 17-24

[krissy72]

OK, I will start at the beginning....

 

I flew Airtran into Tampa and had no problems with the airline. We flew in a day early just in case and I had booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express Rocky Point. There were 5 of us all together. The room cost about $34 each person and that included a hot breakfast, transportation from the airport, anywhere within a 5 mile radius of the hotel, transportation to the port and transportation from the port back to the airport after the cruise. I cannot recommend this hotel enough. It was great and all the transportation worked out perfectly.

 

We arrived at the port at about 11:30am on Sunday the 17th. We were on the ship by about 12:00 or so. The ship was magnificent. I booked a 4A guarantee room, which is an inside room. I ended up with a 7A room, an obstructed view balcony. I had three in my room and there was plenty of room. Great deal. First thing we did of course was eat. Everything I tried on the buffets were really good. We ate there a lot out of convenience. We spent that first day exploring the ship, eating and swimming. We ate in the dinning room every night for dinner except maybe 2 or 3 nights. The food was yummy.

 

Monday- This was the first Sea Day. I spent this day the same as embarkation day, eating swimming and exploring. I also went to the free rum tasting. I am not much of a drinker and I don't particularly care for rum, but it was free and I love a good bargain.

 

Tomorrow, Grand Cayman and the Stingrays.

[krissy72]

Tuesday- Grand Cayman

 

Grand Cayman as with all the ports of call have the most beautiful colored water I have ever seen. To get off the ship in this port we had to dock in the sea and take a tender boat to shore as the water is too shallow to dock at the pier. When we got to the shore it was early and most stores were closed. Today I had planned an excursion to Stingray city, snorkeling in the coral garden and snorkeling with starfish. I booked through Nativeway Tours. The cost was $35 for adult and $25 child. We booked all our tours independently and saved a ton of money compared to booking through the ship. Nativeway picked us up at the peir and took us to our snorkeling boat. It was the five of us and and another family of 4. First stop was the stingrays.

 

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[krissy72]

Then it was off to the starfish

 

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We had a great time and would recommend Nativeway to anyone. Here is a pic of our guides with my step daughter. [/img]

 

 

Next- Roatan, Honduras

[krissy72]

Wednesday- Roatan, Honduras

 

As we were pulling into port, I ran up to the sun deck to take some pictures. Roatan is by far the prettiest place we stopped.

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For Roatan we booked a driver. Our plan was to go ziplining, sight see, go see the spider monkeys and relax and snorkel at a beach. We did all those things. Here are the pics.

 

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The driver we hired was through Victor Bodden Tours and was wonderful. He drove us around and waited for us all day. The driver cost $25 per person, Ziplining was $45 per person, the monkeys were $2 per person and the beach was free.

 

We also shopped in Roatan. IMHO this was the best shopping port. Lots of local hand made items. When we got off the ship and throughout the day children would come up to you and try to sell you bracelets for a dollar. This country is poor, but authentic unlike Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

 

Next up- Belize, my favorite port.

[lilpootr]

Waiting patiently for Belize...thanks so much for posting! Great review, I am glued to my computer waiting for more!

 

:)

[kermer]

This is great!!! I am taking this cruise in March 09 Just booked today!!!!!

[Wags67]

Wonderful Review Krissy:)

I love reviews with pictures!

Looking forward to Belize also!

[StarryBugg]

Great so far!! THANKS! Can't wait for more!

[krissy72]

Thursday- Belize:D:D:D

 

Ok, Belize was my absolute favorite port. Don't ask me why though cause I don't know why. Is that strange?

 

Belize was another tender port. I don't mind tendering at all but it does eat up some of your time at port. When we got off the tender we went looking for cave-tubing.com. We found it easy enough and we were whisked off to the cave-tubing bus. We had no problems at all finding them. It was about an hour ride to the caves but it went quick. This tour is a good one if you also want to see some of the country side of Belize. There are some very poor areas in Belize. On the way our guides were informative and funny. We also tried the cashew wine, which I thought tasted like vinegar taffy, if anyone has ever had vinegar taffy. The walk through the jungle was long, it was hot that day, but really fun too. We finally got to the river and I found the temp of the water very nice. Much warmer than the creeks here at home. I jumped off a cliff into the water. Woo Hoo. The caves were magnificent. I wasn't expecting the length and height of the caves. Again the guides were great and friendly. When we were done at the caves we stopped at the gift shop. I bought the t shirt.

 

We got back to port with about an hour to spare. We wanted to shop but did not want to do it at the pier. So we walked around outside "the gate", I think. I couldn't really find a gate. We had absolutely no problems with this and felt safe the whole time. I even found it to be less pushy than Cozumel. It was a lot of fun.

 

I would recommend cave-tubing.com to anyone. The guides were great and the cave-tubing was great. We had a blast here. The cost was $45 per person. More than worth it.

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[krissy72]

More Belize Pics

 

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Tomorrow- Cozumel

[glmnj]

Thanks for the review. This is great. My wife and I are planning the same cruise for next September, and wasn't sure what to do where.

Thanks for the great info and pictures

[cjkumbaya]

Really nice review - looking forward to more! We will be on the Legend in a few months!:D

[Carnival Game]

Great pictures!

[rebeljohn]

Nice pics and review............Looking forward to the rest. We are looking at booking a Legend cruise for Feb '09................

[Grayce]

Nice pictures. We'll be visiting some of the same ports next month. It's great to see the pictures!

[poptart]

What happened to Cozumel?????? I thought it came after Grand Cayman???

 

Loving your review and pictures.

[airhead22]

Where did you shop in Roatan? And what type of things were there to buy?

[krissy72]

What happened to Cozumel?????? I thought it came after Grand Cayman???

 

Loving your review and pictures.

 

It usually does, but because of Faye the itinerary was switched to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize then Cozumel. I am working on Cozumel now.

[krissy72]

Where did you shop in Roatan? And what type of things were there to buy?

 

I shopped on the Main Street, outside the pier area. I bought a hand carved mahagony bowl set. But they had all sorts of things that were hand made like hammocks, wooden flip flops it was just kinda neat.

[poptart]

It usually does, but because of Faye the itinerary was switched to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize then Cozumel. I am working on Cozumel now.

 

okay!! I just thought I missed it or something! Looking forward to the rest!

[krissy72]

I hope to have the rest up today sometime.

[krissy72]

I had been searching and searching for my Cozumel pics. For some reason I kept skipping by them on my SD card. But I just did another quick look and found them.

 

Friday-Cozumel

 

Cozumel is a happening place. The port area has a lot going on as far as shopping and eating. The only thing we had planned was to go to Chankanaab National Park so my StepDaughter and DD could do the Dolphin Adventure. After that we were going to explore the park and hang out on the beach and do some snorkeling. The girls had a great time with the dolphins. I bought the video ($40) but don't know how to post it so if anyone can help me out with that, I will post it. BTW, for anyone wondering, it is very easy to make copies for friends and family.

 

I have to say that Cozumel was my least favorite stop. Maybe it was because I found Chankanaab to be lackluster or maybe it is that I am not much of a laying around on a beach person. I don't know. When I go back with my DH in Feb. we are going deep sea fishing. Maybe my thoughts on Cozumel will be different after that.

 

Anyway, after the dolphins we hung out on the beach and DD snorkeled. We found a nice place to eat on the beach. I ordered the Mexican Plate, which was like a sampler platter. A little bit of everything. It was very good.

 

We caught a taxi back to the downtown area so we could shop our way back to the boat. My StepDaughter loved the shopping here. She bought all kinds of things. She loved Cozumel. The dolphin excursion costs $101 for children and $106 for adults. The 5 of us in one taxi to the park was $15 total. The fee to get into the park is included with the dolphin excursion but costs $16 without. If you go to their website you will find a $2 off per person coupon. Here are some pics.

 

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Next- Last sea day

[krissy72]

The last sea day was spent relaxing, packing, trying my luck at the casino, playing bingo, taking the Galley tour and learning how to make towel animals. Here are some pics of the inside of the ship.

 

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[krissy72]

The next morning we had an early flight home, 10:47am, so we dragged our own luggage off the ship. We went down to the casino at 7am and waited till about 7:40am when they let us off the ship. Everything went smooth. We went outside and waited where our shuttle driver from the hotel we stayed at prior to the cruise had told us. I had called the hotel to let them know to pick us up as they started letting people off the ship. In no time our driver was there and we were at the airport by 8:30am.

 

This cruise was a lot of fun. The ship was elegant and clean. The room was spacious with lots of storage. The majority of the food was yummy. The staff was very friendly. I can't wait for my next one.

[marci4tony]

Thanx for the information! We are leaving on Nov 2 - We will be headed to Costa Maya instead of Rotan (which has me a little bummed because it appears to be the ONLY Legend ship that goes there for the rest of the year)

 

We have an Aft Ext Balcony cabin - Will be parasailing in Coz, Jet-ski to the rays in Cayman, and CaveTubing in Belize...not sure what we'll do in CM...

 

Great descriptions, great pix!