Review of our Spring Break cruise on Carnival Legend

[PaulMedik]

Our Fun Day at Sea began with a light breakfast on Lido;

 

 

The seas were rocking all night so we all slept well and had breakfast together;

 

 

Upon returning to our cabin we checked our mail and our luggage tags had arrived;

 

 

Pictures just don't convey how heavy seas or high winds can move a ship. The best indication of a heavy sea in this pics is that our wake is very short and wiped out soon after we pass through;

 

 

Evidence of water splashing so far out to the side is also photographic indication of high waves;

 

[KenMo]

Paul: I love reading your reviews....so informative and well written!

 

It's so nice to have something pleasant to read.

 

I wish you guys could cruise every month just so I could read about your adventures!!!

[PaulMedik]

The final day at sea is when they hold the final BlackJack tournament and do the free cruise raffle. I gathered our 20 free cruise raffle tickets, my free BlackJack tournament ticket and a free table game ticket and headed to the casino. I had entered the BlackJack tournament earlier in the week and had $4700 after seven hands. Not nearly enough for the final table.;

 

 

I recorded Karen and Britt after they announced the winner of the free seven day cruise for two;

 

 

Can you tell we didn't win?

 

Anyone who has attended final day bingo and been present for the free cruise drawing will remember the hordes of people leaving the theater afterwards. It was very crowded as we left;

 

 

Sorry for the blurry pic, but the crowd of people kept running in to me;

 

 

The ship's top decks as well as the Promenade were closed due to high winds. I guess that's why there were so many people milling about inside the ship.;

 

[PaulMedik]

Paul: I love reading your reviews....so informative and well written!

 

It's so nice to have something pleasant to read.

 

I wish you guys could cruise every month just so I could read about your adventures!!!

 

 

KenMo,

 

Thank you.

 

Cruising every month would be great! I suspect GreenPeace would be shoving my fat arse back in the ocean after the first few months though.....have you seen how much I eat on cruises? I don't think I eat that much at home, but I know our boys do.

 

 

 

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Chair Hogs were out in force by the Lido pools. I guess I should rephrase and call them 'hogs in chairs.' Here I found a pic of a hogs feet as he sat by the pool watching his youngest play. He was such a hog that he had ALL of the chairs around the pools to himself;

 

 

I checked out the multilevel gym and discovered that all health freaks had apparently been left at the ports we visited. Very few people were there working out;

 

 

The Carnival Spa's last day specials had them standing in line;

 

 

The sports deck was closed due to high winds, so everyone had to use the next deck down for walking;

 

 

With all the chair hogs down by the pool, you would think they would have a few chairs out on other decks for regular folks to use;

 

[PaulMedik]

I know they had to make copies of this sign during the week because I saw some fly by our balcony;

 

 

The hot tubs did get some use;

 

 

 

People did start to trickle out of their hiding spots as they day wore on and the seas calmed down;

 

 

I don't know that I've ever seen so many people sitting up on lounge chairs on a warm beautiful day at sea;

 

 

Karen and the boys were by the pool and did get to see quite a few folks come out and lay towels on chairs. I guess they brought them out to dry them?;

 

[KenMo]

KenMo,

 

Thank you.

 

Cruising every month would be great! I suspect GreenPeace would be shoving my fat arse back in the ocean after the first few months though.....have you seen how much I eat on cruises? I don't think I eat that much at home, but I know our boys do.

 

Oh I've noticed the food! Your gang sure can put away the groceries..lol!

 

The one I'm really surprised about is Karen. I have no idea how she stays in such good shape on a cruise!

[PaulMedik]

It's not often that you get to watch your sons have a mid day wrestling match in and by the pool and not bother to calm them down;

 

 

 

They took turns tossing each other in. One thing for certain is they had plenty of towels laying around to dry off with. Gotta luv the generosity of our fellow cruisers;

 

 

Karen wrapped up a towel and slept. She had no problem saving me a seat by her;

 

 

Ping Pong was very interesting to watch. Any time the ball would go past a player it would fly to the deck below and then back to the edge of the steps;

 

 

Behold the yellow shirted hog in a chair;

 

[PaulMedik]

Oh I've noticed the food! Your gang sure can put away the groceries..lol!

 

The one I'm really surprised about is Karen. I have no idea how she stays in such good shape on a cruise!

 

 

KenMo,

 

Karen eats as much as I do and I outweigh her by 100 pounds. She's always been that way. If science ever figures out her secret, they could make a mint recreating it and selling it. My best guess as to her secret would be that she's hyper. She's always moving unless she's asleep and even then she rocks back and forth. She's also strong as an ox. At work I restrain grown men every day and have never had one get away from me. I cannot pin her or hold her down without breaking bones and if I did she'd probably stab me with the jagged ends.

 

We were at a rescue competition once and a friend of mine mentioned that she appeared to keep in good shape. As we talked about it I mentioned that I could not restrain her. He had seen me wrestle quite a few violent people so he remarked that I was making that part up. I told him to give her a try. Twenty people on our competition team got to witness her wear him out. He tried to be easy at first then tried all he could to save face. She left him sitting on the floor trying to catch his breath. I pity the poor mugger that ever tries to pounce on her.

 

 

 

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A day at sea after four port days in a row is the ultimate in relaxation;

 

 

 

The evening dessert offerings;

 

 

 

I checked my internet minutes on the last evening. I purchased the $100 for 240 minutes plan and left the ship with 50 minutes remaining. Suffices to say the internet speed is slower each time we cruise.

 

[seafun]

It wooks wike the Yellow Shirted Chair Hog might be sweeping soon, and we can sneeeek by him. :D

[Livin4Real]

 

Brian,

 

9:00AM we were off the ship.

10:25AM we were climbing the steps up the mountain for zip line.

11:15AM we were finished zip lining and back in the parking area.

11:51AM we arrived at Infinity Bay Spa & Resort.

1:23PM we left Infinity Bay Spa & Resort.

1:53PM we were back at the port.

2:08PM we were back on board Carnival Legend

 

 

I keep all of our cameras and watches set to the second for ship's time.

 

One interesting note is that we sailed a few minutes early each time. Never late.

 

And I thought I was detailed :p

Thanks for the info!

[PaulMedik]

It wooks wike the Yellow Shirted Chair Hog might be sweeping soon, and we can sneeeek by him. :D

 

 

Seafun,

 

It's best to make sure I'm resting real comfortable by feeding me margaritas as you go by. ;):D

 

Speaking of my favorite drink, I can't wait for Dream's stop in Costa Maya next year to get another Mahahual Margarita. The best I've ever had. You'll really see me sleeping after one or two of those. :D

[PaulMedik]

And I thought I was detailed :p

Thanks for the info!

 

 

Livin4Real,

 

My wife accuses me of being detailed all the time.

 

 

_________________________________________________________

 

 

 

My last supper;

 

 

 

And a calzone for good measure;

 

 

After dinner we found a bird hanging from our ceiling;

 

 

Our last evening's seas were considerably more calm;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

For the first time ever we decided to set our bags out the night before instead of doing Self Assist. I'm not sure why we opted for setting the bags out. We were on deck four for this cruise and deck four is the lowest deck we've ever stayed on. We're normally on deck 6 or deck 10. This would have been the easiest ship to do self assist and we've always had easy debarkation with self assist. Why abandon something that works? Who knows, but we can now say we have set our bags out the night before;

 

 

 

How old for the casino? ;

 

 

 

Late night gathering of swim trunks;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Final night room service;

 

 

Breakfast the final morning was the lightest of the entire cruise;

 

 

Every time I tried to go to the top decks they were closed so after breakfast I took the opportunity to see what was up there;

 

 

 

 

I don't think they'd let us leave him on the ship. They'd go broke trying to keep him fed;

 

[PaulMedik]

 

 

 

Ghost ship again;

 

 

 

We opted to use the private stairs for our debarkation;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

After walking down the promenade from our private stairs, we entered the ship by the atrium, went down one flight of stairs and straight off the ship.

 

Customs had a half dozen officers all waiting for us and motioned to us as soon as we came in sight.

 

Standard questions were 'Did you buy any cigars?' Yes.

'Cuban?' Smoked them. Don't know.

'Any tobacco or cigars with you?' Yes. Three cigars. Purchased prior to the cruise in Clearwater. They were the wrong size so I still have them.

'Any other tobacco?' Yes. Levi Garrett. Purchased in WV prior to cruise.

'What is Levi Garrett?' Tobacco. Chewing variety. You wouldn't understand.

 

 

The only delay at Customs was for them to fulfill my request to stamp our passports. They had to take the passports to a separate room then return with them stamped.

 

The CBP officials at Tampa seem like they enjoy their jobs and they welcomed us home to the USA better than at any other port.

 

 

We left our room at 8:35 and at 8:53 we had claimed our luggage and were waiting outside the pier for our rental shuttle from Hertz;

 

 

 

The Hertz shuttle wasn't there so the porter directed me to the Hertz desk at the port;

 

 

 

The Hertz clerk said he could do better than the airport rental I had so he voided it and asked if an Expedition would be OK. I said an Expedition would be perfect. He handed me the keys and had us dropped off just down the street at his pick up lot.

 

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Clearwater Beach around 10:00AM;

 

 

After checking in to our hotel, we discovered the towel animals had spread to Holiday Inn;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

Our room was a two room suite with two queen beds in one room and a pullout sleeper sofa, chair, table with four chairs, and kitchen in the other room. The balcony view wasn't bad, but not what we were used to;

 

 

 

'You kids be sure and wear your sunblock. Down here in Florida the sun gets hot real quick.' was the warning from the towel man. ;

 

 

 

As we left our hotel for a port stop, there were no Carnival photogs so we had to make do;

 

[PaulMedik]

Hoofing it down the sidewalk to pier 60;

 

 

 

The boys played football the whole way down;

 

 

 

Pier 60;

 

 

Bryson shell;

 

[PaulMedik]

Britt shell;

 

 

 

Beautiful evening sky over Clearwater Beach;

 

 

 

Football all the way back to our hotel;

 

 

Britt's Grill and Bar;

 

 

Spencer discovering how fast he can have his feet swept from under him;

 

[PaulMedik]

Evening at the pool;

 

 

 

Sunset;

 

 

 

Basically our post cruise day consisted of a nap when we first arrived at the hotel, an afternoon by the pool, and evening at the beach, then more time by the pool. We ordered Pizza delivered from Papa Johns and devoured four large pizzas, a 3 liter of coke and a dessert pizza. Obviously we were eating lighter than when on the ship.

 

The next day we slept in then checked out of our hotel at 1:00. Our flight wasn't until 5:00 so we drove South and stopped by Sand Key Park which is straight across from the Holiday Inn where we stayed;

 

 

Sand Key is in sight of Clearwater Beach, but the sand is not talcom powder like Clearater Beach;

 

 

We did find a few nice shells. They have trillions of them to choose from;

 

[PaulMedik]

St Pete / Clearwater airport is small and efficient. The checkin lines move very quickly;

 

 

 

Then we sit around for two hours waiting for our plane. Small airports shouldn't have the two hour prior checkin that is standard nationwide;

 

 

Our plane was delayed arriving due to thunderstorms;

 

 

Our Allegiant Air flight home was smooth as could be;

 

 

We arrived in WV right on time. We had extra practice loading the vehicle before we flew back home because our rental was just like Karen's Expedition;

 

[PaulMedik]

Back in our own vehicle;

 

 

 

Our cruise on Carnival Legend was now over.

 

The boys had four days of school ahead of them and I had two more days off then a week of 12 hour night shifts. Karen had four days of work to look forward to.

 

Now that I've completed a week of work after our cruise I can look back and say it was a wonderful experience. It was everything we expected it would be and then some. We had no negative experiences. Without a doubt we experienced things we will remember until the day we die.

 

Our expenses were within the expected range. Our total S&S bill was our lowest ever at ~$1100.00. For that we'll earn 2200 points on our SeaMiles card. Our precruise expenses were paid for before the cruise and included rental car and hotel. Our post cruise expenses include a rental of $117 and a hotel of ~$250. Our cash expenses for food pre and post cruise, excursions during the cruise, cash tips, casino donations etc came in at ~$2500.00. We brought $2900 in cash and came home with ~$350 cash.

 

If anyone has any questions, continue to feel free to ask. Anyone is also more than welcome to jump in with answers or suggestions.

 

Thank you all for reading my ramblings. Sorry for the length of the review. I'll try and do a condensed version next time. :o

 

Right now I have to go figure out how to install the dishwasher I bought this week. I've already knocked a hole in the wall to expose the pipes. Now I just have to cut them, tap them, connect everything, then build a counter over the dishwasher. Piece of cake!

[czechgal]

Don't you DARE do a condensed version next time!!!!

 

I loved your review and all of the pics were awesome. I was actually sad at the end, just like I would be if I was on a cruise.

 

I, like picklebongo, realized from your review, it's not about thinking how much money you can save on vacation, it's about spending time with your family and having experiences you will remember for the rest of your lives and that may mean spending a little more on things like the cabin. You really didn't spend a heck of a lot in my book, considering you have 4 people to shop for.

 

Thanks again. I am a fan!

 

Lisa

[myacuna]

Paul,

 

Please don't condense your reviews!! I have neven been on a cruise before, and I think your review is the best one I have read. I cannot wait for our Legend Honeymoon!

[pe4all]

Paul -

Long versions only, please! I couldn't wait for your next installation- I signed on here a couple of times a day just to keep up to date. Glad you had a great time, and it seems your attitude is much like mine - go with the flow. Here's wishing you many more great cruises, and thanks again for sharing your adventures with us.