Just back from the Legend--The good, the bad and the ugly

[dotcruiser]

Just returned earlier today and had to give my opinion of the Legend and the stuff going on.

We went to Panama Canal and it was great. We met up with a guy that says he paid $25.00 to do the exact thing we did on the Grand tour. So we were disappointed with that bit of info. It was an awesome sight. We loved the boat that took us thru the jungle and saw monkeys an bats and all kinds of wildlife We went to island with real indians tribes (can't remember the name) and that was more than awesome! Take the Grand tour, not the other one because you will pay a bit less and do three fantastic excursions in one and it's a good mix.

Belize and Costa Rico were great. I was a bit disappointed in Belize. Such a poor county where we went (River Walace tour) the guides were great and we enjoyed the whole thing. Buy your coffee in Costa Rica when you get off the ship. Awesome stuff!

Now for the ship. The Legend was beautiful, large and fun. The shows were more than great. All I can say is Brent Allen is awesome and so much fun. Wait till you see him in his tutu! They had a Christmas show and too many others to mention. Don't miss the talent show! That's all I can say. Stay till the end! We had great talent and get there early so you can get a seat! Very popular. Don't miss the Salute to Sinatra and Sammy Davis show. And whatever you do, do NOT miss the adult midnight comedy show with someone Laube. (can't remember his first name) Funny guy! I'm bad at remembering names.

Our waitor, Mario needed help. It was his first cruise and he was a bit disorientated and unsure of himself. He was so sweet so we forgave him. The food was excellent. Don't forget to try the chocolate flourless cake. Soooooo good. Forget the calories.

We were upgraded to balcony and we were happy cuz we paid such a ridiculous low price, but when we got to our cabin, my disappointment was our bed wasn't made like you would expect it. The pillows lumpy and looked like it was made real fast, underneatht he seats are drawers where they keep extra blankets. They were crooked and an extra spread was just rolled up in a ball and shoved in the drawer so the drawer couldn't close tight and looked real messy. We put our luggage under the bed and under the bed was an empty box left from previous people so obviously housekeeping didn't do their job. We complaine 4 days into the cruise about the box (principle of it) and it hadn't been removed before we left. So if you happen to get room 6137 look under bed and see if box still there. I wasn't happy with the stewart. Hardly saw him and I purposly left things out to see if he would clean it up and he did not. He did make awesome animals and dont' even know his name. He would be on the 6th floor. We had them take off our gratuties and adjusted them ourselves. Ran out of tissues so I got the box out and left it on counter to see if he would put in the little holder and he never did. It may be petty but you expect to be panpered better than we did. We complained but no dice.

The worst thing was our room service. I ordered continental breakfast every morning the night before and listed it and 4 times was wrong. We waited 40 minutes one A.M for just coffee and toast and I called after half hour and they come 10 minutes later and forgot the cream> We ordered sandwiches one morning to take on a tour and ordered that morning with our breakfast and got a barrito with our two sandwiches and no toast. We ordered 2 blueberry muffins and toast and got 4 bannana muffins instead. It was almost funny but annoying. We complained at the desk and they appologized and only after my DH complained on his own later that day (I didn't know he had) they sent a letter appologizing with 4 drink tickets! Yeah. But the box under the bed still never got cleaned up.

Other than those annoying things, I loved the ship. I won't go on and on but if anyone has questions, feels free to email me at dotbear1@yahoo.com. My name is Dot and tell me you are from cruisecritic in the subject line,please or I will delete it without reading it.

The Legend is beautiful, the shows great and everything else was great.

[M.S JAZO]

Great Review, I am glad you loved the Legend. Alot of people dont like the wood and all the panels and the urns but I did. We sailed on her 2 times but from NYC. The only thing you liked and everyone HATES is Brett Alans. I so hate him. I saw him in the Tutu to but it was the only thing he did that made me laugh.

[hstrybuf]

Except for a few minor service problems, it sounds like you enjoyed your cruise. I also didn't like Bret Alans, but to each his own! :)

[hockeyluver]

Our family also loved the Legend, our room stewardess Elana was awsome!! But like the others did not care for Brett Allen at all. The assistant CD was wonderful, Chris Jefferson, he was informed during our cruise that he was being promoted to CD. He deserved it!!! We are leaving in a week for the Fascination and our two teen daughters have started singing the " If I were not upon the sea a ........ would be me" LOL are they still doing that routine?

[campdaan]

We loved our LEGEND Cruise last year. I thought Brett Alans was a great CD. But, I have nothing to compare him too and if my information is correct I'll have Stuart Dunn on my GLORY Cruise in March and his reviews are'nt always glowing.

 

A Cruise is what you make of it ! Daan

 

 

 

 

LEGEND 11/03

GLORY 3/05

[MikeNBec]

I ain't sayin' a WORD.

[cruiserlisa]

Thank you so much for your review. I will be on the Legend January 2006. I am so sorry about your room steward. I would have complained also. You pay the money to be pampered and have a good time. I love the pampering.

[Rubia_Boricua_PR]

Cruiserlisa, we are trying to get a group together for 01/06. We are you leaving from and what ports are you visiting?

[sgriff17]

Uh...why not MikeNbec?:confused:

[judyf]

Nice review thanks for posting.

 

Sounds like a good tour in Panama. So the 3 parts you talk about are, the boat ride, the canel and the island?

 

What did you do in Costa Rica?

 

Sounds like a nice ship, sorry you had bad luck with your cabin stewart.

 

What about times on the island vs ship time? how did that work? Also I know Belize is a tender port but what about the other two?

 

Thanks

Judy

[tinna2000]

my co-worker was on the same ship you was on, she said she had a wonderful time. she also said some people was having trouble with there room steward, so i think you wasn't the only one. but i am glad to read that you had a very nice time.

[hockeyluver]

We enjoyed our time on the ship more, we didnt realize that the ports were industrial ports and to see any of the countryside you had to do an excursion there was some shopping near the ports, very poor countries. Our daughters got thier hair braided in Belize it was $15 each. Costa Rica and Panama you pull up to a dock, Belize you tender in (hold on to your hat baby cause you are in for a wild ride!!) But fun! Buy your booze at the duty free in Panama.

[dotcruiser]

Thanks everyone. I liked Brett. Chris was great also. There is another guy and I can't remember his name. He got a case of appendisitis and was sent to some hospital. Should be back by now. Yeah Red Team. We came in 2nd. Rats!

I sent a letter to Carnival today in detail. Don't know if anything will come of it.

You go by ships time when you go into port.

I wasn't too impressed with Belize but we did the Wallace River. It was great. Didn't see monkeys that day but did the day we did the Grand tour of Panama Canal. I still have the fake tatoo the indians painted on me. It's a buck. Let them do it if you go on that tour. It's around my wrist. Doesn't come off for 8 days. Still got some more time. It's fading away....my grandkids thought it was cool....

Belize is such a poor country from where we went. We had great tour girls and told us so much. Their average wages there is $2.25 per hour. I cannot imagine. Many many unwed mothers. It's very common there.

In Costa Rica we decided to wing it and go ashore and do our own thing. We found another couple on the streets and talked to a cab person and for a mere $25.00 ea. he took us in an air conditioned car (if you want to call it that! But we made it) He says he only had 4 accidents in 30 years. What an experience but we made it. We went to some mountain edge and had a great view of the ship and scerery He stopped when we asked to take pictures. We got a city tour, then went on to a beach and a cantina and had drinks and locals sang some Elvis songs....he was good. Stayed there about 20 minutes and then went on to the bannana plantation and saw how they grow. Facinating. Then he took us to a dock and we boarded a small boat and an old man and son took us up to another river and saw wildlife, sloths and such and a quick monkey and on the way down river, we saw some local boys about 11 years old, boat stopped and he chatted with them. They had just caught a huge turtle and it was on the boat and a bucket of crabs. We took pictures. They couldn't speak English but let us take photos. On the way out of the bannana plantation we saw a man on side of road with a sloth around his neck and we stopped and got close up photos. The children were around us and my DH gave a few of them a few dollars, just because!!! They had huge smiles and well worth it. Nothing like being with the locals. All for $50.00 for the two of us. Best trip was the one we did on our own.

[hstrybuf]

Just curious, but after reading your posts, why would you write to Carnival? It doesn't sound like you had a bad cruise, just some minor problems. :confused:

[judyf]

I know you stay on ships time, most due. But do you remember what the difference was at the islands? Just checking for booking tours on our own.

 

Sounds like a great day in Costa Rica, We did the river/wallace tour in Belize in April and we loved it. Saw monkleys on our tour, many of them. I'm still trying to decide what to do this time there. I'm thinking of snorkeling with the sharks or the zoo. Not sure yet!

[jilly08]

Did you happen to save the menus from your Legend cruise?? We are going on the same itinerary in January.

[dotcruiser]

Sorry, don't have the menu's from the cruise.

Why I wrote Carnival a letter? Although the cruise and ship was great I felt the housekeeping and especially the room service needs much improvement. They need to know, although we told them onboard and nothing was done about it. It was very annoying and I feel you go on a cruise to be pampered and room service was chaios!

I told them the great things also and that we would continue to be loyal Carnival cruisers. I was not that negative!

[hstrybuf]

I told them the great things also and that we would continue to be loyal Carnival cruisers. I was not that negative!

Good! A well-balanced letter is likely to get a better response and be appreciated more as well.

[halos]

Good! A well-balanced letter is likely to get a better response and be appreciated more as well.

 

I think it would be good if everyone who cruised wrote a review to the cruiseline afterwards...good and bad, no holds barred. If I owned a business, I'd appreciate feedback.

[halos]

I ain't sayin' a WORD.

 

 

 

:rolleyes:

[hockeyluver]

We sent them a letter after our cruise and our two daughters also added their opinion to it. Most was positive a few minor problems but they like to hear what we are thinking of thier cruises and what they can improve on. They sent us back a letter saying on our next cruise to call customer service within 45 days and give them the reference # and a bon voyage gift would be sent to our cabin.

[fireofficer5]

This was a great cruise. My cabin steward HENERY WAS FANTASTIC. I gave him a pair of pants that were torn, and he had them repaired the next night. No charge. I was on the Panama canal tour. IMO every one that goes to Panama for any reason must see this sight at least once in their lifetime. But go in the tour boat. I got to make a wish when we touched the side of the locks. :cool:

[judyf]

This was a great cruise. My cabin steward HENERY WAS FANTASTIC. I gave him a pair of pants that were torn, and he had them repaired the next night. No charge. I was on the Panama canal tour. IMO every one that goes to Panama for any reason must see this sight at least once in their lifetime. But go in the tour boat. I got to make a wish when we touched the side of the locks. :cool:

 

 

What tour did you take? What was the price? I just started searching info for Panama tours. Did you go with a ship tour?

 

Thanks

[marshabear]

i am guessing they took the ferry boat tour through the canal as we did in october....i don't think it is offered privately but i could be wrong....

 

it was $175PP to do this tour which lasted 7 hours....a 1 1/2 hour bus ride there, then a boat trip through 2 of the locks then a 1 hour bus ride back to the port....took about 7 hours total...they provided lunch-a turkey sandwich and a banana muffin and free water or pop the whole trip on the ferry.....

 

 

 

Marsha

[kiberkid]

We just got back from a wonderful holiday. 8 day cruise & 6 days in Ft Lauderdale, Now we are back home & it is snowing, not such a bad thing as Xmas is just around the corner.

 

First of all, we met some wonderful Cruise Critic friends. It was great to see meet you & visit with you around the ship.

 

Embarkcation: It was a 2-hour process. Pt Everglades traffic is horrendous. They should take a lesson from the airport on how to regulate traffic. All the port had was a policeman standing out in traffic trying to make some sort of sense of it. The need to have bus & shuttle lanes, taxi & drop off lanes or something. You took your life in you hands just trying to get out of your shuttle. Once we made it to the line up, it was 1 hr to get through security & to check in. The lady that checked us in was very efficient, but very "phony" happy with "recorded" answers. She could not & would not answer anything out of the ordinary, but that was not a problem, all she was there for was to check us in & that she did. Once check in was done, then up the escalator to get our S&S card, with those in hand, we went & sat down & waited for or our "zone" to be called. This was a great idea as it helped to regulate bottlenecks. Once our zone was called, we lined up for our portrait to be taken & then again for our sign & sail card. My suggestion would be to have our S&S pic taken when we get the card, that would save 1 bottleneck. After 2 hrs we were on the ship.

 

Our first impression of the ship was WOW! We made it over to the atrium elevators & had the glass ride up to deck 8. We found our cabin very easily & were impressed with the size. It had a lot of storage & we were unpacked very quickly & were able to find a place for everything-& I brought everything!!!!! We had taken extra hangers, which came in handy. Our suitcases (even the 29") fit under the bed so even they were tucked away. We didn't use the fridge, but my parents (2 cabins down) asked their cabin steward to open up the fridge so they could keep their water cold. The safe worked great. We used our calling cards to lock it, that way we each had a "key" to the safe as both cards have the "same" magnetic bar on the back. Our cabin stewardess was Mirim, her husband was the cabin steward for my parents cabin. I am not sure where they were from, but they did a good job…. Nothing more than we expected, but a good job. On Days 2,3,4,5,6,7, we got towel animals. They were so cute. My parents had cruised on HAL & Celebrity & we had cruised on NCL & neither of us had every experienced the towel animals before. When we got back to our cabins at night we would phone each other.. "What did you get?" & then we would run to the other cabin & take pictures. I will post the pictures when I get a chance.

 

Dining:

We had early seating in the dining room, table 171. Our headwaiter was Ivan from Bulgaria & his assistant was Michaela from Romania. Ivan was adequate. He did not have much personality, we thought he might be shy, but you don't need a shy person in that position. He made a few "faux pas'" over the week, like serving us our neighbors dinners, dropping sherbet on the floor, serving dessert before everybody was finished dinner, etc, on the other hand, Michaela was a dream! She was so full of personality; she remembered what kind of bread we like, who had decaf & who had regular coffee, etc. She just made every dinner so enjoyable. Unfortunately Ivan was a little jealous of the attention Michaela got & sometimes would come over & interrupt her & send her on her way. She was such a sweetie. We were watching other assistant waiters & they would carry 10 plates of dinners at a time on a tray, Michaela would carry 14-16 & she was such a little thing! I will be writing Carnival & complimenting her. She very much deserves a raise or promotion. She was the highlight of our daily dinner. The food was very good, they had a great selection. Every night we had the options of Pasta, Fish, Fowl (whether it was duck or chicken) Beef, Low Carb, Spa Special or Vegetarian selection. A couple of nights they also included Lamb. Our table ate their share of lobster, prawns, etc. My mother enjoyed the lamb but said the duck was "alright,not wonderful". The beef & chicken were awesome. The one thing that we did not enjoy was the caeser salad. It was very fishy. I talked to another lady as we were waiting in line @ the Pizza station on the Lido deck & she also warned me about the fishy caeser salad @ the Pizza station. Their tossed greens salad was great & very fresh & a good compromise. We had our breakfast & lunch on the Lido deck,actually we had breakfast in the Truffles dining room one morning & much preferred the Lido deck. The Lido deck had a good selection, the food was fresh & we never ever went hungry. We ordereded room service twice, once when we were in Panama as we had to be in the Follies lounge @ 7am so we order breakfast to be delivered between 0530 & 0545, it arrived, just after 6 am (my parents breakfast arrived on time) & we ordered again one evening. We asked for it to be delivered @ 8:15 pm & it arrived just after 9 pm.

 

Activities:

We did not take part in a lot of activities during the day, although we could have been busy every 2nd. We did stop in & watch bits & pieces of shows, the Not So Newly Wed Game was hilarious, the parts of the talent show we watched were very good. The nightly entertainment was very good. The tribute to Sinatra & Sammy Davis Jr was excellent!We also enjoyed the Christmas concert put on by Camp Carnival. Of course we donated some money to the casino. The penny machines usually had a line up, but when we could get on them we did have fun. We found the casino to be unusually loud. I think they need to turn the volume on the bells & whistles down a bit so it is not competing with the entertainment. We did not frequent any of the bars & lounges but did attend the Art Auctions & received our free prints & Champagne.

 

Excursions:

Belize: We took the Rio Wallace and Altun Ha Maya Site excursion. After the tender into Belize we boarded a bus & drove for about an hour to the Altun Ha site. We had 2 great tour guides, Vanessa & Susan. Vanessa was extremely knowledgeable & had personality plus. They had never experienced anything colder than 60 degrees. We found that amazing. After we toured & climbed the ruins, we hopped back onto the bus & went to the site where we boarded the open-air boat. At that site you could buy beer, lunch & souvenirs. We only had the beer & bought a couple of souveniers. The boat part of the excursion was great. We saw howler monkeys, crocodiles, iguanas, bats, & the nose of a manatee as it was coming up for air. This was well worth the $49.00.

 

Costa Rica: We took the Aerial Tram Tour. At the ship we boarded a bus & drove for almost 2 hrs to the Aerial Tram site. It was a long bus ride. The 90-minute tram ride through the rain forest was fascinating. The 1st 45 minutes, you travel through the rain forest & the last 45 minutes you travel over the rain forest. We had a great guide. The Costa Rica govt pays for university education for their residents so both our bus & tram guides were extremely knowledgble & could answer any questions that was asked & identify any plant that was pointed out. We were very glad that we had booked this tour through Carnival as we did not get back to the ship until 5 minutes before the ship was set to sail (25 minutes after everyone was to be on board). Had we been on a private tour, we would have been panicking. Very good excursion & worth the $89.00

 

Panama: We took the Panama Canal tour. This was our expensive excursion. $175.00 per person. This was very interesting & in my opinion, if you are going to Panama, this excursion is a must. We boarded a bus in Colon, which is a very dirty city, & drove to the Pacific side & boarded the ferry in Panama City. We then went thru 3 locks & by the dredging process, we passed 2 container freighters & an automobile freighter (wow,they were amazingly huge). We got off the ferry at the Balboa Terminal & then were bused back to Colon. We did some shopping in the Duty free area & board the ship in lots of time.

 

One thing that we noticed on this ship was that they did not clean the windows. The windows on the Lido deck as well as our balcony were covered in salt. At 1st we thought that they would be cleaning them when we docked in Costa Rica or in Panama (we did not expect them to be hanging over the edge as we were sailing or even tendered in Belize). The windows were dirty when we got on board & stayed dirty the whole time. It is not big thing, but we were just surprised. We thought that they would be at least hosed down on a regular basis.

 

All in all this was a wonderful 8 days. This is a beautiful ship, the food was great, the cabin & balcony were wonderful & the itinerary was very interesting. I am not sure we would do the same itinerary again, for us, it is kind of a "been there, done that, loved every minute but don't need to go there again" & we would definitely sail Carnival again.