Cruising Christine turns Gold in Gold Country: an Alaska/Legend Review

The Serenity deck. I would see people from time to time during the cruise in the hot tubs. This wasn't something I would have even considered, personally. It actually felt good not having to pack a swim suit for once!

The Serenity bar area.

Finally, at 1:30 we checked and our room was ready. Now, a little background about the room we were in: I had originally booked 4148, which is an inside w/ French doors, and is between the lifeboats so you have a small view outside. I booked not that long after the Alaska sailings for 2017 were listed, way back in the beginning of 2016. I knew that this cruise was going to be an expensive one due to the prices of excursions, so I wanted to save some money by forgoing a balcony. I ended up booking 4148 at what I thought was a great price o $1,635. Figuring that we would spend at least another $1,500 on excursions, I felt that was just about the maximum that I wanted to pay in total for this trip.

About a month or so before the cruise I started second guessing myself on whether we really wanted to do a cruise to Alaska without a balcony. This year, by some miracle, we didn't end up owing when we filed our taxes, and actually got a decent refund. So I thought, "Gee, maybe I should switch to a balcony." But, to my disappointment, they were sold out.

Well, 6 days before our sail date, I got a call from Carnival. I had Carnival's number programmed in my phone from another time when they called me to tell me about a port change for a cruise I have booked in 2019, so I knew it was them calling. I got all excited, and sure enough, when I answered the phone it was someone calling me about an upsell to a balcony room!

She said that they had a regular balcony room on the 8th deck available for $500 more, and an extended balcony room on the same deck for $550 more. While I was talking to her I was bringing up the deck plans on my computer and saw that the extended balcony room was laid out sideways, meaning that the balcony would be even bigger than the other extended balcony rooms. So I absolutely jumped on that upsell, and we were now in room 8239 for a total price of $2,185!

I have no idea what this room would have went for back when I booked, but I did a mock booking for an extended balcony room in this same area for the first Alaska sailing of 2018 and the price was about $3,700. So I'm fairly certain we got a great deal.

Loving your review! We were booked on this cruise but had to reschedule.

I don't mind having rooms that are laid out differently, and actually kind of like it. We had an L-shaped balcony room on the Conquest, and I really like the layout. This was was very similar, but without a second window.

Because of the layout, there are only two closets between the bathroom and the door to the balcony. But this was plenty of storage space for us.

That balcony though...wow! It was so much wider than the long balcony we had on the Conquest. Really, it was almost too much space.

The one downside to the room, and the reason why the balcony was so big, is that it's an accessible room. I would never, of course, book this type of room, but since we were upsold to it 6 days before sailing, obviously no one needed it. Now, I don't understand why people try to book this rooms, though. The shower is quite weird, and takes getting used to.

If you've never stayed in one of these rooms before, the shower is weird because there is no lip on the floor to contain the water in the shower area, so it flows throughout the whole bathroom. This didn't bode well for my OCD, and it took me a few days before I was able to just let the water flow freely without trying to contain it.

I'm going to have to take a break from this review for a little while, maybe call it a night and continue tomorrow, but I do want to touch upon my only complaint about the cruise since it is related to the room. I thought that the housekeeping on this cruise was seriously lacking, and after talking to some other people on the same cruise, I am not the only one that thought the same. I understand having to make a request for robes, but we had to ask three times, and it took us two days before we got them. Also, we did not get turn down service the first day, and nothing that was supposed to be in our room when we arrived was there. We had to ask for a pen, room service menus, breakfast order cards, blue towels, and our gold pins, because none of these were provided automatically as they should have been.

But the worst thing that happened occurred on the first morning of the cruise. I had just taken a shower, and was about to walk out of the bathroom when I noticed something on the drain that runs along the doorway (to prevent water flowing out into the room). I thought it was just a piece of trash of some sort that must have been in the bathroom somewhere and got washed onto the drain. I picked it up and took a closer look...

It was a one inch piece of a used hypodermic needle with the needle part still attached, exposed, and bent at an angle. I do not have a picture. I thought about taking one, but honestly, it was not something I wanted to remember or ever have to look at again.

I was immediately sick to my stomach when I thought about the fact that I could have stepped on it with a bare foot, had I not noticed it. Imagine having to worry about contracting hepatitis C while on vacation? I was in a bit of shock for awhile and didn't know what to do, but eventually decided that I couldn't just throw it away in the waste basket. So I called guest services and asked them to send someone with a sharps container to collect it.

The head of housekeeping came almost immediately and apologized profusely. She promised that she would have the steward give the room a thorough cleaning to make sure there was nothing else from the previous occupants that was left over and missed. While I did appreciate the apology from her, it would have gone a long way if the steward himself made an effort to apologize. But not only did he not, we didn't see him again for the remainder of the cruise. I don't know, but this just didn't sit well with me. We've always had fantastic stewards, and this was the first cruise where I can't say the same. And it was the first time that I didn't tip extra on top of the auto gratuities (which I left alone).

In any case, this is the one and only complaint I have about the cruise. Everything else was amazing, and while this incident didn't sit well with me that first day, I shook it off and enjoyed the rest of the cruise, which was amazing!

Loving your review! We were booked on this cruise but had to reschedule.

Sorry you had to reschedule! It ended up being a great one, with pretty fantastic weather, though cold at times. If you've never been to Alaska, I hope you got to reschedule to another one at a later date. It's definitely something everyone should consider doing at least once.

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I haven't been to Alaska since I was a child, so this is going to be very exciting to see!

Sorry to hear about the housekeeping issues you had. Surprised to see such an old television in the room. I expect that you didn't spend a lot of time in there anyways!

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I haven't been to Alaska since I was a child, so this is going to be very exciting to see!

Sorry to hear about the housekeeping issues you had. Surprised to see such an old television in the room. I expect that you didn't spend a lot of time in there anyways!

Apparently some of the rooms on the Legend do have the newer, flat TV's. At least that is what I heard from some of the other people on the same cruise. It wasn't a problem for us, though. I really don't mind as long as we do have a TV in the room. Anything is better than nothing. :)

To continue on with reviewing our room, 8239, I absolutely loved the location. Being just one deck below the lido, it was so easy to leave the room and quickly grab something to eat for lunch or breakfast. We did eat a few meals in the room. One thing about Alaska cruises: you don't have to worry about chair hogs near the lido pool, but they are replaced with table hogs. Seriously, people would just camp out at tables in the buffet area for the whole day. Making it extremely hard to find a table to sit at when you want to eat. I found this very annoying. Thankfully it was easy to just take our food back to the room to eat. You can see in the next picture how close we were to the elevators and stairs. The door to our room was just to the right of the wall art. The elevators were to the left, and the stairs to the right.

While our room steward was lacking in making sure that we had everything in our room that we were supposed to, I had no complaints at all about the Fun Shops. The waters that I had ordered were delivered promptly on that first day, as well as the Bon Voyage cake that I ordered.

This was the first time I had ever ordered one of those cakes, and I did so simply because I wanted to try it. I got the small size since it was just my husband and I. It was very good, but honestly, even the small size ended up being a lot for just the two of us. I think we had a piece as a late night snack on a few occasions, but even then, there was almost a whole half of the cake that didn't get eaten by the end of the cruise. There's just so much else to eat that ordering a cake (except for a special occasion) is probably overkill. Unless I ever decide that I absolutely have to try the vanilla version, I probably won't buy one again.

Our room was on the starboard side, which was facing the cruise terminal on embarkation day. But we still had a pretty good view of the water and the mountains, even though it was a bit cloudy that day in Vancouver.

I spent a good amount of time before sail-a-way watching the sea planes land and take off. Not sure if that's something I will every be brave enough to do some day. I am still trying to get over my fears related to flying on large planes, so I'm not sure that tiny planes would be good for my anxiety.

Some more pictures that I took from our balcony, while waiting for the muster drill and sail away:

Be forewarned, there will be a lot of pictures like the next one that I'm going to post. Of snow, snowy mountain tops, ice bergs...this is definitely not going to be your typical cruise review! I will admit, it did feel weird the whole time, often walking around deck with a jacket on. But hey, snow is so much prettier when I don't have to shovel it or drive in it!

Muster drill was outside on deck, and went pretty quickly. One good thing about doing a cold cruise is that you don't have to suffer in 90+ degree heat! The only other time I have ever done a muster drill that took place on deck was on the Conquest, sailing out of Ft Lauderdale, in July. At least one person near us fainted from the heat.

Promptly after muster drill, it was time to get this cruise started and say goodbye to Vancouver! Unfortunately, we didn't have any time to do sightseeing in Vancouver. I have heard that there is a lot to do in the city, and wouldn't mind coming back someday.

I'm not one to want to participate in the sail away party on the lido, so I can't tell you what one is like on an Alaska cruise. I'm guessing the same as in the Caribbean, with lots of music and dancing. Perhaps just with more layers of clothing. I much prefer to walk around the decks, taking pictures and watching us sail away.

Sailing out of the Vancouver cruise port involves going under a bridge. I believe it's called the Lions Gate bridge, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

The sun came out just in time to make our sail away beautiful.

The obligatory "under the bridge" shot:

One of my absolute favorite things to do on embarkation day is to explore the ship and take pictures. I haven't been cruising for long, and this is only the fourth ship I've been on (all in different classes), but I don't think this will ever get old for me. At least not as long as I'm on a new-to-me ship. So far, the Conquest is my favorite ship when it comes to how it was decorated, but I did like the Legend as well. I'm sure a lot of people would probably use the word "gaudy" to describe it, but I like it. Reminds me a lot of the over-the-top decorations in Vegas. Personally, I think Joe Farcus knew what he was doing.

The main theater, Follies Main Lounge, has sort of an old Shakespearean theater feel to it, which I loved. I thought it was the prettiest theater of any ship I have seen so far.

The entryway:

The stairs outside of the theater:

Inside the theater:

One thing I found different on this ship than on any other ship that I have been on is that the lounge used for the comedy acts is right below the main theater. It's called the Firebird Lounge, and it's located on deck 1.

The stairway leading down to that lounge:

The lounge itself. Definitely a nice size for the comedy shows. And holy "gaudy" decorations! (I still love it. ;) )

Around the theater, on deck 3, is what they refer to as the Enchanted Forest Interior Promenade. It wraps around the theater at the front of the ship, and is really just a walkway with seating areas. But the way it's decorated is so cool. When I posted pictures of this on social media for my friends back home to see, one of them commented that she thought I was supposed to be on a cruise, not at an amusement park.

The atrium on the Legend is not one of my favorites, but at least the ship has a real atrium. I'm not sure how I feel about the direction that Carnival is going, with the Vista class ships having smaller atriums that many feel remove that "wow" factor from the ship. I'll find out soon enough when we sail on the Horizon next year, but in the meantime, I enjoyed the glam of the Legend's atrium and glass elevators.

I'm not a gambler, but the casino seem adequate, and the cigarette smoke wasn't that bad when walking through it.

Atlantis Lounge. The Legend doesn't have a Alchemy Bar, but I've heard this martini bar is almost as good. The drink menus were kind of cool, as they were back-lit. I didn't get a picture, but they are cool to check out if you are ever on the ship.

For this cruise, we had Your Time Dining (YTD), which was located on the second level of Truffles Restaurant. Unlike with other ships, this one only has one MDR. We had such a good experience with YTD on the Conquest last year, that we wanted to try it again. And it didn't disappoint. By far, the best service we have is when we do YTD. We never have a problem getting a table for 2, and this time around, we were always able to get right in. One thing I noticed about this cruise to Alaska is that the MDR always seemed much more empty than on previous cruises. Even looking down at the tables for early or late seating, it just seemed very empty.

Oh, and I should mention, unlike on the Conquest, all of our tables for 2 were private. Meaning, we were never at a table that was just inches from the next table for 2. I really liked this about the Legend MDR.

The Legend does not have the American Table menus. The last time I had the old menus was on my first cruise in 2015, so it was nice going back for a change (though I do like the new menus too). For this first night, I had the heart of ice burg lettuce salad, but forgot to take a picture.

For my entree, I decided to try something that I haven't had before, and ordered the chicken a la grecque. The description didn't mention that it was a pasta dish, and to be honest, when I first saw it I was disappointed because I wasn't in the mood for pasta. But, it ended up being the best dish I had on the whole cruise, and the second best dish I have had on any of my cruises. It was simply delicious. I felt like this was a good start to the cruise, and it would prove to be the same during the rest of the cruise. The food (and the service) in the MDR was very, very good.

For desert, there wasn't anything that really stood out to me, so I decided to try the vanilla creme brulee, since I've never had it before. On Carnival, or any other restaurant. It was ok. I don't think that creme burlee is going to be my favorite desert going forward. Just not for me.

That night, we did go to the Welcome Aboard show. After you have been on so many cruises, it does get old. But, I really wanted to check out the CD, Jen Baxter, because I had read mixed reviews about her. My own personal opinion, is that she really wasn't very good. The CD really doesn't matter to me, as we rarely come into contact with him or her. We typically only see the CD before or during shows. But I like ones that are funny naturally and can ad lib like a good comedian. I didn't think she fit this bill. I found her to be not very genuine. But again, not a deal-breaker at all.

The Welcome Aboard show was the only thing we did that night. I'm usually pretty exhausted that first day, and find that we end up retiring to our room pretty early to settle in and unwind. The one nice thing about having a balcony is that when you are tired, you don't have to go far to enjoy a sunset, even if it's a bit obstructed. ;)

Whoops, didn't mean to post the same picture of the Enchanted Forest twice. The second one was supposed to be this:

I love all of the lights in that atrium!

Thanks for your detailed review. Really enjoying it. Did you keep a travel journal or are you writing from memory? I have a journal that I have used for about four cruises.

Thanks for your detailed review. Really enjoying it. Did you keep a travel journal or are you writing from memory? I have a journal that I have used for about four cruises.

I don't keep a journal, but one of these days I think I'm going to. It is hard to remember everything. But taking lots of pictures helps to remember what we did each day. As does keeping copies of the Fun Times. [emoji4]

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What beautiful shots you took of Vancouver! We sail away (on Princess) in less than a month. Enjoying your review so far!

I am really enjoying your review. We are sailing on the Legend in August and are getting so excited for the Alaskan Experience. Our cruise sails from Seattle to Seattle, but it also goes to Glacier Bay. The only other Carnival cruise to visit their this year. Can't wait to read about all your excursions. Loving the review so far!

Thank you so much for posting pictures of your room! My husband and I are sailing in July and are in room 8234 which is just like yours, just on the other side of the ship. I am enjoying your review and anxious to read more!

Patricia

Thank you so much for posting pictures of your room! My husband and I are sailing in July and are in room 8234 which is just like yours, just on the other side of the ship. I am enjoying your review and anxious to read more!

 

 

 

Patricia

Wow, so your balcony is going to be even bigger than ours was. It's going to be HUGE! You'll love the location. It's really great.

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Following along we were on the exact same cruise. Love Vancouver, went in a day before. Horrible port for embarkation, no signage. We had an extended balcony on deck 7, loved the location. Prob the worst food in 28 cruises. Very little variety and never hot. Don't get me wrong we didn't go hungry. Whale watching in Juneau got cancelled due to weather, so went to Alaska brewing tour. Did sea plane in Ketchikan, great experience. Taquan air great to work with. Spent a day in Seattle post cruise. Didn't mean to ramble.

Anxiously awaiting the rest of your review.

I leave Saturday for Seattle and am heading on the Legend on Tuesday. I am so excited I can't even think straight...please come back with the rest of your review to help me pass the time! :)

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