Review of Legendary Hawaii - a Legendary Fail for some

Finally back from our Legendary Hawaii ten day to the islands. We spent 4 days with family on Oahu before returning.

Follows a review on our trip on Legend of the Seas. There were some hiccups!:rolleyes:

Our trip started in San Diego and because of the Jones/Passenger act we had to be bused over the border to Ensenada to meet Legend before departing for Hawaii. We stayed at the Wyndham right across the street from B street pier...so handy and very satisfactory hotel for cruising. We ate at Anthony's Fish Grotto also across the street and right on the water. We found the food pretty good.

After a fitful night of anticipation, we had an early breakfast at the deli next door and the Legend was still there having disembarked her Panama Canal passengers and taking on fuel and supplies. At around 10:30, people were starting to line up at the podium outside, so we gathered our luggage and walked, over meeting some of our roll call buds. At around 11:00 we were allowed in the terminal and we were among the first people in line. Around 12:00, they started the check in process, as far as I could see there was no special line for C&A and we were then ushered into one of 2 areas and eventually boarded the buses around 2:00. We were on Bus #1 so I cannot say what others experienced on our ride to Ensenada, however, it was a sore subject for the entire cruise. Here is the deal...

Although the ride was provided free of charge by RCCL, the bus company RCCL used was inadequate to say the least, very cramped with our knees pressed up against the seat in front of us. No kidding! Some complained of no AC, but ours at least had it, not very cool but bearable. What was unbearable is that our bus leaked in several places, sometimes in people's laps! It rained while we submitted ourselves to a totally clueless Mexican border process. The agents were not very familiar with their new digital system and what was supposed to take 20 minutes ended up 2 to 3 hours or more for some buses, in the rain. We found the process woefully antiquated and inefficient to say the least, with our passports being passed back to us hand over hand on the bus:( We finally made it through the border and the ride was fairly uneventful until we reached Ensenada. Thankfully, the rain stopped.

We left the border at 4:00 and got to the pier by 6:00PM. When we arrived, there were more than 100 passengers standing in line on the wharf who either drove down, lived in Mexico or stayed in Ensenada pre-cruise. I was told they waited for hours. And we were given there, the only priority of the cruise. More about that later...another sore subject!

And that is why X moved Solstice to Vancouver for her one way Hawaii trips :eek:

And that is why X moved Solstice to Vancouver for her one way Hawaii trips :eek:

This was a one time trip only to Hawaii for Legend as she is on her way to Australia and Asia.

Here is a phone video, excuse, but there really was hardly room to film it.

View My Video

We boarded Legend and went directly to eat something, we had had nothing but a bottle of water and some crackers provided by RCCL for the entire 4 hour ride! Our Hawaiian adventure was about to start!

We were scheduled to depart at 11:59 PM, I suppose to avoid pier fees for the next day. It was nice to see Ensenada at night all lit up though.

The Ship:

I will not post photos of Legend since we have seen a couple reviews already and plenty of pics. So I'll start my review of her...

She is still a pretty ship and we loved her layout. Especially like her Solarium, but because of some very inconsiderate people, didn't spend but 2 days in there. Here I relate our "Chair Hog" incident!

The first day we went to Solarium, we entered to find almost every chair covered by a towel...this was aroud 7:30 pm. Suspiciously, there were only around a handful of people actually IN the pool:rolleyes: We finally found 2 loungers together way in the corner by the entrance which was fine and looked out at the sea. As we are sitting there complaining about the bogus towels we notice that a couple are also griping and are determined to sit down by removing the stuff. A conversation gets started and we all gripe...the posted sign telling you that you CANNOT save loungers more than 30 minutes is prominently displayed and also says that should that situation present itself one can then remove said items and put them in the towel bin along with any personal belongings. I wished I had taken a pic of the sign, sorry.

We all agreed that the rules allowed for removal, so they did and sat down. The minute they did, a man, (I will not mention ethnicity) who was sitting at the tables in the next cubicle playing sudocu , began to chastise us. He was saying the towels on the loungers belonged to his party! Thus, he was sitting at the table and also holding the loungers. Well...this did NOT sit well with everybody concerned, even others who had now had the same problem. Soon, his party showed up and we clearly pointed out the rule sign. The nerve! Sitting playing cards, saving chairs at the tables and also saving loungers...unbelievable:eek: An arguement ensued with some of his lady friends who said, "What you upset for, it our vacation, calm down." We said, "Yes, its' our vacation as well!!!!!!!!" That did it for us, we only went once more, just swimming for a while, drying off and leaving. Not worth the hassle, as we checked on several more occasions and nothing changed the whole trip!

Diamond Lounge:

Then there was the debacle in the Diamond Lounge. The young concierge was clearly out of her league and not trained very well and made many enemies in there for her ineptitude. We noticed at this time, that many of the Diamond perks we are loyal for have been removed or for Diamond Plus and up only. We could not any longer, for the first time, have the concierge get tender priority tickets for us. No more for Diamond level. In fact, all the priority perks have been removed as far as Diamond level is concerned as far as we could tell. There have been so many changes in the program that deny the many things we stayed loyal for, why continue to work toward Diamond Plus, when we get there in 22 more points, they might be denied for Plus too! We have decided to go on to try NCL and others now.

We did, however, enjoy the vouchers, more than enough drinks for our needs each night, especially if you used the lounge also. What's left of Viking Crown was used for overflow and it was greatly needed and we utilized it so we did not have to deal with the prickly concierge!

Food:

The MDR, which we used almost every night for MTD worked very well and I have no complaints whatsoever this time out. Food was yummy and a good variety.

Wish I could say the same for Windjammer, so we did not eat there but a couple times. We had all our meals in MDR except our nights at Chops and Izumi.

Chops has improved since our last visit a couple cruises back, and we were pleased with the choices.

Izumi, however, has gotten worse. You have to purchase a higher priced meal to get the hot rock and the whole meal was so so. Annoying because of the big screen T.V. on the pool deck which was left to blink on and off white then black with RCCL logo, it was like a cheap downtown hotel in a film Noir! Very annoying and extremely bright right in your face, and after complaining twice, nothing was done about it, so DH had to go to Guest Services and they finally put up a night sky scene which didn't blink so we were placated.:cool: But our trips to Izumi have ended. It was put in the very front of the Viking Crown, poor choice, although it looks like there was no room for it elsewhere, Chops having been relegated to the rear of VC. I would have prefered the VC to remain a lounge and feel for everybody who loves it not to have access to is at all anymore. Just a bar and a couple of tables in the middle now for general passengers.

After 6 days of cruising, made bearable by the great new friends we met this cruise, we came into Hilo harbor and began our introduction to Hawaii. This was our first trip there. We loved it.

Hilo: rented car, toured Volcano National Park (no lava to speak of except old lava) traveled down to the end of the road where the old lava flow crossed the road and were astounded by what a Volcano can do:

This land is 400 to 700 years old, with the blacker area being current 1984 and some 2007 flows I think. It sure can create a lot of new land.

On the way to get our car at Alamo, we passed Ken's Pancake House and went back for breakfast...best omelet we have ever eaten, along with Hawaiian pancakes. We had to split this it was so large and since you get 2 pancakes, it was perfect. It was so good, we elected to go back for lunch, equally as yummy, I highly recommend it!!!

Then dropped by the Orchid nursery....lovely...

Next up: Kona and our snorkel tour to Cpt Cook monument where we did briefly view the resident dolphin and saw the most pristine reef and residents of any place we have ever dived or snorkeled!

Will post later with pics as we are still working on them.

So sorry to hear of your difficulties with the transfer and boarding process. I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm not a fan of Mexico. I've looked at the possibility of an RCI trip to Hawaii (and I dearly love Hawaii), but that whole busing to Ensenada puts me off every time. Conversely, one of the best cruises I ever had was an RCI cruise out of Colon Panama. I only regret they don't offer that itinerary any longer.

I'm looking forward to your observations of Hawaii. Snorkeling in the bay off the Captain Cook monument will spoil you forever ... when you try snorkeling again in the Caribbean, you'll always make a negative comparison to that day in Hawaii. It was an treasured experience I can never repeat unless I come up with the funds to go back. :)

Thank you for the review. Following along.

Out of curiosity I just had a look on the member benefits page regarding tender tickets. It is no longer showing tender priority as a benefit for any tier level (unless I missed it:eek: and I read it three times!!!!!) I am only able to find as a suite perk now.

Reference your chair hog experience, I suspect you just picked the wrong chairs to remove the towels from. Though I fully agree those folks were being chair hogs, when we were on Legend earlier this year we found it common for people to leave their towels even though they had vacated. Had you just picked different chairs there probably would have been no one to object.

Diamond Lounge:

Then there was the debacle in the Diamond Lounge. The young concierge was clearly out of her league and not trained very well and made many enemies in there for her ineptitude.

In defense of the Concierge in the Diamond Lounge, Zahide Uguz, she was on our April 14th cruise from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale and she was wonderful. We've known Zahide for several years now, and she is clearly trained very well.

I think it's very unfair to say that Zahide was inept when she was just following the rules and doing as she was told.:( The changes you have mentioned were also apparent on our April 14th cruise, however, everyone in the lounge understood her position and respected her for it. I think that if you have a complaint about missing perks, you should direct your comments to someone at RCI directly.

In defense of the Concierge in the Diamond Lounge, Zahide Uguz, she was on our April 14th cruise from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale and she was wonderful. We've known Zahide for several years now, and she is clearly trained very well.

 

I think it's very unfair to say that Zahide was inept when she was just following the rules and doing as she was told.:( The changes you have mentioned were also apparent on our April 14th cruise, however, everyone in the lounge understood her position and respected her for it. I think that if you have a complaint about missing perks, you should direct your comments to someone at RCI directly.

Not go hijack, but we were on that cruise (and are still on) and heard the same from many D members we talked to about the DL concierge. We stayed in the CL instead (D+) as it was absolutely a riot to watch the RC cruise "divas" hold court each night in the lounge and try to out preen each other.

You simply can't buy that kind of entertainment anywhere.

Could someone explain which perks have been removed from "Diamond level"? Thanks. :)

In defense of the Concierge in the Diamond Lounge, Zahide Uguz, she was on our April 14th cruise from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale and she was wonderful. We've known Zahide for several years now, and she is clearly trained very well.

 

I think it's very unfair to say that Zahide was inept when she was just following the rules and doing as she was told.:( The changes you have mentioned were also apparent on our April 14th cruise, however, everyone in the lounge understood her position and respected her for it. I think that if you have a complaint about missing perks, you should direct your comments to someone at RCI directly.

Jim, the problems with this concierge had nothing to do with the perk problem. She had incidents with several people on the cruise including us. In fact, after being told that the tendering perk was no longer available, that was never mentioned to her. I don't hold that against her at all. It was an entirely different matter where we are concerned. She had several complaints made to her boss and it was not us that made them. And I do not want to share it here. The other experience with another person involved a much more serious matter regarding a food allergy. Again, not my experience so not at liberty to share.

We actually parted company with her with a smile and a hug. But I still think she had a rocky few days there.

Could someone explain which perks have been removed from "Diamond level"? Thanks. :)

None that come to mind for the last several years.

None that come to mind for the last several years.

Thanks Bob.....thought I was missing something! :D

Jim, the problems with this concierge had nothing to do with the perk problem. She had incidents with several people on the cruise including us. In fact, after being told that the tendering perk was no longer available, that was never mentioned to her. I don't hold that against her at all. It was an entirely different matter where we are concerned. She had several complaints made to her boss and it was not us that made them. And I do not want to share it here. The other experience with another person involved a much more serious matter regarding a food allergy. Again, not my experience so not at liberty to share.

 

We actually parted company with her with a smile and a hug. But I still think she had a rocky few days there.

Thanks for the explanation. She was brought on board as a temporary Concierge beginning with the April 14th cruise when Sergi was promoted to Loyalty Ambassador so it's possible that things went sour after we got off.

Could someone explain which perks have been removed from "Diamond level"? Thanks. :)

Our last RCCL cruise one of the perks were priority tender tickets and on Allure May 2014 we were able to have the Diamond Concierge deliver them to us. This is no longer possible. Diamond level was also supposed to have priority boarding and disembarking, but there were never any signs to this effect in San Diego nor Oahu when we left. Before 2014 we always asked for early disembarkation tags and were given them to us by the Diamond Concierge. Again when we asked Zahide, she informed us that was no longer a perk.

Our last RCCL cruise one of the perks were priority tender tickets and on Allure May 2014 we were able to have the Diamond Concierge deliver them to us. This is no longer possible. Diamond level was also supposed to have priority boarding and disembarking, but there were never any signs to this effect in San Diego nor Oahu when we left. Before 2014 we always asked for early disembarkation tags and were given them to us by the Diamond Concierge.

Ok thanks for explaining.

Our last RCCL cruise one of the perks were priority tender tickets and on Allure May 2014 we were able to have the Diamond Concierge deliver them to us. This is no longer possible. Diamond level was also supposed to have priority boarding and disembarking, but there were never any signs to this effect in San Diego nor Oahu when we left. Before 2014 we always asked for early disembarkation tags and were given them to us by the Diamond Concierge. Again when we asked Zahide, she informed us that was no longer a perk.

Priority tender tickets on Allure? Are you thinking of a different ship? Allure does not tender anywhere.

We rented a car to be able to access the pier that Seaquest tours launches their Zodiacs from.

It was a dreary day thanks to the VOG and rain so the sun was not out. If it had been, these pics would've been much more colorful. Click on the pic. Anyone who dives or snorkels can see clearly the state of the reef is exceptional.

Priority tender tickets on Allure? Are you thinking of a different ship? Allure does not tender anywhere.

Yes, I must be. Just realized that. It was at Grand Cayman, probably Navigator. Trying to multi task here downloading pics/videos and just can't keep my head in it. Sorry

The Zodiac was a very rough ride. Don't think I would do one again. You sit on the pontoons and hold on for dear life and if it is as choppy as it was this day, it's really hard not to slide around a lot due to being wet. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour though. They fed us fruit and snacks and juice and water after snorkeling.

Great schools of tang were everywhere like this:

Our next Zodiac ride was to be very different from this one!

Wow, reading about your boarding experience to Ensenada, I feel for you. Know exactly what you went through.

We also did the check-in, in San Diego, bus to Mexico. This was in April 2007. We sit in the huge warehouse, no AC, in San Diego, from about 11am until 5:00pm before we boarded the bus. No food, No water. The border check was fairly painless, only took about 20 min or so. We reached Ensenada about 9 pm, and then had to sit on the bus till around 10:30 til they let us off to actually board. By then it had started to rain, oh Joy. Also No Food, No Water on the bus. We had had nothing to eat or drink, since early that morning. Thankfully, they let us go streight to buffet, and finally eat. Felt much better then. We had fun standing at the ship rail, and watching umpteen huge trucks, with all the luggage,unload and being shoved on board. In the Rain! It seemed ridiculous they had to TRUCK all the luggage to Mexico, when the ship had sat dockside at San Diego, for hours. Those guys really hussled loading that luggage. You could have smuggled anything on board, that night. They checked nothing. lol

I can't believe that in the past 8 years, the cruise line has done almost nothing to make this cruise boarding, a little easier. But, you did at least get crackers and water on the bus.

They couldn't pay me to do this cruise again. I did do the 15 day cruise over and back, to Hawaii, out of San Diego, in 2012. It was wonderful.

Our last RCCL cruise one of the perks were priority tender tickets and on Allure May 2014 we were able to have the Diamond Concierge deliver them to us. This is no longer possible. Diamond level was also supposed to have priority boarding and disembarking, but there were never any signs to this effect in San Diego nor Oahu when we left. Before 2014 we always asked for early disembarkation tags and were given them to us by the Diamond Concierge. Again when we asked Zahide, she informed us that was no longer a perk.

Diamond+ had priority tender embarkation. Just flashed my seapass. I remember seeing this on the notices regarding tender tickets.

Rick

Diamond+ had priority tender embarkation. Just flashed my seapass. I remember seeing this on the notices regarding tender tickets.

 

Rick

WOW even Pinnacle Club Members don't get priority tender embarkation!!:eek:

Next up, Beautiful Maui, which after Oahu was our favorite.

We elected to do a hotel beach day here. But we wanted to experience the bus system which in my opinion is the way to go up to Ka'anapali Beach. It only cost $4 each for an all day pass and you catch the bus and pay the driver for it right behind the Wharf Cinema Center just a block from the pier you tender into. We got on and then got off down Front Street to eat breakfast at KoaGrill and sat on the water and watched the fish, there was a blue pipe fish. I never saw one that color before.

View My Video

We went to the Westin....WOW....what a pool!! And the beach has sand that is course but falls right off. The ocean was wonderful and rocks you like a baby here but there is a drop off and an undertow, but very little break at the sand. If being drawn out a ways and then pushed back in scares you, be careful here....but I loved it! It cost us $35 pp for a day pass which you purchase from the towel desk. Worth every penny! This was only one of the 3....had waterfalls everywhere, tunnels, slides and an adult pool w/jacuzzi.