pinknotes

Never saw anything about knitting club in any of the daily schedules.

Unless it's something organised privately?

Tildi,

I have sailed both the Legend and Spirit in the last 12 months.

I would definitely try the Spirit! What month are you thinking of sailing - will it be after the Spirit has the upgrade?

Here are some quick observations:

- Shows are different

- Day time activities, are slightly different too (you will get some of the same ones though)

- Décor is slightly different, so it won't be complete de ja vous

- I found food was different too, not by a huge amount, but we had some menu items on Legend that we had never seen on Spirit and vice versa

- I found shops on Spirit (although the same size/layout) had more stock and more variety to what was on Legend

Apart from that they are pretty similar.

If you are cruising September 2015 onward, post dry-dock, there will be many many more differences.

I love both Legend and Spirit and am about to book a trip on the other sister ship, Miracle, for next year.

It depends what time of the year you are going?

The Spirit is a very family orientated ship, which would be good for a 4 year old, especially if they're on their own.

Not as upmarket as celebrity but that might work out in your favour depending on the time of year (for instance cruising celebrity mid school term might not have many kids at all and might become boring for your 4yo?).

We just got back from a cruise on Legend and my sister had the Vista suite on deck 6, with the separate sitting room which is where the 3rd bed is.

Much more space and better layout, especially for those nights you want child to go to sleep but you stay up watching a movie etc, they are separated so not tempted to keep awake and asking you questions all night (like we experienced in our balcony suite with ours!)

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No they don't offer either.

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We were a group of 7 and got a table instantly every night while smaller pairs of 2 or groups of 4 were being sent away with a buzzer.

I only saw a few tables for 10, but they had lots downstairs that they use for anytime dining if available.

We were on board for 10 nights and sat downstairs 5 times.

For the big shows (theme nights) they entertain upstairs as well.

Downstairs Is easy enough to see as the balcony is so large (not many 10seater tables near balcony though!)

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We just got back from our 10 night trip on Legend and I loved it!

We've sailed Spirit before and after hearing all the bad Legend reviews I was a tad worried, but after day 1 on the ship I realised I had nothing to worry about!

There were only a couple of let downs on the Legend where the Spirit came out better and those where:

- Shops. Same brands and layout, however, it looked as though Legend had been totally cleaned out and not restocked! Cosmetics only had a very small (if any) range of colours.

Sunglasses shelves had lots of empty spaces. Legend has 'Seuss at Sea' but the only Seuss things to buy in the shop were the 5 books left on the massive, not restocked, bookshelf.

Lunch buffet - not as big of range and variety as I remember on the Spirit, I made lots of use of the salad bar!

Replacing Fat Jimmys with bonsai sushi.

Sushi was great and we ate there several times (mainly lunch), really good quality. But a lot of people who had cruised Spirit were a bit unhappy that Fat Jimmys was not on board and instead the equivalent was a $$$ charge.

Overall I agree with the first few posts, the ship was great, exactly the same as spirit apart from those things. Day time entertainment was a bit bare but we had good weather so I was happy to make my own entertainment.

Night entertainment was good. Main dining room and nouveau was great. I actually preferred the menu and food served on the Legend compared to spirit, I was never disappointed with dinner this trip.

Plenty of kids on board, but in all honesty, I would assume the majority of people who book Carnival know it's a laid back, fun, family welcome ship - so I don't know why they all go on and then come back complaining if so many children. We had great weather and the spas/pools were full of kids and their parents, it was a lovely atmosphere, sometimes I'm not sure what people expect!?

We had no incidents with bad behaved or unruly kids running around etc. - maybe we were just in the right places all the time ;)

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I assume it will receive the same as Pride as the Spirit is going into dry dock next year too and it's also receiving the exact same upgrades as Pride (blue iguana, EA sports bar etc)

We're planning on sailing Miracle late 2015 or early 2016 so can't wait!

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Hi Jenny,

Firstly - great idea cruising over Christmas and avoiding the big cook-up yourself!!

This is advice for Carnival ship & bookings, as I haven't travelled P&O before.

I would normally say to wait for a sale to book the cruise if it's that far away, but if you're traveling with a party of 5 you would need to book two cabins so booking early as possible will ensure you get interconnecting cabins or at least cabins next to each other if that is what you are after. As yours kids will be a little older, I'm not sure if you would want interconnecting or would just be happy with cabins across the hall.

I have booked both through a travel agent and also directly through the cruise line for cruises and would always book through cruise line direct in the future. One example is when I booked direct through Carnival I had access to free cancellation 120 days prior to the cruise and only a lost deposit if I cancelled 40 (roughly) days out.

Booking through a travel agent I read (after booking!) that to cancel, at any stage, would be a fee of $150 per person, even if it was 200+ days out.

Also the travel agent gave me nothing carnival couldn't themselves, they had a cheap price and onboard credit available as a special, I phoned carnival and they gave me the exact same deal.

If you did want interconnecting cabins, someone has recommended the following to me when I was enquiring as it gives you a balcony and a cheaper 'inside' cabin that are actually interconnecting. You would have to phone carnival to book these though as they don't come up when booking online.

Cabins:

5105/5107, 5106/5108, 6108/6112, 6109/6115, 7105/7107, 7106/7108

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For cruises departing Aus, only soft drink packages - no alcohol packages.

Soft drink package is around $5-7.50 per day from memory.

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Linanles, just to confirm - do you have to pay extra for the soft drink mixer with your spirit at the bar?

So if I bought a vodka for $8.00, would it cost more to get the lemonade mixer with it (otherwise would it just be a shot of straight vodka)?

I mainly drank cocktails last cruise and this will factor in whether I actually take soft drink on board or not.

Many thanks

Mini Bar Beer is $7.50

Beer at bars ranges from $7.50 to $8.95

Spirits range between the same price.

Cocktails from $9.50 - $11.50 and have quite a few shots of spirits in them, so if you like cocktails they are good value.

Hi there,

We visited Mystery Island, Noumea & Isle of Pines recently.

Noumea we didn't need 'reef' type shoes, mystery island we did and isle of pines only if you were snorkeling.

A lot of the beaches had sharp broken shells all over the sand so I'd definitely recommend always having them for children if there are any traveling with you.

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I asked a similar question a little while ago as we're in room 6279 on the Legend in a few weeks.

The general consensus was that they're not more intrusive than on deck 7, not as bad if you were on Deck 5.

Have you looked at 7301? That's the exact same 4 person room above.

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They do mexican and Caribbean (which people dress up in pirate costumes/tropical island costumes etc).

I found about 50% of people dressed up and participated in the activities on top deck at night time.

I never saw any themed outfits/accessories in the shops on the ship so best to take with you if you're planning on dressing up.

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I've tried doing a search but can't find much of a definitive answer.

My sister (&hubby) wants to come on a cruise with us next year on the Miracle, but she has 3 young children, one who will be in a cot.

I know spirit class ships have max 4 people/beds in a room but does anyone know if she can book a 4 person room and have the baby in there as a 5th person in a cot?

Otherwise are there any tips I should know about with them booking 2 rooms?

The booking on the US site is quite different than the Australian site - on the Aus site you get quoted by age of passenger (so 2 rooms with 2 adults & 3 kids would be cheaper than 2 rooms with 5 adults) but it looks like the US site is just per passenger?

Any advice/experiences would be much appreciated. I was even considering adding their 5th passenger to our room on the booking and then they would all just sleep in their one room using a cot for the baby - does that sound possible?

Sorry for the long post - this all confuses me!

Thank You

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Second above post, steak was on the 'everyday' menu each night and some nights there were 2 steak dishes with one being on the specials menu.

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Barry I agree, my husband wondered how they could charge more for VB than imported beers!

We ditched the beer on the cruise and drank spirits and cocktails - better value for money and the bar staff are very generous with their spirit servings!

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I second the above, you definitely won't feel over/underdressed as everyone wears different!

I just wore a cocktail dress and heels,most other women were wearing the same, some had slacks and blouses and others were in full length black tie.

You can get away with anything (dressy!) so go with what's comfortable and easy to pack!

On the second formal night I didn't even bother dressing up, I just wore a normal sundress and sandals - many others were more casual on the second one too, I noticed.

Enjoy your cruise!

:)

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Yes definitely more expensive!

Unfortunately it's the same with everything in Australia, even after you count the exchange rate difference and taxes payable to import here there's still a massive mark up on everything!!

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here's the rest:

I am going on the Legend next month and dare say the prices/menus will be the same as this as well.

Here are the latest Australian drink prices on Spirit as of 2014 (hope the images work!):

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We were on spirit last December and there's no mexican section in the buffet. On the mexican theme night they had it, but no other day during the cruise

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We loved this area too, and you're right, not many people knew about it!

I will say though, we would walk through here quite often and there were always groups of young teens hanging around, which was fine they weren't getting up to any trouble, but it wasn't as quiet toward the end of the cruise as it was on the first sea day when I discovered it.

I think because it is right next to one of the older kids clubs and games rooms, it was a meeting place for them all.

I agree with Wyuna1's post above.

I'd choose the 2 rooms on deck 7, better deck, less noise from lido, cheaper etc.

The interior room obviously not as nice as 2 joining balconies, but id rather have the better deck and more $$$ in your pocket.

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Hi all,

We are booked into premium balcony room 6279 on Carnival Legend this year, but our Cruise is having a sale at the moment and the difference between an Ocean Suite is only $250.

I was wondering if anyone has been in the Ocean Suite (and/or Premium Balcony) and whether you think it's worth the extra money upgrading?

There'll be 2 adults and 1 toddler in the room.

I'm just curious about whether there's a big size difference?

Whether the OS rooms midship are a better location than 6279 toward aft of ship?

Are balconies the same size or bigger?

We've previously only stayed in an Extended Balcony on past cruises.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Thank you

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