7continentKaren

We are booked on a cruise that included the Black Sea.  We just lost our enthusiasm for it since the war in Ukraine began.  Not into mines.  Trip has two stops in  Turkey which was a big reason for going.  INITIALLY.  The war appears to be dragging on and we leave in the fall this year.

In addition, we booked a cruise to the Panama Canal, where we had been before BUT wanted to grab Nicaragua to make our last country in North America.  Alas, almost all companies have dropped that stop due to the State Dept warnings.

We came off Carnival Miracle in Seattle last week, Aug 24.  Getting a COVID test in Seattle is a nightmare.  No one will give you an antigen test unless you are actively sick AND you have to name who exposed  you. The state pays the bill but is swamped with sick people and has no time for travel needs.  The airport is an expensive possibility.   Urgent care Indigo is a waste of time as they do not do anyone on Medicare or with insurance.  We did not find out about the issues in Seattle until we got there.  We finally got tests at Kaiser, which we belong to in California.  Results in 2 days. Even with Kaiser, I had 5 employees with 5 different stories and when, where, etc.

Here is my considered advice:

If you are now booking, arrange to time your trip so you are able to get tested at  home, get your results and fly.  Spend time in Seattle or anywhere AFTER your cruise.  Takes all the stress off you.  To my surprise almost no one we talked to was spending any time in Seattle at all.  Big mistake as it is a great city with the Space Needle, Chihuly Museum and fabulous mountain scenery,  trendy food at Pike Market, etc.  I would allow at least 3 days.

That said, Miracle was rumored to  have left two dozen passengers on the dock with no tests.  However, they could have done tests as they were testing the few  unvaccinated passengers.  I imagine they did not want to start a precedent by testing when they said they would not do it for vaccinated guests.

There was no talk we heard about whether the infirmary was caring for any passengers.

The diagrams of the cabins are not perfect. I want a shower, not a tub. Were the showers only in the handicapped rooms? On Breeze, we were in 232 next to handicapped and had a shower. We peeked around on the last day and it seemed like showers were in oean view and tubs in balcony cabins. Thanks

We are supposed to be on Legend in Sept, Anchorage to Japan. We just got off Breeze where we had exhaust fumes in our room from time to time. Was that an issue with Legend as well? Captain said it was common when the ship was rocking. I thought it rocked a lot more than I expected. Been to Antarctic in a similar size ship and that was real rocking.

I thought I read a report that there were exhaust fumes in the cabins on Legend during some rocky weather. Can anyone verify that? We are booked for the Sept 10, crossing by the Aleutians from Anchorage to Japan. 7 days at sea. We had exhaust in our cabin on Breeze recently and the captain said it happened all the time when seas were bouncy. That was more annoying than the bounce.

Thanks for any info on that. I am surprised to hear that windows were leaking. My impression of Breeze is that the $18 mil Windstar spent on the 3 sisters was mostly cosmetic.

Our food was only mediocre. How about Legend? And did you have many lecturers?

Thanks!

I thought I read somewhere that Legend, like Breeze, has exhaust from the engines coming into the rooms, esp when the seas are choppy. Ours were not that choppy, only a little along the coast of Portugal, but we had exhaust fumes at least 3 times. One time was at night so we just had to tough out the stinging eyes, etc. We had an ocean view room so could not clean out the air by opening the door. The captain said it happens all the time. I would say it should be a priority on both ships to get fixed.

We did not buy the laundry package and traveled with a 24 in bag each. There is a drying line in the shower so I did hand laundry for small stuff every other day. There are no formal nights so your casual clothes are fine all day long.

It took a while for us to find some of the amenities but the Yacht Club has a continental breakfast every day, small sandwiches and desserts at noon until 6 pm. We snagged a couple of sandwiches occasionally to take ashore for long excursions. We were on for 10 days in the Canaries. The Yacht Club is a jewel. You can get drinks there also, including Coke.

All non-alcoholic beverages are included. Generally you get them either at a meal or at one of the bars. We did not buy the booze package as we are both on meds that limit how much alcohol we can have. We just bought wine from time to time. We did not bring any on board though we could have, as it turns out. Honestly, with all the other stuff you are carrying, taking wine just seemed like too much trouble.

Frankly, I doubt you will be so busy that you want to skip sit down dinner. You can choose whether you want to sit with others or alone. Really, sitting with others is your only entertainment for the evening so I recommend it. On Breeze, the head waiter kept forgetting our request for him to seat people at our table. I don't know the solution to that but it was annoying.

In our case, the port talk before dinner was so short that it was nearly worthless. I really was disappointed that we had NO info on the ports.

If you bring a lanyard, staff will punch a hole in your cruise card so you can wear it on shore or in house. You do not need a drivers license for id to come and go.

I did not use their wifi. There were a number of places at each port for free wifi. For our up coming cruise from Alaska to Japan, I may just have to buy a package as I dread coming home to a week's worth of unread emails.

We brought books and magazines (trying to read them and ditch them) but the ship has a nice library where they have books of theirs to check out and shelves for trading paperbacks. They also have puzzles though no one on our ship did one.

We were on Breeze (sister ship) out of Lisbon and and it was pretty bouncy. That first night we could not sleep for being tossed from one side to the other. We are supposed to sail on Legend from Alaska to Tokyo in Sept and we are concerned that we will

a. never sleep

b. never shower (all that bouncing!!)

It sounds like you were lucky on the crossing. The Pacific has a bad rep but I really wanted to sail the Aleutians. Have not paid the final yet so any suggestions are welcome. I thought there were too many gaps in the hand rails, like from the hall on 5 to the center stairwell. First night out, a food tray full of dishes crashed in the dining room. They never had to stop the elevators though.

What kind of activities were there? There were almost none on Breeze. 7 days at sea are a lot.

I would like to see Carnival go to more interesting ports and not just the Caribbean and Alaska. How about stopping over in Surinam, French Guiana, and Guyana while being in Aruba, etc, the far south of the Caribbean? Or a trans-Atlantic by way of the Canary Islands and Lisbon? Back to South America? Easter Island, the Samoas and Tahiti? Our family really likes all the fun things to do on a Carnival ship. We went to Alaska with Ruby Princess and the kids all the way to 23 years old were bored to tears. Why should the Carnival arm of overarching Carnival have all the routine cruises, same-O, same-O? I would like our family to see more of the world.

We would like to see more interesting itineraries. Same o, same o with Carnival. More than one ship in the Caribbean doing the exact same sailing. I would like to see something new in Europe and a repeat of the South America cruise. Itineraries, Carnival: Boring. Love to sail with Carnival but want to go somewhere new and exciting.

MSC Lirica. Awful. Cheap baguettes on plate every night - no basket. Ice cream made from powder - all tasting the same, just different colors. Rack of lamb was all fat. Actually lost weight.

Oceania was nothing to write home about and we have found two RCI ships to have just barely OK food. Same with Norwegian. Old Crown Princess had been in last place until Lirica came along: lobster served burned on one side, frozen on the other, "egg" bread with neon stripes of yellow food coloring. Good grief - pretty bad when they can't even get the bread right.

HAL has been good (Prinsendam and Westerdam) but the best so far was Carnival Glory (1-12-08). The Legend inaugural was excellent also with, by far, our favorite waiter: Tivo.