trippingpara

 

Ben was the PBE on our last cruise, and he is phenomenal! I'm worried about who will be on our October cruise, because I can't imagine anyone living up to him! Oh, the things that went down in that bar. Lol :D Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Yeah, I think Ben sorta ruined the Piano Bar for us. Everyone after him seems to have been a step down. Not to say that any of the other ones were bad, because they certainly weren't! None of them just seemed to be as much fun as he was. He really knew how to get the crowd going.

Okay, enough with the Cliff Notes. Now it’s time for the meat and potatoes of my review. Hmmm…, all this talk of meat and potatoes is making me hungry! But that will have to wait for later. Let me give you a little background about us. As I mentioned earlier, I’m Trippingpara but you can just call me Trip. I’m in my early, err mid, ALRIGHT! late forties and work in upper management for a large international software company when I’m not galivanting around being a photographer or pounding the skins on stage as a drummer. I’m a pretty laid-back guy that loves to travel and goes a little crazy with planning trips. I’ve been told by many that I should have become a travel agent and tour guide. I unfortunately missed that calling. Although, for anyone living in or visiting New England, I am in the process of developing photography tours as part of my studio offerings. Oops, did I just throw a commercial in here? Sorry about that, back to your regularly scheduled program...

Joining me on this adventure was my lovely wife who we’ll call Lady Trip. She is in her mid, oops, early (not quite!), let’s try slightly late-early-not quite mid-forties and works as a paralegal specializing in international biotech patents. Yeah, don’t ask me what that means. My head spins just typing that out!

That's us! I'm the handsome devil on the left, and the beautiful one on the right is Lady Trip but you probably already figured that out.

We knew that we were going to Hawaii to renew our vows and celebrate our 20th anniversary in marital bliss so why not extend the celebration and take it up north! Hawaii usually goes into lockdown the second they hear that the Trips are returning, so we thought it was bloody well time that our brothers and sisters’ way up north got the privilege of partying with us!

Knowing that we wanted to go to Alaska on a cruise, we did our usual routine of checking out all cruise lines. Although we have only cruised Carnival, it is primarily because they have always been the cruise line that has offered us the best itinerary at the best price at that particular time. Many of our friends (who are regular Carnival cruisers) did point us towards other cruise lines for an Alaskan itinerary which we did look at first. But at the end of the day, it was Carnival that again provided the best bang for our buck. So, we made the decision to sail with Carnival to Alaska.

Even though we booked this cruise in 2016, before we knew it, it was time to pack our bags and head up to Boston’s Logan Airport for our flight to Seattle!

Next up: Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia...

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Before I dive deep into the day to day diary stuff, I want to cover a couple more things quickly...

STAFF: This is one area that I think Carnival excels at. It is truly rare to run into a foul tempered staff member. Most of them are all smiles and very outgoing. I'm not sure if I would be able to smile while I work as hard as they do. They put in very long hours, day after day and they do it all with a huge smile. In fact, I am utterly convinced that I could not do what they do. The second some obnoxious idiot starts yelling at me about the stain on the carpet, I’d Superfly Snuka their derriere back into the Stone Age. Sigh. Really? Don’t know who Superfly Snuka is either? Am I really that old??

Anyways, maybe they fake it until they make it, but they are darn good at it! Overall grade "A+"

Cameras: Okay, this one doesn’t deal with the ship at all. But I am commonly asked what camera am I using? Well, I'm glad you asked. Alaska is so insanely beautiful. Seriously, it’s like God went crazy dumping everything beautiful into Alaska and then got to a few other parts of the world (looking at you there Gobi Desert!) and just said “oops, all out of beauty. Sorry guys!” Needless to say, I went a little crazy bringing gear. Like, all of it! Okay, so I didn’t bring all of my studio lighting, stands, etc., but I did suddenly get in touch with my feminine side and went a bit overboard with packing the “essentials”.

You know that you have a serious problem when the luggage carrying your photography gear is bigger than your luggage for everything else! I could pack 2 shirts, a pair of pants, some socks and undies and I’d be good to go as long as I had all of my camera gear with me. I mean, that’s what washing machines are for right?? If I forgot my 16-35mm f/2 G Master lens, I’m pretty much screwed when I try to capture that incredible wide-angle view of the snowcapped mountains or that vista from the top of a glacier. Those are once-in-a-lifetime shots. I can get undies and socks anywhere!!

Now that you see where my priorities lie, let me get back to answering the original question…I carried two primary cameras, my Sony a99 dSLT full frame camera and my brand spanking new Sony a7riii full frame mirrorless camera. My DW carried her Sony a300 crop sensor dSLR (yes, we are a Sony family!). We also brought our Olympus TG5 just in case we needed a camera that could take a beating and water submersion.

Now you’re probably like my DW and any other sane person and asking yourself “why in the world does he need two primary cameras?” That’s a great question and I’m glad you asked (I know that was a rhetorical question, but I’m going to answer anyways). Since the scenery in Alaska can change quickly from a scenic landscape that requires a wide-angle lens to wildlife photography that needs a very large telescopic zoom lens, I had a camera body set for each type of lens.

Walking up nose-to-nose with a 1,500 lb grizzly bear chomping on some salmon in order to capture that close up shot because you have a wide-angle lens on your camera is really not advisable! At least, that’s what my doctor tells me, and he has a lot of fancy looking paper hanging on the wall telling me how smart he is, so I’m going to listen to his advice!

Since my a99 dSLT is the big boy here, he was assigned to do all the heavy lifting and carried my large zoom lens. My svelte little a7riii mirrorless camera was assigned for the landscape shots since it has an insane megapixel count and it is light enough that I could just mount it onto my tripod and carry it around like that. Thus, I did not have to worry about quickly changing lenses to capture that pod of orcas that appeared out of nowhere or that incredible sunbeam that is hitting the mountains just right. In a matter of seconds both of those shots could be gone.

For lenses, I brought my Sony Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 and Sony 70-400mm f/4-5.6 for the Sony a99 body and my Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master and 24-105 f/4 G lenses for the Sony a7riii. My DW brought her Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5 and her Sony 30mm macro lens.

I know that I’m speaking complete gibberish to all those non-photographers out there, but there are a surprising number of photographers on Cruise Critic. If you don’t believe me, just check out the photography forum on CC. Any who…

I also brought my 3-Legged Thing Leo tripod which I absolutely love!! It is so small and cute! I can remove a leg and use it as a monopod which I was planning on using heavily on our little jaunt to Admiralty Island to watch the giant Brown Bears feast on the annual salmon run. More about that later. Awesome-sauce!!!

Now, let’s get to the real deal here…

Next up: The Official Trippingpara Review!!

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ALCHEMY BAR: Our home away from home! This is also located on the Promenade Deck (Deck 2) and another new addition from their recent overhaul. Thank the Sweet Lord Party Jesus for that!! If you fancy a fancy drink, then this is THE place to be! Ufuk, the Crazy Turk, and his crew were incredible! Their drinks were so delicious and they loved to joke around and have fun. There was always a party going on there. Well, at least there was when we were there! Want a drink that’s not on the menu? No problem! These cool cats kept the drinks flowing and witty banter going. We cannot recommend this place enough! Get there early and grab a stool as it fills up quickly and stays packed all night (although it did close earlier than I'm accustomed to on our other cruises). This was also the main hangout for the crew on their off hours, including the captain. He was often found here and was quite approachable. This is a must do on every cruise for us. Grade…”A+++++++++”

Here are a couple shots of the new Alchemy Bar. These were quick shots taken with my phone as we roamed the decks right after we embarked. This was the largest Alchemy area that I've seen. All of the other ones have large seating areas as well but they are not themed with the bar like this one. You are not able to tell from the photos, but the carpet has the chemical sequencing of alcohol all over it. Of course my DW (who is a science geek and does this stuff for a living) immediately spotted that. I just thought they were cool geometric shapes! There are also old pharmacy slips and books and other paraphernalia spread throughout the area.

RED FROG PUB: We first started going to the Red Frog Pub when we sailed on the inaugural voyage of the Vista and fell in love with it. Okay, maybe not “in love”, but we really enjoyed it! For some reason, we’re not the biggest fan of the Red Frog Bar or the Blue Iguana Bar (probably because they are always swamped being right next to the main pool and big screen (if it existed!). Needless to say, we visited here a couple times. We were bummed though to find out that they do not offer any snacks as they do on some other ships.

BILLIE’S PIANO BAR: This is another really fun joint. However, it does depend highly on the quality of the piano player so keep an eye out for who is playing on your cruise. I’ve seen some great ones that really get the place a’jumping (Ben Gentry) and others that play some good music but that’s about it. Ours was unfortunately the latter. Not a lot of the fun, rowdy music that we’ve heard in other piano bars. Much more subdued. Fun, but not awesome fun.

SERENITY: The Serenity Deck is located on the Lido Deck (Deck 9). I’m used to the Serenity Deck being forward of the ship, but here it is located aft where the aft pool normally is. There is technically a pool still here but if you’re more than 6 feet tall, you won’t be able to do more than lay down without bumping your head on the wall. And that’s if you’re completely alone in the pool. It’s really small! The attached hot tub is pretty much the same size! But it has a large bar, so it completely makes up for it!! I couldn’t tell if the staff enforced underage rule as I never saw any children there (there were not many children on our cruise to begin with). Overall, I’d grade it as an “A”.

SPA: This is not a Cloud 9 Spa so it does not have all the cool saunas and heated chairs that those spas have. Due to that, the wifey said no way to it. So, that means, I really can’t tell you much about it except for the fact that it does not have all the bells and whistles of a Cloud 9 spa.

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DW and I were on the same cruise, aft balcony cabin on deck 7. Loved it, will do it again. I will add comments on the ports as you write about them.

Great cruise! We were also onboard for this cruise. Cabin 6154, Ocean Suite; beautiful and great temp controls.

Hi skiorcruise and 2Shoes2Go! Thanks for following along and welcome back to the real world. I'm still waiting for someone to magically pop back up and clean up after me here at home. It's not quite the same as being on the ship. I sure do miss the awesome staff taking care of me!! Please do pop in and let us know how the ports were for you too throughout this review. Cheers!

I can't wait to read more. We did this itinerary in 2016 and loved every minute of it (except for all the rain.

Hi Namelocg, thanks for joining along. This itinerary is a great one, isn't it? We ended up being fairly lucky with the rain. We definitely got some, but not as bad as some others that I've heard from.

Had a ocean view cabin on deck 1 (1172) heard NOTHING from the Follies or Firebird during our cruise. A couple of times I thought I heard faint cheering that I was hoping meant someone in the casino had hit something good but it was very low key and not something I think I would have even heard if I wasn't awake. I was worried about noise after I realized where the cabin was (of course this was after the cruise was booked solid and changing was not an option) but we seriously heard nothing outside our room. :)

Hi MominWA, thanks for joining. Wow! I'm surprised that you didn't hear anything but I think you were in the best area on Deck 1. You were a good distance from both Firebird Lounge and Medusa's Dance Club and under the Shore Excursions desk on Deck 2. We had friends on Deck 1 that were under the Red Frog Pub and only a few cabins away from the Firebird Lounge and they said it was super loud, but then again the Red Frog Pub had bands there that would often play late into the night. Thanks again for popping in and giving us that feedback, it's good to know and glad it turned out to be pretty quiet for you!!

I'm along for the ride Trip!! Carry on!! :D

My man, Jamman54! How you doing mate? Glad you hopped along for this magic carpet ride!

ENTERTAINMENT: Even though we boarded the Legend with no real plans on what to do while sailing on her (aside from the Steakhouse), we did end up taking part in several different entertainment options. I must say that we thoroughly enjoyed all the various forms of entertainment that we took advantage of. Here's a quick snippet of the options we did.

Playlist Productions - I've read many reviews where people slammed these shows because they no longer had live bands performing or didn't include multiple stage sets, etc. Being a drummer and performer, I do enjoy and even prefer live musicians whenever possible. But the fact that a particular show does not utilize a live band does not by itself cause me to dislike a show. Whatever rows your boat man.

My DW occasionally gets me to take her to a play or musical. Although personally, I'd much rather watch a televised chess game announced by Ben Stein in his role as the teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But that's me. (Sigh…you younglings are still reading along? Google it. I bet that you can find that scene on YouTube. “Bueller…Bueller…”) As I said before, I’m a knuckle-dragging Marine. I still laugh when someone farts, I applaud when people can finish a complete sentence while burping, my favorite cologne is a mixture of freshly sawn wood coupled with gun powder, and I think fondly of the “good-ole” days of political incorrectness of watching Benny Hill and All in the Family. Yes, I choose to find the humor in things instead of being offended by them.

So, what does all of that have to do with Playlist Productions? Well, nothing actually. But it does show that even a Neanderthal like myself can enjoy a very well put together show. And these shows were very well done! We liked the 80's rock show (Epic Rock) the best (we both grew up in the 80's and severely miss our giant hairdos!). My DW and I found ourselves dancing and singing along throughout the show (the countless Irish Car Bombs and Caribbean Manhattans couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with that!)

Hasbro Game Shows – My DW took me to their CLUE show. It was interesting. She loves puzzles and it lasts the entire cruise. She was really into it. If puzzles and mysteries are your thing, then by all means, attend this show, you’ll enjoy it. I wasn’t so much into it, but DW loved it. I’ll let you decide the grade on this show.

Comedy Shows – We went to the adult comedy night on our first night. We saw Tim Young who was hysterical. His show was predominately interacting with the audience which I really enjoy as it really shows that the comedian is truly funny because he (or she) can clearly think on their feet and is really funny vs. just having a funny skit that they have memorized. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

Musicians – The musicians were really good but I did notice that they tended to be much calmer musically speaking then I’ve seen on other cruises. There was one guitarist (Lucas) who also had a drum kit set up so he could play it with his feet. Being a drummer, I was really impressed to see him play drums (with both feet) while playing guitar and singing simultaneously. The band, Murphy’s Law was really good however, I was really disappointed when I saw their name but found out it wasn’t the Murphy’s Law I was thinking of. But then again, I really don’t think Carnival would hire an old hardcore punk band from New York City, especially on an Alaskan cruise!! Not quite the right demographics!

Nature Speakers – Nancy was our naturalist and she would occasionally pop on the loudspeaker to announce various sightings of wildlife. When we entered Glacier Bay, we picked up a couple of Park Rangers that spent the day on board and announced wildlife sightings as well as various landmarks and glaciers views. They also had a desk set up on the Lido with various animal pelts and information about the bay.

Dive-in Theater – Now don’t go getting your hopes up…no theater was added during dry dock. I know that many people were hoping that it would be, but again, it was left off the honey-to-do list. This was our first time being on a ship without it. We personally didn’t miss it since it was a wee bit cool in the evenings on deck in Alaska, so I doubt that we would have used it much if it was there, but I did keep looking for it when we would stroll around the Lido during the afternoon on Sea Days. It felt strange not seeing it. I can imagine that we would really miss it when the Legend heads down under or to Hawaii. We always enjoy sitting out at night watching a movie cuddled up next to each other with a bag of popcorn and a tasty drink.

Next up: bars, staff and misc areas...

FOOD: Of course, with all the foodies on Cruise Critic, I had to address this one. However, since the Legend has had so many reviews over the years that have discussed the various food venues extensively, I will only give our brief thoughts on the various eateries. For those that are curious or don't recall/know the venues available on the Legend, here is a listing of the main restaurants/eateries aboard: Truffles Restaurant (MDR), the Unicorn Café Lido Restaurant (buffet), Guy’s Burgers/Blue Iguana, Bonsai Sushi, Pizza Pirate and the Nouveau Steakhouse.

Truffles Restaurant (MDR): This is located on Decks 2 and 3 and is all the way aft of the ship. The restaurant is not quite as gaudy as some of the other Carnival ships (yeah, I’m looking at you there Victory!). Since we had Any Time Dining, we were seated on Deck 3. We didn’t eat here too much, just dinner one night and the Seaday Brunch on the first sea day. The food was delicious, service was good and the food was plentiful. Overall grade…”A”.

The Unicorn Café Lido Restaurant - Aside from the extremely long and tongue-twisting name, if you have been to the buffet on a Carnival ship then you know what it's like here. If you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all! We never found the lines to be overly long or more crowded than any other ship that we've been on. The food was good and the crew kept it clean and well stocked. My made to order omelet was outstanding!

My one big gripe here was not the café but the people. There were many times that people would camp out in the café and take all of the chairs and tables by the windows (where the vast majority of the seating was) and they weren’t eating. They were just sitting there with their binoculars and some were even sleeping. Really?? There are flipping thousands of chairs by windows all over Decks 2, 3 and 4 if you don’t want to be outside watching the beauty of Alaska sail by. I get that you want to see it but please don’t take all of the chairs and tables during the main feeding rushes. That’s just rude. People that were trying to eat had to juggle their plates and drinks as they searched all over for seating. Slam me if you think I’m wrong, I don’t care. The tables and chairs in the buffet area are for those eating. If you’ve done eating or have no intention of eating, please move and give your spot to those that are trying to eat. It’s called courtesy people. Rant over. Overall grade for the buffet (not the people)..."A"

Guy's Burger - This is usually one of my favorite haunts during a cruise. I was pretty stoked to find out that this was added in during the recent dry docking in May. As usual, my standard order, the Ringer Burger was “shut the front door” good. Overall grade..."A"

Blue Iguanas – Another recent addition courtesy of her latest dry-docking renovation. I became a raging Blue Iguana fan on our recent trip to the Canadian Maritimes on the Sunshine. This is by far DW’s favorite place and it is quickly passing Guy’s Burgers for me (is that even possible??). Their burritos are the BLEEP! If you have never been here before, please put the crack pipe down and go there. Now. Take your time, I'll hang out and wait.

See? Wasn't that worth it?! Seriously, go there. It's that good. Overall grade..."A++"

Nouveau Steakhouse – Thankfully, they recently renamed the steakhouse. It was formerly called the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece? Seriously? Am I the only one that is starting to feel like I’m stuck in some crazy children’s book? The Unicorn Café, the Golden Fleece…***!

Any ways, aside from the quirky and rather childish former name, the steakhouse is what the steakhouse is…the jiggidly bomb! Do I need to say anymore? The service...outstanding! The food...delicious! Upcharge price...there is no steakhouse that I've ever been to where I can get that kind of service, quality of food and amount of food for $35. It's an absolute steal at that price! I reserved well in advance because, well, I’m anal as all get out! I’m also a cheap SOB and I wanted that free bottle of wine on embarkation day.

I know the wine aficionados out there are snickering in earnest over that, but I don’t care. It could be 2 Buck Chuck, but if it’s free, it’s for me! For those of you that actually have a taste palate and enjoy a finer wine, you also have the option of 50% off their regular wine menu instead (which really means you get the bottle of wine at the same price you get back home - what a deal!) Overall grade...like I even need to say it..."A++"

Pizza Pirate - Okay, let's get real. I could live off pizza. Seriously. You can put all the major food groups on one slice. Bam! Knock that food chart right out of the park. You can't beat it. And it goes with everything...milk, soda, beer, wine, water, did I mention beer? I mean, what more could you ask for, right? So, I'm probably not the best person to rate a pizza shop because I don't think there is such a thing as a bad pizza. There's just good pizza and even better pizza. This one however, ranks squarely in the “good” pizza category. Not awesome or incredible, or even “better”, but they did deliver a tasty little pie which is heaven when you have the late-night munchies from too many Caribbean Manhattans. Lady Trip was not the biggest fan of it, but then again, she doesn’t consider pizza to be a food group by itself.

I do have to say that I was highly disappointed when I ran up to the Pizza Pirate in an obvious state of excitement (and maybe a Caribbean Manhattan or 2 [more like 10]) and shouted out “Arrgghh Matey!” and all I got in return was a blank stare from two very confused young men. I was really hoping to see Johnny Depp back there whipping up some tasty pies while downing a gallon of rum, spewing out some witty and savvy sayings. But alas, that was not to be. Just a pair of tired, young men from Indonesia clearly convinced that I was a perfect example of a stupid drunk tourist. If you’re not going to have pirates there, why do they call it “Pizza Pirate”?? Aside from that extreme disappointment of that night, I’ll still give them an overall grade of..."B"

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Following along as I love your reviews and we're looking at booking an Alaskan cruise coming up soon!!

I can't wait to read this review!

Hi smitty89 and heffy2! Thanks for joining along for the ride. I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks for the kind words. Cheers!

Great review so far (as usual for Trip)... look forward to the rest. We will be on the Legend in that same cabin (4237) next Summer to Alaska.

We're enjoying the heck out of your review so far. I'm sure it will continue in the same manner. Lol hope so anyway!

Thank you for taking the time to write such an awesomely thorough one.

 

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Hi joepeka and Cruisin Trkrs. Thanks for the kind words and for following along. Joe, you are going to love the cabin! I promise any stains left in the cabin were not made by me. I think. Well, okay there was that one...

Hey Trip! So happy to see another of your great reviews in progress! I have really enjoyed the others you've done, so I know any review you do will be a great read. You know I love your writing style and the humor, not to mention the gorgeous pictures you include. Alaska would be awesome! My parents did an Alaskan cruise with some of their friends several years ago. They loved the scenery but cruising isn't for them since they (mainly my mom) prefer their own schedule and my mom does like to change her mind multiple times on what/where/when...not really possible when you have to stick to a cruise ship/tour schedule. I was wondering how that would go since we've vacationed with them many times. Lol!!! But they really did enjoy it. In March 2006, we were on Legend's sister ship, Miracle, loved her and would love to sail on her again. It's been so long ago that I forget the exact layout, and I didn't get many interior pictures, but I do remember some of the unique decor. That was a western Caribbean itinerary. Congrats on being accepted to the Rhode Island School of Design! For photography? If so, you'll really be setting a whole new level for photography with CC reviews. I am really looking forward to following along and seeing Alaska through your pictures. Thanks for taking the time!!!

Pghsteelerfan! How you do? Long time, no speak. How are things in VA? Going well I hope! Yep, I am studying photography at RISD. Of all my degrees, I never thought this one would be as tough as it is. I just hope that my photos of Alaska will do it justice. Welcome aboard and thanks for following along!

Hey Trip, welcome back! I always enjoy your reviews and your writing style and I'm sure this one will not be the exception. DW and I have and Alaska cruise in our sights for the (hopefully) near future so I'll be following this review for tips. Thanks for taking the time to do it!!

Stinger-pr, my man! How are things in my favorite little island? I hope they are going well. You are your DW will love this cruise! You gotta go. Just give me a shout out if you have any questions at any time, I'm happy to help.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Hi fyree39. Thanks for joining and hope you are buckled in for the ride, it will be a doozy!

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We are booked on that same cruise for May 2019! Thanks for writing it :)

Hi jc4me! Thank you for joining and you are very welcome! You are going to love this cruise. The best advice I can give for this cruise is to roll with the punches! The weather in Alaska can and does change at a moment's notice and sometimes without notice!

I just got off the Legend. Aside from the monitor, there were also long poles to use in order to assist one in distress and a large rack of life jackets available for children too.

LAYOUT: Not sure if I would call this a compliant per se, but I found the layout of the ship to be rather odd and confusing. Like placing the dance club on the first deck right among a bunch of staterooms. Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a dance club might get a wee bit noisy in the late evenings. Call me crazy, but dance clubs tend to have alcohol and loud music. Also, the Firebird Lounge is located forward on the same deck, again, right next to staterooms. And to top that cookie off, right above on the 2nd deck is the main Promenade where the casino, bars and lobby is at. Nice and noisy. Unless you’re a heavy sleeper or plan on passing out each night, I’d skip getting a stateroom on the first deck!

On several of the decks, you could only transverse from bow to aft on one side of the ship. This caused some confusion as you would have to stop and look around to figure out where to go. Some decks were not as easy to determine as you would expect. Not that this was overly difficult, just slightly confusing as you stroll around the ship. Also, on the cabin decks, you could not walk straight bow to aft. You had to constantly do doglegs back and forth to move down the corridor. With that said, I do enjoy having the MDR aft as it does not cut that deck in half. I hate trying to stroll across the ship and finding out that you now must go up or down a deck or two in order to get around the galley in the middle of the ship. Not the end of the world, but an annoyance to us.

Nonetheless, she is still laid out one million times better than some of the Navy ships that I have been on (where I have been lost for hours – but then again, I’m a dumb, knuckle dragging Jarhead Marine), so her certified grade is…”B -”.

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CABINS: This was our first time with a vista suite (actually our first time in any kind of suite on a cruise ship). It was like watching a real-life cruising version of the Beverly Hillbillies! If you don’t know who the Beverly Hillbillies are, please Google them and then stop reading. You are clearly far too young and your youth, beauty and perfectly coiffed hair are already annoying me.

Where was I? Oh yeah, it was Stateroom 4237. Everywhere I read said that this was “the” room to get. I felt like I had the keys to the VIP room in the Viper Lounge or some other exclusive place that I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever getting into.

And we weren’t disappointed. Okay, so it didn’t have the glamour and bragging rights that rubbing elbows and pounding Irish Car Bombs with Leo DiCaprio, Gisele Bundchen or Gigi Hadid does, but it still was a pretty sweet room. Or rooms, I should say. If you’ve never been in a Vista Suite on a Spirit class ship, it is basically a very large room that is broken up by a walk-in closet, bathroom (with whirlpool tub!) and a separate dressing room in the center dividing the area with a living room on one side and a bedroom on the other.

But the real star of the suite is the balcony. Ah yes, the giant, wrap-around balcony. I always dreamed of someday, lounging around in my unmentionables scratching my backside (although I don’t use my living room carpet), surrounded by a ginormous balcony gawking at the world as it sails by me. Luckily for my DW and anybody else that might have spied into our balcony, I never did lounge around in my unmentionables. The thought of the potential shrinkage factor of sailing in cold Alaskan waters was far too great of a risk to proudly stroll around in my skivvies.

What really topped off our vista suite balcony (as well as it’s matching partner on the opposite corner) was the fact that the 4th Deck aft is completely covered by a large overhang. Now when you’re cruising in the Caribbean, a covered balcony may not be the greatest thing for lounging in the sun trying to get that perfect level of crispiness to your skin. However, when you’re sailing through one of the wettest rain forests in America, a covered overhang becomes your best friend. Yes, the Inner Passage of Alaska is one big giant rain forest. That means rain in August. A lot of it. Stick with me people, I have tons more useless information for ya!

Obviously, having a wrap-around balcony meant that it was located all the way aft of the ship (aft means the very back of the ship – a.k.a. the “butt” or a@@ - just in case anyone was wondering what “aft” meant. It can also be referred to as the stern as well. You know, “stern” as in mad as hell because you just walked all the way to the back of the ship and you left your drink back at the front or “bow” of the ship). Anyways, being aft meant that it was far away from most of the other cruisers,so the hallway was pretty quiet. But it also meant that it was a bit of a walk to the main, central elevator bank(which you had to use if you were going to the Steakhouse). There were stairs and a couple elevators that were close by if you were staying aft (the MDR was right below us, so super easy to get to). We didn’t mind that the Lido deck was 5 decks above us. We like to take the stairs a lot when we travel to work off the 800 lbs. of food that I shovel down my gullet along with the metric ton of alcoholic beverages that are used to wash it all down too.

The stateroom itself was very comfortable and well appointed. It had the traditional older Carnival look (aka “cheesy”). I’ve learned that I really have come to like the décor and colors of the newer ships. Not everyone agrees with me, but I’m just not the biggest fan of orange couches! In my eyes, it’s like wearing white after Labor Day, you just don’t do it! I was expecting the cabins to be refreshed during dry dock, but that apparently was not on the to-do list either. I really need to send my DW to take care of that. She can whip up one helluva a Honey-to-Do list!! Same carpet, same wallpaper, lighting, completely stripped handrails on the balcony, etc. However, the old tube-based tv’s were replaced with flat screens and the phones were upgraded. So, I guess some updating was done… I had heard that the safes were upgraded from the old card swipe ones to keypunch. Apparently, our cabin was missed in that upgrade as we still had the old card swipe ones. Also, you did not need to use your card to keep the lights one. Just a simple flick of the switch does it. What a tic…that sounds like it would make a great song title!!

I know a lot of people wonder about getting any impact from the smokestack on the aft balconies. Obviously, I can’t talk about the aft balconies above us (they were fully exposed to the elements), we were shielded from any soot particles or residue with our roof.

Due to the older and cheesy décor and not refreshing the ship and cabins fully, our overall grade…” B-” That’s a general overall grade for the ship’s cabins, but for fact of the wrap around balcony in the vista suite, I’d upgrade that particular cabin to an “A-“.

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Following! Alaska is on our bucket list. :D

Welcome watermelonqueen99! Thanks for joining.

SHIP: Overall: As I mentioned previously, there are a ton of reviews about this old veteran ship. I read many reviews that loved the Spirit class ships including the Legend. However, quite a few of them droned on and on about how old and decrepit the Legend has become which started to raise those little hairs on the back of my neck. Now, there’s not too many hairs left on my old grape, but those short critters on my neck sure do get jumpy sometimes. That is until I really started to look at the complaints. I’m not one normally prone to automatically discount a person’s complaint. Many of them are quite legitimate. But some of them…well…there are some people that would probably find something to complain about at the Pearly Gates and their reviews should really be taken with a truckload of salt (of course, don’t forget the tequila!).

“My God Billy-Bob, look at that stain. Can you believe this? This ship is falling apart!!”

Okay, don’t ask me who Billy-Bob is but there was a person complaining about this. Seriously? Dude, don’t ever come to my house, okay? My chocolate lab thinks a good time is dropping her butt and running the Daytona 500 around our living room carpet. She even likes to stick her tongue out like she’s concentrating real hard and stare at you as she does it all the while our yellow lab cheers her on. I tell you, she gets more butt scratching in than a dozen old men watching football on Sunday afternoon. I was always told that stains give the carpet character. Or was it wrinkles in the face? Anyways, she is an older ship and doesn’t have all the fancy bells and whistles that the Vista, Horizon and Panorama have, but she still has plenty of get up and go left in her.

Overall, we felt the ship was in pretty good condition, especially for her age. Man, I wish my broken down old jalopy of a body was in half as good of condition! Please note that the Legend did just come out of dry dock in May, so she has a fresh new coat of paint on her as well as a couple new additions which I’ll address later. Hmm…I wonder if there is a dry dock for the human body. Oh wait…isn’t that what a plastic surgeon does? In my case, that’d just be like slapping some lipstick on a pig! But I digress…

There were places where she showed her age, like on our balcony. The varnish on the handrail was completely gone and raw wood was exposed and weathered. It was very rough to the touch, not the normal glossy smooth that I’m accustomed to. There was also a good amount of rust on the frame work for the glass on the balcony. Nothing to be concerned about but I was surprised that those things weren’t addressed in the dry dock. This was also the case around much of the railings around the ship. Again, nothing major but someone left that one off the to-do-list!

One thing that was pretty obvious about the ship was the vibrations. I wasn’t surprised to feel some pretty strong vibrations in our cabin since we were only a couple decks above the drive shafts and propellers. However, I was surprised to feel them in the steakhouse on Deck 10 midships! To give you an idea of the strength of the vibrations in our cabin, imagine sitting on top of a running washing machine with a full and unbalanced load. Which may be a great feature for the women out there and it was great for lullabying one to sleep at night! You just had to make sure that you secured any loose items as they would rattle (i.e., the wine glasses couldn’t be right next to each other and we put a towel under the T.V. in the bedroom to stop that from rattling).

There were a lot of good things and some things that you just had to roll with on the Legend. Taking all of the above factors into consideration, my clearly scientific overall grade for the Legend…”B”. Even after dry dock, she still shows her age but she still has a lot left in her.

Okay, please bear with me as I intermittently write and work on photos in the background...trust me, there is plenty more to go!!

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Before I get too far into the specifics and day to day life of the cruise, for those that don’t like to read long reviews, here’s the down and dirty Cliff Notes version (don’t worry, there will be globs of photos and maybe even a video or two later on). I'll try not to delve too much into the finer details as the Legend has been around since the dawn of time and has been well documented before however, since she did just go through a lengthy dry dock, I will discuss some of the changes.

Itinerary: This was our first time in Alaska and has been on our bucket list for quite some time. We renewed our vows last October for our 20th wedding anniversary in Hawaii, so we’re treating this trip as an extension of that celebration (what better way to celebrate than to hit both states that are outside of the mainland!) We booked it as soon as they started to announce dates for 2018 (which was back in 2016). This trip also gave us the opportunity to hang out with my older sister and brother-in-law that moved to Seattle a couple years ago. Two for the price of one!! It was an 8-day cruise with the following schedule:

Day 1 – Seattle, Washington (depart 4 pm)

Day 2 - Sea Day

Day 3 – Juneau, Alaska (2 pm – 11 pm)

Day 4 – Skagway, Alaska (7 am – 8 pm)

Day 5 – Glacier Bay

Day 6 – Ketchikan, Alaska (10 am – 9 pm)

Day 7 – Sea Day

Day 8 – Victoria, British Columbia (10 am – 10 pm)

Day 9 – Seattle, Washington (arrive 7 am)

When we booked the cruise, we were scheduled to go to Tracy Arm Fjord and the days in port were different (same ports, just different days). We received a letter from Carnival in November 2016 informing us that there was an itinerary change. Tracy Arm Fjord was now being replaced with Glacier Bay and the ports were being shuffled around. At first, I was bummed that we couldn’t get onto a smaller boat for an up-close and personal view of a glacier at Tracy Arm Fjord, but then I realized that we were going to Glacier Bay instead. Save money by not taking a very expensive excursion and see multiple glaciers from the luxury of our mega-balcony while listening to a Ranger discuss the beauty of what we’re looking at? I’m taking this as an upgrade!

We tend to tour on our own versus taking ship-based tours, however we did opt to do a ship-based tour in Juneau. We toured on our own in Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria (as well as in Seattle and a quick side trip to Vancouver).

Originally, we had booked the White Pass Train and Bus tour into the Yukon Territory through Carnival as well until I read a review on CC where the poster had decided to drive the same route instead. Genius!!! After getting over the shock of not thinking of that myself, I immediately pulled up Avis online and was stoked to find a couple cars left (I guess they usually sell out when ships are in port). Hats off to Tennessee Rose for her wonderful review and info on the drive.

We arrived in Seattle 4 days early to visit my sis and bro-in-law and to terrorize, err, tour the Pacific Northwest. I’ll talk a lot more about the specific ports and places we visited in the diary section. For now, let’s move onto the important one here…the Carnival Legend.

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Hey, what’s crack-a-lackin’ everyone?! Trippingpara here, but you can just call me Trip. My DW and I have just returned from our cruise to the fantastically unbelievable, the unfathomable, the implausible, the incredible and the downright insanely beautiful state of Alaska and the Inner Passage. We had the pleasure of spending 8 days sailing on the newly refurbished Carnival Legend roundtrip from Seattle. I believe this will now be my fifth review here on CC. Man, am I getting salty or what?! Oh wait…nope, never mind, that’s just the rim of my margarita glass! Any ways, hopefully you’ll enjoy this review and be able to dredge some useful tidbits from it.

If you know who I am or have read any of my other reviews, then you already know that this review will be long and will have more images than Motley Crue’s photographic collection of groupies. Unfortunately, our photos will not have the wild and crazy debauchery of theirs, but ours are pretty freakin’ awesome just the same - in a boring, PG kind of way. Sorry guys and gals, those R rated photos have exclusive rights only. However, for a small fee of…

Ahh…wait…hold on…

I’m getting a vicious stink eye from DW. Okay, nope. Nevermind, they’re not for sale.

Speaking of photos, I’m currently attending the Rhode Island School of Design. It’s supposed to be one of the nation’s premier art schools but come to think of it, I’m not sure how the heck I was able to get accepted there! Apparently, their standards must have plummeted since that last ranking! Nonetheless, that means I don’t go anywhere without a camera in my hands. In fact, since I happen to be lucky enough to have two hands, I usually have at least two cameras in my possession at any given moment. Of course, that’s not counting the ubiquitous cell phone/camera that is permanently glued into everyone’s hands.

Well, enough of that crap, now where was I?....Ah yes, per my normal reviews, it will be broken up into two distinct areas: the first part will be a Cliff Notes version highlighting some of the main topics and areas of the Legend followed by a day by day diary style format discussing the port and events of the day in detail. The plethora of pictures will be in the diary area so please feel free to skip right to that area if you’re not much of a reader. As always, please do not hesitate to ask any questions. I write these reviews to try and give back just a fraction of all the help and assistance that I have received from others’ reviews and comments here on Cruise Critic.

DISCLAIMER: This review is a compilation of opinions from my DW and me. Mostly me, but occasionally I listen to my DW too. The statements made in this review are simply our opinions and views of what took place during our vacation and should carry absolutely no weight or value on how you may or may not feel about these things. If you do not like my opinions or heavens forbid, take offense to them, well…too bad, because quite frankly…my “Gives a Crap” meter doesn’t appear to be working, so please feel free to bugger off and pound sand. If you feel that strongly about it, write your own review and pontificate to your little heart’s desire there! Sound good?

Out-freakin-standing! Now let’s get it on!

Perfect timing, we're heading out on the Legend to Alaska in 2 weeks. Can't wait! Looking forward to reading the rest of your review and seeing the pictures!

We'll be there as well! Still trying to finalize what we're going to do in Victoria. We have a rental car booked to go to the Gardens but since we also really want to tour downtown and the parking can be hard to find (or so we hear), we're now thinking about just taking the city bus to the Gardens for a $5.00 day pass each. Much cheaper and now we don't have to worry about having a rental car that will be parked half of the day in a paid parking lot.