Just Off the Legend---Some Thoughts:

Just got off of the Legend yesterday. We went to AK in 2010, but I skimped on excursions then, so we wanted to do more this time.

First some thoughts on the ship: I love the Spirit-class of ships. We were on her in Sept to Hawaii, so we knew what this class was like. Nothing really changed on the ship since then, but she will be in dry dock next year, so not sure what is going to change.

The bad's on this cruise: Our toilet had a mind of it's own. It would flush the first time all day, but during the night, sometimes I would try 15 times and it never would flush. I'm not sure if had to do with the pressure at night or what, but I have never experienced this on any cruise.

The dining room staff, in my opinion, is severely overworked. One night, we brought our steakhouse bottle of wine into the dining room with us. Seated us with the menu, someone came by and dropped off a box of bread, took our order and never saw anyone again until our first course was served. The waitress never introduced herself, never offered another wine glass, never offered to put the bottle on ice. Another night, it was fifteen minutes after we were seated until anyone came to the table and the same meal it was fifteen minutes to take our dessert order after leaving the menu.

The waiter in the comedy club screwed up our drink order two nights in a row, even after bringing it to his attention before we ordered the second night. (It was a special margarita on the Punchliner menu), both times served and charged for a regular one.

Tried to apply gift cards on both of the kiosks. It would work all of the way up until you entered the amount and then would not take any inputs. Finally, had guest services do them and the person working said they are going to do a software upgrade in dry dock, and that helps me how? (I didn't go there first, because it takes at least twice as long)

As usual, a severe lack of dress code enforcement in the MDR. Elegant night, guys were wearing baseball hats, shorts and t-shirts. I just wish they would enforce it or do away with it.

A couple of MDR things not service related: There is now a bottle of water placed at the table at the beginning of the meal. One less thing for the servers to worry about, plus I like pouring myself, that way I don't have to wait to get someone's attention.

No lime sherbet!!! Again, I have never been on a cruise that didn't have it. They had orange. Of course two nights later, I ordered the orange and was told that they ran out and it was replaced by mango!! Seriously??

On most nights the bread was more hard than soft, one dinner my knife would even cut into it.

We were never affected by it, because we arrive to shows early, but there was the usual saving of seats that isn't allowed being done. And the two times that I saw it done the Punchliner, no one else ever showed up. One was a front couch (holds four people) and the other was six chairs in the last row of chairs in front of the couches.

One other small peeve: this cruise was supposed to do Tracy Arm, however, it was closed. There was never an announcement stating that we were going to Endicott instead. We even did the small boat tour off of the ship and were never told were we were!! I didn't really care as I hadn't been to either, but I heard Tracy Arm is nicer and I would have been upset had I wanted to see that.

Outside of these, not many faults that I found, though my DW says that she does not want to cruise with them again (she has been on ten Carnival cruises) as the service was that bad.

Jen Baxter was our CD and I enjoy her very much. This was our fourth Carnival cruise in a row with her. She is just real personable and very friendly. The last show in the theater we were in the second row and our drink waiter asked when we were on the ship last. I told him last September to Hawaii. He pointed to the first row of seats to the right and said "You sat there for the shows, didn't you?" Yes we did!! It was so nice that he remembered us from nine months before.

No bacon police!!! The morning buffet was all you could eat bacon and it was great!!! We had YTD and usually arrived around 7. We never got a pager and the longest we waited in line was maybe 5-10 minutes. Just be warned, if you want to show up to YTD when it opens, get there at least a half hour before or you will be about number 75 in line!

Shore excursions will be in a later post!!

Anxious to read more about your cruise....husband and I are going on the July 11th trip- This will be our 3rd cruise to Alaska but 1st on Carnival. We have taken many Carnival cruises just not to Alaska. How was the weather? Trying to decide how much "cold" weather stuff to take....I think the Tracy Arm / Endicott small boat excursion may get pretty chilly? Thanks, in advance, for any tips you can give me!

Just wanted to say hi to a Washington Center controller! I fly through your airspace all the time. I just took one of our new A321 neos from DCA to SFO a couple of days ago!

Sincerely,

A VRD pilot!!

We were on the Legend June 6th-13th and I agree with everything you said about the MDR. It was so disappointing. We had Cheers and it was impossible to even get bar service in the MDR. The bartender at the bar right outside the MDR was wonderful though and I would ask to sit near the door (we had Anytime Dining) and I would go see her throughout our meal.

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Yours is not the only recent review pointing out disappointing service in the MDR. That is so sad. Carnival may have passed the point of diminishing returns in cutting back on staff.

Thanks for your thoughts.

We had the YTD in Alaska (our 1 and only time we did that) and I agree about the poor service in the MDR. I'm not sure if it was related to that, or if the scheduled time diners had the same issues. Often had to wait longer than normal times for things.

I didn't see those problems in the comedy club though, it wasn't that crowded when we went, nothing like the Magic last November!! :o Standing in line for 30-40 minutes before the show doors opened.

As far as Tracy Arm I don't think I've heard of any ships making it in there. I followed the news/reports last summer before we went and I've read some this summer and haven't seen any making it in there. Having never been to Tracy Arm, I wouldn't know what I was missing. I thought Endicott was beautiful!

Sorry about your MDR experience. Will also be disappointed with it.

Looking forward to your shore excursion feedback.

One other small peeve: this cruise was supposed to do Tracy Arm, however, it was closed. There was never an announcement stating that we were going to Endicott instead. We even did the small boat tour off of the ship and were never told were we were!! I didn't really care as I hadn't been to either, but I heard Tracy Arm is nicer and I would have been upset had I wanted to see that.

I'm sorry that you were disappointed about having Tracy Arm substituted with Endicott Arm. From what I have heard, though, both are equally as beautiful It has been widely reported from past cruisers that the switch is an extremely common occurrence early in the season. I do have to disagree with you, however, that there was no notification. It actually said "Cruise Endicott" right on your small boat excursion tickets (on the right-hand side). Here's a photo of mine for an example..

Sounds like the "dress code" has been done away with...so you have no worries!

We were on the Legend 8 night cruise to Alaska on May 8th and we had a great experience in the MDR. We had Alan and his crew and had the best service we have had in years. Also, the food was very good! Some of the beef was the best of any Carnival cruise. The service was faster than some of our previous cruises.

We went on the small boat excursion and it was announced we would be going to Endicott that morning. Before the cruise we knew there was a possibility of not going to Tracy Arm Fjord. We still had a good time. The only bad part was not having my heavy winter coat.

We would definitely go on the Legend again!

Thanks for the review. Someone on another thread said you now have to get tickets for the comedy shows. Is that true?

Thanks for the review. Someone on another thread said you now have to get tickets for the comedy shows. Is that true?

I did read something about the Magic now, needing a ticket, or some sort of pass, they got it in the Disco. If so, that's fine. The Magic had really long lines to go in, and we'd wait like 30 minutes before the show in line. On the Legend we'd get there a little early and walk right in and get some seats. I don't need front row though.

Thanks. It's good to know we don't have to get there really early. We definitely don't want front row seats in a comedy show!

Anxious to read more about your cruise....husband and I are going on the July 11th trip- This will be our 3rd cruise to Alaska but 1st on Carnival. We have taken many Carnival cruises just not to Alaska. How was the weather? Trying to decide how much "cold" weather stuff to take....I think the Tracy Arm / Endicott small boat excursion may get pretty chilly? Thanks, in advance, for any tips you can give me!

The weather was descent for all but Juneau. In Endicott, it was chilly because of being so close to the glacier, but it wasn't windy, so it wasn't that bad. At the ports of call, it was usually high 50s to mid 60s. No rain, except in Juneau. For 90% of the Inside Passage time, we could see the mountaintops. As for the "cold weather" gear. I brought thermals, long sleeve shirts, a hoodie and a leather jacket. I wore the thermals with the long sleeve shirt and took along the hoody. Some places, I was sweating even with that without the hoody on. I never even wore my leather jacket. I had on thermal pants and blue jeans and my legs never got cold. That being said, walking the main street in Skagway with no clouds and the sun beating down, it was hot!!!! I walked on the west side of the street to just be in the shade.

Just wanted to say hi to a Washington Center controller! I fly through your airspace all the time. I just took one of our new A321 neos from DCA to SFO a couple of days ago!

 

Sincerely,

 

A VRD pilot!!

REDWOOD, You are the first one that has caught that!!! I'm retired now, I was there from '96-'06. Not sure if you were flying then. I worked the Washington metro departures and the westbound overflights from ZNY going west on J6, J134 and J149 and the Washington and New York Metro arrivals coming in over BKW and HVQ.

I'm sorry that you were disappointed about having Tracy Arm substituted with Endicott Arm. From what I have heard, though, both are equally as beautiful It has been widely reported from past cruisers that the switch is an extremely common occurrence early in the season. I do have to disagree with you, however, that there was no notification. It actually said "Cruise Endicott" right on your small boat excursion tickets (on the right-hand side). Here's a photo of mine for an example..

 

I wasn't disappointed as I hadn't been to either. I just would have liked them to announce it beforehand.I will have to find my tickets and check to see if it was on there.

We went on the small boat excursion and it was announced we would be going to Endicott that morning. Before the cruise we knew there was a possibility of not going to Tracy Arm Fjord. We still had a good time. The only bad part was not having my heavy winter coat.

We would definitely go on the Legend again!

I knew there was a possibility and I didn't mind because I had not been to either, but some notice would have been nice. Even when Nancy, the naturalist came to talk to us before leaving to get on the boat, she never mentioned it.

Thanks for the review. Someone on another thread said you now have to get tickets for the comedy shows. Is that true?

I did read something about the Magic now, needing a ticket, or some sort of pass, they got it in the Disco. If so, that's fine. The Magic had really long lines to go in, and we'd wait like 30 minutes before the show in line. On the Legend we'd get there a little early and walk right in and get some seats. I don't need front row though.

No tickets needed. There were good seats all the way up until about 15 minutes before when everyone started piling in. Also, on a couple of times there was an 11:15 show after the 10:30 and a fair amount of people left and not that many came in, so it was a lot less crowded. I know that isn't always the case, but on this cruise, it was.

Thank you for posting your review!! I am on this ship July 25th and have registered for the Tracy Arm small boat excursion as well...I sure hope we are able to get in! At $189 a ticket I would be very disappointed :( do they make you take that Endicott small boat cruise or will they refund you if requested?? Also, do you by chance have any of the Fun Times papers ? Would love to see the activities etc lined up. Thank you!!

REDWOOD, You are the first one that has caught that!!! I'm retired now, I was there from '96-'06. Not sure if you were flying then. I worked the Washington metro departures and the westbound overflights from ZNY going west on J6, J134 and J149 and the Washington and New York Metro arrivals coming in over BKW and HVQ.

So how the hell do you pronounce SAAME? Same? Or Sammy?

Just wondering...

And yeah. I was flying back then. It is always fun coming off of JFK via RBV with them keeping us slow then ZDC wanting us fast and high ASAP. I never have been able to figure that out.

You can blame global warming for not getting into Tracy Arm. We had the same problem last year.

The problem is that Tracy Arm has a narrow opening and when there are too many icebergs, they are not allowed to take a big cruise ship into it as they may get trapped and unable to exit. No reason to try if Endicott is so close by and has a large opening. It is for safety of the ship....

I got some great photos and video...of our ship in distance as we took the small boat all the way out and up into some small side channels that the Legend could not get into, so the whole thing was very worthwhile. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

I had no problem not going to Tracy Arm Fjord or being rerouted to Endicott my problem is the cruise ship followed us close behind the small boat so why take it if the ship will follow, when we got back on the the ship and to our balcony we took pictures of the icebergs and they were better because of the height of the ship, i went down to the tour desk to ask about this and the line was around the corner with our tour people complaining about paying to get up close when the ship also gets up close. I would check before you spend $300 for this excursion.

You can blame global warming for not getting into Tracy Arm. We had the same problem last year.

The problem is that Tracy Arm has a narrow opening and when there are too many icebergs, they are not allowed to take a big cruise ship into it as they may get trapped and unable to exit. No reason to try if Endicott is so close by and has a large opening. It is for safety of the ship....

I got some great photos and video...of our ship in distance as we took the small boat all the way out and up into some small side channels that the Legend could not get into, so the whole thing was very worthwhile. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

Would LOVE to see pics of Endicott, do you have any to share??

Does anyone have pics of Endicott to share?

Thank you for posting your review!! I am on this ship July 25th and have registered for the Tracy Arm small boat excursion as well...I sure hope we are able to get in! At $189 a ticket I would be very disappointed :( do they make you take that Endicott small boat cruise or will they refund you if requested?? Also, do you by chance have any of the Fun Times papers ? Would love to see the activities etc lined up. Thank you!!

If you're going to be disappointed, then I would cancel. If they haven't gotten in over the past 14 months, I don't see it happening next month either.

I have pictures of Endicott in my review, it's in my signature. It was amazing! We saw wildlife, lots of ice calving, etc... it was really beautiful!

We too were on the May 8th sailing. The service the first night in the MDR was terrible. We opted to give it another go the next night and service did improve. Our waiter Arlan was very attentive and fun to talk to. We never were offered bar service the entire time we ate in the MDR. Before the cruise we had a feeling we would miss Tracy Arm and we did. Having never to been to Alaska we were still delighted to see Endicott Arm. This was the best vacation we ever had.