NOOB LEGEND (wait for it) -ary Trans Atlantic Review

This is a wee bit late, but I have been inspired to write after reading a Caribbean Review by pghsteelerfan . Kudos to her!

Carnival Legend Trans Atlantic April 7-22, 2013

They told us we were crazy. Couldn't believe we would do it. Hoped we would enjoy it. Some wondered if we would get bored.

'We' are John (JohnTRN on CC) and my wife, Jody. What was it we had done? We were cruising NOOB’s and decided to take a two week Trans-Atlantic cruise for our very first cruise. Ever. It didn't start out that way. We wanted to go someplace warm; a Caribbean Cruise would do nicely and we found one with ports that were attractive. After booking, my brother suggested that we look into a re-positioning cruise through the Panama Canal or a Trans-Atlantic, which often can be had for similar prices. Contacted our travel agent and she found that we could get this TA for the same cost as the Caribbean we were planning on booking. Lot’s of planning ensued, but it all came together.

I have to give a very warm thanks to all the great people I met on Cruise Critics Roll Call for this trip. They put up with a LOT of first timer questions and gave me a valuable education. We also found some nicely done YouTube Legend Walk Throughs that went a long ways towards learning our way around. We got on board this ship already familiar with the layout, had a general idea of how things worked and had a good time with new friends during our voyage.

So, keeping in mind that we are first time cruisers, hope to share some thoughts of value to other first time cruisers and took over 2000 pictures, settle in and bear with me . . .

April 6

Fly St. Louis, MO to Dallas-Fort Worth and on to Tampa. Flights went without a hitch and we landed Tampa as scheduled.

(We crossed the contrail of another aircraft. Pretty cool!)

An easy taxi ride took us from the airport to the Downtown Marriott Courtyard for our overnight stay. We like to explore and walk, so it was not long after we got checked in that we were off. Tampa has a great downtown area to walk.

(Downtown Marriott Courtyard)

(Downtown Tampa)

Food is always a priority, so we walked to the ‘Jerk Hut Downtown Café’ on E. Twiggs Street. Found several things to try and were not disappointed. We’d go there again!

(Jerk Hut Downtown Cafe)

We wanted to take advantage of carrying on a bottle of wine apiece, so we wandered over to ‘The Hub’ on North Franklin Street. You walk into your basic, seedy bar, and the barkeep takes you to the small package liquor store that adjoins. We found a couple of 750ml bottles of Chianti and we were set. Back to the Courtyard to drop off our purchases and some more wandering. Went toward downtown, crossed the Miami River, wandered through the park adjoining the University of Miami, along the river through the campus and back up to the Courtyard.

(We found this gorgeous Packard in the park, waiting on a wedding party)

Changed for dinner and walked to a pizza place we had seen near ‘Jerk Hut’. We wandered back toward the Courtyard, but ended up over at Curtis Hixon Park where a big food and music festival was going on.

(Music Festival with Downtown Tampa in the background)

We just sat outside and enjoyed the music and walked along the river before calling it a night.

(Sunset along the river)

April 7

We had breakfast in Courtyard’s restaurant and got packed up. Incidentally, this hotel has some of the most pleasant staff I have ever met. Kudos to Marriott!

Not being able to stand it any longer, we left the hotel around 1130 for the short ride on the courtesy shuttle to the port. As we came around a corner, we got the first view of our home for the next two weeks. Awesome!

(Carnival Legend from the shuttle)

We were dropped off in the circular drive area adjacent to the terminal, where we ran into a couple who had just finished their cruise on the Legend. We enjoyed talking to them for a while and heard very positive comments about the ship, the staff and their trip. We also received a recommendation for ‘Rodriguez’ in the Your Time Dining Area. What a nice way to start the trip.

A porter with a trolley came up to us as we were trying to figure out what to do next, took our luggage and directed us to the entrance doors of the terminal. With check-in, onboard expenses and tickets taken care of on-line, we breezed through the registration process, received our Sign and Sail Cards and headed to the lobby, boarding passes in hand, to wait for our group to be called. As luck would have it, a random choice of seating landed us right in the middle of multiple couples from our Roll Call. Who’d a thunk it?! Introductions were made all around, conversations going every which way; very nice to put people to those on-line names. After that, it wasn’t long before boarding started.

(Carnival Legend from the Port Circular Drive)

(NOOB Hint - your ticket shows a check-in time. You can show up earlier, got through the boarding process and had lunch on board)

Ok I'm all ready to hear of your grand adventure :D Legend was our first ship too :p . Now do a great job, because I am expecting another great review after our cruise :p

(NOOB Hint - arrive a day early and de-stress the start of your cruise. You have time to tour the city you are departing from, can take your time getting to port the next day and, worse comes to worse, you have buffer time in the event of weather or maintenance delays!)

(A view of the legend from the embarkation area of Tampa Port Terminal 2)

Walking on board, wait, proper terminology, embarking, was awesome! Remember, NOOB’s here. It was hard to believe that we were leaving land and walking onto a ship. We could have been in a very nice office building lobby instead of getting ready to take to the seas. The decor is something an individual is free to hate or love. While not the way our home will every look, it was amazing to see all the detail and care taken in decorating. The theme of Legends is found everywhere in the ship and sometimes in neat little, unexpected ways.

(We're on board!!!!!!!)

(Whatta Lobby!)

Knowing we would not have access to our room till sometime later, we started wandering the ship just to nose around and get the ‘lay of the land’. Personally, I wanted to see every part of the ship before we got off and probably came close to seeing most of the public areas.

We wandered aft on the Main Deck and got to Truffles Restaurant. Tables are set and ready to go. Jody loved the place settings.

Since we were carrying our 'Carry Ons' around with us, we decided to take a chance on being able to get into our cabin and drop off anything we didn't have to lug around with us. We stayed in Cabin 8-262, which I will review in depth a little later. Remind me if I forget! We found our Steward, Domingo in the room and were welcomed with a warm smile and told 'of course we could drop things off in the room!'. We also found a very nice cake from Bon Voyage waiting for us. (We had told Carnival that this was an anniversary cruise and our FIRST cruise and were very impressed that they sent us a nice cake to Celebrate. We somehow missed the card underneath it, never saw it again and would find out months later that my brother and his wife had sent it to us!).

Subscribing! Better late than never =) Going on the Legend in 26 more days woohoo!

Hey there! :)

You're doing one!!! :) I'm following and love what you have so far and you're pictures are great. I am looking forward to the rest. I saw the first line and thank you, but I have to admit, I was doing more arm twisting than inspiring. LOL!!!

Can't wait to read more!

(You will find your Cabin Steward's name on the wall of your cabin)

I might as well review our cabin while I’m here. 8-262 is Port Side (that’s the left side of the ship to you and me! By the way, don’t call it a boat. The difference? Basically, you can put a boat on a ship, but not a ship on a boat) and about as far Aft as you can get. I’ll have an exterior view somewhere on down the line. We had NO idea how varied the cabins can be until we did a ‘Cabin Crawl’ with our Cruise Critics Friends. Wow! Do it, if you get the chance. This was one of the many activities that we organized for our many sea days.

8-262 is located just under the Serenity Deck. This was of minor concern, due to the possibility of deck chairs being dragged around on the deck above us. As it turned out, we were mostly under the hammocks, though I did hear deck chairs being re-positioned around O’Dark-thirty a couple of times and really heard it on our one ‘rough’ night, when they moved everything centrally on the Serenity Deck; I guess to keep things from blowing over the rails in the 50 Knot winds!) We could hear some minor rumble from the engines that was not objectionable at all; however on our rough night, the Azipods were really grumbling. That didn't really bother me either. Truth be told, we got more noise from our neighbors slamming the door to the balcony as the came in and out, than we did from anything else.

(NOOB Hint – balcony and corridor doors will close and latch securely without being slammed shut and it’s just plain considerate to your neighbors)

(8-262 is pretty much under these Port Side hammocks on the Serenity Deck)

The buffets are located on Deck 9, so it was a quick walk up the stairs for coffee or a meal. The elevator is just around the corner, but the only time we used them, were when Jody was in heels for elegant night. Made for some good stair climbing to meals, otherwise.

As you come in the room, there are two, spacious, wardrobes located to your right. They are ‘configurable’. The first one had two hanging rods and the second, while it had a hanging rod, had four shelves. I’m sure your steward would accommodate you by reconfiguring to suit. We had plenty of storage space in the cabin, which I’ll get to that as I go along.

The bathroom is on the left, behind the cabin door and is very well set up. Not a HUGE room, but very usable. Nice corner shelve areas on each side of the mirror and more, open, storage space under the sink/counter. You’ll find a basket of ‘travel size’, complimentary items on the countertop. I remember Arm & Hammer toothpaste (which I would like to find in the travel size in the store) Breathe Right Nasal Strips, probably a shower cap and a couple other items. There are pump dispensers of body wash and shampoo on the shower wall, which I was very happy to use the entire trip.

(There's a 'complimentary' set of shelves on the right side as well)

As you come further into the room there is a desk/sitting area, to your right and adjacent to the wardrobes. There is lighting down both side of the mirror and one, count it, one outlet, under the mirror. When I say one, I seriously mean one 110V outlet. For the entire cabin. Not a double 110V outlet like in your house. It is a ‘double’ outlet in that it has one 110V and one 220V outlet as part of it. There are no outlets anywhere else in the main cabin area.

(Your SINGLE Main Cabin Outlet!)

(NOOB Hint – bring a small power strip with a short cord. You can plug in a clock, sound machine, night light, phone and camera chargers, etc. and Jody was able to use her hair implements of death and destruction without unplugging anything.)

(NOOB Hint – the ‘shaver’ outlet above the mirror, in the bathroom, turns off when you turn the bathroom lights out!)

Just beyond this is a cabinet with a mini-fridge at floor lever, an open area for wine glasses on the desktop, a vault behind closing doors and a ledge above that that holds a flat screen TV. How do they keep those TV’s on the shelves in rough weather?! You can use any credit card type card, with a magnetic strip, to lock your safe and reopen it. You will be told not to use your room key – because if you use that, anyone with a room key could open the safe and I’m sure the stewards don’t want that hanging over their heads. We just used a credit card that we made sure to always carry with us. I’ll share a little something else about the vault later.

(NOOB Hint – don’t lock the credit card in the safe that you use to set up the lock!)

There is more mirror and a narrow bit of desktop beyond this cabinet.

On the left side of the room as you pass the bathroom is a small round table and the couch, with two large drawers underneath. In this cabin, the couch would have folded out to a double size bed. Some cabins have a ‘Pullman Berth’ that comes down from the ceiling here.

With no plans to consume any of the NOT complimentary items in the fridge, we had asked Domingo to empty it so we could use it for personal items. The soda, booze, etc. that was emptied ended up in one of the drawers under the couch. If you were in dire need of space and had the fridge emptied, I’m sure your steward would remove those items for you. The other drawer held extra bed linens.

On the far left, is the bed/s. The beds are twins, so can be set up as separate beds or one large bed. We opted for one large bed, which also gives you a bit more floor space. I think we slept comfortably on this combined setup and did not feel any seam in the middle. There are small nightstand/cabinets on each side of the bed, each held a light that was switchable at the base. There is a light switch on the wall/head of the bed. If I remember correctly, that turned on a wall sconce on the other side of the cabin. No outlets. Remember, just one outlet in the entire main cabin.

When you enter your cabin the first day, there is a big brown mat, with ‘Luggage Mat’ printed on it. Gives you a place to put your luggage for unloading and not get your linens dirty.

At the far end of the cabin are a set of ‘blackout curtains’, the French Door onto the balcony and the tidy (read small, grin) balcony with two chairs and a table. One of the chairs had an adjustable back, but they were not loungers.

We enjoyed coffee on our balcony most days of the trip, although, there were a few cold mornings and one rainy day on this trip. Also, seems like most of our ‘Port Days’ the ship was docked on the Port Side. Watching the ‘Dock Runners’ makes for good entertainment; and we had them for at least the first three ports! Spray was never a problem when we were sitting out and we had some fantastic sunsets and sunrises.

OK. Gotta go write some more. Are your eyes melting yet? :D

Ok I'm all ready to hear of your grand adventure :D Legend was our first ship too :p . Now do a great job, because I am expecting another great review after our cruise :p

After you read this 'missive' you may change your mind! :p

John

Subscribing! Better late than never =) Going on the Legend in 26 more days woohoo!

I'll try to get this done in the next 26 days then! You will enjoy the Legend. Now, keeping in mind, my first cruise ever, we thought the ship had a nice layout. As non-smokers, the one thing we really did not like was having to walk through the casino to get to so many places forward. We would detour up or down to avoid it when we remembered.

John

Hey there! :)

 

You're doing one!!! :) I'm following and love what you have so far and you're pictures are great. I am looking forward to the rest. I saw the first line and thank you, but I have to admit, I was doing more arm twisting than inspiring. LOL!!!

You remember that when your eyes are bleeding from reading this thing!!! :p

I left Jody's notes about what we did each day at home, so I may have hit a stopping spot for the day. Oh, wait, I can probably look at pictures and figure some of it out!

John

Hey john.....loving your review!! You are certainly bringing back fond memories!!

Barb

Hey john.....loving your review!! You are certainly bringing back fond memories!!

 

Barb

And there is another of my CC Legend Roll Call Friends! :)

I've done lots of smiling as I write and look at pictures. Almost like being back there again. There's just never another 'first' is there?

John

We continued our explorations of the ship by exploring the Serenity Deck, walking up to deck 10 to look down on the center pool area, up to the mini-golf area, down to the Steakhouse and checked out the lobby and glass elevators. Neat!. Maybe not exactly in that order, but that’s how it’s getting written now! When you look at the forward portion of the funnel, you will see what looks like slanted red skylights. That’s exactly what they are and are directly above the steakhouse. We meant to play mini-golf and never got around to it! I also meant to go down the waterslide, but the pools were a bit cool on our trip and I just ended up busy having fun and relaxing.

(Serenity Deck looking forward)

This was our favorite place to hang out, when we were outside. Serenity Deck is adults only. Never had a problem with children in this area on our cruise. Funny facts: Average Age on our Cruise - 65. Number of people under the age of 21? About 21. Serenity Deck was ALWAYS packed! We ran out of Raisin Bran on the cruise.

(Serenity Deck Hot Tub and tiny pool)

(Steakhouse)

(Forward part of the funnel)

(Steakhouse Glass Staircase)

(Main/Mid-ships Pool)

(We had our first drink on the Serenity Deck)

(Miniature Golf on Deck 11)

(Main Lobby Mural)

We wended our way back down to Deck Nine to browse the buffet for lunch. (HAH! Everything I’ve written has been about our first hour or so on board! I tried to tell you . . .) Who should we run into buy Kelani and her husband eating lunch. I recognized them from the picture she posted on the area one of our CC friends set up on *************.com. I think she was shocked that I recognized her as we were just casually passing by. We formed something of a friendship on the Legend Roll Call and she and her husband became very special to us. Nice folks!

We found some lunch ourselves and eventually ended up on the Serenity Deck for our CC Meet and Greet. Unfortunately, it started at 4PM and it seems like the Muster was scheduled for 4.30 or 5PM. Cut into the M & G. We got down there and found some folks milling around, but not everyone seemed to be on the same schedule.

I left my drink with Jody, who was chatting with some of our new friends and walked around to get some shots of the Port action. I really like seeing how ‘things are done’ and seeing the ship get loaded was amazing!

All of those square pallets are stacks of soda, that are probably six feet high. There were huge palatalized baskets of fruits and vegetables too.

In case you wonder why it might take a while to get YOUR luggage to your room . . .

And they've already been loading luggage for a while!

They finally got the ship together for the muster and all hit our stations. We learned how to put our life jackets on and were told about out lifeboats.

(NOOB Hint – arrive at the outside portion of the muster ‘fashionably late’. Us eager beavers got to be against the back wall, shoulder to shoulder with fellow cruisers and four or five deep in front of us. It was already a warmish day and there was not much of a breeze back there!)

(NOOB Hint – don’t try to skip the muster. Just don’t. I believe the stewards, as part of their job, go through the cabins to make sure folks are not hiding out.)

After the muster we went up Deck Nine to watch us leave port late.

(But NCL got out ahead of us!)

(We pulled out about a half hour late. John Heald told us it was because it took so long to load all of the prunes required for the trip . . .)

(Good-bye Downtown Tampa)

(WE'RE CRUISING!!!)

(I bet this piece of property cost a pretty penny!)

(Our first 'Wake' picture)

Thanks for posting. We are on the Legend next week.

After that we wandered up to Deck 10 Forward to watch the sunset and the ship sail out of Tampa and under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. You would swear the ship’s funnel is going to scrape the underside of the bridge as it passes. The picture I took that makes it look like it squeaks by with just inches came out blurry.

(Could not have asked for nicer weather for the first day of our first cruise)

(Coming up on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as the sun sets)

(We get a pelican escort)

(Sunshine Skyway Bridge)

(Past the bridge)

(I had my phone GPS up and going - 28 KPH = about 17 MPH or 15 KPH)

Dinner the first night is open seating and your selection of time and place. We had ‘Anytime’ dining and would be seating for dinner in the upper dining room. The lower dining room is for folks that have elected ‘Early’ or ‘Late’ dining.

Dinner, as every meal we had, was delicious. We enjoy dining and trying different foods and that opportunity was present on the dining menu. Every night has a ‘recurring’ menu on the left side of the menu and new selections on the right side of the menu. Try the ‘Melting Chocolate Cake’ at least once if you are any kind of chocoholic at all. Oh, My God! It’s delicious and about a million calories. OK, maybe closer to 500, with a third of them from fat, but it was worth it. Well, yes, we may have had it one more than one night, why do you ask? We did the stairs to go everywhere! OK!? I have the recipe from our Chef's Table Night and will post that along with the Food Porn I remembered to get.

Oh, and if you like Creme Brulee, order it when you see it on the menu. You won’t see it again!

(NOOB Hint – if you want to try three of the same entrées, ask for it. You’ll get it. If you want to try two or three different appetizers, order them. If you want two of the same appetizer, order it. If you want the appetizer as your main meal, order it that way. Get my drift. Eat it the way you want it. Your table stewards will do their absolute best to accommodate you. More on this later. Sigh.)

(NOOB Hint - If there is something you REALLY like and would like to have again, ask. You may not get it that night, but may be able to get it another night. )

With bellies so full of dinner and desert, we had to take a couple of spins on the main deck walk outside. You can’t walk all the way around outside, but you can start far forward, head aft, around the stern (be sure to make face at the people still eating as you pass the dining room), make your way back as far forward as you can go, cross through the doors to the other side. Repeat as often as desired. There’s nothing like sea air!

Well, I THINK that's the end of our first day at sea. I'm going to have to look at Jody's notes to see if we went to a show that night. I just don't remember right now. More later and another beautiful day tomorrow, starting with the sunrise from our balcony.

John

Thanks for posting. We are on the Legend next week.

You're most welcome! I'll try to get some more up before you go. Have to refer to my wife's notes now, so I don't forget things . . . :o

John

I should have posted our itinerary for the trip up front . . .

Carnival Legend 15 Day Transatlantic 7th April 2013 Tampa – Bermuda – Ponta Delgada – Palma De Mallorca- Barcelona

Day Port of Call Arrival Time Depart Time

Sun Tampa, FL 4:00 PM

Mon Fun Day At Sea

Tue Fun Day At Sea

Wed Fun Day At Sea

Thu King’S Wharf, Bermuda 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

Fri Fun Day At Sea

Sat Fun Day At Sea

Sun Fun Day At Sea

Mon Fun Day At Sea

Tue Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Wed Fun Day At Sea

Thu Fun Day At Sea

Fri Malaga, Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Sat Fun Day At Sea

Sun Palma De Mallorca, Spain 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Mon Barcelona, Spain 8:00 AM

And for us:

Mon Explore Barcelona / Ana's Bed & Breakfast

Tues La Diada de Sant Jordi, "The Day of Lovers," in Barcelona / Ana's B&B

Wed Head for home, eventually, thank you, Sequestration

OK. Jody just sent me a picture of her diary. Here's the rest of Day One. :D

We had dinner in Truffles around 8-8.30P with Karen and Robert. Watching that sunset got us running late!

After dinner we walked through the ship, hit the casino to get our Sign & Sail Card punched and get a lanyard/clip for the card. That was followed by the John Heil Show, who was hilarious. We got back to our cabin after 10.30P and finally got unpacked. After getting everything squared away, we got to bed 1.00A. LONG day.

John