Legend review 4/4/05 sailing

[LuvscoutII]

(This is a long review) My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this cruise. It's the first cruise we've been on together.

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale the day before and stayed in a little place near the beach called La Casa Del Mar. It was quaint and adequate. There was no shuttle to the pier but we had a car rental anyway and simply took the shuttle Budget offered when we dropped off the car near the pier. The line to go through security wasn't too long. I think total time going through security, waiting to get on and until we were on the ship it was just over an hour. We had booked an 8a guarantee and found out at the pier that our cabin was 8237 which was a 9a category.

I was impressed with the ships decor and layout. Our cabin was aft, starboard side and right by the elevators/stairs on the Panorama deck. It was great to be right by the Unicorn Cafe. If I go on this ship again I'd probably try and book that room again. 9a category was perfect size with just enough room that my husband and I could spread out and easily have some meals inside the room and lounge. The only downside is it's right below the lido deck kitchen and I only noticed once or twice any sound from above so it wasn't a big downside. We used the balcony frequently with coffee in the mornings or breakfast outside and sometimes lunches. If you hit the Lido deck at the wrong time it was just so crowded.

There wasn't a place on the ship that I didn't like. I really only made use of the aft Lido deck pool which was adults only as there seemed to be more chairs available and it was close for me. I didn't notice a lot of saved chairs. The sun deck also had plenty of chairs available and wasn't usually crowded. I was a bit disappointed that the spa was so pricey. It's not worth spending the money on the boat. A day spa is a day spa is a day so either do something on a port or save your money and spend it at home on a day spa. They really tried to sell something if you did the tour the fist day. The steam room and sauna's are available for anyone but it might be intimidating because you have to go through the salon area to get to it or else you could get to it from the gym side if you didn't want to use a locker. It was empty when I went to it. They had quite a few different classes and seminars on health and weight loss you could participate in. I went to a few yoga classes which were extra ($10 a class) and I think at most there were a total of 7 people in it and most of the time it was a different group of people each time.

The food was great. We had the late seating. If we didn't like something they brought something else out but there wasn't anything we didn't like. My husband liked some of the stuff quite a bit and ordered a second of something. I liked our wait staff a lady named Lina and her assistant Aldo, but I think she had a lot of people engaging her in converstaions at the other tables because it was a little slow in service every night we were there but two. Most nights we didn't get out of there until around 10:15pm. It was ok with us because we weren't in a hurry. One night we tried the supper club and it was great food. That night was my favorite dessert. There didn't seem to be too many people eating there. The way it came across sometimes on some posts was get your reservation in as soon as you get on otherwise you'll miss out and we didn't find that to be the case for this sailing. The Lido deck food was always good and had the usual assortment. I wished they had sashimi in there sushi selections but it was usually just a roll and very little fish. We found the sundae bar the last full sea day out but I'm sure it was out before.

The shows were ok but I didn't think they were spectacular. Coming from Reno we have those types of shows all the time so perhaps I'm a bit jaded. I really thought the second show was the worst. One of the female stars actually said at one point she forgot her lines and started laughing. They were having some problems at that one. We left before the end of it. We didn't have enough energy to stay up and watch any of the comics.

While there were activities planned throughout the days I wasn't overwhelmed with the amount of activities and I just had the impression that there would be so much going on we wouldn't know what to choose. In a way it was nice since it did leave me some sunning time. I thought the CD was pretty engaging and bubbly. I don't think I ever saw him around the ship but his staff was all over and they were entertaining.

For the ports on Belize we did the zip-lining through the cruise and it was great. The ride out there wasn't all that scenic or nice but it was a lot of fun. It was about 6 platforms and 2 rappels. In Costa Rica we did a tour with Oscar Brown (rather his associate) and did the zip-lining at Almonds and Corals. I think that one was my favorite just because it was longer and truly going through the canopy tree tops (Belize was more mountainous). It was 11 platforms. The outfit in Costa Rica has been doing it longer than Belize so some of the equipment was a few years old but we still felt safe. We saw a sloth and a couple monkey's while we were there. Due to drizzily weather we only stopped at a banana plantation briefly on the tour out there. I thought the city portion of the tour was longer than it needed to be, but it was interesting. For Panama we had arranged to rent a car right at the Colon shopping center and had appointments for spa services at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. The taxi/tour guides outside the shopping center really swoop down and constantly harrass you to have them be a guide. You just have to be firm and keep telling them no. Eventually they left us alone. I did not like Colon too much as it's one of the poorer cities in Panama and if those that didn't venture beyond Colon only saw that about Panama they probably wouldn't want to go back. As soon as we left Colon we were on the main highway that heads towards Panama City and we had no problems. The resort is about 3/4 the way to Panama City so just over an hour and it's in a national park. It's a beautiful place and the spa services were worldclass and very inexpensive. We each did a treatment and massage and for 1:45 minutes each it was 100.00 per person. I would love to go back and stay at that resort for a land vacation one of these days. We made it back with 30 minutes to spare and did some shopping at the mall there and waited in line to get back on the boat. My least favorite port was Belize and it was probably just the area that we saw that turned me off to it, but it also wasn't as lush and tropical where we went.

Some of the things I really enjoyed on the ship were the guest talent show, tea time, spending time on the deck relaxing in the sun, dinners, the Supper Club, our stateroom balcony and for that matter our stateroom, wandering around the ship and finding little used areas (like the enchanted forest), and the ship itself. All in all it was a great cruise for us.

[judyf]

Nice review brought back memories of my cruise a few weeks ago. I also loved the adult only pool area.

[joyceyw]

LuvscoutII - Thanks for the review. I have a question: Was your balcony completely covered?

[Cruising89143]

Nice review. Thanks for posting. I enjoyed my cruise on the Legend several years ago. I agree with the guest talent show. They usually have some really good singers.

[Jdleong]

Great review, what nights are the formal nights?

[LuvscoutII]

JoyceYW: Yes, the balcony was completely covered.

 

Jdleong: It was the first full sea day and the second to last full sea day (so we left port on Monday and the first one was Tuesday and we disembarked the following Tuesday and the second one was Sunday night).

[joyceyw]

JoyceYW: Yes, the balcony was completely covered.

 

Jdleong: It was the first full sea day and the second to last full sea day (so we left port on Monday and the first one was Tuesday and we disembarked the following Tuesday and the second one was Sunday night).

 

 

LuvscoutII - Thanks so much for answering my question. I feel so much better about my cabin now. Although we have a Cat. 11, so I'll assume it is covered as well.