Carnival Legend Review 9/30 - 10/7

[afergvip]

This is my very first review on cruise critic so it may be a little long. I’m sure most of you don’t mind if you are anything like I was before my cruise you wanted all the information you could get and just couldn’t wait for another review to be posted…..so here goes:

To start, we booked this cruise back in January......so we have been anticipating this for a very long time. We have visited cruise critic almost daily since we booked reading reviews, etc. Needless to say, we are overly excited to be going on this much needed girls getaway vacation.

Saturday we flew down to Tampa. Stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown for 1 night. We had dinner & show reservations at Columbia's. Stopped in a bar called Elmer's. Had our photo's made with Bruce Allen who is the GM for the Red Skins. Pretty cool!! After dinner & show we turned in early because we were heading over to the port at 10:30 a.m. to check in.

Sunday off to the cruise ship at 10:30. We had VIP boarding since we were in a vista suite. We were on board and having lunch by 11:30. Our rooms were ready at 1:00 and what a treat that was. Checking out our suite for the first time was very exciting! We had cabin number 8268 and it was perfect for the 3 of us. The balcony was the best part of all!! After the muster drill we hit the sail away party for the electric slide. At 6:30 we went to check out the whale tale going under the bridge then off to dinner at the steak house. It is a must do!! Food was great! Well worth $35 per person.

Monday was a great day at sea. We ordered light breakfast and ate on our balcony, then we got ready and went up to the Serenity area for the day. I was up there by 8:30 am lots of available space but by 9:30 no space to be had for the first sea day. We stayed there until time for lunch then tried out the dining room for lunch then off to our CC meet and greet. We met some wonderful people to talk to and hang out with! Really enjoyed meeting all of them. We went back to the lido deck for a while then off to dinner later in the dining room. After dinner we went to Madusa’s Lair for 70’s night. Danced for a while then we turned in due to a big beach day in Cozumel the next day.

Tuesday we had an all inclusive beach day at Nachi Cocom. Can't say enough great things about this place as it was WONDERFUL!! Spent the morning out on the beach then for lunch moved up to the pool area where we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking and enjoying all the new friends we had made. We stayed at Nachi until around 3:30 when it was time to head back. We shopped a little bit in port then headed on back to the ship. We ate an early dinner right at 5:45 then went to our rooms and turned in as we had ate, drank and got entirely too much sun so once again by 8:00PM we retired to our wonderful balcony for a couple of hours of relaxation before calling it a night.

Wednesday it was Belize day!! Cave Tubing with VIV tours which was again totally awesome!! great day for sure. VIV Tours was great! The tubes were the best out there and our guides did an excellent job keeping us entertained and telling us all about Belize and what we saw in the Jungle. We made it back to port around 3:45 and got on the tender back to the ship. Once back on board we went straight to lido for a drink of the day, dancing for sail away and a burger to tide us over until dinner time. Went and sat on our balcony until everyone was ready for dinner. I cannot say enough great things about our vista suite balcony. 225 square feet of just awesomeness!! We were afraid we wouldn’t use it enough, but we used it every morning and every afternoon and night.

Thursday we chose to have a Spa Day in Roatan. It rained on us this day which was totally fine since we were at a spa. It was a quaint spa with cabana like cabins that we had our treatments in. Once our treatments were over their driver took us around to West End and West Bay Beach. It was a good day but not as fun as the others due to the weather. Roatan is a beautiful island very green and lush. I would love to go back and do a tour of the entire island with Victor Bodden. I guess just another reason to book this cruise again.

Friday was Grand Cayman. We chose Stingray Sailing and had a great time. We went out to the stingray sand bar and then a snorkel. I have had better snorkel but it was due to high winds and rough waters which was totally out of anyone’s control. It was once again a great day. When we left Grand Cayman about 15 or 20 minutes after sail away there were about 4 to 6 whales that decided to pay us a visit. The Captain caught a glimps of them and alerted everyone to the fact that there were whales on the bow of the ship so that everyone could enjoy seeing them. We had a great view from our balcony and watched them for probably at least 30 minutes. Got a great video of them jumping out of the water it was a very nice touch to what was already a great day!

Saturday our last day had finally rolled around much sooner than we had anticipated. We spent our morning out on the serenity deck just lounging by the pool. The afternoon we went to the dating game it was a lot of fun as a couple of our friends had been chosen to participate. One of them was chosen so we all hung out most of the day and that night we all went to dinner together, danced a while, hit the casino for the last time and just had a great last night at sea.

Sunday morning we were up at 6:30 and went to breakfast around 7ish. Since we were VIP we went down to the lounge specified for us and waiting until about 8:15 when we were walked off the ship for vip debarkation. Very easy and convenient. We had an early flight out at 11:30 and were at the airport before 9:30.

To sum up this trip in a nutshell it was one of the most relaxing fun vacations I have had in a very long time. We just went with the flow and didn't fall into the trap of having to feel like you had to do everything. We didn't see any of the shows, as we opted to sit on our balcony at night just relaxing and taking it all in. We were just very relaxed and only did what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it.

As far as the ports, we loved all of them and loved everything that we did in the ports. We were very happy with all that we chose to do and were not disappointed in any of them. I will definitely visit Nachi in Cozumel again and I would definitely choose Stingray Sailing again. Cave Tubing was great as well but I would probably choose a different excursion in Belize the next time I visit only because I would love to go out to the blue hole. I would also like to go stay for a few days in the Caymans. It was a beautiful place and I think I would like to spend more time on that island as well.

As far as the ship, we were very happy with that as well. Looked clean and very well maintained. We are not hard to please at all and thought it was a great ship with a great itinerary. I would not hesitate to book this ship again. It never felt crowded and we did not experience any long lines except we did learn early that if you go do dinner at 6 or 6:30 there is no line for the anytime dining but if you wait until 7 or 7:30 you will wait for about 15 minutes as this seemed to be the most popular dining time.

As far as our suite....AWESOME!! Loved, loved, loved our huge aft balcony and our room. We were afraid we wouldn't be in the room enough to enjoy it but as it turned out we really enjoyed spending mornings and late evenings just relaxing out on our balcony. I would book this room again in a split second. We did hear a little bit of deck noise early in the mornings but we were up early each morning anyway due to early shore excursions.

Food was good overall. The steakhouse was very good. We ate in the dining room 3 nights, steakhouse 1 night, then the buffet other nights. We also tried the dining room for breakfast one day and for lunch one day. The food was good and hot. Not cold as mentioned in previous reviews.

We had absolutely nothing to complain about on this trip. Good all the way around. I took over 500 photos but have no idea how to post them and I do see another review has started that will have photos so there is no need for overkill. If there is something you want to see or something you would like to know just let me know.

[ddbaab53]

Thanks for the great report as we will be on the ship in 5 weeks

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[kenrod]

Thank you for your review. Looking forward to our turn on the Legend next month.

[footballbabe3]

That is awesome I am really glad you had so much fund. We are sailing her in Jan. We booked a Cabbana in Roatan but wheredid you get the Spa information?

[smc0320]

thanks for posting! we were in 8268 in 2009.....we booked too late to get that same room this coming December.....it'll be hard not to have our aft-wrap Vista Suite but we'll do ok.

 

We also love to go with the flow...more relaxing to us that way!

 

Glad you had a great time!

[vivavegas]

Great review! Glad you had a good cruise! Thanks for sharing!:)

[Mrs. D ATL]

Thanks for the great report as we will be on the ship in 5 weeks

 

Hey ddbaab53 we are sailing on the same ship. There is going to be a pretty Atlanta representation on the Legend that week. See you there.

[davehaj]

My wife and I had this cabin the week before. She was in love with the balcony.

[afergvip]

That is awesome I am really glad you had so much fund. We are sailing her in Jan. We booked a Cabbana in Roatan but wheredid you get the Spa information?

 

Spa Baan Suerte. Just looked it up on trip advisor. Has great reviews. i received an 80 min. treatment for $80.00 plus transportation. It was very relaxing. I would recomend it for sure but you are only there for a few hours so if you do the spa you will not have much time for anything else.

[CruiseGirlyGirl]

Thank you for the review. Sounds like you had a blast. We are on the Legend 9 more weeks.... 12/09/2012!

[ddbaab53]

Hey ddbaab53 we are sailing on the same ship. There is going to be a pretty Atlanta representation on the Legend that week. See you there.

Have you been on the roll call on CC for our sailing? We hope to be driving down on Fri unless I find good air fair. Where is Atlanta are you from. We are out on Lake Oconee.

[Andoria]

Thanks for the review!