Carnival Legend, July 3-15, 2013: The Baltic Blowout

[nybumpkin]

I will include photos with this review, but I'm afraid they'll be thumbnails. I used to use Webshots to post photos in reviews, but they're gone and I haven't mastered the art of posting from another photo hosting site yet. I realize that Legend has only a couple of additional Baltic cruises to go, but I hope this review is helpful to readers who have the Baltic on their "bucket list," whether with Carnival or with another line. (There were lots of ships, including Royal Caribbean and Princess.) This was an unbelievable vacation - not the easiest or most relaxing, but a great experience. We sailed from Dover with port calls in Copenhagen, Warnemunde/Rostock, Helsinki, St. Petersburg (2 days), Tallinn, and Amsterdam.

 

About us: We started cruising 9 years ago; this was our 18th cruise. Up to now, our cruising experience was limited to NYC-Canada and varied Caribbean cruises. In June we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary – a day after our oldest son graduated from the US Merchant Marine Academy and was commissioned as an Ensign in the US Navy. We had hoped to bring him along for this cruise – the last time he sailed with us was 2009 (although he’s far outdistanced us in time at sea) – but the Navy had other ideas. We figured that this year we needed to do the “blowout” cruise – something completely different. We sailed with DH (52), me (53), and sons 17 and 13.

Pre-cruise: Booking the cruise was easy. Flights to London – well – not quite as easy. We spent more on the airfare than on the cruise. After looking around and checking various itineraries, it turned out that the best-priced flight for us was Albany (30 miles from our house)-Toronto-London on Air Canada. The Albany-Toronto leg was on a Beechcraft 1900 18-seat turboprop. You had both an aisle and a window seat. I can’t stand small planes, but somehow I managed it without drugs or alcohol. When we debarked in Toronto we saw our bags on the luggage cart, ready to be transferred to our London flight. With three hours to change planes, there was plenty of time. Or so we thought….

 

 

 

Well, when we arrived in London we had none of our bags. Zero, out of four checked bags. When DH reported them missing, Air Canada found that all four bags were still sitting in Toronto. It seems that when they were checked in Albany, they weren’t scanned properly so no one knew what to do with them in Toronto. (Never mind that the tags were clearly marked “transfer” and “LHR.”) At this point, it was early the next morning in London, we hadn’t had much sleep, and it was much hotter than normal in London. Fortunately, I’ve learned enough from past trips to pack a change of shirt and underwear in our carry-ons, so at least when we reached our hotel we could change. And Air Canada promised to deliver the bags either that night or early the next morning. We arrived in London on Saturday morning and weren’t due to travel to Dover until Tuesday, so it should work.

 

 

Our hotel was the Days Hotel near the Lambeth North Tube station. Nice hotel, decent restaurant. When we arrived before lunchtime, one of our two rooms was ready. We gratefully took the room and the boys promptly collapsed on the bed. (DH and I know better; you need to acclimate yourself to the time change, and the best way to do it is to stay up – essentially, “pull an all-nighter.” Haven’t done that in a long time.) We had pre-ordered London Pass tickets, which gave us access to a number of attractions as well as public transportation passes. We needed to pick them up at a stand near Trafalgar Square. DH and I figured we’d go collect the passes….

 

 

Not happening. This Saturday was a huge Gay Pride parade in Central London. When we left the Tube, we found that we couldn’t get to the stand to get our tickets. (If we had taken the Tube to Leister Square instead of Embankment, we would have been fine. Love that 20/20 hindsight.) Meanwhile, remember, it’s really warm outside. We’re in a huge crowd. And although we changed our clothes back at the hotel, we are still missing our luggage. Not a pretty picture.

[dulcimergirl]

Oh Boy, another great review. Keep it coming, starting out not so nice, no luggage, ouch. Hope it got better. Waiting on pins and needles for more.

[nybumpkin]

Okay, the thumbnails don't want to work either, so I'm posting links. Sorry they're not right in the review.:(

 

Ensign Dan and family

 

After dinner that night, we opted for a walking tour. We were very close to Lambeth Palace, so we walked over, through the gardens, across Lambeth Bridge, along the Embankment past Parliament, down to Cleopatra’s Needle, and then back across the river on the Millennium Bridge and along the South Bank back to our hotel. Of course, our luggage had not arrived when we got back to the hotel. At this point, the clothing supply is rather limited....

Lambeth Palace

Cleopatra's Needle

 

London Eye

Parliament

 

 

 

Sunday morning we finally picked up the London Passes, then headed over to the British Museum. Between our travels and our sons’ Social Studies teachers, our sons have a real appreciation for traveling and history – and youngest son wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, the Egyptian exhibit, and the Elgin Marbles. The Museum was unbelievably crowded, but we made it to all three. Lunch at a museum restaurant, then back to our hotel to find… one suitcase. Just one. Seems they put the other three on another van. Oh well, at least youngest son had clothes. Back out again, this time to Westminster Abbey for Evensong. Sons were horrified – going to church on vacation is not their idea of fun. However, they got to see the inside of a major Gothic cathedral, and the music for Evensong was wonderful. Dinner was a pub around the corner from our hotel – pizza for all, Fosters on tap for DH and me. When we returned from dinner, our remaining bags had arrived (YAY!)

 

 

Westminster Abbey

 

Boys and pizza at The Steam Engine

[nybumpkin]

Monday – We started the day with a visit to the Tower of London. DH and I have visited several times, but we were happy to introduce our sons to the Tower. When we entered, there was a tour to the battlements where the rooms had been re-created to show how they would have appeared in medieval times. We hadn’t seen that before, so it was all new for us! After the battlements, we bit the bullet and stood in line for the Crown Jewels. The line actually moved well, and it was worth the wait. It was much better than when I visited last in 1990! After that, we went to the White Tower, then lunch at one of the museum restaurants.

White Tower, Tower of London

Tower of London - Crown Jewels (they don't let you take pictures inside)

North face, Tower of London

Tower of London, Main Entrance

Battlements, Tower of London

 

 

Next up: Tower Bridge. This is a mechanical/civil engineer’s dream. The tour offers the views from the upper walkways (which never really caught on – the bridge openings were fast enough that people really didn’t want to be bothered climbing up to the walkways) followed by a tour of the engine rooms that powered the lift bridge.

Boys at Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge steam engines

 

 

 

After Tower Bridge, off to HMS Belfast. We’ve seen the Belfast moored in the river, but this was our first visit aboard. Great tour.

DS playing captain

HMS Belfast from Tower Bridge

 

 

Then back to our hotel - but not without a stop at Southwark Cathedral. There is a really nice yard with areas to sit and rest.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9395543393/lightbox/

Southwark Cathedral, East side

[Velvetwater]

Really looking forward to this review!

 

We are doing this cruise in 6 days :)

 

Hope your luggage turned up before the Legend did.

[nybumpkin]

We hired a driver to take us to Dover (with four people, it worked out about equal to either bus or train and we didn’t have to tote luggage around). We arrived in Dover before lunchtime, left our luggage at our B&B (Norman Guest House), then walked to the waterfront. Lunch was at Hythe Bay, right on the waterfront. I had a bowl of steamed mussels – freshly caught and really good. After that, up to Dover Castle. You could do this right before you board the ship in Dover, but we spent several hours here. Aside from the castle, which dates to Henry II, there is a tour of the tunnels under the castle – the site from which Operation Dynamo, the WWII evacuation from Dunkirk, was coordinated. When the evacuation started they figured they might be able to evacuate 40,000 troops. They ended up evacuating close to 338,000 troops. It’s an amazing tour – and it was great introduction for our sons to learn about the tremendous impact of WWII, a theme that would be repeated throughout our vacation. (My dad was a WWII vet and my great-uncle died in Italy in 1944.) Dinner that night was at The Allotment, a restaurant across from City Hall in Dover – really good. We introduced the boys to chocolate mousse, and now they’re hooked.

White Cliffs of Dover (no bluebirds;))

Roman Lighthouse at Dover Castle

Boys at Dover Castle - WWII installations

Dover Castle

Dover Castle - Church, lighthouse and gate

[nybumpkin]

Really looking forward to this review!

 

We are doing this cruise in 6 days :)

 

Hope your luggage turned up before the Legend did.

We were fortunate. There were 14 cabins on our cruise that sailed without luggage.:eek:

[Velvetwater]

Oh no! We are from the UK so the luggage thing will be easy.

 

It will be my first cruise and I cant wait!

 

Great review so far :)

[nybumpkin]

Finally, aboard Legend! Our B&B proprietor had reserved a taxi for us at 10:15 and we were at the port in about 5 minutes. Check-in was absolutely easy, we sat in Zone 1 for all of about 5 minutes, and we were aboard Legend by 10:45. Too early for a Funship Special – never had that happen before!

 

 

A word of explanation about this photo. Ships generally fly their house flag and the flag of the country in which they are docked from the main mast while in port. I make a practice of taking a photo of the main mast so I have a photo of each flag. On the port side is the Carnival house flag; on the starboard is the Union Jack. You will see a lot of similar photos in this review.:)

 

Panorama shot - White Cliffs from Lido Deck

Another White Cliffs shot

We sailed on Legend in 2006 out of NYC to the Caribbean, so we were prepared for “the urns.” Maybe the intervening seven years (and exposure to many more Farcus designs) have had an effect, but I liked the décor better this time. The Firebird Lounge is really nicely done, and I like the dining room with its china collection. And I could live with the urns. The Spirit-class ships have grown on me over the years.

 

 

Carnival Legend atrium

Our cabin was Ocean Suite 5293, while the boys were in inside 5291 across the hall. 5293 has the same size balcony as a Grand Suite, and we did use the balcony quite a bit even though this was a very port-intensive cruise. One word of warning for any balcony cabin on this itinerary: since sunset and sunrise aren’t that far apart, your cabin may not be as dark as you’re used to having. Make sure your drapes are pulled.

Balcony, 5293

 

 

Boat drill, early dining (table 172 lower level), then had boys registered for Circle C and Club O2. Then off to the Welcome Aboard show – with John Heald. As I’ve posted before, I have never booked a cruise because of a cruise director or avoided a cruise because of a cruise director. A good cruise director definitely adds to a cruise, though. I’ve followed John’s blog and FB page for a number of years, and figured I should see him in person. He did not disappoint. Yes, he did the “Dick Little” routine that I’ve heard about over the years. It was still funny, and my sons (who watched it on TV afterward) thought it was hilarious. More on John later.

[ExFed drvr]

Hey Kathy, thanks for the preview. We are arriving in London Aug.25 for our Sept. 1 cruise-(Norway) and have also bought London passes. Will await for the rest of your review...Dennis & Carolyn

[nybumpkin]

Hey Kathy, thanks for the preview. We are arriving in London Aug.25 for our Sept. 1 cruise-(Norway) and have also bought London passes. Will await for the rest of your review...Dennis & Carolyn

Working on it! Loved London.

[nybumpkin]

Thursday, July 4 – Fun Day at Sea. DH and I typically spend our sea days by having breakfast on the Lido deck (we always opt for a table by the pools, no matter the temperature – we just love being on deck) followed by cards and coffee on the Promenade deck. Usually I skip the port talks, having done my research ahead of time. However, I figured I’d attend this time – it’s just such a different itinerary, and I still hadn’t figured out what we should do in Helsinki. It really helped – John had great information about disembarking in St. Petersburg. And as for Helsinki – based on John’s talk, we booked the steam train excursion to Porvoo. And John’s talk was a lot of fun.

 

 

After the port talk, we went to the wine and food pairing at Golden Fleece, the steakhouse. We’ve done these before on other ships, and it’s interesting to see some of the combinations the sommelier tries. Nikolai was fun – he opened a Q&A session at the end of the presentation. After that, a brief lunch and then our Cruise Critic get-together in the piano bar. It was really great getting to know folks – some of whom we’d corresponded with for months, others who were more recent. Skipped the Captain’s Celebration and went straight to dinner. After dinner, we saw the show “Jazz Hot.”

 

 

Since we were sailing in Europe, there was not much in the way of US Independence Day observances. However, I saw a number of folks from the US dressed in their red white and blue.

[MrPete]

I will include photos with this review, but I'm afraid they'll be thumbnails. I used to use Webshots to post photos in reviews, but they're gone and I haven't mastered the art of posting from another photo hosting site yet.

 

Been waiting for this!

 

Photobucket is an easy alternative to Webshots/Smile.

 

I also think you can make a Facebook folder of pix public, if you don't mind having people know who you are. I looked at some of your shots, and am embarrassed to say I haven't looked at them all.

 

Or create a FB account with your Screenname.

[nodogkisses]

OMG! I was waiting and hoping you'd do a Baltic review. Your reviews are the best. Now I've got to go and start reading every word. Thanks.

[Captain Carnival]

So glad you guys got your luggage! We sailed on LEGEND in the Mediterranean in May and saw many folks who did not revive their luggage for several days; one woman wore the same "Hello Kitty" shirt for almost the entire cruise. :eek:

[nodogkisses]

Okay, I'm caught up and it's an excellent review as usual. Sorry to hear your oldest DS couldn't make this cruise with you, but he's off to a wonderful career and I'm sure you're so proud of his accomplishments. Photobucket pics are great. Subscribing now.

[nybumpkin]

We decided to do a walking tour on our own. The Little Mermaid is a short walk from the pier and since we went early, it wasn’t crowded. Then we walked up to St. Albans Church and the Kastellet (the star-shaped citadel near the waterfront), along the waterfront, went over to the palace and cathedral, and had tea/coffee at a café on the waterfront. It’s a really nice city.

 

 

 

 

Denmark Flag

 

 

The Little Mermaid

 

 

View from Kastellet

 

 

Friedrich V, Palace Square

 

 

Gefion Fountain

 

 

St. Albans Church

 

 

 

Kastellet Building

 

 

More Kastellet. I love the colors in this photo.

 

 

Marble Church

 

 

Panorama shot of Palace Square

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9395554509/lightbox/

Palace and Marble Church

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9395584523/lightbox/

Waterfront

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398341774/lightbox/

Copenhagen harbor

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398341950/lightbox/

Copenhagen Lighthouse

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398341264/lightbox/

Wind turbines

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398470676/lightbox/

And still more wind turbines

 

 

 

That night we sailed under the Oresund Bridge, which links Denmark and Sweden.

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398322454/lightbox/

Sailing under the bridge

[nybumpkin]

Been waiting for this!

 

Photobucket is an easy alternative to Webshots/Smile.

 

I also think you can make a Facebook folder of pix public, if you don't mind having people know who you are. I looked at some of your shots, and am embarrassed to say I haven't looked at them all.

 

Or create a FB account with your Screenname.

LOL - Between Doug and I, we took over 1400 photos! Doug only posted 244 of them.:eek: I ended up using Flickr since Doug already had a Yahoo account, but I think I'll try Photobucket.

[nybumpkin]

OMG! I was waiting and hoping you'd do a Baltic review. Your reviews are the best. Now I've got to go and start reading every word. Thanks.

Thank you! I'm just sorry I couldn't put the pictures right in the review.

[MrPete]

LOL - Between Doug and I, we took over 1400 photos! Doug only posted 244 of them.:eek: I ended up using Flickr since Doug already had a Yahoo account, but I think I'll try Photobucket.

 

I may have to friend Doug if I haven't already. Especially now that JH thinks he and I are friends! :D

[nybumpkin]

So glad you guys got your luggage! We sailed on LEGEND in the Mediterranean in May and saw many folks who did not revive their luggage for several days; one woman wore the same "Hello Kitty" shirt for almost the entire cruise. :eek:

Ouch.:( I'm glad we gave ourselves extra time before the cruise (although I was beginning to wonder whether our luggage would arrive before we left London for Dover!) Thanks for reading.

[ExFed drvr]

WE are wondering about getting money for these countries. Do most countries accept Euros and British pounds(London,scotland,Ireland)...We have an ATM card that works in Europe with no fees or exchange rate...Dennis

[nybumpkin]

We had decided not to go to Berlin – for four of us it would have been over $1200 (independent tours weren’t much less) and it would be a long day. I just wasn’t up for a long ride, then lots of driving around Berlin, then a long ride back. Instead, we looked at a tour offered by Alla Tours, with which we had already booked a St. Petersburg tour. We wanted Rostock and Schwerin; however, Alla advised that since we were docking in Rostock port, not Warnemunde, Schwerin was not a possibility given the train schedule. Instead, she recommended a Rostock city tour. It turned out to be a great choice. We were met by a guide who drove us over to a bus stop to meet our tour guide and the other tour passengers from Oceania’s Marina, also docked in Rostock. We took the bus to a train station, then took the train into Warnemunde. What a beautiful seaside resort. There was a festival the day we visited, and the town was packed with visitors.

 

 

 

German flag

 

 

 

Beach at Warnemunde

 

 

Warnemunde river

 

 

Warnemunde riverfront. The bridge is opened by hand.

 

 

Warnemunde lighthouse

 

 

Summer houses, Warnemunde

 

 

Summer houses, Warnemunde. The man in the center is our guide, Tobias. He was very good - very knowledgeable and very funny.

 

 

More summer houses. Tobias explained that property taxes were based on the width of the house and that's why they're so narrow.

 

 

After that, we boarded the train again to go into Rostock, then a tram to the city center. A very nice city – we did a walking tour followed by some free time (we went to the Museum of Cultural History, formerly the Abbey of the Holy Cross). From there we went to lunch at a local café (really good schnitzel), then over to St. Mary’s Church with its amazing astronomical clock, built in 1472.

 

 

St. Mary's Church

 

 

Rostock city center. What's amazing is to know that during WWII, Rostock was heavily damaged by Allied bombings (it was home to the Heinkel aircraft manufacturing factory). After the war, the city was rebuilt with its historic character.

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398346894/lightbox/

Astronomical clock, St. Mary's Church

 

 

 

From there, back to the ship. (Shh – We tagged along on Marina’s shuttle from Rostock back to the port. No one seemed to care. However, seeing as we traveled with two teenage boys, and kids are few and far between on Oceania cruises, we probably should have been a dead giveaway as tagalongs.:p)

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398314262/lightbox/

Rostock port

 

 

Dinner that night on the ship was open seating, since most folks were still out touring. After dinner, the “German Oom-pah Band” (Diech Tirolero) performed on Lido deck, complete with a German buffet (really good sausage) and German beer on tap. A lot of fun – but you could tell people were tired. By 10:30, after Diech Tirolero finished performing, a lot of folks turned in for the night.

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxted/9398336470/lightbox/

Deck party in Germany

[nybumpkin]

WE are wondering about getting money for these countries. Do most countries accept Euros and British pounds(London,scotland,Ireland)...We have an ATM card that works in Europe with no fees or exchange rate...Dennis

Dennis - Before we left, we took out about $200 each in Euros and British pounds. The airport in Albany has an exchange, so Doug went over one afternoon before we left to get the Pounds and Euros. The Euros worked just fine in countries that are not on the Euro (Denmark and Russia in our case - in fact, Russia took US Dollars as well). We also used an ATM in London with no problem. We also had no problem with our credit card - it worked fine everywhere we went. We did call Bank of America ahead of time to let them know we were traveling so we wouldn't be flagged as a potential fraud case. They asked us for our travel dates and the ports we would be visiting.

[nybumpkin]

Coffee and cards on Promenade deck and John’s port talk for Tallinn and Amsterdam. (Loved his warning about the “coffee houses” in Amsterdam!) Another visit to the Golden Fleece for a wine and food pairing. In the afternoon, while I was out exploring the ship, we received a surprise phone call: John Heald himself. Seems a FB friend sent a note to John to let him know we were sailing, and John called us. DH had a great time talking to him – he’s just a really nice person. That night he hosted “Cigars under the White Nights” on the Lido deck with the orchestra playing jazz (what a great orchestra – I truly wish Carnival would go back to full ensembles) and I had a chance to talk to John in person and thank him for the champagne/strawberries he sent. (Okay, the 13 YO made a major dent in the strawberries. He declared John to be the best cruise director ever!) John mentioned how much he loves having a full orchestra on ships – I hope “the beards” get the message and bring back the ship orchestras on other sailings.