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

[mississauga]

Hey John, great start. So detailed and perfect for NOOB's with all your tips. Not a NOOB myself but enjoying your review just the same.

 

Love your pictures..so professional.

 

As the readers can tell from your photos, enjoying all the delicious food on board was not a problem for you and Jody. No need for you two tall and slim ones to sorry about calories...lol.

 

Enjoyed cruising with you both and maybe we'll meet up again on a future cruise.

 

In the meantime, back to your this wonderful review of yours.:D

[hancogran]

Fantastic review, John! We were also on this crossing and loved every minute of it. Can't wait to read more :) It brings back so many great memories.

[JohnTRN]

Fun Day at Sea!

 

Not nearly as many pictures today as the previous two pages. Getting up at 7.00A, we just missed the sunrise. I love sunrises and had thought about setting an alarm so I could catch it . . . However, that 1.00A bedtime argued otherwise.

 

We woke up to beautiful weather and a knocking at our door. We had put our room service card out last night for coffee this morning and it came pretty close to our requested time. We just weren't quite ready for our requested time.

 

 

(Our position this morning. West of Key West; north of Havana. Available 24 Hours a day on your TV)

 

(NOOB Hint – write down exactly what you want on your Room Service card. If you put ‘coffee and creamer’ you may get one coffee and one creamer. They do well with specifics. You can put a time down and they will be around sometime before, after or during that time.)

 

(NOOB Hint – Room Service is FREE. Have your entire breakfast, lunch and or dinner delivered to your room if you want. Not everything is available at all hours of the day. Be sure to tip your server a couple of dollars. Bring lots of singles for this purpose.)

 

We had one of our only sit-down breakfasts at Truffles this morning. We just had the hostess seat us at a table by a window. I could sit and watch the water all day long; the closer the better. Jody on the other hand does not care for that up close and personal touch and was very happy that we were up high, away from the water. We met new people and had a very enjoyable breakfast talking to our new neighbors.

 

 

 

That brings up something we experienced on this cruise, which I've been told is not common to most cruises. I already mentioned the average age on board being 65. It didn't matter if you were standing in line some place, seated next to a new group of people, or whatever . . . in general people were just nice to talk to. And, it wasn't just age. Just about anybody, of any age, ended up being interesting to talk to. I ‘complained’ about being in the back row of our Muster last night. But, you know what? I ended up talking at great length to the man standing by me. He was living in the U.S. (Tampa?) and was from Barcelona. He was meeting a group of people the day after the ship docked to give them a tour and invited us along. That was La Diada de Sant Jordi, "The Day of Lovers," Think Valentines Day on steroids. More on that later. We did not get a chance to meet up with them, but had a great time in Barcelona anyway.

 

I could easily have eaten breakfast at Truffles every day. Port days argued for a quick breakfast and we were generally up late on Fun Days at Sea. That ended up seeing us get up too late for breakfast. Buffet most days, then.

 

Which brings up something I’ve seen mentioned in multiple reviews. I think I can say, with some assurance, that Carnival does NOT serve powdered eggs for breakfast. I worked at a Summer Camp one year and we had the same complaint regularly. You see, when you make ‘scrambled eggs’ for large numbers of people, the mix is made up and poured into those giant rectangular steel pans they are also served in. They are then baked in the oven. After cooking, they get stirred up, to make them look like they have been scrambled. It’s not the same thing as scrambled and sure doesn’t look like it. It’s just how you cook for large volumes of people. More than once our head cook at Summer Camp brought his giant box of egg shells to the food pick up window, along with a threat to dump them on the head of the next kind that complained about powdered eggs!

[JohnTRN]

Hey John, great start. So detailed and perfect for NOOB's with all your tips. Not a NOOB myself but enjoying your review just the same.

 

Love your pictures..so professional.

 

As the readers can tell from your photos, enjoying all the delicious food on board was not a problem for you and Jody. No need for you two tall and slim ones to sorry about calories...lol.

 

Enjoyed cruising with you both and maybe we'll meet up again on a future cruise.

 

In the meantime, back to your this wonderful review of yours.:D

 

 

Hi Mary! Thanks for your kind words. I know I may not bring a lot new to experienced cruisers, but I know how much I got out of CC and especially our Roll Call. Not to mention the great people I got to be friends with. That was probably the best part; going on my first cruise with a bunch of friends I hadn't met yet! :D

 

We'd love to cruise with you and Serge (sp?) again sometime. I'm sure well cross wakes sometime!

 

John

[JohnTRN]

Fantastic review, John! We were also on this crossing and loved every minute of it. Can't wait to read more :) It brings back so many great memories.

 

I'd do that cruise again in a heartbeat! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Writing it has put a smile on my face all afternoon and evening. Maybe more so because of the delay and now reminiscing, than if I'd done it right afterward.

 

John

[JohnTRN]

After breakfast it was back to the cabin to change, sunscreen and gather up Kindles to relax a while on the Serenity Deck. We’d been eying those hammocks over our cabin and rather thought one had our name on it. Finding an empty chair, lounger or hammock was a real challenge. Ended up having to sit by the bar for a bit and wait for someone to vacate something. I think we finally ended up in chaise lounges next to the pool, but would get to enjoy the hammocks before the cruise end.

 

Lunch was quick and easy at the Buffet stations. Actually a fun place to eat, with all the various choices available. Two biggest challenges were finding a table near a window (everybody wanted on, go figure!) and finding a drink line with a working ice machine. Seems like one or another was always on the fritz. We are not big soda drinkers, so were happy with water or tea with most meals.

 

(NOOB Hint – whatever kind of drink you enjoy, you can bring limited quantities on board with you. We, each, brought a 750ml bottle of Chianti on board in our carry-on luggage. Security never said a thing about it or looked at it. You can also bring a small cooler of water or soda on board. I forget the quantities of beer and hard liquor you can bring on board.)

 

After lunch we took advantage of our balcony for a couple of hours to read and listen to the water go by. We’re spoiled and may not ever want anything but a balcony again. Looked at a Panama Canal cruise with Carnival and the ship had NO balconies – we were not sure we’d like that!

 

Our CC Roll Call group had organized an ‘Open Bar’ (good work, Kelani!) for this afternoon. We had a set price of something like $17.50 per person and all the alcohol you could drink. Not a bad deal. It went over great and a good time was had by all. LOTS of good visiting and conversation. It was supposed to run from 3.30P-5P. We were having such a good time, it was 6P before we cleared out!

 

From there it was back to our rooms to clean up and dress for our first Elegant Night. We also had another great sunset while we were getting ready.

 

 

 

Apparently one week cruises have two elegant nights and many were wondering if we would not have four, on our two week cruise. Nope; just two. Jody was happy to get an occasion to get dressed nice and see me in a suit! I wear a flight suit for work, so rarely dress up. Karen and Robert had open dining also, so we picked a time to meet for dinner and took whatever table came open near a window. Met more new people at dinner and had a good time visiting with them. Seems like one of the couples at our table was from Sweden.

 

Oh, and we ate well again. Almost seems like it was one of these nights that was the only one to feature Crème Brulee. For as much as I enjoy eating and trying things, you’d think that I would have at least written down what I ate, if not the whole menu. Busy, busy, busy. So many things to do, people to see and places to go!

 

Since we were dressed up, we stopped for a couple of pictures in different places. I think the picture Karen took with my camera was every bit as good as the one we ended up buying.

 

(Kelani's picture with my camera)

 

(The picture we paid for)

 

 

(Karen and Robert clean up alright!)

 

[JohnTRN]

(Our Towel Animal tonight - some people apparently kept each one and parked it on the cabinet.)

 

And this brings to a close our first 'Fun Day at Sea'. We stayed just busy enough to not be bored and relaxed as much as we wanted. There is a LOT going on, all day long, on the ship; just as much, or as little, as you want to do.

 

(NOOB Hint - check your Fun Times Religiously. You will find events going on all day long, special offers and very importantly, detailed information about ports when you have a stop. Might be a good idea to throw at least that part of the paper in your pocket, backpack or purse. It has emergency contact information for Carnival Agents in each port. You know, in case you're late and miss the ship! They aren't stopping for you, but will assist your travel to the next port.)

[mississauga]

 

 

(Kelani's picture with my camera)

 

(The picture we paid for)

 

 

(Karen and Robert clean up alright!)

 

 

 

Two very good looking couples!

[JohnTRN]

Day 3 – 9 April 2013

(Docked: Debarkation Pier is a finger pier to Port. Nassau is to Starboard)

 

 

 

Woke up today in time to get the sunrise. You know, the really nice thing about digital cameras? You can take shot after shot and then pick through for the nice ones. I'm posting several sunrise pictures, as it was hard culling them out 20 shots I took this morning.

 

 



 

 

We could see another ship coming into Nassau just ahead of us. Could not see it's name from our ship, but we ended up with four ships in port today. Carnival Legend, Carnival Sensation, what may have been Majesty of the Seas with a cool, circular restaurant up top and one other. I may see those names as I go through my pictures.

 

 

Ahhhhh, lovely Bahamian waters! I can enjoy this. The Atlantic Casino and Resort was visible from our balcony, off the Port-Bow. That would be a fun place to visit, but was not on our agenda for today. We went up to the buffet for breakfast as the ship was docking, went down to the cabin to get our things together and debarked.

 

(NOOB Hint – Debarkation may be from either the Port or the Starboard side; some ports you are tendered off the ship in small boats – tenders. So, depending on the facilities you may get off/on the ship on either side and a variety of levels. We boarded/embarked in Tampa on the Promenade-Deck 2. Quite a few ports we went several levels down to get on and off the ship. There will be announcements and you can always ask where to go.)

 

(NOOB Hint – I forgot this one above, when I was talking about beds. There is a lot of storage space underneath the beds. Put you empty suitcases there; nest them for even more room. You're not going to see them again until you pack to get off)

 

(NOOB Hint – Thirsty Frog Red Ale is a Carnival Private Label beer, brewed by Anheuser-Busch exclusively for Carnival that can be found on the Legend and many of the other ships. I found it to be quite good, comparable to Killian Red. You can get it by the bottle, or, cheaper by the bucket.)

 

(NOOB Hint – A little more detail about something I mentioned above. Take your Sign & Sail Card down to the casino. You will see someone with a bunch of lanyards around their neck and a hole puncher. They will punch a hole in your card and give you a coil lanyard and clip. Use it to hang your card around your neck, or remove coil and clip it to whatever. They prefer to do this for their gambling customers . . .)

[JohnTRN]

(Pilot Boat coming in ahead of us)

 

(NOOB Info - at each port, the ship is met by a local Pilot Boat. The boat meets up with the ship and a local Pilot boards your cruise ship and makes his way up to the bridge. He has local knowledge of the area the ship is coming into and is there to lend his expertise. When leaving a port, the Pilot boards the ship while docked, is on the bridge again and once clear of the port, the Pilot Boat meets up with the ship and he jumps from ship to boat. I'll show you that later)

 

(Downtown Nassau)

 

(Busy port with four ships in)

 

(Beautiful location for a nice home)

 

(Atlantic Casino and Resort off the Port-Bow)

Edited October 1, 2013 by JohnTRN

[JohnTRN]

(Our First Port!)

 



 

 

Plan for this Port Day was was a self-guided walking tour of Nassau. We met a very nice couple, Bill and Pam at the Meet and Greet on Sunday. They were not part of our CC Bunch, but soon learned all about it. After talking to folks, they learned that several of us had tours planned and asked if they could join us. We were happy to have them and they proved to be pleasant travel companions. I'll post a link my self-guided tours, for anyone going to these destinations.

 

Credit and thanks to J. B R E N T J E who created and shared his Nassau Walking Tour.

 

As I'm going to provide a link to the walking tour, which has great detail about how to get to each of the areas, I'm just going to highlight a few of the things we did. We started out in Rawson Square, where there is a bust of Sir Milo Butler, the first Bahamian Governor. The walking tour mentions a policeman in the intersection directing traffic and the Bacardi Building. We may have taken a turn that missed that!

 

 

We ended up in Parliament Square, where the main Bahamian Governmental Offices are located. We didn't go inside, but continued on past the library, heading toward the Queen's Steps.

 

 

Some the areas that we walked through don't appear to be the best of neighborhoods. That said, anyone we talked to was very polite – it's very common to start out with a greeting like, 'Good afternoon' and helpful.

 

Edited October 1, 2013 by JohnTRN

[JohnTRN]

As we came up on the Queen's Steps, a resident that looked the little the worse for wear came up to us and explained that he was the Caretaker of the Queen's Steps and proceeded to tell us the history about it. We tipped him a few dollars and went on our way. Just another resident hustling to earn a dollar! You are not obligated to stop and listen to the spiel.

 

 

Queen's Steps was built with slave labor in 1793 as part of Fort Fincastle. The steps were carved out of solid rock. They were later renamed Queen's Steps after she abolished slavery.

 

(Pictures just don't do this Justice!)

 

 

You will climb 66 steps to Bennet's Hill, which contains a water tower and Fort Fincastle. There are apparently steps up the interior of the water tower to a lookout over the surrounding area. It was fenced off for repairs at the time of our visit. For a few dollars you can enter Fort Fincastle and get a nice view of the harbor and your cruise ship.

 

 

[JohnTRN]

(Our friends Pam and Bill)

 

 

To one side of the fort you will find multiple stalls selling island merchandise. If you walked up here, you might be able to save carrying it all over Nassau by looking for the same thing in the 'Straw Market'.

 

We walked on and ended up at Government House. You enter at one end or the other of a street that runs in front of the house. To enter, you pass through a gate and past a sentry box; they will instruct you to remain in the walkway to one side of the street.

 

 

Just below Government House is a statue commemorating Christopher Columbus.

 

 

At this point, the day was warming up, our feet were getting tired and we cut the walking tour short and headed down the hill into downtown Nassau.

 

(NOOB Hint – McDonald’s is your friend when traveling. They have bathrooms. They have free WiFi. And they have those oh so satisfying, healthful, hamburgers and french fries! Buy a drink, use the facilities and make contact with home.)

[JohnTRN]

We continued into the downtown area as we were meeting some of the Cruise Critic Bunch for lunch. We got a little shopping in along the way and Jody found her favorite, Laramar. She gets vacation jewelry, I get a new pocket knife . . .

 

(Some window shopping was not successful!)

 

(Old church downtown)

 

We like to find places that locals may frequent when we travel. In St. Maarten it was the LoLo's (It's all about the food!). Here we found the Bahamian Kitchen Lounge & Take Out. Go ahead, be daring and try something out of your comfort zone! We had Conch Fritters, Rice, Plantain and Kalik Beer. I always like to try local beers and this was rather tasty. Made me want some Balashi Beer from Aruba.

 

 

 

From here we wandered back to the ship and made a stop in the duty free area to try the free WiFi (sketchy) and to Skype with our kids (absent). Sent them emails to let them know we were still alive. Oh, I almost forgot. We found email from Ryan (our then 19 y/o son who was minding the house) telling us about the storm that came through and damage to the roof. Told us as he was making a bee-line to the 'storm shelter', he thought the downstairs French Doors were going to blow out! Had multiple areas of shingles blown off the roof and had to have those areas tarped. Something to deal with when we get home!

 

(Goodbye Bahamas!)

 

(Scott and Theresa were a newlywed couple and part of our CC Bunch)

Edited October 1, 2013 by JohnTRN

[JohnTRN]

Got back on board with plenty of time to spare and headed to the Cabin to change into comfortable clothes. Spent some time on the Serenity Deck where Jody caught up on her travel journal and we relaxed and read our Kindles. We were going to meet some of our CC Bunch for dinner, but ended up just going simple in the buffet upstairs.

 

(Panorama View from our Port Side Balcony)

 

(Goodby Nassau Port Center!)



 

(The British Colonial Hilton Nassau, where you can use the beach for a fee)

 

(NOOB Info - as I mentioned above, you can use the Hilton Beach for a fee, or possibly a tip to the beach steward. Senor Frogs had a beach that you could probably use if you were patronizing them. There looked to be a public beach about a mile and half to the west of the port area. Walk or take a taxi)

 

This would be the first night that we would have a couple paged over the ship-wide paging system that had not returned to the ship. Dock runners! This would also be the same couple that would be dock runners at our next two ports! I won't mention any names . . .

 

(Our Pilot Boat coming out to pick up the Pilot from the Legend)

 

(It was hard to try to get a picture of the Pilot jumping off the Legend onto the Pilot Boat)

 

After dinner we caught a show in the Follies Lounge – Jennifer Fair http://jenniferfair.net/ . Classic Opera by training, think of Jenna Elfman (Dharma and Greg) with a voice to die for. She started out with an operatic number and several people got up and walked out. Their loss!!! Opera was just one of the many types of numbers she sang and everything she sang, she sang well. And, she was entertaining between songs. I could listen to her sing anytime!

 

After the show we wandered the decks a bit, found and bought our 'Elegant Night' pictures and bought one and headed off to bed. Hitting the hay around 10.45P this evening would be the equivalent of 11.45P, as clocks were going to be set one hour ahead during the night. I'm here to tell you that spending two weeks making the time change between CST and GMT is the recommended way of doing it! No jetlag, like when you make an 8 hour flight across the Atlantic.

 

Edited October 1, 2013 by JohnTRN

[JohnTRN]

I noticed that the itinerary posted above has an omission!

 

Tues Fun Day at Sea should be Nassau!

 

Day Port of Call Arrival Time Depart Time

Sun Tampa, FL 4:00 PM

Mon Fun Day At Sea

Tue Nassau, Bahama

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

[hancogran]

I noticed that the itinerary posted above has an omission!

 

Tues Fun Day at Sea should be Nassau!

 

Day Port of Call Arrival Time Depart Time

Sun Tampa, FL 4:00 PM

Mon Fun Day At Sea

Tue Nassau, Bahama

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

 

:confused: John, how did you get to Mallorca!! lol We did Malaga on Saturday, Valencia on Sunday and Barcelona on Monday. ;) Friday was a sea day.

[mississauga]

:confused: John, how did you get to Mallorca!! lol We did Malaga on Saturday, Valencia on Sunday and Barcelona on Monday. ;) Friday was a sea day.

 

 

Sounds like John wants to go on the Sunshine TA with us....lol. He must have Mallorca on his mind...lol.:D

 

John was in Valencia. We saw him there.

Edited October 2, 2013 by mississauga

[JohnTRN]

:confused: John, how did you get to Mallorca!! lol We did Malaga on Saturday, Valencia on Sunday and Barcelona on Monday. ;) Friday was a sea day.

 

Oops! That will teach me to proofread more carefully! I didn't have anything with the itinerary anymore and found one listed on a cruise website. Blindly copied and pasted it into this. Found the first mistake and missed that one! :o

 

John

[pcrum]

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.

 

 

I am really enjoying your review. Thanks so much for the link for the Nassau walking tour. I think we will use the tour when we are in Nassau in Nov.

 

As a Tampa native, I just wanted to point out that the river you crossed was the Hillsborough River and the college is the University of Tampa. Sounds like you had a good walking tour of Tampa too!!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!!:)

[Kelane]

 

(NOOB Hint – whatever kind of drink you enjoy, you can bring limited quantities on board with you. We, each, brought a 750ml bottle of Chianti on board in our carry-on luggage. Security never said a thing about it or looked at it. You can also bring a small cooler of water or soda on board. I forget the quantities of beer and hard liquor you can bring on board.)

 

Since we were dressed up, we stopped for a couple of pictures in different places. I think the picture Karen took with my camera was every bit as good as the one we ended up buying.

 

(Kelani's picture with my camera)

 

(The picture we paid for)

 

 

(Karen and Robert clean up alright!)

 

 

You guys just are very photogenic!! Beautiful couple. (Oh, and it will be $14.95 for that 5 x 7 please!:D)

 

btw...NO beer or hard liquor is allowed to be carried on. Not "allowed" ;). You can order "2 items" (new rule. Grrrrrr) to be delivered from Bon Voyage at embarkation or all you want (and can afford) from room service once on board. 1 bottle of wine per person in a cabin can be carried on + water, mixers, soda, etc.

Trust me on this one...I know my alcohol rules. :rolleyes:

[Pinkfloydfan]

Oops! That will teach me to proofread more carefully! I didn't have anything with the itinerary anymore and found one listed on a cruise website. Blindly copied and pasted it into this. Found the first mistake and missed that one! :o

 

John

JohnTRN, Great review so far. I'm urning I mean yearning for more of your Legend review:) Pink

[JohnTRN]

I am really enjoying your review. Thanks so much for the link for the Nassau walking tour. I think we will use the tour when we are in Nassau in Nov.

 

As a Tampa native, I just wanted to point out that the river you crossed was the Hillsborough River and the college is the University of Tampa. Sounds like you had a good walking tour of Tampa too!!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!!:)

 

A little Googling and we found someone had already put together self-guided walking tours for most places we went. Valencia (not Mallorca! :o ) had too many too choose from!

 

I was having a hard time figuring that river name out. Google Maps is wonderful for a lot of things, but, apparently not the Miami River. We were tired puppies after that day.

 

Thanks. More shortly.

 

John

[JohnTRN]

You guys just are very photogenic!! Beautiful couple. (Oh, and it will be $14.95 for that 5 x 7 please!:D)

 

btw...NO beer or hard liquor is allowed to be carried on. Not "allowed" ;). You can order "2 items" (new rule. Grrrrrr) to be delivered from Bon Voyage at embarkation or all you want (and can afford) from room service once on board. 1 bottle of wine per person in a cabin can be carried on + water, mixers, soda, etc.

Trust me on this one...I know my alcohol rules. :rolleyes:

 

We are but reflections of our friends. Just put it on my account . . . on account of I aint got none!

 

Well, NOOBs, there you go. Modify that Hint!

 

John

[JohnTRN]

JohnTRN, Great review so far. I'm urning I mean yearning for more of your Legend review:) Pink

 

Thanks. Coming real soon! Hehehe. That reminds me of another . . .

 

(NOOB Hint - Don't let the wool get pulled over your eyes on the Legend. If someone tells you to 'meet them by the big urn' . . . as you will see in pictures of the Legend, they are ALL over the place. :p )

 

John