LEGEND Dec 23/13 Holiday Cruise Long Review (with Disney comparisons)

[stretchcruz]

We were going to do the Coconut Beach Resort, hubby thought it was too expensive so we're doing Segways instead (for $15 more per person!!).

 

bitty1, we were on Legend years ago and love the Vision class, have been on the Vision 8 or 9 times. Don't like the bells and whistles and crowds of the larger ships.

 

Loving the review......

[fishin' musician]

I now recall you guys on the beach. I scratched my head when I saw one of your girls getting her hands massaged. That was before the maseusse made her way over to my wife, who went for the buy 2 get 1 free deal. She says she learned her lesson on beach massages, but I'm thinking not (she got one on Roatan Island, Hondurus). Something about baby oil and sand making for a rather abrasive rubdown. :)

Edited January 13, 2014 by fishin' musician

[1stcarnivalcruise]

St Martin / St Maarten

 

We were in St Martin from 7:00 to 4:00 and there were four ships in port, including the Disney Fantasy (I will admit I missed Disney a little bit, she really is a very pretty ship).

 

I know for many of you cruise veterans this will be shocking this was our first time in St. Martin and we LOVED it! We are hoping to go back and stay for at least a week.

 

Bernards Tous – Tour #1

 

I am pretty sure a lot of you may know about Bernards Tours because there were many cruisers going on his tours. Everything was organized through email. Just a note, when you are on his website they ask for a deposit, we did not leave a deposit and it was not a problem.

 

So the nuts and bolts…

 

Time – 9:00 - 1:30 (we finished closer to 2:00)

 

Cost - $40 per person (you pay cash/credit at the start of the tour)

A suggestion – take some small bills with you to tip along the way

 

Meeting Time and Location – 9:00 right in front of the yellow building at the Information Centre. We met D.J. our driver/tour guide and we followed him out to his van. There were 11 of us on the tour.

 

During the drive around the island D.J. talked nonstop about the island of St Martin and shared a lot of interesting facts.

 

Ken loved taking photos here so I will use the photos to explain the day…….

 

Iguana Farm

 

Our first stop was to an Iguana Farm, Cassidy loves lizards so she was in her glory! This is a fenced in area that is made for tourists. They have done a nice job of adding plants and water features to make the habitat iguana friendly. They ask for a donation before you enter. So the only disappointing thing is that I feel (only my opinion) they added a snake and 2 monkeys (very sad monkeys in cages) for us, the tourists. The iguanas would have been enough! Ok, I will get off my soap box!

 

 

 

 

I added this photo because it reminded me that there are plenty of drinks on the tour, the rum punch is expected to be all finished by the end of the tour, so go thirsty!

 

 

More St Maarten to come….

[1stcarnivalcruise]

Oyster Pond

 

We had a great stop at Oyster Pond. We met a local gentleman who shared his knowledge of the local sea life.

Can you guess which of my girls loves animals and who doesn’t?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So if you are a rule follower skip over what I am going to share (I should put a disclaimer here). This lovely gentleman offered us some shells to take home, I put them in my beach bag and forgot about them, well when going through the x-ray they were confiscated by the crew. Now, Ken had big pockets in his shorts and they don’t do a physical check (just a walk through the metal detector) so are you getting my hint!! Cassidy was devastated, she is our absolute “rule follower” but was so upset she suggested going down to deck 1 and scrounge through the garbage, we persuaded her to not!

 

More St Maarten to come….

[1stcarnivalcruise]

Photo Stops

 

Various photos from our day……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The oldest house....

 

 

 

More St Maarten to come….

[1stcarnivalcruise]

Marigot

 

We stopped in Marigot for an hour to have lunch. I suggest running not walking to the best French bakery EVER….Sarafina’s. I have no photos of what we ate because we were too busy stuffing our mouths. Go now and google Sarafina’s and see what I mean. There is often a line here but well worth the wait. The ladies that work here speak primarly French (I which I paid better attention in French class!!) so you will need to do a lot of pointing. But I can say without a doubt anything you have will be wonderful. We had the chicken on a baguette, quiche, chocolate croissant, strawberry tart and pistachio and orange macarons.

 

Some photos in Marigot….

 

 

 

 

More St Maarten to come….

[1stcarnivalcruise]

Maho Beach

 

Words cannot really explain what you will witness at Maho Beach. Basically it is a beach that is within meters of an international airport and you are allowed to stand there with a drink in hand and watch. There is a big surfboard at the entrance of the beach, by the bar that lists the times of the planes landing and taking off.

 

So our first experience was watching a huge plan fly right over us…..

 

 

 

 

We thought that was it, the fun was over, no way the fun was just beginning. We see a plane getting ready to take off, people are getting excited, and then the engines rev, the plane takes off, then to our amazement we see people being blown into the ocean, literally blown off their feet.

 

 

 

This sign says it all…..

 

 

I hate to admit this but we had a GREAT time! If you have never heard of this google some videos!

 

Philipsburg

 

The tour ended in the town of Philipsburg, you have a choice of being dropped off here or going back to the ship. We decided to walk around, we did have four EFFY stores to visit! The town has many stores, restaurants and bars to visit. There is also a great beach. You could spend the whole day here if you wanted to. We walked back to the ship when we were done, it takes about 15 minutes.

 

In summary, we loved the island of St. Martin and want to visit there for a "land vacation"!

 

Next up Disembarking….

[1stcarnivalcruise]

Disembarking

 

So I am not sure if you remember way back at the start of my trip review I said that I had a funny story about disembarking, so here we go……

 

We drove so we did the express departure (self assist) which was between 7:15 and 7:45. We are the family that stays in the room waiting for the "official" announcement it was past 7:15 so we decided we would head down.

 

On the Disney cruise self assist was a nightmare, no free elevators, had to carry down our luggage. On this cruise we got to the elevators and within seconds it was there, empty, I actually said out loud "way better than Disney"!

 

Then the doors opened on deck 4 and the reality that our vacation hit us full force, we got off to a sea of people, we stepped out of the elevator near the front of the line, with nowhere to go, many people with suitcases. About a minute later the gangway opened, we started moving and the other obvious guests who also just happened to get off the elevator too started hearing "cheaters, cheaters, wait your turn" if we all had waited no one would have been able to get around the about 40 of us that had gotten off the elevator. It was actually quite amusing to see how much people change when their vacation is over.

 

But it does not end there we get to the Park N Go bus stop and wait for it...... yes a gentleman pulled up and said "Oh you were one of cutting families" we got many sympathetic smiles from other families waiting there (they were probably cheaters too, they were just shorter than us, we are a "tall" family and unfortunately stand out!!!!!) but it was amusing and still makes me laugh today!

 

Next up final thoughts….

[1stcarnivalcruise]

So it is sad (for me anyways, you might be tired of me) to have my review of our amazing cruise on the Legend come to an end! But if you have any questions please ask away!

Overall, we had fantastic trip, lots of highs and couple of minor lows but as always you can look at life with the cup half full or half empty. I would highly recommend the Legend and Royal Caribbean.

 

I loved writing this review and I thank you all for your positive comments. As I said at the start Cruise Critic has been (and continues to be) a valuable resource for me.

 

A little sad, I will be spending more time over at the NCL forum, I need to start researching the Pearl! But I do plan to do a similar review of our next 11 day holiday cruise on NCL with a comparison to Royal. So stay tuned!

[kermit 38]

So it is sad (for me anyways, you might be tired of me) to have my review of our amazing cruise on the Legend come to an end! But if you have any questions please ask away!

Overall, we had fantastic trip, lots of highs and couple of minor lows but as always you can look at life with the cup half full or half empty. I would highly recommend the Legend and Royal Caribbean.

 

I loved writing this review and I thank you all for your positive comments. As I said at the start Cruise Critic has been (and continues to be) a valuable resource for me.[/CO

A little sad, I will be spending more time over at the NCL forum, I need to start researching the Pearl! But I do plan to do a similar review of our next 11 day holiday cruise on NCL with a comparison to Royal. So stay tuned!

 

Were the menus different each night, or did they repeat any? I didn't know what they do on an eleven night. Did they offer an unlimited internet package?

 

Wendy

[Coralc]

Nice, descriptive review. Thanks so much for taking the time to write. It was very enjoyable. :D:):D

[wassup4565]

Many thanks for taking the time to do this review. We'll be on the Legend starting Feb 3 for a very similar itinerary, and really appreciated your information about activities in the ports.

[debshomespun]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review. You have a wonderful family! Your review was very enjoyable to read. We will be on the Legend in 10 days!

[esper10]

By any chance do you remember the when were the formal nights?

[travelplus]

I feel as if the Cruise Ship is one Big RV especially on the Trans Atlantic Cruises:)

[1stcarnivalcruise]

Were the menus different each night, or did they repeat any? I didn't know what they do on an eleven night. Did they offer an unlimited internet package?

 

Wendy

 

Hi Wendy, yes for our cruise each night we had a different menu.

We did not buy the internet so I am not sure. But if you are just checking/sending the odd email we found that in the port terminals there was often free wifi, often you would walk by many people looking "feverishly" at their phones.

[1stcarnivalcruise]

By any chance do you remember the when were the formal nights?

 

Our cruise may be different because we had formal nights on Christmas Eve and New Years eve.

[1stcarnivalcruise]

I feel as if the Cruise Ship is one Big RV especially on the Trans Atlantic Cruises:)

 

 

I have never thought of it this way, but you are right, a luxary RV ;)

[shipfriend_max]

Great review. Thank you very much!! :)

 

The excursion at Barbados, was it a guided tour with a local tour operator?

 

For Barbados we plan the Atlantis Submarine, do you have other hints than what to do on our own after that tour?

 

At Antigua you have been to Coconut Beach - far away from the ship?

[meatloafsfan]

Wow - really great review.

 

Do you recall what was at the port when you got off in Barbados? We're going there later this year. My mother is in a wheelchair and I haven't been able to find a tour for us yet. I'm hoping that there are maybe some local shops or something right there that we can at least get off the ship and enjoy (she loves to shop - especially local handcrafts).