My View On Carnival Legend

[Zanny]

Hi, I went on this ship on Nov 14th to Fiji for a 12 day cruise. After hearing all the negatives about this ship i went on it with an open mind.

The Decor(alot of people were commenting on it being terrible.) Well you can't change it so why not just take it for what it is. Although a little dark and there were lots of urns i didn't really mind it.

The Staff were as good as any other ship i have been on and this was my 16th cruise

I had an inside cabin on deck 7 and it was the nicest and largest one i had ever had.(I have had windows, Balconies and insides before too)

The buffet was set out different to what i am use too but never had any problems with the food being cold etc.

I would have liked to see some one standing at the sanitizers as although they are around not many people seem to use them.

I went to second sitting at &.45 pm every night and had an excellent waiter and also a excellent table of 8 some people were in their early 20's and some around my age in their mid 50's. Every night around 8.30 some of the crew put on a act in the resturant mainly they danced a couple of nights some one sang which i quiet liked( however some people didn't enjoy being disturbed while eating their meal

During the day not much at all is on apart from triva about 4times a day and of course bingo during sea days. (No activites like card making etc like princess have.)

The cruise had a good range of ages on it not a real lot of people over the age of 70. It was mainly families and we did have 600 children on board.All the children seemed to enjoy the water slides etc and the kids clubs.

They had a night club on board and some nights that was attend by about 100 or so people Not sure what happened after around 1.00 am was never there then.

The shopping on board was terrible in my view as i normally stock up on duty free cosmetics etc and there was not alot of different colours etc in Clinque which i was looking for. Normally they have Guess Jewellery too and had sold out they said it would be on the next cruise(that's no good if i am already on this cruise.Also the prices were about $10 to $15 more expensive than on the Sun Princess and they had no offers etc liked spend $250 and get a further 15% off.

The Guess handbags they had were priced at $246 (although you got 40% off that price i still thought they were too over priced.

There was your usual sales mainly of Cheap Pandora like bracelets for about $20 which did sell well.They never appealed to me though.As this is usually a large part of my cruise doing that kind of shopping i was very let down by the ship in this way.

Alot of Duty free smokes and spirits were sold on the ship to take home as we never went to Port Vila where you normally do this type of shopping.

I did 3 shore excursions booked on the ship and they went for an hour or so more that what i had thought so we did get value for money from these. Also having been to Fiji before and took some off the ship and being kept waiting until the bus filled up. I think booking it on the ship is a better way to go.

Over All i thought the cruise was about 8 out of ten. I would recommend it for familes and any one who has been put off by the negative reviews To go on it and give the ship ago You. can't expect 5 star for the price you pay( although alot of people are never satisfied .

I have given you my thoughts on this ship in a realalistic manner.

Hope this comes in handy to anyone out there wanting to try out the Carnival Legend.

Regards Zanny

[Greensteam]

Hi Zanny

I did the cruise before you to New Caledonia.

I read a lot of negatives about Legend too. I didn't find the décor that bad really. I agree with about 95% of what you say.

I had an Aft Extended Balcony, cabin 8270 and found it to be very nice. I didn't have any problems with noise from above at Serenity. I am a very sound sleeper though, especially when I'm at sea, probably because of my previous Navy life. The motion of the ship is heaven for me, even if there are vibrations from the props (which I didn't notice anyway).

Food was good. I never visited the restaurant this cruise so I can't comment on that.

I did the green thunder on the last sea day and I thought it was great.

Staff were very friendly and extremely helpful. They obviously have a lot of pride in their ship.

I would also give her an 8 out of 10 and happily travel in her again.

[Royalty X]

I was quite put off by Carnival after my Spirit cruise (I was on the relocation cruise and felt they were totally unprepared for such a long itinerary). However, after cruising on Legend when she first arrived in Australia, I've changed my mind about Carnival. I really enjoyed the cruise and would definitely sail with them again.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Royalty X

[cruisine21]

We arrived backed from our 12 day Spirit cruise yesterday. Having previously been on 2 RCI cruises we loved the Sprit. We had cruise director Stu Dunn who was great. The production shows were great and their was a variety of entertainment. The singers also performed with the resident band Music Manilla after the shows. The band had a full audience every night with passengers from their 20's to 70's.

 

The crew also performed in the Empire Dining room after dinner each night. We booked a guaranteed balcony for $999 each and ended up with an aft cabin Deck 7 above the Serenity which was excellent value. I only booked last minute 4 weeks before the cruise.

 

The Serenity was good though the mattresses on the sunloungers and cocoons need a steam clean. According to other passengers was a lot of noise at the front of the ship with people drinking but we didn't hear anything as we stayed at the back.

 

The show band also performed in the lounge areas. I'm in my late 50's and went on the Green Thunder 3 times.

 

 

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[cruisine21]

Sorry my previous post timed out before I finished typing.

 

We arrived backed from our 12 day Spirit cruise yesterday including Port Denarau and Suva. A catamaran was used in Port Denarau. Having previously been on 2 RCI cruises we loved the Sprit. We had cruise director Stu Dunn who was great. The production shows were outstanding especially New Orleans show and their was a variety of entertainment. The singers also performed with the resident band Music Manilla after the shows. The band had a full audience every night with passengers from their 20's to 70's. All the entertainers on the ship were excellent and their was a good variety.

 

The crew also performed in the Empire Dining room after dinner each night. We booked a guaranteed balcony for $999 each and ended up with an aft cabin Deck 7 above the Serenity which was excellent value. I only booked last minute 4 weeks before the cruise.

 

The Serenity was good though the mattresses on the sunloungers and cocoons need a steam clean. According to other passengers was a lot of noise at the front of the ship with people drinking but we didn't hear anything as we stayed at the back.

The only let down was the food in the Empire dining room. The menu needs to be updated and and the food could be hotter. We had the 8.45pm sitting. We were on the wait list for Your Time Dining but there was no availability. The waiters were friendly and we were entertained by them with a show nearly every night.

 

Carnival does not have a buffet but they have food stations in the La Play Grill. The stations were always supervised by the crew and the food was well back from the edge of the counter. Pizza was available cooked to order 24/7. Tea and coffee and drinks were also available 24/7. On one night we decided to purchase a bucket of fresh prawns for $16 for 500 grams with salad from the grill. We didn't get room service but the food was no more than $7 and was available 24 hours.

 

The show band also performed in the lounge areas. I'm in my late 50's and went on the Green Thunder 3 times. Passengers were free to do as much or little as they like.

 

The Vegas style decor is a bit gaudy but the ship certainly lived up to its name 'The Fun Ship'. Overall we found The Spirit to be far better than RCI.

 

 

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Edited December 2, 2014 by cruisine21

[MicCanberra]

Thanks Zanny for the review.:D

[MicCanberra]

Thanks Cruiseline21 also for your contribution.:D

[sewgood]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts. I must admit I had been put off by some of the reviews but will now go on the ships and give them a go.

Sounds like the food is fine and staff are great and the entertainment is good. I like the sound of the bigger rooms.

 

Karryl

[Royalty X]

Both Spirit and Legend have great sized cabins (of course, they're the same class). Nice and roomy!

[Blue Elephant]

I was also a little concerned about what Carnival might be like after sailing on Legend of the Seas.

 

However, I decided to take my chances and go on a girlfriend's cruise to New Caledonia in the middle of last winter. I was completely satisfied - excellent value for money. No pretentious people, but also no obnoxious people either. And Music Manilla really put on a good show night after night.

[6666oz]

Hi all , just wondering are Spirit and Legend twins ?, or very different ?

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Hi all , just wondering are Spirit and Legend twins ?, or very different ?

 

They are sister ships.

Heres a site you can check them out on..

 

http://www.shipparade.com/az/Carnival_Legend/Carnival_Legend.htm

 

http://www.shipparade.com/az/Carnival_Spirit/Carnival_Spirit.htm

[pinknotes]

We just got back from our 10 night trip on Legend and I loved it!

 

We've sailed Spirit before and after hearing all the bad Legend reviews I was a tad worried, but after day 1 on the ship I realised I had nothing to worry about!

 

There were only a couple of let downs on the Legend where the Spirit came out better and those where:

- Shops. Same brands and layout, however, it looked as though Legend had been totally cleaned out and not restocked! Cosmetics only had a very small (if any) range of colours.

Sunglasses shelves had lots of empty spaces. Legend has 'Seuss at Sea' but the only Seuss things to buy in the shop were the 5 books left on the massive, not restocked, bookshelf.

 

Lunch buffet - not as big of range and variety as I remember on the Spirit, I made lots of use of the salad bar!

 

Replacing Fat Jimmys with bonsai sushi.

Sushi was great and we ate there several times (mainly lunch), really good quality. But a lot of people who had cruised Spirit were a bit unhappy that Fat Jimmys was not on board and instead the equivalent was a $$$ charge.

 

Overall I agree with the first few posts, the ship was great, exactly the same as spirit apart from those things. Day time entertainment was a bit bare but we had good weather so I was happy to make my own entertainment.

Night entertainment was good. Main dining room and nouveau was great. I actually preferred the menu and food served on the Legend compared to spirit, I was never disappointed with dinner this trip.

 

Plenty of kids on board, but in all honesty, I would assume the majority of people who book Carnival know it's a laid back, fun, family welcome ship - so I don't know why they all go on and then come back complaining if so many children. We had great weather and the spas/pools were full of kids and their parents, it was a lovely atmosphere, sometimes I'm not sure what people expect!?

We had no incidents with bad behaved or unruly kids running around etc. - maybe we were just in the right places all the time ;)

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 6, 2014 by pinknotes

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the comparison, glad you enjoyed the cruise.:D

[NSWP]

Thanks for review, very informative. One of our longer first cruises, some 10 years ago, was on Carnival Spirit, before she was 'Australianised.' - Hawaii and Inside Passage, Alaska, 3 weeks. Nothing wrong with Carnival Cruise Lines. I like their title of sea days 'Fun Day at Sea.' (Do they still call them that?)

[Royalty X]

Thanks for review, very informative. One of our longer first cruises, some 10 years ago, was on Carnival Spirit, before she was 'Australianised.' - Hawaii and Inside Passage, Alaska, 3 weeks. Nothing wrong with Carnival Cruise Lines. I like their title of sea days 'Fun Day at Sea.' (Do they still call them that?)

They certainly do! :)