Legend of the Seas & TC Winston

[Nelie]

Hey everyone I am just off the Legend of the Seas 9 day South Pacific cruise yesterday. I will come back and write a full review but I just wanted to give everyone an update in case people were interested. .

 

So our cruise got well…. interrupted a bit by Tropical Cyclone Winston. If you were unaware tropical cyclone(TC) Winston was a category 5 TC. It hit Fiji on the 20th February and 44 were killed.

 

Our cruise left on Thursday the 18th from Brisbane, Queensland. On the 19th (at sea) we had heard from the Captain about the TC but that it was near Fiji and they were monitoring its progress. So we assumed nothing to worry about. On the 20th (at sea) we heard that we may miss one of our 2nd port, Mystery Island, Vanuatu, which we were supposed to go to on the 22nd. On the 21st we arrived at our 1st port Noumea, New Caledonia. It was a beautiful sunny day until we started to leave at around 4:30 when dark clouds started moving in quick and winds started up. It was at this point that the Captain told us we would be missing Mystery Island the next day as there was a good chance the island was now or would be underwater. At this point we were also told that we would be missing our 3rd and last port on the 23rd Pt Vila, Vanuatu. We were informed we would however be heading to Champagne Bay, on Espiritu Santo island in Vanuatu.

 

So we basically hightailed it out of Noumea as fast as we could and it was a rocky night. I shared a room with my mum and Aunt so I was basically on the top bunk and at one point nearly slipped out of bed feet first. Waves didn’t seem to be huge but it was still quite rocky at night. The now extra day at sea was a bit rough. My mum and aunt didn’t take it very well so spent most of the day below decks I however spent some time in the pool. The pool water kept sloshing around and I am surprised they didn’t close the pool. It was a bit dangerous being in there but so fun. It was like being in a wave pool. One minute I can’t touch the ground next underwater.

 

We arrived in champagne bay okay and it was a beautiful island. Some were annoyed and complained about missing the two islands; others say we got the better deal by going to champagne bay. Spent the next two days at sea one which was rocky at night then back home to Australia safe.

 

The photo below was taken from the TV in my stateroom and was from the Captain’s report. Now from what I can recall on the right is the Fiji islands. Then you have the TC. Now can you see the islands in the pink area of the TC on the left hand side. That’s where we were supposed to go. Now can you see the sausage/ sharkish island on the left of your screen in the yellow area. That is Noumea and that is where we were the day this photo is from. So as you can see going to those other islands was a no no. now directly north of that island you can see an island that is in the blue area not affected by the colours of the TC. That’s Champagne bay where we went. The Captain pointed out that if the TC started to come that way we still had an exit strategy to run away into that blue. At least this is what I interpreted from the Captains reports. Others who were also on this cruise may have a thing or two to add

 

Anyway. We are all okay and I wanted to let CC’s know. ; )

 

[Clarea]

Glad you had a safe trip, and thanks for the report. Looking forward to the full review.

[GBfromOz]

We were on this cruise with you.

 

Communication from the Captain was excellent and the ship was in no real danger. Staff and guest safety is paramount which required a change to the itinerary. 😧 Our thoughts also go out to the people of Fiji and hope they have a speedy recovery.

 

It was disappointing but understandable, particularly after the recent Anthem experience.

 

This is our second cruise affected by cyclones in the last year. We were also on a South Pacific cruise last year when Vila in Vanuatu was wiped out. It would be nice if we had they option to sail locally on Royal Caribbean outside of cyclone season.

 

Come on RC, it's about time we had at least one ship here year round!

[Keith1010]

Glad you arrived back safely.

 

Keith

[SpainAlien]

Did RCCI give you free TV while it was rough like they did on Anthem?

 

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[Iluvcruising2]

Glad you had a safe cruise. After what happened to Anthem, better play it doubly safe.

[Nelie]

Free TV? Not sure what you mean by that.

 

It was mainly rocky at night, maybe 1 sea day where it was pretty rough but not terrible.

 

If you had an excursion booked they were obviously cancelled and if you took the tickets to the spa you got a discount on services.

 

We were always kept well informed both on the tv and speaker system

[SpainAlien]

With Anthem of the Season the guests were confined to their cabins so RCCI gave them free access to the film channels. I misunderstood your initial description and thought it was more than rough. Anyway glad you had a good time and got back safe.

 

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[Clarea]

Free TV? Not sure what you mean by that.

 

It was mainly rocky at night, maybe 1 sea day where it was pretty rough but not terrible.

 

If you had an excursion booked they were obviously cancelled and if you took the tickets to the spa you got a discount on services.

 

We were always kept well informed both on the tv and speaker system

Royal gave the folks on Anthem free pay-TV and free access to their mini bar duing the storm.

[Poochie71]

We were a couple of days ahead of you on Explorer. We were so lucky and had prefect weather but the captain kept us well informed with what was going on aswell as what tragically happened in Fiji. Glad you made it home safely.

[GBfromOz]

Royal gave the folks on Anthem free pay-TV and free access to their mini bar duing the storm.

 

Legend doesn't have the interactive tv system that most other ships have, so no pay per view movie option ☹️

[SpainAlien]

Oh no, I always end up watching a movie or two. I guess when I am on-board Legend in December I will have to find other things to do. Thanks for the info.

 

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[GBfromOz]

Oh no, I always end up watching a movie or two. I guess when I am on-board Legend in December I will have to find other things to do. Thanks for the info.

 

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There is a movie channel that rotates the movies that are played on the pool deck big screen but you can't select and play as you want. Hope this helps 😊

[Sue_B]

Great to hear you had a safe cruise despite missing a couple of ports :)

 

We were on the cruise before yours and returned to Brisbane on Thurs Feb 18. We missed Lifou on our cruise after the captain decided to scoot up between New Caledonia and Vanuatu to avoid cyclones Tatiana and Winston which were both threatening at the time.

 

Thankfully this was a good call and seas remained relatively calm for the duration (if a bit windy on the pool deck at times).

 

I can see Mystery Island would have presented a few problems for your cruise. When we visited, they ran tender for approx. 2 hours before halting them for another 2hrs, waiting for conditions to improve. We waited about 45 mins for a tender back to the ship - they were restarted once a full tender of staff were brought across to walk each passenger on to the tender. The pontoon is not up the conditions (and probably gone with the cyclone). Many passengers were disappointed, but better to keep everyone safe. I heard later that a couple of passengers were injured during the tendering process.

 

Happy cruising everyone :)