Just back from Carnival Legend to Alaska

[sharkaymon]

We are back from the best vacay we ever had and guess what? No pictures. I decided after walking into our cabin and taking a few pix that I didn’t want to experience everything from behind my camera lens, so that’s what I did. I never took another picture and I didn’t watch any news. The world went spinning on without me. We went July 12th on an Alaskan Cruise on Carnival Legend with my sister and DH’s brother and sister-in-law. We got up close and personal with Dawe’s Glacier, experienced an awesome whale watching excursion with Orcas and Humpbacks and Eagles, Oh my!

 

Had lots of fun hanging out on our balcony with everyone. Ate too much, drank more alcohol than we usually do, enjoyed the sights and sounds of Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchican. Stayed up late laughing and talking and and woke up to absolutely stunning views from our balcony.

 

We got back to Seattle and spent three days there - you could spend three weeks and not see everything! Arrived back to reality last night. No more room service coffee and croissants on the balcony, I have to put my own napkin in my lap and I have to make up my own bed! We were ready to come home and our doggie greeted us with hops and barks and a wagging tail and no retributions about leaving her for 11 days. We still haven’t unpacked. We spent my birthday night having pizza and champagne and strawberries on the Lido Deck at midnight.

 

After cruising on Carnival Legend I’ve decided I like ships like Conquest and Valor. I liked having Guy’s Burgers and the Blue Iguana Cantina and the Fish and Chips place. There were not enough choices other than the Lido on Carnival Legend. We always ate breakfast in the MDR and the service was usually slow and the food good. The buffet on Lido was always very crowded so we kept a tray from room service and brought our food back to the cabin. Pizza and burgers, brats and fries were always good as were the desserts.

 

The casino was smaller than on Conquest and Valor.

 

The steakhouse was excellent! The service was delightful. And everyone enjoyed their selections. I had the lamb and it was prepared just the way I liked it.

 

There was a large group of teenagers on board and I was blown away with their great behavior. Never heard inappropriate language, no inconsiderate or rude actions. YeeHaw for Millennials!

 

We only went to one show at the Comedy Club. Funny enough but I don’t remember the comedians names.

 

Live entertainment at the Lobby Bar was good some days and bad on others.

 

The shopping in Skagway and Ketchikan was great. We shopped local whenever possible. We did find some tee shirts designed by local artists.

 

We ate at Twisted Fish in Juneau, right next to where we docked. VERY good food, especially the salmon. Ask for Howie as your server.

 

Both of our excursions, glaciers and whale watching were on the St. Aquilina, an Allen Marine boat. I bought a beautiful hand painted silk scarf on board during our whale-watching excursion. The artist was the mom of one of the deckhands.

 

We were supposed to take a glacier excursion from the boat into Tracy Arm but Tracy Arm was blocked with lots of ice so instead we went into Endicott Arm and got to get very close to Dawe’s Glacier.

 

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake with orange sherbet, Bitter and Blanc bread pudding, Grand Marnier soufflé, Indian vegetarian, Pumpkin-Cinnamon-Yam Pie, escargot, ox tongue . . . I had all my favorites.

 

We had Anytime dining and received wonderful service from I Wayans and his team, I Made and his team, and were greeted with a smile every night by the hostess Alaksandra. We only had to wait one night – the first elegant night.

 

We had cabin 6182 – a handicap accessible Grand Suite. Lots of room, very large bathroom. Storage was compromised, not enough for three people.

 

Pre and post-cruise stays at Embassy Suites Sea-Tac. We were in the Presidential Suite – divided by three it was a sweet deal but the air conditioning was terrible. The staff was friendly, the Shuttle driver, Bert, was helpful in recommending restaurants and the made-to-order breakfasts were good.

 

We used Uber for the first time, my grandchildren would be proud! The light rail and the monorail helped us get around downtown. We ate lunch one day at the Steelhead Diner, just across from Pike Place Market. We also had another lunch at the Armory (big giant food court with lots of choices), next to the Space Needle – two hamburgers and two chocolate malts = $48!

 

Seattle is expensive.

[kctwinmommy]

I agree about Seattle, although it wasn't a huge shock being from Chicago. We just had to look for some bargains. You're right about the Armory though, it was expensive there. My son and I split a Subway sandwich to keep it cheap, and we just needed a little something since it was later in the afternoon and we knew we'd be having dinner a few hours later. But even that, the foot long was almost $10!

 

It's nice that you were able to not take pictures, I could never do that! LOL! Hence, the 2500 pictures I'm going through. But I did decide for our next one, I'm done with my big camera. We've been to the Caribbean 4 times now. Even though the islands this time will be different, I just want to relax a bit more. :)

[zdcatc12]

 

After cruising on Carnival Legend I’ve decided I like ships like Conquest and Valor. I liked having Guy’s Burgers and the Blue Iguana Cantina and the Fish and Chips place. There were not enough choices other than the Lido on Carnival Legend. We always ate breakfast in the MDR and the service was usually slow and the food good. The buffet on Lido was always very crowded so we kept a tray from room service and brought our food back to the cabin. Pizza and burgers, brats and fries were always good as were the desserts.

 

The casino was smaller than on Conquest and Valor.

 

The Valor and Conquest are 25% bigger than the Legend, so it would reason that the Legend would have a smaller casino. Also, the bigger ships have more room for public areas, which means more different venues.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[RuthlessBoss]

It was a very relaxing review.

[crusinpsychRN]

Nice review. Great cabin.

[Krystm]

I'm probably gonna write something up this week as I took a lot of pics I know people will want (Odds and ends, back of the tv, model etc). I also was on the same cruise... in fact just down the hall, and passed your room many times (6142). I saw the key card is on the wall? Curious how that all worked?

 

Also, was it just me or was it balcony slamming kids running down the hall all the time for you too? 6142 put me right by the elevators but the hall was a dead end.

[sharkaymon]

I'm probably gonna write something up this week as I took a lot of pics I know people will want (Odds and ends, back of the tv, model etc). I also was on the same cruise... in fact just down the hall, and passed your room many times (6142). I saw the key card is on the wall? Curious how that all worked?

 

Also, was it just me or was it balcony slamming kids running down the hall all the time for you too? 6142 put me right by the elevators but the hall was a dead end.

 

Krystm - I’m assuming the key card on the wall was because it was a handicapped-accessible room. When you put your key in, the door automatically opened; allowing enough time for someone in a wheelchair to enter and get beyond the door which automatically closed a minute or so later. There was also a doorbell. We had kids next door to us (I guess 6180) but they were elementary age, traveling with their grandparents and I never saw them out in the hall unaccompanied. Please let me know when you post your review. I would especially like to hear another person’s opinion who was on the same sailing as ours.:)

[kctwinmommy]

Sharkaymon...

 

Here's the link to my review. I'm almost done, I've been adding to it everyday. But I put in a lot of pictures, plus some videos.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2382500

Edited August 1, 2016 by kctwinmommy