Carnival Legend Review September 23, 2016 Hawaii - Sydney

[sydney chic]

For my starter I had the prawn cocktail. Amazing. Sim had lobster bisque which had massive chunks of lobster all the way through. Iceberg lettuce salad each. (Which we didn't finish - why waste space on lettuce??) then both surf and turf for the main. I had mushroom sauce, sim had peppercorn. Sides were mushrooms, creamed spinach, broccoli and mash.

For dessert sim had the homemade coconut ice cream and I did the sampler. Didn't even come close to eating it all but I love trying things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went and changed for the 80s deck party! I love music so I popped on my neon pink shirt and joined in some dancing. They did some competitions and they were all fun as well, but nothing like a US Carnival deck party. Back to the casino for a bit of a win and then time to pass out after a massive day!!

[sydney chic]

Day 10 - Sea Day

Now I already knew this would be a lazy day. My back was burnt, we were tired so we were happy to do nothing. We decided to go to the dining room for breakfast, which is always lovely. A grapefruit half each, sim had smoked salmon bagel and eggs and I had a little bit of everything. Half way through I got so full though! I hate wasting bacon!

We then went back to the room for a bit. Sim tidied up her stuff whilst I read my book. Then we went for a great walk around the ship and discovered the sale was about to start in the fun shops. It was those watch and jewellery sets that make great gifts. So we got a couple of those, went to the buffet for a sample of everything for lunch and then back to our room for more reading and relaxing.

 

Tonight is a formal night again and another special event! All part of the Carnival Journeys. At 445 and then again at 630, the captain was hosting a drinks and canapés formal event. The whole day was a throw back to the 80s, and apparently that's how cruising used to be in the 80s - very elegant! So the dress code was formal which I love seeing. You could line up for a photo with the captain (the line was far too long) or head in and grab a seat. White glove service with the canapés, meatballs, shrimp, mini hot dogs. Very nice. Drinks available were beer, red wine, white wine, non alcoholic punch, rum punch and whiskey sours. And plenty of them! Another lovely event that carnival put on for us.

 

 

 

Off to dinner for us straight after this. The menu for this night was still fancy and different to the last formal night.

 

We both had the langoustine to start and shared an appetiser of the spaghetti carbonara. Then sim had the prawns and I had the beef.

 

Amazing again. None of the dessert took our fancy so we danced the YMCA with them and then said we would be back later. Why were we going back later?? Because carnival was doing a midnight feast in the dining room!!

[sydney chic]

 

But before this we went to a comedy show, an Australian comedian. He was funny, not the best I've seen but still good.

Then back to the dining room and who do we run into? The captain! He quite often sits at the bar outside the restaurant on deck 2, so we grabbed him for a quick selfie. (it's on my friends phone though!)

 

Then into the dining room. Oh my goodness. So much work went into this! The ice carvings, the fruit carvings, the displays. It was incredible. I wasn't event close to being hungry but I had to try something's!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then off on a little walk around deck three to calm the food and drinks before bed. And it was flogging with rain! That's a sign to go to bed so off we went.

[sydney chic]

Day 11 - Sea Day

The time changed again by an hour. So my fit bit said 1030am, but it was like 730am... and it was thunder and lightning, so I had no choice but to go back to sleep!

An hour later we got up and decided to pack our bags for a morning up on the deck. We had breakfast in the buffet then headed up to deck 10 to grab a clamshell. The clams were always full in serenity but not on deck 10. We spent a couple of hours here, reading and swimming in the serenity pool. Sim did the slides a couple of times and went and grabbed us some freshly squeezed orange juice from the cafe.

We wanted to try the dining room for lunch so we changed and headed over.

We shared the Thai beef to start then I had a burger with pretty much everything and sim had the pasta. I really enjoyed the burger but sim said the pasta was a little too tough still.

 

 

 

 

Now I got really sunburnt for a few days there over and over on my shoulders and it started to peel today ;( like really badly. So I put some stuff on it and stayed out of the sun for the rest of the day. How convenient - musical theatre trivia this afternoon!!! I do theatre at home so I was excited for this one (and hoped that I'd actually do well haha). And I did! Got 23 out of 24. I said 1936 instead of 1939 for when wizard of oz was filmed. Two guys said that they got every question right and you could tell that the cruise director didn't quite believe them. So she gave them a bottle of wine and one ship on a stick and she gave me the other one! Two ladies sitting at the front started complaining about how they wanted a ship as well but sorry ladies - it's all part of the game! Then back to the room to sit on the balcony and read some more.

 

One of our favourite performers, Brett, was playing at Oddessy, just outside the dining room from 615 til 715 so we went and enjoyed that for a while before dinner.

I had prawn cocktail and sim had seafood chowder for appetiser. Mains I had pork chop and sim had lemongrass fish. The was super dry.

Wandered around a little, listened to some more music and headed back to the balcony to watch the lightning.

 

[sydney chic]

Day 12 - Sea day

Woke up quite early this morning but decided to just stay in bed! Because I can! You can tell it's getting to the end half of the holiday. Notices are coming in about how we are disembarking and what time we would like to go. Very sad. However! Last night we had an invitation for a drinks and canapés for gold vifp members (and diamond and platinum). So we had that to look forward to.

Today we went back to Lido for breakfast, I had a massive craving for Vegemite toast! Simple and great (sorry Americans haha) then did a couple of laps of deck ten. Back to the room to rest my poor sunburnt back and spent some lovely hours reading on the balcony. (Half way through the cruise I decided to reread all the Harry Potter books and now I can't stop!) Sim bought some lunch to the room, fantastic satay sticks and beef rendang pies along with salad. Then we went back for another six laps of deck ten. (Determined to reach the 10000 steps today!)

Then back to our room to get ready for the gold party. This was great! There were no diamond cruisers on this one and only about twenty platinum members so that's why all the gold were invited. There was a musician in the firebird lounge as well and soooo many drinks flowing. This time there was a beer station set up, so people could help themselves to beer. Also some non alcoholic lemonade but on request they added vodka. LOTS OF VODKA. Also some sushi and other canapés. They introduced all the management team for this ship, it was a lovely afternoon. Then we left just in time for a stunning sunset! Out on to deck 10 for some selfies. Oh today we also had to pick up our passports as well.

 

Off to the casino for a bit before dinner. For dinner we both had study in sushi for starter and the pork ribs for main. For dessert I had the bitter and Blanc and it was fantastic! Joined in some gangnam style with the wait staff then headed back to our bags for Suva!!

 

 

 

[sydney chic]

Day 13 - Suva

Suva is the one day we booked a Carnival tour. I had tried to do some research and all I could find was people saying the port is rubbish with nothing to do and to get to the other side of the island. So for $100 we booked a 6 hour beach tour including lunch. Pretty good value.

But first! Hair braids!

 

An hour drive there and back, so a great four hours at Uprising Resort. This was the resort the Fijian team stayed at before the Rio Olympics. It's stunning. Right on the water, a beautiful big open eating area, plenty of hammocks, paddle boards, kayaks, massage and plenty of waiters for drinks!

 

 

It was not very busy, only about 60-80 of us there so it was a fantastic day. The buffet was delicious as well!

 

The drive back was very eventful as we had a MASSIVE bang and completely blew out a tyre. We had to wait for another bus to come and pick us up. But this is another benefit of picking a carnival tour, they will always wait for us!

[sydney chic]

Back for a shower and nap, then off to dinner.

 

I had the salad and baked fish to start. Sim had the soup. For main I had the pasta and sim had the fish. All delicious!

 

 

 

Then when we went and had a look at all our photos from the last couple of days. Then off to the casino. This time luck was on my side. First spin, feature! Then two more features within! $350 later. Weeeeeeeee!!

 

 

A few drinks later... time for bed (passing out haha)

[sydney chic]

Day 14 - Sea Day

Breakfast at Lido then we set up on a few lounges just outside the main pool.

 

Today's sudoku was five in one so it took a little longer and a little brain power. Sim went for a nice long walk around the deck and I stayed enjoying the sunshine. We sampled some of the buffet and watched the start of the fishing challenge with a couple of families. This looked hard! And it got super loud so we went back to our room and to read on the balcony. Tonight was another formal night so we got all done up and headed out to the bar for a drink with some friends before dinner. I started with a prawn cocktail then the pork and sim had the chestnut soup and the schnitzel. Finished with some melting cake, fruit platter and entertainment from our wonderful waitstaff!

 

 

 

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review. Nice photos.

[pblack]

Love reading this review! It's nice to see what Carnival Australia is like and how it differs from the U.S. cruises.

[Foxinspace]

Fantastic review. Just what I needed to remind me how awesome cruising is!

[Rocknsoul]

I am living vicariously through your review. This is definitely one for the bucket list! I've told hubby that I really want to see those islands. Soon!!

[sydney chic]

So sorry about the delay in finishing this up! Work got crazy :(

 

Today is Noumea day!

Now on the ship there was a naturalist on board named Dirk that did a nature talk every sea day. I didn't go to any of the talks, but they were replayed on the tv. I already knew I wanted to go to Duck Island after doing some research, and then Dirk mentioned how great the snorkelling was there, so we knew we had to!

Early wake up, quick breakfast and we were on our way.

I had looked up how to get there via public transport, but once we got out of the port we were offered a great deal that was just way easier! I didn't write this down, but from memory it was $20US a head for a bus around Noumea with 5 different stops. And the boat trip over to Duck Island and return trips. Great deal! Then we saw Dirk joining on our bus, so we knew we were on the right track! He was heading to Master Island, which he hadn't been to before.

 

We took the bus straight to the boat terminal and caught a glass bottom boat over to Duck Island!

 

 

We were the first group over there, so we got our pick of the spots. Loungers were $20US for two and an umbrella. You didn't have to hire them, but there wasn't a lot of space around to lay out. Then straight in the water!

Those who have been to St John Trunk Bay will know that there is an underwater snorkel trail there. This is similar, but they are numbered buoys that you swim to.

 

If you didn't take the correct entry in, you found yourself in super shallow water with coral very close to your stomach! So you had to be careful. Visibility was also not great because it was a bit windy.

 

We went in and out a couple of times, then lounged around reading and just enjoying our last port day! I had my phone buried in my bag and forgot to take photos, sorry!

 

We went into the restaurant area to grab a burger and salad for lunch. It was pretty tasty!

 

Then back in the water for one last swim :( But this time with a lovely surprise! Sea turtles!!! I either saw two or the same one twice haha. These are Sim's favourite animals but unfortunately she didn't see the little guy.

 

Then back on the boat and the bus to the port. When we were on the bus I noticed us drive past the little french patisserie that everyone had raved about in previous reviews. We had an hour before we had to be back on board so I decided to try my sense of direction and find this delicious looking place.

SUCCESS!

 

OH MY STARS. I could eaten everything. The croissant was the best I have ever eaten. And it was about $1. The baguette was 80c!

 

I was in carb heaven haha. We then walked back via the supermarket to grab some more bottles of water and soda, then onto the ship!

[sydney chic]

Tonight was Mexican Fiesta night. They theme the menus in the restaurant as well as having a deck party which is pretty cute.

I had the grilled prawns and the tacquito to start.

 

 

Sim had the soup and the salad

 

For mains I had the beef skewer and Sim had the snapper.

 

[sydney chic]

 

For dessert I went with the salted caramel cake. It actually wasn't my favourite, so we only had a bite each.

 

Then off to the casino for a little bit before the Mexican deck party!

Unfortunately this was BORING. I love the deck parties on Carnival America, everyone gets into it, the music is blasting and it's heaps of fun! This was really tame. Not many people there and just quite quiet. Our entertainment was watching a group of VERY drunk women dance and almost fall over. Then try to convince the waiter to get them more cocktails. He refused and said it wasn't worth his job. Even though they were trying to say we'll give you a big tip. Well done for him though, he stood his ground even after they started getting aggressive.

 

Back to the room to another beautiful towel decoration and off to sleep!