Our LEGENDary B2B to Bermuda & New England / Canada (w/pics) - 8/28/22.

[ober134]

20 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

I meant for the New England/Canada itinerary. 😎

Right... definitely will consider next time. We love visiting Boston. That's why we picked it so we could spend a couple days there

[lennythenose]

@Jamman54 I apologize for asking a question I know you already answered but I have tried to find the answer snd can’t seem to find the post now. Can you explain again about your internet charges/refund?  I am goimy in the Pride Transatlantic on Oct 30 and just got an email from Carnival saying the only internet option for purchase during the cruise will be the 24 hour plan. I am assuming we will be refunded for our precruise internet purchase. 

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, lennythenose said:

@Jamman54 I apologize for asking a question I know you already answered but I have tried to find the answer snd can’t seem to find the post now. Can you explain again about your internet charges/refund?  I am goimy in the Pride Transatlantic on Oct 30 and just got an email from Carnival saying the only internet option for purchase during the cruise will be the 24 hour plan. I am assuming we will be refunded for our precruise internet purchase. 

Sure, no problem. Sounds like you got the same email as we did. Once we boarded the ship our internet plan that we had paid for in advance was refunded back to our sail & sign account. I immediately bought the 24 hour value plan, (premium plan wasn't available), and it worked just fine. Now, here is the kicker which I can't promise will happen for you. We were never charged for buying the 24 hour plan, and we had the internet for the entire cruise. The exact same thing happened on the second leg of our B2B. Bottom line is that you should receive your internet refund on your sail & sign account. 😎

[Cruisin4aBruisin73]

On 9/16/2022 at 3:27 PM, Jamman54 said:

Patti checks out Guy’s Burgers…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patti heads outside and up to Deck 11. Here’s a view of Baltimore….

 

 

Patti spots our car out in the lot…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

Wow!  Look at that killer parking job next to you!!!! PS- love your reviews, love this ship and can't wait for our Thanksgiving sailing next month.

[Jamman54]

4 minutes ago, Cruisin4aBruisin73 said:

Wow!  Look at that killer parking job next to you!!!! PS- love your reviews, love this ship and can't wait for our Thanksgiving sailing next month.

Thanks for reading! I guess the excitement of boarding the ship makes it difficult to park between the lines.  Enjoy your cruise! 

[Jamman54]

Our final thoughts, ramblings, & future plans. 

 

The Spirit Class continues to be our favorite class of Carnival ships. We love the layout of these ships, and the fact that even when these ships sail at capacity, they never feel crowded. We have now done fifteen cruises on this class of ships, five each on the Legend, Pride, and Miracle. Ironically, we have never sailed on the namesake vessel, the Spirit, but we will cross her off the list when we sail on her in January.

 

Our very first Spirit Class sailing was on the Legend in 2002. It was on the very first cruise out of New York after she arrived from Europe. It was only a two-day cruise, a fam trip, which was completely free including drinks. A group of us were invited to sail as casino guests, and we immediately fell in love with her. I pulled these shots out of the archives…..

 

 

 

 

 

We also did two family cruises in 2004 and 2006. Both were eight-day sailings from New York to the Caribbean.

 

Now after sixteen years we were back on her again. We thought that she looked marvelous! Yes, you could spot a little wear and tear in places, but we saw nothing major. Everything in our cabin worked just fine.

 

Speaking of our cabin, our room steward Kris, was just fantastic. When we needed anything, he took care of it with a smile. We requested evening service and asked that our ice bucket be filled in the morning. Done, no problem. We find that the once-a-day service is just fine for us. Not rushing to get out of the cabin in the morning so the room can be cleaned fits us perfectly.

 

We only ate in the Dining Room three times. I think we’ve gotten bored with the menus, and the fact that it takes so long to get through the meal. We did go twice on elegant nights, and it took nearly two hours. It seems like the food is never that hot, and the portions are much smaller. Now we know that we can order more, but three tiny shrimp making up a shrimp cocktail?

 

We find that eating up in the Lido much easier. Most of what is on the Dining Room menu is available there, and you can take as much as you want. Some of our dinners were from the deli, pizza pirate, and salad bar. We did do the Steakhouse one night and had a very good experience, had the Seafood Corner one night, and Bonsai Sushi two nights. Our dinner requirements were more than satisfied.

 

We did the SeaDay Brunch one time, took too long, so we never went back. We were more than satisfied with the Lido buffet, omelet stations, and Blue Iguana breakfast burritos, when we did choose to have breakfast.

 

Lunch was mostly the deli and Chopsticks, with a couple of days at Guy’s Burgers. No complaints from either of us here.

 

To be continued…….

[Jamman54]

It’s time to talk a little bit about the entertainment. As you may or may not know, Patti is hearing impaired, so musical acts and production shows are really just noise to her. If the entertainment is more visual, say like a magician and such, she enjoys that. There are two production shows that she really enjoys, and they are Celestial Strings, and Soulbound. Unfortunately, they are not performed on the Legend. The Playlist Production shows on the Legend are Motor City, The Brits!, Studio VIP, and Epic Rock. We didn’t go to any of them.

 

After dinner, Patti is happy to have a drink, walk the ship, browse the shops, and then go back to the cabin to read. Myself, I like to sit at the Lobby Bar or Alchemy bar, have a drink, and listen to the entertainers. I enjoyed them all. I also like to head to Punchliners and watch the comedians. Over the two weeks I got to see five different comedians, and all were good except one, whose name I will not mention again!

 

We basically hung out at only four of the bars onboard. Three of them had bartenders that we knew from our Panorama cruise last October. Angela, who worked at the Havana Bar on the Panorama, was at the Casino Bar. Omer, who is Angela’s boyfriend, was at the Alchemy Bar. He was at the Pig & Anchor on the Panorama. And finally Ramil, who worked at the Tides Bar on the Panorama, was at the Lobby Bar. The other bar that we hung out at was of course, the Red Frog Rum Bar. We made quick friends with Argee and the rest of the gang there!

 

Now let’s talk a little about the Bermuda leg of our B2B. Of course, back in August we still needed to be tested for Covid in order to be let on board. Thankfully, that’s not the case anymore if you have been vaccinated. Now, Bermuda has a nice scam going. You have to pay $40 pp to get a Travel Authorization to step foot on their soil. That still continues to this day. I guess we should feel lucky, as I had heard that last year it was $75 pp. Without the Bermuda Travel Authorization, you were not getting on the ship. We must have been checked half a dozen times during the embarkation process.

 

I have an issue with the six day Bermuda cruises from Baltimore. The issue is that there is only one overnight. It doesn’t take two and a half days to get to Bermuda from Baltimore. Leaving on a Sunday the Legend should easily get to Bermuda by Tuesday, giving us two overnights. Instead, the Legend gets there Wednesday morning giving us only one overnight. For that reason, we will probably not book a Bermuda cruise from Baltimore again. Six-day Bermuda cruises from New York will give you two overnights, and New York is further away from Bermuda than Baltimore is!

 

The weather while we were in Bermuda was not good. Except for a six- hour window from noon until 6 pm on Wednesday it rained the whole time. Of course, the weather is not Carnivals fault, but if we were here on Tuesday, it was a beautiful day. We did get out and about for those six hours but cancelled our trip to Horseshoe Bay because of the threat of rain. Our last two sailings here before this one were weather affected. In 2019 our Sunrise cruise was diverted to Charleston because of Hurricane Humberto. In 2018 our cruise to Bermuda on the Pride was also plagued by rain. We’ll keep trying though, because this is one beautiful island!

 

To be continued……..

[Jamman54]

Now, let’s talk about the New England/Canada leg of the B2B. At the time you needed a Covid test and had to fill out ArriveCan in order to board the ship. That is no longer the case. We were given our Covid test the day we left Bermuda on the first leg of the B2B. We were nervous about passing this one because of all the stories we were reading about people coming off of cruises with Covid, but all the people doing B2B’s tested negative. We also completed our ArriveCan, but nobody on the ship, or in Canada, ever asked to see it.

 

Our first two port stops in Boston and Portland, we had to deal with rain. At least in Boston the rain held off until after noontime. We enjoyed our Old Town Trolley Tour, and our time at the Quincey Market. We were saddened that the Cheers Bar didn’t survive the pandemic.

 

Portland was a complete washout. We were glad that we didn’t have a tour planned. We just stayed on the ship and relaxed.

 

The weather at the two Canada stops was beautiful. In Halifax, we weren’t thrilled where the Carnival Legend had to dock, but we enjoyed the City Tour that we took.

 

My mind has gone blank, so if you have any questions at all, we’ll be more than happy to answer them for you. If I think of anything else, I’ll be sure to post it.

 

We have six cruises booked in the 2023. In January we will be doing a S2S on two ships that we haven’t yet been on. First, we will be boarding the Carnival Freedom in Port Canaveral to the Eastern Caribbean, and then we will be boarding the Carnival Spirit in Miami to the Southern Caribbean. In April we will be doing a B2B on the Carnival Celebration to the Western and Eastern Caribbean from Miami. In September we will be boarding the Carnival Magic from our homeport of New York on B2B cruises to the Eastern Caribbean and Canada. Will any of you be sailing with us? If you are, be sure to say hello! If not, we’ll be bringing these cruises to you!

 

Before I end this, I have to thank my wife, Patti. I couldn’t do these adventures, or these reviews, without her. She is my best friend, my rock, and a heck of a photographer!

 

Speaking of photography, the photos you see on these reviews are only a small portion of all the photos Patti takes during our cruises. If you would like to see the whole package, there is a link in my signature for our Cruise and Vacation albums. Feel free to check them out if you are so inclined.

 

So, until next time, may you have blue skies and calm seas!!!

[Jamman54]

Here is our updated cruise review list. Unfortunately, we had to delete all of our reviews prior to 2017 because we changed photo hosting sites and now the pictures no longer show in the older reviews. We have also included a link to our cruise and vacation albums where you can see all the photos Patti took on every cruise:

 

*** Carnival Pride Repo Journeys Cruise -  2/26/17 - Tampa to Baltimore

*** Carnival Magic B2B / Carnival Elation - 10/7/17 -  Western Caribbean x2 / Bahamas

*** Carnival Paradise / Carnival Conquest - 4/14/18 - Western Caribbean / Eastern Caribbean

*** Carnival Pride - 10/21/18 - Bermuda

*** Carnival Inspiration / Carnival Splendor - 4/22/19 - Baja Mexico / Hawaii Journeys Cruise

*** Carnival Sunrise B2B - 9/16/19 - Not Bermuda / Canada & New England

*** Carnival Horizon – 8/21/2021 - Southern Caribbean

*** Carnival Miracle / Carnival Panorama - 10/15/21 - Baja Mexico / Mexican Riviera

*** Mardi Gras B2B - 4/23/2022 - Eastern / Western Caribbean

*** Carnival Legend - B2B - 8/28/2022 -Bermuda / New England & Canada

 

*** Our Cruise and Vacation Albums. ***

[blarko]

Cruise critic royalty right here! Thanks again for all you do and all you share in your amazing reviews. Thanks for taking us all on vacation with you once again….you two are truly the best.

[floridagal83]

I finally had time to read this. Belated thanks to you and Patti for another informative and entertaining review! 👏

[Jamman54]

5 hours ago, Vikequeen123 said:

I finally had time to read this. Belated thanks to you and Patti for another informative and entertaining review! 👏

Thanks so much for reading! 😎

[mvaygibson]

On 10/17/2022 at 5:16 PM, Jamman54 said:

Thanks so much for reading!  They will usually have early card sales a couple of hours prior to the show. Check the Hub App or the paper copy of the activities for time and place. You can also go about a half hour prior to the show and get your card(s). Cards are $25 each, or 2 for $40.

 

Here are what your cards look like. At the bottom of your card, hidden under the tab is your card number. It is that number which is randomly drawn to select the on-stage contestant. They will also show the name of the person who bought the card up on the screen. There are two games per session, and your card is good for both games.

 

 

Everybody else plays for the prize board. The idea is to have as many matches as you can. The more matches, the better the prize. What is a match? As the on-stage contestant selects cases, say he selects case # 5 and it has $10 in it, then you open # 5 on your card, and if it shows $10, you have a match. You don't win anything until you have two matches. After every round they will show the prize board, and you can see how many people have matches and at what level. Whatever level you're at when the game ends is what you win. They will explain how you will receive any prizes that you win. I think that covers it!

 

Thank you very much! Going on the Magic in 3 weeks. I will look for this game.

[WhiteOptima]

@Jamman54  I know you normally drive.  We are doing B2B on Celebration 4/9 and 4/16.  Cruise was cheap but holy cow airfare😠!  We are thinking of driving and my question to you is where are you planning on parking your car when you are on Celebration?

 

Dennis and I are like you two when we are on cruises.  Usually eat on Lido but I am the one sitting at the bar and both may be in casino.

 

Thank you for any help!

Karen

[Jamman54]

37 minutes ago, WhiteOptima said:

@Jamman54  I know you normally drive.  We are doing B2B on Celebration 4/9 and 4/16.  Cruise was cheap but holy cow airfare😠!  We are thinking of driving and my question to you is where are you planning on parking your car when you are on Celebration?

 

Dennis and I are like you two when we are on cruises.  Usually eat on Lido but I am the one sitting at the bar and both may be in casino.

 

Thank you for any help!

Karen

We will be parking at the pier. You can probably do better cost wise by parking off site, but we don't like doing the shuttle thing. We just like getting in the car and going once our cruises are over. See you on board on the 16th! 🤗

[WhiteOptima]

19 cruises and have never been to Costa Maya so going to have to reread yours and @Saint Gregreviews for things to do.

[Jamman54]

3 minutes ago, WhiteOptima said:

19 cruises and have never been to Costa Maya so going to have to reread yours and @Saint Gregreviews for things to do.

Enjoy your planning! 😎

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, WhiteOptima said:

19 cruises and have never been to Costa Maya so going to have to reread yours and @Saint Gregreviews for things to do.

 

I did Mayan ruins there and I'll be doing another set on my Celebration cruise in a couple weeks. Once I've covered all of the ruins I'll definitely want to check out that Costa Maya pool in the morning before it gets crowded one of these trips. It looks really nice. That'll probably be a Jubilee cruise.  @Jamman54 and Patti covered the port area really good. It's pretty nice.

[teacher34]

I have always wanted to visit the Titanic Cemetery . My family lived in the country and my grandfather, who was a young man, was called in to help dig the graves for those poor people. My husband and I are going on a cruise next September that will stop in Halifax and I hope to be able to see the cemetery then. I am an old lady now, but this is my dream.

[Jamman54]

5 hours ago, teacher34 said:

I have always wanted to visit the Titanic Cemetery . My family lived in the country and my grandfather, who was a young man, was called in to help dig the graves for those poor people. My husband and I are going on a cruise next September that will stop in Halifax and I hope to be able to see the cemetery then. I am an old lady now, but this is my dream.

We hope that you get a chance to go there on your cruise in September. Many of the excursions do stop there. Pick one that you like and book it. Happy planning! 😎

[emeraldead]

Just absorbed ALL of this and so grateful for the time and care you took to review and post everything.  What a magical B2B, sorry about the weather.  Also in PA and doing Carnival for the first time on the Legend in May.  Your thread has been priceless for background and prep!  Thank you!

[Jamman54]

3 hours ago, emeraldead said:

Just absorbed ALL of this and so grateful for the time and care you took to review and post everything.  What a magical B2B, sorry about the weather.  Also in PA and doing Carnival for the first time on the Legend in May.  Your thread has been priceless for background and prep!  Thank you!

Thanks for reading, and we're glad that you found it helpful! I'm sure that you'll have a great time on the Legend! 

[Jamman54]

 

A new adventure has begun! 

[princess76021]

6 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

 

A new adventure has begun! 

Yay!!!!!

hugs from Texas!!