Legend of the Seas 6/13 Review - Longer than I had planned!

[suziehmkr]

I had to trim mine back from 13,000 words to 10,000, lest you think yours was long! :)

 

Aha! I also had to trim both reveiws back! LOL

 

Tina

[suziehmkr]

She was walking under a large canopy...think it was photo number 11. She has red curly hair, and was wearing a white top and dark capris' in the photo.

 

Oh! Those were the nice canopies on Deck 10... Sorry I don't have others of her for you. She must have been there early as that picture was taken before alot of people were on board. I hope that her new husband was suprised.... hope he didn't miss Disneyland! hee hee

[Jevey]

Suzie..thanks for looking for me....yes, her hubby was in shock....don't think he picked his jaw up until the last day of the cruise. even the tux we got for him fitted like a charm.

 

BTW..if you need a good bloke in New York for a tux, shirt, and tie for about $102.00 including shipping, let me know. What a deal! Material was lovely, and did not crease.

[mcarnett]

Legend of the Seas – June 13, 2004 Mexican Riviera

 

The Arnetts- Mike, Dori and our daughter Megan

 

We started our day in Fullerton, CA at the train Station to catch the 9:02 am Amtrak Surfliner down to San Diego. Since we live in Brea, it is a short 10 minute drive from our house to the train station. We decided to take the train, even though it is only a two hour drive, because it was less hassle and very relaxing. When you consider the cost of parking and gas, it was actually cheaper because you can park at the Fullerton train station for free. It also has an indoor parking garage. The train follows the ocean most of the way down to San Diego.

 

Embarkation

 

We arrived at the cruise terminal about 11:20 am. This was the first time we have been at the cruise terminal before you were able to board. We only had to wait about 10 minutes. Once they started boarded, we were literally the first people to board the ship. Took the customary Embarkation Photo and headed up the steps. Once at the top you had a ramp to go up that lead to the ship. We help a lady in a wheel chair and her daughter that was struggling to get the chair over some humps in the ramp. Even though they took the elevator, you still had to go up this ramp to get to the ship. It makes it tough for those in wheelchairs. They need to improve this and make it easier for the handicap. We immediately went to our deck and discovered that our stateroom would not be available until 1:00pm. We took our things and headed to the Windjammer to have lunch. We had about an hour to kill before we could get to our stateroom, so we went down to see where our table was in the dinning room. We were on deck 4 in the middle. We had a table for six even though I always ask for a large table. It worked out well because we found out that night that we were seated with another family of three. Once we got into our cabin, I was out on our balcony and heard someone above me yelling at me in some name I could not recognize. I was thinking “who is this”. Found out it was Alan Freed and his wife Amy who are one of our cruise critic friends whom we have been communicating with before our cruise. He was calling me by my cruise critic name which is mcarnett. It is my first and middle initial and my last name. He knew who I was because I posted that we were in the corner cabin on deck 8 and he was right above us. It was funny at the time trying to figure out what Alan was saying. At 3:00 we went to the Viking Crown Lounge to meet our Cruise Critic friends. Of course, we recognized Alan immediately since we just met him. Soon Tina and her husband found us and we started talking. It was great meeting the people who you have been communicating with for over 4 or five months before the cruise. We saw each other many times during the cruise. Unfortunately, Greg and his family were not able to make it. We were hoping that they were able to make the cruise and nothing happened to them.

 

The Ship

I won’t go into much detail here as others have already done so and it would be just redundant. I will reflect on things that are our opinion only. The ship was in good shape. I noticed a little rust on the outside of our balcony, but overall, I thought she was in good shape. I do miss not having the days of the week in the elevators. The food was good. I do not expect it to be 5 stars but do expect it to taste good. The fish dishes were excellent! The entertainment was good. I especially enjoyed the show that Charles Brunner put on the afternoon of day seven. He did an excellent job on Rhapsody in Blue and all songs he played on the piano. He is the band leader for the Legend of the Seas orchestra. Unfortunately, this was his last cruise until he returns in October for the Panama Canal cruise. He is now on vacation. If you ever get a chance to hear him, do so.

 

Shore Excursions

We did two excursions, both with the cruise line. In Mazatlan we did the Sierra Madre, Concordia & Copala trip. We wanted our 8 year old daughter to experience some real Mexican culture besides beaches. We left the dock in a nice air conditioned bus. The first stop just outside of Mazatlan was the brick making factory. This was nothing but a big hole in the ground along side of the road in an open area. They used a form that could make 9 bricks at a time. They filled the form with mud and left them there to dry in the sun. Once dried, they were put into a kiln to bake. Our next stop was at the furniture factory. Again, nothing like what you would expect. A little cottage shop along the road where everything is done by hand. There is a gift shop you can purchase items. My wife bought three pieces of pottery. She got a good price for them. We finally started up the mountain and we visited the village of Concordia. The streets are very narrow and the bus had to stop about two blocks from where we were going. We walked the last two blocks into the town square. There was a church there that we could go into to. We also went to a local restaurant and had a beverage, I had a beer. It sure tasted good, because this was a very hot and humid day. We looked around for a while. Our tour guide was giving a little history of the village and it was very interesting. Back on the bus, we headed up the mountain until we reached the village of Copala. This was an old mining town at one time. Not sure what they do now. This town had very narrow streets made of cobblestone. We saw a lot of the local people riding donkeys or horses. We had to again walk the last couple of blocks because the bus could go no farther. We had lunch here at a local restaurant featuring a varity of Mexican dishes. It was actually very good. After lunch we walked a little further into the town square and saw another church. These churches were very ornate inside. Beautiful. We also visited an artist that made mask out of cowhide. You would have sworn they were ceramic. They were for sale and very reasonable. Again our guide gave us a little history of the area. We then headed down the mountain back to Mazatlan. We stopped at the Golden Zone for about an hour for shopping and headed back to the ship. The scenery up and down the mountain was very beautiful. Final note, our guide was excellent. His knowledge and English were exceptional and kept up attentive all of the time.

 

In Puerto Vallarta we did the Las Caletas Hideaway (had to have a beach day for our daughter). We boarded a catamaran for an hour ride down the coast to the beach. Boat is the only way to get there since there are no roads that go that far. It was a great boat ride. The crew entertained us all of the way. This is quite a place, very beautiful and lush with jungle. Most of us on this boat went to the farthest beach for some reason, I think it was follow the leader. The only draw back to this day was that there were quite a few jelly fish in the area and our daughter among others got stung. Good thing is that her sting was not bad and she did go back into the water. I was proud of her for doing that. Some of the activities here were kayaking, snorkeling and swimming. This is where John Huston had a home and some of his stuff is still around. We had a great lunch. I watch them make Paella from scratch in a large wok. They stated out with the crabs, shrimp and octopus. Then put in fresh vegetables and finally the rice, water and some seasonings. It was GREAT! They also had blacken fish, beans, salad and fresh fruit. If you like a beach day, I highly recommend this place and would definitely go back. The beverages were free flowing. I had at least 5 margaritas and one rum punch. What a day. The boat ride back was as entertaining as the one out, the crew did a skit about Grease.

 

Last two sea days

The last two days were very windy and chilly. Only the brave were out by the pool. When I did my mile walk on deck ten, I thought a couple of times that I was going to be blown overboard. So like others that have posted about this cruise, we did most of our activities inside. We donated to the casino like we do every cruise. We ate all of the time. We did not play Bingo because we have never won a bingo game even at home when you are playing for fun.

 

Disembarkation

Always the saddest day. One nice thing about San Diego is that you fill out your customs card the night before and drop it off at the pursers desk. You do not have to go through customs when you get off of the ship unless you exceeded your limit. Makes getting off of the ship real fast. Since we are Diamond members, we were able to wait until our color was called in the Library. They had beverages and Danish there for us. Diamond and Platinum members get light blue tags which means they get off of the ship in second group after the early air flight people get off. We were off of the ship at 9:00 am and were able to get an hour earlier train home.

 

Summary

In my opinion, no cruise is a bad cruise, just some are better than others. We had a very nice family as our table mates. It always make dinning more enjoyable when you have good table mates. We were able to keep in touch with our cruise critic friends throughout the cruise and we still talk to each other on this board. I thought the service was not as good as we have had before with the exception of our Crown and Anchor Loyalty Ambassador Runi Basnayake. She is the best that we have ever had! I am now in the process of booking our next cruise. If anyone has any specific questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

 

Michael C Arnett

__________________

Michael C Arnett

[mcarnett]

I had to cut a lot of it out. Did not know it had a limit of 1000 words. Did cut on the fly so I could get it posted, hope it reads well. If anythink seems abnormal just ask me and I will try to explain what I was trying to say. Looking forward to our next cruise.

 

Mike

[suziehmkr]

Mike, that was excellent. I am already taking notes for when we take our daughter. There is so much to do in each port, that you always miss something. Las Calitas sounds like something we would do next time!

 

Thanks for taking the time to share! We all did something different on this trip!! Fantastic!

 

Tina

[alansfreed]

Nice job, Mike! It has been fun to relive the cruise through the reviews!

[123CruiseFever]

You have no idea how happy you have made me with the aft pictures. I just can't wait till this Sunday. Also, I loved your review.

[mcarnett]

Thanks all, I put my full review on the Review page of this site. Like I said, I have to trim it back quite a bit. For those going on this cruise in the comming weeks, I tell what is going on with Charles Brunmmer the Pianist. I go into more detail on the ports also. Check it out and let me know.

 

It was great meeting all of you.....

 

Mike

[gbtwins]

suziehmkr - I have a question about one of your photos. I wanted to send you a private message, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that. Sorry if I'm breaking any of the rules here.

 

If you're reading this PLEASE e-mail me at: annika@zunshine.com

 

thank you!

[suziehmkr]

I have sent you a private email.

[gbtwins]

I have sent you a private email.

 

Thank you!!