Legend of the Seas Review (Absurdly Long)

[Peter Cabot]

Kazooie - what a great review! DW and I sail on Legend for our first RCI cruise on 2/10. Your review just made the wait all that much more difficult!

 

WeLoveOurVacations - Are you signed up for the Meet N Mingle for the 2/10 sailing? We'd love to meet others on the cruise who are escaping from our lovely Midwestern winter.

[Piepkorn]

It was a great review. Legend was our first cruise back in 1998, and is still our favorite ship to this day.

 

Dave

[SparkysWife]

Kazooie- Thanks a lot for the review! My husband, a group of friends and I will be on the 2/10 sailing with Peter Cabot and WeLoveOurVacations. And nice to see someone else on here from the Baltimore/DC area(Owings Mills and Westminster here)

I was hoping you could help me with a question though. We are trying to figure put transportation from the airport to the Tampa pier. You said a taxi was $22 for two of you. Do they charge more if you have additional people? Is it a flat fee? Just wondering because I found a shuttle service too. Thanks!

[Grumm]

Many thanks for the review. We had a blast on a 14 nighter in the Med. 2006. Whilst I agree with most of the positive comments, I would point out that the putting green is a tad "tired". Also, whilst I am a fan, one can only take so much of Bob Marley, although the band at the pool seem to think otherwise!

 

Don't want to be negative, as I'm sure you'll have a great holiday.....I certainly hope so!

 

Alan

[kazooie11]

SparkysWife--Hi neighbor! I got this off of the Tampa Airport website:

 

The airport is served by Yellow Cab and United Cab. Both companies charge the same fares: $2 plus $2 per mile. The minimum fee from the airport is $10. Once the meter exceeds the $10.00, the minimum no longer applies.

 

There is a maximum flat rate fee of $22 to Downtown Tampa and the cruise port.

 

</B>There's no mention of an extra per-person charge, and minivan taxis were plentiful. Even if you need to take two minivans, it would probably still be a lot cheaper than the RCCL transfers at $18 p/p. I would check the airport website for additional options for your large group.

 

Grumm--My daughter and I enjoy playing mini-golf on land, and were looking forward to a few head-to-head challenges on the Legend. You're absolutely right that the course is a mess. We didn't even bother trying to play it. I suppose the condition of the course didn't warrant a mention in my review because there were so many other things to do on board that we didn't miss not using it.

 

Our poolside duo was partial to Caribbean-flavored music, but then again, they only had an electric guitar and steel drums to work with. Kind of hard to play pop, rock, country or classical on a steel drum ;)

 

I guess I'm a glass-half-full kind of person, but I honestly feel that our glasses overflowed all week and that anything that disappointed was more than made up for by those things that pleased us.

 

Smooth sailing to all...

 

Jim

[SunshineCity]

kazooie11

 

I was the person who mentioned that the Windjammer was confusing and dangerous. From my point of view, and because of the circumstances that week, it was. We had so many children running around up there not looking where they were going. I'm extremely happy to hear it was not the same on your cruise. Please remember every week and cruise is different.

[grandsix]

Very good review. Glad to see Captain is being proactive with Noro prevention methods.

[perkypat23]

We're on the Legend on the 3rd of March, and your review is just getting myself and my DW more excited!!! Your review sounded like we're going to have a wonderful time...

 

We're also set up for the David & Ivan tour...Glad you found that interesting...

 

Thanks again!!!

pp23

[kazooie11]

Sunshine--Agreed. Any venue would suffer from unsupervised children behaving inappropriately. We were, indeed, fortunate not to have that problem on our sailing.

 

Grandsix--My thoughts exactly. I credit the heightened awareness promoted by the Captain and crew for the lack of any noticible noro problem on the ship. An ounce of prevention...

 

Pat--Enjoy your cruise. The fond memories we carried home with us will last a good long time. Then we can start making some new ones during our next cruise. I hope you find your time on the Legend as wonderful as we did, that the weather is warm and dry and that your seas are smooth.

 

Jim

[tiyana4]

Kazooie,

 

thank you for the very informative overview. I had some major concerns regarding this sailing because there is so little information on other posts regarding this ship. The one detailed post I found other than yours was very negative and implied that the ship was very old (just renovated wasn't it?) and the majority of the guests were elderly passengers using walkers and wheelchairs. Please tell me this post was inaccurate!

 

I am a women in my mid 30's and wonder what the ratio is of young adults to seniors. My mother (mid 70's) will be joining me and my daughter (11) on this cruise and I want to make sure everyone will have age appropriate companions and activities.

 

We also have a $100 casino credit but we don't gamble. Is there any way to cash in the chips or credit for a shipboard or stateroom credit? We sail in April. Thanks.

[kazooie11]

Angie,

 

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but I guess I missed your reply. Anyway, I don't think you have to worry about Legend. She's an older ship, but very well maintained (the refurbishment was last Spring, I believe). I guess like anything, if you look closely enough, you can find imperfections, but the only thing I found on the ship that really was in terrible shape was the mini golf course. As I mentioned before, though, there were so many other things to do, we didn't even miss it. The public rooms are beautiful, the cabins in good shape, the new bedding is great, and even the pool deck, which I've heard people complain about, was just fine.

 

As for the demographics of the pax, there was a really wide range of ages. Yes, there were folks who sat around the pool and played bridge--the older crowd--but I would say the average age was about my age--44. There were couples on our sailing on their honeymoons and a decent number of people on board with their kids (remarkable as our cruise was the 3rd week in January). I am single, and I met several singles on the ship, including a couple of lovely ladies with whom we shared our dinner table. All in all, you and yours will fit right in. Your daughter will definitely make some friends in Adventure Ocean.

 

As for the casino credit, here's my suggestion. Take your credit, go to the casino cashier and tell her you'd like to play slots. I'm guessing they'll exchange it for cash. Alternately, present it at a table in exchange for chips, then take the chips to the cashier and cash them in. I don't think you'll have any trouble converting your credit to cash.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

 

Jim

[jdmaillet]

I really enjoyed your review. It jumped out at me that you did Disney. We are going on the Navigator next week. We've only done Disney. My DD is 14 now also. I'm wondering how you'd compare the Disney experience, versus the Royal Caribbean one.

 

Thanks,

Jenn

[jdmaillet]

double post.

[Eileen G]

We just cashed in our casino credit on the Radiance last week. We don't gamble so we just went to the cashier and asked for our credit and he said how do you want it. We said in 20's and that's what we got. No problem!

[kazooie11]

Jenn,

 

Let me first say that my first offer to my DD (14) was another Disney cruise. She declined as she's in that "in between" place where Disney is not really cool anymore. That said, by the third day of our recent RCCL cruise on the Legend, she asked if we could book another one. You're on Navigator, which is to Legend as a row boat is to a powerboat. Navigator is lots bigger, with lots more to see and do than we just experienced, so I'm guessing your DD will love it.

 

In terms of comparisons between Disney and RCCL, let me give you my take. The ships were about the same size (Wonder & Legend) with Wonder being significantly newer. In terms of public rooms, I have to give Disney a slight edge, but only due to the age factor. Dining I'll give a slight edge to Disney as well, but only because I thought Disney's buffet was better. I think the multiple dining venues concept on Disney is over rated and frankly, I thought the Dining Room food was better on RCCL.

 

Activities I'm going to get flamed on, because I thought RCCL offered more diversity than Disney, and more options because of the sports orientation. I particularly liked the organized fitness activities on RCCL. For entertainment, Disney wins hands down. After all, they're Disney. That's taking nothing away from RCCL's entertainment, but they are catering to an older, different audience. I liked having the casino on RCCL as I got to spend some time there when DD was participating in AO activities, which she enjoyed. See her review of AO here.

 

We both liked RCCL enough that we've booked an Alaska cruise on Radiance for late Summer. One of the things I really like about a bigger line is the diversity of ships. We started with a smaller, older ship and really enjoyed ourselves. We're moving up to the next larger class ship for our next cruise, and still have Voyager class and Freedom class to discover.

 

I don't think you have to worry about you or your DD having fun on RCCL. You might worry more about how you're going to finance all the future cruises!!! That's what I'm doing. Have a great cruise!!!

 

Jim

[patrioticgirl]

Jim, thanks for the great review! I sail on Legend in April; your review is quite helpful!:)