Legend: May 20 - 27 (very long)

[fwacruiser]

Just returned from our first Carnival cruise on Sunday evening. Here are my thoughts on just about every aspect of the cruise.

 

Ship: The Legend was almost exactly as expected. The pictures on Carnival's website and very accurate and give you a very good idea of what to expect. Both my wife and I commented that we certainly wouldn't employ the ship's decor in our own home, but it was certainly a nice ship. It was immaculately clean and neat at all times.

 

I will say that it wasn't as light as I expected it to be. Our only previous cruise was with Royal Caribbean. RC's ships seem to make more use of glass to take advantage of natural light and that particular ship we were on was much brighter/sunnier than the Legend. There are certainly a great many places on the Legend where one can go to be outside or near a full window. I just found there to be more places on the Legend that made me feel as though I wasn't on a ship in the Caribbean than on RC's ship. No complaint there, really; just an observation.

 

Our cabin was VERY spaceous and we were both very, very pleased with it. We had an exterior stateroom on the Riviera deck, which is the lowest deck that paying passengers call home. We "paid" for our cruise with Marriott Reward points and I almost used my own cash to upgrade to a room on a higher deck. I'm glad we didn't. The only discernable difference (that I could tell) was that most rooms on the upper decks have balconies. If I want to sit outside, there is ample space on the various decks of the ship to do that and we didn't spend much time in our stateroom anyway. If I was booking another Carnival cruise today, I'd be content on the Riviera deck again. There was a little noise from the engines, but frankly I welcomed it. I need a little white noise in order to sleep, so I welcomed the (very subtle) hum of the engines. I was never awakened by any mechanical noises whatsoever.

 

The stateroom also had ample closet and drawer space. I'm a light packer but my wife is not. Yet we still had tons of space in the closets. She was wise to pack extra hangers, however. There were, if memory serves, eight total hangers (four in each closet), so it was good that she brought extras for us.

 

The bathroom was also adequately sized and impeccably clean at all times.

 

I'm rather particular about beds and I found the bed to be very, very comfortable - better than many hotels that I've stayed in, in fact (and I've stayed in literally hundreds). Knowing that they were squeezing two beds together into one queen size had me a little concerned that I'd feel the seam, but no. I slept like a rock for most of the trip and the only occasion on which I didn't was due to my heartburn from over-eating (not Carnival's fault)!

 

All of the ship's lounges, bars, administration desks, and the casino are located on decks 2 & 3. Very convenient to our stateroom on deck 1, which was another thing in favor of that level. Elevators were more than adequate. In most cases, we would simply walk up the stairs a level or two to get where we needed to go. Only when we wanted to go all the way up to decks 9 & 10 did we take the elevator, but when we wanted one, it was always quick.

 

The casino was pretty large. I'd venture a guess that roughly 60% of the space is consumed by slot machines and electronic gaming devices and the balance dedicated to gaming tables. I'm not a big gambler and didn't spend a lot of time there. I did play in one of the slot tournaments and my wife made a few dollars having fun at a nickel slot machine, but if I had wanted to gamble, I'd have gone to Vegas and not on a cruise. Though I will say that when the casino was open, it was usually pretty busy.

 

Service: We had heard from numerous sources that Carnival was the cruise line of choice for younger couples with less disposal income, etc. My interpretation of that was that we'd be cruising the low-end provider and I didn't have high expectations of anything. In fact, I assumed that the service and food quality would probably be the first discernable differences to me. I was pleasantly surprised. Our stateroom steward was exceptional. On a couple of occasions when I got up at night to use the bathroom, I was half surprised to return to the bed and find that our steward hadn't snuck into the room and made the bed while I was answering nature's call.

 

As mentioned previously, our room was impeccably clean at all times and rarely would we return to the room from a trip ashore or from a meal to find that something hadn't been tidied up in our absence.

 

At one point, we lost track of the beach towels Carnival had provided to us. We were concerned because we immediately assumed we'd be charged the $22/towel for replacements (they tell you they'll do this if you lose the towels). We aren't convinced we lost them; in fact, we're pretty sure we left them in the room to dry, but regardless, they were gone when we needed them. When we asked the steward, we received two new towels about 30 seconds later, no questions asked, and no charge on our bill. Every other request we made was handled immediately and our steward simply couldn't have done more to please us. Thanks, Jose!

 

Service in the dining room was equally good if not even better! I'm a bit of an anti-social type. I don't take cruises to make friends and I'm terrible at small talk, particularly with strangers. My first stop after checking out our stateroom, was to the maitre' d's desk to ask for a table for two for my wife and I. I just can't enjoy a meal with folks I don't know. With apologies, he said, "Please be patient with me tonight (Sunday) but I shall accommodate your request tomorrow." So we ate dinner at our original table on Sunday night. When we got out of bed and left the room for breakfast on Monday morning, there was a note in the mailbox outside our door with a new table assignment. Sure enough, at dinner that evening, we had our own table. Terrific! Maybe a small detail to them, but it made the cruise more enjoyable for me.

 

Our head waiter and his assistant (at the new table) quickly picked up on our tastes. They knew exactly what we wanted to drink, the kind of bread we wanted with our salads/appetizers, and how well we liked our beef done. My glass never got more than half empty, the food was promptly served, and removal of plates for completed courses was equally prompt. I'm now spoiled and will be dissatisfied with the service I get in restaurants here at home for at least the next six months.

 

Outside of the stateroom and the dining room, service was also good in the lounges, on the Lido deck, and pool-side. All you have to do is look mildly thirsty and you'll have a bar server at your side, asking what they can bring you. If you don't want to get up from your chair, trust me, you won't have to. They can bring 'em faster than you can drink 'em!

 

So to summarize, the service really couldn't have been better. My expectations were exceeded.

 

Entertainment: The entertainment on the ship was so-so. We went to several different shows, each somewhat diverse in nature. The "welcome aboard" show I thought, frankly, was a little corny/cheesy. I'm no critic of this stuff, but even to the novice eye and ear, I'd say the dancing and singing were pretty average.

 

That said, I thought the orchestra was phenomenal! They have some incredibly talented musicians and I was quite impressed by them. Frankly, I wish there had just been a show featuring ONLY the orchestra/band. I would have shown up for that with bells on. No such luck though.

 

We also attended a balancing act and a Blues Brothers tribute. The balancing act was a little circus-ish, but impressive, especially considering he was performing his act on a moving ship. The Blues Brothers tribute was energetic if just average in quality. The cruise director himself played Belushi's part and was actually better than expected.

 

Lastly, they brought a comedian by the name of Carl Faulkenberry aboard. He did two shows. The first was a family friendly show and the latter was a midnight adults-only show. Both were great! He was a very funny guy and his performances - along with those of the orchestra - were my favorite of the cruise.

 

Aside from the shows, there wasn't just a ton of activity on the ship. They have the usual trivia contests, bingo games, and things of that nature. But on the two days spent entirely at sea, my wife and I found ourselves just lounging around with little to do. I will say that that was just fine with me - I wasn't looking for a day full of activities. But heads-up if there are any of you who need to be entertained 24x7. There are times when you'll need to be content lounging by the pool with a nice umbrella drink in your hand if you're not comfortable making a spectacle of yourself playing Survivor, Fear Factor, or something like that on stage on the Lido deck.

 

One complaint I do have is in regards to the deck chairs. On our prior cruise with RC, I immensely enjoyed sitting out on the upper decks at night, just enjoying the ocean breeze and looking at the stars. On Sunday night after eating dinner, we went back to the stateroom, changed clothes, and headed up to the Sun deck to do just that. I was rather dismayed to discover that once the sun went down, the deck chairs were stacked and tied down. So if I was to enjoy the ocean breeze and stars, it would be done on my feet. The Lido deck has three different pools, all with ample tables and chairs at each. Unfortunately, none of those locations on the Lido deck is entirely wide open. You may have a window that can be opened to the outside, but you're often under roof, at least to some degree.

 

Food: Food quality was the other area (along with service) that I expected to be somewhat compromised. Not the case. I'll just start by saying that I gained 10 POUNDS on a seven day cruise, so you can probably tell from that fact that I didn't have a huge issue with the food. :D

 

For breakfast , we frequented the self-serve buffets on the Lido deck. Every morning, my new Indonesian friend Aras would make me a terrific custom omelet and I'd grab some hash browns, bacon, sausage, etc. All were great. They also had a broad selection of fruits as well as the traditional pancakes, french toast, bagels, etc.

 

For lunch, it was back to Lido deck for another broad selection of options. By the mid-ship pool was a grill that offered burgers and hot dogs between, I believe, 10:00am and 6:00pm. I took that route a couple times and that food was good. They also have a deli that will make you grilled sandwiches like reubens, ham & cheese, roast turkey, etc. I tried that on a couple occasions and it was also good. Each day, they'd also have a couple buffets with fare that varied from day to day. I had a roasted herb chicken breast one day, some shaved prime rib on another. I saw French cuisine being featured one day and passed on that. Everything I ate was good though. If you couldn't find anything else to satisfy you, they have pizza available 24 hours a day. It's also pretty good.

 

Dinner was in the dining room every night. I'm a pretty straightforward meat and potatoes kind of guy, i.e. not into "fancy food" so to speak. I wasn't sure what to expect, but again I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think there was any night when I wasn't able to find a nice selection of beef in one form or another. The New York sirloin was available as a selection every night. I also had prime rib on two occasions, filet mignon one night, chateaubriand another, sirloin another, and also had a very nice jerked pork loin. The Caesar salad had a little too much anchovie/fish flavor for my liking, so I only did that once. Otherwise, the salads were to my liking and a couple times I asked for two appetizers instead of one appetizer and a salad. Deserts were good as well, though honestly, were probably the weakest link of the entire meal, if I had to pick one. The chocolate melting cake was really good, but otherwise, I thought the deserts were so-so. I didn't have any trouble finishing any of them, mind you, I just didn't have anything that really wowed me.

 

The midnight "grand buffet" disappointed me a little. It had already started before the midnight adults-only comedian show let out, so we were a tad late getting there and the line was quite long. When we did get to the buffet, I found it was mostly the aforementioned "fancy food" which I'm not a fan of. I'm really not into making artwork out of food. The two need to be separated and in this case they came together as one. I'm sure all you connoisseurs of the culinary arts would disagree with me on this, but I was looking to pile some good food on my plate and wash it down with a beer or two. I walked out with a piece of shaved prime rib, a beef medallion, a slice of bread, and a piece of chocolate cake. Now, did I need any of that? Of course not! But I wanted something different and I guess I just had misaligned expectations. Don't get me wrong, it did all LOOK very nice and the ice carvings were cool. But that's where it ended for me.

 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Mexican buffet they had the night of the "Bathrobes & Beer" party. Now THAT was a buffet that I could (and did!) get into. It was very authentic tasting Mexican food and it was REALLY good. That was the heartburn night, in case you couldn't guess!

 

I also hit the 24-hr pizzeria on a couple of occasions. Both the pizza and the calzone were good and they washed down nicely with those $5 beers. (Ouch!)

 

Looking back at my post, I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that 10 lb. gain, should I?

 

Ports of Call: Here's a brief itinerary for this cruise:

Sunday 4:00pm - departed Tampa.

Monday - at sea.

Tuesday - arrived Grand Cayman 7:00am, departed 4:00pm

Wednesday - arrived Cozumel 8:00am, departed 5:00pm

Thursday - arrived Belize 7:00am, departed 5:00pm

Friday - arrived Costa Maya 8:00am, departed 5:00pm

Saturday - at sea.

Sunday - arrived Tampa 7:00am

 

Embarkation was VERY easy. The only (very minor) hiccup was that my wife never had her passport amended with her new last name after we got married (7 years ago!). It didn't match her driver's license so that cost us about 5 extra minutes when checking in. After that, it was never a problem. The line moved quickly and they allowed us on the ship an hour before the documentation said we could board. Nice job, Carnival.

 

Regarding the ports, I'll start by saying we did no "planned" shore excursions. We essentially went ashore and made up our own excursions. With one exception, that plan worked out well.

 

Grand Cayman: We made our way off the pier and immediately made a wrong turn. We went left when we should have gone right. After about half a mile, we figured this out, back-tracked, and ended up where we wanted to be. We hit some of the touristy shops and picked up t-shirts for the kids, but didn't stay long. We found what we believe to be the public transportation terminal in Georgetown. A middle-aged woman sitting in a wooden shack was arranging "bus" service for passengers. Wherever you wanted to go on Grand Cayman, you paid $4/person, they'd put you in a beat-up van, and drive you there. You had to wait for the van to be full (9 passengers in our case), but it was inexpensive and provided some interesting local flavor. We told the driver we were looking for a nice public beach. After about a 10 minute ride, he dropped us off at an absolutely gorgeous beach that was, for all practical purposes, completely deserted. In what I would estimate at about a 500 yard stretch of beach, there were maybe 10 other people there. Further down the beach, maybe a 1/2 mile or so, was a little bit larger crowd and you could go there to rent snorkeling equipment, wave runners, etc. We later learned that this is where Carnival dropped the shore excursion people who paid $30 each for the "day at the beach" excursion. That may have included a drink or two at the restaurant located on the beach, I'm not sure. But if you want to enjoy a fantastic spot on the beach with absolutely crystal clear water, have a driver take you to "Sea Grape Beach." It's part of Seven Mile Beach and it's fantastic. We spent the rest of our day there.

 

Cozumel: This was probably my favorite port of call. We got suckered in by a person we believed to be offering directions. She did give us directions, but she had a sales pitch at the end that we politely listened to before declining and going on our merry away. Again forgoing the planned excursions, we found the guy directing all the taxis outside the pier, told him what we were looking for, and asked for recommendations. He put us in a cab and we somewhat blindly accepted his recommendation to go to "Mr. Sancho's." Turned out to be a great recommendation! Mr. Sancho's was about a 10 minute cab ride from the pier and was nothing more than a little restaurant/bar/beach club right on the water. They had a few shops out front with friendly merchants and I bartered with a guy for a couple Cohiba Cuban cigars for $8 each before finding another empty beach filled with chairs. They also had a nice pool to accompany the roughly 40 open-air tables under a thatch roof. I downed the first yard of margarita and ordered a second before realizing what the first one did to me! S-T-R-O-N-G drinks and much cheaper than on the ship. After two of those, I took a little hiatus and hit the water for a couple hours before returning to my spot and starting in on the $2 Dos Equis beers. A safer choice, I thought. About 3:00pm, we headed back for the ship. I probably wasn't completely sober until about 9:00pm, but it was a helluva fun day!

 

Belize: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it, right? I'm going to say it anyway: I thought Belize City was an absolute atrocity. I hated it five minutes after arriving and I couldn't leave soon enough! The comedian on board used Belize for about a third of his family show material, if that tells you anything. Maybe if you went on a planned excursion it was OK, but I wouldn't go back.

 

Costa Maya: This place was cool if not terribly "authentic." My impression is that a couple cruise lines got together, bought a couple square miles of Mexico right on the coast, built a wall around it, put in a giant swimming pool with some shops and a big restaurant/bar to accompany it, and named it Costa Maya. It was fun and I enjoyed our day there, but it felt like I was at Chi-Chi's ordering food and drinks. The pool was very cool and there was a bar in the pool, so you didn't have to get out to order a drink - that scored points with me. Again, it was a fun place but just didn't have the local flavor I got in Georgetown and Cozumel.

 

Overall Experience: Man, I hated to get off the ship back in Tampa. Since our honeymoon, this was the best vacation my wife and I have had. A lot of it had to do with the fact that the kids weren't with us, but Carnival did a very, very nice job. I would (and probably will) cruise with them again. We have our eyes on a RC cruise for next time, which unfortunately probably won't happen for a couple years. But I would have no complaints whatsoever about booking with Carnival again and I didn't go into this trip with that expectation. The ship, the crew, the food, the service - all terrific! I would recommend the Legend and this itinerary to anyway (with the Belize caveat, of course!).

[OllieGator]

Awesome read! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

DW and I just booked this same cruise for mid-Sept. Can't wait!

 

Did you find it easy to navigate the ship?

[SandyW]

Thanks for such a great review of your cruise. I'm so glad it exceeded your expectations! Plus you've given me some insight into our next cruise.

 

Usually when I hear someone has a stop in Belize, I encourage them to go on an excursion. (Same with Calica...if you ever end up there.)

 

One of the things I've always enjoyed on Carnival ships are the orchestra/band. Each ship has it's own and they all seem to be really good.

(Our only RC experience was on the Radiance of the Sea and if they had a band it must have been on vacation that cruise.) We've been on one or two Carnival cruises where the band has had their own "show"....or part of them are in one of the lounges playing during the day. This must depend on the band leader as it hasn't occurred on all the Carnival Cruises we've been on.

They always play during the Captain's Cocktail Party and the Return Guest Cocktail Party.

 

Thanks again for sharing your experiences!

[pugsy&porter]

Thanks for your review. My family is going on the Legend in July and probably had the same expectations as you going into. I am glad to hear that this exceeded yours.

[sallywallygal]

Thanks for the very detailed review. We'll be on this cruise in 12 days! We are so excited!

 

Your Belize experience shows the value of doing research on Cruise Critic!

 

Glad you liked the Carnival Cruise. We went as skeptics last summer and are back on it this year!:D

[jjbescher]

Great Review. I like how you told us what you were expecting and what you got. I can definitely see you put a lot of thought of what to write.

 

Thanks,

jon

[tggs726]

That may have been the best review i have ever read. i did a ship inspection of the Legend in March and now I am traveling on the Legend August 19th, cant wait! i noticed you never mentioned the Karaoke bar, now on the spirit class ships this lounge is very hard to come across unless you know its there.(located forward on riveria deck) Did you never come across it or is karaoke just not your thing?

[Procruizer]

What an awesome review!! I did that same voyage a couple of years ago. But I was on the Miracle. I echo your thoughts about Belize also. By the way, Cozumel was my favorite spot too.

[EydieG]

Awesome review. I can't wait for our turn on the Legend!

[sirlostalot]

Great review, DW and I are going in Jan and are looking forward to it

[keishashadow]

Very thorough & informative (i've taken notes for Dec.):D

 

DH is a carnivore too, he'll be thrilled.

[sallyb]

Thanks for the review, our turn is at the end of January. We did the same cruise on the Miracle a few years ago.

After learning about Belize here, we had a cave tubing excursion booked. This time, we will go directly to one of the cayes for snorkeling.

Been to Cayman 3 times, will just do a little shopping this time, and Costa Maya means Mahajual for me!

Coz is also my fav port, can't wait!

[cruiseapril]

Great review. Lots of good feedback. Thanks.

[pflorio994]

Great review, now you make our Legend June 25th cruise even more exciting.

[1sttimerhere]

That review was the best I ever read. Thanks so much. Going on in October and I cannot wait. Your review was objective an enjoyable and I am so glad you had such a great time! :)

[fwacruiser]

Just a couple quick answers to some queries below:

 

1) Did I find the ship easy to navigate?

Frankly, it took me a couple days. But once I figured it out, I couldn't quite understand how it gave me trouble. Generally speaking, aside from your stateroom deck, decks 2 & 3 are the only ones that should cause you any confusion. Deck 9 is food, beverages, and pools no matter which direction you go, and Deck 10 is the Sun deck. Two and 3 are where all the bars and lounges are. Everything else is staterooms only, with the exception of the gangways (Deck A) and the Firebird lounge (Deck 1). I did get turned around a few times, but eventually got my bearings.

 

2) Karaoke.

If you're into karaoke, you'll be in great shape. It's in the Firebird lounge, and yes, it's all the way forward on the Riviera deck. It didn't seem to have great participation, but it always seemed to be going on. On my average trip past there - which was probably 2-3 times a day, I'd guess there were between 8 and 15 people in there. I think the poor girl hosting it probably had to do 50% or more of the singing. When she wasn't up there, the same gay guy (not that there's anything wrong with that), was singing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." I'm pretty sure I heard him singing that song no less than 5-6 times on my cruise. It started to become a joke with my wife and I, but buddy - if you're reading this - your singing wasn't half bad!

[neatokimmo]

I am glad to see more happy Legend customers :) My trip was 4 weeks ago, one of the best ones of my life! I wouldn't think twice about doing this exact ship/intinerary again (can I go now?)

 

Did you feed the fish at Mr Sanchos? There were tons of them there when we were there :)

[DolphinFan]

Just returned from our first Carnival cruise on Sunday evening. Here are my thoughts on just about every aspect of the cruise.

 

Ship: The Legend was almost exactly as expected. The pictures on Carnival's website and very accurate and give you a very good idea of what to expect. Both my wife and I commented that we certainly wouldn't employ the ship's decor in our own home, but it was certainly a nice ship. It was immaculately clean and neat at all times.

 

I will say that it wasn't as light as I expected it to be. Our only previous cruise was with Royal Caribbean. RC's ships seem to make more use of glass to take advantage of natural light and that particular ship we were on was much brighter/sunnier than the Legend. There are certainly a great many places on the Legend where one can go to be outside or near a full window. I just found there to be more places on the Legend that made me feel as though I wasn't on a ship in the Caribbean than on RC's ship. No complaint there, really; just an observation.

 

Our cabin was VERY spaceous and we were both very, very pleased with it. We had an exterior stateroom on the Riviera deck, which is the lowest deck that paying passengers call home. We "paid" for our cruise with Marriott Reward points and I almost used my own cash to upgrade to a room on a higher deck. I'm glad we didn't. The only discernable difference (that I could tell) was that most rooms on the upper decks have balconies. If I want to sit outside, there is ample space on the various decks of the ship to do that and we didn't spend much time in our stateroom anyway. If I was booking another Carnival cruise today, I'd be content on the Riviera deck again. There was a little noise from the engines, but frankly I welcomed it. I need a little white noise in order to sleep, so I welcomed the (very subtle) hum of the engines. I was never awakened by any mechanical noises whatsoever.

 

The stateroom also had ample closet and drawer space. I'm a light packer but my wife is not. Yet we still had tons of space in the closets. She was wise to pack extra hangers, however. There were, if memory serves, eight total hangers (four in each closet), so it was good that she brought extras for us.

 

The bathroom was also adequately sized and impeccably clean at all times.

 

I'm rather particular about beds and I found the bed to be very, very comfortable - better than many hotels that I've stayed in, in fact (and I've stayed in literally hundreds). Knowing that they were squeezing two beds together into one queen size had me a little concerned that I'd feel the seam, but no. I slept like a rock for most of the trip and the only occasion on which I didn't was due to my heartburn from over-eating (not Carnival's fault)!

 

All of the ship's lounges, bars, administration desks, and the casino are located on decks 2 & 3. Very convenient to our stateroom on deck 1, which was another thing in favor of that level. Elevators were more than adequate. In most cases, we would simply walk up the stairs a level or two to get where we needed to go. Only when we wanted to go all the way up to decks 9 & 10 did we take the elevator, but when we wanted one, it was always quick.

 

The casino was pretty large. I'd venture a guess that roughly 60% of the space is consumed by slot machines and electronic gaming devices and the balance dedicated to gaming tables. I'm not a big gambler and didn't spend a lot of time there. I did play in one of the slot tournaments and my wife made a few dollars having fun at a nickel slot machine, but if I had wanted to gamble, I'd have gone to Vegas and not on a cruise. Though I will say that when the casino was open, it was usually pretty busy.

 

Service: We had heard from numerous sources that Carnival was the cruise line of choice for younger couples with less disposal income, etc. My interpretation of that was that we'd be cruising the low-end provider and I didn't have high expectations of anything. In fact, I assumed that the service and food quality would probably be the first discernable differences to me. I was pleasantly surprised. Our stateroom steward was exceptional. On a couple of occasions when I got up at night to use the bathroom, I was half surprised to return to the bed and find that our steward hadn't snuck into the room and made the bed while I was answering nature's call.

 

As mentioned previously, our room was impeccably clean at all times and rarely would we return to the room from a trip ashore or from a meal to find that something hadn't been tidied up in our absence.

 

At one point, we lost track of the beach towels Carnival had provided to us. We were concerned because we immediately assumed we'd be charged the $22/towel for replacements (they tell you they'll do this if you lose the towels). We aren't convinced we lost them; in fact, we're pretty sure we left them in the room to dry, but regardless, they were gone when we needed them. When we asked the steward, we received two new towels about 30 seconds later, no questions asked, and no charge on our bill. Every other request we made was handled immediately and our steward simply couldn't have done more to please us. Thanks, Jose!

 

Service in the dining room was equally good if not even better! I'm a bit of an anti-social type. I don't take cruises to make friends and I'm terrible at small talk, particularly with strangers. My first stop after checking out our stateroom, was to the maitre' d's desk to ask for a table for two for my wife and I. I just can't enjoy a meal with folks I don't know. With apologies, he said, "Please be patient with me tonight (Sunday) but I shall accommodate your request tomorrow." So we ate dinner at our original table on Sunday night. When we got out of bed and left the room for breakfast on Monday morning, there was a note in the mailbox outside our door with a new table assignment. Sure enough, at dinner that evening, we had our own table. Terrific! Maybe a small detail to them, but it made the cruise more enjoyable for me.

 

Our head waiter and his assistant (at the new table) quickly picked up on our tastes. They knew exactly what we wanted to drink, the kind of bread we wanted with our salads/appetizers, and how well we liked our beef done. My glass never got more than half empty, the food was promptly served, and removal of plates for completed courses was equally prompt. I'm now spoiled and will be dissatisfied with the service I get in restaurants here at home for at least the next six months.

 

Outside of the stateroom and the dining room, service was also good in the lounges, on the Lido deck, and pool-side. All you have to do is look mildly thirsty and you'll have a bar server at your side, asking what they can bring you. If you don't want to get up from your chair, trust me, you won't have to. They can bring 'em faster than you can drink 'em!

 

So to summarize, the service really couldn't have been better. My expectations were exceeded.

 

Entertainment: The entertainment on the ship was so-so. We went to several different shows, each somewhat diverse in nature. The "welcome aboard" show I thought, frankly, was a little corny/cheesy. I'm no critic of this stuff, but even to the novice eye and ear, I'd say the dancing and singing were pretty average.

 

That said, I thought the orchestra was phenomenal! They have some incredibly talented musicians and I was quite impressed by them. Frankly, I wish there had just been a show featuring ONLY the orchestra/band. I would have shown up for that with bells on. No such luck though.

 

We also attended a balancing act and a Blues Brothers tribute. The balancing act was a little circus-ish, but impressive, especially considering he was performing his act on a moving ship. The Blues Brothers tribute was energetic if just average in quality. The cruise director himself played Belushi's part and was actually better than expected.

 

Lastly, they brought a comedian by the name of Carl Faulkenberry aboard. He did two shows. The first was a family friendly show and the latter was a midnight adults-only show. Both were great! He was a very funny guy and his performances - along with those of the orchestra - were my favorite of the cruise.

 

Aside from the shows, there wasn't just a ton of activity on the ship. They have the usual trivia contests, bingo games, and things of that nature. But on the two days spent entirely at sea, my wife and I found ourselves just lounging around with little to do. I will say that that was just fine with me - I wasn't looking for a day full of activities. But heads-up if there are any of you who need to be entertained 24x7. There are times when you'll need to be content lounging by the pool with a nice umbrella drink in your hand if you're not comfortable making a spectacle of yourself playing Survivor, Fear Factor, or something like that on stage on the Lido deck.

 

One complaint I do have is in regards to the deck chairs. On our prior cruise with RC, I immensely enjoyed sitting out on the upper decks at night, just enjoying the ocean breeze and looking at the stars. On Sunday night after eating dinner, we went back to the stateroom, changed clothes, and headed up to the Sun deck to do just that. I was rather dismayed to discover that once the sun went down, the deck chairs were stacked and tied down. So if I was to enjoy the ocean breeze and stars, it would be done on my feet. The Lido deck has three different pools, all with ample tables and chairs at each. Unfortunately, none of those locations on the Lido deck is entirely wide open. You may have a window that can be opened to the outside, but you're often under roof, at least to some degree.

 

Food: Food quality was the other area (along with service) that I expected to be somewhat compromised. Not the case. I'll just start by saying that I gained 10 POUNDS on a seven day cruise, so you can probably tell from that fact that I didn't have a huge issue with the food. :D

 

For breakfast , we frequented the self-serve buffets on the Lido deck. Every morning, my new Indonesian friend Aras would make me a terrific custom omelet and I'd grab some hash browns, bacon, sausage, etc. All were great. They also had a broad selection of fruits as well as the traditional pancakes, french toast, bagels, etc.

 

For lunch, it was back to Lido deck for another broad selection of options. By the mid-ship pool was a grill that offered burgers and hot dogs between, I believe, 10:00am and 6:00pm. I took that route a couple times and that food was good. They also have a deli that will make you grilled sandwiches like reubens, ham & cheese, roast turkey, etc. I tried that on a couple occasions and it was also good. Each day, they'd also have a couple buffets with fare that varied from day to day. I had a roasted herb chicken breast one day, some shaved prime rib on another. I saw French cuisine being featured one day and passed on that. Everything I ate was good though. If you couldn't find anything else to satisfy you, they have pizza available 24 hours a day. It's also pretty good.

 

Dinner was in the dining room every night. I'm a pretty straightforward meat and potatoes kind of guy, i.e. not into "fancy food" so to speak. I wasn't sure what to expect, but again I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think there was any night when I wasn't able to find a nice selection of beef in one form or another. The New York sirloin was available as a selection every night. I also had prime rib on two occasions, filet mignon one night, chateaubriand another, sirloin another, and also had a very nice jerked pork loin. The Caesar salad had a little too much anchovie/fish flavor for my liking, so I only did that once. Otherwise, the salads were to my liking and a couple times I asked for two appetizers instead of one appetizer and a salad. Deserts were good as well, though honestly, were probably the weakest link of the entire meal, if I had to pick one. The chocolate melting cake was really good, but otherwise, I thought the deserts were so-so. I didn't have any trouble finishing any of them, mind you, I just didn't have anything that really wowed me.

 

The midnight "grand buffet" disappointed me a little. It had already started before the midnight adults-only comedian show let out, so we were a tad late getting there and the line was quite long. When we did get to the buffet, I found it was mostly the aforementioned "fancy food" which I'm not a fan of. I'm really not into making artwork out of food. The two need to be separated and in this case they came together as one. I'm sure all you connoisseurs of the culinary arts would disagree with me on this, but I was looking to pile some good food on my plate and wash it down with a beer or two. I walked out with a piece of shaved prime rib, a beef medallion, a slice of bread, and a piece of chocolate cake. Now, did I need any of that? Of course not! But I wanted something different and I guess I just had misaligned expectations. Don't get me wrong, it did all LOOK very nice and the ice carvings were cool. But that's where it ended for me.

 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Mexican buffet they had the night of the "Bathrobes & Beer" party. Now THAT was a buffet that I could (and did!) get into. It was very authentic tasting Mexican food and it was REALLY good. That was the heartburn night, in case you couldn't guess!

 

I also hit the 24-hr pizzeria on a couple of occasions. Both the pizza and the calzone were good and they washed down nicely with those $5 beers. (Ouch!)

 

Looking back at my post, I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that 10 lb. gain, should I?

 

Ports of Call: Here's a brief itinerary for this cruise:

Sunday 4:00pm - departed Tampa.

Monday - at sea.

Tuesday - arrived Grand Cayman 7:00am, departed 4:00pm

Wednesday - arrived Cozumel 8:00am, departed 5:00pm

Thursday - arrived Belize 7:00am, departed 5:00pm

Friday - arrived Costa Maya 8:00am, departed 5:00pm

Saturday - at sea.

Sunday - arrived Tampa 7:00am

 

Embarkation was VERY easy. The only (very minor) hiccup was that my wife never had her passport amended with her new last name after we got married (7 years ago!). It didn't match her driver's license so that cost us about 5 extra minutes when checking in. After that, it was never a problem. The line moved quickly and they allowed us on the ship an hour before the documentation said we could board. Nice job, Carnival.

 

Regarding the ports, I'll start by saying we did no "planned" shore excursions. We essentially went ashore and made up our own excursions. With one exception, that plan worked out well.

 

Grand Cayman: We made our way off the pier and immediately made a wrong turn. We went left when we should have gone right. After about half a mile, we figured this out, back-tracked, and ended up where we wanted to be. We hit some of the touristy shops and picked up t-shirts for the kids, but didn't stay long. We found what we believe to be the public transportation terminal in Georgetown. A middle-aged woman sitting in a wooden shack was arranging "bus" service for passengers. Wherever you wanted to go on Grand Cayman, you paid $4/person, they'd put you in a beat-up van, and drive you there. You had to wait for the van to be full (9 passengers in our case), but it was inexpensive and provided some interesting local flavor. We told the driver we were looking for a nice public beach. After about a 10 minute ride, he dropped us off at an absolutely gorgeous beach that was, for all practical purposes, completely deserted. In what I would estimate at about a 500 yard stretch of beach, there were maybe 10 other people there. Further down the beach, maybe a 1/2 mile or so, was a little bit larger crowd and you could go there to rent snorkeling equipment, wave runners, etc. We later learned that this is where Carnival dropped the shore excursion people who paid $30 each for the "day at the beach" excursion. That may have included a drink or two at the restaurant located on the beach, I'm not sure. But if you want to enjoy a fantastic spot on the beach with absolutely crystal clear water, have a driver take you to "Sea Grape Beach." It's part of Seven Mile Beach and it's fantastic. We spent the rest of our day there.

 

Cozumel: This was probably my favorite port of call. We got suckered in by a person we believed to be offering directions. She did give us directions, but she had a sales pitch at the end that we politely listened to before declining and going on our merry away. Again forgoing the planned excursions, we found the guy directing all the taxis outside the pier, told him what we were looking for, and asked for recommendations. He put us in a cab and we somewhat blindly accepted his recommendation to go to "Mr. Sancho's." Turned out to be a great recommendation! Mr. Sancho's was about a 10 minute cab ride from the pier and was nothing more than a little restaurant/bar/beach club right on the water. They had a few shops out front with friendly merchants and I bartered with a guy for a couple Cohiba Cuban cigars for $8 each before finding another empty beach filled with chairs. They also had a nice pool to accompany the roughly 40 open-air tables under a thatch roof. I downed the first yard of margarita and ordered a second before realizing what the first one did to me! S-T-R-O-N-G drinks and much cheaper than on the ship. After two of those, I took a little hiatus and hit the water for a couple hours before returning to my spot and starting in on the $2 Dos Equis beers. A safer choice, I thought. About 3:00pm, we headed back for the ship. I probably wasn't completely sober until about 9:00pm, but it was a helluva fun day!

 

Belize: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it, right? I'm going to say it anyway: I thought Belize City was an absolute atrocity. I hated it five minutes after arriving and I couldn't leave soon enough! The comedian on board used Belize for about a third of his family show material, if that tells you anything. Maybe if you went on a planned excursion it was OK, but I wouldn't go back.

 

Costa Maya: This place was cool if not terribly "authentic." My impression is that a couple cruise lines got together, bought a couple square miles of Mexico right on the coast, built a wall around it, put in a giant swimming pool with some shops and a big restaurant/bar to accompany it, and named it Costa Maya. It was fun and I enjoyed our day there, but it felt like I was at Chi-Chi's ordering food and drinks. The pool was very cool and there was a bar in the pool, so you didn't have to get out to order a drink - that scored points with me. Again, it was a fun place but just didn't have the local flavor I got in Georgetown and Cozumel.

 

Overall Experience: Man, I hated to get off the ship back in Tampa. Since our honeymoon, this was the best vacation my wife and I have had. A lot of it had to do with the fact that the kids weren't with us, but Carnival did a very, very nice job. I would (and probably will) cruise with them again. We have our eyes on a RC cruise for next time, which unfortunately probably won't happen for a couple years. But I would have no complaints whatsoever about booking with Carnival again and I didn't go into this trip with that expectation. The ship, the crew, the food, the service - all terrific! I would recommend the Legend and this itinerary to anyway (with the Belize caveat, of course!).

Can you please tell me about the Bathrobe & Beer Party? Was it your typical Deck Party and was that the night of the Mexican Buffet? Did they have "specials" on the beer?

 

Also, you didn't mention any of the clubs. Do you know if they had 70's & 80's nights?

 

Great review..we are going in Sept. and can't hardly wait!!!

[m steve]

The only thing I would mention without being flamed was that the Golden Fleece restaurant was well worth the surcharge. Everything we had there was first rate and the steaks were far superior to those in the dining room and they gave you real steak knives that cut although the meat really didn't need it. The porterhouse was outstanding. We ate there 4 nights.

[gagirl2006]

Awesome review! Thanks!

[Seydlitz]

I agree. Great review. I wish they were all writen like yours.

 

Jerry

[mablejune]

Thanks for the excellent review! I'm so glad to have all that input before I go. Luckily I had already booked a long excursion in Belize so hopefully I won't be disappointed. My friends and I don't want to spend a lot on excursions and such at each port. I was glad to hear about less expensive ways to enjoy each port! Thanks a bunch!:D