TR: Carnival Legend May 4th

[Ehpride]

Great! I can't wait to read the rest!

[seashell36]

Keep up the great review! Can't wait to hear about your time in Cozumel.

[TheCruisingBrewers]

Love the review and pictures,,, anxiously awaiting the next installment!

 

Nancy

[cat26]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like it is turning out to be a great trip after all.

[Brenda Bell]

I love the pictures on your suite. We too, have a suite and this is the first time that I have seen pictures of there suites on the Legend. Thanks:)

[rockwood84]

Carrie,

 

Love your pictures. Do you remember what time the ship went under the Skyway Bridge?

 

I'm really enjoying the review. Two great Legend reviews with lots of pictures going on right now! Lovin' it!!

[snc421]

Everybody: Thank you! It sure did turn out to be a great trip!

 

Rockwood84: We went under the Skyway sometime in the early 6:00 hour.

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment Day

 

We noticed the time was now 1:20, and figured let's head to our room to *finally* drop off our carry-on bags.... and for me to change my clothes, because the dressy shoes I was wearing so long gave me a blister. Luckily, I had the right pairs of flip-flops with me, for dress and for casual. For that I am thankful. I guess I was distracted by my new surroundings, trying to absorb it all... so much so that it really did not seem like we did all that much walking!

 

We made our way to the Empress Deck, Deck 6, to room #6197. It was ready for us by then.

 

 

...TBC

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkation Day

 

 

King size bed, a couch, two good size closets, in-room safe, dresser drawers, a desk, lighted vanity, dual sinks, jacuzzi tub... and a balcony! I didn't take pictures of the balcony itself, but I took plenty from it. Our room was comfy-feeling right away, or maybe I was already acclimated to my new life of cruising! #6197 is about midship, both front to back and top to bottom; starboard side.

 

...TBC

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment day!

 

We stepped out on the balcony for the first time.

 

 

The all-around views of the Port and Channelside area from our balcony.

 

...TBC

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment day!

 

It was barely 2:00. Still an hour before we had to meet the Maitre 'd, so we went back upstairs to take more random pictures of our ship and the Port area.

 

 

[snc421]

**Sorry for the sloppy layouts of these TR's and small pics in some... I'm getting the hang of it!**

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkation Day!

 

We found the restaurant and Yusef, the Maitre 'd, with no problem, right around 3:00. He was approachable, yet professional in his dealings with us. I never told you why we needed to see him. We were assigned early seating but wanted late seating. He asked if a table for 6 is ok, sitting with others. We said that's ok with us. He wrote up a card to present at dinner stating our (new) table number and time. Table 142. We went back to our room to relax on our balcony and wait for the Muster Drill at 3:45. When it was time, we grabbed our lifejackets and headed for Deck 3, Muster spot A.

 

 

After the drill, we went back to our room and put away our lifejackets. DH looked out our windows and said, "We're moving." I got super excited and ran to look out our balcony as well. I felt nothing to indicate a difference when we were in motion, and did not hear any sound to indicate our departure.

 

I was frustrated because I knew about our meet & greet; I saw people wearing the red leis to indicate they were part of the crew. I knew the M&G was on the Lido deck.... ? Not sure where exactly. I really wanted to go, but DH is more reserved and didn't seem too keen on it. Grrrrrrrr. So we did go up in search of red leis, but were quickly distracted by just being in motion and... everything.

 

 

 

 

At some point while we were meandering through the Bay, we were lying on some chairs and a little bit of grey clouds came over us. I felt a mist but didn't know what it was, then DH said he felt a drop of rain maybe. Then I felt a few.... and it was all over. The only rain we saw our whole 10 days. Wow!

[pe4all]

I am so enjoying your review! Quick question - one of the pictures you took from the ship (while in port) showed some kind of large pool with what looked like a pirate ship in the middle. Was that a hotel, or water park? We will be going into Tampa 3 days early, and need stuff to do with our 2 teens. That pool looked great!

[CruiseJunkee2]

I am totally enjoying your review - especially loved the pictures of Venice - we live in Venice, only about 5 minutes from Sharkey's!! We LOVE Sharkey's!!

 

We are thinking of going on the Legend next May, so anxiously awaiting more review!

 

Thanks!

[Ehpride]

I am so enjoying your review! Quick question - one of the pictures you took from the ship (while in port) showed some kind of large pool with what looked like a pirate ship in the middle. Was that a hotel, or water park? We will be going into Tampa 3 days early, and need stuff to do with our 2 teens. That pool looked great!

 

That's the Florida Aquarium. Very cool place. There's not a pool. The water park is mostly for young kids with spray jets and stuff. They'd def. love the aquarium though. I've gone twice now.

[snc421]

Everybody: Thanks once again!

 

Cheryl: I would so love to live in Florida! Sharky's seemed like a great place to eat and kick back a few. Unfortunately for us, they were super busy by the time we got there, so we just went on the pier and snapped a few pics before the sunset and bought a couple Sharky's shirts.

 

Ehpride: Thanks for answering the question about the Florida Aquarium and their pool!

 

I'll have more of my report coming real soon!

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment day!

 

As we continued through the Tampa Bay, there was much to see. There were 2 ships, perhaps dinner cruises. They would ordinarily seem BIG, but looking down on them, they looked like R/C toys...

 

 

We passed an airstrip with a FOX News helicopter...

 

 

And a marina... now those boats looked like Tonka toys....

 

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment Day!

 

All the while we were transvering the Tampa Bay, we were escorted by police boats. Any boat that was coming too close to our ship, the police boat immediately headed them off. It was cool to see. I didn't get any pics of the police in their boats, but I did get one of the police onshore watching us, watching them ;) ....

 

 

As we continued, there was less and less to see. I knew we weren't going under the bridge for a while, so we went to our room for a little downtime.

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment Day!

 

I really enjoyed our balcony. We didn't spend too much time in our room, but like in this case, our (his) little bit of downtime, I was able to see the Skyway far off from our balcony. So back up to the deck to watch it coming up.

 

One bit of advice: Don't worry so much about missing going under the bridge. You can see it from pretty far off. There was probably about 20 minutes or even a half-hour between when I first saw the bridge from my balcony to when we went under it. Just keep watch out ahead of the ship, like watch where the ship is going, from like 5:30 or so, and you'll see it in plenty of time to get settled in whatever spot you choose to watch going under.

 

It was so windy up there!

 

 

 

 

Perhaps one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip, right here:

 

[magic&buddy]

I just started reading this about 6 pm this evening.....I feel I need to keep checking for the next part ......This review is so well done...............Thanks:)

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment Day!

 

The captain came over the PA to announce we were about to go under the Sunshine Skyway, and that as we go under, we will only have about 5' of clearance from the top of the 'fin' to the bottom of the bridge.

 

 

I have an 80GB iPod. Of course all of my pictures are on it. What's funny is when I scroll through these pics, it looks like animation, so I can relive that memory forever! LOL

 

Anyways, we had gone under the bridge. For those who don't know, the original Skyway bridge was taken out by a hurricane some years ago. When they rebuilt it, they left a sound part of the original bridge on either side of the Bay and made fishing piers and rest areas, North and South. I took a good picture of the Skyway North Fishing Pier as we went over the bridge this year. I figured let's get a picture of the pier going by it on the water, especially considering when will we ever have this opportunity again.

 

 

Bye bye, Skyway! Yep, still windy!

 

[Okie Cruisers]

Great review!:D

Can't wait to read more and see more pics. We're on the Legend in Sept. and have been waiting for recent reviews of the ship.

Did they have the band at poolside a lot or very little?

Did you enjoy the food?

What was the overall condition of the ship? Sorry, so many questions.

Thanks for the review.

[snc421]

May 4, continued: Embarkment Day!

 

Last year, we took the ferry from Fort DeSoto Park to Egmont Key. I learned that the shipping channel goes between the two, so I was anxious to see them both from this angle.

 

Fort DeSoto first.

 

 

Those pelicans hung with us for a while.

[snc421]

Great review!:D

Can't wait to read more and see more pics. We're on the Legend in Sept. and have been waiting for recent reviews of the ship.

Did they have the band at poolside a lot or very little?

Did you enjoy the food?

What was the overall condition of the ship? Sorry, so many questions.

Thanks for the review.

 

Thanks Okie! Lots more to come; it takes awhile with only 6 pics to a post! So much I want to show! I'm still only on Embarkment Day! But it's cool because I'm living my trip again, well... kinda! :(

 

The island-type band was at the pool pretty often. Keep an eye on your capers (daily newsletter) for times on them and all the onboard entertainment and activities, as well as times the shops will be open... etc.

 

What I was able to eat, I did enjoy. It really was disappointing going on this cruise so soon after being sick and having no appetite! 24 hour ice cream was the best for me this week, I hate to say. The caesar salad in the dining room was excellent. My one gripe is that I never did figure out all the buffet options on the Lido deck, so in that sense I did limit myself. For example, I found out on the LAST day that I could have had a caesar salad almost anytime... they had a salad buffet! :mad: I guess it's because I didn't have much of an appetite all week, so why bother looking at food. Just the thought of food sometimes wasn't the best thought. Like I said, though, what I did eat was delish! Hot dog & fries was yummy, that was my standby lunch... followed by lots of ice cream!

 

The ship was in great condition from what I saw. They seem to keep up on it whenever they can. For instance, when we were docked at Roatan, there were people painting the exterior of the ship! (They had rollers on LONG extension poles.)

 

More to come......