Legend Review (Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize & Roatan Island)

[desert2tropics]

Here is my review of the ship and the ports (we sailed 5/25/08). We booked our own excursions indepedently of the ship and were EXTREMELY HAPPY with everyone we booked with. I hope this helps anyone looking to do the same.

 

Here is our report...Enjoy: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=43234

[stlrboo]

Many thanks for the GREAT review! We are doing this itinerary in June 2009!:D

 

We are hoping they may switch from Roatan to Costa Maya by then, but we'll take either...:)

 

The hotels you recommended will also be useful.. We've never stayed in Tampa prior to a cruise...

[desert2tropics]

Hi Stirboo...

 

Glad I could help. :D

 

I always use the reviews of what other people say on these boards to plan our family vacations, and so I really wanted to do the same for people like you. Both hotels in Tampa were great with the Trolley right next to them. Make sure to eat at the Columbia restaurant if you are staying in Ybor City...my husband STILL raves about it!

 

Have a great trip and let me know if you have any other questions about the ports!

[mom2girls]

Thanks for the great review! I recently just got back from the Legend myself. I also used Victor Bodden tours, and our tour guide Lionel was wonderful! (I haven't gotten to Roatan yet in my review. If you check it out it's a review in progress. The link is in my signature.)

 

I've eaten at the Columbia restaurant in St. Augustine several times. It is definitely full of history, and has GREAT food as well.

 

I figured out how to post pictures before I started my review. I first uploaded my pictures at photobucket.com. Once they are uploaded there are 4 different options. The last one is the one that you click on. This code is then automatically copied so that you can just paste it into your post.

[pe4all]

I really enjoyed reading this review. I am still trying to decide on a hotel in Tampa, as we also want to do Busch Gardens. (we will have 3 days pre-cruise in Tampa) Why did you switch hotels? Was the 2nd one closer to the port?

[desert2tropics]

Hi Mom2Girls & pe4all,

 

Mom2Girls - Thanks for helping me with the photos. I will try to do that. Do you know how to edit your trip report once it is posted so that I can add the link? I can't seem to find the option to do this??? Also, what did you think of Roatan? This was the port I liked the least, but to be fair we were there while the tail-end of the first Tropical Storm of the season was there and the water was rough and the skies and seas were dark. Plus, we didn't manage to get to the beach I really wanted to go to (but because of the weather I didn't think I was missing too much). What was your take on the island since there was probably not a tropical storm while you were there.

 

Pe4All - We stayed at 2 different hotels because my sister works for the Hilton and we got the 2nd hotel for $30 total. We couldn't beat that, no matter how much we loved the Embassy!! :D Plus, we like to see different areas and I was really wanting to stay in Clearwater Beach, but I met an older man from Clearwater as we were debarking the ship and being the scardy cat that I am asked him if Clearwater had many sharks or attacks. He promptly came back with a "yes" and seemed to be telling the truth and that was all I had to hear, so on the land I stayed. haha

 

I did a lot of research on hotels in the Tampa area and was on a mad quest to find one that had shuttles to/from the airport and cruise pier. There were none. Bush Gardens is about 20-30 minutes from the cruise ship, which is why the hotels don't offer both. After being there, I would personally stay in the downtown or Ybor City area over the Busch Gardens area. There is just a lot more to do, it is more scenic and it seemed safer. The trolleys take you about everywhere you want to go in the downtown area, but the Hampton Inn had a free shuttle that would take you anywhere within a 5 mile radius (which includes the cruise terminal and the Aquarium) for FREE, so we never needed to take the trolley. I am not sure if the Embassy offers this service or not, but the Hampton Inn seemed more of like a "mom and pop" run hotel with personalized service and attention.

 

If you are going to Busch Gardens, make sure to take your Southwest Airlines Rewards card to save 20% at the gate. If you don't have a Soutwest Rewards card, create an account online (for free) and take the paperwork with you to the gate. It saved us a lot of money!!!

[mom2girls]

Hi Mom2Girls & pe4all,

 

Mom2Girls - Thanks for helping me with the photos. I will try to do that. Do you know how to edit your trip report once it is posted so that I can add the link? I can't seem to find the option to do this??? Also, what did you think of Roatan? This was the port I liked the least, but to be fair we were there while the tail-end of the first Tropical Storm of the season was there and the water was rough and the skies and seas were dark. Plus, we didn't manage to get to the beach I really wanted to go to (but because of the weather I didn't think I was missing too much). What was your take on the island since there was probably not a tropical storm while you were there.

 

Pe4All - We stayed at 2 different hotels because my sister works for the Hilton and we got the 2nd hotel for $30 total. We couldn't beat that, no matter how much we loved the Embassy!! :D Plus, we like to see different areas and I was really wanting to stay in Clearwater Beach, but I met an older man from Clearwater as we were debarking the ship and being the scardy cat that I am asked him if Clearwater had many sharks or attacks. He promptly came back with a "yes" and seemed to be telling the truth and that was all I had to hear, so on the land I stayed. haha

 

I did a lot of research on hotels in the Tampa area and was on a mad quest to find one that had shuttles to/from the airport and cruise pier. There were none. Bush Gardens is about 20-30 minutes from the cruise ship, which is why the hotels don't offer both. After being there, I would personally stay in the downtown or Ybor City area over the Busch Gardens area. There is just a lot more to do, it is more scenic and it seemed safer. The trolleys take you about everywhere you want to go in the downtown area, but the Hampton Inn had a free shuttle that would take you anywhere within a 5 mile radius (which includes the cruise terminal and the Aquarium) for FREE, so we never needed to take the trolley. I am not sure if the Embassy offers this service or not, but the Hampton Inn seemed more of like a "mom and pop" run hotel with personalized service and attention.

 

If you are going to Busch Gardens, make sure to take your Southwest Airlines Rewards card to save 20% at the gate. If you don't have a Soutwest Rewards card, create an account online (for free) and take the paperwork with you to the gate. It saved us a lot of money!!!

 

 

I don't think you can edit your review once it's been up on the boards for more than 30 minutes. (I've never done one for the review parts of cruisecritic.) I always just post my reviews in the forums.

 

You can post a link here. I'm sure many people would like to see your pictures.

 

I haven't gotten to Roatan yet in my review, but I absolutely LOVED it. I think it's my favorite port! I did get to Bananarama Beach. (It was very close to Tabyana.) It was a wonderful beach. The water was crystal clear. I'll post more about it in my review when I get to that day.

[desert2tropics]

See, now I'm jealous! I had a totally different opinion and I'm sure it had to do with the tropical storm we encountered. I LOVE pristine clear water and white sand beaches and now feel as though I was robbed. hahaha

 

Oh well, I guess I just have to go back now to see if I can get that type of experience. :D

 

I'm currently uploading 44 photos on photobucket (thanks for the website). I will post the link once I am finished. Unfortunately, I think the photos are all mixed up thanks to Costco. But I will try to title them so it makes sense. One of my water cameras was defective (of course it was MY water camera), so I didn't get a lot of photos of Belize and Roatan Island...but I did get some from my kid's cameras. My mother-in-law has the rest of the photos on her camera & I just got back the photos from Tampa so I will download these and then download my mother-in-laws and then be done. Can you believe we had 5 cameras taking photos on this vacation??? I'll never do that again because it is too much work for me to upload & organize since they are all on different discs or memory cards.

[mom2girls]

See, now I'm jealous! I had a totally different opinion and I'm sure it had to do with the tropical storm we encountered. I LOVE pristine clear water and white sand beaches and now feel as though I was robbed. hahaha

 

Oh well, I guess I just have to go back now to see if I can get that type of experience. :D

 

I'm currently uploading 44 photos on photobucket (thanks for the website). I will post the link once I am finished. Unfortunately, I think the photos are all mixed up thanks to Costco. But I will try to title them so it makes sense. One of my water cameras was defective (of course it was MY water camera), so I didn't get a lot of photos of Belize and Roatan Island...but I did get some from my kid's cameras. My mother-in-law has the rest of the photos on her camera & I just got back the photos from Tampa so I will download these and then download my mother-in-laws and then be done. Can you believe we had 5 cameras taking photos on this vacation??? I'll never do that again because it is too much work for me to upload & organize since they are all on different discs or memory cards.

 

We only had 2 cameras. We took over 1,000 pictures. And, unfortunately, they're not really in any kind of order either. That's why it's taking me so long to write my review. If you want to check it out the link's in my signature. It's about 5 pages long now. But, some of that is from people responding to it.

[desert2tropics]

I definitely will check them out. My family is waiting for me to go to dinner and a movie, but I wanted to finish uploading my photos first. Here is the link to the photos I have thus far.

 

1,000 photos???? I would go crazy!!!! ;)

 

http://photobucket.com/sundin

[mom2girls]

Wow, the pictures are GREAT!!!! The fish your son caught are huge! Thanks for sharing your pictures.

[snc421]

Yes, awesome pics! Thanks for sharing them!

 

If you'd like to put the link to your review and to your pics in a signature like mine, look for the User CP toward the top of every CC screen on the far left side. Click on that and then in the sidebar choose edit signature. You can then put your PhotoBucket link there just like you did in your post here, and also a link to the page of your review.

*If you already knew about this, please ignore what I said! Except for the part about you have great pics and I thank you for posting the link to them! Haha!*

[desert2tropics]

Thanks for the tip snc421! I think I did this correctly...lets see if it works! :D

[desert2tropics]

Yeah, it worked! Thanks to everyone for helping me add photos & trip report links! ;)

[pe4all]

Thanks for the hotel info, and the pictures are fantastic. Almost makes me want to get rid of the (very, very, very) old 35mm I still use, and the disposable I carry - LOL. Thanks again for the help. I have plenty of time to book a hotel -till this Dec., cause that is when the free rooms I have with HI/Intercontinental open up - though I am not opposed to staying elsewhere. Hope all your cruises are as great as this one was!

[deuceybean]

Thanks for the review, very detailed. Also, thanks for posting your opinion on Xcaret, we have booked this through the ship since it's a 7 hour excursion, but I hadn't read many opinions about it, so I'm glad to get someone's thought's on it.

 

We are staying in Ybor City and will definitely check out Columbias.

 

Can't wait!!

[snc421]

Thanks for the tip snc421! I think I did this correctly...lets see if it works! :D

You're welcome! It sure is great that we can do this... then people can reference our pics and reviews, and that is the point of posting them online! I will read your review and look at your pics tonight! I *heart* reviews and pictures! Thanks for sharing yours!

[desert2tropics]

Thanks everyone for all the nice compliments. :D

 

I agree, I love reading other peoples reviews and looking at photos. This is how I plan all our excursions for each island. I have not had 1 bad excursion to date.

 

Deuceybean - We have been to X-Caret 2 times. We really like it. They have all sorts of animals, shows, rides, great food & shopping. They also have a "sky needle" which rotates as it takes you up and shows you the view of the entire area, including their "jungle." Make sure to do this while you are there. There is also a "grave yard" that is REALLY cool! Don't miss seeing this. We ate at their buffet by the ocean. I can't remember the restaurant's name, but the food & view was really good. My son and I went on the lazy river inside the caves and I can say is OMG!!! Make SURE to do this at the beginning of the day vs. evening. We did ours towards the end of the day and it was SOOOOOO dark, me and my son were FREAKING OUT because we could not see ANYTHING and it went on for like a mile or something! Fortunately, there was another couple in there that was helping us along and also a rope to help guide us. There are plenty of opportunities to get out, but because my husband and daughter were meeting us at the end with our towels, clothes & shoes, if we got out along the way we would have had to walk barefoot and soaking wet through the park freezing our butts off (and I wasn't about to walk through the park in my bathing suit showing off my not-so-great body!). ;)

 

I don't know what time your ship departs, but if it is in the evening make sure to go to their authentic shows. One that we went to was in a cave & the show was all the traditional dances. After it was over, they guided you out with lit candles everywhere and there were little shops set-up & other demonstration shows. It was really good, so if you will be there during this time make sure not to miss it! The other show we did was in a stadium, somewhere near where the entrance was (I think...the park is HUGE). I can't remember what all was in this show (its been 4 years), but I know I really liked it. Just make sure to ask about the different shows when you get there and plan out the times and locations.

 

There is also swimming with dolphins which looked like a lot of fun. We had already swam with them in Playa de Carmen, so we didn't want to spend the money doing it again. I hear they book up fast, so if you want to do this reserve your spot early.

 

I have some family photos from X-Caret on our computer, so if you are interested in seeing them let me know and I will upload them to photobucket and post a link in another post.

 

Have a GREAT time!