Legend Review 9/21/08

[dgack1]

My husband, two sons 12, 13, and myself were on the Legend roon 6232 with open/flexible dinning. Since i enjoyed reading everyone's reviews before our vacation, I thought that I would share our thoughts about this cruise. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

 

Hotel precruise: We stayed at the hilton gardens in Temple Terrace. The hotel had a "park and cruise rate". It included breakfast and a shuttle to and from the port. The stay was pleasant. The only problem was when we returned back to Tampa and called for the shuttle to pick up, the front desk person was not aware of the "park and cruise" special and was not going to send a shuttle for us. After a few calls, the shuttle picked up us.

 

The ship: Overall very clean. The color palette is darker than the other ships we have been on and to be honest I missed all of the bright colors. There is nothing with it, everyone just has different tastes. Our room was great we snagged room 6232, it has the extra long balcony. The balcony was bigger than our room. No noise except from our neighbors they REALLY enjoyed their room.:cool:

 

Circle C: This was the gold star. My boys loved it. They have their own club, it has flat screens on the wall, playstations, and a Wii. There was about 10-12 kids in this group that hung out all week. We did not see them from the time they got up until dinner, then that was for maybe 10 minutes. They were either doing something with CC or hanging out playing put-put, ping pong, or swimming with the kids from the group.

 

Dinning: We chose the open seating and loved it. We were able to eat when we were wanted to. No rushing to get ready for a set dinnertime. We did not have to wait for a table any night, we just walked up and were assigned a table. The first night we received poor service..wrong food, forgot to bring salad, forgot to bring coffee...ect. The other nights that we ate in Truffles we had a different wait staff and had wonderful service. We did have one BIG OPPS with the open dinning. I thought that Saturday was the second elegant night, turns out it was friday. So my husband has on a long sleeve button down polo shirt and a pair of docker long dress shorts and I have on a halter sun dress. There was no one outside of truffles, so I did not notice any one dressed up. We got our table assignment, were escorted to our table, given menus, and had our dinner order taken. My husband says, "I didn't know it was formal night" and I say "opps thought it was tommorrow". Anyway, I figure that it must be not be a big deal since the 3 hostesses that assigned our table saw how he was dressed and did not say anything. Well I guess I was wrong again, after my salad was brought to the table the hostess comes to our table and tells us that it is formal night. My husband apologizes and tells her we thought it was another night. She tells us we need to leave!! Here is my problem...yes he was not corrected dressed, yes it was our fault, but we did not intentionly try to "get on over" on them, if the hostess had told us when we walked up that it was formal night it would have been fine, he could have changed. will finish in a minute

[jolyn928]

Oh my, I hope they didn't actually kick you out:eek: You're 100% right, if it were a problem they should have told you upfront.

 

Anxiously waiting to see how this turns out....

[afcj1]

That's crazy...they asked you to leave. Why would you have been seated:confused: :rolleyes: Can't wait to see what the outcome was.

[Delinpa]

I thought all open seating was casual. Does this mean if you dont dress "properly" you have to eat at the buffet?

[DqALEX]

I had a ggod cruise on the Legend too. I also felt it was a bit dark, Thats where I like the Miracle better. You are the first person I have seen on here who was asked to leave the dinning room because of the way you were dressed. That could make for a unhappy cruise.

[dgack1]

Sorry, had to run....don't you just hate it when work gets in the way. To finish the "dining saga", we had to leave with our drinks and salads on the table. I was embarressed, as you can imagine people were pointing trying to figure out why we were leaving ect...giving their thoughts on the matter. Again, I would of had no problem with the situation if someone would have said when we checked in "I'm sorry, in case you didn't know tonight is the second elegant night". We would have thanked them and turned around to change or went to eat on the Lido either would have been fine. Saturday night we went to the golden fleece properly dressed!! Overall we prefered the open seating, I just never thought that we would become "those people".

 

Bars: We tried them all, all were ok. There was always somewhere to hang out at depending on your mood.

 

Shows: I enjoyed the comedians (adult shows), as for the singing/dancing shows I found them to be draggy so we usually skipped them.

 

Ports: Caymen we rented a jeep and drove to rum point. It was a nice quiet afternoon, there was only about 20 people there. Boys swam and DH and I relaxed. We decided to leave to head back to the port a little early to look around, good thing we did...DH took a wrong turn and it took as little longer than planned to get back.

 

Roatan: YEAH!! my favorite port ever...we actually decided to go on the Legend so we could go back to Roatan. After riding we went to the Mayan Princess, it is perfect for families. We hung out at the beach for a while and then took a boat to the "blue channel" for some snorkling. It was the best snorkling I have ever done in my life. The reef was stunning, i wish i was there now.

 

Anyway, if anyone is looking for a guide/tour/driver I highly recommend Rony. I found his website thru this forum, there are some nice comments about him and I couldn't agree more. He is a very pleasant guy and made sure we all had a wonderful day. His website is ronysindependenttours . com (just remove the spaces).

 

Pics from mayam princess

 

 

 

Horseback riding

 

 

__________________

[dgack1]

More ports: Belize, we took an independent tour to Lamanai. If you are interested I put a more detailed description on the belize board. Short review is, LOVED it.. we do do it again in a heart beat.

am going to try to upload a pic of the lag temple..view from top

 

 

my boys

 

the way down

 

 

yep we are sweating...

 

 

[dgack1]

I thought all open seating was casual. Does this mean if you dont dress "properly" you have to eat at the buffet?

 

 

The only difference between open seating/early seating/ late seating is that with open seating you can choose to eat when you want to. On the Legend, open dinning is about 1/2 of the upstairs and the rest of the dinning room is reserved for assigned dinning. Casual dress is 5 nights and elegant dress is on 2 nights. So yes....if you aren't properly dressed it is the Lido deck for you!;)

[dgack1]

I had a ggod cruise on the Legend too. I also felt it was a bit dark, Thats where I like the Miracle better. You are the first person I have seen on here who was asked to leave the dinning room because of the way you were dressed. That could make for a unhappy cruise.

 

 

I also liked the Miracle's interior better, but the Valor (loved to look of Rosie's) is definately my favorite. As for being kicked out, maybe i'm the first one to ever admit it;) ...I was unhappy with the way the situation was handled but there is no way I would allow Carnival's poor problem solving skills to interfear with my vacation. Now I find the "dinning saga" humerous. I just hope that Carnival realizes that if/when we decide to cruise again this incident may impact which cruiseline we travel with. I just have to add..I saw men in camo, jeans, "wife beater" shirts, flip flops, backward baseball caps ect...Yet my DH gets the boot for having docker dress shorts on....I'm laughing again!!:D

[dgack1]

Last Port:Cozumel..We promised the boys a fun beach day and as usual Paradise Beach delivered it. The beach was clean, the beer was cold, and the water was clear. The only complaining I heard was when it was time to leave, no one wanted to go.

 

The iceburg

 

 

 

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed your review.................

And great pics too...............!!!

We'll be on the Legend in Feb.............

[Dolly1952]

Thanks for the information. We sail on the 12th on the Legend room 6223 and have open seating. Guess I will throw into the suitcase another dress.

[dgack1]

Spa: Went to check out the spa on last sea day, ended up getting a massage. Overpriced (not unexpected) but I'm on vacation right? My masseuse was Emma from Scotland, I think I enjoyed talking to her about her life working on a cruise ship as much as the massage.

 

gym: I always bring my workout stuff but never make it to the gym. I actually found it :D this time. It was nice never crowded.

 

forgot to mention embarkation: It was a breeze, the fastest yet!! We got to the port at 11:20, checked in by 11:35, and on the ship at 12:00.

 

Final thoughts: I had planned to nothing but relax on this vacation. I could have did nothing but lay out by the pool all week and been satisfied with the cruise. But I did notice some changes (I'm sure cost savings) that would have disappointed me if I was new to Carnival. For instance the missing "Grand Buffet":(, one of my sons wanted to go but I thought I overlooked it in the Capers (like which night was elegant night). No more chocolate buffet, it was changed to a fruit buffet. BOO!!! Finally, there seemed to be a lot a gaps in the day of "free" activities. All you heard over the loudspeaker was come play bingo, the casino is open, check out the spa specials, sign up for the wine tasting it sells out fast, or the daily clearance sales in the shops!!! OK...we did break down and buy the absolute vodka 2 for 19.99 and a few other livations. And speaking about bargins, it was hard but we were able to say no to the 12.00 rolex at the beach...what a deal;)

 

Final, Final Thoughts:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write reviews before my family and I left for our cruise. We enjoyed reading your comments and viewing your pictures. We had a great vacation, enjoyed the ports, and met some interesting people from every corner of the globe. As my son says, "It was all good!!!"

 

picture from boarding..notice no line...notice lady yelling at me...NO PICTURES!!! opps, sorry

 

 

 

 

Final picture...one week together...and only one picture together!!!

If I had known this was going to be the lone family pic, I would have put on make-up.

 

 

[scottydog123]

Though the same as you about the constant announcement for activities that you had to pay for and none for the free entertainment. Also, did not like the Cruise Director Tina, she didn't have the knack to get the party started like some of the other cruise directors we have had in the past.

Casino and bars are way too smokey and cigar smoking is allowed in all smoking areas which can make for a very smelly area. I did enjoy the comedians but thought the production shows were a little lame. There seemed too be too much free time between diner and the shows which normally began at 9 pm.

 

I did enjoy the food, the service and the people that we met as well as the ports of call, but will probably go RC next time.

[Kentucky60]

Sorry, had to run....don't you just hate it when work gets in the way. To finish the "dining saga", we had to leave with our drinks and salads on the table. I was embarressed, as you can imagine people were pointing trying to figure out why we were leaving ect...giving their thoughts on the matter. Again, I would of had no problem with the situation if someone would have said when we checked in "I'm sorry, in case you didn't know tonight is the second elegant night". We would have thanked them and turned around to change or went to eat on the Lido either would have been fine. Saturday night we went to the golden fleece properly dressed!! Overall we prefered the open seating, I just never thought that we would become "those people".

 

Bars: We tried them all, all were ok. There was always somewhere to hang out at depending on your mood.

 

Shows: I enjoyed the comedians (adult shows), as for the singing/dancing shows I found them to be draggy so we usually skipped them.

 

Ports: Caymen we rented a jeep and drove to rum point. It was a nice quiet afternoon, there was only about 20 people there. Boys swam and DH and I relaxed. We decided to leave to head back to the port a little early to look around, good thing we did...DH took a wrong turn and it took as little longer than planned to get back.

 

Roatan: YEAH!! my favorite port ever...we actually decided to go on the Legend so we could go back to Roatan. After riding we went to the Mayan Princess, it is perfect for families. We hung out at the beach for a while and then took a boat to the "blue channel" for some snorkling. It was the best snorkling I have ever done in my life. The reef was stunning, i wish i was there now.

 

Anyway, if anyone is looking for a guide/tour/driver I highly recommend Rony. I found his website thru this forum, there are some nice comments about him and I couldn't agree more. He is a very pleasant guy and made sure we all had a wonderful day. His website is ronysindependenttours . com (just remove the spaces).

 

Pics from mayam princess

 

 

 

Horseback riding

 

 

__________________

Where is this beach?

[pe4all]

What a great review! We have cabin 6232 on Miracle this Christmas - can't wait to see the balcony! Quick question re: Roatan - was it a private excursion that took you riding/to the Mayan Princess? Or was it a Carnival excursion. It looks great! Thanks again!

[dgack1]

Where is this beach?

 

 

 

The first pics are from the mayan princess in the west bay area. The horseback riding pics are from the west end area (north from the mayan princess) around keifeto's cabana's. Check out this map http://www.roatanisland.net/west_end_locator.htm

 

Denise

[ChrissyM_Cruiser]

Thanks for the review Denise! The Mayan Princess looks beautiful, are you aware of any way to book a beach break excursion there without doing the entire island tour?

[dgack1]

What a great review! We have cabin 6232 on Miracle this Christmas - can't wait to see the balcony! Quick question re: Roatan - was it a private excursion that took you riding/to the Mayan Princess? Or was it a Carnival excursion. It looks great! Thanks again!

 

 

Hey..we always book thru independent people. We hired Rony from ronysindependenttours . com. He is a very pleasant guy, transulated for us when needed, drove us wherever we wanted to go, and made sure we all had a wonderful day. First we went to Keifits plantation to horseback ride. We rode thru some "jungle" trails on the plantation and then took a trail to the beach front. After that we jumped in the car and headed to the mayan princess...it was probably a 10 minute drive. Check out this pic of the balcony.....

 

[dgack1]

Thanks for the review Denise! The Mayan Princess looks beautiful, are you aware of any way to book a beach break excursion there without doing the entire island tour?

 

 

Check out rony at ronysindependenttours . com. He offers different rates for different destinatons. I emailed him and told him what we wanted to do and he quoted me a price. Again, hate to keep saying it...he is the best driver/guide we have ever met. You can get a taxi at the pier, the cost will be close if not the same to Rony. Enjoy your cruise.:p

[Payd]

Excellent review. We are taking our 13 and 15 year olds in March - we also scored the extra long balcony! Too bad about the dining room thing. I am surprised at the way it worked out.

[marci4tony]

We are heading out 11/2 with an ext aft balcony. Quite excited - thank you for the information and the pics.

We get to go back to CM - not Roatan. Quite disappointed, but what do you do??

Thanx again! Great information.

[crusinpsychRN]

I also liked the Miracle's interior better, but the Valor (loved to look of Rosie's) is definately my favorite. As for being kicked out, maybe i'm the first one to ever admit it;) ...I was unhappy with the way the situation was handled but there is no way I would allow Carnival's poor problem solving skills to interfear with my vacation. Now I find the "dinning saga" humerous. I just hope that Carnival realizes that if/when we decide to cruise again this incident may impact which cruiseline we travel with. I just have to add..I saw men in camo, jeans, "wife beater" shirts, flip flops, backward baseball caps ect...Yet my DH gets the boot for having docker dress shorts on....I'm laughing again!!:D

 

Dressed as described the same night?? Geesh!

[saltmom1]

So you get to choose between open dining and assigned dining ? Can you choose from night to night ?

What is the first formal night, Monday ?

How many dining rooms are on this ship ?

Does it have mini golf ?

How does Legend compare with the Glory ?

Thinking about going in Jan 09.

TIA

[dgack1]

So you get to choose between open dining and assigned dining ? Can you choose from night to night ?

What is the first formal night, Monday ?

How many dining rooms are on this ship ?

Does it have mini golf ?

How does Legend compare with the Glory ?

Thinking about going in Jan 09.

TIA

 

 

You can choose between open and assigned seating, but not night to night. The Legend does have mini golf. I have not been on the Glory but I have been on her sister ship the valor, I prefer the Valor to the Legend. There is one dinning room with two floors.