Inaugral voyage -- 12 days -- roundtrip London, visiting Copenhaven, Warnemunde, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallin and Amsterdam.

Because it seems that this ship will not be returning to Europe next year and it is already over here and will soon be in the Caribbean, I'll focus mostly on the ship rather than the ports.

Our only previous experience with Carnival was on the Sensation out of Tampa, afterwhich we were one of those, "I'll never sail Carnival again" cruisers. So I'm writing this mostly for others like us who have made up their minds not to sail on Carnival. You may want to re-think for the Legend -- at least as far as the ship goes. Don't know about the passenger make-up you will see in the Caribbean.

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The Legend is really "classy" for a Carnival ship. No neon, no molded plastic furniture in purple and gold, very "muted", at least compared to the Sensation and I assume many other Carnival ships. The abundance of urns worked into the motif in the atrium is a bit much, but seating areas are of nice upolstered and wood trim furniture. Buffet seating is also nice with cloth/wood chairs, bench seating, booths and marble topped tables -- all with great views of the sea. Most of the lounges, bars and other public areas are also decorated quite tastefully. And fresh flowers -- imagine that! And classical music in the atrium area (but maybe will not be such on Caribbean cruises).

A casino dealer who had been on the same class ship the Spirit told me that the Spirit is also nice, except for the top decks, where it seemed to her they just couldn't resist going back to the "cheap" look. She definitely liked the Legend better and said it was without a doubt the nicest ship in Carnival's fleet.

There certainly cannot be any complaints about the cabin. We booked the lowest fare inside guarantee and got an outside midships on Deck 1. What a terrific upgrade. We like being on the lower decks -- easy access to dining room, casino, shops, library, photo gallery etc. And especially not having to wait for elevators after a shore excursion or attending a show at the theater. The room was huge with more than enough shelf and closet space and a separate sitting area with a sofa. I like having the bed parallel to the direction the ship is traveling (as opposed to most ship cabins where the beds are perpendicular to the outside "wall" of the ship). by the way, we had gale force winds one night and the ship barely moved -- this is a really stable ship, even in high seas.

Our cabin service was absolutely great, although others we spoke with had problems, particularly of the sort where their cabin steward barged into their room unannounced and was basically telling them when they had to get out etc. and trying to run their lives. I'm sure if they had complained -- which they should have -- the problem would have been taken care of.

Food was generally ok at best -- not comparable to HAL or Princess by any stretch. Buffet is laid out quite differently, with four separate small corner areas (Asian food, sandwiches, a nationality-of-the-day place and a basic mostly barbeque ribs, chicken, roast beef, i.e. American food place), then separate dessert and salad areas, plus the pizza place and then the burger/hot dog grill in the pool area. I liked it because I thought it eliminated crowding and lines. Some did not like that they had to first travel around to each area to see what there was and then go back for the food. Only the sandwich and American food areas and an extremely limited salad and dessert bar were open for evening meals. Pizza was available 24 hours a day and was very, very good. You could ask for a fresh whole pizza and take it to your room at any time. Ice crean was free and available most of the day. Overall the food at the buffet was pretty basic -- you did not find prime rib or fried shrimp or filet mignon as you will on a Princess ship. (In fact when we were on the Ocean Princess, the buffet always served exactly what was available in the dining room during the evening meal time. It was great to choose what you want and then take a seat in their very nice restaurant area in the back of the buffet.)

Food in the dining room was better, but still just ok. Service was good. A real improvement is that since Carnival now adds the tips directly to passenger shipboard accounts, there is not the last night begging for tips that I have witnessed on other cruises -- especially when we were on the Sensation. On that cruise, they actually closed all of the buffet on the last night to force people to go to the dining room. by the way, this practice does NOT influence how much you tip. Just request the "adjustment" sheet a few days before the end of your cruise and put in the amounts you feel you want to give.

We only went to one show and did not participate in the pool side activities, although we watched some of them on the cruise video they were trying to sell on our TV in the cabin. by the way, they divided the video into three separate videos so they could make more money. So we did not really participate enough to judge the entertainment staff. However, and this is a really BIG one, I will tell of one experience. Warnemunde. We left late (about 10 pm)because we waited for the people returning from excursions to Berlin. This little town was really something -- THOUSANDS -- and I'm not exagerating -- of people on the dock to bid us farewell. The dock playing beautiful music ( I think it was the theme from Titanic, but that's OK). We later tried to figure out why there were so many people and decided it was probably because Warnemunde is a beach tourist town for Germans so every week there are new people in town and I guess one of the things to do is go down to the dock and watch the ships leave. Anyway, they waved, they applauded, they whistled, and they sang. It was without a doubt the most poignant moment I have ever experienced on a cruise ship. Standing on the top deck as we left Warnemunde........ AND guess what was going on one deck below in the pool area????? The cruise staff was running a twist contest, totally oblivious of what was going on. It was a major disservice to the cruisers who missed the experience, to us who were trying to enjoy it, and expecially to the people of Warnemunde! So that is my major comment about John Heald and his entertainment staff.

I know that passenger make up or mix can influence cruisers' experiences greatly and that this issue has often been cited as a problem with Carnival cruises. We particularly love Europe cruises for this very reason and the Baltic trip on the Legend was no exception. We met many people from all over the world. Evening dress was always quite dressy, even on "elegant casual" nights. People were basically curteous, refined and very anxious to engage in conversation. Everyone was very interested in the countries we visited and the life style of the people of those countries. No sloppy dress, loud drunks etc. or other such experiences were witnessed by us anyway. Of course this was a 12-day cruise in Europe -- what you may find on the 8-day Caribbean itinerary will undoubtly be different -- and of course it should be. The Caribbean is fun, sun, beach, shopping, partying. If you want a cultural cruise, go to Europe.

In summary, there were still a few obvious what I would call Carnival traits on our cruise on the Legend -- some nickle and dime stuff etc. but overall the ship is great and brand new (nice to have a new mattress -- very comfortable) and clean. Food and service are good. Try the Legend.......