We arrived in Orland at 11:00 AM were met by Family One Transport Service. Went straight to pier, the lines were long. Some folks waited over 2 hours to board. Our cabin 6287 was an inside on Empress Deck. It was very nice, had a mini refigerator, safe and loads of storage space. There were 3 in our party and we had plenty of room for everything.

The bathroom was larger than I remember from other ships. The ship itself was beautiful, not as glitzy as past Carnival ships. There was loads of seating inside and out. We took the spa and gym tour when we arrived and was really impressed with all they had to off. For a price of course. But prices seemed to be on par with similar services off ship. Thefood was the beast we have ever had, on Lido and in the Dining Room. The dining room service was wonderful, we were in the part of the dining room called the Captains Club, had its own door, so no standing in line to go to dinner every nite and was more quiet than main room, which was also very warm. Our little room held maybe 125 people. There were empty tables all over the place.

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The first port was Key West, do not try to go ashore before noon if you are not on a ships tour. We stood in line for over an hour to get off the ship then 30 minutes outside waiting for a shuttle that never came. We finally went back inside and came out later. We docked at the Navy Pier and you are not allowed to walk on this pier so everyone must be shuttled and the service is terrible.

Next port Belize City, it is a tender port, ship anchors about 11 miles out, quite a ride into port. There is a marketplace right at the dock that has high prices, but if you are not on a tour, this is the only shopping available. Belize City is dirty and not ready for tourists. We took a private tour with Mark McField, he is an archologeist and very well informed about the ruins, We went to Altun Ha, we stopped and had lunch on the way back, then he took us to a local grocery store where we bought the local spices and cashew nuts from the area. His Email is markmcf@BTL.net. I would highly recommed him for your tours in Belize. If his company doesn't do what you want he will know someone who does.

Next stop Cozumel, we shopped til we dropped, taxi into town is $5.00 same to come back to ship. There is shopping right at the pier that the prices were same as in town. Next stop Progresso, we rented a car and drove to Usmal. Quite a trrip but really worth it. The ruins are beautiful. You can rent a car at the dock form Enterprize Car Rental. Costs about $50.00 for the day. If you don't want to drive yourself the ship has a shuttle that takes you into town, in the town square the locals have amarket set up with really good prices on things. Do not miss the city market right accross the street. It is really diffrent. The only bad thing about the whole trip was the cabin stewardess, she did the bare minium just to get by. I have never had such bad service in all the cruises we have taken, this was #8. I had to hunt her down for everything and she made you feel like you were bothering her. I wrote about the terrible cabin service on my comment card, forgot to pick it up when we went to dinner, came back to cabin after dinner, picked up what I thought was the one I filled out, was talking to hubby and he asked to see card before I put it in the box and it was blank. Not the one I filled out before. Went back to cabin to see if I just picked up wrong one and there were no others there. So I filled out another one and dropped into box right away. But as hubby says one person will not ruin your cruise only you can do that for yourself. We loved the ship, food and dining room service, can't wait til Sept. for the new Legend. If I can answer any specific questions just email me.

Happy Sailing