We returned last night from our Legend cruise. It was WONDERFUL!! I will list some of my opinions and observations of our week.
Embarkation
This was the WORST embarkation experience ever!! We Have sailed out of FLL before but on Princess - Carnival needs to fix this FAST!!!! There were verbal arguments with fellow passengers and Carnival Staff - the Coast Guard was finally called in to try to help move the line in a "friendly" manner. There was a wedding that was to pre-board, the regular TA tours and lunches, and also some type of Commonwealth Tour. They had everyone crammed into one small area (we arrived at 11) - and didn't start to move anyone in until 12:30 first the wedding, then the tours then the TA lunch - after that they let the PAYING passengers on!! We then all met up in one large area with ONE security stop for everyone to go through. No ropes to form the line and people were cramming, yelling, swearing and pushing. It was terrible. The only bright spot was a woman named "Sonia" a Carnival rep who did her best to preboard some and whatever else she could do manage the crowd. This one thing would keep me from sailing out of FLL on Carnival again - it was really, really bad. At one point the security stopped the entire security screening process and wanted everyone to form a single line - this was impossible without some type of roping and people were flipping out.
Once we got on board things were MUCH better!!
We were in Cabin 8158 on deck 8 - it was wonderful. The only bad thing was hearing them dropping and dragging deck chairs at 6:30/7 am!Also on our last norming (before 8:00 a.m.) we had our curtain open and were in various stages of dress (four in a cabin) all of a sudden a maintenance person coming strolling on our balcony unlocking the doors to the next balcony. I was very upset about this. I have a teenage daughter who was crouching by the balcony trying to get dressed as my husband was in the bathroom - she was very embarrassed.
Deck Chairs - what else can you say - people saving them - people getting upset . . people throwing off other people's stuff. Carnival is the problem here and really needs to police this area. If there are beach towels on a line of chairs (obviously saving them) they should remove them. Even put out a large bucket so you can put other people's stuff (books, sandles, hats) or whatever they are not too worried about losing as they leave the stuff there for HOURS! When you get up in the morning (7:00 a.m.) and EVERY chair has a blue Carnival towel folded on them (most have nothing else) they should be removed. Royal Caribbean does this and it works.
The deck games are fun but do get tiresome. Unfortunately if you are lucky enough to get a deck chair the option of going to another pool is not available. One game a day is more than enough - some days at sea had two games. The staff is great and very personable but enough already. The people who participate in these games sure love them (my son included) but I can only take so many trivia games, survivor games, hairy chest games,etc. Again - one a day is ample!
Never went to any shows but my husband did with other friends and although he normally loves the shows and he thought they were lousy - not at all up to the Vegas type shows of previous cruises. He said the comedians and hypnotist (sp) were not very good at all. The dancers were good but the singers were like lousy lounge acts. The word on the ship from staff (ssh) to fellow passengers is that Brett Allen the cruise director is an *** and not very well liked. I only saw him on the tv a few times and he did annoy me as well.
We had dinner two nights at the Golden Fleece and it was wonderful. Would have liked to have every dinner in there but alas they money thing does kick in! Vicky at the bar made the best martinis!! The service and food was outstanding and well worth the $25 pp charge. We did leave tips to our servers and bartenders. The combo was really very good and many people enjoyed dancing to them.
In the dining room, our head waiter and asst waitress were just okay. The waiter was very "stressed and rushed" all the time. He told us he had only been on the ships 3 weeks and was still trying to figure it all out. He was nice enough but the service did not live up to previous cruises. We were a table of 8 (two families) and it never failed that we were always the last to leave the dining room (along with his other 2 tables). The food on some night was great but then there were night when all 8 of us would read the menu and not find one thing that appealed to us for a main course. Not really complaining here just making a mention of it. Ate our breakfasts and lunch on the lido deck each day. Breakfasts are the typical cruise ship fare and are very tiring - lunches were wonderful and each day I had a hard time narrowing down my choice. The 24 hr pizza is still the best.
We did remove our tips and tipped the old fashioned way - with the envelopes.
The ship was very pretty(this is a lot coming from a person who normally hates Carnival's decor and wears sunglasses inside ) although the urns were a bit much. The color scheme is much more subtle and classier.
We found the evenings to be very quiet at all the lounges - it seems everyone goes to the shows and then bed! The disco was pretty hopping most nights and that was about it. There are quite a few clubs that are completely empty every night. We did hit the piano bar on the last night and it was pretty packed.
The casino was extremely TIGHT! I didn't hear of anyone winning anything worth talking about all week - I was in there every night and never heard the bells and whistles of winning slot machines or the hollering of the winning tables. Also I found the slot machines very limited - many more $.5 machines and very few $.25 machines.
Ports
Barbados - beautiful island. We booked a private tour through Glory Tours and this worked out great. They met us at the ship. We had a private van (air conditioned) and went to Harrison's Cave and the Wildlife Reserve. We traveled with 4 teens and we all enjoyed these tours.
St. Marteen - took a cab to Orient Beach for jet skiing and then returned for some shopping. Have been to this island before and we enjoyed it. If you are planning to shop this is the place to do it.
Martinique - Hated this island. All we did was take a cab to downtown to walk around. It is a dirty, run down area and the people are not all that friendly - they are nothing like the natives of other caribbean islands we have visited. I think if we would have taken a tour we may have enjoyed it more. There were not too many who enjoyed this island and most said they would stay on the ship next time. We were only out for about 2 hrs and then headed back.
We took our two teens (18 and 15) and our friends had there two teens (18 and 16) - they all said this was the BEST cruise ever. There were 600 kids on board! They were all great - never saw or heard of any problems - except for a few of the younger (10-13) yr olds playing in the elevators LOUDLY!! There seemed to be many teens and they had a ball - participated in the pool games, dancing the conga lines, etc. My only issue is with the breakdown of Carnival's age groups. The teens are allowed in the disco until 11 and then it is for 18 and over. At this time they put the teens up to age 17 in another area to dance. They ended up changing it to 16 and over as there were so many teens. Still the 9-15 yr olds were thrown together and this is too wide of an age gap. I am really not sure why Carnival has not put an actual Teen Disco on their ships where teens can go to dance. The 18 and over would still be able to use the adult disco but the other teens would still be together without the younger ones.
Debarkation was smooth and we were off the ship by 9:30.
I am sure I am forgetting something so feel free to ask.
Kathy
Legend 4-19 review
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