Carnival Legend Reviews

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Nice Family Vacations. It was our first 7 days cruise. We are from Orlando so we arrive to Tampa Saturday 12 and we stay in a Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites Largo- Clearwater. The hotel is just 2 years old is in excellent conditions, extremely clean and very quiet. Is just 5 minutes from Clearwater, beautiful beach Must Visit!! we went to the Sunset at Pier60; it's a family event features artisans, crafters, street performers and a beautiful sunset to watch. First Day May 13- We park in Premier Parking couple of blocks from the port, believe me is one of the cheap parking cruise. (Approximately 40.00). We get to the ship around 11:30 a.m. very quick the process and our room was already set-up when we were finally inside the ship. I bring some Lysol and I clean everything there was a lot of dust in the counters. We spend all day around the pool, the kids only went to the water slide one time it's too far from the main pool it was located close to the adult area.I honestly not understand Why? the other cruises the water slide is very close to the main pool. The food was excellent A+++. May 14 Sea Day We spend all day in the pool, eating and we play mini golf. May 15 First Port Cozumel. We rent a car, feel free to do it don't be scare about comments that you will see in different websites. Cozumel is a very pacific island easy to drive and you will not be lost. There is much to see and your trip could be as short as an hour if you do not stop at all and go at a breakneck speed with no tickets. Or, you may stop at a beach bar, we stop at Rasta Reggae Bar and Grill excellent food!! we took a lot of panoramic pictures and our last stop was Paradise Beach you paid $2.00 per person for having access to the beach, restrooms and pool bar, for $12.00 you get a wristband were you can enjoy unlimited water toys as trampolines, snorkel gear and kayaks.A lot of fun for kids and adults. The island is about 20 miles long by 15 across but the road you will travel is about 15 miles north and south and perhaps 8 miles across. May 16- Second Port Belize It was raining a lot but nothing stop us. To get to Belize you need to get a boat from the ship and is approximately 5 miles from the ship to the island, some people don't like it and prefer not to go. But there's a lot of things to do. I personally recommend you to book a private excursion. Some people do the zip-line and cave tubing and they said that was awesome. We separate a excursion with Island Marketing excellent service, we do Lamanai Mayan Ruins and Lunch. We love it something different, spectacular view and the trip in the boat in the middle of the jungles is extremely beautiful. If you like to be Xtreme and like to know the culture of other countries these is a perfect excursion. You will walk a lot bring comfortable shoes. May 17- Isla Roatan The best port of all. Beautiful, Amazing!! So bad that the ship leave at 2:00 p.m. So wake up early to enjoy Isla Roatan. We rent a car for $50.00 including insurance and we had a lot of fun. It rain a lot that day so we were not able to see the whole island but we went to Mahogany Bay. I get a front beach massage for $20.00 for 45 mts Believe or not!! Beautiful beach! May 18- Gran Cayman We went to Seven Miles Beach. We took a taxi for $4.00 per person kids were free. In a previous cruise we did the Stingrays and it was a great excursion specially for kids. In general was a Great Cruise we met a lot of people, the Disc Jockey was Great he play everything, a lot of Latin music. He was from Mexico the best music in a cruise. The Steak House restaurant Great! Food was delicious. The Crew was really nice, my only complaint is about Room Service sometimes we need to wait some much for the food or for ice. Great Cruise!! Have Fun!!

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My fiancee and I loved this 7 nights cruise. It was his first on carnival and my third. Food was always great in the main dining room for dinner and breakfast and lunch buffet did not disappoint us neither. All the staff was always very attentive. We dined on " your time dining" as we prefer eating when we are hungry and not at a set time. We learned after the first night we could request a specific waiter and Ana being our favorite was there for us every night. We did dine at the " Golden Fleece" one night. This is the only specialty restaurant. It looked very nice but the food was nothing special. Our balcony cabin was nice but a little smaller than our previous RCCL cruise and with simple decor. Our cabin stewar, Melvin, was always there when needed and always had our cabin spotless and clean. My fiancee did not like the ship decor as he thought compared to other cruise lines it was a Little gaudy but I personally did not mind. Some rooms and areas were better looking than others. The pools were very small, certainly not for swimming but it did have an adult only pool with hammocks and nice chairs that was very nice. All shows very great at night and Kirk, the cruise director was very very funny and entertaining. All ports of calls ( Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Grand Cayman) were fun. We took private shore excursions and saved almost half doing the exact same ones offered by the cruise line. I pre booked them before the cruise started by doing a research of private company and reading their reviews and we were highly satisfied! Price was great for a balcony and we are looking forward to many more cruises !!!

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This was our first time on a cruise. We ended up being a group of 40 to attend a wedding at sea. Reservations were handled by the travel agent. In preparation for the adventure, reviews were read for both the Legend and whatever excursion that we might want to book. Itinerary: Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Grand Caymen, Cruise Apr 29-May 6 Embarkation: Painless. We arrived the day before, stayed a night at the Hyatt Regency and took the Trolley train to the pier. Our printed boarding passes indicated a 12:30-2:30 boarding time, so we sat in a court yard listening to live music with a beer and lunch. We headed over to the "Arrivals" door around 1:30 PM and proceeded through the registration with no lineups to slow down the 15 minute process. Our room was ready upon arrival so we able to dump our carry on. The checked baggage arrived some time later so remember to pack items that you might need in your carry on (eg. shorts, swim suit). Food: Breakfasts: We preferred to eat our breakfast from the buffet. There was plenty of breakfast options and one could always choose the "omelette" bar for a freshly cooked egg. We had breakfast only once in Truffles and we went back to the buffet the next day. Lunches: It wouldn't be fair to rate the the offerings for lunchtime since we only had lunch 2 times. Again it was buffet style except for the Deli counter. The other days were spent onshore eating the local cuisine. I shall say that any food should not be served buffet style whether it be at land or at sea, but that is the easiest and most efficient way to serve the masses. I wasn't expecting 5 star buffet food ... and if anyone does you will be disappointed. Dinner: We had a 6 PM seating every night. No need to line up as I saw with others that chose the "eat when you want" option. We had the same servers each night which was good. The menu options, variety and quality were good and the service was attentive. We did feel rushed at around 7:30 PM as they needed to setup for the next seating. But once we knew that ... The only thing the prime rib had a hint of ham flavour. I can only guess the beef were roasted in the same oven as the ham ... hmm One thing should be noted. A couple in our group paid a bit extra to do the "Chef's Tour". They learned that all food and drink is brought on board at the beginning of the trip, there are no food drops midway. I took that into consideration when selecting from the menu near the end of the week. BTW: they ran out of the local draught beer (Red Frog) mid week. Excursions: We took the opportunity to get off the ship at each port. Cozumel: Mayan ruins and beach day. Information overload on Mayan history and Mexican traditions. That makes it sound like a bad day but it was actually good if you like that sort of thing. We had a great guide (Cesar) who talked non-stop. What can I remember ... 7 is a lucky number, Dec 21/2012 the world is not going to end, there is 154 types of Tequilla, and Corona is a "crap" beer, that's why they export it to the States and keep the good stuff for themselves. The time at beach was not long enough ... but maybe if lunch was served quicker, there would have more time to swim in the ocean. Belize: Half-day at the Eco-park with the mountain bike option. A couple of hours on the bike followed by lunch and pool time. Nothing special but it was kinda cool riding though a jungle. Don't expect top of the line mountain bikes or hilly terrain. Our bus guide and eco-park guide were informative. Now is your chance to try fresh termites (sort of crunchy) and other edible jungle eats. Other people in our group chose the horse back riding option and had a good time. The above excursions were booked through Carnival. There were some benefits since we arrived about an hour late in Cozumel which delayed the start of the excursions and of course the return time as well. Not sure what would have happened if the tours were booked privately. In Belize, I didn't see a whole bunch private tour operators waiting in the port flocking their trips... Of course the local time was 8 am and most of the shops were closed when we arrived. Although each of the excursions lists a 4-5 hour duration, they were both longer or felt that way. Roatan: Beach day... You can waste your money on the chair lift or take a 15 minute stroll to the beach. Pack a face mask and snorkel or rent something at the beach. Most people snorkeled at the end of the pier. Here's a lunch tip, have some local fresh fish from the bar/restaurant located at the far end of the beach. We did our gift/souvenir shopping in the port at the local craft market. We were looking for merchandise made locally rather than the "made in China" stuff. Grand Cayman: Swim with the Stingrays and snorkel by the reef. Privately booked trip through Captain Marvin's. Awesome. Need I say more. We met up with a friend who lives there who made all the necessary reservations. We just needed to get off the ship for the rendezvous time and place, working around the different time zones and the "tendering" process. We made it back in time with 2 minutes to spare for the last tender to the ship. Several other reviews mentioned the 'tendering" process. Soon discovered that it is a necessary evil in doing the excursions. Not sure how else "herding cats" could be done better or more efficiently. If we were to do this again, I would look into pre-booking a private trip, but that involves some research and work on my part. Most of the tour operators are good, depend on the tourist dollar and are aware that people are on a cruise. Booking through Carnival, although costing more also has some benefits ... first priority on the morning tender departure and if the excursion runs late, no worries since the ship will wait. Entertainment/shows: I prefer live entertainment so tried to see every 9 PM Show in the Follies. The Legend dancers and singers were good as were the shows that I saw. The Showtime Band (5 piece plus a sax and horn section) were great and they played various venues, shows, karaoke, and bars during the week . Don't go to the advertised "must see" show on the first night, we could have missed that one. I didn't take in any of the comedy shows as there was always a lineup plus I can go to our local comedy in my home town. We also like to dance, as did others in the wedding party. The Showtime Band seemed to appreciate it as well since there is nothing worse than a party band playing and nobody dancing. They brought in different singers during their sets and played 30 minutes beyond the scheduled stopped time since so much fun was happening on the dance floor. Bars: Most of the bars were in the open or at least one could see through the windows to see if other guests were there. Medusa Lair and the Dream team bar were dead zones. Medusa lair, is the on ship disco catering to the wrong demographics. It is also hidden away. The Dream team bar is advertised as sports bar ... with plenty of TV screens. It's too bad the only sports channel feeds were ESPN2 (spanish feed) and NBC. It would have been nice to watch a period of the NHL playoffs on either TSN, TSN2 ESPN or Fox network. Fitness centre: Small centre with LifeFit treadmills, Ellipticals, and Bicycles and a couple of "no-name: rowing machines. Small free weight section and other weight machines. The centre was packed on the first day at sea ... after that not so much. Various fitness classes were offered during the week, some for an extra fee. Rooms: Deck 5 Aft, Port side with a small balcony. Walls don't provide much sound proofing, so respect thy neighbour. Bring earplugs if you are a light sleeper. Room stewards were friendly and kept the rooms clean. We got in the habit of using the "snooze/cruise" sign, especially in the evening so the "turning down of the beds" was done while we were having dinner. Debarkation: What a stupid process. Being a non-U.S. citizen, they herded us into the Follies theatre for 7:30 am, where we waited 45 minutes for the U.S. immigration officers to appear. Once they arrived waited another 10 minutes until I got my 30 seconds in front of them to answer simple questions. We went back to our room after breakfast and waited until our zone number was called. Exiting the ship took about 15 minutes, only to see mayhem in the port where our luggage was retrieved ... ah the choke point was the U.S. Immigration working the exits. Overall: The vacation was enjoyable with high and low points. I would have liked to see more activities offered in the evening. I really don't consider sitting on your butt playing the slots, playing bingo, drinking at the bar, or watching a comedy act an activity.

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Background: Myself and DH (early 60s). First Carnival cruise - several RCL, Celebrity, and Azamara cruises. Cruise only for the ports, not for the ship. The only reason we vacation in the Caribbean is to snorkel. Mostly take land vacations but use cruises as a way to see places to which we have never been and check them out for future land/snorkel vacations. Selected this cruise solely on the fact that it went out of the US and stopped at Belize and Roatan. Have always wanted to snorkel in Belize and would not consider a land vacation there as shore snorkeling is pretty much non-existent in Belize. Wanted to return to Roatan (had stayed on the east end for a week a few years ago and had amazing snorkeling) to check out Infinity Bay Resort as a place to return for a week this June. Never been to Caymans and thought that would be interesting. Second time in Cozumel, both cruise stops. TAMPA: Stayed two nights precruise and one night postcruise at the Embassy Suites Westshore/Airport. Good choice. Used the free shuttle to go to the International Mall for dinners; walked across the street to the Westshore Mall for lunches. In retrospect probably should have stayed precruise downtown just for something different as we had never been to the Tampa area. However, my research showed nothing that spectacular about Tampa - aquarium didn't interest us - and we didn't want to rent a car and go outside of the area. Once I saw the port downtown area - Channelside - from the ship, doesn't seem like much there anyway. EMBARKATION: Took the Ship to Shore shuttle for $10 each. In retrospect would just take a taxi. We had to wait about 15 minutes for people to board, etc., but since this was our first time in Tampa decided to take the shuttle as we weren't sure how confusing the port area was. The driver tried to talk us into taking the shuttle back after the cruise but we opted for a taxi - only $5 more total. To take the shuttle back meant calling them, locating them, and then probably waiting around for all the other people to board. Arrived at the port around noon, got in a short line, and very shortly thereafter were on the ship. This was by far the fastest embarkation we have ever experienced. SHIP DECOR: A lot has been written about the urn motif. Personally I like the glitz and gaudiness of cruise ships - reminds me of a mini Vegas hotel. However, this ship isn't so much about glitz and sparkle as darkness. I found all of the urns to look like cheap plastic and somewhat strange. However, who cares, really? What I noticed the most were the dark ceilings everywhere. With the lower ceiling height on the ship anyway, the dark finishes made for a very depressing atmosphere. I noticed it throughout the week - never got beyond the feeling that I was in a cave-like environment. The ship looked to be in fine condition to me, although I don't wander around looking for rust and peeling paint like some people seem to do. I just don't care as long as things are clean. DEMOGRAPHICS: I selected this cruise date to specifically miss spring and Easter breaks. I know there were children on the cruise, but never noticed them running amok, etc. Variety of age groups with, as usual, 50s and older making up the majority. All I will say is that the majority of the people on this ship made for some interesting people watching. STAFF: Absolutely no problems but didn't interact with too many of the crew. We don't drink, so we don't go to any of the bars. Wait staff were friendly enough and efficient. I can't exactly say why but I didn't have the same feeling of "happiness" or eagerness to please the customer as I have felt on our other cruises. Maybe part of that is that I have never had a cabin steward that I rarely saw. Our cabin was kept immaculate at all times and that is all I need or want, but usually we get to know the steward and I guess that just gives a feeling of knowing the staff in general. Always extra tip the steward but this time I didn't - never felt a connection - never even saw him at all the last day to give him a tip. Maybe it is to his credit that he didn't hang around the hallways hoping for tips or maybe the passengers on Carnival don't extra tip so why spend the energy getting to know people. Was strange. CABIN: We were in 7251. Great location. Quiet, quiet, quiet. But, that can depend on your neighbors. Great location just steps from 6 midship elevators. Elevators always fast and usually empty. I'm not fussy about cabins. In fact, I love this standard size balcony cabin. I would never pay to upgrade for more room. I find this type of cabin very cozy and comfortable for two people. Yes, it would be nice to have a larger balcony with loungers but I wouldn't pay more just to have that. Now, we are smaller sized people so that might make a difference. Storage, bathroom, etc., same as in most other ships. Cabin steward, Ritho, was pleasant but didn't actually see him much. After the first day of noticing our habits - spend a lot of time in our cabin - when we left for our breakfast and dinner we always came back to a clean cabin. FOOD: We are definitely not gourmet or snob eaters. Actually, to us a meal is not an event but just something we have to do. We just like simple good tasting food. At home, we eat at Outback, Ruby Tuesdays, local seafood places, etc. We usually prefer the buffets on ships due to convenience, variety, and the fact that a meal can be as quick as we want it to be. However, this ship had the absolute worst buffet of any ship on which we have sailed. Breakfast: Omelets were fine. Other than that, scrambled eggs were powdery and disgusting. Fruit all week consisted of cantaloupe and honeydew with pineapple occasionally making an appearance. We didn't have time on port days to eat breakfast in the MDR, but did so on every other day. The MDR breakfast was much better, scrambled eggs included. Still no fruit variety. Lunches: Only had one lunch in the MDR and it was good. Buffet lunches: good salad bar. Deli was very popular but had limited selections, IMO. Other choices were hit or miss. Really didn't have too many lunches there as we were in port four days and snacked around the other days. Dinners: After two nights in the buffet area, gave up and used our anytime dining to eat in the MDR. I felt that the buffet was terrible. I never was on a ship with such limited dinner buffet selections and all of the ships on which we have sailed were this size or smaller. So disappointing. We liked the fact that in the MDR we could always get a table for two along the railing which guaranteed that we would not be sitting on top of the next table for two as they can be lined up inches apart on some ships. In general found some of the food to be very good and then some so very bad. Stay away from anything that they call jumbo shrimp, for example. Looked and tasted like frozen popcorn shrimp. Ice cream machine: I do love ice cream. Never any ice cream in the buffet area - just this dreadful tasting 24/7 machine stuff. I kept wondering if no one on the ship had ever been to a DQ because people were eating this stuff like it actually tasted like ice cream. Was a watery ice crystal concoction. Didn't try the yogurt - maybe that was better. Pizza was pretty good. Used room service three times to get cookies and cheese cake and it arrived within five minutes. SPA/GYM: Never go to the spa. Did use the gym twice. Really liked the layout of the exercise weight machines. The gym is in this three tier arrangement which at first seemed strange, but I liked that it made the machines appear to not be so close together. Had an area for three benches and free weights. I use dumbbells to do an upper body routine and was excited to see a 12-pound set of normal size dumbbells. It is difficult for me to use the typical black ones with such large weight plates at each end. Take your own bottle of water; water fountain didn't work, but I try to never use a water fountain anyway. Didn't see any water dispenser with paper cups. I always went in the mid afternoon on the sea days and it was very empty. ACTIVITIES: Rarely attend ship activities but always read the daily schedule just in case something catches my eye. Seemed like the usual cruise ship stuff - but that is to be expected. I know that we always say we are bored on sea days; but really what else could they possibly come up with as activities? On some of other cruises there were enrichment lectures, etc., and we always found most of them interesting. Nothing enriching on this cruise. Didn't attend any activities. CASINO: Only play slots a little each night for something to do. Took a limited amount of money and left at the end of the week with an empty envelope. Found the machines to be tight (nothing new, really) and therefore no motivation or fun to play. I don't expect to actually come out ahead at the end of the week, but it would be nice to win here and there to make it fun while the machine takes your money. To put $20 in and see it go in 2 minutes with rarely even winning $5 makes for no fun at all. The exception was one night where I got up to 85 credits ($1 machines) but cashed out at $60. Normally, I would have probably played it out for fun but with our experience with such bad odds the other nights, didn't bother. ENTERTAINMENT: Went to the early Motown show as we are from that era. Found his song selections to be all pretty much ballad type songs - good singer - but just not very much fun, based on song choice. Said the second show would have different songs so maybe that was livelier. Jazz Hot (or something like that) was okay but we got bored two-thirds through and left. I felt the singers were above average for a cruise ship but the dancing reminded me of a high school production. Didn't bother to go to any other shows. Didn't go to see any of the comedians as they are later in the evening and I had read about the lines one has to stand in just to get a seat. We would like to go to listen/dance to 70s 80s music but we find on every cruise the music that we would like never starts until around 10. We are in bed by that time. POOL: Never went to any of the pools; never even walked over to see the Serenity area. My husband is a smoker so sometimes we would sit on the Lido area for a while. I must say that the house band duo (man and a woman) were by far the worst cruise ship lido deck performers I have ever had to listen to. Her voice was okay - but loud and annoying. He stood there like he wished he was anywhere else. It was terrible. During sail-a-way I couldn't take it any longer and had to leave the area. I would have rather had canned music. One afternoon a guy with his acoustical guitar was singing some 70s and 80s songs and that was actually fairly enjoyable. SMOKING: Great ship for a smoker. Once I decide on a trip/cruise, I spend way too much time each day on my computer reading CC or TA, etc. I check the boards several times a day for the latest posts. Interesting comment about smoking/smokers that I noticed. Most of our cruises have been on the RCL brand ships. If a person mentions smoking on those boards, the person is immediately blasted and most posters fervently hope that the person doesn't end up on the ship at all and flat out tells them to please not sail on RCL - very self-righteous attitudes. The person gets post after post of anti-smoking lectures. On the Carnival boards, however, if someone posts a question about posting, most people are right with them - no complaining - no anti-smoking posts, actually encouraging a "let's all smoke attitude." As a matter fact, people will actually make comments about how they will smoke and the heck with their neighbors. Well, I don't smoke, but my husband does so I like to book a balcony on which he can smoke, but he is perfectly willing to go up to the lido deck if balcony smoking isn't permitted. There were smokers on each side of our balcony and there were smokers everywhere on the smoking side of the lido which is the ENTIRE one side of the ship. To me, the difference in attitude in the CC posts tells you something about what to expect on board and I was very interested to see if I was right - and I was. DISEMBARKATION: We were in zone 9 and were called around 10. Quick, short line. Got a porter which always ensures a quicker exit from the terminal. In a taxi right away and off we went. PORTS: Primary goal was to snorkel in each port. Wanted to maximize our time in the water at each port. Have tried the ship excursion snorkel trips mostly to be stuck on very crowded cats and boats being kicked in the face by too many people with minimal time in the water. On our recent cruises have used mostly non-ship excursions with much better results - sometimes even paying for just the two of us to be taken out. That is where I prefer to spend my money as that is why I'm there in the first place. So, here is what we did: COZUMEL: Booked a three-stop snorkel trip with Mystic. Almost was a problem because of the time differences. I had everything worked out and even had a buffer time due to Coz being one hour behind ship time and the Legend always stays on ship time throughout the cruise. BUT, the time to arrive was changed from 8 when I booked the cruise to 9 somewhere along the line that I didn't know about until the night before we arrived in Coz. We had to be at the marina by 8:30 local time, which meant I had to be off the ship at 9. All the ship excursions met in one location and all of the rest of us were strictly roped off and not allowed to exit the ship until all the ship excursion people were off (hundreds of people). It wasn't looking too good for us. I snaked my way up to the front of the roped off area and talked to one of the "guards" keeping all of us from not getting into the excursion line of people. I showed her my documents and explained how the ship had changed arrival times after I had booked my cruise, etc. She finally took pity on me and allowed us to merge in with the ship excursion people and we got a taxi and made it to the marina by 8:25 local time. I'm sure when she let us into that line, there was a minor riot as people were really not happy to be held back. Anyway, turned out that there were just three of us on this trip (one person from The Glory which was in all of our ports with us). We went to a nursery area and there was a lot of interesting fish life to see - we stayed for about 30 minutes. We then went to the Colombia reef and did about an hour drift snorkel. It was amazing. Great snorkel; great reef; too many types of fish to mention or remember. Then another 45 minutes at the Palancar Reef - different - beautiful reef formations but not nearly as many fish. Best part was that we never had to swim back to the boat. Roswitha just waved for her boat captain to come to us. Great snorkeling with LOTS of time in the water - 30 minutes in and out - 2 1/2 hours of snorkeling. This is definitely a snorkel trip - no drinking, etc. Just what I wanted. BELIZE: Booked a snorkel trip with SeaSports Belize. My husband and I were the only snorkelers; there were about 9 divers. This is the trip that I agonized over the most as I was very worried about the two-hour time difference between ship and local time. I even took our passports and credit card with us in case we missed the ship. Linda communicated fast via email and did her best to reassure me, even giving my email to another person on my ship so we could meet and the three of us walk to the dive shop together as she was as nervous about the time as I was. Turned out that everyone on the excursion was either from the Legend or the Glory so I felt confident that we would be brought back to the tender dock on time but still it was on my mind most of the day. The snorkeling was excellent. Linda was our snorkel guide and we were in the water for at least an hour. Then the divers returned to the very little "deserted island" and we had lunch while the divers had their interval time. Then the divers went off for more diving and my husband decided to just hang out on the tiny spit of sand and relax. This meant that I went snorkeling with Linda for another hour. What a fun time I had locating things to see. It was wonderful. We actually made it back to the tender dock about 45 minutes before the deadline - so no worries at all. ROATAN: We were really looking forward to this port. We hired a private driver through Victor Bodden. Walked over the hill to the spot where the drivers were waiting for their customers. Easy to find; my husband has some hip issues and he wasn't thrilled about the walk but it wasn't that bad - it was almost worse dodging the road traffic. We had Ronald as our driver and he did an excellent job. We only wanted to see the West End and West Bay areas as we were hoping to return in a month for a week's vacation. We were supposed to also have a one-hour snorkel boat trip, but Ronald couldn't find the boat. He did say that we could find one some other person/boat, but we declined. We asked him to take us to Infinity Bay Resort as that is the place we wanted to stay when we returned. He took us into the reception office and the extremely nice woman there took the time to show us three different units - beautiful place - would definitely stay there. BUT, we wanted to stay there because of the supposedly great shore snorkeling in front of the resort. We stayed two hours and snorkeled in front and all the way to the left of the resort down at Tabyana and to the rock wall. Absolutely terrible snorkeling; I was so disappointed. Now we are very experienced snorkelers and we know how conditions can change, etc. However, this was an absolutely clear, sunny, not windy day with excellent visibility. Also, with the cruise ships in, the cruisers are right next door and many are snorkeling and in the water naturally. We did swim quite a ways out past the kayak guards and still didn't have any decent snorkeling. So, we had Ronald take us back to the port, walked around the shopping area that Carnival built and made it back on board with a few minutes to spare. So, we won't be returning to Roatan. GRAND CAYMAN: For this port I decided to go with a ship excursion just because it was our last port and another tender situation. Also I had difficulty finding a private excursion that didn't include sting rays and would work with our late arrival time. Booked the Wreck and Reef snorkel which was supposed to leave at 11. When our tickets arrived in our room the time had been changed to 2. We had never been to this port, so we decided to tender in and just walk around the area and do a little souvenir shopping. Found a few shops out of the immediate cruise area. Went back around 1:15 to wait for our excursion to start. Meanwhile we saw two other snorkel type Carnival excursions lining up ready to leave and there were just soooo many people in each group. We were told to wait until 1:45 and we would be on our way. When we went back, we were told that the captain had called with boat trouble and the excursion was cancelled. That was very disappointing because - no snorkeling! There was a Carnival person standing there with her sign saying "Reef/beach snorkel" but that excursion was leaving at 2 and was completely booked - no wonder with the huge group of people milling around. Then I saw another Carnival person with a sign "Shore snorkel" or something like that. I asked about that one and she said it was leaving at 2 and was available. We decided to just do that one. I was a little ticked at the Carnival shore excursion organization person, however, because she kept trying to get us to go on the "luxury yacht snorkel" that also left at 2 but cost about $100 per person rather than the $40 per person I paid for the shore trip. She never mentioned the shore trip to me I only noticed the person with the sign. Anyway, it turned out to be just 6 of us and the taxi drove us a few blocks away to Foster's dive shop. We snorkeled up to Eden's Rock and then snorkeled back. Our snorkel guide was fantastic and it was very good snorkel lasting over an hour with pretty much to see. We enjoyed it. CONCLUSION: After being on the Legend I would never cruise on a Carnival ship again unless it was the only cruiseline stopping at the ports to which I want to go AND the fact that there are many places in which my husband can smoke - casino, balcony, huge area on lido deck, so that makes my life easier and less stressful. Nothing bad happened, but the atmosphere is depressing, buffet terrible and food in general very hit or miss, entertainment subpar, etc.

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Surprised my husband with aft vista suite with wraparound balcony, which was definitely worth it. We sailed on Star Princess last spring and while husband liked that cruise, he loves Carnival. While we greatly enjoyed this cruise on Legend, it was a very different group of fellow cruisers compared to our 5/10 cruise on Legend. Last cruise it was all couples and very few children, if any, and never felt crowded. This cruise felt crowded everywhere plus there were lots of children, college students, and singles. We normally try to book during the school year and avoid school breaks. Hotel: Arrived Saturday evening via Southwest Airlines. Stayed at Homewood Suites Tampa Westshore which was booked through Priceline. Perfect suite, quiet, staff very helpful, clean, and restaurant at hotel next door. Used Ground Jet to take us to the cruise port. I would recommend Jaime and Ground Jet. I didn't book this in advance but the hotel arranged this for me Sunday morning. Embarkation: Arrived around 11:30 and on ship by 12:15pm. Couldn't go to the room until 1:30pm so we had a cocktail on the lido deck. Cabin: Fabulous vista suite. Loved the large wraparound balcony. We did spend a lot of time in our room and on the balcony. Ship: Noticed a few upgrades since 2010. The lido deck chairs were replaced and all the tabletops had been refurbished. The carpet in the hallways seemed to have been replaced. I did not notice any major carpet stains or other items. The ship is beautiful and the workers are constantly painting or cleaning. We can't stay in the sun for very long so we didn't get any loungers by the pool. We would just sit on the edge of the pool for a short time and then move into the shade. One note: it is unfortunate that there has been vandalism in the mid and forward elevators. Graffiti and inappropriate items had been carved into the elevator cab finishes. I hope this is resolved soon - what a shame. Dining: We did something we haven't done before - only ate once in the MDR. We kept checking the menus in the cabin and didn't see anything that caught our attention. We utilized the Lido buffet most evenings. We also went to the Golden Fleece Steakhouse one night. Best steak, atmosphere, and service. Worth the money. DH loves the deli and pizza. We did not order room service. We were signed up for Your Time Dining. Shows/Entertainment: Saw three shows: Jazz Show, Big Easy, and Motown. The Jazz Show and Motown were wonderful. Make sure you see both of these! We saw the Big Easy last time and it wasn't as good this time. We did not catch any comedy shows or go to the disco or piano bar. I still miss the diverse entertainment that used to be offered on the Fantasy class ships. Ports: Cozumel, Belize, Honduras, and Grand Cayman. Been to these ports several times. Only did one excursion in Roatan, Honduras: Tabyana Beach Break. It's a 30 minute bus ride to a secluded beach with excellent snorkeling. The port at Roatan is beautiful, clean, and still relatively new. The other ports we stayed on the ship and pretty much had it to ourselves. Service: Great service from our cabin steward, Roger. Also we had one minor maintenance issue that Edgar fixed promptly for us. Everyone on the staff is eager to help. Few oddball comments: 1) The past guest reception was held at 5pm on the Belize port day. Sailaway from Belize was at 5pm. Not sure why they chose this time? We did not attend and I was disappointed about that. I love sitting on my balcony during the sailaway. Very odd to me. It should be held on a sea day. I wonder if anyone attended? 2) Another timing issue. Future cruise seminar was held at 4pm on a port day where folks didn't need to get back on the ship until 4:30pm. Why is that? It seemed like they didn't want people to attend. 3) We did not purchase any pictures. It seems like the quality of the pictures has gone downhill. We threw away all the pictures they took of us as the quality was so poor. On Princess, the picture quality was a step above. And a few miscellaneous positives: upgraded mattress in suite, coffee, deli, cabin tv dining menus and ability to monitor sail/sign account. Also plenty of seats in the Follies lounge for the shows, unlike on Princess. Debarkation: Group 2 in the regular debarkation. Off the ship at 9:30am, through Customs, and our family picked us up at 10am. Very easy. We didn't have a flight until 5:45pm. Overall we were very pleased with the Legend, the staff, and the whole experience. There are so many great things about Carnival and they really do it right. I'm sure we will be planning our next cruise for 2013.

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