Wishy-Washy Legend
Carnival Legend Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
8 Night Exotic Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 24, 2007
Ship: Carnival Legend
Cabin type: Oceanview
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 14 years ago
Review summary
We recently traveled to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize aboard the Carnival Legend. It was an 8 night cruise with only one partial day in each port. Needless to say, we had a lot of "sea" time. The ship itself was beautiful - like a Vegas hotel. But, like that, it was all smoke and mirrors. Let's start with the FOOD - In the main dining area was passable, at best. The steaks ordered the first night out were grey and tough. The options were limited and the taste on par with a cheap family restaurant. Not at all what I expected. The food in the cafeteria style dining room was even less palatable - assuming you could fight your way through the crowd and then, by some miracle, find a seat without doing multiple laps around the dining area. And the coffee - Forget about it. The only decent coffee to be found had to be purchase for a "nominal fee" of about $4.50 (before the automatic 15% gratuity) at the "cafe". The only decent food we had was in the "private" dining room which cost us an extra $30 per person. And private? It was the upper floor of the cafeteria area so while it wasn't "public", you were open to that area. The food and service in the supper club was outstanding, however, and the service was fabulous as well. Now, speaking of service - Carnival charges gratuities to you automatically. All food/bar service - 15% automatically. Doesn't matter if it's a soda, a cocktail or a cup of coffee. And, they also charge you $10 per person per day for service gratuities. This is split between the waiters, the steward, etc. On the surface, it seems reasonable and kind of handy. Until you realize that the staff knows they're getting tips regardless of the service. And it shows. So, what to do for 5 "at sea" days? Well, there's the smoke-filled casino (thankfully one of the few places smoking was alowed inside) where you can spend money, there's the art auction where you can spend more money, there's the spa which charged $110 for a manicure/pedicure that I could get at home for $40, there's all the shops where you can spend more money, oh and don't forget BINGO which was $10 - $20 per pop, not to mention the scratchoff tickets they were selling. There are the multitude of bars. And for the kids, there's the arcade which charges double what you'd pay on land for each game. If you want to avoid shelling out a lot of extra cash, well, you can get up really early and go stake out a spot by the pool. If you don't have your spot by 9:30 am - forget it. You're relegated to the shade. The pools were small and very crowded. Free shows - pretty much only at night. Otherwise, the best you could hope for was a lecture on where to spend your $ in port. There was one Hairy Chest contest, an ice carving exhibition and some allegator wrestling on the Lido deck - all at the same conflicting times, of course. The only saving grace were the ports of call. We were able to get on / off ship pretty easily and our tour guides were well organized and informative. We particularly loved the Offroad Excursion in Limon, Costa Rica. By the end of my cruise, trapped as many days on a ship filled with less then enthusiastic staff and, for the most part, loud partiers with little concern or respect for fellow passengers, I was about to jump. I stayed in my room. I could have done that at home. Next time - I'll fly.Ports of call
Pros: Ports of Call
Cons: Food, Lack of things to do on ship
Recommends Carnival Legend? No.
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