Our first cruise north

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 11

Helpful Votes: 227

Review summary

Review of the Carnival Legend Cruise 3-11 September 2022 We had booked this cruise quite a while ago. A few months ago Carnival called us and told us that the inside cabin (Handicap room) would not be available due to remodeling during this cruise. They offered us a free upgrade to a standard balcony room as compensation. My wife uses a mobility scooter and the standard rooms are difficult at best to navigate the door and impossible to turn around once inside the cabin. Due to the unique itinerary of this cruise from Baltimore we took it. We traveled from Hopewell Virginia the night prior as traffic can be a nightmare on I-95. The interstate and holiday weekend proved to be correct, took 51/2 hours to drive 177 miles. This was our 13th cruise (All with Carnival) and our first on the Legend. Parking and embarkation at the Maryland Cruise Terminal was easy, fast and very efficient. The cost of an 8 day cruise was $15 per night time 8 nights ($120 total). We had a boarding time of 12:30-1:00pm and arrived 30 minutes early. They still require vaccination and pre-cruise covid testing. We used the Verifly app and it was a breeze! Travel to Canada required us to download and complete the ArriveCan app also. 1:00pm on the dot we boarded and were able to drop our carryon luggage at the room. Our cards were waiting for us in the mailbox. Our room steward was Rupa. She was amazing and attended to our every question and needs were promptly addressed. She is definitely one of the top stewards in the Carnival fleet. The ship is nice (We like the smaller ships) and she is just starting to show her age. The crew was constantly cleaning everything and there are Purell dispensing machines everywhere. Our first port was Boston and we had not planned to go ashore as they had no handicap tours. Good thing too as it was pouring rain all day. Our second port was Portland Maine and again it was raining all day. We did have an excursion through Carnival (Portland Highlights & Lighthouse Tour). The time was scheduled 8am to 10am. Carnival then changed it to 7:30am and required us to meet in a lounge at 6:45am. The ship did not even dock until 7am. It was advertised as a handicap tour with the understanding that upon embarkation we would have to check in at the shore excursions desk and see if they could accommodate a scooter. We did that and did not get an answer until the night before stating that there was no lift. The tour was a large bus and thankfully I was able to break the scooter down to stow it underneath. My wife did have some trouble climbing the steep stairs. It was a good tour but I would think twice next time, also the rain did not help. The driver (Tom) and guide (Can’t recall her name) were excellent. Our 3rd port was Saint John, New Brunswick. We had scheduled the Carnival tour (Wheelchair Accessible Saint Johns Highlights). Unlike the other tour mentioned above this one required no checking and kicked off at a decent hour (12:30pm). The tour bus was operated by Tammy and she was amazing. The guide was Elizabeth Cormier and she was the best guide we have ever had on any excursion, anywhere, hands down! This is a must do tour for handicap. Only downside was we only had 20 minutes at the city market and we could have used an hour easy. Our 4th port was Halifax, Nova Scotia. We had no tour scheduled as the port area can take up your whole day. We were the third ship in that day and that meant we did not get the port terminal but had an industrial pier and we had to be bussed the 3 minutes over to the terminal (It was a safety regulation). Carnival did a great job getting the passengers on/off at this port. We spent the day in the most beautiful city and interacted with so many friendly natives. The shows were excellent. Most of the music was age appropriate as there was a lot of white and gray hair on this journey. The count was 608 platinum/diamond cruisers and only 12 kids. Lots of music from the 50’s and 60’s. The punchliner comics were very good and Mike Delamont from Canada was so funny I think so people actually peed their pants. The cruise director was Gabe and he was new to the position. He got the job done but you could see the newness in how he did things. Food was not as good as years ago. The service and people are top notch. Shoutouts to the following crew members: Suwedarma, dining room. Rupa, room steward, Lester from Pixels and his manager Ram as they help deliver a personal touch by giving my wife a key chain from India for her collection. Last shoutout goes to a young man named Jamie (His tag said housekeeping, Philippines) but he was on deck 10 and made us smile. I was goofing around with my wife dancing to the music when my wife said turn around. I did so to see Jamie dancing with his broom in step with my dance moves. This kind of thing makes a cruise have a special moment. Bottom Line: We continue to love cruising with Carnival. The experience is tarnished a bit by the nickel and dime charges starting to show up like $2.50 for a tea bag on afternoon tea time. I love the military appreciation event but no pin, again, Really? Please accept our thanks to the Captain and the entire crew of the Legend for a safe and wonderful sea journey. Until our next cruise…

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Baltimore, Maryland

Boston, Massachusetts

Portland, Maine

Saint John, New Brunswick

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Disembarkation

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