Steer clear! Not your typical Royal Caribbean quality cruise.

To say that our time on Legend of the Seas was a disappointment would be a vast understatement. I have been on over a dozen cruises (most of them with Royal Caribbean) and I have never felt so let down by the quality of the food, entertainment, service and overall experience. My father, who is a diamond plus member, shared my disappointment.

The appearance of the ship seemed disheveled and in poor condition, especially considering it was recently refurbished in 2013. Our hallway on deck two had an overwhelming stench that lingered throughout the trip, similar to the smell of urine. The carpets were stained and dirty. Our beds were made with stained sheets also.

On the second day I fell ill with a gastrointestinal illness and was quarantined to my stateroom at the request of the doctor onboard. I was happy to comply, as I would hate to spread my germs or illness to the other passengers. What I was disappointed with was the inability of the ship to accommodate a simply bland diet mandated by my physician. I called room service to request toast or a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich and my request was denied. When I asked what my options were besides the extremely limited room service menu, I was told they could only provide what was on the menu. Luckily, I was able to send my father up to the Windjammer to fetch me some soda crackers and banana, which was the only thing I ate for the next two days.

Our time in the dining room was monumentally dissatisfying. I have spent 15 years working in the restaurant industry, including 10 years working as a server. I know what it entails to run a successful dining room; what I experienced was an understaffed dining room, with poorly trained staff. We had “ My Time” dining reservations at the same time each night. Every time we checked in for our reservation, it seemed as if the reservation didn’t exist (I verified that it indeed did).  Twice we received a pager and had to wait 20-30 minutes. Other times we were seated with people who were already seated and were halfway through their appetizers. After our appetizers came, more people were then seated. When we requested to be seated at a table for two, we were seated literally inches away from other tables. Once we were seated a table with a dirty tablecloth. Multiple times we were seated without place settings. One server carried our breadbasket under his armpit. One server wore a disgusting, filthy apron as he served us at lunch. The level of service we received was horrendous. We sat with empty plates and water glasses most nights as multiple servers and busboys passed us by. They would stand around chatting at the nearby server stations as we waited nearby for our order to be taken or our water glasses to be filled. Multiple times my food was cold upon arrival. No server ever did a standard “two minute check-back” to see how we were enjoying the meal or check if we needed anything. On one occasion I ordered a meal the kitchen ran out of, but they didn’t tell me until they served my father his meal, 30 minutes after I had ordered the food. The quality of food was so poor that I actually left without eating anything on three different occasions. The servers never seemed too concerned, nor did the headwaiter when we complained about the quality of food and service. The headwaiter explicitly stated that the experienced, talented servers tend to leave to go to the bigger ships, leaving new, inexperienced servers on the smaller ships. I’ve had better meals at Perkins or Old Country Buffet. The only meal I actually enjoyed was on formal night. It seems like the ship is trying to coerce guests into the specialty restaurants by serving substandard food in the dining room, Windjammer and Park Café.

As a young adult, the entertaining was consistently underwhelming. All of the entertainment was catered to elderly, given that they were the significant majority on the ship. The only shows that were decent were the shows with the dancers and singers who performed on two nights out of ten. Days at sea were spent reading in my stateroom, as most the activities were suited for senior citizens. Playing 50’s music trivia just didn’t speak to me I guess. When my father went to see a movie in the theater, the film cut out half way through and he had to hunt down a crewmember to fix it. On days when I went to the pool (oh, did I mention the hot tubs weren’t working also) people had their babies and toddlers in diapers in the pool, despite rules being posted stating it wasn’t allowed. No crewmember ever reprimanded the parents. Although it’s disgusting and also a health hazard to share a pool with children in dirty diapers, I felt bad when I noticed there was no children’s pool on the ship.

The only redeeming quality about this ship was its itinerary. The islands we visited were fantastic, especially Dominica. Arlin, our cabin steward, also did a fantastic job and was much more pleasant to interact with than other members of the crew. I would never recommend this ship or any ship of the Vision Class for that matter. The most insulting aspect of this disappointing vacation was the price we paid for the vacation. I would expect a lower quality experience for a $300 Carnival discount cruise, but not for an expensive Royal Caribbean cruise.