Small Ship Big Adventure

Legend of the Seas Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

danwdooley

Contributor Level: First Mate

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 6

Helpful Votes: 115

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

15 Night Panama Canal Westbound (Ft. Lauderdale To San Diego)

Sail date: April 29, 2015

Ship: Legend of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

Royal Caribbean 'Legend of The Seas' is the smallest ship we have cruised on. The next smaller was NCL 'Norwegian Spirit' on our Mediterranean cruise in 2013. As 'Legend of The Seas' was our first Royal Caribbean cruise, it would not be fare to use it as a basis for judging the entire cruise line, and I certainly will not do that.

Being a bit on the smaller side, as it had to be to pass through the Panama Canal, meant that things were a bit more compact and not as many things available to do and see while aboard. Obviously everyone has a different expectation of what a cruise ship experience should entail so what I write is only from our perspective. We are not "night life" people so whether or not there will be a large assortment of places to party after dark is not of interest to us. We like the shows after dinner and the ones on this cruise were on par with every other cruise experience we have had before. Places to eat naturally were a bit more limited due to the more restricted size of the ship. But, the available choices were fine and we found the food comparable to every other cruise. Perhaps the Holland America food experience (back in 2006) might be a bit more up-scale but who remembers back that far?

We consider the shore excursion experience major elements of any cruise and it is only on sea days that we take more note of the smallness of the ship and the smaller number of available things to do. That is, things which fit into our interest. There were some outstanding seminars put on by a couple who make this their professional work. There were also the spots we found to hide away during the day if we wanted to spend some time just reading. That's something we do every cruise anyhow, on sea days.

We enjoyed a couple of the pools a couple of times. My wife and I both enjoy swimming but as we have our own back yard pool, we may not bother that often with the on board pools.

Shopping aboard was a bit more limited. Once again, due to the smaller size of the ship. It's more of a pass time activity rather than actually buying things - although my wife always manages to make at least one major purchase - but it's just part of our routine of milling about the decks on sea days.

Our cabin felt to be pretty much the same size as other balcony cabins. Good storage in the form of drawers and closets. The bathroom seemed to be about the same as well. One thing we did discover but as this ship in addition to being smaller is also older, the height of the space under the bed was not as much as on other ships we have been on. We did mange to get our suitcases underneath but it took more work to do so. That's not a major nit pick. Just something to note.

No two ship experiences will be exactly the same so to note that this little detail or that one perhaps not being quite up to par is not something we ever make an issue of. We look at the over all experience. The experience was the Canal passage and all of the other adventures we enjoyed on the shore excursions. Zip lining in Costa Rico, kayaking and snorkeling at Cabo, for just a few. What more do we want? Would I say this is the best ship we have been on? Of course not, but I would neither judge it as a disappointment nor judge the particular cruise line based on one experience. Neither my wife nor I would turn down another cruise on this ship if that ship was the one in use on a particular cruise we wanted to take. And, if another cruise involves Royal Caribbean, we would not hesitate. We would not pick the cruise just on it being that line nor would we turn it down for that reason.