This was a Doo Wop Cruise. We booked it thru the agency that specializes in this type of cruise. This was our third Carnival cruise. The Legend is big and beautiful.The cabin was fairly maintained but we noticed body hair in the bathroom and dusty shelves. The room steward was invisible and we constantly had to ask for diet soda refills in the mini-bar and ice for the ice bucket. The dining room staff was excellent but the menu was mediocre. The dessert menu was boring at best. We found the open seating for breakfast and lunch unenjoyable. The staff acted as if they didn't want to be bothered. Breakfast with cold toast and cold coffee and warm juice doesn't work for me. The lunch menu was bland. We ended up at the buffet for most of the cruise. The food was good and you weren't rushed from your table. The Doo Wop shows were excellent, but we didn't get a chance to see the the Legends shows. The Legend went to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize and were interesting stops with unusual shopping. You won't find the shops anything like Grand Cayman or St. Thomas. Don't miss the Two oceans train ride in Panama, expensive but worth it. The river boat ride in Costa Rica was great. Plenty of wildlife, monkeys birds etc. Belize has great snorkeling but we don't snorkel so we took the bus trip to the Mayan ruins. Don't go if you have a bad back, some of the roads are awful and you bounce around your seat.
In general The Legend is an average cruise ship. We try not to make comparisons but we have been on much better cruises with other cruise lines, particularly Royal Caribbean. Our Legend cruise was ruined by an incident that was not in fact the fault of Carnival Cruise lines or Legend but we feel they did not respond properly to our concerns.
While attending the first of the Doo Wop shows we were approached by a bar waiter who was serving drinks in the lounge. He asked my wife what she would like to drink and she asked for a diet soda. He looked at her angrily and shouted "what kind of soda". I responded and asked who he thought he was speaking to. He again shouted that he had to know what kind of soda. I asked him to tone it down and get us another waiter. He apologized and said he would wait on us. We debated and finally my wife said it was OK and he left to get the drinks. He returned a short time later while the show was on and left the drinks. During intermission the light came up and my wife reached for her drink and started to stir the ice cubes. She suddenly screamed out and looked into her soda. There, floating on top of the ice cubes was a huge glob of spit! The waiter, Carlos from Peru, had spit into her drink. We were disgusted and I went immediately to the bar with the drink and asked for a manager. The bartender took one look into the drink and called the manager . She arrived and also was disgusted. Carlos was removed from the lounge by security and we filed a report with the ship's staff. This was March 9, 2007. Carlos was escorted from the ship in Panama on March 11. We did not hear from the ship's staff until the 14th, 5 days later, when they offered us a free dinner at their special dining room. We refused and asked to see the Captain. At a meeting in the purser's office surrounded by ships officers we were offered a credit towards our onboard account and a 20% discount on any future Carnival Cruise. We refused but were told that was all the Legend could do and we could ask for further compensation by contacting Carnival Cruise lines directly. Under those circumstances we accepted. After exchanging three letters Carnival finally wrote us and said they could do no more and their offer was fair compensation. Fair compensation for a disgusting act that ruined our cruise. We could not avoid inspecting every drink and plate of food for the entire cruise, never knowing if one of Carlos friends would get even.