We flew from Manchester, NH to Tampa Saturday morning, the day before the cruise. We had booked this through Carnival and were put up in the downtown Embassy Suites hotel, where we could see the Port Authority - and the Legend when she docked! Embarkation was amazingly smooth, quick and easy - we were on board by 12:45pm and in our cabin by 1:30pm. LOVED the extended balcony - we'll never cruise without one again. One of the couples we sailed with was next door and we eventually had the door between the two balconies opened, making a large one. The Legend was beautiful, very clean, very slick and very easy to maneuver around. Our stateroom was large and comfy, the bed excellent and our cabin steward, Julio, attentive and friendly.

The dining throughout the cruise was delicious and plentiful, whether we ate in the main restaurant, the other cafes or room service. I had never had Grouper before and I loved it. And I have to confess to two servings of the Filet Mignon, plus a healthy number of orders of Warm Melting Chocolate Cake! Ryan (from Jamaica) was our head waiter, and Mikhaela (from Croatia) was our assistant waiter. They were fantastic - funny, polite, extremely attentive and simply fantastic in their jobs. The drinks were always perfect - we tend to favor the Frozen Rum Runners and Fun Ship Specials, but I also had plenty of my standby vodka and 7-Up with a twist of lime. We bought the Coconut Monkey Heads, of course, as well as the Funnel cups. We'd been to Grand Cayman before so we went to the Seven Mile Beach and tanned, did a bit of shopping (Le Cruiser has a weakness for Tortuga Rum's Rum Lacquer), then back to the ship. In Cozumel, one of the couples we were with did the Race Fantastique and loved it. Madame Le Cruiser and I did the Sea Trek Helmet Dive. If you haven't tried this, I can't recommend it enough!!! 45 minutes under 20 feet of water, surrounded by hundreds of fish, walking around - and so easy!!! Belize - all of us did the Cave Tubing excursion, since there's no way we'd have ventured into Belize City alone. It's a VERY poor area and we thought it best to go out on an excursion. The cave tubing was fun, although the river was faster than normal due to 2-3 days of heavy rain - Madame Le Cruiser got dumped off her tube once - but it's really kewl going into the caves. Isla Roatan - the biggest and best surprise of all!! We were VERY unsure as to what to expect, and found a gorgeous island with friendly folks. We can't wait to return. Madame Le Cruiser did the Jungle Canopy (zip line) tour and LOVED it, while I did the Dolphin Encounter - amazing!! We both recommend BOTH excursions. Both our excursions wound up on Tabayana Beach, a beautiful beach with white sands, warm clear water, restaurant, lounge, shops…. And yes, we booked all excursions through Carnival. The only negative?? After a great dinner Friday night, after Le Cruiser WON at the blackjack table and we turned in, the Legend ran into a tropical depression on the way back. We hit 12-15 foot seas and I was howling dog sick ALL day and night. Madame Le Cruiser was fine but said half the ship was sick. Didn't eat from Friday night until Sunday morning in Tampa (just toast). But hey, can't help the weather, right?

Debarkation was slow, mainly because every person on the ship seemed to think taking their own luggage off themselves was the way to go. They lined up way too early, despite the ship's staff's pleas NOT too, then took forever to crawl off. We didn't leave the ship (after docking at 6:00am) until 10:30am. But getting the bags, getting to and on the bus and to the airport was smooth and quick, and all our flights home were on time!! Read more