Carnival Legend Cruise 05/04/2008 My hubby and I are both in our 40's. He has been on about 15 previous cruises. This will be my 3rd cruise. This cruise was a gift to my in-laws for their 50th anniversary from their children and there was a group of 8 of us that were surprising them on board. I had arranged ahead of time with Carnival Bon Voyage Dept for decorations in their stateroom and a cake at dinner the night of embarkation. The arrangements with Carnival were easily made and worked perfectly. We sent the in-laws down 2 days early. We put them up at the Crowne Plaza East in Tampa. They loved it. The Hotel provided shuttle service from the airport at no charge. The rest of us left Boston for Tampa on Saturday the 3rd. We stayed at the Tahitian Inn in Tampa the night before the cruise. Tahitian Inn was very comfortable, cheap and convenient (only 3 miles from the port). No shuttle service but the Taxi was short money. Embarkation Day 05/04/08: I arranged with Tampa Bay Shuttle to have the in-laws at the port by 11:00. Talking with my mother in law later I found out the shuttle was 15 minutes late but they were to the port by 11:15 and on board by 11:45. Carnival had passed out a letter at the port stating they would welcome guests on board as early as 11:30. The rest of us arrived at Terminal 2 at about 12:30 pm on Sunday the 4th. The lines were pretty long but moved very quickly. We could have been on board by 1 pm but since we were surprising my in-laws we chose to wait until 1:30 to board to make sure we could go straight to our cabins to hide until dinner at 6 pm. Our cabin was a stern facing balcony cabin 6262. There was plenty of room and ample storage space. The balcony was surprisingly private and there was little or no engine noise at all during the cruise, which was one of my fears being at the stern. Dinner that night was perfect. We were able to surprise the in-laws thanks to Carnival's discretion. My mother in law had been inquiring with the maitre'd why they were seated by themselves at a 10 person table. The maitre'd made the appropriate excuses for us and we were able to pull off the surprise.

Sea Day 05/05/08: The first day at sea was uneventful. We spent the day getting to know the ship and learning how to get around. The capers was chock full of activities and we tried our best to get a taste of as much as possible. I will say the buffet in the Unicorn Cafe on the Lido deck leaves much to be desired. This had been my third cruise, but first on Carnival. My previous two cruises were on Royal Caribbean. The RCI buffets were significantly better quality than Carnival's. Meals in the Truffles Dining Room were a step up and were good but RCI was still better quality. Tonight was formal night at Truffles. The cruise lines I have found are becoming more and more lenient on the dress codes. The only restriction for the Dining Room was no shorts allowed which is fine by me. As much as it is nice to get dressed up once in a while I don't really like to have to do it while I am on vacation so I was happy with the relaxed dress code and just wore a nice top with long pants.

Grand Cayman 05/06/08: In Grand Cayman the scuba diving is their claim to fame, but if you are not a diver you can take it easy visiting the turtle farm, get the pre-requisite t-shirt from Hell, go to sting ray city or bask in the sun on 7 mile beach. This port is very beautiful and but also very expensive. I was shocked by how expensive everything was in Grand Cayman so I chose to bypass buying any trinkets in this port. Tendering in Grand Cayman is effortless. Read more