Carnival Legend Review
Rating by category
Additional details
I must admit, as an older couple we had been warned off Carnival because of the "kiddy" element but we were pleasantly surprised. On this particular cruise, due to the dreadful cyclone devastation in Vanuatu, we were re-routed to Noumea, Lifou, Mare and Isle of Pines. My wife and I thought we had chosen carefully to avoid school holidays, not realising that Victoria started a week before NSW with the result that there were 847 children on board from a total of 2100 passengers (40%). Even with this high number most were well behaved but we would choose even more carefully next time as the temptation to knock on cabin doors & run away and also run noisily down the corridors at all hours of the night were too great for some (where were their parents??).
The ship itself was immaculately clean and the staff were absolutely wonderful.
We ate at the main dining room, Truffles, every night and the menu was good. Wine prices were cheap compared to other cruise lines, starting at about $30 a bottle. There was entertainment in the dining room every night - either singing or dancing or both - by the crew with passengers joining in - we've never experienced this before and it was terrific.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Cabin 7245 is a balcony cabin on the starboard side of deck 7. It is quite close to the main lifts, which is very convenient, but the design of the ship is such that the corridor outside the cabin avoids a lot of through traffic. We did not hear any noise from the lifts or the stairs once we had shut the door. We would certainly choose this cabin on any future 'Legend' cruise. Our cabin steward Ni was delightful.
The cabin was quite roomy and the bathroom was very well designed with a comparatively large shower (we have also sailed on P&O, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian and Royal Carribean) - the good quality shower curtain was long enough to completely retain all the water inside the shower and the curtain itself was changed at least twice during the 10 days. The shower is equipped with shower gel and shampoo. Shelving in the bathroom was more than adequate for us. There were always two spare tissue boxes and about 3 spare rolls of toilet paper. The supply of towels was very generous with 3 to 4 bath towels (for 2 of us), 2 hand towels, 2 washers and a floor mat changed twice a day. The shower also has a small clothes line.
There was plenty of hanging space and shelf space. Drawers were limited and quite small. The door to the balcony opened out but sealed very well, and we preferred this to the sliding doors on other cruises which tend to whistle a lot in high winds. Bed and pillows were comfortable and the flat screen TV was adequate. I thought it was a silly idea to have to use a credit card to operate the safe (so I couldn't lock it in the safe!). The towel animals were surprisingly inventive.
Lighting in the cabin was very good and the design of the light coverings around 2 walls enabled us to hang some clothes lines. The cabin was comfortably air conditioned with an easy-to-use individual control to adjust the settings.
The balcony was furnished with two chairs and a small table and all balconies were washed twice during our cruise.