I write this as an experienced cruiser with nearly 15 trips under my belt. I am a 40-something parent bringing a 15 year old daughter on board. I give you this background so you better understand my review. My perspective will certainly not be the same as a retiree or a honeymooner. We live in Tampa, so we were dropped off at the port by friends at 10:45am. Check-in was a breeze, because we booked a suite this trip. There is a separate lounge for suite check-in. We were the second family to board the ship and were on the Lido deck eating lunch by 11:35. The Lido has a bountiful buffet with everything you'd expect. The salad bar is tucked away at the aft end of the restaurant. I pigged out there, and it may have been my last "healthy" meal of the cruise! The Lido buffet will have all the standards every day. Hot dogs, burgers, grilled chicken and Mexican food on the deck outdoors. Inside they have a buffet line that varies every day. They also have a salad bar and pizza. The pizza was pretty good!  You can go there every day and NOT eat the same meal twice. Huge variety of filling good tasting foo.  There are ice cream machines, with all you can eat soft serve ice cream, almost everywhere you turn. Breakfast in the Lido is pretty much the same every day. They swap out french toast, waffles, and pancakes on alternate days. The breakfast meats are fairly standard. I thought the ham was quite tasty and the bacon never crispy enough. They will put bacon on the grill and fry it longer if you ask them. They will also make omletts and fried eggs to order at the buffet. Don't be afraid to ask!After lunch we explored the ship and got our bearings. The Carnival Legend is a beautiful ship with interesting decorations and plenty of signs to guide you where you are going. At 1:15 we headed to our room, a suite on the 6th floor. It was our first time booking a suite and we managed it because prices dropped so low during the recession. Our suite cost about what an inside cabin cost me two years ago! I suspect we will never be that lucky again.Our suite was gorgeous, with an extended balcony, large bathroom with double marble sinks and a full sized Jacuzzi tub. There was a separate dressing and make-up area next to the bathroom and four closets. There was actually more closet space than we could use. That's how large the room was. The balcony was large enough for three chairs (which recline for an afternoon snooze) and a table. The bed was firm and the sheets comfortable. The cabin steward gladly brought us extra pillows.  At 3:00, we met fellow Cruise Critic members at the Unicorn Lounge by the adult pool on the aft end of the ship for a meet and greet. What a great way to make instant friends. I highly recommend setting one up on the message boards. My daughter and several of the kids left to explore on their own, while the adults shared a beverage and talked about the upcoming cruise. Now on to my main criticism of the ship the main dining room. The Truffles main restaurant is at the rear of the ship and entrance is made on two levels (deck 2 & 3) so the line moves swiftly for dinner. What's more, there are musicians playing on both levels. You have entertainment while waiting to enter the dining room. Excellent touch! The guitarist on level two played the same song each night as the dining room opened (8:15 late sitting) and he had 100+ people singing along each time. What a fun time! A tip if you sit at the bar for a cocktail before dinner (both levels have a bar right outside the restaurant), you can relax and enjoy the music until the line shortens.I usually don't write about Maitre D's because they really don't do much for me. The Legend's Maitre D' is different. Dessi is the first female Maitre D' I've ever encountered and she was magnificent! She visited every table every night to make sure all was well. She befreinded my daughter and made sure she had all her dinner favorites every day. Dessi set the tone for the wonderful service we had every night in Truffles. A bit more on Dessi later.The food in the Truffles dining room is good. Not great. Just good. The standard New York Strip has been replaced with a smaller flat iron steak. The shrimp cocktail is a much smaller portion, only four pieces. Don't be afraid to order two! Your waiter will gladly bring it to you. The salads were hit or miss. One night crisp and cold. Another night warm and wilted as if it was sitting out for a while. We loved the soups, and frequently ordered the pasta dish as an appetizer. They will gladly accomodate special requests, like sauce on the side. My daughter likes pasta with butter and cheese and had no trouble getting it as an appetizer or main course.There was a great variety of food and none of us ever had trouble finding something on the menu we liked. However, the portions are smaller and the offerings not as elegant as they were in past years. Instead of five offerings for dessert, there are three. Don't worry, they always have warm chocolate melting cake which is incredible!  Overall, the food was good, not great. The variety was less than we've come to expect. NOTE: We brought our own wine to dinner three nights and they did not charge us a corkage fee. They also re-corked a bottle we didn't finish and brought it to us the next night. Your mileage may vary.We had trouble with our assistant waiter. Our main waiter was perfect. His assistant seemed overwhelmed. Simple requests like lemon for ice water or sour cream for a baked potato went unmet, until we also asked the main waiter. I don't want to criticize too much. It could have been his first cruise. Formal Night is now called Elegant night. Guys, there were not a lot of tuxedos on board. Maybe 5% of the men. Another 25% wore suits. Seventy percent of the men didn't really dress at all. We tried the The Golden Fleece supper club. The portions are huge and the steaks will compare with the finest steak houses in major U-S cities. It was well worth the $30 surcharge. The lobster bisque was exquisite and the presentation marvelous. We found the service lacking. The servers we had spoke softly, with thick accents, and we could not understand them very well. One had little knowledge of how the Dover Sole was prepared. We ordered Filet Mignon and the ribeye steak. Both fantastic! We liked the food so much, we planned on going abck again our last night. . . . BUT Our daughter became such good friends with Dessi the Maitre D' in Truffles, we had to go back for a final night of "HELLOOOO ... IT'S SHOW TIME!" You will understand what I've just written your first night on board.We went to four or five shows in the Follies show lounge and liked all the comedy acts. The midnight shows are R rated and are hilarious. The musical & dancing performances were decent, but not great. They're not our cup of tea. However, I'm sure they appeal to some folks, because I've never been on a cruise without singers and dancers.  The finale Legends show with passengers dressing up and singing like music legends (Madonna, Elvis, Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, etc.) was cute.  One problem with the Follies show lounge, they only have beverage service on deck two. There is balcony seating on decks two and three, but no way to get a drink. If you like a cocktail during the show, stick to the bottom floor.The pools were always crowded (weather was great), but we never had a problem finding deck chairs. We stayed at the adult pool on the aft end of the ship. They did enforce the no kids rule pretty strictly. Carnival pools are salt water, but the showers, hot tubs and slide are fresh water.  The water slide was fun. The wait was about 10 minutes in line. We played two nights in the casino and broke even. We're not big gamblers and not big smokers. The casino is very smoky. The piano bar is also smoky, so we avoided it. Same with the sports bar. Our favorite bar was the main lobby. Props to bartender Marissa and server Valentina who remembered our names after the first night, along with our drink preferences! Wonderful women.The gym was well equipped and clean. However, it was supposed to open at 6:00am every day and never did. Sometimes 6:15am, sometimes 6:30. Very frustrating for us early risers. I enjoy a workout and then watching the sun rise over the ocean with a cup of coffee or juice on deck. I became addicted to guava juice on this cruise. YUMMY! I also swore breakfast would be yogurt and fruit every day. Wrong! The cheese danish and cinamon rolls are supreme!The on board activities were very entertaining. They have everything from trivia contests to name that tune to adult dodge ball. Dodge ball was a hoot! Try it guys. You'feel young again. Seriously! Once you're hit in the face with the ball, you'll cry like a two year old!!!  Miniature golf was a cute way to spend a half hour too.This cruise was a great experience. Not as fancy  as it once was, but a GREAT BIG BANG for the buck! You will enjoy it!