I have read reviews on cruise critic for quite sometime and finally I have a chance to write my own review. My husband and son traveled this past week (Sept 5 thru 12, 2010) on the Carnival Legend. I hope this review helps other first time cruisers or those new to the Carnival Legend, this ship is awesome and the crew are wonderful. We left out of Tampa, Fl and the embarkation is like anything else, some lines to wait in, scanners for security and pictures taken for your sign n sail card then your on board. I have never been one to make issue with this process because first off if you do your fun pass details on Carnival.com and you come prepared with your passport then the process goes quite easily. However there will always be those people who don't have all the documents that they need or wont have their passports ready or wont take the time BEFORE the cruise to educate themselves on what you can take on board and what you CANT take on board which then makes the whole process a lot more difficult for all the rest. To me security is top priority, I want a safe trip not a trip with some looney bird who is trying to get contraband on board. Anyway in short, take the time to get all your ducks in order before you get to Tampa and the embarkation process will be a breeze!!

After we got on the ship the first order of business is a cocktail and lunch on the deck...some people want to complain because they cant get to their cabin...again folks think about it, there are 2,000 passengers and roughly 900 crew who are busting their humps to get probably 4,000 pieces of luggage up to all the cabins...give them a break, if you think you can do it better then call Carnival and go to work for them as a bell hop!! Don't worry about the luggage or getting to your cabin, take this time to go around the ship and to look at the outside decks..you would be amazed at all the space and what there is available to do. Enjoy the buffet lunch and take in a cocktail or two before long it will be time for you to see your cabin and if you luggage is not there, RELAX it will be shortly. We went down to see our cabin around 3:30 pm after we had perused the upper decks, the casino, the spa, all the pools and hot tubs, the restaurants etc. We had a Vista Suite and if you can possibly afford it, get one of these cabins..they are amazing and it is wonderful to have a balcony of this size. Not to mention the whirlpool tub is sooo relaxing. Our housekeeper, Sergay, met up with us to confirm our dinner service and to see if the room met up with our expectations. He was wonderful all week and very deserving of the extra tip we gave him. After unpacking our luggage, we set off to enjoy the adult deck to watch as we departed Tampa.

We enjoyed the 8:15 dining time, we could enjoy our meals (which were fabulous on all levels) and our wait staff was friendly and attentive. I never felt rushed at all to complete our meal and each night the wait staff had some sort of song or dance to do for all the guests. The people who choose the Dine at your time option seemed to me to have to be waiting alot longer then we did. Again I guess its all up to the individual, but I liked the fact that we had our table waiting for us and our wait staff was there immediately to take our drink orders and they were ready for our dinner order when we were. On the 7 day cruise there are two formal nights, these are not required but it was nice. You don't have to go to your assigned dinner time at the Truffles restaurant, you could choose to go to the Steakhouse which is a 5 Star experience and one that I think all should try at least once. There is also the buffet on the Lido deck for dinner as well. Feel free to choose as you wish each night based on what you feel like doing. We did it all and the food was phenomenal at each, I highly recommend that any cruiser try them all you wont be disappointed. Breakfast and lunch are more relaxed but again the food is excellent and having soooo many options to choose from meant that each day could be a different meal. Don't be shy, enjoy it all!! Read more