This is our 3rd Carnival Cruise (H&W) and it was great. Flew into Tampa with 1:20 arrival time for a 4:00 departure. Because of the late arrival time we booked Carnival pre-cruise transportation to make sure they waited for us. A little more expensive than the $25 cab ride we took post cruise. A lady was waiting with a sign at the bottom of the escalator and she directed us where to go after getting our bags. It was about a 50 foot walk from the bags to the transport site. The ride turned out to be a full size bus and it got to the Cruise Terminal about 2:45. This was the first time we booked a non-Suite and we expected to encounter long lines before boarding as we didn't have VIP boarding. When we walked into the terminal there exactly 0 people waiting in line. It was empty! We were aboard with our S & S cards in five minutes, went straight to the cabin and dropped off our carry-on. Good to be a little late I guess. The last ship we were on was the Pride and the legend is similar in layout and design with Greek-God-themed wallpaper and decor although not as many "boobies" as the Pride. Dark wood with a billion or so of these kinda "Fleur de lis" like designs. They were on everything! The ship was in better shape than the Pride, no peeling paint and was cleaner overall, in fact we found the ship to be extremely clean without exception.

The stateroom was nice, felt like about half the size as a Suite (it's really the same room without the couch and table at the bottom of the bed and a smaller shower-only bathroom), but we considered the time we spent in the room and decide to save a little money this trip. We're not sorry about the choice, it worked out fine. Our steward Aurelus did an outstanding job and we didn't have any issues at all.

Shows were basically the same as the first two cruises with a few exceptions. The band was excellent, led by the drummer band director (Mark ?) and a great horn section, a lady bass player, great keyboardist, and a pretty good Steve Vai influenced guitarist named Sebastian. The second night featured Marcus Anthony, a singer from St Thomas who did a great Motown selection and was a great entertainer. A hatchet juggler on the 3rd night was pretty entertaining too. But my favorite act wasn't even in the big show. Two singers Chism(sp)and Julie, backed by the same show band, did two excellent sets that I was able to see, and both shows were fantastic! Best I've seen on any of the cruises so far. They covered everything from Disney to Rock. Read more