Carnival Legend - South Pacific Cruise March 2018 (last departure from Sydney before proposed refurbishment.)
No all-inclusive alcoholic drink packages are available on Carnival departures from Australia.
My wife’s favourite pre-dinner drink is Gin & Bitter Lemon. Bitter Lemon is rarely available, or even known to exist, on most cruise ships. Carnival, however, permit you to bring 12 bottles or cans (600 ml or less each) of non-alcoholic beverages on board in your carry-on luggage. Drinks brought on board this way must be consumed in your cabin.
Inspection of carry-on soft-drink was minimal. I am not trying to encourage the smuggling of contraband on board, but I observed that the first person supposed to do so did not look in the carry bag at all. The second person simply looked in the top of bag to see that the top package was still in the original cardboard set of 4 bottles.
I would not recommend putting anything in your checked luggage that should not be there, as the scanners seem to provide clear indications of what is inside.
My suitcase was impounded to be opened and searched. In ignorance, I had packed a small electrical power board. That was detected despite being in the same plastic bag as a host of other permissible electrical items - power adapters, battery re-charger, electric shaver, small USB electric fan, laptop cable & mouse etc. As a consequence, my bag was not delivered to my cabin until 8 hours after boarding. It was accompanied by a form letter inviting me to attend to open my bag and observe the search. That was obviously too late because the contents of my bag had already been ransacked and the power board removed.
The cheapest gin available neat was Bombay Original at AU $8.75 a nip. On most (all?) days you can get a double nip of spirits for an extra $5.00.
There is an ice dispensing machine in the Beverage Bar towards the rear of mid-ship.
Standard cocktails, including ‘Drink of the Day’ cost $12.95. My wife’s favourite cocktail when cruising is Pina Colada, or similar. A good value option on the Legend was the frozen Caribbean Colada available in the Red Frog bar for $10.75. Alcohol could be tasted in this drink unlike some of the other cocktails. Especially poor were the pre-made ’Drink of the Day’ that staff hassle you to buy from their carry trays.
On the beer front, there is Thirsty Frog Summer Ale on tap at $8.95 (brewed exclusively for Carnival by The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in Sydney) if you want to try something a bit different. Otherwise, the imported beers available cost only marginally more than the standard Australian brews. The 500ml cans of Heineken seemed good value at $8.50
Drink menus are not made readily available apart from the Red Frog, Casino and Sports bars. You may have to ask to look at the most common drinks menu at the other general bars. These show prices for a range of cocktails, spirits, beers and wines (including prices by the bottle). Not all items were available at all bars.
If you are dining at the main ‘Truffles’ restaurant, on decks 2 and 3, the food menu for each evening will include daily specialities in addition to some standard favourites. In addition, there is an international speciality featuring a starter and main dish from a different cuisine each evening. There are some premium meal items towards of the end of the menu for which there is a surcharge.
I had a travel voucher for $25, given to me by Carnival on behalf of their booking agent, which I used to order a premium meal but it was not credited to my account. No reply from Carnival despite 3 queries so far. Take a copy if you get such a voucher.
The food menus also show some ‘featured’ wines. Make sure that you ask to see the main wine list also. This is more extensive and presents some more economical options, with bottle prices starting some $20.00 below those of the featured wines.
We dined and shared our opinions with 2 other couples. The standard of the food was generally good for cruise ship dining, with the level of service higher than I have experienced on other cruise lines, but below that of Royal Caribbean.
The starters were generally OK but unremarkable. The fact that the serving sizes were quiet small did not present a problem as the waiting staff encouraged us to order multiple starters.
Vegetarian spring rolls were a regular starter item, but they were served with, supposedly, a different type of dipping sauce each night. I don’t understand why this was considered to be a good idea with some mismatched sauces being offered, such as ketchup style tomato sauce on 4 occasions.
When I am eating away from home, one of my guiding rules is not to order a dish that I am certain will be inferior to my own version, due to bulk preparation, time constraints and/or skimping on the quality of ingredients .
I think that it is better to try the unfamiliar and hope to be rewarded.
By not observing this principle, it was inevitable that my dining companions of Mediterranean background found the Lasagne and Moussaka they ordered to be unacceptable.
There was some doubt about which dish was which and whether either of them contained any meat.
Another largely uneaten dish that was purported to be chicken chow mien, which it most certainly was not. It looked like pasta and cabbage in squid ink.
Nonetheless, my wife and I personally did not encounter any dish that was unacceptable. Our companion diners were happy with their meals, apart from than those mentioned above.
Deserts were generally much enjoyed
So, with 6 people having at least 3 dishes each per night for 10 nights, the occurrence of only 3 or 4 real failures represents a very good standard of overall performance.
We did not eat at the ‘Nouveau’ restaurant on Deck 10, where surcharges apply and higher standards could be expected.
There are moderate additional charges for the Bonsai Sushi restaurant on Deck 2.
Breakfast
Apart from providing table service, albeit slow and some times missing the mark, the breakfast at ‘Truffles’ seemed to offer nothing more than could be had at the buffet in the ‘Lido ‘ on Deck 9.
In the buffet area, most people seemed to prefer sitting as close as possible to the food stations. This behaviour may be a product of evolution. I don’t know.
There was a number of people wandering aimlessly through the food self-service areas, even though they had no apparent intention of obtaining any food themselves. Some adopted the role of a stationary guard (or in numbers, as guards) to protect the sources of food from being approached by other passengers.
Again, this may be an evolutionary thing perhaps. When mobility and agility assistance devices and perambulators are strategically deployed in the construction of pedestrian barriers, however, I wonder if it might not sometimes be deliberate. Perhaps it is just plain old lack of consideration for other people or lack of self awareness that is to blame.
Anyway, assuming that you will eventually be successful in obtaining some food, my tip is to retreat to the peace, quiet and shade-covered fresh air of the outdoor ‘Serenity’ (adults only) area. There are several cosy tables for couples which I found were never fully occupied at breakfast time. We ate at the same table most mornings.
Eating early to avoid the rush is probably a very good idea. Personally, that is not a viable option because I love to snooze on and off during the morning until such time as the last of my previous nights alcohol intake has been fully metabolised.
There was no tomato juice, but that is not uncommon. The other fruit juices were incredibly sweet. Iced tea is available as an alternative, or to dilute the juice.
Coffee Tip: At the free self-serve beverage station closest to the mid-ship lifts there is a machine where you can select the style of coffee you want, e.g. cappaccino, short black etc. Good enough for me.
There was no freshly carved baked ham available for breakfast or lunch (except for Easter Sunday lunch), which was a disappointment. I am not a huge fan of bacon but there was plenty to be had and I was told that it was very good. There were 2 types available - moist or extra crispy ‘Australian’ style.
One of the made to order omelet stations also has the usual offerings of boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, baked beans etc. The poached eggs were fantastic, whereas in ‘Truffles’ they were overcooked, cold, dry and slow in coming.
Buffet Tip: Always look at the back of serving areas, behind the self- serve, where you have to ask staff to serve the items. That is usually were the best stuff is to be found, such as Eggs Benedict and Salmon & Poached Egg Muffin with Hollandaise Sauce.
Lunch in Lido
Again, early is the way to go here if you can manage it. The advertised starting time was midday, but the buffet opened shortly after 11:30 a.m.
There were some very tasty, well prepared meals available most days during the cruise. Some of the best I recall were:
Goat Biriyani
Salt and Pepper Calamari Lamb Meatballs
Chicken Tandoori Rogan Josh
Beef Rendang
Madras Chicken Fried Fish & Chips
Baked Seafood Pasta
Baked Fish Dishes Goat Rendang Glazed Baked Ham (Easter Sunday only)
Pork Vindaloo
Fritto Misto Seafood Risotto
On some days the buffet meals on offer were not to my taste or were badly prepared e.g. beef stir-fry made from shoe leather with braised pork of similar impenetrability on another day.
Buffet Tip: It may be bleedin’ well obvious to most that you should survey what is on offer (without getting in the way of others) and take small servings of those dishes that show the most promise before doing a taste test. Having identified the highlights and the rejects it is time to plate-up with the winners.
I am still amazed by the number of people who simply join the queue at the first food station they encounter and pile heaps of each and every dish - in the order that they become available - on to their plates.
Geographical proximity, to me, should not be the over-ridding factor when making food selections.
Lido Highlight
Nearly every day, high quality cakes, pasties and pies were available for a sweet finish to lunch.
On my previous cruises with other lines I have searched without reward for a simple slice of cheesecake or custard tart.
Instead, only canned fruit, jelly, horrible dry cupcakes, slices and multi-coloured sponge cakes have been made available.
On Carnival Legend, many of the sweets were delicious, including:
Key Lime Pie
Red Velvet Cheesecake
Cream, Cherry and Flaky Pastry Stacks
Blueberry Cheesecake
Pizza Pirate and Carnival Deli
When the Buffet is having a bad day, or as worthy alternatives, these 2 places prepare meals made freshly to order.
Tip: You need to know the correct procedure for ordering. A bit ‘Soup Natzi’ in style on my cruise, especially with the pizza.
When you approach both of these food counters from the front there is no clear indication of what items are available or the procedure for obtaining them.
On the third day I discovered the secrets. The menus are actually in small perspex stands.
At the Deli, the menu was facing outwards on the left-hand side of the counter, not on the front counter where orders are placed. A staff member will approach you and ask you want when they notice that you have found the menu and they will proceed to prepare your hot or cold selection of sandwich for you.
In the case of Pirates Pizza, I found the menu on the left-hand side of the counter which was divided from the right- hand side by a rope. On the left-hand side, behind the counter, there was a man feverishly flouring and forming lumps of dough into pizza bases. This person was only 2 feet in front of me, but did not acknowledged my presence .
I asked some pre-pubescents on the right-hand side of the rope if the dough-wrangler was in fact the person who took the orders. They nodded to indicate the affirmative. This was the demographic, I was confident, would know the correct way to procure free pizza.
I guessed that it would be best to wait for dough-man to finish preparing the current batch of bases before attempting to speak to him..
While I waited patiently, 2 different people pushed in front of me and tried to speak to the dough-flinger. I did not hear what they asked him or what he said in reply. I do know, however, that both retreated hastily and went away. I was glad it was not me who had offended.
Another thing I noticed while I was waiting was that the number of people standing on the right-hand side of the rope, behind the soon-to-be-teenagers, was growing rapidly without any of those new persons appearing to have placed an order. These were older people were looking all around observing, trying to fathom the methodology through which possession of pizza became a reality.
I placed my order when flour-figers permitted me so to do. Some of those behind the youngsters on the right-hand side of the dividing rope, having observed my success, came over to queue where I had placed my order. I now, as I was entitled, proceeded to the ‘collection’ side of the rope and stood behind not a small number of people who, I was pretty sure, had still not placed an order.
We all watched, as the man who cooked the pizzas out the back - not the person who took the orders - brought them out to the front and sliced them. To my amazement, he then gave six different pizzas to six different kids with absolutely no discussion at all about who had ordered what. All he had was a restricted view of the counter through a hatch.
The cook continued to bring out pizzas from the kitchen and hand them out to the correct individuals without discussion until he called mine “Who is Quatro?’‘
I then, not without some feeling of schadenfreude, had to ask to be excused by the people standing in front of me and ask them to allow me passage to collect my order.
As I passed through, a few of these people moved to the correct side of the rope to place their orders. A few gave up and went away.
Most continued to stay where they were. They might still be there.
Why did I not talk to these people and enquire if they had already ordered or if they knew how to order?
I did consider it briefly, then I recalled my earlier observation:
‘There was a number of people wandering aimlessly through the food self-service areas, even though they had no apparent intention of obtaining any food themselves. Some adopted the role of a stationary guard (or in numbers, as guards) to protect the sources of food from being approached by other passengers……...I wonder if it might not sometimes be deliberate. Perhaps it is just plain old lack of consideration for other people or lack of self awareness that is to blame.’
I did not offer to help the confused pizza seekers just in case they were persons who fell within the categories described above, who frankly, if I may be judgemental and intolerant for a moment, really piss me off.
Pies, Sausages and Burger Stations
The pies were small, but not very tasty, tidbits. Mostly greasy flaky pastry with little filling. Coincidently, perhaps, there appeared to be a similarity between the pie fillings and the previous days bistro casseroles.
I did not try the sausages. They are never good at sea.
Regretfully, I did try a pre-prepared cheeseburger. It was still too dry after adding some of the salad items and sauces that are available.
(Real) Coffee Bar (Surcharge)
Not my cup of tea.
As mentioned above -
Coffee Tip: At the free self-serve beverage station closest to the mid-ship lifts there is a machine where you can select the style of coffee you want, e.g. cappiccino, short black etc. Good enough for me.
Self-serve Ice Cream and Frozen Yoghurt
Available from machines on each side of the The Grill Deck 9.
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