Every year my Mom and I go on one cruise vacation. I live just outside of Washington DC in Bethesda, Maryland, Mom lives just outside of Tampa. Mom only desires to depart from Tampa to avoid plane travel. Usually that gives us the option of two ships for 7 day vacations- The Holland America Ryndam and The Carnival Legend. We have been on both and I usually select the ship giving us the best bang for the buck.
Our December 9, 2012 sailing was on the Carnival Legend. Just as we entered the Town Car to head to the dock I received a phone call from Carnival advising us to wait, the ship had been delayed because of heavy fog. We were already on our way I thought it was just best to continue to the ship. I am glad we did! As we arrived at the dock our ship was not there. We got in a very short line, went thru security and were told it was going to be "awhile" before the ship returned and boarding would begin. They allowed about 400 people to enter this area and partially check in. They did update us with the status and we were given $15 ship account credit for lunch and it was recommended that we visit the local area for some lunch. We waited, hoping the ship would arrive soon, but with no luck. Oddly most everyone was still in a good mood waiting for the ship to arrive. Next we were told it would be about 6:00 - 7:00 PM before the ship would arrive, and would receive an additional $25 ship credit for dinner, for a total credit of $40. At that time Mom and I decided to take a walk around the area and look for something to eat. As long as we had our check in papers with the approval sticker we could get back into the building. As we were exiting we saw the remaining people waiting on the sidewalk in the warm weather. I am so glad we went to the dock and were able to wait in the nice clean building with A/C. We walked around and had a nice meal at Pizza Precinct, NY. Service was good, food was hot and reasonably priced. We went back to the waiting area and were happy to see that the ship had arrived. They still had to get all of last weeks passengers debarked along with their luggage. We were then able to complete our check in - picking up our room keys, that only took a few minutes, and soon after that they welcomed us to board the ship!
Since we have been on this ship before, this was our 6Th time, it felt like being right at home. I was a little nervous because some of the recent reviews had a few negative comments.
We had cabin 5245 - a special handicapped cabin. The cabin runs north-south apposed to east-west like most cabins. This resulted in a balcony about twice the size of an average balcony. It was "slightly" obstructed, the slightly being from your knees down was blocked by the lifeboats, very little obstruction. The bathroom was about twice the size of an average ship bathroom with a large shower that included a bench. The only problem may be with a wheelchair, it may be nearly impossible to get out to the balcony with the large step over - no ramp, and the balcony is very narrow, I am not sure a wheelchair could turn around?