We are Dan & Cheryl, 25 & 27 respectively, and we sailed the Legend of the Seas on a Western Caribbean itinerary out of Tampa, from December 3-10, 2005; This was Dans 7th cruise and Cheryls 5th; We have previously cruised Royal Caribbean 3 times (the Majesty, Empress, and Enchantment), we have sailed HAL once (Zuiderdam) and Dan has sailed Celebrity twice (Horizon & Century). We know what we like in a cruise, and the Legend did not disappoint. Our itinerary included embarkation in Tampa, a day at sea, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel, a day at sea, and concluded in Tampa.

We had originally booked the Grandeur out of New Orleans for the same week, but after Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area, we took the deal offered by Royal Caribbean and swapped to the Legend out of Tampa for the price we paid for the Grandeur. We also got a $200 stateroom credit in the bargain, so we were very happy with the arrangements made post-Hurricane. Kudos to Royal Caribbean for the way they handled the situationit took them a while to make a decision, but once they did we were very happy with the options offered.

We arrived at our terminal around 11:30 AM, and used the SetSail pass line to check in. We were checked in almost immediately with no wait, but the ship had not begun boarding passengers yet. We were handed a ticket marked #6, and asked to wait in the waiting area in the terminal. They first loaded priority passengers and passengers needing special assistance, and then began with group #1. It was around 1:00-1:30 before we actually boarded the ship. An employee told us the security scan of the ship after debarkation that morning had run into some problems, but that was the extent of the reason we heard for the delay. By the time we boarded, all of the lines including the SetSail line were packedwe were glad we had arrived when we did, even with the wait. Read more