Embarkation was delayed due to the late arrival of the Legend into port, related to fog. DH walked to Publix while I waiting in line - in the shade, which was very lucky as the day grew hotter. At one point, Carnival employees passed out bottled water and granola bars, which was thoughtful. Our room wasn't ready when we finally boarded but we found a nice lounge chair, a cold beer and relaxed in the sun; very understandable and we were just happy to finally be on deck.

Our cabin was on the lowest deck - 1 - but we like to be down low where it's quiet and very little motion felt. Indeed neither of us felt any rocking of the boat throughout our 7 calm days cruising. It was obvious that the crew had little time to clean the rooms (we had to ask them to convert our twin bed set up to the king bed. The tv looked like it hadn't been dusted in quite a while. But closet space was adequate and the bathroom/shower was fine. We were surprised that there wasn't a refrigerator in our room - a first on Carnival. But I left a note requesting an ice bucket and it appeared the next morning (and was refreshed twice each day) to chill the pop we brought aboard as well as the champagne DH won at our CC meet/greet, organized by a lovely gal on our roll call thread. I was shocked to discover that Guest Services do not have any basic toiletries, after I discovered that my bathroom kit was forgotten at home. I was directed to the gift shop (closed) and also told that there would be plenty of shops in port, tomorrow... oops, she meant the next day. I told her I needed to brush my teeth sooner than 1 1/2 days from now. The gift shop opened a bit later and I was able to purchase a toothbrush, men's disposable razors, and deodorant, but not much else. The decor everywhere on board is totally something else and we can never figure out who designs this stuff!

We had late dining (8:15) in Truffles, the main dining room. The early is too early and 8:15 is way too late... but I don't have a better solution - guess we will choose the Anytime Dining option in the future! Dinner seems to take forever and we never got out of there before 9:30-45, at which time there is nothing going on around the ship. Since we like to get up early to visit ports, we don't make it to the late shows. We did go to the comedy show a little late a couple evenings and every comedian we saw was pretty good. There were several musicians at various bar/lounges but none that we enjoyed. The band that played for during Karaoke was good and the live music put a nice spin on it. The one night we fled dinner a bit early 9:10 (skipped dessert) we were able to watch the 'Marriage Game' but that was pretty disappointing as all of the questions asked were the same ones we've heard on previous cruises. The CD was very good but why don't they make up some new questions?? Read more