Carnival Legend Review

Legend rocked the week of 1/8-1/15/2012

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Legend
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trisha56
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jan 2012
Cabin: Aft-View Extended Balcony

We took my parents on this cruise to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. Thanks to many other reviews on here, we received some great insider info that helped make the cruise a pleasure. First, this is the perfect week to avoid kids. There were almost no school aged kids on this ship. Our cabin was dead center aft with extended balcony on the 8th deck, immediately below the Serenity pool. Perfect because the Serenity deck closes at 10pm, so you have complete privacy after 11pm or so every night. There is no deck above the extended balcony. We heard nothing when we were in our room, none of the chair scraping or other noises described by other reviewers. No one threw anything on our balcony, either accidently or on purpose. We were a little concerned when we departed Tampa that we would be surrounded by smoke, because everyone seemed to be out smoking out on their aft balconies when we left port, but after the muster drill, there was a definite decrease in smoking when peeps in our drill were told ashes must be controlled and not dumped over the side of balconies. My parents were in 8231, which was an extended balcony starboard side room, and had no problems with their room or balcony either.

Rooms were cleaned twice a day, towel animals every day, all requests granted immediately, room service very prompt and friendly and granted special requests. We prepaid for 2 quart bottles of liquor through the Bon Voyage Dept, price was close to the same as it is here in NJ (sad to say). We also bought my mother a birthday cake and room decorations which were fully setup in their room upon her arrival on the ship. The cake was delivered to our dining room table the first night of the cruise, which was not an easy feat for the dining room staff since we had freestyle dining without an assigned table or time. My mother was so surprised it was priceless, and the cake, a chocolate mousse, was one of the best cakes we've ever had, period. We shared it with some fellow cruisers who also thought it was amazingly good.

The only downside on this cruise was the food quality, which was not so good. Think Golden Corral on a ship, and you'll get the picture. Although Truffles presented the food more elegantly than the buffets did, we didn't see any difference in the overall quality of the food. One big disappointment was the Golden Fleece, where we ate the final night. My mother's lamb chops initially came out virtually raw, were sent back for cooking and returned so well done, she couldn't cut through them. My lobster was so overdone by the broiler, it tasted like charcoal. My father's was fine, so it seemed to be an uneven quality in the cooking process. My husband's ribeye was excellent. Have to wonder if part of the problem was waiting till the final night to eat there. We didn't plan to eat there at all, but by the last night we were so tired of the other food on the ship, we decided to try it. It was not worth the $30 per person surcharge the night we went. Because close to half my lobster tail was eaten before I complained about it, (I asked my family to also try it to see if I was being too picky about the charred taste) I was told I would have to pay another $20 surcharge if I wanted a different entree. We refused, and I wound up eating at the Deli after the guys ate dinner. The Deli was the one bright spot in the dining scene, excellent pastrami and corned beef, tasted exactly like a NY deli, with thin high-quality meat piled on choices of bread with option of panini toasting. Ate there every day after reviewing other choices and not finding much to choose from. We tried almost everything on the buffets between the 4 of us, but never found anything worth trying a second time except the deli. The pizza was awful in our opinion, soggy crust and raw veggies on top does not make great pizza. Maybe something was off on the pizza on this cruise because I've seen other reviews where people loved this pizza. Drinks were good and pretty strong, only took 1 drink to get buzzed, and we are used to drinking, so it wasn't from lack of practice. Drink prices were about $1 more per drink than in our local area. Based on reviews here, I thought we would be paying significantly more than we did, which is why we bought the bottles. In retrospect, if you're from the northeast, prices are about the same for hard drinks as they are in local clubs.

Cabin Review

Aft-View Extended Balcony

Cabin 8N

great view, great balcony, quiet location, shower had low water pressure, feel swaying of boat like a rocking chair motion (very lulling and soothing) small constant vibration of engine which helped us sleep at night

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