Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Lines
Ship: Carnival Legend
Date of Cruise: March 2, 2003 - March 10, 2003

Southern Caribbean on the Carnival Legend
By: Christine

This was our fifth cruise and second on Carnival. We had sailed Carnival on an older ship in 1995 and were not happy so we went on to sail Royal, Norwegian and Princess in the last 5 years. Because of the new 8 day southern Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale on a new ship, we decided to try them again. We were pleasantly surprised to find a different Carnival. It was just as nice as the other lines and definitely an improvement from our first experience.

SHIP: The ship is large but easily navigated after a couple of days. I think we made it harder than it had to be until we found the shortest routes from our cabin to the dining room, Lido deck and the show lounge. It's a little over-decorated but who cares, right? The mirrors on the walls and on the doors of restrooms and elevators make you a little crazy and I can't imagine how a person who has been drinking can handle that! The Lido deck is spacious but there are no lounge chairs in the shade. They do fill up quickly on sea days so get out there by 9:00 or so. The Unicorn Cafe is large and has many food stations which make it nice for variety and shorter lines but we never got the hang of the layout and were still confused on the last day. The food and service there is wonderful!

CABIN Our category 8A cabin with French doors to a balcony that looked out between life boats was nice since we booked an inside and got upgraded. The room is spacious and has plenty of storage. The extras provided in the bathroom were a surprise! Razors, tylenol p.m., toothpaste, etc. and the dispensers in the shower with shampoo and shower gel were great!

FOOD Very good and plenty of different things to try! I thought the dining room choices were a little fancy some nights but overall, very good. Alot of seafood of course and shrimp in some form every night. Our servers were nice and polite but not as entertaining as we expected. We were not satisfied with our group of 7 being at separate tables so the day we got there and saw two different table numbers on our sail and sign cards, we went to the dining room to take care of it. We were in a long line of people who were already waiting and we sat for about an hour and finally got called. We we told the two different table numbers were for serving staff purposes only and we were all at the same table. Of course, when we went to the dining room that first night, we were at two tables. They were close but not close enough to have a conversation and were separated by the traffic of the servers so it was definitely not what we wanted. At that point, we were told there was nothing we could do. If you have more than 6 people and it's important that you sit together, ask to see your tables the first day! we then visited the dining room one day and saw round tables for 8 and large rectangle tables for 10 but those are all on the main level. The smaller tables were on the second level which is where we were.

ENTERTAINMENT We don't go for this reason, but I did think the shows were a little lame. One or two were good but then we only went 5 times. 3 nights we did other things. Frank in the piano bar is very good and Satchmos has Karaoke which we enjoyed but the times that it's scheduled are so limited we couldn't go as often as we would have liked to.

POOLS/HOT TUBS We don't usually swim but of course pools are very crowded. My husband was disappointed that hot tubs close at 10:00.

EMBARKATION Very crowded and lengthy if you go early (before 1 p.m.) We heard people who went later said it was very easy.

OVERALL A very good time, alot of time on ship at sea, lots to do although we don't take part in a lot of the activities as we go to relax. Plenty of food and dining options and a beautiful ship. Service was friendly and helpful. Would recommend Carnival as long as the ship is newer. A great value.

More Cruise Reviews, Travel Logs, and Trip Reports