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hstrybuf
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| Joined: | Sat Jun 17th, 2006 |
| Location: | Kansas |
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Posted: Sat Jun 17th, 2006 10:06 pm | 1st Post |
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Pre-cruise - We began our adventures on Monday, flying from Kansas City to Ft. Lauderdale aboard AirTran. We use them these days as their prices are usually the lowest to be found. The flights were slightly bumpy due to some bad weather on the east coast and our short layover in Atlanta turned into 90 minutes for the same reason. Still not bad and it gave us time to eat lunch.
Arriving in Ft. Lauderdale later that afternoon, we grabbed a cab and headed to the Days Inn Bahia Cabana. We are always game to try new things so this hotel was chosen because of its location. On one side of the hotel you have stop #8 for the Water Taxi and on the other side you can walk across the street to the beach. Also, it’s just a short ride to Port Everglades. The outdoor restaurant and bar overlooks the Bahia Mar Yacht Basin with tons of yachts docked there. We were told that 80 percent of the yachts over 100 feet in the entire world are docked here, with the charge being approximately $10 per foot per night. The food itself was good if a bit overpriced. This hotel advertises itself as the only one in Ft. Lauderdale with a Key West atmosphere. Not having been to Key West, I hope that this is not true. I really would not recommend this place to anyone. The lighting in the rooms was not good, there was no shuttle service (which we knew before booking) and the entire hotel was badly in need of repair. Still, the bed was comfortable, the room clean and we enjoyed the convenience of having the water taxi stop and the beach so close.
After a relaxing stroll on the beach, we decided to catch the water taxi and see some of the beautiful homes along the Intracoastal Waterway during the daylight. We’ve only seen them lit up at night before. Our destination on this trip was the 15th Street Fisheries. Our water taxi captain had given us a coupon, but it was only good for the second floor non-smoking restaurant so we opted to eat outside on the deck. This proved to be a good decision. Let me just say that the food here was good, but the entertainment was better. Two gentlemen with guitars provided live music, the kind of songs you always know the words to as well as the melody. Then, during dinner, the chef appeared at dockside with a bucket. As he proceeded down the ramp toward the water, the pelicans lined up and followed him one at a time, just like the Pied Piper! They were so funny! When he stopped, they surrounded him as he tossed out bits of raw fish. Some he threw into the water and this was when we notice huge fins breaking the surface. Curiosity got the better of us so we walked over to the dock after dinner and were informed that we were seeing a school of tarpon that live under the docks. You don’t get fish that size out of the Kansas rivers! It was time to return to the hotel and we gawked at the homes and yachts on the way back. Two interesting boats of note were those belonging to actor Gene Hackman and Carnival CEO Mickey Arison.
Embarkation Day - After a good and filling breakfast at our hotel, we called a taxi and it appeared within minutes. We were at Port Everglades by 11 a.m. but were not able to board until almost 1:00 p.m. We noticed busloads of senior citizens being escorted inside the terminal for a luncheon. Lucky folks! During our wait, we became acquainted with several of our fellow passengers, most notably the “Mutiny Men”. This was Rick and Patrick from Georgia who jokingly threatened mutiny if they didn’t let us on the ship! We would see a lot of them during the cruise.
Once the doors were opened, it took less than 15 minutes to go through the boarding process. Our FunPass had been completed online and helped make things move along much quicker. We proceeded to our cabin, 8231 on the Panorama deck. This was an 8I extended balcony with plenty of storage space both in the bathroom and the cabin itself. We tipped our room steward, Andy, to get us a lounge chair from the Lido deck plus a few other small items. He was such a gem, friendly and efficient! He even kept our collapsible cooler filled with ice even though we hadn’t asked him to do that. He also left us some of the cutest towel animals. We unpacked our carryon and headed up to the Lido deck for lunch at the Unicorn Cafe. The food here was probably better than some of our dinners in the Truffles dining room. When we returned to our cabin, all of our luggage had been delivered and we unpacked before heading out to explore the ship. We had tried to use the Fun Vision to book our shore excursions before eating, but it wasn’t yet working. A trip to the Shore Excursions desk after lunch took care of the problem. There was no line and we got the excursions we had requested. A few notes about our cabin: We were under one end of the Unicorn Café and could hear noise at all hours of the day and night, but it didn’t really disturb us. We were also three doors down from the aft stairway and a bank of elevators which took us right to the door of the Truffles dining room.
Our departure was delayed, possibly by the fact that some of the supplies and luggage of late arrivals had not been loaded. We stood on our balcony watching as rain began to pour down. Some of those folks got wet luggage! Because of the weather, our muster station was changed to the Truffles Dining Room. We had pre-arranged to meet a group from Cruise Critic after the muster drill at the Avalon Bar on the Lido deck, with a second meeting scheduled the next day for those who couldn’t make the first meeting. I find that knowing someone, even if it’s only online, before the cruise helps to make our cruises that much more enjoyable and this proved true on the Legend. Luckily, the rain stopped and the sun shone. Most of our group came and we had a great time getting to know them. When it was time for sail away, we proceed one deck up with Buzz from D.C. joining us. The people in the condos were out to wish us Bon Voyage and we were off! We had run into Patrick and Rick at the bar and rejoined them for an afternoon of drinks and talking. We had early seating at 5:45, but by 5:30 I was feeling no pain, having overindulged in the drink of the day! We decided to stay and party with our new friends, eating later at the Unicorn Café. At 9:30 Billie’s Piano Bar opened and we enjoyed that until after midnight. It was a great start to our first day aboard the Legend and we were gently rocked to sleep that night.
Day Two - At Sea We decided to follow our usual routine and order a light breakfast from room service. As it turned out, we were told there would be an hour and a half wait just for coffee, juice and Danish. From then on, my husband took advantage of our close proximity to the Unicorn Café and was up and back in ten minutes. When I was finally awake, we ate a more substantial breakfast upstairs then explored the ship. This was basically a relaxing day for us, wandering the ship, eating, people watching, chatting with our new friends and just enjoying being at sea. We skipped the welcome aboard party and went to dinner for our first formal night. Note that the captain had earlier requested that guests remained dressed formally the entire evening, but a lot of people changed after dinner. Our tablemates weren’t there and we later found out that they were celebrating their anniversary at the Golden Fleece specialty restaurant. We had Surf and Turf that night. The lobster tail was good but the prime rib was too tough and fatty for my tastes. Our waitstaff, Dadan and Hari, were excellent! After dinner we headed to the casino to try our luck.
Day Three - At Sea At 11 we ran into Marlene from New Jersey and attended the port and shopping talk. Well, I did. My husband went elsewhere. I wonder why? We ate lunch outdoors by the pool while waiting for the Survivor game to start. Rick and Patrick found us there and brought a bottle of champagne to share that Rick had received from Carnival. Buzz had entered the contest and, being an attractive single man, was quite popular on board. My husband temporarily contributed a picture of Ben Franklin to Buzz’s team for one of the challenges and he ended up in the final three. Unfortunately, it was an eating challenge and Buzz had just finished a huge lunch. One of the girls won. This day was much like the first sea day. We don’t attend shows, but do spend some time in the casino, usually making a donation.
Dress for dinner this night was casual. We met our tablemates, Devon and Janet, from Buffalo, NY. They were a fun and interesting couple who are originally from Jamaica. I thought this was especially good luck as our next cruise will take us to Jamaica for the first time. My choices for dinner included escargot and jerked pork loin. Both were good. I’m not a fan of Carnival’s salads, but I had one most nights.
St. Maarten - We had booked the Golden Eagle Catamaran which left early that day. Having done this excursion before, I thought my husband would enjoy it and he did. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong camera for this trip and my good digital got dunked in the ocean along with our towels. Bye, bye camera! We swam and I slathered myself with that mud they always seem to find that makes your skin so soft. We only had time for a couple of drinks on the beach then we were on our way back to port, singing YMCA as we approached. We returned to the ship to shower and change then shopped at the pier. Our oldest daughter is now the recipient of a lovely strand of slightly pink pearls. I was gifted with a small rainbow topaz slide and a larger slide with a beautiful stone called ammolite. I also purchased a small doll that is reversible to show the dress of Dutch St. Maarten or French St. Martin. Our only liquor purchase was a hand painted bottle of Rum Jumbie which somehow made it through reboarding to our room. Diamonds International was also giving out a small, cheap charm bracelet with one charm instead of the tiny stud earrings. Additional charms could be collected from their other stores, including the one in Barbados.
For dinner that night we had reservations at the Golden Fleece. We received confirmation of this both by phone and a card in our room. While the Carnival Capers says that dress is smart casual, the card says that men are required to wear jackets. This was not enforced as several men not only walked in without jackets, but with their shirttails hanging out. We were seated at a table for two next to a window and enjoyed the view. At 7 in the evening it was not crowded. Entertainment was provided by the “Play That” duo and was very good. The service and presentation of the food was some of the best we have ever found on land or sea. The appetizer which is “sent by the chef” was a delightful surprise, but what we really enjoyed, at every meal, were the breads. Being from an area of the U.S. where steak is king, we decided to have the lobster tail, and it was huge! Dessert (three very small crème brulees) and salads rounded out our meal. We were stuffed! Although I wouldn’t rate it the best of the specialty restaurants we have tried, it was worth the $25 per person charge as the food, service and ambiance were really quite good.
Barbados - Our excursion of the day before had left us both badly sunburned so we switched shore excursions from the Jolly Roger party boat to an Island Safari Land Rover excursion. I had previously done this trip and enjoyed it even though the Land Rover in which I was riding lost its gears before we made it back to the port. We enjoyed the sites of the interior and coasts of Barbados while bumping around off road. This is where we met Mary and Bud, a couple who only lives 80 miles from us. We were not to finish this trip without another incident. Our back tire blew out, but our entertaining driver, Junior, did an excellent job of stopping us safely. The other Land Rovers in our group stopped as well and we were soon on our way. My husband jokingly said that should I ever return to Barbados and want to do this shore excursion a third time, they might want to pay me NOT to go! One of the girls in the vehicle ahead of us let her Sail and Sign card fly out the back and Junior stopped to get it. She didn’t even realize it had flown out and didn’t bother to tip him either when he returned it to her. Shame, shame! Dress for dinner that night was “elegantly casual”. We opted to eat in the Unicorn Café and spend a quiet evening in our cabin after making our nightly donation in the casino.
When we had docked that morning, there were two other ships at the dock furthest from the port. One appeared to be a Windjammer type ship and was all lit up on it’s masts at night. Very pretty. The other ship, whose name escapes me, was the one that had been confiscated because of money owed in other countries. The name and insignia were being removed and appeared to have only a skeleton staff aboard. We could see them watching us from the bridge when we docked. When we left port that night, she was all lit up and signaled a three blast salute to us as we left which was returned by our bridge. I found it to be a poignant moment.
Martinique - Being a Sunday, most of the shops in Fort De France were closed as was most of the island. I had read mixed reviews of the St. Pierre Island Tour, but we didn’t want to do another water tour and this one was touted as Carnival’s most popular tour for Martinique. Big mistake! It may have taken four buses to get everyone on the tour, but I’ll wager that there were as many complaints on the other buses as there were on ours. We were driven through the city and up the coast to St. Pierre. It had been destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Pele in 1902 with only one survivor. We could see a few ruins and were allowed to enter a very small museum. Outside there were a few vendors and I bought a vegetal doll (her clothes were made from banana leaves). Be warned that outside of the capital, most people speak limited English and may not have change except for Euros. Luckily, the vendors here had change for U.S. dollars. We could not see the summit of Mt. Pele that day as it was cloud covered. Our next stop brought us to the De Paz Rum Distillery where we were given a tour. The setting was lovely and there was free rum tasting at the door of the gift shop, the only part that was open that day. The rest of our tours was spending riding up, down and around the rainforest. While it was all beautiful, there were no stops during this time for photo ops. People were complaining that the tour was way too long.
Finally we returned to the city and did some quick looking, not shopping. Reports from other cruisers were that the craft market was open, but it was a bit of a walk from the port with limited selections. Only three or four stores were located at the dock and a few vendors. I had returned to the ship, then decided that since I had no souvenir from Martinique, I would go back to the jewelry vendor. I ran into our tablemates there and we both ended up buying necklaces of the native stone, although I bought Janet’s with money from Devon when she was elsewhere as he wanted to surprise her. We hurried back aboard as sail away was at 2:00 p.m. The highlight of our day was seeing dolphins as we left the harbor. Dinner dress for the evening was casual and I enjoyed the French onion soup and scallops.
Day Seven - Day at Sea Throughout the cruise, we continued to spend time with the new friends we had met aboard and on shore excursions. It was also a time for major relaxation. Today we watched Aqua Golf as one of the ladies that we had met, Kathlyn, was competing. We also attended the past guest party although I’m not certain which day that was. Captain Claudio Cupisti was seen often around the ship and is a very attractive gentleman, especially when he remembers to smile. This was one of the days where we relaxed with a movie in our cabin, today’s selection being “Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World.” An excellent movie! I also shopped the sales buying fashion rings and tees for our daughters and slides and earrings for myself in amber and larimar. This was our second formal night. I tried the Essence of India and Portabello mushrooms.
Day Eight - Day at Sea For some people this was too much, for others just right. We took advantage of our last day at sea to pack early then relax and try to see many of our new friends before the end of the day. In the afternoon, we went to the Blackjack tournament to cheer for Mary. Although she didn’t take first place, the top ten entrants won a prize from the Ocean Players Club. We also attended Name That Tune in Billie’s Piano Bar, tying for second. We now have our own little “ship on a stick”! Since we had an early flight, Rick suggested that we get VIP disembarkation tags from the Purser’s Desk so we could make it to the airport on time. This was done with no problem at all. Dinner was of course casual with me giving Gravlaks a try along with some turkey.
Disembarkation - Sad to say, we had to leave the ship. I had apparently packed my Sail and Sign card in the slacks I had worn the night before and had to go to the Purser’s Desk to get a replacement. Those of us with VIP tags met in the Firebird Lounge then lined up when our time came. We seemed to walk all over the first and second decks before we finally made it to customs and immigration. Patrick and Rick joined us as we were all getting off early and we shared a van with four others. It was $12 per person and would probably have been cheaper to have taken smaller taxis. The first people we met were the last ones to say goodbye, then we were on our way home.
Final Notes While this was not the best cruise on our short list, we still enjoyed ourselves and would recommend the Legend to anyone. There is so much to see and do that I don’t know how anyone could be bored, even if they are just trying to count all the urns that make up the décor!
Carnival Capers - read it and then notice any special announcements, schedule of events and the dress code for the evening in the dining room. These include the fact that hot tubs are adult only, even though children completely took over one of the hot tubs and security didn’t stop them. Also guests were requested not to save deck chairs. I really didn’t see much of a problem here. Dress for the evening seemed to be followed by most of the passengers and, although there were a few outrageous outfits, I don’t recall seeing jeans or shorts in the dining room except on the last night where there were a lot of people in jeans. They did refuse entrance to the dining room at lunch to one young lady who was dressed only in a swimsuit and coverup. Smoking areas were listed as well as the three free movies showing each day and the times.
Internet Café - This is open 24 hours a day and I used it to check my e-mail and to print off boarding passes for our flights home with AirTran.
Crew - They seemed to be a friendly bunch who tolerated the picky guests quite well and I didn’t notice a single one who didn’t seem to be doing a good job. The dining room staff did a great job of serving and entertaining. When Devon wanted chicken noodle soup and it wasn’t on the menu, even the supervisor refused to let him go without it and be dissatisfied. Somehow, someway, they concocted it for him!
Passengers - There were fewer children on board at this time of the year although I know some parents had their kids out of school for only a few days. We saw twins in double wide strollers and senior citizens having a wonderful time. Teens seemed to run in packs and other than being in the piano bar for a few minutes, I never saw any of them causing trouble.
Food - We enjoyed the variety of food offered, even the cheeseburgers, pizza and especially the deli. We found the Unicorn Café, with its Taste of Nations changing daily, to be the most enjoyable on the ship. The dining room was good but not great. They need to change their salads and increase the dessert selections.
The ship - It can be a bit overwhelming when you first board, but you quickly become used to the decor and find it quite entertaining and attractive. It was easy to navigate and of a size to be comfortable. Lots of public spaces made it enjoyable as did the variety of things to do, or do nothing at all.
There is no such thing as a bad cruise, only bad cruisers! And we had neither!
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Deb
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/hstrycrsr
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