Just back from 8 days on Carnival Legend

[popsec]

We just got home yesterday from 8 days on the Legend. It was our 4th cruise this year....1st 3 were on Celebrity Zenith and Constellation. I was rather nervous about the whole Carnival "fun ship" thing but we got such a great price that we decided we had to try Carnival (my husband is retired military so we got a balcony cabin for $500 off per person!....only $649 pp!)

The drive from VT to the NYC port was easy and traffic wasn't too bad. Being the country bumpkins we are we were nervous about big city driving. Embarkation in Bayonne is such a breeze that this one seemed rather disorganized but we were still on the ship by 12:30.

We had a great time....the 1st whole sea day was rain and then the weather was great after that. I'd planned to leave my balcony door open every night but it was quite warm and humid so we weren't able to do that after the 1st night out.

I was expecting the ship to be too over-run with kids since school is out for the year. We found that there were always plenty of quieter areas to get away from the kids. Also the Legend has an aft pool & hot tub that are adults only so that was great!

I thought the ship was really pretty....a little over the top in some areas but we don't go on cruises for the decor.

Our room was 175 sq ft plus 40 sq ft balcony. Nice room with usual amenities, stocked fridge that we just kept locked. The cabin stewards were very good! It was fun coming back to the room in the evening to see what new towel "animal" they'd made for us. The balcony had resin furniture....a chair, a reclining chair and a small table. There was a basket of amenities in the bathroom...razors, floss, mouthwash, aspirin, paperback, etc.

I actually like the food in the Truffles dining room better than on Celebrity. We usually left either just before or just after dessert so we didn't get to see the singing/dancing waiters.

For the most part we enjoyed the food on the Lido deck....buffets were ok (not as elaborate as Celebrity), 24 hour pizza and ice cream were fun for late snacks, desserts weren't very good so that helped me to not gain quite as much weight this cruise

Room service food came quickly but forget about trying to call in an order around midnight!.......I was on hold for 20 minutes one night and just gave up trying another night. We hung a card on our door in the evening for a continental breakfast of coffee and danish (much better than Celebrity's) to be eaten on the balcony most mornings.

The shows were ok....nothing special but entertaining. There was a very good band in Satchmo's Lounge so we went there most evenings to dance.

The main difference we found between Carnival and Celebrity was the level of service and the friendliness of staff. On Carnival there just don't seem to be enough table clearers on the Lido deck....dirty dishes would sometimes stay on the outside tables for hours. Likewise spills aren't cleaned off the floors right away. There are very few bar waiters roaming the areas, which is a good thing if you don't drink but not so good if you do :shocked: All Celebrity employees seem super friendly and cheerful....not so on Carnival. The exception is in the dining room, but again that seems understaffed. We wondered if the difference in attitude was because the tips were automatic or if they just weren't trained to the degree that Celebrity trains the staff. Maybe they were just overworked because they were understaffed....

The casino was fun...but took way too much of my money!

We didn't get off in San Juan because we'd just gone there a few months ago. St. Thomas was gorgeous and we went to Saphire Beach by cab (abt $9 pp each way). We took along a snack size box of cheerios to crumblre in the water to attract the fish and it worked well...my DH had dozens of them swimming around him.

In Tortola we just walked off the ship to the flea market area, where you could get some great deals on t-shirts, etc.

We carried our own luggage off so debarking was a snap....I'll always do it that way from now on!

A word about the elevators.....much faster than Celebrity's and we never had to wait for more than a few seconds for one. On my last Zenith cruise it seemed like we spent hours of every day just waiting for elevators!

Overall we had a great time and would not hesitate to sail on Carnival again. Since we expected it to be such a major step down from Celebrity, we were pleasantly surprised. We've decided to book another Carnival cruise in Sept....don't know why Celebrity can't offer better military discounts!

[JoeyandDavid]

Hi popsec, Welcome home from your Cruise on the Legend!...Glad you guys had a positive time on Carnival... :grin:

Yeah I wonder who we could talk to about getting better discounts for our brave Vets from Celebrity?

Glad you home and safe....

[popsec]

It is too bad Celebrity can't do better. When I cancelled the Oct Connie cruise and they asked why, I told them it was because they didn't offer much of anything for military discounts. I mean, come on!......$100 off "select" cruises!....jeez! Otherwise I think we would have stuck exclusively with Celebrity.

[cruisetarp]

Welcome back. Sounds like you enjoyed Carnival. I agree that all cruise lines should give some bonus to our veterans.

[schatje]

Welcome back and I'm glad you had a good time. I agree that Celebrity is a step up but if the price is right you can cruise more often :smiley:

[popsec]

Our thought exactly! :wink:

[JoeyandDavid]

popsec, maybe a nice letter to Ellen Taaffe the Senior Vice-President of Marketing with a CC to the President Mr.Daniel J. Hanrahan of the line might provide a better response.. carefully worded piece that says how disappointed you are in the fact Celebrity doesn't seem to support veterans the way "other Lines " do.....LOL if you catch my drift

You never know...

The address is:

Celebrity Cruise

1080 Caribbean Way

Miami, FL 33132

Good luck.. :wink:

[jacketwatch]

:cool: I'm glad you had a good time on Carnival. I think that line suffers from its the reputation it acquired from its onset as a low priced cruise line. However over the yrs. things have changed. Sometimes, perhaps often reputation outlasts reality IMHO. Your comments about the service I found very intersting and I agree with your reasons. Maybe it a combo of all those reasons. Our dining room service on Carnival was terrific. Our cabin steward was good, not great and I agree about their trainig. perhaps the friendliness aspect should be stressed more. It does show though in all fairness those folks work very hard. Cheers. Larry. :cool:

[jacketwatch]

:cool: Joey: FYI I though I'd mention something about customer service and X. A friend of mine who has cruised with them literally scores of times had some issues about their last cruise related to food quality and service. He sent a nicely worded letter to them or at least I thought so. The letter they returned was disappointing to say the least, especially to people who have been so loyal to them. If popsec writes to them about mil. discounts I hope she gets a better reply. :cool:

[JoeyandDavid]

I understand jacketwatch..trust me I know how customer service can bite ...but the most popsec would be out would be the time it took to compose the letter and 2 postage stamps... and all celebrity can say is "we are sorry that we don't do more".. so I say go for it.. you never know.. problems can't be fixed if no one is aware there is a problem...

After corresponding then at least then people KNOW the correct answer... :grin: