Royal Caribbean Cruise Line
Legend of the Seas Cruise Review
7 Day Western Caribbean

Jeff Brody
Age: 54
Occupation: Real Estate Agent
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: December 24th, 2005

As this was my first cruise, I had done a good bit of research beforehand. I had anticipated a parade of vendors wanting to sell me things on the ship and at the ports. I did not dream it would be so pleasant and stress-free.

The crew of the Legend was impeccable. During the cruise, I often marveled that this was a very well oiled machine in action. From the charming and informative captain – Nicolas, I believe, to our waiters – Buyon (sp.), and Wilson, whose service was first rate, to our attentive housekeeper, all treated us like royalty.

As an American who has come to expect inferior service in the marketplace, this was a delightful exception. Everyone knows their job, has a smile, and works tirelessly. I realized after talking with many crew members, that they work long hours, but there is never any complaining.

The facilities met all our wants and needs. The nightly shows featured talented performers who took their jobs seriously. These were not performers who were just starting or ending their careers. The in-house players (musicians, singers, dancers) performed their hearts out. Unfortunately, the audiences were sometimes luke-warm.

Ours was a Christmas cruise – the age range was all over the map, with many extended families from 5 – 90 on board. The featured performers tended to skew to the older crowd, but they were talented in their own right. Kudos to an Lance Ringgold, excellent gymnast who has fashioned an entertaining show from his experience as an Olympic gymnast, Glenn Smith, a Las Vegas-style performer who aims to please mixing adept piano skills and a friendly sense of humor (by the way, his philanthropic organization, does wonderful work with children in Las Vegas…I discovered this after doing some research after I got home…he never mentioned it); and Soul Mystique, a dance team that has fashioned a magic/ballroom dance act to an exacting level. I mention all these names because I feel these performers don’t get their due.

The food was excellent, and never-ending. The initial annoyance about the fact one has to buy a soda card for about $24 proved to be irrelevant. There is always-flowing lemonade, juice, and coffee…if you must have soda, I guess you should pay for it. While a few entrees for dinner left something to be desired, our waiter (Buyon from Serbia, I believe) always offered to bring a different entrée…he even asked one night if an entrée was tough, as he had hear this from another guest. Again, his charm, desire to please, sense of humor, and attentiveness was so darn refreshing!

There is always something to do, and it’s done well. The cruise director, Gavin Brown, was a delight. He knows his job and he does it well. I don’t know when he sleeps, because he’s always hosting something or making announcements. He displayed a great sense of humor, and was both friendly, and organized!

The only slight (and I mean slight) concerns was the endless barrage of official picture taking and the inflated prices to purchase them. Of course, there is no one forcing you to get a picture taken, but there is always the urge to have a memento of this cruise (inspite of the hundreds we took ourselves). There is the daily pressure of getting a pool chair..although they are not supposed to be reserved, there is a quickly-learned custom to throw anything on a chair by 8 in the morning, which reserves it until you get there to lie down. I wish the ship’s crew would enforce the no-reserve rule they discuss in their literature, but I understand they do not want to be negative.

The ports of call are sometimes less than wonderful. The stop at Costa Maya was basically a shopping opportunity…there’s nothing else there! We were unable to dock at Grand Cayman, as the tender boats couldn’t navigate the seas that day. Belize turned out to be a wonderful port. We chose to pass up the excursions that the cruise line offered, opting to try our luck with the local tour guides. We felt the prices were insanely high for the cruise-sponsored excursions. We preferred to pursue our sense of adventure rather the security of the excursions.

In Belize, we were approached by tour guides as soon as we hit the shore. Everyone is quoting prices, but we held out for someone who had a certain character we were looking for. We knew we wanted a city tour and the zoo (don’t miss the zoo…you’ll be closer to zoo animals than you ever will be in the states!!! I think the cruise sponsored excursion was $54/person. We found a delightful gentleman named Michael Pollard who was charming, funny, courteous, and much less expensive. He’s got email, and if you arranged something with him in advance you’d have your day set in Belize. His email address is: mikepol5_bz@yahoo.com. [cell phone number (501) 600-6105].

Cozumel was pretty crowded, lots of shopping opportunities, inexpensive booze…we didn’t find any tours here, and came back to the ship pretty quickly. They are still trying to recover from the seasons hurricanes that did some extensive damage.

Oh, upon the cruises end, we chose to secure transportation to Tampa airport independently, rather than pay the cruise folks $18/person. A good decision, as it cost us about $56 for 8 people. They are again incredibly organized…disembarking went smoothly.

In summary, I will cruise again….a good, relaxing experience and a good chance to get re-acquainted with my teenagers, and extended family.

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