We sailed on cruise to eastern med. The ship is very clean and the food is very good. The shows in the theatre were very good, Tribute beatles band were very good and the RCI singers and dancers put on 2 good shows during our cruise. Although only 25% of passengers were British I did feel the entertainment was geered to our taste. I would definitely cruise with RCI again, all the staff were friendly and efficient.

We had a wonderful first cruising experience on Legend of the Seas. The itinerary was great, especially stopping in Alexandria and seeing the pyramids(a big day, but worth it!) Limassol in Cyprus was the only disappointing port (no beaches in sight). As a family of 6, it was much cheaper (and nicer in our opinion) to organise our own excursions (taxis will take you wherever you want to go) as the offered ones were very pricey. We did the ship excursion in Egypt for security reasons. It was good for historical information too.
Our cruise had a wide range of nationalities, so we met people from Norway to South Africa - it seemed nearly everyone spoke a bit of English. There were only 43 children on board (not Northern hemisphere school holidays)but it was kid heaven. Our 5,7 & 11year olds absolutely loved the kids club and couldn't wait to go. The staff were excellent. They also loved the food(especially the icecream machine near the pool!) and the rock climbing wall. Not so much on for our teen(13yrs) but he enjoyed the wii tennis (whatever that is) and guitar hero (ditto). The waiting staff in the main restaurant were absolutely wonderful with them (and with us). They really added to our dinning experience, which was very positive. Tip:it is a good idea to sign up for the wine package on the first day.
We have also have never experienced so many people (mainly older)approaching us to tell us how well our children are behaved and what a credit they were to us etc (just normal kids with good manners, but nice to hear). We thought all the kids on board were very good.
Our 2 rooms were kept beautifully by our discreet attendant and we found all other staff to be friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the evening shows. There were some very good guest entertainers.
I really have no complaints at all. Everything was extremely well organised and we would love to do it all again one day.

LEGEND OF THE SEAS. 11th AUG ITALY & CROATIA.

Here are the good points and the bad points on this RCI cruise.

This holiday was booked through cruise club.we flew from Leeds Bradford airport unaware we had a connection from Amsterdam,We weren't told about the connection.(Check your flights if you book through cruise club)

DAY 1.
Arrived in Rome had to pick up our own suit cases from the carousel in the airport and take them to the coach.(P&O do all this for you.)
approximately. 1 hour to the port of Civitavecchia, Rome. Check in was quite quick due to the fact we had done our boarding passes online.
At 4-30pm we had to attend the life boat drill. We had to stand there for over 1/2 hours in the scorching heat.
Cases arrived ok to the room. Deck 2 room 2747.

SAILAWAY PARTY. if you like sailaway parties forget travelling with the Royal Caribbean, they are pathetic.

CABIN. Cabins were ok for two passengers. Clean and tidy. We didn't use them much as we are in & out.

DAY 2.
Arrived in Naples on sunday morning at 7.00am. We booked a 1/2 day excursion to Pompeii. You can do your own thing to Pompeii. €11 admission into the ruins. 40mins from the ship. Very busy. PLEASE NOTE. If you go on an excursion ask if the tour guide is wired up, Celebrity x guides had all their passengers wired up to head pieces, so much better. Ours did not which made it very difficult to keep in touch in the midday sun.

DAY 3. 13th AUG.
Sea day down to split Croatia. Very busy on ship, which you expect on a sea day.

DAY 4. 14th AUG.
Arrived in split, moored in the bay had to be tendered in. What a lovely place split is, nice narrow streets, good shops, bars and restaurants,nice marina and promenade. Beer £1.50 pint. departed 5.00pm.

DAY 5. 15th/16th AUG.
Arrived in Venice at 7.00am sailed down the grand canal, moored up at about 8.00am.

Booked a water taxi for €26 for 2 return into Venice. Visit Venice in the morning. as too hot in the afternoon. If you want to travel on a Gondola shop around, You pay for the boat. Prices are between €80 to €120. We found one for €80 for the four of us. You must do it.
Venice is very expensive. We bought two pints and two halves which came to €20.
You can go up the bell tower in St Marcs square for €6. There is a lift to the top. BEWARE OF THE BELLS RINGING when you are at the top. Sailed out of Venice at 4.00pm. Get your camera ready, wonderful. No need to get up early in the morning when sailing into Venice as it's to misty, sailing out was far better.

DAY 6. 17th AUG.
Arrived into Dubrovnik on Friday, another nice place to visit, Go in the morning, It becomes very busy when all the tour coaches start arriving.
It cost €5 to walk round the wall,a bit like York in England.

DAY 7. 18th AUG.
Arrived in Messina took a 1/2 day tour to mount Etna. A good scenic coach ride takes about 1hr 1/2.
Very interesting, We brought some rocks back.

DAY 8 19th AUG.
Sea day. Rock climbing on the wall, golf putting and sunbathing.

DAY 9 20th AUG.
Arrived in Livorno, As we'd been on the tours to Rome and Florence, we thought we would have a walk into Livorno. What a mistake that was. It's not pretty as we were told in the past. It advertises itself as having nice canals running through the city. It does but I wouldn't call it nice. It's a commercial port full stop.

DAY 10 21st AUG.
Sea day to Portifino.

Day 11 22ND AUG.
We were told we could not go into Portifino due rough water, went to Genoa instead. Been improved since the last time we were there 4 years ago. Nice marina with shops and bars.

DAY 12 23rd AUG.
On the night before leaving, 22nd, you had to have your suit cases outside your cabin before 11.00pm.
We had to leave the ship at 8.00am for Rome. We weren't flying until 5.00pm so had to kill time in the airport 7 hours. Do not know why we couldn't have stayed on the ship a little longer. P&O do.

WHAT ABOUT THE SHIP LEGEND OF THE SEAS?
We liked the design of the public areas where they have made available plenty of glass for natural light to shine through.
The centrium was spectacular, good meeting place with live music.
Some of the furniture in the public places need replacing, it shows in the day light.
To get away from the children you can rest in the spa pool area, nice & quiet.
As a family ship you will have all the children splashing about in the main pool.
There is a jogging track, a 9 hole golf putting area which is quite good. No golf nets or simulator. A big climbing wall.
The Viking lounge bar is superb for viewing out when docked or sailing, does have a judder though when sailing.
Restaurant was nice, not cramped. The windjammer served very good food, gets quite busy at times.
In the cabins you have to use your credit card to lock & unlock the safe if you have one as not all cabins have them. NOT A GOOD IDEA BEING MADE TO TAKE YOUR CREDIT CARD OUT WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES.

MANAGEMENT OF THE SHIP.

Throughout the day there is a deck patrol around the ship and pool. It clearly states no diving or jumping into the pool. These warnings were ignored by the deck patrol when all the kids were jumping in & out of the pool.

Sailaway parties. This part of the cruise we always look forward to, we think it's a little special when you sailaway from port. Obviously RCI don't. Poor.

At night groups of young children were allowed to roam the ship up to 2.00am. We know, we would watch them. There is supposed to be a curfew on these kids from 12 midnight. Poor management.

WILL WE SAIL WITH ROYAL CARIBBEAN AGAIN,AND LEGEND OF THE SEAS?

If the ship was under a different company we would sail on the Legend Of The Seas again but under this present management the answer is NO.

It was our first cruise, cant say anything bad about it. We had a balcony room that was very clean.
The food in the windjammer was varied, and all tastes catered for. The romeo and Juliet restaurant was nice in the evenings as it was more relaxed than the windjammer. My husband and i really enjoyed our first experience of cruising and are thinking of taking the kids next year. Oh i nearly forgot the staff were fantastic they couldn't bend over backwards enough for you!!!!

Just returned off the Ledgend of the Seas Eastbound
Tranatlantic.{13 Days} Could not fault anything.
PS.This was our sixth cruise wuth various Companies

This was our first cruise travelling around the Caribbean and we were very impressed.

Our room was very clean and the beds were turned down every night by our cabin attendant.

The food was excellent and there was enough variety. The staff were very helpful and efficient especially on day trips.

The on-board entertainment was great and for those considering a cruise, take the plunge because it is an exellent way to see many countries in one trip. We visited Grand Cayman, Mexico, Cozumel and Belize.

Some say that the Legend of the Seas is quite an old ship but it has 2000 people on board and you sometimes wonder were all these people are. HOwever, we were very impressed with the Royal Caribbean and we intend to take another cruise on the new Freedom of the Seas.

We have just returned from the 14 night distant islands cruise, from Southampton. We had a really great time, the food was marvelous,we had breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer restaurant, a very wide choice of food available. Dinner in the Romeo and Juliet restaurant was excellent the menu was varied over the fourteen days, well presented and tasty.I must mention our waiter Alberto, and assistant waiter Constantine the service they provided was great, always polite and lots of good humour, also the drinks waiter Hignet from Turkey who always found time to come and chat with us after dinner. Our interior staterooms where a good size, and kept clean and tidy by our steward Richard. The ship was well set out, great views all round from the Viking Crown lounge on the top deck. The theatre had comfortable seating, with unobstructed views from all seats, and good shows. Despite the variable weather, the ports of call were all good.We went mainly on the morning trips, not to be missed is the Madeira tour which includes a cable car ride and the ride downhill in the baskets, brilliant! All in all a most enjoyable cruise. Highly recommended.

Having travelled with RCCL on several occasions we thought it would be nice to sail from Southampton.

Check in went very smoothly and we were quite empressed when we saw our cabin. It was one with a balcony and a good size for 3 people sharing. Our cabin attendent was excellent and our cabin was always very clean.

We found going to the Windjammer cafe for breakfast and lunch a nightmare it was everyone for themselves people grabbing food as if it was their last meal some of the great British public are very rude.

On sea days around the pool and decks sunloungers were soon occupied some people must have been on guard all night! They even moved loungers to gang ways to sun bathe we were glad we could escape to our balcony.

Some of the staff could'nt be bothered whether they served you or not. Our evening waiter often muddled up our meals and on one occassion took 25 minutes to bring our food he implied it was our fault because we arrived late (10 mins) for our meal.

The organisaton for some of the excursions was terrible and at one stage the staff didn't seem to know what they were doing. However we did go to a few shows and most of the we enjoyed.

When we have used RCCL in the past and sailing from USA & Canada the service has always been excellent but it seemed on this cruise sometimes it was very poor.
We will think very carefully about sailing with RCCL again as judging by Legend of The Seas their standards have slipped dramatically.

Legend of the Seas August 2005, Classic Mediterranean (14 nights)

Two adults (30’s) and two children (8 and 5)

My wife and I and had previously sailed Celebrity’s Constellation (Caribbean February 2004). We liked the idea of taking the children on a cruise from our local port Southampton (we live in Salisbury), so we were intrigued when RCI offered us the chance to sail the Legend from Southampton, with the kids going for free!

We were a little concerned as to how this cruise would shape up against the wonderful cruise we had on the Constellation. We tried our best not to compare the two, especially as the price we paid for a family of four for two weeks on the Legend was not much more than we paid for an outside cabin for two in the Caribbean on the Constellation. However the comparison was inevitable and my comments should always be viewed from that perspective.

Pros

• Excellent value for money (kids travelled for free)
• Excellent overall holiday experience
• Proximity to home!
• Good waiting and cabin staff
• Children enjoyed the Kids Club
• Interesting ports of call (Rome, Monte Carlo (Cannes) and Vigo were our highlights
• Food was good (although there was no silver service and all dishes came pre-plated)

Cons

• Ship is over 10 years old and is showing its age through poor design
• Despite recent refurbishment, certain areas are a bit drab
• Our inside room was very cramped for four, was very dreary and showed its age
• Not a ‘resort’ ship, and more demanding families should look to newer, better designed, and bigger ships

Minor points

• The Guest Relations staff were poor and seemed to be just going through the motions of providing customer service. You had to be very persistent to get anything done.
• The difference in staff numbers (from the Constellation) was quite noticeable in the pool area; e.g. cups, plates and food were left hanging around for quite long periods of time and sometimes it was difficult to get bar service.
• You will be sailing with the great British public (out of 1975 people on board on this sailing 1800 were British).
• Plastic cups and plates are used in the Windjammer and around the pool area (Glass and china were used on Constellation).
• Our cabin girl was very good, although I felt that she almost shared the cabin with us! She was ever present. The corridor to our cabin was always littered with trolleys of towels, Hoovers, ice buckets, etc. On the Constellation we never saw any of this and our room was beautifully kept!
• No trays available in the Windjammer, so there was a lot of getting up and down to get food, especially if you had to help a child select food
• The sun loungers were ‘bagged’ very quickly on sea days and would be very difficult to get one
• The Windjammer got very busy at peak times and it was sometimes difficult to find a table
• Again, the internal design of the ship is poor. For example, if you are in a bar, you have to walk miles to find a loo. Likewise if you are in the theatre or dining room you have to walk up (or down) flights of stairs to find a loo. (Not a problem for us, but there was many older guests, for whom this was no joke).

Suggestions/tips if you are considering this cruise

If you have a very young family (under 3’s) look for a larger ship with better facilities. We spoke to a number of families who felt their very little ones were not being catered for, i.e. the pool was 5ft 6in deep, etc.

If you are looking for a child free cruise do not book this cruise in July or August or whenever RCI offer free kids places as there will be lots of children on the ship. I lost count the number of times I (over)heard mutterings of disgruntled passengers concerned about the number of children in the pool/solarium/lift/corridors/dining room/using sunbeds, etc! This may look a minor point but I did witness a couple of altercations between the older and younger generations over the conduct or even just the visibility of children!

RCI Shuttle buses are available at most ports of call to take you into the centre of the port. The charge is £4. Pay for these on the day at the bus, that way the children will travel free! (We learnt the hard way and had to argue hard to get a refund from ‘Guest Relations’)

Drink prices: Wine from £10 a bottle, G&T c£2.20, Cocktail of the Day £2, Stella £2

Summary

We had a good holiday, met some nice people and did enjoy ourselves. Even my 5 year old daughter cried when she had to say goodbye to the cabin girl!!

The cruise was very good value for us as a family.

However, I would not have been happy paying any more for this cruise/cruise ship and I would look for a larger/modern ship if this were the case for a family or a more select ship as a couple.

We sailed from Southampton on Legend a month or two after she relocated to the UK in an attempt to crack the british market and set off for the Med. Having been on two other cruises ( P&O Oceana and Star Princess) we were interested to see how Royal Caribbean compared. Check in was simple enough and our balcony cabin was nice enough too although it looked a little tired in places. First impressions were ok.

Our cabin attendant made herself known soon enough and her first move was to tell us how hard they have to work and how little they get paid and if we have a problem with her then we need to tell her right away so that it doesn't affect how much we give her as a tip. Stroppy, forward and a little bit rude was my overall impression of a lot of the staff.

For dinner on the first night we found oursleves seated on a table for 10 (11 of us in total) a seat had to be pushed in and although our party and the the party we joined complained, nothing was done other than an insincere apology. The family of seven that we had joined made us feel like we were gatecrashing and the first dinner was an uncomfortable and dissapointing start to the cruise.

Food was plentiful but bland and the menu became a bore soon enough. Breakfast buffet was the usual affair consisiting of regular breakfast fare and recycled food from the previous night's dinner menu. Out of the three cruise companies that we have travelled with, Royal Caribbean came out bottom of the three in the food stakes.

On board entertainment wasn't up to much although i've not been impressed by any of the live shows that i've watched at sea so maybe it's me and not them. Ny main gripe was with the Bars on board where you really had to get out early to get a seat and soon enough people were standing all around and there was very little view. Legend is the only ship i know of where people queue at the bar for drinks. Maybe it's because the ship was primarily filled with Brits and they don't really know any better but the waiters and waitresses who we became friendly with told us they'd not seen it before. The idea was, you took a seat and the staff waited on you with drinks from the bar. With people queuing at the bar the staff were forced to remain behind the bar to serve so the people who were sat elsewhere waited and waited and waited. The waiting staff who we thought were the highlight of the staff on board told us that the brits were the most ignorant and rude people that they had encountered.

Unruly children were everywhere on this cruise and the parents of the kids were ignorant and oblivious.They ran riot, things were thrown from the top of the atrium, they played tag on the stairs and tore up the place in ignorance of any rules. Loads of people complained but nothingw as done. A lady who complained after being hit in the face with a shoe thrown from the top of the atrium was told by staff that yes it was a problem but there was very little they could do.
The majority of the people on this cruise were not the sort of people that cruising was designed for. I'm no snob but i'm not ignorant either. If this is the type of people that RC are trying to attract then good luck to them. It was like a floating Butlins.There was never any room at the pool or anywhere else for that matter.
Princess and P&O have very little to fear from RC's competition. It was a huge dissapointment with far too many people on board,far too many children and not enough facilities. There were more children on Star and i can't remember one of them. We never saw them. On Legend they were a real nuisance.

Thanks Royal Carribean for attemtpting to gather all the people I wouldn't want to cruise with and get them all on one cruise line. I just wish i didn't have to sail around the med with you to find out.

Never again.