Royal Caribbean International
Legend of the Seas Cruise Review
Transatlantic

John Grimley
Age: 57
Occupation: Retired accountant
Number of Cruises: 4
Sailing Date: April 15th, 2006

Our first cruise with RCCL. Our trepidations about poor food, service and conditions which we had read in previous reviews of this cruise line proved to be completely unfounded. My wife and I loved it. In fact, in terms of negatives, I’m left thinking more about the attitudes of some of the reviewers than about the cruise line.


The ship is beautiful and at 70,000 tons is “navigable” by the average passenger (i.e. it’s not so big that you spend loads of time just getting from one location to another). A lovely, thoughtful blend of functionality and beauty, with glass, brass, wood and artwork everywhere. Some architect! A lovely home for 2 weeks.

The food was wonderful. The service (Ravi, waiter and Sasha assistant waiter) was very good. The only complaints I heard were from the meat ‘n’ potatoes crowd who seemed out of their depth with the lavish menu choices and of course, the “it’s not the same as at home” crowd. But there was plenty of meat ‘n’ potatoes if that’s what you wanted. Steak every day. And as much (or as little!) as you wanted. One day I had eight courses for dinner; big mistake! Wine and alcoholic drinks were dealt with by a lady who seemed to know little about how to serve drinks. She could offer only one port wine after dinner (Sandman) yet some of the bars had several good choices. The wines on offer were generally over-priced and of doubtful quality.

I have yet to go on a cruise that I thought tipping the head waiter and/or maitre d’ was warranted. Although this head waiter did stick his face into ours at uninvited moments to ask how the food was, he did little but stalk, scowl and intimidate the waiters who were trying to do their best. His flat-back head was clean-shaven; we nicknamed him “Boris”!

The cruise lasted 13 nights. Were we bored? Never. With the exception of the predictable house “production numbers” (many people did enjoy them) the main show each night was terrific, with some excellent acts, ranging from British “bathroom” stand-up comedy to classical music concerts.

The guest list of 1700 passengers was largely American (mainly from the South), about 600 Brits, many returning to the UK from their winter homes in Florida, 130 Canadians and a wide spattering of other nationalities. A good mix. Being Easter, I was concerned about there being a lot of children running around. We barely noticed the few children (and virtually zero teens) on board. And those we did see were very well behaved and properly supervised. Well done, parents! My guess is that taking 2 weeks off work for a family vacation is not a popular option. The demographics of the passengers was overwhelmingly retired (as are we).

Everything was spotlessly clean and crew were always seen around the decks on maintenance work. They all seemed to know their roles and were focused on them. Friendly and eager to please. I cannot recall one member of the crew who was actively negative. My favourite guy was Marcus, the Executive chef. What a fine man, friendly and unassuming; nice to chat with. He ran a galley of 122 people and was responsible for preparing 10,000 meals a day!

Our cabin steward, Raphael, worked well in the background and kept our cabin ship-shape at all hours. The (standard) cabin, at 150-odd square feet was not the largest we’ve had. But the amount of storage space was way more than we two needed. I counted over 30 drawers & shelves all together. And with eleven mirrors, the place never gave the feeling that it should have been bigger.

I developed bronchitis after about 4 days. We asked Raphael to move the bed so that our heads were not immediately under the window while sleeping. He turned the bed around 90 degrees and this helped.

For the record, the seas were no worse than “moderate” at any time and incidents of sea sickness were newsworthy for their rarity more than anything. The sun shone every day (some more than others) and what little rain there was usually came in a short shower. The temperature tended to drop (naturally) as we headed north, and the wind picked up on the last 3 days. But overall, I’d say we lucked out with the weather. The pool deck was busy quite a few days. And the (enclosed) solarium did good business when the sun went in.

Tip: if it’s windy seek out the deck behind the gym on level 9, at the stern of the boat. It’s quite and peaceful there.

I came out ahead in the casino! I found a quarter in a slot and kept it! We did try the daily bingo session once. Once. We estimated the pay-out rate to be less than half of what they took in for the purchase of bingo cards. Needless to say, the daily “jackpot” was not won until the last day (in which 2 sessions were squeezed). Boo to the bingo.

The on-board musicians were generally good to excellent. Live piano at dinner. A Caribbean duo on the pool deck in the afternoons were very good. Our favorite, though was Steve Zachim in the Schooner Bar. Steve writes movie scores, is an accomplished pianist and has an excellent easy-going manner. We always headed for his “Name that tune” sessions, although the room tended to be smoky, which did my bronchitis no good.

While all bars and lounges had a no-smoking section, the only bars that were truly smoke-free were out on deck. I found this a real problem; it was a contributor to my bronchitis. The no-smoking rules aboard ship are way behind those that exist in our home town. If you don’t like smoky rooms, but enjoy a drink in the bar, you may wish to consider other cruise lines with a more up to date policy on smoking.

We stopped at Key West, Bermuda, Azores and Vigo, Spain. The only stop we signed up for an organized shore excursion was Ponta Delgada in the Azores, where public transport is iffy. At $47 each it was well worth it, though. At other stops we had planned our own tours, which meant we saw what we wanted to see and paid way less than the shore excursion prices. You get to meet the locals much more if you’re on your own instead of in a tour bus, which the locals, rightly, tend to give a wide berth.

Lastly, value-for-money. The cruise price cost us less than $85 a day, each, and I would rate it excellent value for money. Our ship-board account came to $450, $300 of which was booze.

All in all, I can’t imagine how one could get a better vacation for the money. Well done, Royal Caribbean. We’ll be back.

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