Leaving the Florida Aquarium, we walked across the street to the cruise terminal. I loved the Aquarium, but by this time, I was starving and my shoulder was in pain from carrying the giant toiletry-items bag which also had two pairs of sneakers in it, the video camera bag and my purse/bag...it seemed like everything but the kitchen sink was in my bag. I wanted to get to our cabin, check out the balcony, then head for the Lido Deck and THE FOOD!
Check-in was a breeze. We just had to show our passports and the preprinted FUNPASS and just like that, we were checked in. After we received our "Sail and Sign" cards,
we crossed over the gangway and boarded the Carnival Legend.
Welcome aboard all the crew told us!
Now, I have read mixed reviews on the decor of this cruise ship, but in my opinion, it is a beautifully-decorated ship! The public areas have a predominately black/tan/silver color scheme which just speak "elegance".
Here is the lobby with the glass elevators:
The Greek-urn motif was on many of the stairs and balconies in the public decks:
A view of the lobby from our cabin deck:
As the name of the ship indicates, the decor is based on "legends", both real and mythical.
A 150-foot giant mural of the Colossus of Rhodes (considered one of the seven wonders of the world) covers the entire wall facing the glass elevators:
For nearly every breakfast and dinner we ate in the two-story Truffles Dining Room, named for the truffle, the "legendary" food. What beautiful decor: the murals on the ceiling are patterned after legendary china patterns:
The chandeliers at the top of the poles consisted of dozens of what looked like hand-blown glass lights, each with a twisted curly-cue at the end:
For an extra charge, passengers have the option of dining in the Golden Fleece steakhouse with its glass-domed ceiling. We did not pay the extra $30 price. Why pay extra to eat here when the food in the dining room was excellent? Some passengers like the option...
Even the booths in the buffet-style Unicorn café have beautiful wall murals:
The nightly song-and-dance shows were seen in the "Follies" Lounge. Here passengers were rehearsing for the final night's gala show.
Comedy and kareoke shows were held in the Firebird Lounge with its Russian motif. The stairs leading down to the lounge:
I loved the red decor of this lounge. The "Firebird" name is based on a legendary Russian folktale. This gentleman sang a lot of kareoke.
Fantastic ceiling lights!
For those disco-loving passengers, there's Medusa's Liar with its wild decor. Large masks were on the wall.
The "hair" on these masks reminded me of vacuum cleaner hoses!
We won some money; we lost some money playing the slot machines. Then we discovered those Flippa Winna machines (below where the man has his back to the camera). You insert a quarter; it flips up to a shelf where there are hundreds of other quarters. Multiple little shovels push the quarters to fall onto another shelf below where there are shovels pushing quarters (and sometimes stacks of dollar bills) to fall into the slots below for you to retrieve. It has to be rigged...how can those quarters just hang over the edge like that? Anyone who's played it will know what I mean. But it was fun trying to "nudge" the machine to get the quarters to fall...
The last full cruise day we were at sea so we took the opportunity to check out parts of the ship we hadn't yet seen. One of the most interesting sections of the ship were the two interior promenades called The Enchanted Forest which lead to the children's/kid's entertainment area . How clever! In each walkway the walls are designed to look like a forest of trees; large portholes are between the trunks, and tables and chairs are in front of the portholes.
Continuing down this promenade leads to a promenade on the other side of the ship:
Another view of the beautiful Carnival Legend:
The first full day of the cruise was a sea day. Tomorrow we dock in Cozumel. Stayed tuned for our adventures in Mexico.
