Ernie S.
Yelp
Ah, finally off the Carnival Legend. Thank the Lord and all that is Holy. First time on a cruise, and very little positive to say. Abandon all hope, ye who enter this ship with the hopes of having a smooth, relaxing vacation.
Where do I start?
Get on the Legend, go to my room and it's 110 degrees in the cabin. Their "solution" to get you to shut up is to give you a desk fan...you've paid 2800$ for a cabin and these guys give you a dusty fan to point at your face on day 1. Already pissed off and we haven't even gotten into international waters.
Going out of Norfolk due to the tragedy in Baltimore, the Cheers package did not start until 6am...Ok, nobodys fault, god rest their souls. I was determined not to pay more for drinks, so decided I'd go gamble. All 2000 people on the ship had the same idea, so the casino was standing room only...and not even open. At this point, we'd been rocking for 3 hours (departed at 7), so were approaching 1030pm and my room is hot, they're charging for drinks that I've already paid 1000$ for, and the casino is closed. It finally opens but there's nowhere to sit as every elderly and disabled person on a scooter has lined up like the Daytona 500 ready to gamble.
Ok, fine, Ill come back at 3am when it's less busy to play some blackjack....jk, no I won't. Tables closed at 2am, as did the bars. So the table dealers only worked 3+ hours the first night?? What kind of casino can you not gamble after 2am??? I asked when they open back up, they say 10am. No tables from 2-10am is an absolute joke for anyone who's ever been to a real casino.
Back to the drinks. The package was supposed to start at 6am...what they fail to tell you is that all the bars are closed until 8, so you'll walk around aimlessly until then. I paid 1000$ for the drinks for me and my girlfriend, if it says that it starts at 6am, we should both be able to get a drink at 6am if we desire. Nope, 8am because everything is closed. Finally, 8am arrives.
"Hello sir, Can I have a double?
"No."
"Ok, can i order 2 drinks?"
"No"
"Ok, how about a beer and a water bottle, you clearly want to control my drinking on my vacation"
"No sir, you must wait 5 minutes between each beverage, alcoholic or not."
At this point all I can do is laugh. I gave carnival 5000$ for a room, excursions, and the drink package to be told I can't order 2 bottles of water at the same time. This guy was also incredibly short and rude with me.
The miserable week continues with various absurdity throughout the ship. Battling for every drink, sliced hot dogs labeled as keilbasa in the breakfast buffet, being denied trying to order a water and a gatorade at the same time, restaurants only open from 12-230, biting into your steak burrito just to find there's no steak in it, just a tortilla and rice. 18% gratuity charges added to the seafood corner in which you are serving yourself...its part of the buffet, just a small extra charge for better quality food. When I bit into the hot dog labeled as sausage, I actually thought I was being punked. Gift shop has cartons of cigs but no lighters or matches. Everything had to be hunted down or begged for. My dad received a coupon for free wallet pictures...they actually tried to take away the coupon and say it was incorrect and shouldn't have been given. That's too bad, its in our hand now, are you kidding me?
Finally, today, debarkation day arrives. We're told to wait on deck 2 or 9. We choose deck 2, as deck 3 is the point of exit. An employee rudely tells us to get up, we can't wait there. This stirs the pot among everyone sitting there holding papers that say to "wait on 2 or 9". The employee eventually takes a hike because everyone else has also had it with the disrespect and rules on the ship. We go to deck 3 where we are also told we cannot wait, we must go to deck 9. The elevators aren't working at this point, so they expect you to drag your suitcase up 6 flights of stairs. They continue to tell us that no debarkation groups have been called and nobody can leave as customs inspects the ship...unless you're on a bus to baltimore. Finally, I was able to battle past the rude employees who lied to us about being inspected by customs...simply by lying myself and joining the baltimore bus group back home. Just like that, off the ship, and thankful to be headed back home.
Myself and the 7 people I travelled with will never go near carnival legend again, we'll likely try another cruise line. The employees were miserable and the other people on the ship even more miserable and entitled. It's a good cruise line for the retired couple controlling the facebook group who are on their 40th cruise who can afford to shrug their shoulders when something goes wrong because who cares, they're going again next week. Definitely not for a 29 year old with a mortgage and student loans. I wouldn't set foot on this boat again if you put a gun to my head.