Carnival Legend Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,465 reviews

British Isles and Norway cruise

Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Carnival Legend
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cruising canucks
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Sep 2013

There were 10 of us Canadians on this cruise. The Legend is a beautiful ship and the crew were amazing. Carnival has the same menu on all their ships, because we have cruised with them for the past few years, we found the food disappointing. Carnival need to change the menu and improve on the desserts available in the dining room.

Due to weather our itinerary was changed. The Cruise director gave a talk at 3 pm explaining why the itinerary was changed. They did it for the safety of the passengers. The only port we would not visit was Belfast, as they could not accommodate us on the date we had. We left Dover and our first stop was Liverpool. This port was not on the original itinerary and it was amazing how the port staff pulled it all together in just a day and half. We were greeted with such kindness and willingness to help us find our way around the town. Liverpool was amazing even in the rain. We then went to Glasgow where we met up with our tour guide/driver, Hamish. He was from the Timberbush Tour Company and again we had booked this online. Hamish met us at the pier wearing his kilt and a big welcoming smile. He drove us around in a 16 seater bus, played Scottish music for us and told us about Glasgow and Loch Lomond. We visited Stirling Castle where Mary Queen of Scots had lived, it was built in the 1530's. It is a beautiful castle and worth the visit. Loch Lomond area is beautiful even in the rain. We then went to Dublin and had the booked tour which we had arranged on line. We booked through Lynott Tours out of New York and due to the dates being changed, our driver, Brian was not a tour guide and was unable to give us much information on Dublin. We did go to Trinity College, Guinness factory/store, Malahide Castle and our driver stopped at a Fire Station for us. Our next stop was Invergordon and our tour company was The Taxi Tour Experience. Duncan was the Tour Co-ordinator and we had many emails back and forth planning the perfect day in Invergordon. Kevin, our tour guide/driver was great. We visited Dunrobin Castle, Glen Ord distillery, Dornoch Cathedral, Priorty Church and had a tour of Inverness. Dunrobin Castle was beautiful inside and out. The grounds are a work of art and there is a Falconry show. We did not visit Glenmorangie distillery as Duncan said it gets very busy with all the passengers on the cruise ship excursions. The Highlands of Scotland are beautiful and worth the trip to see it. We will go back and Duncan said he would organize a tour for us. We like the private tours rather than the cruise ship excursions as they can be more personalized and are less expensive. We were fortunate when we got to Edinburgh that we had Hamish again. he was wearing a different kilt this time and gave us a wonderful tour of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, Glenkinchie Distillery, Temple Church (ruins of) and Roslyn Chapel. Our trip was full of wonderful history that we had taken in school.

Our day in Stavanger, Norway was disappointing due to weather. It was raining and low ceiling so we were unable to see the fjord, but the boat ride was enjoyable. We booked through Rodne Fjord Cruises and saved ourselves a lot of money. The cruise ship cost for this tour is ridiculous and we had the same tour for 1/3 the price, (seniors rate, adult price is a little more.) Stavanger is a very pretty town, things are expensive and we were there on a Sunday when a lot of stores were closed. Our last stop was La Havre France. We also had a private tour here as well and this one turned out better than any of us expected. One of group had an uncle that was killed June 7, 1944. Our tour guide/drive, Sylvan, was amazing. Our first stop was the house where General De Gaulle and General Montgomery stayed We then went to the Juno Beach Centre. While we went through the Juno Beach Centre, Sylvan did research in the books at the store and found many interesting facts about the uncle. He took us to different spots on our way to the Canadian War Cemetery. The cemetery is beautifully laid out, the tombstones are in rows, similar to Arlington in Washington D C, but there are plants between each tombstone and at the end of each row. There are 3000 Canadians who died between 1939 and 1945 buried there. We found the tombstone of the uncle, he was buried in the first row. Our day ended with a brief visit to Honfleur. We were lucky on this day as the weather co-operated and it was sunny and warm. After our cruise we returned to Dover, while staying there visited Canterbury with its magnificent cathedral and Dover Castle. This cruise was amazing and we would highly recommend taking it. It is our favourite cruise so far because of all the history.

Cabin Review

Carnival cruise line cabins are spacious with lots of cupboard space. It was our first time having a balcony and it was nice, but the weather was not warm enough to spend time on the balcony. It was a free upgrade and we may try for a balcony again in the near future. We have been on 14 cruises, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Celebrity and Princess. We like Carnival best and will continue to travel with them.

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