Our vacation was very long and went to many ports so we'll post recaps little by little. I want to put some of this stuff on the cruise message boards too since reading cruise reviews helped me figure out what we wanted to do in each port. So if some of this info seems tedious to you, it is probably becuase that section was intended for cruisecritic.com!
Getting There
We woke up at 4am to catch our 7am flight out of Sea-tac to Rome, with a connection through Washington-Dulles. Everything started out smoothly but 15 minutes into the flight, the captain got on the loudspeaker to say we had to make an emergency landing in Spokane due to a medical emergency. The stop lasted about an hour and when we reached IAD, we ran to make it to our connecting flight just as it was starting to board. Thankfully, our flight to Rome had no complications and we arrived on time at 9am.
The cruise was set to sail that evening at 4pm from Civitavecchia, Rome’s major port. It is about an hour outside the city and Royal Carribean offers transfers from the airport to the boat for $85/person. I had done research and found you can take an express train to Termini, Rome’s main train station, and then transfer to another train to go to Civitavecchia. Total price per person is €15.50, and the trip takes a little more than an hour (not including waiting for trains). The train system in Italy is easy to navigate and pretty punctual so going this route was a breeze. From the train station in Civitavecchia, it’s a straight 10 minute walk to the cruise terminal. The train trips were super easy to do, and saved us a bunch of money. After going through customs, getting our luggage, and waiting for the trains, we ended up arriving at the port around 12:30pm.
The Boat
Legend of the Seas is a smaller, older boat. It has the signature RCCL rock wall, putt-putt course and 2-floor dining room that is very pretty, but in general, the ship feels a bit on the cramped side if you are used to sailing the bigger ships. There are no other ‘themed’ restaurants on board (you must make do with the dining room, the Windjammer café, or pool-side burger place), and no fancy bars/lounges.
Our room was located on the back of the ship, looking out over the boat’s wake. The room itself was very large (we had a foldout couch/sitting area!) and the bathroom tiny (as expected). The best part, though, was the balcony. It was very large and we sat outside with drinks or a book a LOT. Now that we’ve had a balcony room, we aren’t sure how we will be able to cruise without one again! Our balcony was right above one of the crew’s break area though, so we could hear them talking every now and then, but it wasn’t too bad.
We did end up having some trouble with our room, and I blame it on the ship’s age. Our a/c wasn’t working so it was always freezing in our room, the dead bolt on our door did not work, and the toilet kept not flushing. The lock was resolved quickly, but the a/c and toilet required several visits from the maintenance crew. The really awful problem though, was a water pipe broke on day 3 and got the carpet next to the bed all wet. We walked into our room after a day on-shore and our room reeked of mildew. It was truly awful. We complained immediately and they brought in a fan to help dry the floor, sprayed the room with deodorant and sent up a complimentary bottle of wine. The next day though, the room still smelled mildew-y so we complained again and requested to move to another room if the problem couldn’t be fixed. When we got back from dinner a few hours later, they had replaced the carpet! We couldn’t believe they did all of that within 3 hours – it was amazing! The smell was gone and we were happy once again.
The food on the boat was mostly good and the service was excellent, but we were disappointed there was no lobster night. Our waiter, Mu, said it was because the lobsters were too small but that seems like a weird excuse. Anyway, we ate in the main dining room every night except when we were docked in Mykonos and when we got back from Cairo (we were so tired, we didn’t want to deal with a long drawn out meal). Some of the dishes were first-rate such as the grilled lamb chops and the duck.
We woke up at 4am to catch our 7am flight out of Sea-tac to Rome, with a connection through Washington-Dulles. Everything started out smoothly but 15 minutes into the flight, the captain got on the loudspeaker to say we had to make an emergency landing in Spokane due to a medical emergency. The stop lasted about an hour and when we reached IAD, we ran to make it to our connecting flight just as it was starting to board. Thankfully, our flight to Rome had no complications and we arrived on time at 9am.
The cruise was set to sail that evening at 4pm from Civitavecchia, Rome’s major port. It is about an hour outside the city and Royal Carribean offers transfers from the airport to the boat for $85/person. I had done research and found you can take an express train to Termini, Rome’s main train station, and then transfer to another train to go to Civitavecchia. Total price per person is €15.50, and the trip takes a little more than an hour (not including waiting for trains). The train system in Italy is easy to navigate and pretty punctual so going this route was a breeze. From the train station in Civitavecchia, it’s a straight 10 minute walk to the cruise terminal. The train trips were super easy to do, and saved us a bunch of money. After going through customs, getting our luggage, and waiting for the trains, we ended up arriving at the port around 12:30pm.
The BoatLegend of the Seas is a smaller, older boat. It has the signature RCCL rock wall, putt-putt course and 2-floor dining room that is very pretty, but in general, the ship feels a bit on the cramped side if you are used to sailing the bigger ships. There are no other ‘themed’ restaurants on board (you must make do with the dining room, the Windjammer café, or pool-side burger place), and no fancy bars/lounges.
Our room was located on the back of the ship, looking out over the boat’s wake. The room itself was very large (we had a foldout couch/sitting area!) and the bathroom tiny (as expected). The best part, though, was the balcony. It was very large and we sat outside with drinks or a book a LOT. Now that we’ve had a balcony room, we aren’t sure how we will be able to cruise without one again! Our balcony was right above one of the crew’s break area though, so we could hear them talking every now and then, but it wasn’t too bad.
We did end up having some trouble with our room, and I blame it on the ship’s age. Our a/c wasn’t working so it was always freezing in our room, the dead bolt on our door did not work, and the toilet kept not flushing. The lock was resolved quickly, but the a/c and toilet required several visits from the maintenance crew. The really awful problem though, was a water pipe broke on day 3 and got the carpet next to the bed all wet. We walked into our room after a day on-shore and our room reeked of mildew. It was truly awful. We complained immediately and they brought in a fan to help dry the floor, sprayed the room with deodorant and sent up a complimentary bottle of wine. The next day though, the room still smelled mildew-y so we complained again and requested to move to another room if the problem couldn’t be fixed. When we got back from dinner a few hours later, they had replaced the carpet! We couldn’t believe they did all of that within 3 hours – it was amazing! The smell was gone and we were happy once again.
The food on the boat was mostly good and the service was excellent, but we were disappointed there was no lobster night. Our waiter, Mu, said it was because the lobsters were too small but that seems like a weird excuse. Anyway, we ate in the main dining room every night except when we were docked in Mykonos and when we got back from Cairo (we were so tired, we didn’t want to deal with a long drawn out meal). Some of the dishes were first-rate such as the grilled lamb chops and the duck.
Our dining mates were from all over! Joe and Kim were from Virginia (the very southern tip) and Bruce and Sarah were from Aberdeen, Scotland. We originally had another couple with us (David and Karen from Ottawa, Canada), but they switched dining times so only ate with us the first two nights. Our group of 6 got along well and we made it a nightly ritual to go to the Schooner Bar after dinner for some drinks and the pub quiz (we won once!) and then headed upstairs to play girls-vs-guys shuffle board (girls won 3-2). 
1 comment:
Can't wait to read more and see the pictures! Glad you're back!
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