On Board Legend of the Seas

Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas proves to live up to its expectations.  Kudos!

Dear1, Dear2 and Baby1 went on board the Legend of the Seas for a 5D4N cruise to Port Klang and Phuket a few weeks back.  I can only say, what a great ship!

The Ship

On the deck at level 10.

Legend of the Seas is the smallest ship among Royal Caribbean’s fleet, but it’s almost as big as Star Cruise’s Virgo.  In terms of number of shops wise, the former feels smaller as it doesn’t have the Japanese restaurant (paying), the Italian restaurant (paying) etc, but it has a rock climbing wall, a mini-golf with 9 courses, 1.8m indoor swimming pool and another outdoor one, a children play area where parents can leave their toddlers there for baby sitting, a teenagers’ recreation room, a Disco, a HUGE theatre, a spacious lounge, a smaller lounge, a HUGE double storey fine dining restaurant etc etc etc.

The Crew

The crew at Romeo & Juliet putting up a show for us on the last evening.

The best thing about the entire Royal Caribbean cruise experience is, I would say, its crew.  Stateroom attendant - attentive.  Waiters and waitresses – that’s what I call service!  Entertainers – entertaining and lively.  Captain, chef, engineers etc – you feel safe sailing with them.  Overall, you feel very pampered by all these nice people who came from all parts of the world.  Being buoyant at sea away from home lifts their professional spirit even more with their excellent service.

The Food

Fine dining every evening at Romeo & Juliet.

Usually a cruise’s main focus will be on the (free) food.  Not unusual for the Legend, but it’s even more and better food!  Fine dining @ the Romeo and Juliet restaurant is always so delicate and sumptuous.  The kiasu Singaporeans usually asks for seconds…. Free flow ice cream and coffee/tea is available round the clock at the Windjamer Cafe.  Still not enough?  Go to the Solarium Cafe by the pool for hotdog, pizza, burgers, french fries, soup for tea/ supper (all at free flow), or ask for room service (yes, inclusive as well!).  Dear1 had a hearty time eating and eating while Dear2 crave for local meepok and fish soup after that 5 days.  So indulgent!

What about Baby1?  Apart from happily savoring the bread which was served at every meal, Baby1 had carrot/potato/ broccoli puree, steam cod fish, baked potato made specially just for her too.  Such thoughtful service!

The Room

Our towel elephant greeted us on Day 4.

Spacious, clean, and functional, our Large Oceanview Stateroom with seaview was a $3 upgrade from the Inner Stateroom during the Royal Caribbean’s 3rd Anniversary roadshow promotion at Raffles City.  How I love seeing the scenery outside the window, and waking up to dawn in the morning.  We had a playpen for Baby1 too, and a bathtub which we requested later on.  On Day 3 and 4, towel elephant and swan greeted us when we returned to our room during mid-day.

The Activities

Bingo! The large 6 panel Bingo cards are for adults while the small 1 panel Bingo cards are for children (free). See Baby1′s shoes there? Gee…

You’ll never get bored on the Legend.  We played Bingo, watched people learn line-dance and Cha Cha, attended a detox seminar, watched the towel folding demonstration, shopped for Royal Caribbean’s souvenirs, watched 2 shows at the theatre, went on the deck and chat, played mini-golf and blow sea breeze, sat in the lounge and enjoy Dazzle Trio’s live singing and music performance, and had wine and snacks at the Captain’s Reception.  And we didn’t manage to catch Salt and Inception at the theatre, participate in the family games, join in the poolside party at night, dance at the Rock and roll Finale Night, went to disco at the Viking Crown, sing at the KTV etc etc etc.

The Land Trip

Jung Ceylon at Phuket is about 20-30 minutes walk from the landing pier.

The ship port at Port Klang and Phuket.  We didn’t manage to go to Port Klang because of the lack of taxi (it was taxi-fighting at the taxi stand!).  At Phuket, the ship docked outside sea so we took a smaller boat to the pier at 1 end of Patong Beach and walked all the way to the other end where the large air-con shopping malls Jung Ceylon was.

The Timing

We boarded the ship at 2pm on Day 1, and reached back Singapore at 7am on Day 5.  Hence it was effectively a 4D4N cruise, much better den Star Cruise’s deceiving 3D2N where you sail at 9pm on Day 1 and alight at 11am on Day 3.

The Check Out Procedure

Check out luggage was deposited by 11pm the night before, so make sure you have a big enough hand carry bag for your over night essentials.  The alighting was a breeze too – you have breakfast first while waiting for the allocated time to embark at your leisure.  And you are out of the ship, unlike the stupid Star Cruise that asks everyone to gather at the theatre for some dunno what briefing, den the entire mass goes through Customs together…. -_-

We paid slightly over $2k (Dear1: $2021 to be exact) for 3 pax, 5D4N.  Though slightly expensive, but if you factor in accom + travel fare + food, it’s pretty worth it.  Well worth the money,  I would say!

- Dear2