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This was a 4 night mini-cruise from Southampton to St Peter Port, Guernsey and Cobh (Cork), Ireland on 28th April 2006. It was the ships first cruise out of Southampton on arriving from Tampa, Florida for its British summer season. We had booked a last minute (per person) £269 guaranteed inside cabin with a bonus of £25 on board credit. We were delighted to be upgraded to outside cabin 2514 possibly because we are Crown & Anchor members. According to the Cruise Director there were only 207 Crown & Anchor members on the cruise out of just over 1,800 guests. The other guests seemed to be mainly people who had cruised before who were trying out RCCL for the first time, though there were quite a few first time cruisers.
Plus Points:
Beautiful décor and lots of windows make the ship light and airy.
The Captain, Officers and crew were happy, smiling, efficient and willing to oblige at all times.
The Windjammer Café had the best buffet selection for breakfast and lunch we have ever experienced.
We had eight delightful companions on our first sitting dinner table.
We were very impressed with the quality and choice of food at dinner, which was much better than our previous RCCL cruise three years ago. The food was not far short of that on our recent cruise on Celebrity Summit with the exception of the beef dishes, e.g. steaks and ribs of beef that were only available as medium-well or medium rare and even then seemed rather hit and miss.
The indoor pool at the stern on deck 9 called the Solarium was our favourite spot. It was lovely and warm regardless of the weather outside and there were lots of sun loungers, chairs and tables.
The Putting Green on Deck 10 was an enjoyable and unusual way to spend an hour on a ship.
Minus Points:
The two production shows were rather disappointing and not a good selection for a mainly British audience but the Beatle Maniacs show and the comedian were enjoyable.
Our cabin wasn’t very well insulated against noise from the adjacent cabins and corridor.
The translation from RCCL’s normal dollar prices to pound sterling prices for Legend’s UK summer season was a far from generous $10 = £6.50 in the shops, which is 1.54 dollars to the pound when the exchange rate is currently in the mid 1.80’s.
Wine seems to suffer an even worse exchange rate comparing identical wines on Celebrity Summit in the US e.g. a $24 bottle of Californian Beringer White Zinfandel becomes an £18 bottle which is only 1.33 dollars to a pound. I can’t comment on other drink prices.
Ports:
We had a beautiful sunny day in Guernsey, though with a cool breeze off the water. We enjoyed an excellent ship’s tour of the island. Some of our dinner companions used the No 7 bus, which also goes all around the island in 80 minutes for only 50 pence, but without a commentary. If you get off it costs another 50 pence each time you reboard. Something we might try on another trip to this beautiful island. Tendering was no problem as we enjoyed calm seas.
The following day in Cobh started overcast and turned to rain mid-afternoon after we had returned from our ship’s tour to Cork and Blarney Village. Maybe the poorer weather influenced us, but we didn’t enjoy the tour as much as the day before. For anyone wanting just to go to Cork, which is 15 miles inland from Cobh, the ship ran a shuttle service for £4 return. We had planned to explore Cobh in the afternoon, but due to the rain we only explored the Cobh Heritage Centre on the pier. This chronicles the history of the port as the embarkation point for Irish emigrants catching a transatlantic liner to American. Cobh was the Titanic’s last port of call on its fateful inaugural journey.
Monday at sea, contrary to the weather forecast, was a beautiful sunny day with calm seas. Many people enjoyed the swimming pool area and there were many pink faces at dinner that night. We had some excitement at noon when the Royal Navy’s Air Sea Rescue Service asked if they could do a training mission with the ship. Their helicopter hovered low over the stern and lowered a crewmember to the deck before circling and returning to pick him up. It offered a close up example of their skill in handling emergencies at sea.
Summary:
A very enjoyable cruise on a really nice ship that we would be happy to sail on again.
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