Our Universal Resort Vacation and Caribbean Cruise 10/6-10/18, 2010

[Teknik_DC2]

After we were done we started to head back down the mountain to head to our final portion of the tour. And that was to go shopping. While driving to the shopping centers we drove past a private school and even passed the local LDS Church that found to be interestingly enough in the top of a small building. Javier also told us more about his tour company knowjamaica.com and told us to look him up again if we ever made it back to the island. He told us that he was the #2 recommend tour on tripadvisor.com and that is something I verified to be true once we got home. We knew we had some amazing tour guides. But we felt even more blessed that we were guided to someone with such a great reputation on a day that we had no way of planning before hand. We were amazed that he made room for all of us passengers coming in from the Legend.

Once back in the city we were taken to our first shopping destination Soni's Plaza. This is a small shopping center made up of locally owned duty free shops. Javier took us to a shop of a friends where we even got an additional discount for being on his tour. We only had about an hour to shop so we had to hurry and not only find gifts for ourselves. But also for our families. We originally planned to do our shopping in Cozumel but with that falling thru Jamaica had to be our all or nothing stop. We found most of everything we wanted here. We quickly found tee shirts for our siblings, some hand made photo albums for our parents, a post card for our book (keep in my 4x6 postcards were VERY difficult to find in Jamaica), and I even found me a pair of fake Oakley Sunglasses (I buy a pair on each cruise). However as time quickly drew to and end Kiera still hadn't found something for her. She wanted a new purse but couldn't find a style she wanted and all the shops started to be very repetitive of the stuff they sold. Unfortunatly she ended up leaving this shopping center without finding something for herself.

Most everyone on the bus was done with shopping at this point but Kyle and Valisa had one more stop we needed to make that everyone agreed would be ok. We needed to stop at the Taj Mahal shopping center so Kyle could go get a shirt at the Hard Rock. That ended up being the big bonus for him as it was a Hard Rock location he didn't plan on going to on this vacation so he got an extra shirt out of it. It also gave Kiera and I a chance to run (literally) thru all of the stores in this shopping center to find her something to take home. However just like the other shopping center it was all the same junk and she came away empty handed.

After the short stop at the Hard Rock the tour was over and we made our way back to our ship. So what can I say about our day. We came into this day and country not knowing what to expect. For months I planned our activitys to our scheduled stops but never thought they would be cancelled. We came into Jamaica blind with a hope that we would be able to make the best of it. And boy did we. We had an amazing time in Jamaica. How blessed are we that we not only found an excellent tour guide but we were able to get on the tour of the #2 rated tour in the city. We climbed waterfalls, played on the beach, treked thru the rain forest, meet some interesting locals, and still got most of our shopping done. We truely made the best out of this blind port that we could and I don't think it would have gone any better even if I planned it for months on end.

However dispite the amazing time we had in Jamaica it is one of those places we don't care to ever go back to. As i've said the island is very pretty. One of the prettiest i've seen. However the poverity level is very low here and in some areas it was down right scary. Kyle and Valisa actually walked down to take a picture at the LDS church which was 2 blocks from the shopping center and they said they never feared more for there lives then they did at that time. The people were way too pushy and some got very scary when you told them no or wouldn't walk down that dark alley way with them to buy there weed. Its a very lovely island but we don't plan to go back any time soon. We feel bad for the people and it really teaches you to not take what you have for granet.

We were soon back on board the ship and after dropping off our stuff in our cabin (Once again loved being on Deck 1 for this reason alone) we B lined it for the Lido buffet as we were now starving after being out on our Jamaican adventure all day. Most of the stations were closed by this point though so after eating a Turkey Wrap and Pizza we decided to go walk around Deck 10 to bid farewell to Ocho Rios before going back to our rooms to get ready for the evening.

While we were on the top deck the Liberty was pulling out for the day. This has to be not only one of my favorite photos from our cruise but one of my favorites i've ever taken. We also saw it to be pretty stormy out at sea in the direction that Liberty (and eventually us) would be heading.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

It soon started to sprinkle so after a final lap around the front of the ship we said our goodbyes to Ocho Rios and headed down to our cabins where we could get cleaned up and changed for the rest of the night.

We finished getting ready shortly after the ship set sail. Since we still had sometime before the early show this evening (for late dinning) we went out on deck 3 to watch what we could see of the sunset. It was very pretty watching the sunset and the island of Jamaica in the distance.

The show this evening was a good one. It was a juggling act by Dana Tison and it was very entertaining and funny. Kiera and I believe he also performed on our honeymoon cruise aboard the Pride and unfortunatly 2 1/2 years later his show was exactly the same as we remembered it then. No big deal though it was still good and entertaining and a fun thing to do that evening.

After the show was over we still had some time to kill before our dinner time. So we went back to the Library so Kyle and Valisa could send an email to check up on there daughter. While in there they let me use some of there internet time (they already bought it) so that I could send a quick email to bananarama in Isle Roatan to start the process of getting the money I paid for our excursion back. A couple minutes later I was done and we were making our way across the Promenade to dinner. This was the only time we saw Carnivals mascot funship freddy so we had to get a photo with him.

We were once again happy to see our wait staff waiting for us with smiles on there faces. After talking with Gaven he told us that they were kind enough to give him and his wife the day off work to spend in Jamaica. he said in all of his years on the ships he didn't remember the last time he and his wife had all day to spend in a port. So he was very excited about that and we were excited for him that he was able to get a break dispite the itenerary change.

For our starters this evening Kiera ordered her usual Fruit Cocktail and also the Fried Motzerella. I ordered my usual Ceasar Salad and also some sort of Pork Dish that I can't remember the name of.

For dinner Kiera ordered the Beef Stroganaff and I ordered the Pork Chops (The best ones I have EVER had) and also the rack of lamb that was also very good.

For our deserts I ordered the Chocolate Melting Cake again and Kiera decided to make everyone around us jealous by taking some advice read here on cruisecritic.com and ordering a Banana Split from the Kids Menu.

With another excellent dinner over we returned to our cabins to get some games to kill time before the Comedy show this night. While doing so Kiera and Valisa decided to do some cartwheels down the hall to our rooms. Once inside we found the room to be turned down a Swan was awaiting us.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

The game we decided on was U.N.O. but instead of being lame and playing in our cabins we decided to go back up the Promenade and relax up there while we played the game. While playing we even caught the attention of our cruise director Weeeeeeeeeee Jimmyyyyyyyyyy who came over and chated with us while we played our game. Once again showing us how great of a cruise director he really was by taking the time to come over. Across from where we were sitting they had a board that they keep updating the progress of the Hurricane on. I decided to show the sign how I really felt about the Hurricane but keep it PG rated for all of you here.

Since we hadn't used any of that onboard credit that we now had from the port taxes we recieved back we decided to grab some drinks for the comedy club this evening. We went to the Atrium bar where Kiera ordered herself a Virgin Pina Colada and I ordered a Virgin Strawberry Daqurie. Kyle and Valisa also ordered themselves a virgin Kiss on the Lips. I'm very happy to see carnival still has a large selection of non alcoholic drinks for those of us who don't drink. I especially loved there Daqurie and found it interesting to see they mixed in sprite and Diet Coke to substitute the Alcohol.

After Departing from Jamaica we now had a fresh set of Comedians on the ship. Tonight we once again went to the R Rated 11:45 and the comedian tonight was Thomas Brown. All I can say about his show was that it was amazing. Not just one of the best comedy shows i've seen but probably THE BEST one I have ever seen. He had us all laughing so hard from the moment he started tell the end of his set. He was very funny and hands down the best of the cruise. Its a shame that we never got a chance to see any of his other shows.

After the show and from laughing so hard we found ourselves pretty worn out and ready for bed. It had been a long and eventful fun day and it showed on us. We retired to our rooms and feel asleep quickly. We looked forward to sleeping and having that day at sea to relax and do nothing all day except for catching some sun. We went to bed very thankful that our day in Jamaica turned out to be the best it could have been dispite our circumstances.


Anyways thats all for today. Thanks again to all those who are still following, reading the story, or even just looking at the photos. As always your comments are welcomed and I truely appreciate them. Also please feel free to ask any questions that you might have and I will try and answer them as quickly as possible. Thanks again everyone.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 10: Third (Unscheduled) Day at Sea

Our 10th day of vacation turned out to be another sea day. Had the Hurricane not altered our itenerary we would have been in our final port of call Belieze where we had a Cave Tubing excursion booked with Cave-Tubing.com. We were sad to miss out on this oppertunity but it ended up working our alright as we really enjoyed having another day to sleep in and just relax and do nothing around the ship.

As I said today we slept in pretty late. So late infact that breakfast was no longer being served and so after getting ready we went to the Lido buffet to get some lunch. After eating our lunch we then found some spots along the side of the ship where we would relax in the sun for the most part of the afternoon. Once again I'm not one who likes to lay out all day or even longer then a couple hours. However I had my Ipod and this time I brought a book up with me to read and that actually kept me content with staying out in the sun most of the afternoon with only a few breaks to go grab some ice cream or run to the restroom.

After laying out in the Sun all afternoon we finally went back to our cabins where we quickly got ready for so we could catch the early showing of the production show that Carnival Singers and Dancers would be putting on.

The Production show was called "The Big Easy" and it was the first show that I don't recall seeing already on another Carnival ship. The show was pretty good and would end up setting the New Orleans/Mardi Gras theme thruout the rest of the evening. We only had one complaint with the show and that was with the singer named Barbi. She was also on our Glory cruise last year. She was horrible then and she is still horrible. Sorry I can't stand her voice and I don't think she was a very good singer/performer. Everyone else was excellent though.

After the show we went back to our cabins and changed for our 2nd formal night of the cruise. This really was a very lazy day since you can see we didn't do much at all and because of such I didn't take very many photos.

After getting ready for the evening we meet back up with Kyle and Valisa and made our way to the Main Dinning Room for our dinner this evening. Dinner never gets old on a Carnival ship and we had another excellent night talking with our waiter and dinning on delicious food.

For our Starters this evening Kiera got her typical Fruit Cocktail and also a Cheddar Broccoli soup. I got my usual Ceasar Salad and also I belive the Delicious of the Ocean.

For our main dish Kiera was originally going to order the Mahi, Mahi again however she got pursuaded to try the Bacardi Fish thing Carnival serves that has won some awards or something. Anyways she ended up not liking it and ate off my plates instead. I ordered a Flat Iron Steak again and some other Beef dish but I unfortnatly can't remember what it was.

During dinner we were once again entertained by our wait staff. And again the girls were invited to get up and dance too so this time Kiera actually got up and had some fun. about halfway thru Valisa decided to join her as well. I know alot of people complain about the entertainment in the main dinning room but for us we love it and we look forward to it each evening.

For our deserts this night I decided to keep it simple again and just ordered the Orange Serbit. Kiera ordered a Cheesecake off the spa menu.

After dinner we went back to our rooms to change out of our formal clothes. Unfortunatly we didn't even think about it but Kiera and I didn't even take any extra photos of us in our formal clothes this night. Dispite us both wearing something different. Back to the room our Cabin was turned down for the evening and there wasn't a towel animal awaiting us like in the nights past. Instead we had a towel heart.

One thing that was going on this night was the Mardi Gras celebration. It was set to start in the Kariokee lounge so we headed up there after changing for the night. Since we had time to kill anyways we just chilled and listened to some Kareokee before Mardi Gras started.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Before long it had started and they had us following the band up to the Atrium where they were throwing out beads. We actually got quite a few this time but thats because the turnout for Mardi Gras on the Legend was pretty lame. When on the Glory last year the atrium was shoulder to shoulder with people participating. Here on the Legend there was like 20 people and that was it.

After the Atrium the band then led everyone the Medusa's Lounge dance club where the 25 year old Valisa got ID'ed (you have to be 18) to get in yet Kiera whos 23 didn't get carded at all lol. This was where the Mardi Gras party ended and after a few minutes we left the dance club as well. I gotta admit that how its set up on the spirit class ships is pretty cool. I really like the 2 level feel of the place. However it as very smoky (cigarette smoke) and it was making us feel sick. So with Mardi Gras over we left to go get some ice cream.

Up on the Lido deck we soon had our ice cream and then relaxed on the chairs around the Aft pool. Off in the distance we could see a lighthouse. Turned out that the lighthouse was once again on Cuba and we were passing it. Cuba was every bit as cool at night as it was during the day lol.

For some reason we next went back to our cabins for a little while. We weren't there too long though as the comedy club was gonna be going again tonight. The final night they would be doing it this cruise.

Before heading to the Comedy Club though we decided we wanted to grab some drinks again for the show so we made our way up to the Atrium bar. Kyle and Valisa got a mix of a Virgin Kiss on the Lips and a Virgin Pina Colada. I keep it simple this night and just got a strawberry/banana smoothie which was good but far from being the best smoothie i'd ever had.

With drinks in hand we made our way down to the comedy club for the final comedy show of the cruise. Tonights performer was John Rathbone. He had his funny moments but overall we didn't care for his act at all. He turned out to be our least favorite comedian of the cruise. But thats just our opinion as i'm sure others thought he was very funny. I think his jokes were more catered for the older people in the audience then the younger ones. It turned out that the comedian from the previous night Thomas Brown was sitting right next to us. So after the show got over we actually talked with him and told him how funny we thought he was. We also asked if he ever comes to Salt Lake City, Utah to perform cause we would love to go see him again if he came our way. He said he currently had never been to Utah but his agent was already looking into it so hopefully we will get the oppertunity to see him again. Not only was his show the funniest we've ever seen but he was a very funny guy just talking to on a personal level.

With the Comedy show now over we once again found ourselves very tired. The sun today really took a tole on all of us. Most of us also aquired our first sunburns of the trip this day that were starting to be very unpleasent. So we said our goodnights and retired to our cabins for the night. While getting ready for bed we found that the deck party from the night before was on TV and they got video of Kyle and Valisa and Kiera and I dancing at it so I took some photos of the TV before turning the lights out and going to bed.

We had our final day of the cruise ahead of us. Another Sea Day to relax and do nothing. It was sad to think our vacation was soon coming to an end.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 11: 4th (Scheduled) Day at Sea

Our final full day aboard the Carnival Legend arrived. We were officially making our way back to Tampa where in less then 24 hours our cruise would be finished. Today we were doing exactly what we had been planning on doing for months. Today was one of our actually scheduled Sea Days where we just planned to lounge around the ship and do a whole lot of nothing.

After sleeping in late again we got up and ready to go lay out in the sun for most of the day. Today we made sure we put on plenty of sunscreen to avoid the random burning we got yesterday and after meeting up with Kyle and Valisa we headed upstairs to the Lido deck to grab some breakfast before they cleaned it all up for the day.

We soon found a spot along the side of the ship to relax and get some sun but I wouldn't be joining them quite yet. On the final day of the cruise I always like to wonder the ship and take pictures of well almost everything. I like to have the memories of how the ship looked saved digitally as well. So after everyone else got settled into where they would be relaxing in the sun I said goodbye and off I went. I appologize as there won't be much writting from now until the ship tour is over as the photos will be doing most of the talking.

The Funnel:

Looking down into the Atrium from the Funnel:

Looking Towards the Front of the Ship:

I absolutly LOVE the Caribbean Waters. Even in the middle of the ocean they are beautiful:

Aft Adult Only Pool Area:

The Golden Fleece Steakhouse:

The Atrium:

The Odyssey Lounge:

The Photo Gallery:

The Fun Shops:

The Legends Cafe:

The Arcade:

The Enchanted Forest:

Hollywood BLVD:

 

[Teknik_DC2]

The Library:

Billies Piano Bar:

Satchmo's Jazz Club (Kayokee):

Club Merlin Casino:

The Atlantis Lounge:

The Ship Officers:

Our Cabin. Once again we had an inside Cabin. This time it was just a 4A and we still loved it. The interiors are still pretty spacious and for the price we don't think they are bad at all:

Looking Towards the back of the ship:

The Mini-Golf and Basketball Court:

Looking forward over the front of the ship:

The Lido Pool Areas:

The Unicorn Cafe:

 

[Teknik_DC2]

And that concludes the ship tour. Sorry I didn't photos of all the parts of the ship like the Gym or Spa. I also didn't repost anything I already had photos of like the Firebird Lounge and Medusa's Dance Club. While I was out and about I also chose to buy ourselves a Future Cruise Certificate. We knew we would cruise again sometime in 2011 so it only seemed to make since where if we bought the certificate for $100 that would go towards the final cost of our next cruise and they would give us $100 in OBC (for a 7 day cruise). It was a no brainer and i'm glad we did it.

I soon meet up with Kiera and Kyle and Valisa and also did some relaxing in the sun for about another hour our so. By that time they were done with the sun and getting hungry so we packed up and got some food and then went back to our cabins to get ready for the evening.

Once back in the Cabin my burns from the previous day were starting to hurt. As you can see in the photo the spots where I got burned were very random though.

After getting ready we went back out and walked around the ship. We probably grabbed some ice cream before finding ourselves in the Casino. We brought a bunch of Quarters with us for use on toll roads. Kiera wanted to play that quater pusher game so we took some of our quaters and played. We only ended up playing $1 out of what we brought and we won and additional $9. Not bad since we aren't big gamblers. Kyle and Valisa didn't win anything though.

We next made our way to the Follies lounge where the next little while we were entertained by playing Trivia. We pretty much all failed though as we didn't get very many questions right. Since the night was coming quickly to the close after the Trivia was over Kiera and I headed up to the Shops to do some quick shopping before the shops closed.

We got ourselves our ship post card and also a christmas ornament to signify our cruise vacation. And since Kiera never found herself a purse she liked in Jamaica she ended up buying a ROXY purse that she liked on the ship. I told her that it was probably better in the long run cause she paid as much as she would on the islands but its probably a much higher quality product. So she was happy with her choice.

After buying all we wanted at the shops we went back to our room to drop them off. We had some time to kill before dinner so we figured now would be the time to face the sad music and get our stuff packed so that the staff could pick it up. Upon return to our room we found it already turned down for the night. However we were pretty dissapointed to find that for our final night on the cruise we were not left a towel animal. So instead we joked that ours was an invisible animal this night.

It was sad but we soon quickly got all of our stuff packed (except for what we needed the next day) and to our luggage set outside our door. I'm always kinda nervous when we set our luggage outside the door however that soon went away as not even 2 minutes later the staff came by and picked up our luggage. With our luggage gone now it sank in that this was our final night on the cruise so we had to make the most out of our night.

It was soon time for dinner so we meet back up with Kyle and Valisa and made or way to our final dinner of the cruise. Our staff was excellent again and continued to prove how great they were at what they did. We were pretty sad though that this was all coming to an end.

But then again we really had nothing to be sad about as although we missed most of our ports we still had one hell of a vacation and we loved every minute of it.

For our starters this evening Kiera ordered her typical Fruit Cocktail and also a Chicken Alfrado type dish. I ordered my normal Ceasar Salad and I also decided to try the Shrimp Cocktail. Something I wish I would have tried ealier cause it was Really good.

For dinner this evening we keep it simple. We both only ordered one dish lol. Kiera ordered the Salmon and I ordered my favorite the Prime Rib.

While waiting for desert our waiters did there goodbye song and dance. It was once again very entertaining and we love that they do it for us.

Theres no pictures of our desert though as tonight we once again ended the cruise by both ordering the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. With dinner now done we said our goodbyes to our wait staff and we made our way out of the "Private Room" Extension of the Dinning room where we ate each night. It was sad saying good by to our wait staff as they were truely incredable and went above and beyond for us.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

The show tonight in the Follies Theater was the Carnival Legends show. The show where actual guests on the ship perform as famous singers and usually aren't that great. We went to this show on our last 2 cruises but sorry we weren't ready to go thru it again. So instead we got some ice cream and had some fun messing around on the ship the rest of the night. While getting our Ice Cream on the aft deck we could see 2 other ships off in the distance. Its pretty amazing how bright these ships are out on the ocean. Of course I have no idea what ships they were though.

As we continued to wonder we made our way up to where the funnel is located. This also turns out to be where the adult only lounging area is for those who were wondering. I kinda scared Kiera while up here though as she didn't think it was funny when I actually climbed onto the funnel for a photo.

We next made our way along deck 10 towards the front of the ship. We decided to take some photos with the life ring but a word of caution of you do this at night. It took us a good 20 minutes to find the right settings on our cameras to make the picture come out alright. I recommend you take the photo during the day time if you can.

The ships are very beautiful to walk around at night. However I found how the Spirit Class ships are designed that its very difficult to take time delayed photos of them at night. Still I got some decent ones I think of the Lido Pools and some other parts of the ship.

We spent some time just lounging and talking amungst one another under the stars. It was so relaxing and it felt good to be outside. We stayed here for quite awhile before deciding to go back inside the ship.

After walking around inside it was now past 1am. There was one thing though I wanted before heading back to the cabin for our final night. Midnight Pizza. So we made our way to the Unicorn cafe and We got our Pizza to pretty much mark the end of this fun and exciting night that we made. We had a blast just wondering around and joking with each other.

After the Pizza we called it a night. We headed back to our Cabins for the final time and quickly got ready for bed. We would be disembarking the Legend in the morning and because of such we had to wake up early. Unfortunatly our whole vacation adventure was quickly drawing near the end.

 

[mickeymotto]

Still enjoying your TR. What a great time it looks like you all had. I love that you took all these wonderful pics. Thanks so much!

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 12: Debarkation Day

The day we had been dreading soon arrived. It was the day we would be leaving the Carnival Legend and our cruise would officially be over. We awoke early to get ready and get our few final things packed so we could be out of our room by 8. After getting everything together we meet up with Kyle and Valisa and we bid farewell to our cabins and headed upstairs to the Lido deck to grab some breakfast before debarking the ship. This turned out to be the first time in nearly a week that everyone used the elevators instead of the stairs. With our heavy carry on items that we had to carry off the ship as well we decided we didn't want to trek up 9 flights of stairs with the extra weight.

The Lido deck and buffet were very packed with people. For some reason or another NO ONE had been cleared to be able to leave the ship yet. So no self disembarking people had left and they hadn't called any zone debarkation yet. We were able to get our food easily with little lines however trying to find a place to sit and eat was a nightmare. Since no one had debarked the ship yet everyone was still up on the Lido deck. And after they finished there breakfast no one left there tables. They just sat there until they could leave. We ended up just taking our trays and sitting at one of the Lido Bars. The bar tender kinda looked at us funny but it was the only place we could find to sit so whatever.

After breakfast we decided to leave the bar so we would stop getting bad looks from the bar tender. Our cruise director continued to come over the PA system appologizing for the delay in debarkation. Still at this point no one had left the ship. Apparently many people were getting pretty angry with the Cruise Director because we hadn't been cleared for debarkation yet. Sorry people but just like the weather that made us miss our ports, Carnival does not have control over the U.S. Customs clearing us to debark.

We decided to go wander around the ship again while we waited to be debark. during our wondering we found our way back up to the funnel deck and decided to do some waiting there. We were the only ones up there and there was plenty of places to sit and relax and it was quite. It was nice looking at the beautiful city of Tampa again but very sad to think the cruise was coming to an end.

While we were on the funnel deck Wee Jimmy finally announced that we had been cleared for debarkation and that anyone who was self disembarking or had an early fight to catch could come to the gangway now. With this announcement we figured it wouldn't be long until we could disembark as well so we started to get all our paperwork together for disembarking. However Kyle and Valisa could not find there customs decloration form. So we went down to the Atrium to guest services to see if they had any extra (which they did). After getting it refilled out we waited in the atrium lobby for them to call our zone. At this point they had just called zone 1 and 2 to leave the ship. While waiting Wee Jimmy actually came up to us in the lobby. He asked if we were ready to leave the ship yet and we said yes. Then he told us to go and leave then don't worry about your zone lol. This was awesome that he told us we could just go anyways so up we went and we were soon walking down the gangways off the ship.

The customs process in Tampa was just as easy as it was in Orlando. We pretty much waited in no line and we were cleared with no hold ups. Our luggage was also very easy to find in the warehouse type area where they put the bags in sections. We found them very quickly and made our way outside to the taxi pickup area. We once again requested a van and one came very quickly for us. Once loaded up we were on our way back to the airport.

So what were my final thoughts on the cruise? We loved every minute of it. We understand the risks of cruiseing during hurricane season so although we didn't make it to all our ports we still had an amazing time. the Grand Cayman was beautiful and we got to swim with stingrays. How many people can say that. Although Ocho Rios wasn't somewhere we every planned to go i'm really happy we got to experiance the Jamaican culture and climb a waterfall. Once again an experiance that will never be forgotten. So the burning question is was it our best cruise yet? Thats a tough question. As far as the ship goes it was hands down our favorite ship we have cruised. We love the smaller Spirit class ships and I love how more "classy" the Legend felt compared to the Glory. However I do like the bright color theme of the Glory compared to the more artsy theme of the Legend. We had the best Wait staff we had ever had on the Legend. A staff thats going to be hard to beat on future cruise for us. We also though Wee Jimmy was the best cruise director we've ever had as well. The food has been excellent on all 3 cruises. The only bad remarks i'll give on the legend is in regards to our room steward. He never introduced himself to us so we didn't ever see him or even know who he was. But in addition to this we didn't get our ice bucket filled every day and many times there were towels missing. Not a big deal as the rest of the room was taken care of very well but sometimes the little things go a long way. But no biggie. It didn't ruin our vacation. Had we made all of our ports i'm sure this would have been the best cruise we had ever taken. However the Ports play a big part in the cruise experiance for us and although the Grand Cayman was amazing and Jamaica was alright we still enjoyed our Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Glory last year more. Would I cruise the Legend again? You bet I would. It was a very nice ship that is our favorite we have sailed on and you can't beat cruising out of Tampa. We look forward to cruising again in the future and hoping we can make it to the ports we missed some day.

Now at this point with us on our way back to the Airport you probably thing the vacation is quickly coming to an end. But its not. When we booked our airline tickets we found we would save nearly $200 by flying home monday morning then we would flying out sunday afternoon/evening. So we decided to fly home Monday and have an extra day of vacation. We soon arrived back to the airport and made our way to the Hurtz car rental location where I booked a full size car thru Hotwire.com for dirt cheap. Upon picking up the car the clerk asked if I would want to upgrade to a van for only $12 more. I figured that although we could all fit in a Full Size car that I originally booked we'd have plenty of room in a van so I upgraded bring out total to only like $45 bucks for the day. not too bad if you ask me. We soon picked up our rental van which was a Toyota Sienna and our final day in Florida began.

We debated on what we wanted to do for the day. The only thing we really had to do was go to the Tampa Hard Rock Hotel to pick up a shirt for Kyle. Since we didn't know what else to do in Tampa we made the decision to go back to Orlando and do some things that we didn't get done before the cruise that we wanted to. So off we went to make the 45 minute drive back to Orlando for most of the day. the Hard Rock Hotel happens to be on the drive to Orlando so that worked out perfectly with the quick stop there to buy Kyles shirt.

We soon started to see Disney related items which ment we were close to Orlando now. One of the places we needed to go was a clothing store thats only back east called Dillyas. Valisa had a gift card there so we punched it into the GPS and found it to be located in the Florida Mall. So thats where we went first.

First I cannot believe how huge the Florida Mall is. Seriously its probably the largest mall i've ever been in. I also couldn't believe how packed it was for being a Sunday. I guess i'm just use to everything being pretty much shut down on Sundays. But here it was like it would be on Saturday during the Holidays. Before finding the store Valisa needed to go to though we decided to grab some food at the food court. After a delicious Five Guys Hamburger we made our way back into the mall and soon found the store Valisa needed to find.

Kiera looked around too but didn't find anything she liked so while Valisa and Kyle continued to look we went down a few stores to the M&M World. They have one of these in Las Vegas too that we always go to so it was kinda interesting to see another one. Let alone this one being located in a Mall.

Kyle and Valisa went to look at some other stores as well so we also decided to stop and look around the Disney Store. They had many fun items and i'm sure just going to the normal Disney Store in the mall for suvoniors is much cheaper then buying them in the Park. We found alot of cute Toy Story plushes and also some Phineas and Ferb toys (I Love that show).

We soon meet back up with Kyle and Valisa and our time at the Florida Mall was over. Next on the agenda we would be splitting up for a few hours cause Kyle and Valisa were going to go back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure. When they bought there park tickets before the cruise they got a killer deal on a 14 day ticket. Kiera and I bought our 7 day tickets before Universal raised the prices for Harry Potter so our tickets had since expired however Kyle and Valisa could still use theres. I told them I would take them back there for a few hours under the condition that they bring Kiera and I a butterbeer. So from the Florida Mall we made our way back to the Universal Orlando Resort. This time we went in the back way though and it was really cool seeing the parks attractions from a different angle while driving down the road.

After Dropping Kyle and Valisa back off at Universal to spend some more time in the Wizarding World (I'm still so Jealous) Kiera and I decided we would go to the Outlets. We originally planned on going to the Premium factory outlets as they have the same ones in Las Vegas that we love. However they are located closer to the Disney property and not wanting to drive that far we decided to just go to the Prime Outlets that are very close to the Universal Resort and at the end of International Drive.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

We soon arrived at the Prime Outlets and the scene was the same as the Florida Mall. It was VERY packed. We were pretty lucky to find a parking spot quickly though and pretty close to the outlets too. We spent the next 3 hours here looking at all the many different stores. One of specific interest and one I highly recommend is the Disney Character Warehouse. This outlet is where Disney sends all its discontinued merchandise from the Parks. So many of the items actually say Disney World or Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom on them. If you go to Disney this store is the cheaper alternative to buying your kids stuff in the parks. The Prime Outlets also had an area of play things that kids could do like super trampolines or these hamster ball things that they could run around in on water. Although the Prime Outlets had alot of cool stores and we enjoyed looking around we didn't end up buying anything. Nothing really stood out to us and it ended up working out perfect as right when we were finishing up with the Outlets Valisa called and said they were finished at the Wizarding World.

On our way back to the Universal Orlando Resort to pick up Kyle and Valisa I decided to take the back way again. Here we passed the Worlds Largest McDonalds and enjoyed that view again of the park attractions before arriving at the pick up zone.

We didn't wait too long until Kyle and Valisa showed up. They had a big bag of additional merchandise that they bought in the wizarding world but what I was most happy to see was the mugs of Butterbeer that they brought Kiera and I. Oh how I missed butterbeer. Even now writting about it i'm wanting one so badly. They are really one of the best things ever made.

With Kyle and Valisa back in the van we decided our time in Orlando was over and we headed back to Tampa. The drive seemed pretty short again and before we knew it we were arriving back in Tampa and made our way to our hotel. Just as with our rental car I used Hotwire.com to book our hotel in Tampa. I ended up getting the Doubletree Westshore Airport for about half of what it would have cost normally ($59 for the night). Although the room wasn't as big as our Doubletree room was in Orlando the room was still very nice and we would highly recommend staying here again. They also have a park and cruise package that was pretty reasonable for those who drive to your cruise in Tampa.

After getting settled in it was time to go get dinner. Valisa was really excited for this because she had an old High School friend who now lived in Tampa and we were meeting her for Dinner. It had been about 6 years since Valisa and last seen her so she was pretty excited for it. They decided on an applebees that was just a few miles away from our hotel so after punching the address into our GPS we were on our way. The GPS actually ended up taking us by the football stadium where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and also the baseball stadium where the Tampa Bay Rays play there professional Games. It was pretty cool to see. It'd be even cooler to see them during the day though. Unforunatly next though the GPS took us thru a ruff part of town. It was litterally a porn shop or a strip club like every other building. Kinda scary and interesting but we soon found the Applebees.

Dinner was good and Valisa had a great time and was very happy that she got to spend time with and old friend. By this time though the night was getting late and we really needed to get some sleep due to having early flights in the morning. So Valisa and her friend said there goodbyes and we made our way back to the hotel for the night. When walking into the lobby though there was a pretty cool motorcycle that I snapped some photos of. The airbrush work on the bike was excellent.

Our day was soon coming to a close. Now back at the hotel we reorganized all of our bags to get ready for our flights in the morning. Valisa also gave us the tumblers they picked up for us in the Wizarding World that they didn't have the first time we went. I also snapped some photos of our view from the hotel room before sitting down and exchanging the rest of our photos of the trip with Kyle. It was hard to believe the vacation was really coming to an end in less then 24 hours.

Right before climbing in bed for the last time this trip Valisa asked us the all important question. Would you guys vacation with us again? Heck yes we would. I must say they were the perfect travel companions. I wish that we could go on every vacation in the future with them. Really they were perfect and we couldn't have asked for anyone better to vacation with then these two. It saddens us infact that they can't join us on our next vacation adventure.

And with that we were soon in bed and falling asleep. We had to awake early the next day to be at the airport around 7ish. We would be home tomorrow.

 

[Teknik_DC2]

Day 13: Travel Home

The Alarm went off at 6am. An alarm that all of us had been dreading that we would have to hear. Not only was it early in the morning but that alarm also chimed in as a reminder that our vacation was for the most part over. In less then 10 hours we would be home again after being gone for almost 2 weeks. We all dragged our feet getting out of bed. No one ever wants there vacation to end. However we still had a plane we had to catch and a rental car that had to be returned by 7:30am.

With our bags packed the night before we were able to quickly get the rest of our items packed and check out so we could be on our way to the airport. Kiera and I had a flight leaving at 9am and Kyle and Valisas flight was leaving at 9:45am. As I said the van had to be back by 7:30am so we wanted to have plenty of time to spare. Outside the ground was damp and wet. We soon had the van loaded and were on our way. We first had to get gas though which was fine until we couldn't figure out how to get back onto a freeway. The GPS on my phone was quickly put to use though and before you knew it we arrived at that familiar location as this was now the 4th time this trip we had been there. The Tampa International Airport.

Once again Kiera and I would be flying on Southwest and Kyle and Valisa were flying on American Airlines. Since we Kiera and I could each take 2 checked bags for free we took Kyle and Valisas bags for them so they wouldn't have to pay any bag fees. Kiera and I however now had an extra bag that we didn't originally come with (go back to Day 5 to read more about that) but luckily Kyle and Valisa could take one more carry on bag with them so they took our bag as a carry on and we took theres as checked bags lol.

After waiting in the long Southwest check in line we had our boarding passes and were on our way to the terminals. This was where we said goodbye to Kyle and Valisa for the first time in nearly 2 weeks as there flight was in a different terminal then ours. We soon boarded the tram and was quickly in the Southwest terminal where we now had another long line to stand in for the security check point. Although the line was long we got thru the checkpoint fairly quickly. They did however make Kiera go thru one of the full body image scanners though. Something they seemed to be making all the Females do. Funny enough Valisa sent us a text shortly after saying that our bag they took as a carry on had to be checked by security. I guess they don't see too many inflatable matresses going thru carry on that often.

Once thru the security checkpoint we had just over an hour until our flight left. We now had two things to do. Find a postcard for Tampa. Which we found right away at a merchandise stand. And get something to eat. The Tampa airport seemed very bare compared to other airports i've been in. Not only was there not many places to eat but there wasn't many places to buy random odds and ends ether. We eventually found a Quiznos subs and decided that would do fine for breakfast.

Although there seems to be laking many shops and eateries in the Tampa Airport it sure is pretty. I loved the openness and design of the terminal. Its actually a very pretty airport to be in.

As we sat waiting our flight to Denver (where our layover would be) soon arrived. Thanks to checking in for our flight the previous day while still aboard the Legend on my phone we had a decent spot in line and was able to grab somewhat decent seats next to a window.

Once on the plane reality sunk in. We were really going home. What a vacation we have had. It was really sad to think it was pretty much over. While being taxied out to the runway we could see the stadium where the buc's play and also saw the city of Tampa off in the distance for the last time. We really enjoyed our flight staff as in the safety speal they have to give they used alot of humor, our favorite line being "Our estimated time tell arrival in Denver is TO LONG". Before we knew it we were up in the air an we said farewell to the beautiful tropics of the Florida coastline.

We now had a long an boring flight ahead of us to Denver. To fill the time Kiera listened to music on her Iphone and tried to get some sleep while I pulled out the netbook to work on some of our photos and decide which ones to show our parents. You may have thought I posted alot in this thread but I took nearly 2,400 photos total for the whole trip. It took quite a bit of time deciding which ones were "show" worthy lol.

The view outside wasn't all that wonderful after the ocean was no longer in view. We were somewhere over the Midwest so it was very flat and pretty ugly lol. Thats why I was kinda suprised when they said we were starting our decent into the Denver airport. The scenery stayed pretty ugly all the way until we pretty much landed. I didn't realize the Denver airport was so far from the mountains.

Although we had a 45 minute layover in Denver we never actually had to switch planes since ours would be continuing on to Salt Lake City. This was so nice compared to last year when we flew on American Airlines. They actually made us get off the plane (even though we had a continuing flight) when we stopped in Chicago. We could stay on the plane with Southwest and because theres no reserved seating we moved up a few rows towards the front for some better seats.

It wasn't long until the plane was full again and we were being taxied out to the runway. One final take off and we would be home. Just a short 1 1/2 hour flight and the vacation would officially be over. Upon takeoff we flew pretty close to the actual downtown area of Denver. Unfortunatly it was pretty cloudy though so you can barely make the city out in the photos. Before long we were above the first clouds we had seen the whole flight. We were really hoping SLC wasn't in the same state as it was when we left it. Cold and Rainy.

Almost as quickly as we reached our cruising altitude we started our decent into Salt Lake City. The crowd cover soon broke and we found ourselves looking over Utah Lake. about 20 Miles South of SLC. We were nearly home. Although we were sad it was a warm feeling to think we would soon be back on home soil and be able to sleep in our own bed this night and see our families. Before we knew it the plane touched down and we were officially home.

After getting of the plane and walking into the Salt Lake Airport it made us realize just how small Salt Lake is. This was the only airport where we had to walk down the ramp coming off the plane instead of up a ramp lol. We made our way to baggage claim to not only pick up our luggage but to also grab Kyle and Valisas luggage. We had a scare for a minute when all of our luggage came out pretty quickly except for Valisas bag. Thank goodness it ended up popping out of the shoot as one of the last bags.

And now we waited. Just as Kyle and Valisas flight left 45 minutes after ours they wouldn't be arriving until 45 minutes after us as well. We quickly found some seats and started to wait. A couple people seeing all the luggage we had (and i'm sure assuming it was ALL ours) offered us there handcarts to use. But we were fine sitting where we were. To our suprise though Kyle and Valisas flight got in about 15 mintues early. Just about the perfect time as my sister then called and said she was just arriving at the airport to pick us up. With Kyle and Valisa we all walked outside to the pick-up curb to wait for our rides. My sister soon arrived and after loading up the car we said goodbye to Kyle and Valisa for good this time. The vacation was finally over. It was time for reality to restart. Now we were only left with memories of one of the best vacations anyone could ever hope to go on.

-THE END.

 

[tammy]

BRAVO!! What an excellent trip report. You guys really had a good time. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!