First Day on the Ship - The Adventure Continues

Sunday dawned as a typical Florida morning in the middle of the summer. Partly cloudy with storms coming off the gulf. We were up adn out of the hotel by about 10:00. I would love to tell you that there was something wonderful to report about the hotel, but it was a typical Holiday Inn Select. The bedding was nice adn the breakfast that was included was enough to satisfy us until we reached the Legend.

We arrived at the Port of Tampa around 10:30, after running a couple of errands to grab a few things that we needed. There was no wait to drop of either our bags or the car. We did not use Carnival's self print luggage tags, but the porter had plenty and after writing our name and cabin number we were ready to get moving.

The area around the Port of Tampa is not like Miami or Fort Lauderdale. there are things to see and do there, including the Florida aquarium and a Liberty Ship the American Victory and a nice shopping area. In a way it reminds me more of one of the destination ports than one of the other embarkation ports.

The checking process was painless, and we were in group 2. Carnival was having some computer problems so embarkation was delayed until 12:15. We got on then and went to the Lido deck for some lunch, after whihc we explored the ship. We were not allowed to drop off carry on luggage, but were in our room at 1:30 on the dot.

The room is nice, and is large for mass market cruise lines.

Muster drill was at 3:30, and is held outside. Other ships I have been on have muster stations in common areas inside the ship. The Legend uses deck 3 outside for mustering, and it can get a bit hot. This might have been one of those times when my habit of getting there early backfired, becuase the lat comers are in the front of the pack of people and the early arrivals are stuck at the back of the crowd. From beginning to end the drill was bout 20 minutes.

After exploring the ship we got our luggage around 4:30, and immediately unpacked and headed to the aft pool on the Lido deck. The pool is supposed to be adults only but on Sunday it was full of kids. We will see what Monday, our first day at sea brings. To my friend DJ's DH the bar is well stocked with that famous Jamaican beer, Red Stripe.

One of the highlights of leaving Tampa is cruising under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We were at the bridge at 6:05 after departing the port at 4:00 exactly. The ships funnel clears the bottom of the bridge deck by a mere six feet. A nice sight, and unfortunately my pictures do not show how close the ship comes to the bridge.

 

We choose the flexible seating and really enjoyed it. There was no wait at all. We were seated on the dining room balcony on deck three, and had a wonderful wait staff. we have their names and will request them again tonight at dinner. (Tonight is the captain's welcome dinner aka the first formal night. ) The Matre'd made an announcement last night that shirts and ties for men would be nice but are not required at formal night. He did say no shorts allowed.

This brings me to a hot topic on Cruise Critic, dress codes. I am going to defer judgement until later in the week, but if last night was any indication, people simply do not understand what is meant by resort casual. I will say that some people were at dinner in bathing suits with coverups, and the wording on some of the tee shirts is inappropriate for the gutter, much less a family environment.

We paid a visit to the casino later on. The roulette table had 50 cent minimum bets. We played an hour. Alex came out even and I was up a nice amount.  After that we wondered around the ship and Alex went to find some people to hang out with, next time I saw him was about 2:00 a.m.

When I awoke this morning the gulf was flat as glass and it looks like we are in for a good day at sea.