Having Your Cake and Eating It Too....Legend Review Part II LONGISH

Well.. I guess the subject at hand is............FOOD!

What Princess attempted with the Lido buffet area on the Grand Class ships...
but didn't do well..........the Spirit class ships do amazingly well.

Don't you just despise cafeterias???? The lines.....the standing in
line.....the octogenarian who can't make up his mind whether he wants canned
peaches or grapefruit... and all you want to do is grab some artery-clogging
sausages and a cup of joe! ARGHHH.. it's supposed to be a vacation!

The nicely separated food venues in the Lido buffet cut out a good portion of
what we all hate about Lido buffets. What I especially liked about Legend's
Unicorn buffet is the decor. It doesn't look like a cafeteria. It looks like
a restaurant.

Now.. here is where the 13 oz comes in! But first... a question.

When you bellyup to the drinks dispenser/coffee urn for a refill.... do you
use the same glass/cup? Be honest!!

There are signs asking you to please use a new cup. Duh... I thought.. don't
people know that? Then I thought again. How many times have you seen someone
fill their glass... take a big gulp.. or two.. and then proceed to refill the
very same glass? BLECH!!!!!!! Later, I learned while reading a CDC Sanitation
report for Legend.. one of the CDC inspectors espied a Carnival employee in the
crew area using the same cup for a refill.. and gave Legend a whack for it. I
don't recall if the CDC deducted a point; however, the CDC does say that
everyone must use a new cup for refills. It's to be posted in the crew area..
but Carnival went one step further.. and posted the same notice in the
passenger Lido. Makes perfect sense to me. All cruiselines should do it.

The plastic mugs which can be used for hot or cold drinks.........are 13 oz!
Yes.. I brought one home I'll admit it... in yellow.. to match my kitchen
decor. None of those puny coffee cups or "communion" cups (as I call them)
like Celebrity requiring refill .. after refill.. after refill.... or should I
say new cup.. after new cup.. after new cup. The use of mugs also allows more
space on the tray for dishes. While cups and saucers are nice in the dining
room... saucers on buffet trays take up too much room.

This portion will be much shorter if I just say what I didn't like about the
food on the Legend. I did not like their croissants. Horrible.

Special mention should be made about produce quality. Fresh fruits were
numerous......and all ripe...and sweet. None of Celebrity's green banana's and
cement -hard, tasteless honeydew melon. Fresh, ripe papaya. Citrus segments
for Tom K. Caesar salad available every day at lunch.... and the romaine was
crunchy. Numerous salad bar fixings. "Adult" mixed greens.....none of this
white iceberg lettuce. You never had to wait for a "good salad" day.. as you
do on Celebrity... every day was a great salad day.

The varieties of menu items were truly outstanding. My personal favorite...
Asian......and desserts.. of course. Every.. and I mean every cookie and cake
was moist and flavorful. The Sacher torte... tasted like chocolate and
apricot.. the German Chocolate cake....wonderful....Japonaise....which is a
hard Italian meringue topped with a praline mousse... delectable......and the
chocolate desserts the last lunch...OMG......we thought we had died and gone to
heaven.
The chocolate truffles......OMG........the chocolate torte... (chocolate
truffle on a walnut/butter based cookie crust).. sugared walnuts and almonds to
accompany your chocolate binge..........and it wasn't cheap chocolate either.

Did I mention the softserve ice cream 24/7??? And the fact they don't shut the
ice tea/juice dispensers after meal hours.... and the coffee.. though it could
have been a tad bit stronger....had no bitterness to it.. and that you had a
choice: half and half, milk or non dairy creamer in big pitchers.. not those
silly little plastic things I wind up splashing all over me. On Century in
Nov//Dec... there was no choice.. it was non-dairy creamer... or you could grab
a shot of regular milk. No half and half on Celebrity!!

And I've just covered the Lido buffet area. It is not my intention to whack
Celebrity on their food.......however... since they claim to have the best food
at sea.....and don't....and have fallen far behind the competition....and since
I've sailed with Celebrity so often....I think it is only fair to draw
comparison.

Oh.. also forgot to mention on several days there is also hardpacked ice cream
available too.. usually about 3 pm.. along with all sorts of sundae and banana
split fixings.....including real whipped cream!!!

Don't feel like getting dressed and going to the dining room for dinner? Don't
worry.. reservations are never necessary in the casual dining venue... like
"X".

Sorry.. never did try the pizza, burgers... too much of that at home.

More later.........

Babette

Orange slices. Not citrus segments. I love the orange slices.

--Tom


"OcnGypZ" wrote in message
...
Special mention should be made about produce quality. Fresh fruits were
numerous......and all ripe...and sweet. None of Celebrity's green
banana's and
cement -hard, tasteless honeydew melon. Fresh, ripe papaya. Citrus
segments
for Tom K.

....the pizza is delicious--light, not greasy--just downright excellent...
no spam--remove last 3 letters in address to respond

I KNEW it! I WASN'T wrong when I said I thought the food on Carnival was
tastier than at least another line I've sailed.

Babette, I'm now HUNGRY after reading your review! The desserts sound decadent
and I'm not even a big sweet eater!

Looking forward to the rest of your review. I always like it when someone gives
Carnival a chance and they're pleasantly surprised.
I can't wait until I can try the Pride.

~Lindsay

Babette wrote:

Well.. I guess the subject at hand is............FOOD!

What Princess attempted with the Lido buffet area on the Grand Class ships...
but didn't do well..........the Spirit class ships do amazingly well.

Lindsay
What Babette has described - food - on the Legend you will find on the
Pride including the colourful plastic cups.

SUNNY........waiting for the rest of the review. Thanks Babette

S'nd I.

OcnGypZ wrote:

Well.. I guess the subject at hand is............FOOD!


Now.. here is where the 13 oz comes in! But first... a question.

When you bellyup to the drinks dispenser/coffee urn for a refill.... do you
use the same glass/cup? Be honest!!

Yes, I do. But I bring my own tall travel mug and refill it using the cruise line
cup. My mugs are usually too tall to fit under the dispenser.



The plastic mugs which can be used for hot or cold drinks.........are 13 oz!
Yes.. I brought one home I'll admit it... in yellow.. to match my kitchen
decor.

LOL. So I'm not the only one who took their mugs? My choice was blue, to match
my kitchen.


Caesar salad available every day at lunch....

My lunch choice every day. Wonderful.


Did I mention the softserve ice cream 24/7???

This I don't like. Too tempting. grin

Thanks Babette. Looking forward to the next episode.

Arlene

Now I better hurry and book her before they decide to replace her with another
ship! Thanks.

Lindsay

Sunny wrote:

Lindsay
What Babette has described - food - on the Legend you will find on the
Pride including the colourful plastic cups.

SUNNY........waiting for the rest of the review. Thanks Babette

S'nd I.

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 09:42:20 -0500 (EST), (villa
deauville) wrote:

Lindsay
What Babette has described - food - on the Legend you will find on the
Pride including the colourful plastic cups.

SUNSET........waiting for the rest of the review.

DO YOU HAVE ANY DECENCY AT ALL? ARE YOU GOING TO APOLOGIZE TO wARREN
OR NOT?


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i have sailed on the carnival legend twice and i think the food on there was
excellent also... everything about the ship was excellent... i only travel
carnival and i have been on 8 cruises chattie patty

LOL. So I'm not the only one who took their mugs? My choice was blue, to
match
my kitchen.

I CONFESS!!!! I brought home 2 yellow mugs myself. They really are perfect. And
when we use them for coffee on weekend mornings, we remember our balcony on the
Legend.

SHAZ
70 days till NCL DAWN