Ship Shapes

I am writing this on the second sea day after Tallinn.  We have been entertaining ourselves on the Carnival Legend along with about 2300 other passengers attended to by a crew of 900.  This is Day 10 of our Baltic Cruise and the end is fast approaching.  We have one more port of call…Amsterdam, and then overnight back to Dover.

We have met a number of other passengers this morning at breakfast a couple of Canadian couples and a couple rebuilding their home on Long Island damaged by hurricane Sandy.  Yesterday we talked with a couple from Croatia who live in Los Angeles but spent 4 months in Stone, Croatia.  The other couple was from Nottingham England.  All seem to enjoy cruising and Carnival for its value for the cost.  I certainly agree.

I took some pictures of the ship and will down load a few with today’s blog.  On Sunday after we dock the ship will turn around and leave for a cruise around Norway.  After that, Legend will cruise around the British Isles and then a transatlantic cruise to Greenland, Newfoundland, Canada ending in New York.  Then the next one is to Tampa where the ship will go into dry dock for a couple of months for refurbishing.  We have met some cruisers who are going all the way to Tampa and many that will be staying on Sunday.  The ship was built in 2002 in Helsinki and still in very good shape.  It certainly has more bars nestled away than the Holland America Line.  I think the shows produced by Carnival are better with more dancers and equally as good vocalists.  The children for people that bring them are accommodated by a nice program, and there are a couple of pools and a water slide.  However, there is a secluded Serenity Pool area for adults only.  And, the late night comedy club caters to adults only with an earlier edition for families.  In the pictures you will see the décor of the ship with three “Hyatt” type outside elevators with plenty of other elevators.  In speaking with Tony from Croatia who had a tour of the engine room there are twelve engines with no drive shafts but the engines drive a generator which produces electricity which is then directed to the propellers and bow thrusters allowing the huge ship to maneuver into some very tight places to dock.

These last two sea days Charlotte and I got up and made the dining rooms for breakfast.  Yesterday Charlotte did some laundry for the second time and I watched a move, “Taken 2” from 12 to 2.  I then played the poker tourney but lost on a bad decision disregarding a higher straight.  We then have a cocktail hour before dining at 6.  Last night was elegant evening 2 and the show after dinner was a Marti Gras theme, “Big Easy” we again got front row seats and it was a great production.  The night before Kathy Satterfield, a British vocalist gave an energetic show singing and impersonating recent star female vocalist.  Last night we caught the comedy club for a while, the comedian was Ronnie Bullard from North Carolina.

Yesterday I did some research on how we are going to get to Paris for a couple of days post cruise.  The plan is to get off the ship with our own luggage before 6 AM then hopefully get a taxi to the P &O ferry just about ½ mile down the docks catching a 90 minute ferry across the English Channel.  Then in Calais we will catch a train to Paris.  There is some uncertainty regarding how the schedules will work together and will the need for three taxis but hopefully we will get to Paris early Sunday afternoon.

I still have about 60 minutes of internet time so I promise to send one and possibly two more cruise reports before we disembark.

But everything is ship shape except of course our waistlines.  Fortunately I am typing instead of eating sometimes.  I would say the fun in Carnival is food and drink oriented, but it is a great way to relax and for me to see parts of the world that I have only read about and seen pictures.  However after watching the movie today about the capture of Osama bin Laden, “Dark Thirty” I am considering skipping Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But tomorrow the port of Amsterdam will be a repeat country for me, but this time I will be downtown instead of at the airport should be great. Lyle and Marlene are going to the Anne Frank house.  The Macartney are walking and doing canal tour.