Legend of the Seas 2013 - Newly refurbished by Royal Caribbean Part 1

February 10, 2013

Legend of the Seas 2013 - Newly refurbished by Royal Caribbean Part 1

So it was with much anticipation that I waited for 6 Feb. My first cruise in a very long time (more than 10 years ago) on a newly renovated ship - Legend of the Seas. I scoured the net for information on this ship and scrutinised each review of Legend. However most of the reviews were by invited bloggers. However I did find Cruise Critic and My Lovely Adventures informative and an enjoyable read respectively. It helps that the reviews aren't sponsored too.

For those people who want to know every detail like me, and have read most of what's available online, I hope these pictures will cover whatever you may not be able to find elsewhere :)

Firstly, if you are not aware, most of the cruise ships (if not all) are now required to depart from Marina Bay Cruise Centre, a new terminal opened in Oct 2012. It's a spanking big terminal shaped like a cruise ship itself and situated in some isolated far-off area in Marina Bay. I kid you not.

Fortunately there are buses that go there. Unfortunately you have to take the bus from the Marina Bay MRT, and from there it's another 10-15min ride to the Cruise Centre.

If you have a car, you can opt to take the Drive Cruise Package, this is a ticket that allows you to park your car at the Cruise Centre for a discounted fee - $45 for 3 days and another $3 for each additional day.

The Cruise Centre itself has nothing much, there's a DBS cash machine (ATM), a 7-Eleven, a money changer, and a mobile phone /sim card shop.

No eateries :(

The check in process was pretty seamless. If you checked in online already (you have you do this at least 3 days in advance), you can just proceed to the counter to get your boarding pass and your Sea Pass card (see very first picture above). The card acts as your room card, your credit card, and also your embarkation and disembarkation card (for stopovers).

The weather was gloomy on the first day but I still couldn't help snapping pictures of the ship up close.

We got a room with a window, also called an Outside room. I was deliberating between various rooms, and since my partner was a smoker, was considering the balcony. But I figured it isn't worth it for a 2N cruise to Malacca. We paid about SGD$720 for our package by the way.

For your information, smokers can only smoke in Balcony class rooms (in the balcony of course), on deck 9, on the outdoor seas near Windjammer cafe (which is also next to the pool), and in the smoking area in the Casino (deck 4). We had staff tell us that smoking on the deck area on level 4 is permitted too, but we couldn't find any ashtrays around there. Weird.

The view from the room was pretty decent and I liked being able to see the sea.

However the window wasn't exactly very clean on the outside. The glass was only cleaned on one side so if there are any stains on the outside, you have to bear with it.

Now onto the room itself. All rooms have been replaced with LCD TV screens. Yippee. You can swivel them towards your bed as well.

There's a hot water flask where you can make tea. Do note the power points are either American or the European 2 rounded pin types. If you use otherwise, you will definitely need an adaptor.

There's no fridge :(

But there's a safe deposit box that's operated by credit card (don't know how that works)

They also put plenty of tempting drinks like Coke and Evian water in the room. They are all chargable. So do remember to bring your own water bottle :)