Tuesday, July 17 - Seattle WA and the Carnival Legend

Cruise Day 1

We get away as planned leaving lots of time to drive the 30 odd miles into downtown Seattle to the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal 91.  Our route takes along the I5 which moves nicely for about 15 minutes and then we spend another 30 minutes crawling.  Kim complains he has just driven through Seattle and he didn’t see a thing, he was concentrating too much!  Although he does see our first glimpse of the Carnival Legend floating there majestically lording it over the lower buildings.

Lovely day to drive through Seattle to meet our cruise boat

Nice city

We arrive at the cruise parking easily, GPS got it first time, follow the signs for oversize parking and check in with the attendant who directs us over to the back where there are another half dozen rigs parked.  Everything gets ticked off our check list except leaving the fridge doors ajar, I guess we will have a smelly fridge when we get back

A shuttle picks us and our two cases up within 5 minutes and takes us right to the front door where we check in to the cruise.  Surprisingly there is not much of a wait and we are onboard by about 11.50am.  Kim immediately finds the carvery, we learnt that from last time and he has lunch chosen and eaten before the hoards of passengers arrive.  We find a nice spot outside in the fresh air but in the shade, it is another 30C day today.  An hour or so later Carrol and Chris rock up, my directions must have been alright.  We spend a leisurely hour or two catching up on their trip so far and stuff.

Carnival Legend before the throngs

Our luggage has been delivered by the time we go check out our cabin (5119) and a nice surprise - our alcohol has been delivered too!

The unpacking has been done and everything stowed, lots of storage in the cabin, three single wardrobes, lots of drawers and shelves.  The bathroom ditto, lots of shelves so everything can be out.  Our extended balcony is wider rather than longer and it means the guests above us can look down onto the outer part of ours, so we will have to behave ourselves!

3.20pm we are instructed to march smartly down to the muster station for the drill, we are a bit late so get to stand in the second row from the front, we feel for the poor people in the four rows behind, we are really squashed in like sardines.  Although it is hot and sticky, more so because of the limited personal space at least we are in the shade.  One largish lady feels the pressure, feeling faint and moves to the rail to get some air.  The muster drill unfortunately seems to be a bit of a farce and we think it is more intended to make sure everyone who has embarked is on board before sailing rather than advising what to do in an emergency.

We’ve sussed out the Serenity Bar (adults only) and agree to meet C&C there for HH.  I check out the cocktail list but the only one to take my fancy is the frozen margarita, I won’t be working my way through the list this trip.

We leave on time at 4pm and we get a great view of Seattle from the sea.

Big marina seen from the C Legend as we depart Seattle

It gets a bit cool outside at the back, we aren’t in the sun anymore so move inside and find some space at the Alchemy Bar and listen to the singer while we wait for the queue to reduce for dinner in the Truffles restaurant.

The food is great, especially the cured salmon cubes.  After Kim’s substantial roast beef lunch, he wasn’t overly hungry and settled for the shrinp cocktail and a salad for main but then managed to find room for dessert, tiramisu and butter pecan icecream.  The steaks looked pretty good too.

We are finished in time to catch the show in the Follies, it is just a taste of what we might expect from the staff at their main show later in the week. It’s all over by 10.20 and we are all a bit weary from having so much fun, we hit the hay.

Nice to go to sleep lulled by the movement of the ship, and we could feel it more during the night.  It got a little rougher at one point.  Nice comfy bed and American pillows – I love them!