With us having early dining it is a short wait from the time we re board the ship until dinner time.

This is a VERY long post on our Carnival Legend cruise. It is full of good info and a detailed account of our trip. If you only have about 10 minutes you may want to take a look at the video I made combining still pictures with video. It is a quick version of our trip but not nearly as detailed as the blog post below.
We started our trip by leaving the office on Friday, September 2nd around 3pm and headed to Brunswick, Georgia to stay for the night. This was about half way to Tampa and left us with only a 4 hour ride on Saturday morning. seattle airport rental cars We arrived in Tampa around noon and headed straight to 7th Avenue where a lot of cigar shops are located.
They roll their own cigars seattle airport rental cars there and they are handrolled seattle airport rental cars by 87 year old Antonio Riverol who was not there that day since it was a Saturday. I picked up a few of their cigars seattle airport rental cars to try. While there I met Yenisey Diaz. Here I am with her.
After a wonderful lunch our next stop was Ybor Cigars Plus. They had a roller in the window of their shop and she was rolling some nice looking barber pole cigars. I picked up one as well as another cigar.
While there I met the owner Don Barco. He actually recognized me when I entered the shop and called me over! We sat around for about an hour and a half exchanging cigar stories and laughs. Don was a gracious host and gave me one of his namesake cigars to smoke while we were there. seattle airport rental cars The Don Barco is a very nice cigar which I enjoyed quite a bit so I decided to pick up several of every size they come in. Thanks to Don for making us feel so welcome.
We programed our Garmin with the address of the Airport Courtyard Hilton and headed over. It was a fairly short trip. Vicki Lewis, who is also on the cruise with us, set up that hotel since she is a Hilton Rewards member and got us fantastic rates! The room with tax was about $94 a night and we got to leave our car there during the cruise. We had to pay for a shuttle service to get to and from the port but that was only about $34. Parking at the port would have been about $120 so in essence we got to stay the night for free, or thereabouts.
Early Saturday morning we headed out to the port. We were all anxious to get to the ship. We arrived around 10:45 or so and as you can imagine there were people everywhere! Getting through the baggage drop off and upstairs to the Carnival desk was easy. We waited for our turn to board the ship. We were on board and eating lunch on the lido deck by 11:45. Not bad at all.
One thing I should point out is cigar smoking is allowed on the PORT side (left) of deck 9; not starboard as stated seattle airport rental cars elsewhere on Carnival's site. The ship is definitely laid out for smoking on the port side. You can also smoke cigars in Satchmo's Jazz Club, port side of deck 9, and on your balcony. That's it!
The famous Whale's Tail. Carnival had to modify seattle airport rental cars the tail on the Legend in order for it to fit under the Tampa bridge. In a later pic you will see how it differs from the normal Whale's Tail when we are docked next to the Ecstasy in Cozumel.
At 4:30 we went to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet put on by Cindy, aka Cyn7, and it was great! We met so many wonderful seattle airport rental cars people. We continued to enjoy their company throughout the entire cruise! seattle airport rental cars Thank you Cindy for putting that together. Everyone should do that; it's a lot of fun. We had about 60 people attend too!
Our group of 6 had decided to change our original seattle airport rental cars dinner seattle airport rental cars time from 8:15 pm to 6:00 pm. After contacting the Maitre'D seattle airport rental cars he agreed to move us. Connie and I decided to sit out tonight's 6:00 pm dinner in order to watch the ship go under the bridge. Here we are approaching the bridge.
Once we were back in our room for the afternoon we had a phone call. Connie answered the phone and then handed the phone to me. On the other end of the phone there was the unmistakable Scottish voice of Wee Jimmy! I had become Facebook friends with Wee Jimmy and he asked that once we were on board I go to Guest Services and have them notify him with our room number. I did and that's why he called today. He said he wanted to meet up at Satchmo's seattle airport rental cars at 10:30 tonight. So, after dinner we headed over to Satchmo's and waited for Wee Jimmy.
While Wee Jimmy was getting his water and Connie was dancing I was approached by a young lady who began to talk to me as if she recognized me. To this point about 10 people had stopped me and said "hey, you're cigar dude", my screen name on Cruise Critic. I assumed she was another who had recognized me as I could hardly hear anything she said. The band was quite loud! Then, when she laid 2 Fuente Don Carlos cigars on the table I realized it was Liana Fuente ! I learned she was on the same cruise as us through Facebook notes to each other. We agreed to meet but I had not seen her on board up to this point. seattle airport rental cars It was quite exciting to meet her! She is the daughter of Carlos Fuente, Jr. Everyone in the cigar world knows of Fuente cigars. What a coincidence; I was having a Fuente Opus X Power Ranger too! Liana was very bubbly and happy. She hugged us several times and expressed how happy she was to meet us. She even danced with Wee Jimmy and Connie! We agreed to meet up another night too. It was quite an honor to meet her. I loved the fact that she was so down to earth and friendly.
At this point I must point out one very important thing about our room location. The room number was 8187 which is on the Panarama Deck. It is very convenient to the Lido Deck as our room is only one deck below it. But, I noticed that you can hear the workers as they roll various carts over the pool area and food areas. When they roll across the tile floors it sounds like a train rolling down the tracks! Now, it's not horrible but it's worth pointing out. I looked at it as white noise. When you're laying in bed at night you notice it the most. The noises are not constant but when they roll over the floor you know it. The fact that we were so close to the lido deck made the minor noise problem less important. If you stay in 8187 or any nearby room you will hear this noise, just be aware of it.
We were docked at the southernmost of the 3 Cozumel piers. Also in dock today was the Carnival Ecstasy. We actually were ready to leave the ship but were held up to allow the Ecstasy to pull in to dock. Here are the two ships next to each other.
The first order of business was to take a taxi into town to find the new La Casa del Habano seattle airport rental cars that opened earlier this year. Well, we found it easily but it did not open until a few hours later! At least we found it. We decided to come back after we went to Paradise Beach. Here is how the LCDH appears from the street.
So, out to Paradise Beach we went. There were some reports on Cruise Critic that Paradise Beach had gone downhill. I was surprised to read this as I remember it as a great place and now they have a brand new pool and bar area. I was quite anxious to see the condition of the place. Upon arriving I met Guillermo Cerda, one of the managers. I had notified them that we would be there on Tuesday. I am a fan of theirs seattle airport rental cars on Facebook, so notifying them was easy. I expressed to Guillermo that there were reports about their facility that were negative. He was aware of those reports seattle airport rental cars and asked me to let him know of anything I found that was in need of attention. Well, I could have not been more relieved to find what I did. The grounds, facilities, and pool were spectacular. The reports were obviously the work of someone trying to bad mouth Paradise Beach. But don't take my word for it; take a look at the pics and you tell me!
We absolutely loved Paradise Beach. I can highly recommend it when you're seattle airport rental cars in Cozumel. One of the great things about it is you "pay as you go" instead seattle airport rental cars of having a large lump sum all inclusive price. Since I don't drink much it's quite a bit less expensive for us to do it this way. There is no admission fee either. The prices were reasonable seattle airport rental cars for everything. Great place. We loved it. There was nothing I would change about Paradise Beach, except that I be there more often!
So, after several hours at Paradise Beach it's back into town we go. By now the LCDH should be open, and it was, much to my excitement. The shop is very easy to find. It is directly across seattle airport rental cars the street from the tenders that go back and forth to Play del Carmen. It is upstairs above Fat Tuesday's. The entrance is on the side of the building. Simply take the stairs on the right of the picture below.
Remember earlier when I mentioned that the Legend's Whale's Tail was modified to fit under the bridge? Here is a pic of the Legend's tail and the Ecstasy's tail. See the difference? The Legend is on the left.
With us having early dining it is a short wait from the time we re board the ship until dinner seattle airport rental cars time. After dinner we came back to the room to change into something more casual. Once inside we found a surprise waiting for us!
The card said it was from John Heald and Wee Jimmy! How very thoughtful seattle airport rental cars and nice! Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries with bow ties! We were blown away! Tonight is the first ever Cigars Under the Stars, which I learned from Wee Jimmy is being held in my honor! Cool! John Heald holds them on his ship and I asked him if the Legend has them. He contacted Wee Jimmy and guess what, it's happening on the Legend! I was quite honored that they are holding the first one for me. They listed the event in the Fun Times for today as one of the top 10 things to do on board! Nice!
It was a little drizzly when we arrived in Belize. This is a tender port so we headed down to the boarding area to wait for our number to be called to board a tender. We didn't wait long. The tenders are large and hold several hundred people. seattle airport rental cars The ride to the dock is about 25 minutes. Once we arrived we headed to the Wet Lizard seattle airport rental cars to meet our transportation to Caye Caulker. We decided to spend the day there and experience a small island.
Vicki had also set up a dinner at the Golden Fleece supper club. Reservations were at 6 pm. Here are pics of the inside of the restaurant