My wife and I have just returned from a 5 night Spice of South East Asia cruise on the Legend of the Seas and couldn't have been happier! It was our first ever cruise and now we wish we had been one one sooner - we didn't know what we were missing all these years.
Probably the only criticism we would have is that the check in process in Singapore took far too long. Check in was between 1130 - 1530. We arrived around 1330 and literally stood in the que for almost 1.5 hrs. Not sure whether we just picked the wrong time to arrive, but it was a slow process. Luckily the cruise terminal has free wifi so we managed to stay semi occupied while standing in line.
Aside from that, the rest of the trip was only positive! We booked a balcony stateroom (room 6574) which we thought was ideally located. The rooms were modern and clean after the ship's recent refurbishment complete with flat screen TV's and wifi available throughout the rooms and the entire ship. All the bed linen and room decor and furnishings also seemed new. Wifi is quite expensive - 500 minutes for $150 USD. However, there are other cheaper packages available. Our stateroom attendant (Englebert from India) was lovely and couldn't have been more helpful throughout our journey. Rooms were always immaculately cleaned and he would often catch us on the way to/from our room to check if there was anything more he could do for us.
Being our first cruise we were somewhat overwhelmed at just how large the ship is and how much there is to do on board. During our cruise we dined at both the Main Dining Room and the Windjammer Cafe and we couldn't fault either. The main dining room was particularly special with wonderful waiters (a special thanks to Jenny from the Philippines) and a lovely menu to choose from. In previous email correspondence with RCI, I had casually mentioned that the trip was for our 5th wedding anniversary. We were completely surprised on the final night when a group of waiters brought out a special slice of anniversary cake for us and started singing 'Happy Anniversary to You!'. It was a wonderful touch and one of those little things that really made the trip feel extra special. The Windjammer was also similarly great with a wide variety of buffet foods to choose from. For lunch a few times, we also tried the new Park Cafe which is located in the indoor pool area and had a variety of fresh salads and sandwich's etc to choose from. It was a nice alternative to have something light to eat while sitting by the pool.
With all the food we ate, we also managed to hit the gym a few times as well as the running track on the top deck. Other facilities on board included the rock climbing wall, mini golf course, outdoor cinema at the main pool, casino and nightly entertainment. We saw two shows on board in the 'Thats Entertainment Theatre' and thought that both were very good productions with professional dancing, singing and magic acts.
The ports of call we visited included Port Kelang (Kuala Lumpur), Langkawi and Phuket. At Port Kelang we decided to stay on board the ship and relax and enjoy the facilities. Langkawi was certainly one of the highlights - we did not do one of the ship organised tours as there was nothing that appealed to us, however we did hire a taxi driver for the day (150 ringgit for 5hrs). As others have mentioned, when you get off the ship walk about 5mins down the road at the end of the jetty area as the taxis here are cheaper than the ones meeting you at the ship. Our driver took us around almost the entire island. Our first stop was the Oriental Village for a trip up the 2000ft mountain on the cable car, with spectacular 360 deg views from the top. We were fortunate that we had very good weather with clear skies. My wife is terrified of heights but even she braved it - it is definitely a must do! Cost was about 30 ringgit each. Also in the Oriental Village another highlight was the Bolaven Cafe - Tiger Gallery & Exhibit, where you can sit and have a drink or bite to eat while watching a tiger literally right beside you behind glass. After this, our taxi driver also took us to some spectacular white sandy beaches for some photo opportunities, to the mangrove areas (we did not have time to do a river tour) and also for some souvenir shopping. Overall a great day out!
The following day we did the ship organised Sea Canoe Adventure around Phang Nga Bay in Phuket. The ship anchors in Patong Bay and you are transferred to the shore jetty by the smaller tender boats. Along the way, you also get some good photo opportunities of the Legend from the ocean and it really gives you an appreciation of its size. I must say you feel a bit spoilt when you arrive on Patong Beach and look to see your own ship anchored in the distance! It is around an hour's coach ride to the area where the Sea Canoe trip departs from at the north eastern end of Phuket. From here, you board a smaller boat which again takes almost another hour to get to Phang Nga Bay. Again we were spoilt with great weather and all the staff on board were friendly. Particularly given how poor many of these people are in comparison to us, they always go out of their way to help you - some of the staff that we spoke to had never even travelled outside their own local province, let alone ever travelled overseas. Thailand really is a land of smiles!
The canoe adventure itself is spectacular with beautiful scenery and massive limestone cliffs, mangroves, caves and hidden lagoons. The canoe is inflatable and is paddled by one of the staff and can seat two other persons, so you get to relax and take photos. Lots of cheeky monkeys to see too while you're canoeing and the bat cave is pretty cool too! After the canoeing, you enjoy a wonderful freshly cooked Thai buffet lunch on board the boat, before going for a swim at the beach at one of the small local islands. The boat then takes you back to shore before boarding the bus back to Patong, with a stop at the Cashshew Nut Factory along the way. All up the entire day is about 8.5 hours - there is also an opportunity to do some more shopping for an hour or so on arrival back at Patong before boarding the last tender back to the Legend (the tenders run every 15-20 minutes). To be honest though, we were so exhausted that we just headed straight back to the ship for a nice shower and a relaxing evening!
The final day is spent at sea cruising back to Singapore. Again it was a good way to unwind and relax and enjoy the facilities on board. We arrived back into Singapore at 7am the following morning. Compared to the boarding process, the disembarkation seemed much better organised and ran smoothly. Passengers are allocated a set disembarkation time. For us, it only took around 30 minutes to disembark, clear immigration and customs, collect our bags and be picked up by a waiting transfer.
Overall we had an amazing experience! I was a bit worried reading some of the negative reviews before taking this cruise, but I think those reviewers must be either extremely fussy or the ship has had a dramatic reinvigoration since its recent refurbishment. We could not really fault anything and will certainly be back again in the future!