The Legend

Boarding the Legend of the Seas was a bit like coming home, having spent 10 days of our honeymoon 4 years ago on her cruising the Malacca Straight.  I was really surprised to find the Mediterranean just as calm as those beautiful waters, calm waters make for smooth sailing.

After our three nights in Genoa, it was so good to know we would have a comfy bed, little noise and somewhere to eat without the 2 km walk for the next seven nights.

Our itinerary included stops at Marseilles, Barcelona, Palma De Mallorca, Valencia, a day at sea and Civitavecchia (Rome).  As we were heading to Barcelona in a weeks time, when in the port there we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy a day practically to ourselves around the pool, we had just that, it was so relaxing.  We did the same at Civitavecchia, as we had had six nights in Rome already, however as the ship was 80% Italians, many did the same thing and from 11:00 new passengers began arriving, it still was nice and nowhere near as many people as we had at the day at sea, the only day we did not use the pool.

We loved everywhere we did get off the ship, they were all beautiful places, but Marseilles was our favourite, but then it is in France and anything France we seemed to enjoy just that little bit more.  In Marseilles we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, high above the city with exceptional 360 degree views.

The Gothic,'Bellver Castle' was our main point of interest in Palma de Mallorca, again high up on a hill it afforded magnificent 360 degree views of the city and coastline, you could just see guys dressed like Zoro running around stabbing people in the guts!

We never found a high point in Valencia, but we did enjoy a walk around the city and a fantastic lunch at a little Tapas bar, with beers at $1.50 Euro a lot cheaper than drinking on the ship.

That was a sore point on the ship, the company philosophy seemed to change from 2008 where it was, 'bend over backwards for the passengers to make them feel like royalty' to 2013, 'bend them over backwards so you can get to their wallets and extract as any dollars as you can', I liked the 2008 version better.

Our first day/night on board was huge, we partied so hard it would take a couple of days to recover and we saw at the end of the trip just how hard we went, with 33 percent of the cruise grog bill being consumed on that first day, was bloody big.

Jo got a bit bored with the entertainment on board about three days in and she decided we should do something about it, so she dragged me along to a "Love and Marriage" game, where 3 couples are bought up on stage, then the men and girls are separated and questioned separately, then you have to guess what your partner had to say.

Well to pick the 3 couples, they asked for newly weds to put their hands up, then asked how long they had been married, a couple of honeymooners married just 5 days were brought onto stage.  Then they called for the longest married couple in the room, the room by this stage had about 300 people in the audience. After querying 4 or 5 couples they found a couple married 32 years and got them on stage.

For the final couple they asked for those married between 1 and 32 years to put their hands up, Jo along with 2 other women shot their hands up.  After querying as to how long each had been married they asked all three to front of stage, with their husbands, once there they told us we would have to kiss as passionately as we could for thirty seconds and then the audience would decide who would play.

They started the clock and Jo got stuck into one of the wildest French kisses we've ever experienced, a full 30 seconds later they called stop, we did not hear it and kept going, the compare came over and broke the party up about five seconds later.  He then asked the audience to clap for the couple they thought should go on stage, he stood before the first couple and about 3 people clapped, he stood before the next couple and 2 people clapped, he stood before Jo and I and they brought the house down, cheering and clapping, I was soooo embarrassed.

Once on stage the girls were taken out the back and I had to answer 3 questions, once we all answered the girls are brought back in and asked the same questions, Jo got none right, but we got the most laughs.  I was then taken out back with the other guys whilst the girls had 3 questions posed to them.

Whilst I had been very diplomatic with my answers, Jo on the other hand went all out to embarrass me, the audience learnt that apparently the first thing I do in the morning is slap Jo on the arse, she also divulged that I pass a fair bit of wind, the compare had a ball with that one and they also heard that we have had some interesting times on this trip, and I am not willing to divulge anymore than that, if you wish to know more, ask Jo, she told 300 absolute strangers so I am sure she'd be only too willing to fill you in with all the details!

We really enjoyed the cruise and having so much time just relaxing not having to worry about a thing, but at the same time we were glad to get on the train out of Genoa at the end of it and back to our adventure, back to having an absolute ball together working out where to next, what we are going to eat and how the hell we are going to get there, loving life loving the freedom of just being and nothing else.

Belver Castle

Palma De Mallorca

Market place in Valencia

Street art Valencia

Genoa beach