Speed cruising – will it catch on? If you like your experiences short and intense, it just might work for you.
How about this for a not-so-leisurely timeframe: board ship on Tuesday afternoon, sail the Pacific Ocean off the Queensland Coast on Wednesday, disembark after breakfast on Thursday and head home in time for lunch?
Many enjoyed the ship's departure from balconies or out on deck.
How much can you do on a 44-hour cruise? Quite a lot, as it turns out. After six years of planning, Royal Caribbean International's Legend of the Seas finally arrived in its home port of Brisbane for the summer on December 8 (and will depart in April 2016, to return again in October).
That afternoon in December she sailed on a two-day "Sampler" voyage out into the Pacific and back, to dock early on the morning of December 10.
I was part of a multigenerational family group of 10 on board to celebrate a 90th birthday and a 23rd birthday. We'd thought we'd be unusual seeking a table for 10 in the dining room, but we found many others were on board with kids, grandparents, cousins and aunts. Clearly, a two-day family gathering where no one had to venture near the kitchen has strong appeal.
The Legend of the Seas is rated as a 4-star ship and that's fair. She's not one of those up-market ships where all drinks are included and caviar nights with the captain are held in the lobby.
Nor is she an ancient vessel on her last legs and filled with end-of-season footy teams. A recent bow-to-stern $50 million refurbishment in Singapore shows in the apparent modernity of a ship that first launched in 1995.
She's a good-looking ship. Externally, that comes from her initial design when she was built in France. Her stern, particularly, is tiered and avoids the "block of flats" look of some larger, more modern ships.
Many enjoyed the ship's departure from balconies or out on deck. Legend of the Seas is one of the largest ships to come so far along the Brisbane River, but the captain performed a very neat three-point turn to head towards Moreton Bay.
Then it was time for the early dinner sitting at 6pm. The Romeo and Juliet Dining Room, which can seat over 1000 diners, is spread across Decks 4 and 5 aft and is topped with a mirrored ceiling and a dramatic central chandelier.
The dishes were varied enough to offer something for everyone (including our coeliac and vegetarian) and the servings were substantial.
There's a range of other dining options, too. The 580-seat Windjammer Cafe is the casual indoor-outdoor buffet alternative to the main dining room. Specialty dining options, at a reasonable extra cost, are the intimate Japanese fusion Izumi, Chops Grille, serving both steak and seafood, and the Chef's Table for up to 14 guests in a private dining room.
The evening entertainment on Legend of the Seas is multi-faceted. For our group it was age-related.
The parents headed to the Absolutely Fab review in the That's Entertainment Theatre. The grandparents took the diktat to "spend the kids' inheritance" seriously and sought the Casino Royale gaming tables. The younger generation shifted between the poolside dance party (that moved to the lounge around 1am) and the several other bars throughout the ship.
Dawn rose on our one full day at sea with stretch classes, yoga and zumba, all based around the Vitality Fitness Centre – or so the daily program said. For the slothful, the dining room was open from 8am – long after others had finished at the Windjammer Cafe's buffet or partaken of the Park Cafe's light offerings.
A highlighter pen was required to plan the day from the "Cruise Compass" program. The Royal Bingo was hugely entertaining, as was the TV Theme Songs, though our ignorance of the themes from ALF and Laverne and Shirley was embarrassing.
Our moment of onboard stardom came in the visual trivia "recognise the country outline" competition that we won despite not recognising France. Ironically, our prize was a Royal Caribbean highlighter pen for each of us.
Sadly, our 90-year-old arrived five minutes too late for the afternoon Table Tennis competition and was refused entry. But as he'd beaten all comers earlier in the day we thought the exclusion may have been contrived. All the events were quite brief so there was a feeling that we were indeed ticking off activities from a list.
On our second – and last – night at sea the restaurant staff brought a cake and sang Happy Birthday to Neale, our 90 year-old. It was a fun ending to what had been an excellent family excursion.
As we left the ship after a leisurely breakfast, I considered the highlights and lowlights of our mini-cruise. It had been too short to become familiar with the ship; the check-in had been chaotic, the bars were always crowded, and everything was priced in US dollars.
However, that was more than compensated for. The chance to experience modern cruising in just a couple of days, the friendliness of the staff, the range of activities and the ease of catering to our diverse family group left the ledger well on the positive side.
visitbrisbane.com.au
All the major airlines operate frequent flights between Sydney and Melbourne to Brisbane. The Portside Wharf in Hamilton is the airport side of the city, so connecting between a flight and cruise is fast and inexpensive.
The Legend of the Seas' ex-Brisbane cruises include several seven to 10-night cruises to New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and longer cruises of 11 and 12 nights that include Fiji. The price for seven nights begins at $1799 for an inside cabin and $2599 for a balcony suite, while the equivalent prices for a 12-night cruise are $1929 and $3029 respectively. Next season's "Sampler" cruise is a three-night weekend costing $629 in the cheapest cabin, with balcony suites starting at $1099. Phone 1800 754 500; see royalcaribbean.com.au.
