First Impressions of Legend of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s Newest Ship

Legend of the Seas is Royal Caribbean’s newest and third Icon class ship. The vessel just arrived in Florida for the first time after sailing its inaugural season in Europe.

Royal Caribbean invited Cruise Fever on the first cruise of Legend of the Seas sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, so we could share this new ship with our readers. I am sailing with my wife and our six-year-old son.

This three-night cruise to The Bahamas will visit the cruise line’s private island, CocoCay, and have one sea day.

After spending a little more than 24 hours on the ship, here are our first impressions of this incredible new ship.

Since this is only a three-day cruise, we won’t go into a lot of detail right now, but we will once we get home. We want to spend time experiencing everything that this ship has to offer.

Ship

Since Legend of the Seas is a sister ship to Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas, it’s extremely similar to those vessels, but with some nice changes.

One of the biggest changes is that the comedy club on Deck 6 was not added to this ship; Royal Caribbean has replaced it with its popular Royal Railway Legend Station.

I also love the changes the cruise line made to the Pearl; it’s the perfect backdrop for a photo.

You can see a photo tour of this incredible new ship below.

Crew

The crew on Legend of the Seas has been phenomenal so far. From our room steward to the dining staff, they really know how to spoil you.

The first morning at breakfast in the main dining room, Jayedev came over to our table and was telling my son the most common places where passengers hide ducks around the ship. Yes, we went on a duck hunt after, and sure enough, he was right.

He wasn’t even our waiter, but it’s little touches like that when they take extra time to make your cruise even more enjoyable.

Surfside

Surfside is a neighborhood on the ship that’s for families with young children. When the doors on Deck 8 opened and we walked into Surfside, my son’s jaw dropped and he said “WOW”.

It’s by far the best area on any cruise ship in the world for younger children. He doesn’t want to leave and could spend all day here.

There is a duck carousel, splash pad, waterslide, and swimming pool. There are also several dining options here with food that all kids love.

When I get home from my cruise, I will write one article just about Surfside with more details on this amazing area for kids.

Cabin

We are staying in an infinity balcony cabin on Deck 11. The more I stay in this category, the more I love it.

I love the extra inside space it gives you and the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Overall, it’s a great cabin with plenty of power outlets, comfortable bed, and decent size (for a cruise ship) shower.

Entertainment

Royal Caribbean has raised the bar when it comes to entertainment offered at sea. Yesterday afternoon we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and it’s hands-down one of my top three favorite shows I’ve seen at sea.

Besides the Broadway show, there’s Fusion, an ice skating show, Shockwave in the AquaTheater, America’s Got Talent LIVE, and The Price Is Right.

There’s live music all over the ship, from dueling pianos to the iconic Schooner Bar.

There’s a little something for everyone

Adventure Ocean

Adventure Ocean is the kids’ club on Royal Caribbean cruise ships. I will have more on this when I get home from my cruise, but so far, my son wants to go there every time it’s open.

This is also one of a handful of Royal Caribbean ships that have the “Find My Kid” feature. For $14.99, they receive a bracelet that allows me to open the cruise line’s app and see exactly where he is on the ship at all times.

It’s such a great feature and well worth the $15, in my opinion.

If you would like to follow along on our cruise, we will be posting live photos and videos from the cruise on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

We will have much more about this new cruise ship once we get home from the cruise, so stay tuned for that!