Legacy Maiden Voyage Week #2

Fred and Dressel
Legacy Maiden AKA “Shakedown” Cruise

November 30 – December 6, 1997

As the snow starts falling & the temperature is dropping I think it’s time for me to think back to last weeks bright & warm sunshine days.

First let me give you the Reader’s Digest version. The crew under Captain Mike Anderson were fantastic. It was not easy keeping the 68 passengers happy & safe while dealing with the conditions ongoing during the sailing of a newly rebuilt ship. The Legacy is beautiful like a gemstone. But like a jewel it needs to have the rough edges polished.

Now to be more specific. I will not discuss the Islands that we stopped at, due to the fact that most of you have either been there or can research them on the Internet.  I will discuss in some detail the ship and my observations while sailing on her for my cruise.

My first view of her was from the dock at Antigua on Saturday, Nov. 29th. The first thing seen were the men hanging off the bow sprit welding its parts back  on. For those not aware, the bow sprit broke early on during the first week cruise. Fortunately no other damage was done to the ship. That included the carving of Captain Mike Burke that adorns the bow.

The Legacy is a beautiful ship. She looks magnificent and very large as she is tied up to the dock.
After boarding her Sunday for “stowaway” we were able to see the ship first hand.

First the cabins. Dressel & I were assigned a series 300 cabin, number 307, an Admiral Suite. All of the 300 series are on the same deck. All cabin doors open up inward onto a large hallway. This is per U.S.C.G. regulations, all interior areas must be protected by water tight doors. All interior areas have limited wood also due to U.S.C.G. rules. The cabins were basically as shown in the WJ catalog, with the following exceptions: the Admiral Deluxe was missing the sofa bed, all the cabins were lacking light bulbs in the wall fixtures. They are in the process of installing hanging swing bunks in the Admiral Suites.
The same “grade” of cabins had different configurations. Different sizes, some had shower stalls, others were the showers with just a hanging curtain. Avoid cabins #305& #306.  They were the smallest. Many other minor items needed attention, soap dishes in the shower, gaps between the bed & the walls, need fillers, wire shelves in the head, replace the cushion on the bench seat, correct shower drain & doors to keep water from flowing onto the carpet. These were observed in our cabin.  Other problems were observed by other passengers in their cabins, I hope they let the ships crew know about them as I did.

The dining room is beautiful.  It resembles a banquet hall. The only problem the passengers noticed was the tables are very large. It made it difficult for the waiters to serve the passengers that were sitting at the back portions of the booth. It was also difficult when anyone sitting in the middle wanted to get out. All others had to slide along the seats & get out for that person to exit the table. The dining room has steam tables at both doorways for buffet meals. The Chef, Eon, did a great job preparing the meals even though we were low on food inventory.  The meals improved drastically after we were restocked by the Grace.

The deck areas were in constant flux, with the crew working constantly making repairs or just finishing off what should have been done at the boat yard. The main bar was nowhere near completion. The public deck areas need much more seating. During “story time” most passengers either stood up or had to lie on the cushions. The upper deck, at the stern, had no seating other then cushions.

The steering can be done either from the forward front deck or the bridge. The Legacy bridge is like none other on any of the WJ tall ships. It is loaded with the latest in electronic gear, per U.S.C.G. regulations. Capt. Mike allowed passengers access to the bridge when asked.

The rum swizzles & appetizers were served on a 4×8 sheet of plywood mounted on saw horses. I’m sure that something is “coming” in the future.

The tenders seemed to be the same old ones as on all the other ships. The only exceptions were the
large orange enclosed “life boats,” also for the U.S.C.G.. There were two, each with a capacity for 70  people. 

I almost forgot, a very important item, there is a smaller bar on the lower deck, outside of the dining room. After all you need somewhere to punch your doubloons.

There was a tour of the engine room. The ship is powered by 3 V-8 engines. These are rebuilt, 30 year old motors. They have added all the necessary safety features needed to comply with, you know who, U.S.C.G.. The ship has it’s own desalinization equipment, fire pumps, excellent air condition compressors, sewage treatment etc. It was my understanding that there were some problems with some of this equipment. We were not made aware of any specifics, but the crew seemed to be able to handle whatever was happening.

We were never able to sail with all of the sails up. Captain Mike was gradually adding sails as the ship and the crew were able to see how they “worked” with the ship under different weather, wind and sea conditions. I felt very comfortable with  these “safety first” considerations. Although I prefer to “SAIL,” I would prefer to wait & come back at a later date. I would not like to see another “bow sprit” incident.

The other public areaways, stairways etc. are all brightly light, large & open spaces for all of us to enjoy.

We did have some difficulty during the “restocking” by the Grace. The design of the Legacy is not the
best for a rapid off-loading of frozen foods. The cases of frozen food had to be hand carried or loaded onto a dumbwaiter, which was out of service most of the time. This delay caused us to leave much later & we were unable to visit Jost Van Dyke, and a wonderful lobster dinner.

Well all you “jammers” that’s it for now. I am sure that other passengers will make additions &
corrections to this report. Let me say that Dressel & I are looking forward to many future cruises aboard the Legacy as well as the rest of the Barefoot Windjammer Fleet of tall ships.

Just finished #4 looking forward to 5-6-7-8 etc———  

Fred Tanenbaum

 

P.S. A good time was had by all onboard.