Surprised my husband with aft vista suite with wraparound balcony, which was definitely worth it. We sailed on Star Princess last spring and while husband liked that cruise, he loves Carnival. While we greatly enjoyed this cruise on Legend, it was a very different group of fellow cruisers compared to our 5/10 cruise on Legend. Last cruise it was all couples and very few children, if any, and never felt crowded. This cruise felt crowded everywhere plus there were lots of children, college students, and singles. We normally try to book during the school year and avoid school breaks.
Hotel: Arrived Saturday evening via Southwest Airlines. Stayed at Homewood Suites Tampa Westshore which was booked through Priceline. Perfect suite, quiet, staff very helpful, clean, and restaurant at hotel next door. Used Ground Jet to take us to the cruise port. I would recommend Jaime and Ground Jet. I didn't book this in advance but the hotel arranged this for me Sunday morning.
Embarkation: Arrived around 11:30 and on ship by 12:15pm. Couldn't go to the room until 1:30pm so we had a cocktail on the lido deck.