We rented a car for our trip to Tampa and arrived the day before our cruise. We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Ybor City. It was very nice. Nothing spectacular just nice. The next morning we returned the rental car at the airport. Hertz rentals are very accommodating as they provide transportation to the port at no extra cost.

This was our first cruise and we were very excited about the whole experience. Because of that we arrived at the port at 9:00 A.M. I would not recommend that because you can not get on the ship until everyone else is off!! There are some nice places to walk around and admire the boat. And to get a cup of coffee. Needless to say we were some of the first people in line to enter the embarkation process.

Since this was our first cruise we don't have any other embarkation to compare this to but we feel it was pretty painless. It helps to fill out your Fun Pass early. Now we did have a bit of a wait in those yellow chairs we had read so much about. But we like to people watch so it was not bad. Even our 8 year old did ok with the process. Read more