This was our 7th Carnival cruise. We always go down the day before to avoid the confusion of travelling on sailing day. Traveled to Tampa on Sunday and stayed at the Holiday Inn City Centre. Hotel was only a mile from the pier and they had a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the pier.
Embarkation was relatively painless. We got to the pier shortly after 11 am and were on the ship by 12:30. Much more relaxing this way. We had lunch in the Seaview Restaurant and got to enjoy the ship for the afternooon.
Tuesday was our 1st day at sea and we enjoyed the ship and sun bathing on the Lido deck. All of our cruises except for one have been on the "Fantasy" class ship. I prefer this size ship over the mammoth mega-ships. We actually sailed on the Sensation when it was doing the Eastern Carribbean cruise out of Miami.