Pre-Cruise My daughter (14) and I (Dad, 44) flew into Tampa early Friday morning, January 12, 2007. The Tampa airport is an easy pass-through, especially with most car rental agencies in the airport proper. We rented a car for a day (about $40) and drove to our hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott in the Westshore hotel district. Westshore is about a 10 minute drive from the airport and is a few blocks from Dale Mabry, the main surface-level road that runs through Tampa and has one of everything, retail-wise. Especially of note is the large wine store near Dale Mabry & Spruce (not that I smuggled or anything).

We spent the first half of our day at the Lowry Park Zoo (20 minutes from Westshore). I highly recommend this zoo for kids and adults alike. The grounds are beautiful and the animals plentiful. Lowry Park was named Best Zoo in America by Child Magazine. Don't miss seeing the manatees, feeding the giraffes and the lorikeet aviary. After the zoo, we drove over to Clearwater Beach and dipped our feet in the Gulf. It's a beautiful beach, and if you're beach people, it looks like a good bet for a pre-cruise beach day.

Embarkation We had a leisurely morning at the hotel and left for the airport to return the rental car around 10:45 a.m. After a quick stop at the Budget counter, we hopped in a cab and headed to the Tampa Port Authority facility near Channelside. The cab fare between the airport and the seaport is $22 (for 2). We arrived at the port before 11:15, quickly checked in with our passports and Set Sail Pass, had our pictures taken for our SeaPasses and were given numbered slips of paper for boarding as the ship wasn't ready for boarding yet. My guess is that the Legend must have had a small problem with Noro the cruise before ours and extra cleaning caused the delay. That said, the number calling started right at Noon, and we were on board and eating lunch in the Windjammer by 12:20 p.m. Read more