My posting is really long because when I was getting ready for my cruise I read EVERYONES postings and it helped so much. Thanks to all the "posters"!

We cruised on the Carnival Legend on May 20th. My husband and I are in our mid twenties and have no kids. This was our first cruise and we were somewhat worried because we had head that Carnival wasn't that great. I think most of those comments were coming from uppity people or an older crowd because we had a great time.

The night before our cruise we stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown Tampa. What a great hotel. I got a deal on Embassy's website that if you paid with your credit card right then you got a cheaper rate. It was $99 with tax. We really enjoyed this hotel. It's really new and clean. We took a cab ride to the hotel from the airport. It is a flat $22 rate for two people in a cab plus tip. Or you can wait for a shuttle and I think it's almost the same price. Either way they've got you trapped into paying unless your hotel offers free shuttle service (Embassy doesn't). I would recommend this hotel. We actually walked down to the cruise terminal the day we got there just to see how far it was. It's not too far of a walk and a really, really short cab ride. Plus this hotel gives you free breakfast. Made to order omelets, waffles, bacon, eggs, cereal, pastries, juices, milk... It saved us from taking a cab ride somewhere and spending money on breakfast. Plus from 5-7 pm (somewhere around that time) they have free cocktails and snacks. Not the biggest list of alcohol but okay for some mixed drinks. Read more