We just returned from the Western Caribbean on the Carnival Legend, June 17th sailing. This was our second cruise (our first on Princess to the Eastern Caribbean, 2001). We drove to Tampa from Greensboro NC (11 hours) on June 16th and stayed overnight in the Marriott Residence Inn at the Airport (free night with points). Great hotel. Nice pool and parking was free. We also received a free breakfast. Big mall across the street if you need to shop.
We left our hotel for a 15 min drive to the downtown port and had no problem finding the parking deck, although we did have to drive around the one-way streets to get going in the right direction. I dropped my wife and three daughter (15, 14 and 12)and the luggage directly in front of the port and then parked the car. It cost $84 for 7 days...and I had to pay up front, so bring cash for parking. We arrived at the port at 11:00 AM and we were on the ship by 11:45. The waiting area at the port is great and the embarkation was very, very smooth. The port was very comfortable for our ~40 min wait.
Getting on the ship was easy. We took two bottles of wine in our carry-one, and no one seemed to question what was in our bag. The two bottles were the limit allowed by Carnival. We also took two six-pack of sodas...no questions. This allowed us to save some money on drinks later. We each took a small suitcase as a carryon. Once on the ship, we immediately ate lunch on the Lido deck. We were overwhelmed by the immediate attention by the staff.