I'm typing this in word and going to transpose on Cruise Critic when I'm finished. I typed a WORDY review earlier and just as I was about finished, I got an error message on Cruise Critic and lost everything, so here we go again ? . Warning: this is going to be extremely long!

A large group of us (who met and sailed together on the Glory last Sept) booked this cruise so we could see the Western Caribbean. Due to Hurricane Dean & Felix, our itinerary was changed. Our group took to the changes very easily, if you travel during hurricane season, you have to be flexible. We ended up going to Key West, Grand Turks, Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman.

We started our cruise vacation, by getting a hotel in Tampa a day earlier. We stayed at the Doubletree by the airport and booked it 5 months in advance. It was a good thing we did, because they now change $10 (one-way) to the port and $15 (round-trip). You can park your car in their parking garage and there was a security officer stationed out front at night. The room was very clean and they had soft, comfortable beds! I think our total price was $99 for the night. We booked our bus ride over when we checked in and was given warm chocolate chip cookies..yum! I would highly recommend this hotel. We also went to Ybor City (did not stay there for long as it is getting very run down and seedy looking) and ended up closing down Howl at the Moon in Channelside. Read more