I've been on a few cruises in the past (mostly Family cruises where everything was taken care of). Last year my fiance and I went to Vegas for the week, after seeing the bill for food/hotel and booze I decided our next trip would be a cruise for the two of us. This was my first time planning a cruise. It would also be my first time on Carnival and my fiancee's first ever cruise. We had a fantastic trip and I would recommend this ship to all my friends.

Hotel We stayed at the Tampa Downtown Courtyard because they offered a free shuttle service to the port (which we took advantage of). The place was brand new and the rooms were great (nice LG flatscreens). We flew in the night before the trip and found this to be our best option once we weighed the costs of the other hotels in the area that didn't offer free shuttles. We did, however, have to pay for a cab to the hotel from the airport but that only cost us about 30 bucks.

Embarkation We got to the port at about 10:30 in the morning. It was a little hectic with us trying to find out where we're going and everyone coming off the ship but we eventually found a porter and our way to the Carnival Desk. Since we came in early there was virtually no line to speak of and we got everything taken care of quickly. We then sat around waiting for our group to be called and shortly thereafter boarded the ship. Read more