I have just returned from a wonderful winter get away to celebrate my 21st wedding anniversary. How nice it was to spend some of the darker days of January in the little latitudes!

Our sail date was January 19th and my husband and I spent a couple of days prior to the sailing in Tampa. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Ybor City. Nice hotel, fun and convenient location - go to eat at the Columbia, the food is to die for! The Hampton Inn also has a free shuttle to the port and is cheaper $7.50 per day to leave your car there than the port parking. Pick up was a phone call away - we were told 15 minutes. We did not take advantage of this, however, as we had to be on the road to Atlanta as soon as we could get off the ship. (More on that later)

Embarkation - We got to the port and decided to use the valet parking because of our time constraints. We were then on the boat in about 30 minutes. After checking in, we were given a number 10 at that time number 8 was getting on so not an unpleasant wait at all. Read more