We were a group of 14 (including 2 - 11 year olds and 2 senior citizens) - most of whom had not cruised before. All of us arrived into Tampa at least one day prior to sailing as the ship's departure time was 4:00pm day of sailing. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Rocky Point - which was a decent 3 star hotel and included continental breakfast and shuttle to the pier day of sailing. (They also offered complimentary shuttle service to nearby shops and dining).

Check in at the Port of Tampa was fairly smooth - we arrived at the pier aprox. 11:30am and we were all checked in and on board the ship by 12:30pm. The port is fairly new and located across the street from the Tampa Aquarium and shopping gallery. There is a public parkade directly opposite the pier. I was expecting a bit more glam from the check in area itself as it is so new (more like Miami's which is lovely) but nonetheless it was efficient.

Once on board, we were asked to hold off accessing our various cabins until after 1:30pm as they were still being cleaned from the previous week....but were able to use the lido deck for lunch and drinks. We had 4 cabins mid-ship on deck 8 port side(category 8F I believe) and 2 cabins on deck 4 aft one port and one starboard (these were for those of us who had 3 people in a cabin) Basically, the cabin layouts were exactly the same with the same amenities, just different locations on the ship. My cabin was aft cabin nmbr 4224. Very comfortable - king bed conversion for the 2 of us with a single bed made up from the couch for our son - also very comfortable. HOWEVER, as this was the first time I was not mid ship I was quite "green" a couple of days as we had some decent sea swells! Would not do that again...! The mid-ship cabins were definitely more stable however those of us on deck 8 were directly below the Lido deck so some noise was heard from people running or deck chairs being dragged etc. DON'T FORGET - YOUR EMPTY LUGGAGE CAN BE STORED UNDER YOUR BED - GIVING YOU MORE CLOSET SPACE. Read more