We stayed the night before at Hilton West-shore Tampa they had a free shuttle service and provided free parking during your cruise. We left the hotel a little after ten and arrived to the port around 1030. We planned on checking two cases of water one for each stateroom but the guy at the curb made us carry them. We continued to check in everything went extremely fast. No Lines, No waits it was very nice. The boarding time was 1230. We had an hour and a half wait so we thought. Around 1130 we were boarding! We went to the windjammer for lunch they had more of a Asian lunch set up and then also cold cut sandwiches it was very good. We were able to get into our rooms around 1:00. Leaving Tampa was so easy compared to other ports. It was very neat going under the sky-way bridge at night. The top of the ship just misses the top the of bridge.

The ship is incredible! We have been on two previous cruises one on Voyager and Independence so grandeur was a little smaller then the other two we had been on so we had no idea what to expect. Its truly a beautiful ship for being 15 years old it is kept is great condition. The staff is excellent. We had an interior stateroom and we found it to be smaller but it was great for the purpose of it which was sleep, and shower. You do have a shower curtain instead of the doors. Our stateroom attendant was Amelia. She was excellent made us towel animals and always greeted us with a friendly smile and told us to enjoy our day.

First day at sea was nice. This particular cruise had quite a mixed crowd from older to middle age to younger. Never had any problems with getting seats on deck near the pool, or the solarium which was really nice. It was a little cloudy but nothing to stop people from the north from sitting out in the sun that was barley peeking out. The activities always seem to be going on throughout the day and they had Trivia, Bingo, Belly Flop Contest, Sexy Leg Contest so whatever your heart desires its there. Read more