Twelve excited members of our family ranging in age from 5 to 80 boarded the Carnival Legend in Tampa for what we hoped would be 7 days of blissful sailing as we celebrated Grandma's 80th birthday with a long anticipated reunion on the Legend.

Boarding was easy for the wheelchair bound members of our family as hard working Carnival crew members ushered us to the font of the lines and onto the boat in a very reasonable 20 minutes. The able bodied members of our family, however, wound their way through 90 minutes of long lines (at least 20 minutes was outside in the 90 plus degree heat).

We were re-united an hour later for our first glimpse of the ship. It seemed dark and the decor was littered with thousands of urns of all sizes. But the glass elevators were impressive and we all found getting an elevator was not difficult. This was especially appreciated by those of us in wheelchairs. There were even handicapped signs on a set of elevators, though no crew members to enforce that -so I guess it was more of a suggestion. Read more