I always read reviews and have to remember everyone is different so you pretty much have to take them with a grain of salt. My first cruise was on a Carnival and my second on Celebrity. It was obvious that Carnival is your more affordable line. That being said - I was way more impressed with this cruise than I had anticipated being.

Embarkation out of Tampa was relatively painless but slow. The first group went about 11:00 and seemed to get through pretty quick. We went about 11:45 and waited in line about an hour. The third group went about 1:45 and walked right in pretty much. Rooms weren't ready so we joined the huge crowds on the pool/Lido deck for buffet lunch. While we were loading they handed out a piece of paper documenting a change in our ports on certain days. I called back to my mom still at the hotel loading up and she was able to quickly get out an email to the tours we booked to let them know. However I'm sure the tour companies are used to cruise lines doing this and there was no problem when we got there.

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