We arrived in Tampa on Saturday and took a taxi to the Marriott Waterside which was a very nice hotel. We had a balcony room that faced the dock where Inspiration was currently docked. Our room wasn't ready yet so we left our suitcase and walked to Channelside, a nice little shopping/restaurant area alongside the dock. Had a margarita or two at Bennigan's on their open deck and waved to Inspiration passengers as they finished muster and left port. Walked around the nice waterside area and then to Publix to pick up two bottles of champagne for the cruise.

I had read reports of long boarding lines outside by 11am, so we had a breakfast buffet at the Marriott (included in hotel rate), left the Marriott at 10:30 and walked about ten minutes to get to the pier, got our "change of itinerary" notice, headed through security. Checked in and sat for ~30 minutes until boarding began at 11:30. Next time we will wait till 12:30 so we don't have to carry our camera, etc. bags around since the cabin areas are closed off till 1:30. I opened one of the doors and an alarm sounded!

We had a Vista Suite which was 3 small rooms plus the awesome aft wrap balcony. Love this cabin. The only issues were the mattresses were very concave and the deck loungers were just plain gross. The other 2 cabins our family/friends had (one VS, one balcony cabin) did not have this issue. I left these comments in the ship's comment box. Read more