This was our first cruise and was spectacular. There were very few negatives about the whole trip and those were pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

We booked our own air travel arrived in Tampa a couple of days early because flying from the Rocky mountain states in winter can be sketchy at times.

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at the Cruise Terminal 3 at about 11:30 and there wasn't even a line. We showed our passports (the quickest way to board according to those in the know) and set up our on board account. I called our credit card companies and informed them that we were going to be out of our normal travel areas and to expect some large charges. This by-passed any troubles we might have experienced on disembarkation. In all from the time we got our luggage out of the taxi ($20 from airport to terminal is a set rate) until we were on the ship wasn't more than 10 minutes. We couldn't get into our cabin until 1:30 however so we were "stuck" dragging our carry on luggage with us until then. We explored the ship a bit and found it clean and inspiring. We then headed up to the Windjammer for lunch. More on the food later. Read more