I want to start out this review by stating that this was my 12th cruise but it was my first cruise with NCL. This was a family vacation for Christmas with my husband and our 2 children (daughter, age 21 and son, age 18). We had 2 interior cabins...9101 and 9103. As we have all cruised several times, we are very well aware that the cabin is primarily for sleeping and bathing and don't feel that the entire cruise experience is based on a sleeping area. I will go into further detail about the cabins later in this review.

To start things off, my family and I drove to Tampa on Saturday which was the day prior to our cruise. We chose an off-port parking area to save on useless parking expenses. We parked at Capital Parking in an area very close to the port. The lot was in a nice, residential area and after parking my family, luggage and I were quickly carted off to the port. At the end of the cruise, we were off the ship no longer than 10 minutes before our luggage was loaded and we were on our way back to the parking area. I would definitely use Capital Parking again and I want to mention that reservations were easily made on-line prior to the cruise.

Embarkation was very simple. We were completely on board the ship in less than 30 minutes. Of course, our cabins were not available as it was only 12:15 so my family and I were off to the Garden Buffet for a bite of lunch. There was a wonderful sail away party on the pool deck which was probably the best sail away party that I have experienced! There were 4 charcoal grills cooking burgers, hot dogs and steaks during the part and these were also used occasionally during the cruise! Read more