We took our family of five on our 1st cruise, on Carnival's Inspiration leaving out of Tampa for a 5 night cruise with stops in Cayman Islands and Calica Mexico. My wife and I had separate adjacent room from our three teens, ages 17, 14, and 13. We arrived in Tampa two days a head of time and stayed at Hampton Inn in Tampa for 2 nights, nice motel in nice area.

Loading on ship was fairly easy, we used Valet parking for $75, which I thought was worth the extra $10 to not have to fool with car before or after. Had to wait about one hour before boarding boat, we went to area shops and restaurants, enjoyed atmosphere. Getting on ship and walking around trying to find everything was exciting, we had luggage brought to room within a couple of hours. Rooms are bigger than I had heard, we had an interior cabin, on main floor in middle, which I think was a good choice for lessening the rocking of the boat. Personally I would not pay the extra price for a window, I enjoyed sleeping in and the dark room in the mornings made that easily done. The bed and linens were very comfortable, and relaxing, storage was fine, and again better than I figured it would be.

Our 1st two days we had somewhat rough seas from what I was told from more experienced cruisers. My wife and I enjoyed sitting and laughing at people staggering by the 2nd evening, it was as if everyone was drunk, two steps forward, then one to the side? People were laughing at themselves, it was quite amusing. None of us got sick, although the unstable feeling got old, and was worst in the rear and front of boat where the shows were being held. However I did find the rocking action along with good bedding seemed to help me sleep better. Read more