We arrived in Tampa 3 nights early and had a great time exploring the area. Kayaked down the Hillsborough river (a wonderful state park right in town). Stayed at Sailport Resort at Rocky Point. It was nice to have a kitchen, not have to eat out all meals.

We got talked into a shuttle service from the hotel to the pier & return from pier to airport. While nice, we were in a towncar, it was too expensive, $80 roundtrip for the two of us.

We got to the pier at noon and spent the next 3 hours waiting to get on the ship. There was some sort of computer malfunction, some people's seapass cards weren't working and I'm not sure what else. Other people we talked to didn't have this much wait but got there earlier or had priority boarding. Read more