My family occupied four cabins on the Legend during Thanksgiving week. There were 10 of us. I had my own balcony cabin on the Empress deck. My parents were down the hall in a suite. My brothers and their families were in oceanview cabins on the Riviera deck. The layouts and storage spaces in the cabins were very good. This was my first cruise and I guess I anticipated a lot less space in the cabins. I was pleasantly surprised.

The embarkation process was relatively painless. My brothers and I had flown into Tampa the night before the cruise and we all stayed at the Embassy Suites/Westshore by the airport. The rooms are very large and the kids loved the pool, manager reception and breakfast buffet. We had booked a cruise package on the hotel's website that included transportation for two adults/room on a shuttle to the port. We left the hotel around 12:30pm and we boarded the boat right at 1:30pm when the rooms were available. It was pretty much perfect timing. My parents drove up from Sarasota and arrived at the port a little after the rest of us. Since they had VIP check-in, the got on board at the same time we did.

All os us dumped some stuff in our cabins and met up in the Unicorn Cafe on Lido. Everyone got something different, since the Lido really offers such a big variety of food choices. The deli, the asian food, the grill (the cheeseburgers and onion rings are really quite good) and, of course, the dessert bar were all favorites for lunch during the week. Read more