This is our 3rd cruise--2 with Norwegian and 1 with Carnival.

We are a blended family of 7 and navigate School Holidays in order to find the perfect cruise fit. In early December we decided that since all of our kids would be together after Christmas until school resumed on 1/4 that a New Years Cruise would be a great way to spend some quality time together. Our Criteria was that we wanted a 7 day cruise, it had to leave on or after 12/26, return no later than 1/3 and the embarkation port must be within a 12 hour drive from Charlotte NC our home base. Tampa, Port Canaveral and Miami all had options available. Port Canaveral was disqualified early as the itineraries all involved the Bahamas which we had visited and did not enjoy. Miami had great itineraries but were more costly and involved the longest drive. We chose Tampa because we had cruised from there before and found the Port the easiest to navigate. My suggestion is pre purchase valet parking. Honestly the few dollars more is well worth it. Our experience we pulled up to the valet area in front of the port building. A porter come to the vehicle and takes all of our checked bags (next time we see them is outside of our room). The valet driver gives us a slip and off he goes with our van. Upon return we provide the slip to the valet desk and within 5 minutes our van is pulled up front ready for us to load our luggage. We did the Walk Off and were literally on the road by 8:30AM. Best Disembarkation experience ever.

Back to booking--We booked 2 GTY inside staterooms. 2 adults and 4 children. Immediately the 4 person stateroom was assigned 10083 (inside). The inside stateroom was slightly smaller than the Balcony and did not offer the split bathroom. However there was plenty of storage for 4. Read more