Travelled with husband, mother and father from the UK to the final W. Caribbean cruise prior to the Veendam's refit (one final 5-day cruise following ours to E. Caribbean). A little about us: my husband and I are in our 40s and 30s respectively and this was our second cruise (our first being on Celebrity Century last September); my parents are both in their 50s and they have been on numerous cruises with HAL and P&O.

Good flight over from London on the Saturday with British Airways; arrival and processing through customs was smooth and took about an hour. Easy to get around Tampa Airport and found a taxi for the 4 of us without any problems. Flat fee of $15 to transfer to the Quorum Hotel, which was very close-by. The hotel rates as #2 in Tampa - not sure what that says about the other hotels in Tampa as it was OK, but certainly not remarkable.

The following day we took the hotel shuttle to the cruise terminal, which was quoted originally as $25 per room, which would make it $50 for us travelling as 2 couples, but when we asked to book a taxi, this was changed to $25 for the 4 of us, which was more acceptable. Read more