What a difference 12 years can make!! I took my first Carnival cruise back in 1998 and it was OK but I wasn't anxious to cruise on them again. This time on the Legend out of Tampa it was fantastic. Carnival has really improved everything. This year my granddaughter picked going on a cruise with me as her graduation present. She wanted to include two friends so there were a total of four of us in a quad cabin on the Legend. Our travel agent on Carnival suggested the 4K room which is basically an outside room with a French door to nowhere with a view of the lifeboat but it is better than an inside cabin as at least you can see the outside and daylight plus the water. It made the room feel larger than it was and that is important when you have four people in a room. We traveled to Tampa from Georgia by car and stayed in Tampa the night before at the Howard Johnson in downtown Tampa not far from the docks. They provided shuttle service to the port and I was able to leave my car in their parking lot for the duration of the cruise at no extra charge. Getting to and from the port was no problem and handled very smoothly. I would recommend coming in the day before if you have to drive very far in order to be more rested to start the cruise plus being sure there are no delays in getting to the port in time. We were able to be at the port for check in before noon and after a brief wait in line, were processed and on the ship well before sailing. They even provided a great lunch buffet. We were warned that we might have a wait to get into our cabin, but by 1:30 we were in and our luggage arrived soon after. I was hesitant at first about whether or not four females could share a room and only one bathroom but no problem. I just learned that as the oldest, I claimed it first and then got out of the girls' way. Our room steward had the biggest challenge as the girls were too excited to ever unpack their suitcases so he had to work around three suitcases on the floor. None of them were very neat but every day the room was picked up, the beds made and a towel figure perched on the bed by our marvelous room steward. We selected the "Anytime Dining" option for our dinners and it was perfect. We could arrive at the dining room any time from 5:30 to 9 and were seated almost every time immediately. We could even ask for a particular waiter and if he had a table empty we were seated in his section. Of course, the service in the dining room by the waiters, hostesses and maitre'd was impeccable. The entertainment was really fun every night at dinner. The food was "out of this world" and for the girls awe inspiring especially the presentation. The food in the dining room was so good, we never had any desire to pay the extra cost to go to the specialty restaurant. The entertainment most nights was pretty good. I'm not much for comedians or hypnotists so I skipped those, but I enjoyed the musical/dance revues. The girls wanted to go to one of the adult shows late in the evening so we went. Fortunately, we didn't sit together, as I'm sure I would have been shocked to find that the language the comedian used didn't bother them as much as it bothered me. But I guess I am not as hip as they are. One of the things we all enjoyed was the piano bar in the evenings. There was a wonderful piano player/singer and we all enjoyed sitting and listening and even joining in the singing. The other lounge that was nice was the one on the Promenade deck right outside the dining room where I would sit and wait for the girls to join me for dinner. The special events, past guest get together and the end of cruise party, were great fun. I attended them by myself but didn't feel alone as the other passengers were very friendly. The deck parties were also fun and the cruise director was really a hoot! The pools were nice and there was lots of deck space to stretch out and get a tan, read or even take a nap. The Unicorn dining area was great with a good selection of different types of food at four stations. On earlier cruises, the buffet dining was always one big long counter and line. Here there were so many choices; you rarely had to stand in line for long. As one of the girls is a vegetarian, I thought she might have a problem finding something to eat but it was never a problem either at the buffets or the dining room. There were always one or more tasty vegetarian choices. The ports of call were fine. I have been to the western Caribbean before so I had been to two of the ports, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The other two ports were Roatan, Honduras and Belize. The excursion we took in Cozumel, The Secret River, was probably the best excursion on the trip. We also took a Eco Kayak excursion in Belize and did the beaches in Grand Cayman and Roatan. The beach in Roatan was very nice and it was the girls' favorite beach. There was lots of shopping to be had, but we weren't really interested in that so I can't really review the shops. All in all, it was a great cruise and a wonderful way to celebrate their high school graduation. In fact, the cruise was so good, that I have booked another cruise on Carnival for January on the Fascination out of Jacksonville. This time with my husband and three other couples, one of which has cruised more than 10 times on Carnival.