We (bf and I) chose this cruise because we wanted to see Mayan ruins and it worked out with our schedules. The cruise was a fabulous deal and left out of Tampa which is easy and cheap for us to get too. Based on the reviews we had read we had pretty low expectations - but we did plan on actually being on the ship that much as the highlight of our cruising adventures are typically the shore excursions.
(1) Tampa's port. This was easy - easier than San Juan's or Rome's port. We flew into Tampa's airport, arrived around 11:30 am took a short $25 cab ride to the pier stood in line for 30 minutes, went through security, checked in and we were on the boat shortly after that. The first sign of weirdness to us was other passengers carrying on cases of soda and waters. I have never seen this before and thought it was a little weird.
(2) Our Room. We decided to just get an ocean view room this time, we usually get a veranda - but spend such a small amount of time we went ocean view. The room turned out to be beyond disgusting. There was a spot on the carpet in front of the desk that was always soaking wet - the day we arrived through the very end - the spot backed up to the shower so I can only guess that the shower was always leaking. I didn't see it because the carpet was dark - but I stepped in it and was completely gross out. I also set my backpack on it a few days later thinking it had to have dried out. Not so much. However, even more disgusting was the blood stained bed sheets. There is simply no excuse for this. We complained to guest services and they changed the sheets - but they should have never been put on that bed or begin with (I've convinced myself that the sheets had been changed since the last cruise - but sitting here I am not certain.) The new sheets had a giant hole in them that I could stick my foot through - we joked that they may have never even changed out the sheets - just cut the blood stain out.
Quiet Location
Close to Elevators and Stairs
Squeaky drawers