We arrived in Tampa after an on-time flight from a cold Minnesota looking forward to a nice warm break. The weather in Tampa was warm but not quite hot and that was ok with us. A fairly quick taxi ride to the port is a flat-rate $25. Upon arrival we learned that departure would be delayed to 3:00 am but that we would still arrive in our one port of call, Cozumel, on time. At first I wondered if this was to do with the Norovirus outbreak on a previous cruise but it turned out to be from some routine maintenence. This gave us some unexpected time to look around Tampa and we took advantage of it by riding the streetcar to Ybor City, then to the downtown area and then back to the ship. This is a great bargain as an all you can ride ticket costs only $5.00 and there is a stop right ouside the port entrance.
We had checked in prior to our little shore excursion with no delays or problems so when we reboarded all we had to do was explore the ship and have a snack. We awoke the next morning at sea and as we sailed south the weather gradually warmed up. This was a sea day and we enjoyed some challenging trival pursuit conducted by the very pleasant cruise director himself,Dan Whitney. We didn't win but did win at a subsequent game, so we didn't leave the ship without at least one win.
The ship is beautiful and very well maintained. The Colony Club has warm wood paneling and is designed to be like an English private club. This was one of our favorite spots and was the location of receptions and music performances.