My husband and I are retired and this is our second cruise, our first on Carnival. We reside in Florida and drove to Port Everglades, so there were no flights, or hotel stays. We arrived at the Port around 11AM and went through the embarkation process without any problems.
While we were still in Port and waiting for the remainder of the passengers to come aboard, we were directed to the Lido Deck to eat at the buffet, which was mass confusion, with everyone fighting for somewhere to sit, and the food was barely warm, and definitely not hot. But we took into consideration that it was the first day and the crew was very busy.
Our stateroom was fine, and it's a good thing because we spent a great deal of time in it. That was not our intention though.
As I stated above, our cabin was fine, except for the dried blood on the curtain and drapery pull. Plenty of closet space, and storage.
Our cabin was across the hall from a pantry area for the crew, but that was not noisy, they would maybe be in there around 8 pm but after that it was quiet, and when they were there, they were not noisy.