I decided that I would take a 5 night cruise from Galveston, TX because it is closer to my home in Colorado and doesn't cost as much to fly there. I generally go to Florida, stay the night before the cruise and get a transfer. This time, we flew directly into Houston Hobby, got a transfer and went to the port.
I was apprehensive of doing a transfer, worrying about whether the people would be at the airport waiting for us or not. I didn't need to worry, there was a nice, big sign showing where the Carnival passengers needed to be. The only draw back was that we had to wait a while for the bus (full size) to fill up with passengers, so my time on debarkation day had been reduced.
When we got to the port, the lines inside were insane! Come to find out the gangplank broke and the passengers had to be rerouted. The staff inside handled the registration quite quickly and we were on our way.
I have to say for a category 1-A, the space was wonderful! I would book a 1A again.